We believe starting to charge plastic bags will dramatically reduce single-use plastic and paper bags in New York City by forcing shoppers to think twice about whether they need a bag and encourage reducing, reusing plastic bags. As the largest city in the United States, New York is taking too slow and too long to adopt legislation restricting the use of bags.

This petition is started to help secure a public indoor play area with a local location for parents or caregivers of young children. While Duvall has done an outstanding job securing public outdoor opportunities for young children to play, those options are extremely limited during bad weather-related months. Gross motor play has been determined to help children grow physically and cognitively and is a vital and important part of a child's development. In addition, Duvall's younger populations is growing by leaps and bounds. We thank you for your consideration., and please sign this petition if you would like to support our cause.

Ten special ed kids tried out for the talent show and not one of them were put through to perform. They said they were close, but didn't have enough talent and didn't want to embarrass them.

Genetically engineered foods are untested, unlabeled and potentially unsafe. Already, more than 60 countries around the world use labels to inform their citizens if their food has been genetically modified in a laboratory. It's time that we share that basic right. If the same companies can label foods containing GMOs in Russia, China and South Africa, surely they can label food here in Massachusetts as well. Tell your state legislators to support GMO labeling today!

On January 9, Freedom Industries, a largely unregulated chemical-storage company for Big Coal, spilled thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the Elk River and poisoned the water for 300,000 people. One month in, Governor Tomblin of West Virginia still has his head in the sand -- and just last week, a second spill happened at Freedom Industries. This situation is spiraling of control.

Even though Angelica is the mother of three U.S. citizens and has called Texas home for 14 years, she's just days away from being deported. She needs your help staying with her family! When this hard-working mom was racially-profiled and falsely accused of shoplifting, police arrested her and then turned her over to immigration officials because she had no ID. Since then she’s been forced to wear an ankle bracelet and check in weekly with immigration officials. Now they want to deport her! Angelica is a loving mother of 3 young U.S. citizens, ages 4, 6, and 7. She's a part of her local church and is a good member of her community. If ICE officials go through with her deportation, Angelica’s daughters and community will be devastated! Angelica would likely qualify for the path to citizenship in the Senate immigration bill and President Obama's Administration shouldn't be pushing hardworking, taxpaying aspiring Americans like Angelica for Speaker John Boehner's inaction. In fact, because President Obama supports the Senate's bill, he shouldn't be deporting immigrants like Angelica at all. Please help Angelica by asking ICE officials to grant her a stay of removal and let her return home to her family where she belongs. They need you to act right now!

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has inspired progressives nationwide. So it was very disappointing that de Blasio recently told the right-wing American Israel Public Affairs Committee that “City Hall will always be open to AIPAC…when you need me to stand by you in Washington or anywhere, I will answer the call and I will answer it happily, because that’s my job.” As The Nation noted in a recent editorial [1], AIPAC has prevented a just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict; it has been working to provoke US war with Iran. Now, just when the Obama Administration has been making progress with diplomacy, AIPAC has been pressing Congress for new sanctions on Iran to kill that progress, which could set us on the path to another disastrous Middle East war. But the recent collapse of AIPAC’s effort to undermine diplomacy with Iran shows that the world has changed. It’s time for Mayor de Blasio to change his assumptions. J Street was established to back politicians who genuinely support a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. J Street supports the recent accord between the U.S. and Iran and opposed the new sanctions AIPAC was pushing. Jewish Voice for Peace has shown Americans that AIPAC doesn’t speak for American Jews. Americans for Peace Now has led efforts to oppose Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are an existential threat to the two-state solution. Mayor de Blasio has a unique opportunity to help bury the idea that politicians must bow down to AIPAC by meeting with J Street. By publicly welcoming groups that promote genuine peace in the Middle East, his foreign policy would be far more consistent with the progressive policies he promotes at home. Urge Mayor de Blasio to represent progressives who want peace by meeting with J Street and other groups that are working to promote genuine peace in the Middle East. Reference: 1. “Bill de Blasio Is Wrong to Pander to AIPAC,” Editorial, The Nation, January 29, 2014, http://www.thenation.com/article/178132/bill-de-blasio-wrong-pander-aipac

Prediction for 2014: the next flash point in the global fight against the fossil fuel industry will take place on the quiet shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Virginia-based Dominion Resources wants to build a massive export facility in Cove Point, MD that would pipe fracked gas from Pennsylvania, supercool and liquefy it, and ship it halfway across the globe to be burned. The dangerous consequences of this fossil fuel export scheme? Increased climate-disrupting pollution, a whole lot more fracking, and a big threat to one of our national treasures. Act now to stop this project! That’s why Earthjustice is part of a coalition of state, regional and national environmental groups that have joined together with Maryland nurses, watermen, and local business owners to fight this project. Our coalition is turning out hundreds of people to town hall meetings and persuading elected officials to oppose and raise questions about the project. But one voice has been missing from the conversation: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. Gov. O’Malley is positioning himself as a national leader on climate change and environmental issues, and also has reported ambitions for higher office. He needs to know that people all over the country are watching how he handles the Cove Point export project.

The Higher Ed, Lower Debt Act (SB 375) introduced by state senators Dave Hansen and Cory Mason would: - Create a state authority to help borrowers refinance their student loans, just like you can a home mortgage; - Allow borrowers to deduct their student loan payments on their state income taxes, just like you can with home mortgage interest; - Require borrowers be given detailed information before entering into loan agreements, offer counseling to students and parents on the implications of student loans and require the state to collect and disseminate information about private lenders and maintain a ranking system; and - Track information about student loan debt in the state to help policy makers better understand the depth and breadth of the debt crisis in Wisconsin. Thousands of borrowers with student loan debt live in Wisconsin. These are students who have worked hard to get their education and deserve to be given a fair shot at being in the middle class when they graduate college. Read more at www.bit.ly/WILowerDebt

The Virginia College for All (formerly, the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program) would offer no-loan guarantees to low-income students and interest free loans to students of middle-income families. Since state disinvestment in higher education is the number one reason colleges are cutting funds from their financial aid programs, this new legislation is a victory in reversing these trends. Other states should follow suit. Read more at www.bit.ly/VACollegeForAll

In MTA-NYCT, Level I Station Supervisors, are being exploited, bullied, forced, and intimidated into performing the exact same duties of, Level II Station Supervisors, for less pay. NYCT ignores, "The Lilly Ledbedder Fair Pay Act of 2009," Equal Work, Equal Pay. This type of inhumane slave labor should not exist in the 21st Century, and with a giant conglomerate as, MTA-NYCT.

Yelp harms millions of small businesses everyday because of a biased review system that unfairly filters out reviews without any reason. Apple's decision to use them for their Map service misleads customers and businesses are harmed because they can't ever improve their Yelp rating despite having legitimate reviews. I have personally been affected by this issue because my business has rated a 1 star on Yelp for several years with only 1 review. Despite the fact that we are 4/5 stars on sites like Google, Dex Knows, and Angie's List. Yelp constantly filters all incoming reviews both good and bad. As a result my business has suffered because Apple relies on Yelp for Apple Maps resulting in an unfair assessment of my business. By including both filtered and unfiltered reviews in the overall score would give a more fair rating and help thousands of other small business owners out there struggling to deal with unfair Yelp reviews.