Take The Initiative

We have been betrayed by the Conservatives at South Kesteven District Council.

The much vaunted 'State of The Art Leisure Centre' has now been cancelled for the foreseeable future with a vague suggestion that a new centre could be built with land donated by Lincolnshire County Council (in Millfield Road) in exchange for permission for Lincolnshire County Council to build housing on a site which has previously been refused.

Additionally, the existing Leisure Centre will be permanently closed on 1st September 2021, taking away leisure facilities from thousands of residents in The Deepings and surrounding villages, making local people unemployed, destroying the local swim club (which has over 100 members), leaving schoolchildren unable to have swimming lessons and The Deepings School with no examinations hall.

The Deepings has always been bottom of the list for any funding or facilities within South Kesteven and indeed, Lincolnshire but this is a step too far.

We, the residents of The Deepings and surrounding villages demand:

1. £1.4m is allocated to immediate repairs to the existing building and facilities with a further £600k put aside for ongoing maintenance over the next 4 years.

2. A public contract is agreed to: whereby a new site is found (not Millfield Road) and immediate plans and costs agreed for a new leisure centre to be opened in early 2025 at the latest.

People of The Deepings have been short-changed for too long. It stops NOW!

Make Mt Waddington, the adjacent Whitemantle Range and Homathko Icefield a non-motorized area and a provincial or national park.

The proposed park would create a world class mountain wilderness area that would:
· Consist of some of the most spectacular mountains in Canada, including the highest mountain wholly within BC.
· Contain some of the largest non-polar glaciers and icefields in the world.
· Protect a heavily glaciated landscape of untouched, rugged mountain wilderness that is absolutely world class and is not currently represented in BC’s park system.

This is the only area of high icefields left in the Pacific Ranges that have not been given away as commercial tenure.

RECREATION

The proposed park would provide unparalleled opportunities for self-propelled ski mountaineering and climbing. These mountains are known worldwide for the stunning pristine mountain wilderness they offer. It is very rare for people to be able to visit a landscape that essentially shows no signs of human activity. Mountaineering trips in a remote mountain wilderness are life changing events that people cherish as some of the best moments of their life. I have personally heard of many people from around the world who have visited these mountains on ski mountaineering trips and have been completely blown away by their scale, grandeur and remoteness – something they have not found anywhere else in the world.

In BC we often take these wilderness areas for granted, but they are extremely rare and we have an obligation to the rest of the world to preserve these places.

ISSUES

Current recreation uses in the proposed areas are almost exclusively non-motorized mountaineering and ski mountaineering groups that typically operate out of a basecamp for a week and use helicopters for access. These kinds of activities have virtually no impact on other users. Heli-skiing or other heli-sports are incompatible with the current commercial and recreational use of the area or with designation of the area as a park.

In the last 10-15 years, and most recently in 2021, there have been increasing and repeated applications for heli-skiing and heli-sport tenures in the Coast Mountains

1. Heli-skiing, which is an important industry in BC, is well supported with enormous land tenures that cover a huge majority of the Pacific Ranges.
2. Conservation and recreation, which are also extremely important to BC, are not well represented. The only remaining mountainous areas of large glaciers and icefields that do not have established heli-sport tenures are the Waddington/Whitemantle Ranges and the Homathko Icefield. These landscapes are not well-represented by existing parks either. Therefore, it is essential that the remaining areas of the Waddington/Whitemantle Ranges and the Homathko Icefield not be developed as heli-ski or heli-assisted commercial tenures and instead immediately be zoned as non-motorized to preserve this region as wilderness and a candidate for protected area status. Such a designation is possible under section 17 of the Land Act.
3. The Coast Mountains now contain some of the largest heli-ski tenures in the world, several of which are larger than the entire Swiss Alps. It has not been demonstrated by the industry why such large tenures are needed. Heli-ski tenures in the interior are a fraction of the size and are able to handle much larger numbers of guests. It is also not clear if such large remote tenures align with BC’s Climate Change policy.

