Friday, July 16, 2021
Every Kid Outdoors
Free Access to U.S. Federal Land and Waters: 4th and 5th Graders
Every Kid Outdoors was created so 4th graders and their families could discover wildlife, resources, and history for free. Many 4th graders missed out on using their Every Kid Outdoors Annual 4th Grade Pass during the 2019-2020 school year. A new voucher is now available for 5th grade students through August 31, 2021.
With these vouchers, 4th and 5th graders and their families will have free access to national parks and other federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior through August 31, 2021. Rising 4th graders will be eligible next year.
Information and voucher for current 4th Graders: https://everykidoutdoors.gov/
Information and voucher for current 5th Graders: https://www.nps.gov/kids/
Learn more about planning your trip: https://everykidoutdoors.gov/
For questions or concerns, please reach out to: everykidoutdoors@nps.gov.
For up-to-date information about Environmental Justice funding opportunities, events, and webinars, subscribe to EPA's Environmental Justice listserv by sending a blank email to: join-epa-ej@lists.epa.gov.
Friday, July 9, 2021
The future belongs to children and grandchildren not industry
Industry should not be financed through educational funding.
St. Bernard Parish School Board acts in the best interest of all students with a decision to retain ad valorem taxes from a proposed renewable fuels project. While some economic development groups believe all parish leaders should be unified in granting tax exemptions for this project, parents and grandparents are grateful the school board's vision of the future is through investments in quality education and not in industry.
SBPSB is funded through local ad valorem taxes, state and federal funds, grants and private donations. Most other government services are funded through both property and sales taxes, and both the parish government and sheriff's department have already decided to grant the proposed project tax exemptions, valued upwards to $90 Million over 10 years.
Economic multipliers leave the parish at shift change as the majority of industry jobs throughout the parish are non-domiciled workers; their wages fund the schools, libraries, recreation, roads, fire stations, drainage, levee protections, law enforcement, and other government services in other parishes. Meanwhile, all the adverse quality of life, public health, and environmental harm are borne by parish residents.
Our health and safety is already sacrificed for industry; our children's education should not be.
Monday, July 5, 2021
Right to access public documents
Public participation is key to our democracy.
Residents have the human right to secure tenure, including equal access to all the information before decisions are made.
HB 438, passed in the recent State legislative session would require certain identification documents provided for electronic requests to view or copy public records.
Gov JBE vetoed HB 438 noting the "bill purports to be a common sense policy -- to ensure that people who request public records are who they say they are. However, in practice, it will result in something entirely different. This bill, if enacted into law, would very likely be used, at best, to delay responses to public records requests or, at worst, intimidate members of the public into withdrawing their requests. There is simply no good reason for this bill."
Given the number of public records requests which over the years have been ignored, delayed, denied, or manipulated, any effort to protect our rights is appreciated.
Gov JBE voted HB 438 along with 27 other bills from the State regular session 2021.
July 02, 2021
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that he has now acted on all legislation from the 2021 Regular Session. He has signed 477 bills into law and has vetoed 28 bills. He also limited the unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars by using his line item authority to veto certain items in the budget and capital outlay bills.
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