This week millions of Americans should be getting their stimulus checks in their bank accounts. But some may never see that money -- because the Trump Administration is allowing big banks to take it away. Congress excluded government debt from the stimulus checks, but did not explicitly ban private debt collectors and banks from seizing an individual's stimulus money and applying it to existing debts. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown asked the Treasury Department to write rules banning banks and debt collectors from taking the stimulus checks away from Americans. The American Prospect revealed that the Treasury Department is telling banks they can seize those checks. We cannot allow Wall Street and the big banks to undermine these desperately needed economic stimulus funds. This money is designed to help people pay their rent and put food on the table. We have to stop the banks from taking that money away from people who need it.

With our nation facing a devastating health and financial crisis, we need, in the Office of The Vice President, a woman whose intelligence, tenacity, and integrity is beyond reproach; a woman broadly respected by the Democratic Party; a woman FEARED by the usual suspects, who are already using this crisis for their own enrichment and to further dismantle the laws and regulations which protect: the working class, our most vulnerable citizens, the environment, and everyone’s right to be heard and represented. Elizabeth Ann Warren has the intelligence, heart, and grit we trust and need, at this pivotal moment in our nation’s history. No other Vice-Presidential choice will do! Joe, No matter how high we rise, our time on this Earth is limited, yet the touches of our lives may reach distant generations. The future’s faces will smile more, or less, depending upon the choices you will make as our President. Please help end the stark division in which children smile more, and which smile less. We live in an age of miracles. We can all live happier and healthier lives, and have more cherished moments, with those we love, but we need partnerships of equality and equity to arrive there. That is what we are asking Joe. Stand beside Elizabeth, and together, help heal a nation, and lead the way to more meaningful and rewarding lives for all. God bless you, Sir, the undersigned

Gov. Edwards is pushing a political agenda that goes directly against the guidelines of medical professionals. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, along with several other medical organizations, issued a statement calling abortion "...an essential component of comprehensive health care" and that the "...consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being." People choose to have an abortion for a myriad of reasons, all of which are valid. At a time of great financial and employment uncertainty, forcing people to continue unwanted pregnancies is a gross violations of their rights. Abortion clinics in Louisiana are open and we need to pressure Gov. Edwards to make sure they stay that way.

We are currently living through a global pandemic. The CDC recommends avoiding large gatherings and staying physically distanced from each other. These social distancing guidelines would be undermined if voters gather in crowds at polling locations to vote. As of the time that I am writing this petition(4/14/20), Rhode Island currently has 2,976 total confirmed cases of covid-19 and 73 confirmed deaths. These numbers have been retrieved from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/. Our social distancing efforts would be undermined by holding elections as normal and forcing people into groups in confined spaces such as polling locations. In addition the votes that would be collected if the voting was held as normal would be significantly depressed as many polling workers/ volunteers and voters would opt to stay at home versus risking their lives or the lives of their loved ones to have a say in the democratic process. This is unacceptable when we have an alternative solution that will allow Rhode Islanders to vote while allowing them to stay safe at home.

The article states, "The amount of waste is staggering. The nation’s largest dairy cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, estimates that farmers are dumping as many as 3.7 million gallons of milk each day. A single chicken processor is smashing 750,000 unhatched eggs every week. And the costs of harvesting, processing and then transporting produce and milk to food banks or other areas of need would put further financial strain on farms that have seen half their paying customers disappear. Exporting much of the excess food is not feasible either, farmers say, because many international customers are also struggling through the pandemic and recent currency fluctuations make exports unprofitable." We need to stand together during this pandemic and make sure food gets to the millions of hungry citizens in our country. We need to support our farmers! Tell the Federal Government to stop this waste and give back to the hungry while supporting our farmers.

Update: The Essential Workers Bill of Rights is now part of the HEROES Act, which the House passed on May 15, 2020. Now it's up to the Senate to bring the HEROES Act to the floor for a debate and vote, to pass critical protections for essential workers and other urgent forms of pandemic relief. Essential workers are on the frontlines of this pandemic, and many are working in high-risk conditions without appropriate equipment, safety standards, or job protections. Workers who remain on the job without the ability to telework during this emergency include doctors, nurses, home care workers and other healthcare workers, grocery store and drug store employees, domestic workers, food service workers, federal, state, and municipal employees, janitorial staff, farm workers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, transportation workers, and child care workers. These workers put their health on the line when they go to work every day. In New York City, 41 transit workers have died as of April 8, and reports of essential worker deaths are on the rise. There are grocery workers who are denied sick leave and whose companies won’t provide masks or allow masks to be worn in stores. And health care workers including medical technicians, orderlies, EMTs, nurses, doctors, hospital employees are working long hours to save lives while their own families are on the edge of health and financial disaster. The country has a moral responsibility to protect essential worker’s health, to create financial security for their loved ones, and to offer peace of mind during a time of heightened mortal and emotional stress. This includes policies like healthcare, paid sick leave, and workplace health standards to protect against more workers getting sick. We need hazard pay and childcare to properly compensate the risk workers are taking to benefit us, and enable them to keep coming to work. And we need to hold corporations who don’t follow these guidelines accountable because lives are on the line. Congress continues to debate more relief efforts as the coronavirus pandemic deepens the health and economic crisis hitting our nation. The next bill must meet the needs of people and our communities, with an essential worker bill of rights, and not provide more corporate bailout funds. Congress should ensure that any taxpayer dollars handed to corporations go to help workers, not wealthy CEOs, rich shareholders, or the President’s cronies. Congress should pass an Essential Workers Bill of Rights, including: 1. Health and safety protections 2. Robust premium compensation 3. Protections for collective bargaining agreements 4. Truly universal paid sick leave and family and medical leave 5. Protections for whistleblowers 6. An end to worker misclassification 7. Health care security 8. Support for child care 9. Treat workers as experts 10. Hold corporations accountable for meeting their responsibilities

