It doesn't matter what city or state you are in, nurses all deal with the same day-to-day challenges. When we encounter people at the hospital its when they are feeling their worst, they're scared, and some don't know how to express what they want so nurses are their advocates. The state of TN's average wage for a nurse in the hospital setting is 32% below national average (mind blowing). When I make this point people say "well the cost of living...". In reality, yes there's no state tax and the cost of buying a home is cheaper. Everything else is relatively the same. Another point I'd like to point out is the minimum wage in TN is $7.25 and a new grad nurse (in the Knoxville area) is started at $19.05/hour. That's a $11.80 difference. The state of CA's minimum wage is $13 hour and starts their nurses around $54/hour - a $41 difference. How are you going to justify that being equal due to the "cost of living". How do you justify a Target employee in Knoxville starting at $15/hour to a Registered Nurse starting at $19.05?? On top of the pay not being justifiable, we don't get holiday pay nor compensation if we end up getting COVID-19. Things need to change, nurses need and should to be paid much better than they are in the state of TN. Please help support us in making efforts to change this and receive the compensation we deserve.

This is an attempt by the city to divide the Westside by removing a key neighborhood (El Rio Acres or Barrio Subaco) from Ward 1 and placing it in Ward 3, which currently has no council representation. Tucson's westside has a history of unity in struggle against the city plans (like privatization of public parks) and this is an attempt to dilute the strength of the neighborhoods. Their stated plan is to redistrict these neighborhoods and afterwards to notify the residents that they have been moved. Barrio Hollywood Neighborhood Association and the El Rio Coalition and others oppose this underhanded move. Please support the westside and oppose the city redistricting plan as proposed.

It is important because the Trinity Management Council guides the multi-million dollar Trinity River Restoration Program that is designed to restore Trinity River fisheries. Liam is uniquely qualified to serve as Trinity County’s representative to the TMC. Few people know the Trinity River and its citizens more than Liam. He and his wife have owned and operated the Douglas City store for 23 years, never closing for even a day. He has been a licensed, bonded and insured guide on the Trinity River for 30 years running Trinity River Outfitters Fishing Guide Service. He has guided over 3,000 river trips, with over 20,000 man hours on the river. Liam was president of the Trinity River Guides Association and represented fishing guides as a member of the former Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG) to provide public input to the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP). Liam is working hard to reform the TRRP and its funding priorities through the newly formed Friends of the Trinity River in order to improve our decimated salmon and steelhead fisheries. Liam has been meeting with the current TRRP Executive Director and his staff on a regular basis over the last several months in order to improve communication and understanding. District 1 Supervisor Keith Groves has served as the Board representative on the TMC for several years. While we respect Keith’s intelligence and opinion, we do not feel that he adequately represents Trinity County’s interests in restoring the Trinity River. Keith is very knowledgeable on water issues, but it is clear that he does not have a passion to see the Trinity River’s fisheries restored. We have not seen him as an agent of change for the TRRP. The Board or the public rarely if ever hear reports from him on what the TRRP is doing or how the Board might take positions on water issues of concern to all of us. To the best of our knowledge, the Board of Supervisors never even protested the dissolution of the TAMWG and the end of public involvement in the TRRP. At the September meeting of the Trinity County Fish and Game Advisory Committee, Keith chastised the Committee for being concerned about issues such as the Delta Tunnel and Sites Reservoir, suggesting that they work instead on restoring yellow legged frogs in the Trinity Alps. This is the kind of argument that we hear from the Westlands Water District. It does not demonstrate a collaborative attitude about protecting and restoring the Trinity River. This effort is not intended to undermine the Board Chairman’s prerogative, but is of such great concern to us that we feel it is appropriate to inform the Board of our desire for Liam to represent Trinity County. Therefore, we respectfully support appointment of Liam Gogan as the primary Trinity County representative on the TMC.

