The Pentagon is seeking BILLIONS and BILLIONS from Congress in the next COVID relief stimulus package. Why? To protect the mega-profits of arms dealers and defense contractors. Yes. That’s right. As we lose tens of thousands of loved ones here, and hundreds of thousands around the world, to COVID-19 — the Pentagon wants even MORE money on top of the near trillion dollars it already wastes every year on unnecessary weapons and Trump’s racist border wall. We say ENOUGH. That's why we're going toe to toe with arms dealers, and demand Congress not give the Pentagon a PENNY MORE in the next coronavirus relief package. Will you ask Congress to demand we bail out the people, not the Pentagon and arms dealers in the next coronavirus relief package?

The charter change will change the employment status of the City Attorney from reporting to Mayor and Council to reporting to the City Manager, affect the Council’s ability to effectively pass policy via ordinances without involvement of the Mayor, and gives the Mayor universal veto power. We need your leadership to protect our charter as is.

We paid for an on-campus, in class, learning experience. What we got was an online, sub-par experience. There were many missed opportunities in internships, student teaching, labs, research, on campus organizations, and experiences and much more. WE WANT A TUTION REFUND!

When I was in middle school, I was nervous and excited for my first day of 6th grade. People of different ages and heights were everywhere! I soon found myself an outcast and did not know how to fit in. I had just gotten my very own Nook tablet and social media apps such as Instagram and snapchat were new and hip. After creating my social media accounts, I soon found myself feeling consumed by the pressure of following the crowd. I wanted to have the same posts as everyone else, I wanted to be liked and I wanted to create this facade of someone that I truly wasn’t because who I actually was, did not get me many friends. I entered middle school a timid, shy, and nervous girl but left a friendly, humorous, and caring individual. It wasn’t until my Dad brought to my attention that my social media habits were becoming obsessive, that I considered changing my habits. The person I was becoming did not resonate with my true inner self. This girl was seeking approval from others and felt anxious when approached with the situation of face to face conversation. It took me a whole year to realize that this person I was trying to become wasn’t necessary. Some people will like you and others won’t. It isn’t the basis of whether you have 3 followers or 300. It is the character of the person that matters. What kind of heart do they have and how do they treat others? Teenagers around the world are constantly using their cellular devices for the wrong reasons. There is excessive usage due to the mobile phone specifically being used as a crutch to make the youth feel protected or there is constant pressure to seek approval and validation from their peers. For instance, walking around the halls in school can be terrifying for a young student to face and they decide to resort to their phone as an escape from making eye contact or conversation with people due to their social anxiety. This kind of behavior creates a pattern that doesn't allow the child to develop their critical social skills. With less device usage around the world, we have the ability to change the stigma of burying our faces into our phones and socializing with those who are just as shy, if not afraid. Parents also play an important role in this movement. Had it not been for my dad holding me accountable and bringing to my attention that I am not developing good and healthy habits with my device, I would have spiraled out of control. When parents decide to give their children cellular devices, they should reassure their child that their phone is not something that should be abused and considered an accessory. Their phones, laptops, or tablets are tools that are to be used for building them up rather than breaking them down. Seeking validation or approval especially from social media is a dangerous trap to fall into and a healthy balance is the key to being truly happy. Social Media free mondays starting from 12:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm at night, is a reasonable solution to cutting back on social media usage. If this event becomes world wide, the pressure to stay off your phone to access social media would become a success! People should take this day to spend quality time with those that are physically in their lives because nobody lives forever. Another way people can spend the “no social media” day is to pick up or further develop a hobby. Something that they have been putting off because social media consumes their free time. Coming from personal experience, there is more satisfaction in creating something with your hands and seeing the final product without seeking the approval of others. Another benefit to this event would be realizing that there is more to life than wasting time investing into our devices. We are creatures of habit and retraining our habits to focus on the things that are important is within our ability.

I am a parent of 2 sons, 10 and 12 years old, which have had and/or currently have services with all 3 of the above mentioned therapists. Continuity of care is key within the areas of occupational and speech therapies. All 3 therapists have been part of our district for many years and have consistently guided and assisted our children in their needs. Outsourcing may save money, but problems will always occur when we do not have the ultimate say in who we hire to fulfill these rolls. Turnover seems to be the common factor when outsourcing, just as we have experienced with the janitorial staff. With the current home schooling situation, our children are displaced, socially suffering and sad from all of the changes. They miss the everyday consistencies of their classes, their teachers/aides/therapists and their friends. It is incomprehensible to think the children who receive services from these invaluable woman would not have their friendly, recognizable faces awaiting their return to continue the work in these special areas. Please do not misunderstand my compassion for how nice these woman are as my only plea, they truly are masters in their respective areas and have impacted the lives of so many of our district's children, especially mine. I understand fiscal requirements may need adjusting, but I beg of you to search elsewhere rather than terminating these women.

Because housing affects us all, we need a solution to the housing crisis that works for every New Yorker. State Senator Julia Salazar has introduced bill S8190, a comprehensive and a closed-loop commonsense rent relief bill for residential and small commercial tenants, small homeowners, not-for-profit affordable housing providers, and residential housing cooperatives. Residential and small commercial tenants who can demonstrate any loss of income due to the crisis would be entitled to a 100% abatement of rent during the- disaster period. Small homeowners, not-for-profit affordable housing providers, or residential housing cooperatives that have lost 10% of their income due to coronavirus would be entitled to financial assistance to cover losses resulting from the pandemic. With Senator Salazar’s bill, we can preserve affordable housing, and ensure a comprehensive Relief for All that will keep families in their homes and small businesses afloat.

