As an African-American, I am offended by the racial comments made by Leonard Battaglia regarding Asians and African-Americans. As a public official, Battaglia's bigotry and prejudice are an insult to equality and racial justice. He does not deserve to be compensated by diverse ratepayers in the wastewater district.

Sensible planning for San Francisco and improvement in business opportunities for the City's southeastern neighborhoods and residents. Finally, it makes sense. Plenty of land and room for parking, which an Embarcadero stadium can not offer.

Comprehensive immigraton reform is stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives. Send a strong message to Congress that we support comprehensive reform with a pathway to citizenship. Hundreds of thousands of Texans are affected by our broken immigration system. Help us put this on the ballot and make a huge statement to the Congress.

In 2004 I was burned from the inside out and hospitalized for 8 months; I am still in recovery presently, due to medicine that had a high risk factor for people with a penicillin allergy. The doctors that are administering these drugs have no clue of the risks, but they swear it's the best drug for the job at hand; then it almost kills you. I am not the first person this has happened to. We need to speak up about poor regulations in the pharmaceutical business.

We deserve to know who controls our city services. We don’t want to make the same mistakes as we did when we gave up control of 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 contract out services – from clinics to call centers. The PTAO will make sure the parking meter disaster and other reckless outsourcing don’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.

Why are immigration officials in the Obama administration targeting a grandmother for deportation? Juana is a mother of four wonderful children and a grandmother of two beautiful girls. Her husband Carlos, a US citizen, calls her the "glue of their family," and his soulmate. Juana has called the US her home for nearly two decades, yet immigration officials are threatening to tear this family apart by deporting her! If the administration goes through with Juana's deportation, it would be devastating for both her family and community. Not only is Juana the primary caretaker of her children -- two of them U.S. citizens -- but since 1994 she's steadily worked to help her community by paying her taxes, working as an usher at her church, and even providing financial contributions to local missionaries. If her contributions to the fabric and economy of her community are not enough, Carlos and Juana's daughters have started having children of their own, and they look to Juana daily for her motherly advice. Deporting Juana would go against the founding morals of our nation and break this family apart! Right now, Juana would likely qualify for the pathway to citizenship in the Senate immigration bill, but it's been stalled in the House by Republican leadership. The Obama administration shouldn't punish Juana and her family for Congress' inaction. In fact, because they support the pending legislation, the Obama administration shouldn't be deporting immigrants like her at all! We can help Juana and her family by asking ICE to exercise "prosecutorial discretion" and let her return back to her home and community. Please join us in demanding that the immigration official overseeing Juana's case stop her deportation. Juana's children shouldn't be separated from their mother -- we need to help keep this family together. They're depending on us!

In the U.S., devastating storms are called “natural disasters.” In the Philippines, it’s just called “weather.” I learned from my mom and dad about the remarkable resilience of Filipino people that keeps them calm in the face of disaster. The Philippines is a republic made of more than 7,000 islands sitting on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making it prone to both earthquakes and typhoons. In the Philippines, folks just learn how to cope, say a little "bahala na," and work together to rebuild. It takes a lot to faze Filipinos when it comes to weather. But now, in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan, I fear my people are fazed. What happened to the Philippines four days ago isn’t just frightening -- it’s a clear sign that climate change is real. The climate CHANGED, and Haiyan is proof. We must not simply “feel” for the Filipino people, but we must also “do.” Please support Saño’s hunger strike and demand action from UN Climate Change Conference delegates. As folks living outside of the Philippines, this our chance to to keep the flame of resilience alive -- for Filipinos, all people, and our very fragile planet.

Horrific and historic natural disasters are becoming the new norm. Drought, floods, and fires rage. We need to be building an all-encompassing renewable energy infrastructure dealing with anything that emits a greenhouse gas including boilers, vehicles, whatever you can think of. The EPA's and President Obama's current plan to slightly curb emissions from power plants is not nearly good enough. George Carlin once intimated that the planet was just fine before humans were here and that it would almost certainly be just fine after humans are gone. At this crucial point it is not just about saving this planet, it's about saving the inhabitants of this planet. (That's us. All of us.)

Republicans are now saying that they don't have enough time to pass immigration reform this year. They say we should wait until next year. But, passing immigration reform isn’t a matter of the calendar, it’s a matter of political will. Right now, today, the votes exist to pass immigration reform with a path to citizenship. The House has both November and December to find time to schedule it—because our families’ lives are on the line. Earlier this year House GOP leaders found time to give Rep. Steve King (R-IA) a vote on his amendment to deport DREAMers. They could certainly find time to bring a vote on citizenship forward this year. If House Republicans aren’t swayed by the human toll and moral crisis caused by our broken immigration system, we’ll speak to them in a language they do understand—the language of politics and the future of their political careers. Every day Republicans delay on immigration reform, another 1,120 people are deported. Please join us in telling Republicans to stop blocking immigration reform!

As an American citizen I am complicit in our government's unspeakable abuse of this human being. He was imprisoned in order to intimidate those trying to provide for the elemental human needs of Palestinian refugees; people our government has defined as inconvenient at best, expendable at worst. Mr Abu Baker's imprisonment constitutes an all out war on freedom of speech.

Demand Clear Channel renew Randi Rhodes contract which expires December 13, 2013. We listeners of Randi Rhodes demand CEO Robert Pittman negotiate a new contract and keep Randi on the air!

The Watrous Farm which has been owned and farmed by the Quakers in Quaker Town (before it was Ledyard) has been sold to a local developer. We are hoping to get the land bought back by someone, the town, a Land Trust, or the state so that the farm land that has been open farm land since the 1600's can be preserved and farmed. Ledyard is an agricultural town with an agri-science program at the high school. There are many many people who want to see this happen and we are willing to do whatever is possible to keep the land preserved and used for farming.