Rahm Emanuel‘s decisions and policies as mayor had a disproportionate and racist impact on Black communities, and his agenda aided corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working Chicagoans. To aid his re-election campaign in 2015, he suppressed video footage of the 2014 murder of a 17-year-old Black child, Laquan McDonald, by Chicago police. He made history by closing 50 public schools across Chicago, primarily in the majority-Black South and West Side communities of the city—the most school closures at one time in any school districts in the nation. During his first year in office, his administration shut down half of the public mental health clinics across Chicago. Soon after taking office, he eliminated the city’s Department of Environment, and as a result, environmental regulation dropped considerably. Communities of color throughout Chicago have borne the brunt of this decision, and thousands of people (primarily Black families) have been exposed to chemical hazards and irritants as a result. And while his administration was consistently slashing public services and utilities, the city funded the construction of a brand-new, $95-million police academy on Chicago’s West Side. The Department of Transportation has unions representing over 38,000 employees at the federal and national level. As mayor of Chicago, in addition to closing 50 schools, Emanuel repeatedly attacked public unions by supporting legislation that would make it harder for teachers to strike, laid off hundreds of school staff, and threatened to lay off hundreds of city employees in order to privatize some city services. Emanuel served big business and corporate interests throughout his time as mayor, and his decisions disproportionately harmed working families and communities of color. We have no reason to believe that he’d act any differently as a member of President-elect Biden’s Cabinet. President-elect Biden is taking office during a time of deep, overlapping crises. His administration will need to be bold, ambitious, and transformative and will need to speak to the needs of everyday people, and he needs to stand up for Black communities, as he said he would last month. His appointees must reflect that vision. Rahm Emanuel's track record is an affront to everything we voted for—especially to Black Americans—and he should have no place in the new administration.

I am a parent of two Denver Public Schools middle and high school students. My children’s health, happiness and social and academic successes are important to me as they are for all parents. Transitioning into the teenage years, their bodies naturally adjust to staying up later and sleeping in (when given the opportunity) yet they still need 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night.  The current early morning start times in DPS are detrimental to their success as students and threaten their overall health.   Quality and quantity of sleep matter at all ages, but sleep is especially critical for teens. Growth and development occur during sleep and adequate sleep leads to improved attention span, attitude and overall improved health and wellness. What’s more, lack of sleep or poor quality sleep can have detrimental effects on the immune system and are tied to higher levels of stress. According to sleep specialist Wendy Troxel, a behavioral and social scientist with Rand Corp., “Research consistently finds inadequate sleep in teens is associated with increased risk of mental and physical health problems, including depression, suicide and obesity. It also creates problems with their concentration, memory, and ability to learn.” I understand that transportation logistics propose a hurdle to making schedule changes. However, we know that several other large, metro-area districts, as well as large school districts across the country, have successfully transitioned to a later start time for teens. During this unprecedented time, we have the opportunity to work solve these logistical problems and to create transportation schedules that support later start times for our middle and high schools when they return in-person learning. This petition requests that DPS create a new schedule for middle and high school students by implementing later start times to begin in the 2021-2022 school year. The science and social benefits are well documented, but here some articles that highlight important aspects of changing to a later start time:     https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/features/schools-start-too-early.html https://www.rwjf.org/en/blog/2018/02/three-reasons-to-consider-later-school-start-times.html https://www.nationaljewish.org/conditions/health-information/multimedia/facebook-live/why-do-teens-sleep-later https://www.rand.org/blog/2019/08/im-a-sleep-specialist-heres-how-i-prepare-my-two-teenagers.html https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/10/among-teens-sleep-deprivation-an-epidemic.html Show your support to implement later start times by signing this petition!

