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Sep 30, 2016
Federal and state governments strip local control to benefit commerce – at the cost of our communities. If we want to put people before profits, we must fight for democracy in the places where we live.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsSep 26, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents’ frustration grows as the corporate state refuses to recognize their authority to vote on their own county charter measures. Residents face threats to their water, air, and soil from fracking wastewater injection wells, and were using charters to ban them.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 21, 2016
A U.S. District Magistrate Judge refused to allow community or ecosystem intervention in the Highland Township, PA, case, where communities are fighting to stop a frack wastewater injection well. CELDF files an appeal on their behalf to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 18, 2016
The General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation votes overwhelmingly to amend their tribal constitution to enshrine the Rights of Nature – the first tribal nation in the United States to take this critical step. A vote of the full membership will follow.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StorySep 17, 2016
The Standing Rock Sioux have much to teach us: grieving for the loss of land and threat to water, taking action to protect what belongs to no one, being in solidarity, and taking a stand for life.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsSep 16, 2016
Athens, Meigs, and Portage County, OH, residents decry the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision blocking their county charter initiatives from the ballot. Residents face fracking harms and government officials intent on blocking them from protecting themselves.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 15, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents put the pressure on their supervisors. The local electeds voted yesterday to try to stop the people’s Home Rule charter initiative in the Common Pleas Court. The charter includes a ban on fracking wastewater injection wells.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 15, 2016
While the Ohio Supreme Court blocks the right to initiative in three counties, one judge dissents, calling the court’s action “a usurpation of power from the people that we should not indulge.” Residents declare their commitment to protect their communities’ land, air, and water from fracking.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 15, 2016
Residents in three Ohio counties find no justice in the courts as the state and oil/gas industry succeed in blocking their County Charter initiatives from the ballot this fall.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 14, 2016
OHCRN members from across Ohio staged street theater and spoke out in support of the Standing Rock Sioux in front of the state house. Residents are fighting fracking, pipelines, and other infrastructure, to protect air, land, and water, as the corporate state tries to block them.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 14, 2016
We live under a corporate state, and in New Hampshire, residents urge their legislature to help lead systemic change by supporting the New Hampshire Community Rights Amendment: Let Granite Staters vote on their amendment.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 13, 2016
The Ohio Supreme Court refuses to place Athens, Meigs, and Portage Counties’ rights-based Charters on the November ballot. County residents are working to protect their communities from fracking and its infrastructure through their right to local community self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 13, 2016
The Ohio Supreme Court finds on behalf of the oil and gas industry and the colluding state government. The people’s duly qualified rights-based county charter measures are again blocked from the ballot. One Justice dissents, defending the right to local self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsSep 13, 2016
CELDF is partnering with local groups and NGOs in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River through the National Ganga River Rights Act.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsSep 13, 2016
Highland Township, PA’s, residents move a step closer to voting on their own Home Rule Charter proposal in November. Their solicitors are trying to block the measure. Residents are fighting a frack waste injection well, using their right to local community self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 13, 2016
The Elk County, PA, Board of Elections is advised to place the people’s proposed Home Rule Charter measure on the November ballot. Residents face a frack wastewater injection well, which would be banned if the Charter is adopted.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 13, 2016
Youngstown, OH, residents advance their Community Rights Charter Amendment banning fracking, determined to safeguard their community’s health, safety, and welfare. Local government and industry allies stand firm in fighting the amendment and placing profits before people.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 13, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents work with CELDF to push for the recognition of the Rights of Nature in the 3rd Circuit Court.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 12, 2016
Board of Elections sides with residents as Highland Township, PA, supervisors try to keep the people’s Home Rule Charter initiative off the ballot. Residents are fighting a frack wastewater injection well through their right to local community self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 9, 2016
After rescinding an ordinance banning frack wastewater injection wells, Highland Township, PA, supervisors and solicitor further betray residents fighting to protect themselves: they attempt to remove the people’s rights-based Home Rule charter from the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 6, 2016
Recognizing Rights of Nature is part of the growing discourse on the rights of ecosystems to exist and thrive, based on their own intrinsic value. Under a legal system where property rules, it is a game changer, used by communities like Grant Township, PA, to protect themselves from corporate harms.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 6, 2016
Across the U.S., corporations and government officials are working to block We the People from exercising our right to direct democracy. As their efforts increase, so do ours, making possible the beginning of the Community Rights Movement, and the end of the corporate state.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 2, 2016
In India, more than two dozen religious leaders urge adoption of Rights of Nature legislation to recognize the rights of the Ganga River. Millions of people rely on the Ganga, which is heavily polluted. If adopted, the legislation would protect and restore the sacred river.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsSep 1, 2016
Lane County, OR, residents succeed in pressuring County Commissioners to drop a proposed ordinance that would have allowed Commissioners to block proposed ballot initiatives.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 1, 2016
Three Ohio counties submit their case to the Ohio Supreme Court: the right to local community self-government is protected in federal and state constitutions, and their rights-based Charter initiatives should be placed on the November ballot for a vote by the people.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 1, 2016