Physical activity increases physical and mental health. Did you know working out strengthens your immune system, allowing you to fight diseases? This makes it extremely important to keep our bodies healthy and fit to help fight the coronavirus. Fitness is a hugely essential part of many people's lifestyles. A large number of clients who do personal training have been advised by their doctors or physicians to receive physical activity daily to help with weight loss and mental health issues, making personal training a vital part of the average persons day. The spread of the coronavirus has changed our lives entirely. Many privately owned gyms have had to shut their doors, putting thousands of personal trainers out of work. Unfortunately for many trainers, this is their main or only form of income. We are extremely aware of the dangers of COVID19 and promise to make the practice of social distance our top priority by only working with 1-2 client's at a time, wiping everything down after every use, staying at least 6 ft away from each other, and constantly making sure to stay up-to-date with new ways of fighting COVID19.

The majority of eighth-grade students in the United States rely on the internet at home to get their homework done. Roughly six-in-ten students (58%) say they use the internet at their home to do homework every day or almost every day, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Just 6% of students say they never use the internet at home for this purpose. There are differences in these patterns by community type and parents’ education level. Roughly two-thirds of students attending suburban schools (65%) say they use the internet for homework every day or almost every day, compared with 58% who attend schools in cities, 50% of those who attend in rural areas and 44% of those attending schools in towns. Students whose parents graduated from college are more likely to use the internet for homework at home. Some 62% of these students use the internet at home for homework, compared with smaller shares of students whose parents have some post-high school education (53%), have only a high school education (52%) or have no high school education (48%). The “homework gap” – which refers to school-age children lacking the connectivity they need to complete schoolwork at home – is more pronounced for black, Hispanic and lower-income households. Some 15% of U.S. households with school-age children do not have a high-speed internet connection at home, according to a previously published Pew Research Center analysis of 2015 U.S. Census Bureau data. School-age children in lower-income households are especially likely to lack broadband access. Roughly one-third (35%) of households with children ages 6 to 17 and an annual income below $30,000 a year do not have a high-speed internet connection at home, compared with just 6% of such households earning $75,000 or more a year. These broadband gaps are particularly pronounced in black and Hispanic households with school-age children – especially those with low incomes. Some lower-income teens say they lack resources to complete schoolwork at home. In a 2018 Center survey, about one-in-five teens ages 13 to 17 (17%) said they are often or sometimes unable to complete homework assignments because they do not have reliable access to a computer or internet connection. Black teens and those living in lower-income households were more likely to say they cannot complete homework assignments for this reason. For example, one-quarter of black teens said they often or sometimes cannot do homework assignments due to lack of reliable access to a computer or internet connectivity, compared with 13% of white teens and 17% of Hispanic teens. Teens with an annual family income below $30,000 were also more likely to say this than teens with a family income of at least $75,000 a year (24% vs. 9%). In the same survey, around one-in-ten teens (12%) said they often or sometimes use public Wi-Fi to do schoolwork because they lack a home internet connection. Again, black and lower-income teens were more likely to do this. Roughly one-in-five black teens (21%) said they use public Wi-Fi to do schoolwork due to a lack of home internet connection, compared with 11% of white teens and 9% of Hispanic teens. And around a fifth (21%) of teens with an annual family income under $30,000 reported having to use public Wi-Fi to do homework, compared with 11% of teens in families with a household income of $30,000-$74,999 and just 7% of those living in households earning at least $75,000. A quarter of lower-income teens do not have access to a home computer. One-in-four teens in households with an annual income under $30,000 lack access to a computer at home, compared with just 4% of those in households earning over $75,000, according to the 2018 survey. There are also differences by race and ethnicity. Hispanic teens were especially likely to say they do not have access to a home computer: 18% said this, compared with 9% of white teens and 11% of black teens. State Representative La Shawn K. Ford has drafted legislative language to provide broadband services at no cost to all residents of the state, with priority given to areas with high levels of poverty and lacking the infrastructure to receive high-speed internet access. Amends the Broadband Advisory Council Act. Directs the Council to develop a plan to provide access to broadband services at no cost to all residents of this State. Provides that the Office of Broadband within the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall support and assist the Council in the development of the plan. Requires that priority be given to zip codes identified as having high levels of poverty and areas lacking the infrastructure necessary to meet requirements for high-speed access to the Internet. Requires the Council to identify existing and new streams of State revenue necessary to implement the plan. Provides that the Council shall report the plan and recommendations for legislation necessary to implement the plan to the General Assembly by March 31, 2021. Effective immediately.

Because most families are getting infected

When I moved here, I was blown away by the love and help my son and I received. We were lucky enough to be able to camp for the 6 months we were homeless and we had so much help from the community. I see the need for a safe place for the homeless to go and want to give back and find a way to help.

Since the dawn of man we have looked up to the sky and been inspired by the countless stars and constellations. We've lived and died under clear starry night skies and now Elon Musk is planning to send 12,000 satellites up into the sky to muddy it up and pollute beyond recognition the last pure thing we as a species have left.

Because just as those who have been out of work are at risk and need help, so are the people who still have to go to work every day...