I am a parent of a 1st grade and 2 pre-k students. Remote learning cannot replace the in-person learning experience for our youngest students, and it is hurting them academically and socially. On top of that, it has put an enormous burden on parents. We need to maximize the opportunity for live instruction and interaction with peers. Tell PS130 to include Fridays in the 2 cohort hybrid learning plan.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been named Ambassador to Japan, but he hasn't yet been confirmed for the position. Emanuel had an absolutely disastrous record as mayor between 2011 and 2019. His decisions and policies had a disproportionate and racist impact on Black communities, and his agenda aided corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working Chicagoans. To aid his re-election campaign in 2015, he suppressed video footage of the 2014 murder of a 17-year-old Black child, Laquan McDonald, by Chicago police. He made history by closing 50 public schools across Chicago, primarily in the majority-Black South Side and West Side communities of the city—the most school closures at one time in any school districts in the nation. During his first year in office, his administration shut down half of the public mental health clinics across Chicago. Soon after taking office, he eliminated the city’s Department of Environment, and as a result, environmental regulation dropped considerably. Communities of color throughout Chicago have borne the brunt of this decision, and thousands of people (primarily Black and Latinx families) have been exposed to chemical hazards and irritants as a result. And while his administration was consistently slashing public services and utilities, the city funded the construction of a brand-new, $95-million police academy on Chicago’s West Side. As mayor of Chicago, in addition to closing 50 schools, Emanuel repeatedly attacked public unions by supporting legislation that would make it harder for teachers to strike, laid off hundreds of school staff, and threatened to lay off hundreds of city employees in order to privatize some city services. Emanuel served big business and corporate interests throughout his time as mayor, and his decisions disproportionately harmed working families and communities of color. There's no reason why he should be rewarded with a public office, especially one in which he is representing the United States on a global stage. We are asking that President Biden withdraws Emanuel's nomination—and we're also calling on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote to oppose it.

The Trump Administration and members of the House and Republican Senators have refused to speak truth to power and have enabled POTUS are enabling a culture of violence. This includes William Barr. -Steve Bannon Former top Trump aide - Steve Bannon’s podcast was permanently suspended by Twitter and had an episode yanked from YouTube when he " implied that FBI Director Christopher Wray and government infectious-diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci should be beheaded and have their heads put on pikes outside the White House."( Mangan, CNBC. ) - Bannon lost his Twitter and YouTube accounts as well as his lawyer. Why isn't he being prosecuted? - Gabriel Sterling from the Georgia , Secretary of State Elections office called out Potus, the Republican Senators in Washington ( as well as those running for their seats in Georgia in January for egging on the party's base. - Sterling said , " Someone's going to get Killed", the Secretary of State is getting death threats and his wife is receiving sexually explicit threats. A young technician involved in transferring some files was threatened with a call to be "hanged for treason"! -This is a culture that has been promoted by the Trump Administration and his enablers. -POTUS may "speak in code", but "Stand back and Stand by" is proof that Trump supports violence for his own political purposes. -The Attorney General, William Barr , has done nothing to help this situation as an enabler to the President. He came out on December 1 and said there was no fraud in the election uncovered that would have changed the outcome of the election. Big deal. - Action needs to be taken right now. DiGenova and Bannon should not be protected for these statements under the First Amendment. They are threats about individuals who have spoken truth to power during their official duties to our federal government. - If Barr is not willing to do this then perhaps he needs to be disbarred as well. - This is the United States of America, not an episode of "the Godfather".

Because Rahm Emanuel has a history of being hostile to policies that help The People!

If we want real Climate.and Environmental mitigation now. If we want legal authority for Social and Civil Rights now. If we want a Health Care System that is accessible to everyone. If we want to go Beyond War and put an end to the Corporate Industrial Arms manufacturing enterprise paid with our tax dollars. If we want Community Policing and not a criminalized national defense holding our most vulnerable citizens accountable while allowing white collar crime to go minimally punished. If we want real Criminal Justice Reform. Plus many more reasons we are agitating for real change.

For reasons of national security - and because voters expect it to start - the transition from the Trump administration to the new Biden administration should start, NOW!

Fossil fuel companies have they proven, with years of disinformation campaigns and efforts to slow climate action, that they will always stand in the way of true action on climate.