It is essential that non-motorized use be defined as “no motorized activity is allowed except for helicopter or ski plane access”.

SUPPORT

Canada has committed to increase its protected areas to 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030 from a current 12.1%. That's more than a 100% increase! The proposed park is a prime candidate to help meet this increase.

As an example of the level of public interest in these remote untouched wilderness areas, a 28-minute video about a self-propelled ski traverse of the Homathko Icefield called Crossing Home was produced by Jordan Manley for Arc’teryx in 2016. The video is posted on several websites and has been viewed by several hundred thousand people and won multiple awards. See:

Crossing Home by Jordan Manley

If these mountains were in nearby Washington State or Alaska they would most definitely be protected as a wilderness area and be managed to preserve their remote, wilderness values.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the proposal, including maps and an example letter see:

mountainclubs.org/mount-waddington-park-proposal

ACTIONS
1. Immediate action is required to deny any current tenure applications in the area and designate the Waddington/Whitemantle Ranges and Homathko Icefield as non-motorized areas.
2. The next action would be to protect these wilderness areas as a provincial or national park.

WRITE A LETTER

Please take the time to write a personal letter. It doesn't have to be long. Send your letter to:

The Honourable John Horgan, M.L.A. Premier of British Columbia

Cc:
Gillian Harrison, Land Officer
Vera Vukelich, Manager Land Policy and Programs
Hon. George Heyman, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Hon. Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Hon. Steven Guilbeault Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change

At these e-mail addresses:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

GCI is outsourcing their call center to the Philippines. Sources online say 180 Alaskans will be losing their jobs. GCI has always advertised itself as an "Alaskan Company" but apparently that's not important to them anymore. It's even worse they're choosing to do this to Alaskans during a pandemic, when our economy is still recovering. Alaskans, tell GCI to stop harming our fellow citizens and economy, and to do the right thing and stop the outsourcing! Tell GCI to keep these jobs Alaskan like they have been for years! Tell GCI they'll lose more money from customers boycotting than they will save by sending jobs out of the country.

But please don't complain to the call center reps, they are the ones losing their jobs, they are the ones who have no power in these decisions. It's Ron Duncan and the people at the top of the company choosing profits over people, and they shouldn't get away with it. How many millions of dollars have they accepted in state and federal grants? And now they want to send money out of the state and out of the country. The executives at GCI need to know how wrong this is and that Alaskans will not accept it. Their claim that they can't hire enough people being the reason they're outsourcing is totally bogus. Outsourcing to another country so they can pay them lower wages is obviously a cost cutting move, so they can line their pockets with more money.

Last year, according to the JSNA 2020/2021 report on food poverty, over 3,000 households in Bristol suffered from severe food insecurity and 10,000 experienced moderate to severe food insecurity. An estimated 2,000 of these were unable to obtain sufficient food simply due to a lack of resources.

While we commend the efforts of the many food aid organizations around Bristol working tirelessly to reduce this number, when there are still thousands of families (over 5% of the city!) unable to access the resources they need to stay healthy, we believe this calls for innovation in the form of all-new measures.

As a starting point, we propose the implementation of several “community fridges" outside around the city where food insecurity is at its highest. Part of a worldwide movement, these operate under the premise of community trust and donations from local restaurants, businesses, sponsor organizations, and public volunteers. Since the fridges are anonymous food sources available 24/7, they will support anyone who existing services tend to miss — the population who may be unwilling to actively seek out resources due to perceived social stigma or worries they wouldn’t qualify.

We ask for your support in signing this petition to prove that there is a significant call to disrupt the status quo of Bristol food insecurity. This will hopefully help us move one step closer toward making these fridges a reality this spring. As a student-led organization, we are now in the process of establishing a wider planning committee comprising a blend of neighborhood members, university students, and field experts. If you’re interested in joining, thanks so much and we look forward to working with you! Please check out our website: thecatalyst.uk for a full list of FAQs, our tentative timeline, and how to get involved.

