Legislation is greatly needed in the State of Michigan requiring dog owners to not  keep their pets outdoors  once the temperature is life threatening  drops below 35 degrees, or exceeds 85 degrees. Currently, there is no protection for dogs left outside, and severe weather poses a fatal threat to these defenseless creatures. Please be the voice for these dogs!  PLEASE contact your local representative and senator asking them to support a Bill for this issue, other states have already done this!  Find your senator website: http://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysbyaddress.htmlFind your local representative here:http://www.house.mi.gov/mhrpublic/frmFindARep.aspx This law was just passed in Pennsylvania https://outwardhound.com/buzzwoof/barking-news/laws-protecting-dogs-left-outside-in-the-cold

Recall Governor Whitmer. Her failures during the Covid-19 Corona Virus has caused more Michiganders to get sick. Closing and banning various non essential business’s and activities while leaving others open. Further promoting the pandemic. She has lied since day one with her #Fixthedamnroads which she has failed to do anything in this regards. The response to #PFAS is blatent negligence and completely removing funding for #PureMichigan clearly shows her lack of anything positive for the State of Michigan. 

With the covid-19 state of emergency shutdown order going into effect there are valid concerns about the inability to generate the income expected to maintain good standing with bill collectors, whether it be utilities, rent or mortgages and any other impending payments. I urge you to suspend dues and supplement with state funding to prevent potential economic collapse without intervention. Without acknowledging the crisis we all face, we are all at a larger risk than just the health concerns over the covid-19. 

***PLEASE READ UPDATES BELOW FOR LATEST NEWS*** We have chosen to raise awareness of Nestle’s water pumping practices in Michigan and petition the state legislature and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to reject an increase in Nestle’s pumping rates in White Pine Springs, Osceola County, Michigan. Why This Issue Matters  In many countries, including the United States, there is little limitation on the rate at which water can be pumped out of aquifers (underground water reserves).  Water bottling companies have been pumping billions of gallons of water out of aquifers and impacting the watershed and surrounding environment and selling water bottles for 3000 to 5000 times more than they pay for it.  One such pumping site is Nestle’s well field in White Pine Springs, Osceola County, Michigan, which is part of the Muskegon River watershed.   What This Means for Michigan  Nestle runs a plant for its two water bottle brands, Ice Mountain and Pure Life, in Stanwood, Michigan.  The company operates three well fields with a total of seven wells, all within the Muskegon River watershed.  According to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), Nestle pumped more than 3.4 billion gallons of water from its three Michigan well fields between 2005 and 2015.  In 2015, Nestle was given approval by the MDEQ to pump 250 gallons per minute at White Pine Springs Well in Osceola County.  The company now wants to increase the amount of water it pumps from this well to 400 gallons per minute. Nestle would pay the state of Michigan $200 per year for this increase. According to a test conducted in August 2000 by Malcolm Pirnie Inc., Nestle’s White Pine Springs Well pumps water from an underground aquifer that is connected to the aboveground water system through a permeable layer of Earth, called a leaky aquitard.  Pumping water from the aquifer can drain significant amounts of water from above. This indicates that the wetlands and wildlife above the ground are at high risk of being harmed by Nestle’s pumping.  Residents, like Rhonda Huff, as reported by the MLive newspaper on April 9, 2017, noticed that water levels in Osceola County’s Chippewa Creek, which flows into the Muskegon River watershed, have significantly dropped in recent years, affecting trout populations.   Nestle needs a permit from the MDEQ in order to increase the rate at which it pumps water.  The MDEQ requires the use of a Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool to determine the impact of proposed water withdrawals on fish and wildlife in the area.  Nestle’s proposed water withdrawal increase to 400 gallons per minute failed to pass MDEQ’s Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool. However, the MDEQ can and did overrule the failing grade determined by the Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool. Nestle’s plan to increase the amount of water withdrawn to 400 gallons per minute would undo an agreement with environmentalists reached more than seven years ago for a well field in Sanctuary Springs, which is also part of the Muskegon River watershed.  In 2001, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation sued Nestle over potential damage to the system of lakes, rivers, and streams that its water withdrawal would cause.  An agreement was reached in 2009, limiting the amount of water the company could pump. What You Can Do To Help Please sign our petition!  Help us in reaching our goal of 10,000 signatures to present to the state legislature and the MDEQ. Thank you for taking the time to protect our most precious resource – water.  

