Snow days were a magical part of childhood for many of us. Waking up to see a world covered in white, to hear that your school days was canceled, and to learn that occasionally we throw away our routines to play, to marvel at the natural world, and to drink hot chocolate. However, following the city's expansion of remote learning during the pandemic, Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks said that when in-person school is canceled, students would pivot to remote learning. Chromebooks are sent home, schedules are posted on digital classrooms, and the business of school continues. It's unfortunate and unnecessary. Remote learning is a poor substitute for in-person learning as students, educators, and parents all agreed, especially for early learners. The educational gaps we worry about aren't made or broken by one day of zoom tutelage. And, sadly, the tech just isn't up to snuff. Even with a day's notice, the Department of Education's digital hub went down Tuesday morning, leaving many students unable to access the tools they were told were required for the day. This sent parents into the spiral of being tech support, at-home educational aides, and frustrated disciplinarians. All while the snow fell outside. It makes sense in an era of increased climate emergencies such as last summer's toxic-air days to have remote options. But it also makes sense to let kids experience and enjoy a day that's different than others ... especially one that's rarer and rarer. So there are many steps the DOE can take: Clearer plans and tools for remote learning; an investment in digital literacy that includes online security and privacy; an assurance that the commercial vendors we're using aren't commodifying our students' digital information; and good old-fashion projects that kids can work on OFF of their computers ... on their own, with siblings and friends, or with caregivers, depending on their home situation. But one other thing the DOE and City can do: Bring back the snow day.

Thousands of children in our State, have been sexually abused by Christian clergy every year. And although 28 states already mandate clergy to report any form of child maltreatment, New York state has yet to approve such an important measure. As of now, if a member of the clergy in our State suspects that a child in the congregation has been abused, that clergyperson isn't legally required to report it!    This is morally and legally unacceptable because sexual abuse at the hands of clergy is still a persistent problem in our state and throughout the western world. Hence, it must be addressed quickly for the safety of our children and all vulnerable adults in NY state. Therefore, we must not delay, do our part and support this important legislation. We can do so by doing the following. I already did it and it's quite easy! It is therefore important to advocate for moving the bill out of committee; to do so contact the Chair of the Committee on Children and Families, Senator Jabari Brisport, tel. (718) 643-6140. Email: [email protected]   As the Chairman, Senator Brisport has full autonomy regarding when a bill would be taken up by his or her committee and subsequently brought to the floor for a vote. However, the committee is not likely to meet until the start of the next Legislative Session in January, and this legislation will have a different bill number   So I urge Senator Brisport and all NY State senators to support Bill S3158, approve it asap, and send it to the Governor for her signature- as soon as the State Legislature reconvenes this January. I also urge all adult NY State residents to contact their State Senators and Governor Hochul and tell her to pass this significant legislation.   If you don’t know who your state senator is, just Google: “Find my state senator”, enter your address and zip code, and send him/her the message below: Please approve Senate Bill 2023-S3158, the CARE ACT, which requires that all NY State clergy be mandated reporters so that children and all vulnerable adults are better protected from clergy sexual predators.   To write the Governor, Google: contact NY State Governor   We must do all we can to support and help pass this bill for the safety of innocent persons and children. If you don't know who your senator is, find out at: https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator SOURCES 1) Senate Bill 2023-S3158, visit: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/S3158 2) . Pope leads top cardinals in atoning for a host of sins ahead of a new phase of reform effort. AP News.  October 1, 2024.  https://apnews.com/article/vatican-synod-reform-women-c8aa79a5e69120f7377d90f5219d443c 3) In Belgium, pope apologizes for clergy abuse; prime minister says words alone are insufficient. National Catholic Reporter. 27 Sept 2024.  https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/belgium-pope-apologizes-clergy-abuse-prime-minister-says-words-alone-are 4) Debate over clergy exemption pits sanctity of confession against child safety |National Catholic Reporter. 3 Apr 2023. https://www.ncronline.org/news/debate-over-clergy-exemption-pits-sanctity-confession-against-child-safety#:~:text=%22Protecting%20the%20child,as%20a%20priest. 5)  Expanding Clergy Sexual Abuse Probe Targets New Orleans Catholic Church Leaders. Associated Press. May 1, 2024 https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-05-01/expanding-clergy-sexual-abuse-probe-targets-new-orleans-catholic-church-leaders#:~:text=Home-,Expanding%20Clergy%20Sexual%20Abuse%20Probe%20Targets%20New%20Orleans%20Catholic%20Church%20Leaders,Comment,-More 6) The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse, Then and Now", Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective. March 2019  https://origins.osu.edu/article/catholic-church-sexual-abuse-pope-confession-priests-nuns. 

