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Late night satisfaction at the O for Terry’s sendoff-
Good luck in law school Terry! We’ll miss you! ]]> http://pahotsheet.com/2008/12/classic/feed/ http://pahotsheet.com/2008/12/classic/ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PaHotSheet/~3/480157998/ http://pahotsheet.com/2008/12/make-your-end-of-the-year-charitable-donation-here/#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:18:09 +0000 PA League http://pahotsheet.com/?p=751 There’s a lot of reasons people give generously every year, but in some cases one of the benefits of supporting a worthwhile cause is the ability to take a federal income tax deduction.

Contribue to our sister organization, the PA League of Young Voters Education Fund, and receive a 2008 receipt for a charitable donation. It’s easy — you can do it online!

Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution today

or feel free to mail a donation by check to:
PA League of Young Voters EF
Attn: Development
6101 Penn Avenue Suite 302
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85

It’s almost Thanksgiving, and we have been traveling around Allegheny County for the past several days with an open letter to the Port Authority of Allegheny County, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, and the County Executive to urge them to find a solution to the contract dispute that was threatening a strike as soon as next Monday.

We talked to more than four hundred people who rely on the bus for school, or for work, or to get medical care, or to visit family. Many would have no other option to get them where they need to go, if PAT stopped running.

We talked to students in public high schools and private universities who couldn’t get to class without the bus. We talked to a woman from Monessen who needed to take busses from two transit systems to get from home to work and back, and would have been cut off without either, and a woman from the Hill District who wouldn’t even be able to buy groceries.
I personally talked to a young woman who is starting training for a new job next week, and told me that without bus service there is simply not enough money, nor hours in the day, for her to be able to get her son to day care and herself to her new job.

For all of the people we talked to, and thousands we didn’t have time to in three days, there is good news today:

The announcement came around 7:30 p.m. in a joint statement issued on behalf of the authority and Local 85 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 2,300 bus-trolley workers and first-level supervisors.

It said the two sides “are very pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative contract agreement. We are glad to inform the community that Port Authority public transportation service will continue without interruption.”

All sides deserve our commendation and sincere thanks, this day before Thanksgiving, for putting their squabbles aside and acting in the best interest of the people of Allegheny County.

Thank you, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85. Thank you Port Authority. Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinners, and we will see you at the bus stop Monday.

Mac

Win a trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in the fourth annual
“One Voice: Reproductive Health and Population” Summit

We invite advocates ages 16-24 to write an essay of no more than
500 words about the potential roles youth can play in advocating for a
more just and sustainable world, where all people have access to sexual
and reproductive health services and a healthy environment. Tell us how
you would use your experience from the One Voice Summit
to create a year-long action plan that will make a difference on these issues in your school and/or community.

CONTEST DEADLINE IS MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2008 at 5pm EST.

There is a direct connection between our health and the health of the
planet. Today, more than one billion adolescents- the largest number
ever- are entering their reproductive years. At the same time, we face
an increasing lack of access to reproductive health information and
services and pressing global challenges like water scarcity, global
warming, and poverty. The choices this generation makes will have an
impact on our world for years to come.

To qualify, contestants must be between the ages of 16 and 24, currently
reside in the United States, and demonstrate a passion to work on issues
of sexual and reproductive health and rights and the environment. One
reference is also required.

The organizers will fly the winning contestants to Washington, D.C. for
the One Voice Summit taking place February 6- 9, 2009. Accommodations
and meals will also be covered.

For more information about the One Voice Summit or essay contest, please
e-mail submissions@advocatesforyouth.org.

To submit your contest entry, please email the following completed form and the text of your essay to: submissions@advocatesforyouth.org

This story, while disturbing, shows very clearly what the League has
known all along: the youth of the United States, and of Pennsylvania,
are not apathetic about politics, as they are so often portrayed. What
they are is frustrated and angry, and they don’t know how to express
that constructively.

Luckily, that is why we are here, and it is because of stories like
this that we get out every day to teach young people that there is a
way that they can change their country peacefully but forcefully, with
passion but without anger, constructing new centers of power rather
than willy-nilly tearing down old ones.

It is all there in our tagline: engage, educate and empower for the
future of Pennsylvania.

Mac Booker

PA League of Young Voters own Dylan Lampe was interviewed by WTAE while he waited in line to vote on Chatham’s campus.

Meanwhile, volunteer Francine Porter was out interviewing voters about their voting experience and thoughts on the election.

Videos like these are being uploaded by the League as well as many other groups and individuals all across the county as part of the Video Your Vote project.

Ashley DiParlo at WTAE interviewed our own Carly Dobbins-Bucklad about the League of Young Voters special DIY voter guide website, theballot.org — where you can see all the League non-partisan voter guides (including PA’s!) with information on all of the down-ballot candidates and referendums, as well as upload your own voter guide.

People and organizations can submit guides all over the country, so if you’ve got a friend in another state, pass theballot.org on!

No cell phones, no cameras, a new ban in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties is keeping all cameras out because they will “distract” first-time voters.

This will make election protection efforts, like VideoYourVote, a lot more difficult.

Terry Griffin, Western PA Field Organizer, and Liz Rincon, Executive State Director for the PA League spoke on the drawbacks of this ban…see the news story here

The PA League and the PAVoice Election Protection coalition will still be participating in VideoYourVote, by going to polls to ask voters about their voting experiences. And don’t forget to call 866-OUR-VOTE if you see a problem at the polls to report it right away!

We’ve been knocking on doors asking people if they’re registered to vote and getting people to sign pledge cards that get mailed back to the address listed. Here are a few of the reasons people have given us as to why cast a ballot this fall:

“We need a change! Go vote, Mom!” — Gracie, Greensburg, PA

“The wife will shoot me if I don’t!” — D., Greensburg, PA

“My kids can’t vote yet, and there is no jobs, and minimum wage needs to go up some!” — DeMikea, Pittsburgh, PA

“Mom– Register online!” — Carol, Carnegie, PA

“I’m cool and I’m your best friend. Love, Vickie” — Cassie, Washington, PA

“The economy is dying!!!” — Jowett, Beaver, PA

“As a black female, it’s my constitutional right that so many fought for me to vote.” — Sheila

“Hi man, It may be in your interest to vote this year! Joe.” — Ellen, Allison Park, PA

“I can! I’m angry! I’m broke!” — Raymond, Pittsburgh, PA

“A closed mouth can not speak, my vote is my voice.” — Rashida, Pittsburgh, PA

Opinions expressed belong solely to the individuals mentioned and are not necessarily those of the PA League.