Person's hand above water with drops dripping off

Nonprofit Organizations Join to Demand Reform of Rogue Agency

Washington, DC – More than 180 organizations representing communities across America called on leaders in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold congressional hearings into the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) extensive history of bias and abuse. The groups are also requesting reform of the Natural Gas Act, which the groups say, gives too much power to FERC and too little to state and local officials.

“The time has now come for Congress to investigate how FERC is using its authority and to recognize that major changes are in fact necessary in order to protect people, including future generations, from the ramifications of FERC’s misuse of its power and implementation of the Natural Gas Act,” says Maya van Rossum, of the Delaware Riverkeeper, a primary organizer of the effort.

We the people part of US Constitution

Two lawmakers in the Ohio House of Representatives have introduced a non-partisan resolution calling on state and federal legislators to support an amendment to the U. S. Constitution “that would abolish corporate personhood and the doctrine of money as speech.”

State Reps. Kent Smith (D­8 Euclid) and Nickie Antonio (D­13 Lakewood) today announced the introduction of House Companion Legislation to Senate Resolution 187.

House Companion Legislation corresponds to Ohio Senate Resolution 187 introduced in 2015 by Senator Mike Skindell (D­Lakewood). Both resolutions follow the spirit and the letter of the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution advocated by Move to Amend (MTA), a national non­partisan coalition of hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals.

At a meeting with the deputy political director of the AFL-CIO during my campaign for Congress, she looked across her desk and told me that I could get major union support by coming out in favor of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

 

That was five years ago. Since then, the nation’s biggest labor federation has continued to serve the fossil fuel industry. Call it union leadership for a dead planet.

 

Book cover of Demand the Impossible with a guy holding a bullhorn

Join us for a book event with Bill Ayers, part of a national tour to celebrate the release of his latest book, Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto. Wednesday, September 21, 6-8pm, University Hall, room 014, Ohio State University. https://www.facebook.com/events/1675303502790715/

In an era defined by mass incarceration, endless war, economic crisis, catastrophic environmental destruction, and a political system offering more of the same, radical social transformation has never been more urgent. We must imagine a world beyond what this rotten system would have us believe is possible.

On September 14, two candidates for Franklin County Prosecutor answered questions about how they would respond to officer-involved shootings, if elected. As the candidates’ forum at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church proceeded, only one mile away 13-year-old Ty’re King was pursued and shot multiple times by Columbus police. He was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and pronounced dead a few minutes after the candidates’ forum ended.

Adrienne Hood spoke at the beginning of the forum. Her son Henry Green was killed by Columbus police on June 6.  “It’s unfortunate that the person who can give me the justice that my son deserves is not here,” she said, indicating the empty chair reserved for Ron O’Brien, the incumbent County Prosecutor candidate. O’Brien has not responded to demands by Green’s family to indict the officers who shot him and appoint an independent prosecutor to oversee the case.

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