On the poster presentation day for the neuroscience department, I was sick with a 100-degree fever, chills, sweats, etc. I made my advisors aware of the situation and was reassured to "feel better and do not worry about it" and "do my best". Within the week between my defense and the due date for the printed thesis, my second advisor did not respond to my e-mails (upward of 15 now). Since I was unable to obtain his signature and I was sick for the poster session, my thesis was failed. I met with the committee to explain the circumstances. They agreed to pass my honors thesis on the contingency that I accept such a low grade that my GPA drop over .5, jeopardizing my plans to attend medical school. This penalization has yet to be justified. If I take an "independent study" however, my work will receive an A-.

The roads chosen here in Cook County already exist, no new roads will be built. If you, like myself, enjoy driving the way back roads to see and visit parts of the county few see join me and sign showing your support.

Terre Haute has been trying to attract Target to come to our city for many years. We have had several higher-end retailers leave recently, which leaves us very few places to shop and many people out of work. We are primed and ready for Target to come to town. They would make a huge impact on our community.

Update: Alejandra Juarez was deported on August 3, 2018. A bill has been introduced in the new Congress that will allow her to come home. Please sign our petition in support of the new bill. https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/bring-alejandra-home?source=c.em&r_by=18069385 Alejandra Juarez (Case # A077265754) is scheduled to be deported later this month. She has lived in the United States for more than twenty years and has not committed any crimes since her illegal entry as a teenager. She came to the United States in 1998 to escape violence in Mexico. Since then, she has learned English, married a United States marine, raised their first daughter alone for two years while he served in Iraq, and continued to raise two daughter who are both U.S. citizens. She is a valued member of her church where she assists with their ministry to feed the poor. Alejandra’s deportation will cause great harm to her children who were not even born when she came to the United States. Her oldest daughter Pamela wants to become a doctor and now faces the likelihood that she will graduate high school and start college without her mother, who has always been her biggest supporter, at her side. Pamela recently started working to save up money so that she can visit Alejandra in Mexico. Her youngest daughter Estela is too young to be without her mother, so Alejandra’s deportation will essentially deport her as well, even though she is a U.S. citizen and this country is the only home she has ever known. Please allow Alejandra to stay in the United States with her children.

Animal testing is unethical and cruel on animals. In a video, part of a dog's skin is burned to test a burn medication. The dog screams from pain. In the same video, a doctor says there's no need for animal testing and there are non-animal alternatives. If the founding fathers of America were alive, they would make the necessary changes in the laws to ban the torture of animals in the name of science or profit. If abusing animals is illegal for individuals, the pharmaceutical companies and any corporations which do animal testing should be held accountable. Drug testing on animals needs to be stopped.

On April 20, 1999, 13 people were killed and 21 were injured at Columbine High School in Jefferson County Colorado. Rather than this representing a one time or rare event, school shootings have continued in the United States. According to the Washington Post, over 187,000 students in 193 schools have experienced a school shooting since this tragic event. This does not include the thousands of children who have died due to accidental gun discharge, domestic violence, or private suicide since 1999. While parents vastly underestimate their children’s access to guns in the home, even in cases where firearms are adequately locked and stored, it is far more likely that gun owners will turn their weapons on themselves or their family than it is that they will ever use them in self-defense. It is vital that students learn early about the dangers of guns in the home and how to prevent conflicts from escalating into violence. To that end revisions to the Colorado Academic Standards expected outcomes of fourth grade health standards includes the expectation that students can “explain the potential dangers of having weapons at home, in school, and in the community”. While this is a common-sense standard that will help reduce incidences of firearm related injury and death, Republican members of the State Board of Education, who have final approval authority over these standards, have suggested an amendment to these standards that includes the benefits of gun ownership. Needless to say, this is not an amendment that has the best interests of students at heart, rather it is a cynical political ploy to promote the progun agenda that has led to the United States having the highest number of firearm related injuries and deaths in the world. I ask that the State Board of Education put student safety above political posturing and reject any amendments to the Colorado Health Standards that promotes gun ownership, particularly to students between the ages of 9 and 11. It is completely inappropriate in light of school shootings and ubiquitous gun violence to promote the so-called benefits of gun ownership within our public schools.

I have been a victim of my privacy being violated when the assistant manager decided upon himself to go through my photos and send himself a nude photo of me to his phone. I noticed on my Apple watch that this happened when I saw a number that I didn't know and my nude photo in the text message. Thankfully, the message did not go through, but when dealing with the police and the senior HR of Sprint, they need to take this into consideration that cell phone providers associates are doing this all over. We should be able to go to Verizon, Sprint, At&t, T-mobile, etc. and feel comfortable to hand over our phone without them invading our privacy. Unfortunately, some people will take the photos, sell them online, use them for personal use, and more. We need to stop this and get more security for women around the United States.

Living in close proximity to other households who enjoy parties, especially outdoors, my family and other neighbors suffer when the volume (dB) is excessively high or the bass is obnoxiously felt inside our floors and walls. The sound from parties nearby should not be so loud that we get migraines, nosebleeds, panic attacks, and other telltale signs of prolonged exposure to high decibels. For all other noise levels, common respect to a normal sleep cycle is all we ask.

Women’s rights are human rights and we need to protect them, We have succeeded in passing the Violence Against Women Act. Now we need to let Congress and the House know that we support the passage of IVAWA, we need to be sure that the US government is helping to end violence against women and girls globally.

Social networks are rising against the gratuitous cruelty of the Trump administration. Indeed, the US president gave Monday, April 10 its endorsement of a law passed by Congress (52 votes to 47), which will again to hunt bears and wolves in the Alaska nature reserves. This new text will remove the Obama administration's Alaska National Wildlife Refuges Rule, which prohibited the killing of these animals on-reserve in a large protected area. The state has 16 shelters that represent 76 million acres of land, or about 30.7 million hectares. http://moveon.org

As an American citizen residing in Germany I oppose America's senior diplomat in Berlin taking partisan positions in German politics, endorsing other European leaders or domestic partisan grounds, and stating that his mission in Germany is to "empower... conservatives throughout Europe.."

Unhealthy water has affected plenty of people with regard to their health. It’s inportant that this doesn’t get out of hand like it did in San Berdnardino, Ca, and Flint, Michigan.