Alaska has been a problem on our hands for way too long. It's time to sell it back and make it no longer the biggest and most useless state in the U.S.

"En un jardín crecen más cosas que las que siembra el jardinero/ More grows in the garden than the gardener sows.” We believe that in a time with so few opportunities for local connection, the option of a new, safe open space would only grow community ties in addition to reducing food insecurity, improving air quality, and promoting a more sustainable city. For that reason, we hope to plant three community gardens throughout this spring in under-resourced areas of Bristol.

We intend to make these an anchoring presence in the community through a number of measures including a public online education platform, providing free “grow” boxes of seeds and seedlings to local families (also available to anyone who requests them), and once it’s been cleared by the national government, holding events to further establish each garden as a commons/meeting space.

We ask for your support in signing this petition to prove that there is a significant call to break the status quo of Bristol food insecurity and enhance green spaces. This will hopefully help us move one step closer toward making these gardens a reality this spring. As a student-led organization, we are now in the process of establishing a wider planning committee comprising a blend of neighborhood members, university students, and field experts. If you’re interested in joining, thanks so much and we look forward to working with you! Please check out our website: thecatalyst.uk for a full list of FAQs, our tentative timeline, and how to get involved.

I have created this petition to voice my concerns with a public safety issue related to the new bike/walking paths under construction on O'Malley Road. By signing this petition, you are in favor of the Alaska Department of Transportation addressing pedestrian safety concerns at the Rock Ridge/O'Malley intersection. Addressing these concerns should result in solutions to ensure the safety of O'Malley Elementary School students. O'Malley Road Public Safety Concerns

I am new to the neighborhood and my 9 and 7 year old children attend O'Malley Elementary. My kids are excited to live in a walkable and bikeable community. When we first moved here in May 2021, they immediately asked me if they could bike to school. I hesitated and decided, due to the lack of pathways on O'Malley Road, that this was not a safe choice. I told them the only way they could bike is if I was with them.

In turn, when the development of the bike/walk paths was announced on O'Malley, our family was super excited to be able to bike and walk to school. One of my neighbors brought to my attention that the Department of Transportation intends to have children bike or walk an additional half mile to the Birch intersection to cross O'Malley rather than creating a school crosswalk at Rock Ridge. I am appalled by this decision and it's lack of preventative safety measures. We all know that kids will take the risk to cross O'Malley at Rock Ridge to avoid the extra walk/bike. In turn, approving this plan is openly accepting a potential safety hazard that we are all aware of.


I have observed the high speeds and negligence of drivers on O'Malley Road. This is why I declined to allow my kids to bike or walk to school in the first place... but with the development of trails, we are in a great position to provide safe crossing paths with school-based crossing guards to encourage biking/walking and safety. At the very least, there should be a consideration for a school speed zone to slow drivers down during school drop off and pick up hours. I have also witnessed very dangerous turning patterns at this intersection during these same times due to a lack of turning lanes onto Rock Ridge. Now is the ideal time to make these changes to set our community up for safe measures aligned with the addition of the new paths.

On behalf of my family, neighbors and community, I would like to encourage reconsideration of the current plan and exploration of alternative solutions to ensure the safety of my children along with future O'Malley Elementary students.

ight y’all i seen another person who moved make this so imma make one too i hate az and wish nothing more but to be in alaska i moved here in may and still only have one friend

My name is Jaylene Philemonoff, this last September my mother (Nadesda Lynnette Rukovishnikoff) was murdered by her spouse (Joshua Rukovishnikoff). Later in October, my two-year-old brother (Joshua John Rukovishnikoff) was placed with some of my relatives on my mom's side. Just this December he was murdered by his foster parents. at this point in time, the family of my mom's killer has kept my dead brother away from me, harassed me, and lied to me. My mom is buried on Saint Paul Island where I would like my brother to also be buried. With me being the only one left in my family I thought I would be able to take care of the arrangements. I was wrong. Joshua Rukovishnikoff had signed over power of attorney to his younger sister Faith Rukovishnikoff even while in prison. since this, Faith has let her selfishness take over and will not allow my only brother, all I had left to be buried next to our mom. she is doing this because she does not want to quarantine on Saint Paul Island. With this petition, I ask that you help me get my brother home to be with my mom. I also plan to take this family to court so the petition strengthens my argument.

