A recent Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) investigation at one of the largest dog research facilities in the world found thousands of puppies confined in solitary wire cages, sleeping on their own filth, and going insane from isolation. Julie, a blind puppy I rescued from Ridglan, was one of the dogs who would have been sent to her death in a horrifying experiment. We rescued her, but thousands of crying dogs were left behind. Americans don’t want our tax dollars used on wasteful and unethical practices, and we’re asking the federal government to do for dogs what it has already done for chimps: end the abusive experiments.

I am constantly picking up these bags from ditches, out of rivers and on the Blue Ridge Parkway. If people can’t stop themselves from littering them then they don’t need to be given them in our stores here.

#SayHerName is a national movement that began in 2015 to bring attention to violence against Black women, girls, and trans women. It is important to stand with Chikesia in this moment because like in so many cases of violence towards Black women, her story has not had a lot of mainstream coverage. After the arrest of the two Black men at the Starbucks in Philadelphia, Rashid Nelson and Donte Robinson, there was a national outcry to stop the calling of police on Black people. The nation responded with righteous anger for justice to be served for those brothers. I am asking for the same to be done for Chikesia. The death of Sandra Bland did not initially receive the coverage it deserved. It was the advocacy of activists across the country, that pushed Sandra’s case to be at the forefront of mainstream media. Let this be the reminder of why we need to stand for Black women and #SayHerName.

As a refugee, I feel like we need to stand up for these people. They are people that escaped home due to violence and persecution

The Environmental Sector of Compassionate Santa Monica aligned with Earth Day Network Educational Campaign: A World Without Plastic Pollution--which is mobilizing compassionate citizens across the globe to bring about a new level of consciousness and change around plastics pollution. The world must perceive plastics not only as an environmental challenge of global proportions but as a marker of the human values that must change in order to build a more sustainable and just world. Scientific research reveals the adverse impact plastics have on Public Health. To that end, we have created 2 other petitions addressed to the Board of Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, Santa Monica College Board of Trustees.

To protect what workers have paid for throughout their careers.

Leaf blowers are an unnecessary nuisance. Spreading airborne particles and creating 70-decibel noise levels at 50 ft., at the very least leaf blowers need regulation. Cities in California, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, and Texas (just to name a few) have either enacted outright bans or restricted these pollution-creating devices. The progressive community of Madison needs to follow suit in saving the ears and lungs of its residents.

My grandson was murdered by a police officer and in the jury process the prosecutor presented the members of the jury with instructions that would guarantee the aquital of the officer. Jury members should be able the question the prosecutor about facts and events the lead the officer the make a personal judgement that could possible lead to unjust excessive force or death of innocent people or a preceived sense of danger.

Please encourage our elected officials to stop the testing wars. We need highly qualified teachers teaching and enriched curriculum, not stressed-out teachers teaching to the test.

Facebook spies on us almost everywhere we go on the Internet. It even tracks where we move and what we do in the real world. This shouldn’t be a surprise. From the start, Mark Zuckerberg said he built Facebook not to keep people connected but to "get access to information about anyone." Facebook then sells that information to corporations and bad actors that want to trick us into buying things we don’t want, even to voting in ways we never intended. That’s their business model. That’s how they make so much money. Zuckerberg now says he wants to "do more to keep us safe” from surveillance and exploitation. But Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram are not living up to this promise. They could give us a “one-click” option to escape the targeting that’s at the heart of their manipulation machine. Instead, they hide their privacy controls in a hall of mirrors that makes it almost impossible to protect our families and communities. Tell Mark Zuckerberg to make it simple for us to protect ourselves from manipulators and scammers. Sign the petition: “Mark, we won't be your product any longer. Facebook must give us the choice to turn off targeting with one click.”

I personally know many of the Special Olympic athletes and they have all been affected by the action of removing Coach Jon from the Polk County Special Olympics team. He gave his time and support while participating as a coach and during his off time, he always made himself available to the athletes. Not many coaches donate this much time and support to the athletes.

My wife Godeliève Richard, who lives on Legate Hill near the proposed site, developed microwave sickness in 2010. There are now more than 350,000 people receiving disability payments for this condition in Sweden alone. Property values near cell towers have been shown to drop 10 - 20%. Pollinators, children and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the 24X7 increase in microwave radiation exposure this would create. On March 28, scientists reviewing the National Toxicology Program’s 25 million dollar rat study concluded that there is “clear evidence” linking microwave radiation to the development of cancer. There are now more than 25,000 studies dating back to those by the U.S. Navy in the 1970’s linking this exposure to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, tree damage, DNA damage, oxidative stress, behavior and attention issues, sleep problems, pollinator decline, Autism, decreased sperm count, and more. Research and resources: ehtrust.org and hilltownhealth.org