The online reviewing company Yelp has joined the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. They have paid thousands of dollars to sit on ALEC's Civil Justice Task Force. Whether Yelp likes it or not, that money will be used to further all areas of ALEC's pro-corporate agenda, from voter suppression and union-busting to "Stand Your Ground" laws. More info here: http://bit.ly/YelpandALEC

The purpose is to establish a Non-Partisan Independent Redistricting Committee for the drawing of legislative and congressional boundaries.

I was proud to attend the University of Virginia, which became a national model for student financial aid when it launched AccessUVa in 2004. The AccessUVa program leveled the playing field for aspiring students from low-income families already burdened with high debt or high financial need, so that they too could attend UVA. It increased diversity among the student body, and it gave back to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the country as any leading public college should. From 2004 to 2009, the number of low income students who were able to attend UVA debt-free increased by 10 percent. The program made college affordable for students like me, who otherwise wouldn't even consider applying to the University of Virginia. Despite a $5 billion endowment that has more than doubled since 2001 and makes UVA one of the richest colleges in the nation, the Board of Visitors - a Governor-appointed board responsible for long-term planning for the University - recently voted to cut funding to the AccessUVa program. This measure could force thousands of students from poor and near poor families to take out nearly $30,000 in student loans. It will prevent talented young people from joining the ranks of proud Virginia students and alumni. Ending AccessUVa as we know it breaks UVA's commitment to student quality and hurts the University in ways that will be felt for years. Join me in signing this petition and demand that the Board of Visitors fully reinstate the Access UVA financial aid program to keep UVA accessible and affordable for all students. -- Mary Nguyen Barry, Class of 2010

Born and raised in Los Angeles, I cherish the mountain ranges that surround me. Not only are they a gorgeous backdrop to my city, but they provide a unique way of life. I have fond memories of hiking with my family, cliff jumping into deep pools of icy water with friends, and taking long drives through the Angeles National Forest on the CA-2. President Obama wants to increase fracking on federal public lands as part of his climate solution, but that plan would only create more problems. In California, this would open up the Angeles National Forest, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and the Los Padres National Forest to fracking, and could impact Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. The fracking industry will destroy our roads and infrastructure, clear our forests and habitats, threaten wildlife and increase air pollution. Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," injects millions of gallons of fracking fluids — a mixture of nearly 600 chemicals, water and sand — into a well to create pressure that cracks open rocks underground, releasing natural gas and oil. Help protect California's national parks and open spaces from fracking.

My family lives in Pekin, Illinois, which is just downwind of the Edwards coal-fired power plant. I am the mother of two wonderful children who grew up here in Pekin, both of whom have respiratory ailments they have struggled with throughout their lives. My daughter’s terrible chronic asthma attacks started as a baby. As I would drive her to the Emergency Room I would wonder what I was doing wrong as a mother to cause her suffering. But after I learned more about the community I live in, I began to realize that the polluting facilities around me were likely what was causing her health problems, and I vowed to fight for clean air from this day forward. The Edwards coal plant has been operating in my community for 52 years and does not have modern pollution controls. Pollution levels in the county that I live in were documented by EPA as the highest in the state, causing the area to be designated as in “non-attainment” by USEPA last month. Yet, in the next few weeks, the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) is poised to give the plant’s future owner a permission to keep operating this out of date coal plant until 2020 without reducing its dangerous air pollution. I will no longer sit by as this coal plant makes my children and my community sick, and continues to receive permission to pollute from our state government. Enough is enough – please join me in urging Governor Quinn and the Illinois Pollution Control Board not to let Dynegy off the hook for polluting across Illinois. A Texas-based energy company called Dynegy is in the process of buying five dirty Illinois coal plants from Ameren, including the Edwards plant in my community. Dynegy has said publically that they will only buy these plants if they are guaranteed not to have to follow state pollution laws until 2020. As a mother, I see this like telling a car dealer I will only buy a car for my 15 year old daughter if they can guarantee she can disobey all traffic laws. This is irresponsible and wrong. The proposal isn’t only dangerous and wrong, it is also in violation of the IPCB’s own rules. The rules specify that variances can only be granted to the owners of the polluting facilities, but Ameren’s sale of five Illinois coal plants to Dynegy isn’t expected to be completed until the end of this year. The request Dynegy has filed with the IPCB asks for an exemption that would allow the coal plants to exceed state pollution limits for sulfur dioxide and other dangerous pollutants for the next five years. I, too, have developed chronic asthma and now know what it feels like to struggle for my next breath. I now carry an inhaler with me at all times. Governor Quinn's Pollution Control Board will soon choose between cleaner air in Illinois and the dirty profits of an out-of-state energy company. It is going to take strong grassroots pressure to persuade them to make the right choice. I hope you will join me.

This affects every tax payer in the United States. Why should the U.S. Tax Payer subsidies multi-billion dollar corporations because they fail to pay their employees a DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING??

The signers of this petition, along with the combined 15 million members of MoveOn.org, America's Voice, 18Million Rising, We Belong Together, and CREDO Action, call on you to stand strong and take the step that your well meaning colleagues have not had the courage to. Please take the lead in this historic moment by introducing a discharge petition to bring the Senate immigration bill to the House floor, if Speaker John Boehner refuses to do it himself.

WSSC water rates for PG and Mont. County residents (in Md.) have increased 60% in the last 6 years! (That's 7-10% each year during this recession.) WSSC Commissioners will soon be deciding on next year's increase. Please help us stop them from placing such an intolerable financial burden on Marylanders.

It's time for Afro-Americans to receive their reparation we have given reparation to the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indians and now Mexicans. It is now time for black people to receive their promised 40 acres and a mule.

North Carolina House Bill 589, which requires voters to show ID, restricts early voting and ends early registration for teenagers under the age of 18, among other changes. This bill sorely infringes upon the rights of North Carolina voters.

More than $5 billion has been cut from Georgia’s schools in the past decade. Students in two-thirds of Georgia school districts (121 out of 180) have a shortened school year. Many students attend class as little as 144 days. Thousands of Georgia teachers have seen pay cuts since 2008 in the form of furlough days. And even during these pay cuts, teachers pay for school supplies out of their own pockets. We thank teachers for their commitment to our students, but it shouldn’t be this way. Education should be a priority in Georgia, not a political talking point. Gov. Deal says education is important but he has signed budget cuts for schools every year. We’re asking the Governor and his office to stand with teachers. As a symbol of commitment to our children and schools, the Governor and his office should personally pay for all of their own office supplies until every student in Georgia has a full school year and a quality education.

We must end the use of "reference man," a 150 lb. adult, white male, of western-European descent and custom, that determines allowable levels of contaminant exposure to workers and populations adjacent to nuclear facilities, many of whom are Indigenous, land-based, and people of color. Women are twice as likely to get cancer from the same dose as a man, and infants three times as likely. Contaminants can also cross placental boundaries. Environmental exposure regulations and clean-up standards need to protect those most vulnerable to the toxins released by all contaminating industries, including nuclear facilities. When we protect those most vulnerable, we protect us all.