The Anchorage Assembly will be voting on a mask mandate. If passed this mandate would last until December 31, 2021. With hospitalizations and case counts rising in Anchorage every day, Providence Alaska and the American Academy of Pediatrics Alaska Chapter support a mask mandate. This is essential to take the pressure off of our health care system and protect our community.

If you are unable to attend the public hearings in Anchorage and would like to show your support for this mask mandate please join this petition.

We want to make masks mandatory and shoes optional!

The attacks on airline crew and airline employees both inflight and at the airport is out of hand. An attack on one airline employee is an attack on all airline employees, regardless of airline. No crew or airline employee of any airline wants to deal with these people who punch, threaten or cause disruptions on flights or at the airport. Enough is enough. We want the airlines to share their no fly list so if a passenger gets a lifetime ban from one airline, they get a lifetime ban from all airlines. They can take the bus or drive or walk.

This is with regard to a grave abortion of justice. This is on behalf of my sister Elizabeth Omotara Santos, a Florida native residing in Wasilla. My sister was murdered while visiting her friend Lazette Hoglund-Hall in Anchorage, Alaska on August 8th, 2020. Elizabeth just dumped her boyfriend (Dustin Kurpius) of 10 years a few days earlier and was visiting Lazette to clear her head for a few days. My sister was stabbed at least ten times and died due to these injuries in the hospital after being handcuffed and placed into the back of an ambulance upon the arrival of the patrol officers despite her excessive bleeding.

All evidence collected has helped to indicate that foul play has been involved. Our family has already inquired the local entities such as the Anchorage Police Department and those who have jurisdiction in this matter (i.e. Alaska Bureau of Investigation, the Mayor’s office, local assembly members) and none have produced comprehensive answers or solutions.

The investigating parties overseeing the case have been exceedingly nonchalant, dismissive, and sarcastic, insisting that the fatal injuries to the torso, upper thigh, and vital organs were self-inflicted, despite inconsistent witness statements, statements from Elizabeth’s close friends and associates who have known her for years who all state that Lazette’s story makes no sense, and that Elizabeth was not violent and not a drug user. The only person interviewed by the APD with anything negative to say about Elizabeth was her ex-boyfriend Dustin Kurpius (who is friends with Desmond Marcus Hall)

The police reports even mention Lazette Hoglund-Hall wiping up blood on the floor when crime scene investigators and officers were present. There were clear signs of a struggle as Lazette had scratches and bruises on her face which stemmed from a physical altercation with Elizabeth minutes before the stabbing. Elizabeth was incoherent when the patrol officers arrived and couldn’t speak clearly because of the excessive internal bleeding.



At first, APD insisted that they were treating Lazette and her 22 year old son Desmond Marcus Hall who was home during the assault as suspects and collected extensive forensic evidence such as their fingerprints and DNA swabs. The detective involved in the case (Jeff Bell) and the supervisor of the homicide division (Sgt. Bianca Cross) refuse to process any of these forensics, even fingerprints that would at least determine if my sister’s prints were on any of these weapons. The suspects were released the same day, the suspects were never charged and the case was suspended.

This link to the only news coverage that the incident received:

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2020/08/08/apd-is-investigating-a-death-in-south-anchorage/



Our family has reached out to their local media on numerous occasions, yet they continue to bury the story. There have been no reports of the incident as if it never happened at all. I have contacted the Alaska ACLU and even the Alaska Bar Association. They have never returned any of my emails or calls for the past year.