This is important to every Florida resident as it not only cost an insane amount of monetary lose, but also results in inaccurate arrest records, jail time, attorney/bond fees. As well as over crowding our jails and straining our already over worked judicial system. Leaving a broken system that just continues to diminish.

The FCC’s current proposed rule is the best chance we’ve had to reinstate net neutrality since the Trump administration destroyed the regulations in 2017. But telecom lobbyists and their allies are hitting DC in an all-out effort to water down or block the recently proposed net neutrality rules. They’re even placing misleading, sensationalist op-eds in local papers across the country. While these lobbyists and their Republican allies want to characterize net neutrality as a “takeover” of the internet, the fact is that these protections act to keep broadband free and open for all, and out of the hands of Big Cable. Net neutrality remains hugely popular across the country. In October, Demand Progress joined with over 30 partner organizations to relaunch Battle for the Net, so people can tell the FCC and Congress why net neutrality is important to them. At the end of the comment period in January, over 100,000 activists had filed comments in support. That’s an incredible start, but now we need to pile on the pressure as the FCC prepares to finalize the rule! This is the best chance we’ve had at reversing the Trump administration’s disastrous policy and winning a free and open internet! Add your name: The FCC must save net neutrality now!

Sherburne County has been in the inhumane business of profiting off of immigrant detention since the 1990s, striking a deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The immigrants jailed in Sherburne County Jail aren’t incarcerated as punishment for a crime, but rather because the federal government plans to deport them. What’s more, the conditions immigrants experience in the jail are abhorrent and inhumane. Immigrants are not allowed to have face-to-face visits with their families or to go outside while in custody, which can last over a year; are sent to solitary confinement as punishment for the most minor infractions; are denied culturally sensitive resources; and, as the American Immigration Lawyers Association reports, are often barred from meeting with their attorneys; and are routinely jailed under these conditions for years. Sherburne County should not try to profit from failed immigration policies that divide our community and harm our neighbors. Instead, we should let immigrants stay home with their families while they go through the legal process. That’s how we handled immigration throughout most of this country’s history, and that is the right approach for the people of Sherburne County. The voices of constituents deserve to be heard. Add your name to tell the Sherburne County Board of Commissioners to hold a hearing to discuss the renewal of the contract between the Sherburne County Jail and ICE.

Please help us petition lawmakers to pass the FIGHT Act, H.R. 2742/S. 1529, The Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act and to build law enforcement for animal welfare and protection within Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. -- no matter what it's status is -- and therefore, so too is the corruption that has breed cruelty towards animals in Puerto Rico. The FIGHT Act is a much needed step towards humane treatment of animals in Puerto Rico. The necessary law enforcement is equally important for the enforcement of animal rights laws. The FIGHT ACT must include law enforcement support and measures. Puerto Rico does not need one more law that WILL NOT BE ENFORCED! Please leave a comment to express your thoughts to lawmakers.

The Prothonotary’s Office is the only acceptance facility in Carbon County. Now residents and our elderly residents have to travel to neighboring counties for these services.

This year 41 million Gen Zers will be eligible to vote. Twice-impeached and disgraced former president Donald Trump is running again, despite currently facing 91 felony charges. The stakes are high and the foundation of our democracy is literally on the line—along with abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, labor rights, and more. We need every person to be politically engaged and active to fight back against the rise of the far right, and vote to transform our government into one that truly works for all of us. As a prominent celebrity frequently featured in the media, Taylor Swift has an opportunity to reach voters on a tremendous scale. Taylor Swift has a busy schedule, with a new album coming out in April and the continuation of her viral and successful Eras Tour, assuring that she will continue to be in the media spotlight for the rest of the year. The right-wing is spreading conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift and the election because they are afraid of her—and they want to stoke fear and paranoia to dissuade her from having an impact. It's textbook fragile masculinity, and we call their bluff. Tell Taylor Swift to actually give them something to talk about. Leverage all the media attention by flashing a QR code during her fall Eras Tour to help register new voters.

