Chicagoans deserve to know who controls our city services. We don’t want to make the same mistakes as we did when we outsourced our parking meters. Now parking meter rates have skyrocketed and taxpayers have no say in our own parking policies for 75 years. And despite this experience, the city continues to privatize services – from clinics to call centers. The PTAO will make sure the parking meter fiasco doesn’t happen again. The PTAO will give decision makers and the public all the information they need before a service is outsourced and ensure that the city of Chicago and Chicago residents benefit with better services and a more accountable government. Tell Mayor Emanuel that we support passage of the PTAO.

In his State of the Union, President Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 – an idea popular among many Republican, Independent, and Democratic voters. Shenna Bellows will deliver this petition to Rep. Susan Collins demanding she give 96,000 Maine residents a raise by supporting a minimum-wage increase. Can you sign this petition?

This petition is about the future of public education in Philadelphia

I am the Veterans Services Coordinator at North Shore Community College. We currently have 14 Veterans enrolled in school under the VRAP program for the spring semester which ends 5/12/2014. Many of these veterans count on the VRAP to subsidize their living expenses while in school. If the VRAP payments stop mid-semester, it would put many of these veterans into an extreme financial hardship.

An arcane Texas law allowed John Peter Smith Hospital to override a family's decision to remove a brain-dead woman from life support––because she was 14 weeks pregnant. After months of struggling with Texas courts and the hospital to respect her predetermined wishes, the family was finally able to put the mother and unborn fetus to rest––ending the torment this family has endured. But this hellish nightmare isn’t over. The grieving husband has begun to receive medical bills for his wife’s unwanted and contentious treatment. Overzealous sanctity of life laws to protect unborn children have forced the living members of this family-father and young son–to endure emotional stress and now financial hardship. Sign the petition demanding that this family not be held accountable for medical bills the state and hospital racked up––urge them to foot the bill and address this law immediately.

On January 30, I saw and read an article about a Pennsylvania man who duct taped his dog's muzzle as well as front and back legs. I hear about animal abuse a lot but for some reason this story chilled me to the core. The worst part about this story is the lack of punishment. The judge in this case, Joseph Kameen, is still allowing this cold, heartless man to own another animal because there was no prior history of abuse. This man ultimately wanted to end this dog's life with a firearm. We need to bring nation wide attention to the fact that regardless of history or no history, ANIMALS ARE FAMILY, which means they need to be treated like family! WE ARE their voice. WE ARE their hope. WE ARE their protectors. Please help me to stand up for harsher penalties!

Utilities companies are pushing the California Public Utilities Commission to change the rules on an important credit for solar panel owners. Stop utility companies from making solar more expensive. When families produce electricity with solar panels on their homes, they get an important credit on energy bills. This reduces our dependence on fossil fuels by making solar energy accessible to more people. Opportunities and incentives for families to “go solar” are essential to scale up the kid-safe, climate-safe energy we need to fight climate change. The California Public Utilities Commission is reviewing the rules on net metering, the credit given to customers with solar power when they give back the extra energy their solar panels produce to the electricity grid. Utility companies want to change the rules to give people partial credit for this electricity. But, people who installed solar expected the rules to be consistent for the 30-year life of their systems. Our kids deserve a clean energy future. When my sons ask how we’re acting to protect our climate, I want to confidently tell them California is creating -- and keeping -- policies that support and increase solar power. Standing up for families who invest in clean energy is one clear way to move toward the kid-safe, climate-safe energy solutions we need. California families who invest in rooftop solar should be able to expect long-term bill savings the entire time their solar system is producing clean energy. Don’t let utility companies hurt families who invest in solar by drastically reducing this credit.

When President Obama gave his state of the union, he called for raising the minimum wage to give working Americans a chance to make a living wage. Senator Toomey said that he does not support the president or raising the minimum wage. Toomey said, "The fact is, [raising the minimum wage] prices people out of work." No one who is working should live in poverty. The current minimum wage is not a living wage, it keeps over 1 million hard-working Pennsylvanians in poverty, and does not take into account the rising costs of supporting and feeding a family. As a society, we must do better, we must provide a basic standard of living and a pathway to economic mobility. That is why, if elected to Congress, I will continue the fight that I started in the Pennsylvania legislature to raise the minimum wage and tie it to an annual cost of living adjustment so that we never have to have these fights again.

We'll deliver the petitions to Rep. Duffy's office next week.

My name is Rhiannon Broschat and I've been working at Whole Foods for almost two years. Chicago experienced severe weather on Tuesday, January 28 with subzero temperatures and high windchill prompting Chicago Public Schools to close. The dangerous cold and schools closing in addition to me being a single mother, left me scrambling for childcare and unable to find anyone to watch my special needs son. As a result, I was forced to call off work to stay home and care for him. Whole Foods, instead of understanding my difficult situation, fired me. Recently, Whole Foods promised a more fair attendance policy which includes excused absences for "a metro wide weather disaster, which affects a significant number of people." I work hard every single day to make Whole Food's a thriving business, yet they claim I was abusing their attendance policy. Stand with me as I protest this unfair termination and demand that Whole Foods immediately reinstates me!

We have a right to know what’s in the food we buy so that we can make healthy, responsible and informed choices about what we’re eating. But most ingredient lists leave something out: whether a food includes genetically modified ingredients (GMOs). That’s why we’re launching a campaign to show grocery chains that their customers want this information, and persuade them to follow the lead of other grocery stores like Whole Foods by adopting GMO labeling. If we can convince Kroger to label their GMO products, not only will that immediately protect our right to know, but it will also create momentum toward a statewide labeling law. Tell Kroger to label GMOs in its store-brand products.

Snyder’s State of the State address kicked off his bid for re-election and showed everyone in Michigan just how far to the right he has lurched since taking office. Snyder called for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget and put Senator Mike Green in charge of the effort. What he failed to mention is that Sen. Mike Green is the state co-chair of ALEC, you know, the corporate bill mill that pushes legislation like Right to Work for less and Stand Your Ground laws. Sen. Mike Green introduced his balanced budget amendment and to no one’s surprise, it is very similar to the ALEC model legislation being pushed by corporations across the country.