We eventually received photos from the crime scene that were sent after months of waiting that included images of the two knives that the APD said were used in the assault. Neither of the knives have any blood on them although the police department alleges that my sister used them to stab herself. The APD REFUSES to run fingerprints tests on them

We later received footage from the APD of Lazette Hoglund-Hall and her son Desmond Marcus Hall being driven to the police station shortly after Elizabeth was taken to the hospital handcuffed with multiple stab wounds. This footage shows Desmond not handcuffed – despite being a suspect – and even smiling and laughing in the backseat of the cop car.

https://youtu.be/rKGb6HH_3AU

Something that is also strange is that when the ambulance arrived on the scene, they did not depart immediately despite the extent of Elizabeth’s injuries. Instead, they waited 37 minutes before leaving the crime scene to go to the hospital.

There is no reason whatsoever why all of this information should have been dismissed. In addition, Lazette has a criminal record that includes multiple assaults

I also have the recorded interrogation audio between Lazette and an investigating officer (Det. Jason Deville) in which Lazette makes multiple contradictions to her story.



Me and my family want justice for my sister Elizabeth and want these perpetrators to be arrested and charged with her murder



Alaska Police Department (APD) Case #: 20-24631

2.4.2021 Today the Canadian Government announced the continuation of the cruise ship ban until February 2022. This would destroy the Alaska cruise season. As the travel industry continues to work to comply with the CDC for a return to safe cruising, we feel this decision was made prematurely. However, we plead with the current administration to temporarily lift The Jones Act allowing for a 2021 Alaska Cruise season.

What is the Jones Act/Passenger Services Act and how does it affect the Cruise Industry?

The Jones Act (also known as the Passenger Services Act) does not allow ships of Non-U.S registry to embark and debark guests at two different U.S ports, since travel between U.S. ports is prohibited on foreign flagged ships. It requires the visitation of a foreign port.

CLIA reported the cruise industry is a vital economic artery for the U.S. economy, supporting 436,000 American jobs and paying $24.4 billion in wages in 2019 and generating $55.5 billion in economic activity.

By temporarily lifting The Jones Act (May 2021-September 2021) it allows cruises to embark and disembark from a U.S. port without visiting a foreign port (Bypassing current Canadian stops).

& Its not just Alaska!

Return to safe cruising! Please sign to support this!

Here a GREAT article written by Bruce Parkinson More Information

The Yukon Government has recently passed a bill which requires domestic sheep and goats in the territory to be killed if they test positive for a common bacteria know as M.Ovi. this bacteria is harmless to domestic animals but can potentially upset the wild populations.

As a domestic goat owner with a small homestead in the Yukon this bill affects the lives of my livestock and that of many other small holdings in the area.

We propose that a much better solution is to promote fencing and clear separation of wild and domestic livestock. An approach which is followed by governments in Alaska and British Columbia.

For domestic animals to spread this bacteria to the wild populations they need to have nose to nose contact so perimeter fencing plus additional fencing 2feet apart is enough to prevent this spread.

M.Ovi bacteria has already been documented in caribou in the wild here in the Yukon and in sheep both in Alaska and B.C and so we are hoping to change the legislature and approve a more sensible solution.

�� Attention Lee County, Alabama ��

This is Willie Philpot Jr with ViroTek Services your local solid waste collection, transport and disposal company. The current Lee County Commissioners have taken away your voices, they took away your local dump sites, and they took away your freedom of choice by aggressively making decisions in your community without even giving you a chance to voice your opinion.

The Lee County Commissioners are creating a monopoly around our areas solid waste by providing a non-local company," Arrow Disposal Services" an exclusive contract. With this exclusive contract, the Lee County Commissioners will be mandating that every Lee County citizen will not have a choice, voice or right to seek services from any other company but Arrow Disposal Services out of Abbeville, AL. With them making this drastic, malicious, bullying decision it causes severe harm to me and my family who has spent the last 8 years making sure other families are provided with the well deserved service that my company provides. I never knew doing good to others would cause me to lose it all!