While 2020 was tough on America, it was particularly tough on Horace Peterson. For 48 years, Peterson has been wrongly incarcerated after being convicted of felony first-degree murder for a crime he didn’t commit. In 1973, a judge sentenced Peterson to life without parole. He robbed a record store in Flint, Michigan. However, during the robbery, his accomplice shot and killed the clerk without him knowing what was going to happen or with him being in the same room of the shooting. He had no idea what was about to happen and his accomplice has recently admitted that to the family. Seven years later, the Michigan Supreme Court reinterpreted the law, ruling prosecutors needed to prove "malice" for felony murder convictions. But that ruling wasn't retroactive. Peterson's family argues that he has been locked up too long. He is now in his late 60s with a daughter, two grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He also has six siblings, a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends, who consider him a missing link to the family. They are fighting for his life. Also, in late 2020, he beat COVID-19 and overcame a stroke in addition to losing both parents, David and Ollie V. Peterson, a month apart. It was heartbreaking and he’s ready to come home. If Peterson is released, he will come home to employment, speaking engagements and can use his story as a cautionary tale to save the lives of young men and women. He has been an inspiration to many while mentoring numerous prisoners over the years. Watch as one of the last wishes from his parents was to see him come home.  Please support us as we are fighting to free Mr. Horace Peterson! #136503 Learn more about Peterson's case here. 

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/man-tortures-kills-adopted-dog-leaves-body-under-picnic-table-at-utica-park-police-say   Two year old dog, Sterling was stabbed to death and left to die by Alexander Gerth - who is now being charged.  We, citizens of Michigan, realize this may/may not have occurred in your district; however it is reflective of a state-wide issue.  We are contacting you because one life lost, one life abused is too many. We are reaching out to you, my representative, to amend THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT) Act 328 of 1931, SECTION 750.50b. We are pushing for an amendment that creates an animal cruelty registry (the Sterling Amendment). This registry would create a state level database of those have been charged and sentenced with a crime as outlined in the law above, and the amended portion that goes into affect March 2019. According to the Michigan State Police, reports of animal cruelty is on the rise. According to Michigan State Police Quality Assurance report, animal cruelty rose 575% statewide between 2016-2017. This is an issue that must be addressed and considered a priority. The lives of animals should not be considered partisan, while funding may be issue in state government, I would again remind your colleagues that a 575% increase in this crime makes aggressively addressing animal cruelty a high priority for 2019. Animals do not have a voice; it is the job of humans and the state to create a protected life that ensures safety and a place to thrive. An animal that is surrendered and then adopted should be ensured, to the highest degree possible, that it's new home is loving and safe. This was not the case for Sterling. Sterling was adopted through already existing shelter loopholes, he was then stabbed, and left to bleed out and freeze in a park.  We can do better for animals. Michigan can do better for animals. Please propose the Sterling Amendment to create a registry of animal cruelty offenders to ensure the welfare, protection, safety and quality of life for animals. 

Per acticle from Propublica  Grace a 15 year old girl was sent to a juvenile facility for not doing online homework. I understand holding kids accountable, but this was an overreach. The judge should have found a different method for her to be at home. We have a pandemic going on and the best place for this child to be is with her mother. Being in the facility for a minor reason is not fair to her. It also will make her feel more caged in (as article state she was having cabin fever, due to the pandemic). From the article seems as if she is feeling lonely, depressed, not motivated and an outcast.  During this time with the pandemic we have been releasing adults. But we are going to lock up a child for something minor, when it was a different way to deal with the issue.  Per the article she was doing her work, she also asked for one on one help from the teacher. Her teacher says that she was doing well. She had permission to do her work at her own pace, and the work was supposed to be turned in at end of the semester. The semester was not over, how can she be accused of not doing work, when what she had done the teacher said was fine.. 15% of the county's youth is black, yet 42% of cases that went to Oakland court were black - -and per the article they are less likely to be offered any type of diversion, removed from home and sent to a facility--just as we are seeing in Grace's case. We have to band together as a community for our Black children. If this did not happen to her, it could have been my child or your child. But doing something we are putting them on notice saying, we see what you are doing, it is not right, and we will not stop until it is corrected. They are not even giving our children a chance, they are already sentencing them to the system as a child. We have learn the effects of confinement for adults, why are we doing this to our children? Other ways have to be found to hold children accountable for behavior, besides locking them up. Please sign so we can get her back home to her mother.

