The DEP has designated Silver Springs as impaired, with a nitrate level that is triple the maximum pollution threshold set by the agency. The Silver Springs Basin Management Plan (BMAP) will be the vehicle through which Marion County, joined by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, will try to curtail the flushing of nitrates into the springs. While eventually the plan will seek to identify and neutralize the pollutants at their source, the critical first step is defining the boundary of the springshed that feeds Silver Springs. Doing so will concentrate the anti-pollution efforts to come, said Mary Paulic, a DEP environmental consultant. A recent suggestion was made at a public meeting to exclude the Adena Springs Ranch slaughterhouse and surrounding areas from being included in this plan. This suggestion was made by an employee of Adena Springs Ranch and runs contrary to the discussion at the 3/14/13 meeting where Shane Williams stated the general feeling was the larger version of the springshed, should be used as the basis for this plan.

Pennsylvania's legislature cost us $309 million last year. By comparison, California, a state more than twice the size of PA, spent only $256 million. That works out to over $1.2 million per legislator. To make matters worse, the PA General Assembly held on to a $140 million slush fund. All of this while cutting programs that benefit working families. Tell the Governor, your State Senator and your State Representative to cut their budgets before even considering cutting programs that help hard working tax payers. If there needs to be sacrifice, they should be first in line.

Right now Chris Christie is traveling the state promoting his election-year tax plan that gives tax breaks to people making $400,000 a year and will prevent us from creating jobs and giving New Jersey a real recovery. Three years of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations haven’t brought New Jersey the jobs it desperately needs. And Christie's paid for those tax cuts by slashing investments that would give us a real New Jersey comeback. Another giveaway to people making $400,000 only makes investing in schools, colleges and clean energy even harder. So far Democratic leaders like Sheila Oliver are standing strong against a bad idea. Tell Speaker Oliver that you’re with her on this one.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or simply autism is a brain development disorder in which most people that have this issue are diagnosed between the ages of 5-17. Autism is identified in 1 out of 88 American children. Out of that group of statistics, 1 out of 54 boys and 1 out of 252 girls are diagnosed with the autism disorder. The thing is most students in middle school or high school have the possibility of taking a class with an autistic person. Most cases of this happening, the students have never learned what autism actually is and it could lead to bullying because the autistic student is viewed "differently." My goal is to help get autism as a subject of study in health and education classes for these students in middle and high school.

Their failure to pass simple legislation as it relates to gun control, background checks for gun shows and online purchases, etc. There is absolutely no reason for them to continue cow-towing to the NRA leadership who do not even listen to 80% of their own members, much less the 90% of everyone else in the nation. We, the people, are getting organized and your cushy job is in danger. We are tired of your allegiance to NRA, ALEC and other lobbyists. Yes, all of you should be ashamed. You don't even care about Aurora, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and other victims. Your actions have proven that. So beware. Elections will follow and your name may not rise to the top afterwards.

During the early evening commute hours, traffic backs up, sometimes as far as Castro Valley Rd. (The Gavilian College Exit.) This backup most likely results from people stopping at the top of the offramp to let others get onto the SB101 onramp. This "courteous" gesture places those exiting SB101 in grave danger. Most people traveling down 101 are not aware they're approaching stopped cars at the speed limit or better. Commuters desperately need Caltrans to take action.

Did you know that if a Juvenile is found incompetent to stand trial, charges are dismissed. My granddaughter and another child are victims of rape by a 16 year old boy that fell into this category, Charges were dismissed!! Where is the justice??????????

The sequester is going to get more and more expensive to us ordinary Americans. We will all pay in time wasted, jobs lost, and goods and services wasted. Lets send the responsible congressmen a bill for the loss their playing politics is causing us.

Sexual violence in the U.S. military is a crisis. The Pentagon estimates that sexual assaults increased from 19,000 in 2011 to 26,000 in 2012. That's 71 sexual assaults EVERY DAY, and in roughly 56% of cases, the victims are men. Making matters worse, each branch of the armed forces has its own judicial system. It's currently legal for base commanders to overturn a jury's guilty verdict, as happened at Aviano Air Force Base in February 2013. The STOP Act takes the prosecution, reporting, oversight, investigation, and victim care of sexual assaults out of the normal military chain of command -- which has proven grossly ineffective -- and places jurisdiction in an autonomous Sexual Assault Oversight and Response Office. Join us to help pass it.