Now is the time to let your voices be heard!! Join us in signing this petition to not only save a local family business from being forced to close by the Commission, but to show the 6 Commissioners how strong our voices are!! We as Lee County citizens will not be silenced any longer!



Please click the link below to watch my interview with WTVM regarding the Lee County Commissioners forcing ViroTek Services to close.

https://www.wtvm.com/2021/09/16/trash-pickup-services-forced-discontinue-lee-county/

ViroTek Services Website: https://www.virotekservices.com/home

ViroTek Services Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/virotekservices

As someone who really appreciates the game of basketball and grew up playing and watching my entire childhood, it is very evident how much the crowd can affect the outcome of a game. Games in Coleman Coliseum are no exception to this huge factor.

That being said, some of the most successful and impactful basketball programs in the country have tons of students sitting near the floor yelling, making noise, and creating an intimidating environment.

Knowing this fact, it would be extremely beneficial if the seating allocation for the students be closer to the floor and extended across the span of the sideline so that the same type of environment can be present at Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball games. This can be supported by the recognition of how active the students are at basketball games (standing up for the entire game, starting chants, and yelling no matter the situation).

During many crucial moments in games, I have witnessed fans currently sitting in these sections with no enthusiasm and lack of interest in the game. Personally, I’ve faced criticism from surrounding fans during games solely for cheering and celebrating big moments within reason. While I understand that other fans and attendees have every right to enjoy the game, our main concern is the impact, or lack thereof, that their form of support can have on not only a game, but also recruiting and for the improvement of the program as a whole. Additionally, tonight, I saw a large number of students that were turned away from entering to watch the game, while many other fans had sold their tickets to the opponent’s fans, allowing them to make a greater presence than even we did at times, and it is something that can be, and should be, changed.


Please share and reach out to your friends so that we can get this to the Athletic Department, AD Greg Byrne, and even further along! Roll tide!

Stop the Development. Stop government control. We need our agriculture industry to survive and they are creating industrial growth by pushing farmers out. This is land these farmers have owned for generations. Huntsviile, Alabama is forcing farmers to sell and / or giving farmers the news that they will be evicted or condemned. We must fight for our farming and ranching community before beauty turns into industrial development.

On Thursday, December 16, 2021, the New York State cheerleading community was informed that all athletes must be vaccinated for the Covid 19 virus in order to compete in the 2022 New York State Cheerleading Championships at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY.

This is not a New York State (NYS) requirement for athletes, nor is it a requirement for athletes throughout the 11 NYS athletic sections. This is a requirement set forth by RIT to use the venue that NYS contracted to host the 2022 State Cheerleading Championship.

The athletes who will compete in the other 2022 state championships (basketball, wrestling, indoor track, gymnastics, bowling, boys swimming, hockey, skiing) are not being held to this vaccination restriction, as the venues where those championships are being held do not have a vaccination requirement.

Because all NYS male and female athletes must be treated equally, regardless of the sport in which they participate, New York State must change the venue where the 2022 New York State Cheerleading Championships is being held to ensure that no one is excluded. It is simply not acceptable that in order to compete for a state championship, athletes in one sport are being held to a different standard than athletes in other sports.

The biggest financial concern for millions of American families is paying for college. One of the new FAFSA rules will exacerbate this problem for any families that will have multiple children in college at the same time. Currently, families receive a discount if they have multiple children in college at once. The new FAFSA rules will eliminate this discount and will effectively DOUBLE the amount families with multiple children will be expected to pay for college. Most families already struggle with affording college; this new rule will be a crushing blow for the MILLIONS of families that will be negatively impacted each year.

The good news is that the solution is simple! We just need the Dept. of Education to keep the current rule for siblings in place, and NOT make this change that is currently scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

Even with the current FAFSA rules, affording college is still the biggest financial concern and challenge for most families. This new rule will make affording college for families that have multiple children almost impossible. Please help us make college more affordable for millions of Americans each year by opposing this rule change.

Don't miss our New York Times feature here: Changes in FAFSA May Reduce College Aid for Some Families