At a time when the state government is deadlocked in a struggle to provide affordable health care to over 400,000 low income residents of the State of Virginia, it is unacceptable for a state Senator to abdicate his position or someone else to induce him to in what appears to be a direct quid pro quo transaction made in order to receive a state job for himself and an offer of Judgeship for his daughter . It is wrong both to make such an offer to obtain a political end and to accept such an offer to obtain a highly paid or powerful state position.

If true, this deal raises serious questions about Speaker Bill Howell and Terry Kilgore’s manipulation of government jobs as leverage to prevent closing the coverage gap for 400,000 Virginians. This isn’t the first time accusations have arisen regarding mismanagement and patronage at the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. In fact, in 2010 a commissioner was convicted of defrauding the Commission of $4M and a 2011 JLARC report questioned the Commission’s governance practices and called for better oversight. Virginians deserve answers over how state jobs were used as leverage in a political fight over extending affordable health care to Virginia families, and assurances that Tobacco Commission resources haven’t been misappropriated for political purposes under the current management. Join us in calling for an investigation right now.

Please grant either ankle monitoring or house arrest for Chantel Jones. From my experience with her I do not believe her capable of the charges in question, and would request her monitored release until such time as this can be resolved as it should be.

Observation status is a designation used by hospitals to bill Medicare. As a result of this designation, more and more seniors are experiencing difficulties getting Medicare coverage for admission to skilled nursing facility (SNF), along with other billing issues. In fact, Medicare estimates show that 1.6 million seniors were placed in “observation status” during a hospital stay in 2011. This is a 69 percent increase over the previous 5 years. Medicare beneficiaries who have played by the rules and contributed their entire working lives to the program so that they can have peace of mind and be covered for medically necessary services should not find themselves incurring unexpected costs and having to hire attorneys to get the coverage they already paid for. One solution that would solve this situation is for Congress to pass the bipartisan bill Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2013, S.569 and H.R. 1179, introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins and Representatives Joe Courtney and Tom Latham, which would amend Medicare law to count a beneficiary’s time spent in the hospital on “observation status” towards the three-day hospital stay requirement for skilled nursing care. The measure would also establish a 90-day appeal period following passage for those that have a qualifying hospital stay and have been denied skilled nursing care after January 1, 2013.

Ensuring that current and future architects have the capability and expertise to design human-centered environments is critical for the future of the profession. The proposed changes are not adequate to protect the health, life, safety, and welfare of the public, nor are they consistent with the standards of engaged and responsible practice or global citizenship. It is essential that Accredited Architectural programs ensure students understand how to integrate research evidence into design decision-making, the critical relationships between humans and designed environments, the changing dynamics of people and environments, and are able to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams.

The state of Texas has a long history of demanding that text book publishers include Creationism or "Intelligent Design" in science textbooks. Texas has also insisted on serious misrepresentations and omissions in history textbooks. These historical misrepresentations include downplaying the struggle for civil rights, ignoring LGBTQ people entirely and portraying the countriy's founding fathers as staunchly religious individuals to name just a few. Because of the large population in Texas and the high cost of printing multiple additions, many publishers simply acquiesce to Texas' demands and these textbooks become the standard for all states. This petition aims to correct that by using the even larger population of the state of California as a counterweight to the excessive influence of right wing Christian political influence that has unfortunately robbed many Texas school children of true and accurate study materials free of religious and political bias.

The removal of the Paddle Barbados shop from the Barbados Cruising Club was forced upon us by Town & Country Planning. This petition demonstrates the desire of the community of locals and tourists to put the shop back in its place.

Worldwide Laws with punishment of Prison, Fines, Restitution, Community Service for anyone charged guilty of Animal Abuse as described by Declaration of United Nations under Animal Welfare. When we learn how to treat the Voiceless and vulnerable Creations of this world with kindness, respect, and care- maybe then we can learn how to treat one another with kindness respect and care.

Dr. Bacon is a dynamic, engaging speaker and more people need exposure to her transformative message. We urge you to consider Dr. Bacon as a TED Talk Speaker and give her greater opportunity to inspire others. [Please sign this petition and include a testimonial in the "Comments" section. Let the TED evaluators know about YOUR experience hearing Linda]

Over two million people have been deported from the United States since his time in office. Obama has done this to prove to Congress that he “is not soft on immigration” to try and pass comprehensive immigration reform. Congress will not support comprehensive reform because they are anxious the President will not enforce the law. We need to stop this now so if we all join together and end his support for enforcement-only policies that separate families and friends through unnecessary deportations with permanent or undocumented residents. We are a nation of immigrants and this is also a land of opportunity, so lets stand together to end the mass deportation of immigrants and ensure basic due process.

In the wake of yet another mass shooting, it's time for progressives to demand that our elected officials stand up to the NRA and fight for strong gun control legislation. Representative Linda Orange has been one of the most gun-friendly Democrats in Connecticut's legislature, earning an endorsement and an A rating from the NRA. But as 2014 shapes up to be an election about gun control in Connecticut, Representative Orange needs to be clear about whether she'll stand with progressives, or kowtow to the NRA and its allies on the radical right.

We are concerned citizens of Arlington.