The City of Chicago should not have the right to force any citizen to provide free shelter for individuals. The mayor can open shelters to house individuals who cannot meet their financial obligation to the landlord. I most definitely am being affected by this issue. The financial burden including but, not limited to court cost is insurmountable.

It's not right. Criminalist. Fraud. Stealing our taxpayers' or public money. Or if volunteered, charge him for impersonation! Same idea as "Fake" policeman or bankers.

As a parent of three children attending SFA Charter School, we only want the best for their education and futures. We need new leadership to take the school in the right direction and to fulfill the promises made to our children and their families when this school opened in August of 2013. We want the Chairman of the Board and the Board Members to know that we are supportive of their recent decision to remove the previous administration. We are all in favor of new leadership. We support SFA Charter. Won't you join our petition today?

Many residents around the state who have been following this fracking issue, and some of the larger environmental organizations as well, such as the IL Sierra Club, are extremely disappointed with the new rules for fracking recently published by the IDNR. We must take action for the protection of Illinois residents and our environment from the many dangers of fracking.

On World AIDS Day, President Obama announced he is committing $100 million of the National Institute of Health's budget to find a cure for AIDS. This is a $33 million increase in AIDS cure funding each year for three years and will pay for pivotal new research that will move us all closer to a cure. We want to thank the government officials who made this bold decision possible: Anthony Fauci, MD (head of the NIH Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases); Jack Whitescarver, PhD (Head of the Office of AIDS Research); Carl Dieffenbach, PhD (Director of the NIH Division of AIDS); Francis Collins, MD PhD (Director of the National Institutes of Health); and President Barack Obama.

Revolution Foods is a company in contract with KIPP, they deliver food for the students for breakfast and lunch. Students at KIPP generations colligate are becoming tired of the quality of the food that is being served. Although it is "healthy" it is very distasteful and does not look appealing at all to all students. We, the students of KIPP want change. Sign the petition for change!

The process of obtaining and training wild animals to be circus performers is cruel and unnatural. Babies, especially elephants, are stolen from their mothers and made to perform tricks for "entertainment". Ringling Brothers has been cited and fined many times for abuse and even death of animals in their care.

My three daughters love the cute colors and designs of Gymboree dresses and leggings. So I was dismayed to notice, a few months ago, that some items in Gymboree stores are "made in Bangladesh." In addition to poverty wages, Bangladesh garment factories offer some of the world's worst working conditions. In April, a factory collapse in Bangladesh killed more than 1,130 people. Despite the outcry over that accident, factory fires continue almost weekly in Bangladesh, injuring dozens and killing 10 people in October alone. How could cheap prices on kids' clothes possibly justify such suffering? When I wrote to Gymboree in September, ask what steps they were taking to ensure the safety of workers in Bangladesh's garment factories, they said they "have not yet decided" how to address the problem. When I wrote back in November, again, they were "still evaluating." With more than 1,200 deaths this year alone, and hundreds of injuries, the time for reflection has long since passed. Please join me in demanding that San Francisco-based Gymboree (which also operates Gymboree Outlet, Janie and Jack and Crazy 8 stores) immediately sign the binding international Bangladesh Fire Safety Accord.

A Florida state judge allowed a convicted felon/sex offender on house arrest to come to New York to expedite a three year old girl back to Florida. He ripped this girl from the only family she's ever known.

I live with two rescue parrots who were either abandoned because the demands of their care were to great or given up because the bird outlived the owner. Parrots are not domestic, and demand a lot of attention and special care. My birds were lucky, but they could have ended up languishing for years, neglected in someone's back room. This is a serious issue, and pet stores need to stop adding to the problem

Despite the modest "budget deal" that was struck between Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray, 1.3 million people stand to lose unemployment insurance benefits three days after Christmas. This is needlessly Grinch-like. If Speaker Boehner were to bring a resolution to extend benefits to the House floor, it would almost certainly pass, and also sail through the Senate, plus easily obtain the President's signature. This needs to happen.

Ardani Rosales Lemus (A#098-918-011) has been detained since December 2012. He has spent almost a year away from his family, a year in which he missed two important events in his life: his own wedding and the birth of his second child, a beautiful daughter which he hasn’t been able to hold in his arms. He will now spend the holidays in a cell, just for coming to an amazing country for an opportunity for a better future to escape Guatemala where his life was in risk. Adarni was pulled over for a minor traffic violation and was placed in deportation proceedings. His family has been in the U.S. since 2005, they came to escape the fear of death they faced in Guatemala. Back in his hometown in Guatemala, Adarni organized youth to stay out of gangs and trouble. But his dangerous work led to multiple threats from one of the most powerful gangs in the world -- they even badly beat him up. In 2005, Adarni and his family fled for their lives to the U.S. They fear returning to Guatemala -- that's why they are seeking asylum here. But back in 2012, Ardani was pulled over for a minor traffic violation on his way to work and was placed in deportation proceedings. He is one of the 11 million that needs Congress to act now and deliver real immigration reform that will allow him and others to earn a pathway to citizenship and real relief from deportation. Adarni has spent almost a year away from his family, a year in which he missed two important events in his life: his own wedding, and the birth of his second child, a beautiful daughter he has yet to be able to hold. He will now spend the holidays in a cell, just for coming to a country that could offer him and his family safety and an opportunity for a better future. Please join us in telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to stop Adarni's deportation. No father should be deported for driving to work and caring for his family!