The COVID-19 pandemic is tragically displaying the consequences of our world's broken relationship with wildlife and wild places. Experts believe that the current coronavirus likely originated with the close interaction with wildlife—that may have been illegally trafficked—in a live animal market in Wuhan, China. The disease may have originated in bats and moved to an intermediary host—possibly the highly endangered pangolin, the most trafficked mammal on earth—from which the disease jumped to humans. We have been here before. SARS, Ebola, and HIV all likely originated from the exploitation of wildlife, including threatened and endangered species. Now is the time to learn from our past actions. We must put an end to wildlife trafficking immediately. And, we must stop the unsustainable exploitation of wildlife more broadly. This is the second leading cause of the biodiversity crisis. The destruction of biodiversity, including the poaching and trafficking of wildlife, puts people in incredible danger in a variety of ways: it spreads disease, jeopardizes security, undermines the rule of law, and threatens local economies that depend on nature. This current situation helps to crystalize that good wildlife policy and conservation funding, including for enforcement, must be a very high priority to protect our health, communities, and future. Finally, it is essential to recognize that humans have all contributed to the biodiversity crisis we face, with a million species at risk of extinction in the near future. But this is no excuse for racial, ethnic, or other discrimination or retaliation. Cultures across the globe, including ours and yours, engage in some practices that are not compatible with protecting the diversity of life that exists on our planet and ourselves. And every culture has something to mend and contribute to global efforts to protect our gift of biodiversity that sustains us all. We applaud countries that have re-acknowledged the threats of wildlife trafficking by establishing and enforcing permanent bans on this illegal and deadly trade. Please join us in calling for the World Health Organization, UN and World Organization for Animal Health to take immediate action to close live wildlife markets and ban wildlife trafficking.

It is important because Wawa makes people happy

As an ordained clergy person and seminary professor, I am witness to the stories of many colleagues in ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clergy of many faiths have shared stories of mourning that has been interrupted by isolation and disrupted by distancing. Clergy are doing their best to provide funerals when no one can gather, and comfort families who have had to let their loved one die alone. Still, it is becoming more clear all the time that our country as a whole will need an opportunity to grieve the losses we have all felt. We especially need to honor those whose lives were taken by the virus while they were serving the common good as doctors, nurses, first responders, and other public servants. We call upon congress to provide leadership, making time and space for the nation to grieve together when the time is right. We call upon congress to close all government offices on that day, and ask other institutions to close as well. Let us be a nation that mourns together, even as we affirm the value of serving the common good. (photo: Mark Zastrow - creative commons)

Substitute Teachers make up a very important segment of the states schools workforce. If substitutes stop working school districts will eventually be paralyzed trying to fill the gap. Sub Teachers should have the right to write off things like gas, lunches, supplies and insurance. Those rights are being denied because instead of paying on a 1099-Misc that allows those deductions they pay on a W2 effectively telling the IRS we are employees when they continually tell us we're not. The hypocrisy must end!

Over the span of 2020 more than 52 million Americans have filed unemployment claims across the country because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This amounts to nearly 15% of the US population who are now out of a job—and that's only those who have formally applied for benefits. The actual number of newly unemployed people is likely much larger and will continue to increase in coming months. Many people who are laid off due to COVID19 won't find work for a very long time, maybe never because some jobs lost today won't be coming back. People will need time and resources to learn and develop a new skill. By ending the $600 per week additional unemployment assistance too soon, we will certainly be dooming people to tragic futures. This will have far reaching ramifications. We need to look out for each other during these unprecedented times. Please let's help each other save and serve those who are in most need. Extend the COVID 19 Emergency $600 per week additional unemployment assistance well beyond July 31, 2020, until at least December 31, 2021 and longer if necessary. Reach me @the_draden_saga on Instagram or email

We need measures that alleviate the devastating financial burden facing many low-income and working-class renters, who have lost some or all of their income due to COVID-19. According to Proposal 1 by the Joint Special Committee for Coronavirus Response, evictions would be prohibited for the duration of the emergency for these households, but tenants would still be held accountable for all of their back rent when the Executive Order is lifted. This is unacceptable. Already too many Oregonians are cost-burdened by their rent. Facing added cumulative debt means either eviction and houselessness, turning to predatory lenders, or going without essentials that many are already struggling to afford. This is not a time when the most vulnerable should be concerned about their basic human needs.