No one can deny the tough shape of our local roads. The infrastructure must be maintained. It's time to spend some tax dollars on repairing our streets, unless we all want to go backwards to unpaved roads!

Citizen Koch was pulled from a major public television outlet because of fear of upsetting David Koch, a major PBS donor. No one person should have the right to censor what is shown on public television. It is the Public Broadcasting Service, not the Koch Broadcasting Service. Please air Citizen Koch.

In America we believe that everyone is equal, period. But that's not how our current immigration system works. Under our current immigration laws, immigrants currently living in the US without papers have no way to fix their immigration status and pursue the rights obtained through citizenship. These immigrants -- many of whom are American in every way but on paper -- are doomed to a life in shadows. They are prevented from doing things many US citizens take for granted, like driving, working, applying for credit cards, and even from visiting sick family members overseas. The Senate just passed an immigration bill that will would fix this tragedy by creating a pathway to citizenship for these 11 million Americans without papers. Through this pathway, students, workers, family members, and even some immigrants with deportation orders under the previous broken system would finally be allowed to pursue their American dream and eventual citizenship. Advocates have been fighting for these reforms for years, and we have never seen a better chance for making these dreams a reality. But some anti-immigrant members of Congress -- lead by legislators like Rep. Steve King -- are trying to kill reform by destroying the path to citizenship and promoting inhumane policies that would keep these 11 million people in the shadows so they "self-deport." Our movement has reached a tipping point and we need your help to finish the job. We need you to tell Rep. Matt Salmon to support immigration reform with the pathway to citizenship, now more than ever. It's time for Congress to pass this bill. Please tell your representative to vote YES on immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million Americans without papers.

Scott Walker is allowing a 22 mile-long, 1000 foot-deep strip mine to proceed in Northern Wisconsin's Penokee Hills region, which contains the headwaters of the Bad River and Lake Superior. The mine could cause asbestos dust and sulfuric acid leeching that would destroy the Bad River reservation, as well as many other downstream ecosystems. The mining company isn't earning our trust either - they've used private paramilitary groups for security, and Walker's DNR has pressured an educational camp be criminally prosecuted for studying the mine. We have a cabin nearby and grew up taking our kids to this beautiful, special, and sacred place. Please help us save it. --Betsy Bacon, Cornucopia, WI

Free speech

because money should not be an influence

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE, WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE

People need to know how evil the agenda is of the Koch Brothers is.

NBC Universal co-owns the Miss Universe pageant. On June 18, it was announced that the 2013 competition would be held in November in Moscow, Russia.The announcement came just one week after Russia's legislature unanimously adopted an extreme new law banning “gay propaganda” in order to crack down on its LGBT community. Under the new rules, anyone who is caught showing support for the gay community or LGBT equality can face fines or jail time for promoting gay “propaganda” to minors. Similar laws have already been used to justify violent crackdowns against LGBT people throughout parts of the country, and human rights groups have stated that the measure is in clear violation of international law. Andy Cohen, the openly gay NBC employee/Bravo star, has hosted the Miss Universe pageant for the past two years, but recently backed out of the 2013 event, citing concerns for his own safety and that of participants and spectators. Even NBC’s own employees recognize the problem with hosting an event like this in Russia in light of this new law. Just last year, the Miss Universe pageant changed its rules to allow transgender contestants to compete. The decision to host the pageant in Moscow this year is a giant step backward.

I married my husband July 24th 2013 in NY, on the two year aniversery of marriage licenses being isseued to same-sex couples in that state. My marriage to my husband is not recognized by the state of Texas. This denies us many rights. For example, to insure myself it costs $22/mo. To insure both of us, it costs well over $400/mo! By comparison, straight couples can insure their significant other for $60/mo. This blatant segregation must stop.

I'm a beekeeper so I am deeply concerned that neonicotinoid pesticides and systemic genetically modified organism acting as honey bee killers are not being properly regulated. If we aren't yet smart enough to protect our food system by protecting nature's best pollinator -- the honey bee -- then I hope we are smart enough to eliminate our local supermarkets as the end-user delivery system for pesticides in our food. Pesticide traces in the urine of children eating conventionally grown produce? Unacceptable. Pesticide traces found in fetal umbilical fluid? Unacceptable. We need GMO labeling laws now. This is the first step in recognizing that the problem of pesticides is a major health threat to human beings, too. I am reaching out to my representatives Senator Leanna Washington and Senator Shirley Kitchen to support a GMO labeling initiative in Pennsylvania. GMO labeling laws in Pennsylvania now.

After more than 30 years as host and producer of The Prison Show on KPFT I have covered the criminal justice beat nationally.