Citizens of Michigan, 5G Cell Towers will harm the human body (That's a fact), let's stand together, let's put an end to this nonsense and see what happens. By removing 5G Towers out of Michigan DO YOUR RESEARCH........ To clearly understand what we’re dealing with, 3G and 4G wireless technologies use between a 1 to 4 gigahertz frequency. 5G uses between 24 to 90 gigahertz. This means up to 90 billion electromagnetic waves hit the cells of the human body per second. We already know, Wireless radiation from older technology has already been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, miscarriages, birth defects, and infertility. So the more radiation we put into our body the more harm it does. 

Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced today (4/10/2020) that they are no longer allowing motorized boats on any Michigan waterway during the stay at home order. However, they are allowing kayaks and canoes. Those of us that enjoy the outdoors and only have a motorized boat are now not able to. The original executive order stated that the Michigan government encouraged people to use the state's natural resources and that boating is allowed as long as you are going with someone in your own household. By changing these rules to not allow motorized boats, nothing is being done to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it only limits who can go enjoy Michigan's waterways. In these tough times, some people are having a hard time finding meat in the super markets as well, by keeping the waterways open to all, this will allow people to legally catch food for their families. Lastly, by allowing people to take their boats out, you are in a way helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as people are on their boat away from others in society. By closing these things down, it will cause people to go out in public more and interact with more people as they will become bored in their houses on a nice day.

I’m Jenifer Bass, a U.S. Navy veteran, who served for 10 years, one-third in the Asia-Pacific region. It was due to my travel between ports in countries like Japan and Thailand that I first encountered amerasian children, and descendants, of U.S. service members and civilian contractors previously stationed overseas. Filipino Amerasians are abandoned and neglected biracial children of Filipino mothers and American fathers (mostly members of the US armed forces). In the Philippines alone, more than 52,000-plus children were born and left behind after the U.S. Navy withdrew the last of its military personnel in 1992. Right now, the U.S. government won’t legally recognize them as U.S. citizens, despite having been born to an American parent. The Philippine Embassy won't help them either. As a former US colony between 1898 and 1946, the Philippines was home to millions of US soldiers and their dependents, even after its independence. Until 1992, the country hosted two of the largest US military facilities outside the US – Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, which played major roles during the Vietnam and first Gulf wars. In 1982 US Public Law 97-359, or the Amerasian Act of 1982, allowed children from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand to move to the US and eventually become American citizens, but those who were from the Philippines were excluded from the law, an exclusion which was upheld by the US Senate on the basis that many Filipino Amerasians were “conceived from illicit affairs and prostitution”, and were born during peacetime. Today, there are estimated to be more than 250,000-plus children. Many amerasians are caught in a no-man’s land of discrimination and poverty -- most left behind by U.S. service members who are unaware that they’ve fathered children overseas. My friend John Haines is one of these sailors. In 2011, John discovered he was the father of a half-Filipino daughter, Jannette. He attempted to unite with her through the American Homecoming Act -- but was frustrated to learn that the Act did not apply to Filipino children of U.S. service members. Today, all John wants is to be united with his daughter and grandchildren. He, like so many other veterans are living with a “hole in their hearts” as they search for ways to unite with their children. There is hope. The Uniting Families Act of 2018, HR 1520, creates a specialized visa allowing military veterans and eligible civilian contractors to sponsor their children and grandchildren for U.S. citizenship. Currently, blood relationship must be proven by DNA test and the total number of visas granted will be capped at 5,000 each year. The issue takes on more urgency as so many of our veterans from our wars in Southeast Asia are getting older and dying each day -- without the chance to connect, or in some cases, reconnect with their own children. John’s daughter Jannette has already undertaken the DNA testing process, conclusively proving her relationship to her American father. All she’s waiting for is the opportunity to permanently unite with her father. There is a PBS documentary, "Left by the Ship" (2010), documenting a day in the life and the personal struggles as a Filipino amerasian on the never ending search for identity and their struggles to connect to their American military families. Please sign this petition to tell Congress that these families cannot wait another day. Pass the Uniting Families Act of 2017, HR 1520, now!