My parents pay about 25 percent of their monthly income on meds. This doesn't sound reasonable to me. I thought with the passage of the Affordable Health care act by the Obama administration the cost of meds would go down.

Let the Mayor and the Town of Pinedale know that you want to keep the FREE covered wagon shuttle operating this summer!

Who was Toussaint Louverture? Would the United States of America have become the greatest power in the world without…? Toussaint Louverture was first this young, skinny, and shy slave, but with a dream to free his people; and he did! He would become the general-in-chief then the Governor General of the most important French colony in the Caribbean. He would say, NO to Napoleon's grandiose project to expand his empire to the American continent after being ceded the vast Louisiana Territories in October 1800. He defeated Napoleon who took the matter to the force of arms, forcing the latter to sell the Louisiana territory in 1803. Toussaint was viewed here as the indirect means of expansion of the United States 16 colonies to the West with the acquisition of the vast Louisiana Territory for only 15 million dollars, or four (4) cents an acre. It was the greatest land bargain in history. With the Louisiana Purchase deal, the United States had doubled its size. “Thus, all of Indian Territory, all of Kansas and Nebraska and Iowa and Wyoming and Montana and the Dakotas and most of Colorado and Minnesota and all of Washington and Oregon States, came to us as the indirect work of a despised negro. Praise, if you will, the work of a Robert Livingston or a Jefferson, but today let us not forget our debt to Toussaint Louverture...” Rev. Talmage De Witt wrote (Christian Herald, New York City, November 28, 1908.) More importantly, between 1796 and 1797, at Toussaint’s invitation the government of John Adams had joined Toussaint in a trade agreement with the British that would authorize the latter to trade in all Haiti’s ports and would also safeguard the US goods to reach Europe through Haiti (then the most important colony of France) thereby would help the American merchants to by-pass trade embargo by European powers against the United States. Such trade treaties were indeed vital to the American economy. To facilitate the trade with the French colony Haiti, the US treasury department had passed a law that allowed the use of the French currency in the United States. The late French President Francois Mitterrand said: “Toussaint Louverture was the symbol of freedom for not only blacks but for us all.” Despite all the glories Toussaint had remained a very humble man. In his speech dated August 1797, just a month before his nomination as the general-in-chief of the army, Toussaint Louverture declared: “I was born slave but nature gave me the soul of a free man. Every day I raised my hands in prayer to God to implore him to come to the aid of my brethren and to shed the light of mercy upon them.” In analyzing Toussaint’s remarkable character a certain psychic elevation to spirituality can also be noted, which in turn elevated him above all blacks, whites, or mulattos. This was the origin of his unconquerable power. "Toussaint Louverture, in the words of Dr Wesley- Smith, was one of the truest and noblest of his or any race. He was pure, when to be otherwise was no discredit; grateful when ingratitude was the rule, and self-sacrificing when individual aspiration seldom extended beyond self-interest. More than any other man he contributed to the honor and reputation of that division of mankind with which he was allied by blood and birth." PETITION STATEMENT We, the undersigned of this formal document, request the honor of the United States Congress to consider declaring April 7th as a TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE MEMORIAL DAY, in order to educate our school aged children, the nation, and the whole wide world about the deeds and legacy of this great Champion of Freedom. For we believe that it is an honor for us as a country among others and as a grateful nation among the few to have a day of reflection in honor of this great champion of freedom, “this spirit of peace, the patriot, the father, and benefactor of mankind.” The success of this petition will make the world a better place where people could live in greater harmony, love, and peace. It will also be a source of widespread pride for the people from the Caribbean islands, North, and South America. Last but not least, it will also be the victory of GOOD over EVIL. PS: If you are interested in learning more about Toussaint Louverture, consider this book, titled: “Toussaint Louverture: A Missing Hero from American History” written by Jacques A. Dorcely. Please contact Imperial Book Company at (631) 929-8424