Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner And Concerned Floridians To Call On Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen To Vote For Commonsense, Lifesaving Background Checks

***Media Advisory***

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen Will Have a Chance to Vote for HR 1525, Which Would Close Loopholes That Allow Criminals to Get Guns

Background checks supported by 95 Percent of Florida Voters; www.DemandAction.org

MIAMI, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and concerned Floridians will gather Thursday to call on Florida District 27 Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to vote for commonsense, lifesaving background checks for all gun sales.  HR 1525, or the King-Thompson Bill, would close loopholes that make it easy for criminals and dangerous people to get guns. Ros-Lehtinen has not yet stated her position on the bill.

Mayor Lerner is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has 45 members in Florida.

Event details are below:

What: Press Conference: Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner and concerned Floridians urge Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to vote YES on HR 1525, King-Thompson Bill

When: Thursday, May 2 at 11:00 AM 

Where: Office of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: 4960 SW 72 Avenue, Miami

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Since its creation in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 members to more than 900 mayors from across the country. We have more than 1.5 million grassroots supporters, making us the largest gun violence prevention advocacy organization in the country.  The bipartisan coalition, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, has united the nation's mayors around these common goals: protecting communities by holding gun offenders accountable; demanding access to crime gun trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat gun trafficking; and working with legislators to fix weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other dangerous people to get guns.  Learn more at www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org.

Media Contact
Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner: mayorlerner@gmail.com or 305-992-3433 
Kate Downen: kdownen@maig.org or 406-224-5056

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns

View the original article here

Construction Groups Concerned Senate Plan Repeats Mistakes of Previous Failed Immigration Reforms

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, trade associations representing all aspects of the commercial and residential construction industries issued the following joint statement regarding the Senate "Gang of 8" deal on a temporary guest worker program:

"The construction industry is committed to finding U.S. workers to fill open positions in our industry. Unfortunately, that is not always possible. For many years, our industry has advocated for comprehensive immigration reform that addresses the needs of our economy and border security, and does not repeat the mistakes of previous reform efforts.  

"However, we are deeply concerned with the size and the scope of the temporary guest worker program in the proposal now being drafted by the Gang of 8 Senators. Capping the amount of visas for the construction industry at only 15,000 in an industry that currently employs nearly 6 million workers is simply unrealistic and destined to fail. A guest worker program that fails to provide a sufficient number of visas to meet market demand as the construction sector recovers will inevitably make it harder to fill critical labor openings and make it impossible to secure the border. For these reforms to be successful, we believe the cap on visas should be determined by labor market demand, the only measure that truly reflects the needs of the economy and our industry.   

"Without an effective and workable guest worker program, the construction industry will not be able to meet the future demand of both the public and private sectors once economic recovery takes hold."

Associated Builders and Contractors
Associated General Contractors of America
Leading Builders of America
National Association of Home Builders
National Electrical Contractors Association
National Roofing Contractors Association

SOURCE Associated Builders and Contractors

View the original article here

Obama 'Deeply Concerned' For Mandela

President Obama today expressed concern for Nelson Mandela's health, but said the anti-apartheid leader is "as strong physically as he's been in character and in leadership over so many decades."

"Obviously we're all deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela's health. He's a hero, I think, to all of us," Obama told reporters. "We will be keeping him in our thoughts and prayers and his entire family."

The former South African president has been hospitalized for a recurring lung infection but is "responding positively" to treatment, according to the South African president's office.

"Hopefully he will come out of this latest challenge," Obama said.

"We all recognize that he has given everything to his people, the people of South Africa, to the people of the continent, and he's ended up being an inspiration to all of us," Obama said. "When you think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the first name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. And so we wish him all the very best."

The president's comments came as he met with the leaders of Sierra Leone, Senegal, Malawi and Cape Verde at the White House.

Also Read

View the original article here