The Federal Health Emergency for COVID expired in May 2023, stripping everyday people from the resources and support they needed to manage community care and health. Now private insurance companies are no longer required to cover the costs of testing, pushing the most reliable form of testing for early detection, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests, out of reach for many. And in March 2024, the government stopped the popular program that gave households access to four free at-home antigen tests per month. Over the past three years, we were able to use tools like testing, among other interventions, to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and help save lives. And it worked. We were able to drastically reduce infections and deaths. But with new variants emerging, cases are on the rise and hospitalizations are spiking. We can’t repeat past mistakes and allow COVID to once again spiral out of control. Add your name to call on our government to keep testing FREE and make it even more accessible by not only bringing back the USPS program, but also increasing the number of antigen tests each household can request. Last updated on March 14, 2024

FOR THE STUDENTS!

The Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act have allocated billions of taxpayer dollars and created tax credits to support the creation of a hydrogen economy. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm first announced plans to bring down the price of hydrogen in 2021. Since then, her agency has led a process to create hydrogen hubs across the country. The idea is to use public funds to create a hydrogen industry by establishing regional hubs, or constellations of business ventures dedicated to hydrogen production, transportation, storage, and consumption. The DOE received at least 79 applications for hubs. In October, President Biden announced the seven hubs selected to receive a combined $7 billion. The hubs were selected, in part, based on the kind of hydrogen they would produce. Today, more than 95% of hydrogen is produced from methane gas using a process called steam methane reforming. It’s referred to as gray hydrogen. Because hydrogen can be produced by various methods from different feedstocks, scientists have begun assigning colors to differentiate its many forms. Black and brown are made from coal. They are all considered to be dirty forms of hydrogen. The DOE’s hubs would support forms of hydrogen the agency has put in the clean column, including pink made from nuclear energy, green made from renewable energy, and blue made from methane. Blue hydrogen is gray hydrogen with carbon capture and storage (CCS) added to the process. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as clean hydrogen. No matter the color of the rainbow it has been assigned, hydrogen has profound impacts on health and the environment and exacerbates climate change. Blue hydrogen, for instance, relies on unproven, some say disproven, CCS technology to address the CO2 emissions and locks in powerful methane emissions that come from creating the feedstock and powering the CCS process. Even green hydrogen considered to be the cleanest of the clean is anything but. Whether it’s green, pink, blue, orange, yellow, turquoise, white or any other color on the H2 rainbow, it is, after all, still hydrogen. - Hydrogen is the smallest molecule, which makes it prone to leaking. - Hydrogen is a highly flammable gas. - Hydrogen’s NOx emissions when combusted can be six times higher than methane’s. - Hydrogen is an indirect greenhouse gas whose Global Warming Potential, or GWP, is roughly 12 times that of CO2. Still other problems make hydrogen an impractical solution to the climate crisis. Producing hydrogen is extremely costly and energy-intensive. Producing green hydrogen is still prohibitively expensive and its renewable energy feedstock is still relatively scarce. Using renewable energy directly to electrify is far more efficient. Hydrogen is just one of the false climate solutions the fossil fuel industry has been promoting so it can continue to do business as usual. The resources going into creating a hydrogen economy should be going to pay for deployment of real, available, and scalable renewable energy solutions. Hydrogen is a distraction that is robbing us of time we don’t have to take real steps to address the climate crisis. Since June of 2021 when Secretary Granholm first announced the initiative to bring down the price of hydrogen, the public has been given little information about this tectonic economic shift and no voice in deciding if it is the right way forward. That is unacceptable. Tell the Department of Energy that our new economy must be built on truly clean and renewable energy solutions and that hydrogen has no place in it.

We want to keep the toxic load to our children, pets and all residents low. Many children use this park lawn daily, often with bare feet and we want to ensure that they are not exposed to chemicals while at play.