Athens, Meigs, and Portage County, OH, residents make their case for their constitutional right to vote on qualified County Charter initiatives this fall. The measures include bans on fracking activities. County Boards of Elections and Secretary of State Husted are blocking the measures.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 31, 2016
Lane County, OR, commissioners withdraw their support for an ordinance that would have allowed them to pre-emptively veto some local ballot initiatives. Lane County residents are advancing three Community Rights measures, one banning aerial pesticide spraying.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 30, 2016
The Highland Township, PA, Home Rule Study Commission votes to advance a rights-based charter for the November ballot. The charter includes a frack wastewater injection well ban, similar to a Community Bill of Rights banning injection wells that was rescinded by supervisors.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 27, 2016
Increasingly contentious and obscure means to keep Lane County, OR, Community Bills of Rights ordinances off the ballot are being used by opponents. Lane residents are fighting to protect themselves from aerial pesticide spraying.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 20, 2016
The right to local democratic self-governance becomes a political debate as Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, county boards of elections, and the oil and gas industry block citizen initiatives banning fracking. Ohio residents refuse to surrender their fight for their rights or their communities.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 19, 2016
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted demonstrates his loyalty to the oil and gas industry by trying to block citizen initiatives. The initiatives propose county charters that ban fracking activities. Residents are fighting back, appealing Husted’s decision to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 19, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents turn to themselves to protect against unwanted fracking wastewater. Township Supervisors rescinded a Community Bill of Rights banning an injection well. Residents now consider home rule to ban the harmful waste.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 18, 2016
A Portage County resident applauds the advancing a county charter proposal that would ban frack injection wells, and calls out Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted as he tries to quash the right to initiative for a second year. We the People, she promises, are going to continue fighting.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 16, 2016
Highland Township, PA, supervisors folded to Seneca Resources, rescinding the people’s Community Bill of Rights ordinance protecting them from Seneca’s proposed wastewater injection well. Residents have not. They are continuing their legal fight and looking to Home Rule.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 15, 2016
Highland Township Supervisors overturn their rights-based fracking wastewater injection well ban. They file a consent decree to allow an injection well, and receive approval by a federal judge. Residents vow to fight back and protect their community.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 11, 2016
Grant Township, PA, residents and the Little Mahoning Watershed secure wins in motions filed recently by CELDF. Residents are fighting for their rights against PGE as the company tries to force a frack wastewater injection well in the Township.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 10, 2016
Medina County, OH, residents take the Ohio Secretary of State and their Board of Elections to court. Government officials are attempting to block residents from placing their qualified county charter initiative banning fracking on the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 9, 2016
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted blocks Medina County residents from voting on their own County Charter initiative. Residents are filing with the Ohio Supreme Court to have their measure placed on the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 8, 2016
CELDF’s Chad Nicholson and Grant Township resident Stacy Long are interviewed on Law and Disorder radio. Grant residents adopted an ordinance legalizing civil disobedience to protect themselves from an injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 7, 2016
From the Ohio Community Rights Network, Tish O’Dell takes a stand for increasing minimum wage to lift workers out of poverty, calling for the Cleveland City Council to let the people decide by placing the $15 minimum wage proposal on the ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 7, 2016
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted – an oil and gas industry ally – will decide whether or not to place three rights-based county charter measures on the November ballot. Residents are prepared to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 2, 2016
As fracking sweeps the nation, communities are using local initiatives to protect themselves – while industry spews propaganda and spends huge sums to stop them.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 1, 2016
Growing numbers of communities are joining together to move Community Rights to the state level–not just to protect against fracking, but myriad other harms facing We the People in Colorado, Ohio, Oregon, and beyond.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 31, 2016
The Home Rule Study Commission in Highland Township, PA, is holding a public hearing Sunday. The commissioners may recommend drafting a charter to govern the Township, and would seek input from residents on content. The Charter will likely contain a bill of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 31, 2016
The Home Rule Study Commission in Highland Township, PA, held a public meeting Sunday to share information about drafting a Home Rule Charter. The Charter, if adopted in November, would recognize and protect the rights of residents to make governing decisions.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 30, 2016
Highland Township, PA, Supervisors prepare to betray residents and rescind their rights-based ordinance banning frack wastewater injection wells. Residents, meanwhile, are drafting a Home Ruler charter that would ban injection wells. Such a charter would be beyond the reach of the Supervisors.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 27, 2016
Lane County, OR, residents turn out in high numbers to their County Commissioners meeting, stating clearly their indignation at the Commissioners’ consideration of a law removing direct democracy from the hands of the people.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 27, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents begin drafting a Home Rule Charter. They consult with Grant Township, where last November residents overwhelmingly adopted a new, rights-based charter that included a ban on frack wastewater injection wells.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 27, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents protest the Board of Elections attempt to keep their rights-based County Charter initiative off the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 26, 2016
Lane County, OR, residents make clear their displeasure with the County Commissioners, who are considering a measure to restrict the people’s access to direct democracy.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots