NEWSBYMEGAN COTTRELL

For 48 years, thousands of North Carolina's brightest students have come from all around the state to gather for the summer - to devote themselves to their studies and to learn from each other - for six weeks on college campuses. But if the state budget doesn't change soon, this program - the North Carolina Governor's School - will end after this year.

"If the North Carolina General Assembly shuts down the Governor's School on its 50th year of existence, with it dies the beauty of quality education. With it dies the ability to foster a student's desire to become a life-long learner," says Joseph DeChristina, 16, a former Governor's school attendee who started a petition on Change.org to save the program.

When you saw the news reports last week of a man being SWAT teamed for not paying his student loans, you may have wondered: are they coming for me next?

Well, worry no more. The team from the film Default: The Student Loan Documentary started a petition on Change.org to end this rampant confusion about whether or not students with outstanding loans could be criminally prosecuted. And they're declaring victory today, as the Department of Education released a statement, saying that defaulting on your school loans is not a criminal offense.

Sara Gast, spokesperson for the Department of Education, made the distinction. Students can be arrested for criminal activity like fraud.  But not being able to pay your loans back isn't something you'll be thrown in jail for.

"Generally, defaulting on student loans is not itself a crime," said Gast. "However, there are a number of circumstances surrounding defaults that are criminal, such as trying to obtain federal student aid while in default, or getting a loan with no intention of going to school and then defaulting with no intention of ever repaying."

Some stories are a straightforward trajectory. A problem is identified. People gather around that problem and strive to change it. The change is made, and the people rejoice.

Others are a roller-coaster-like slog. And that's how it's been for Charlotte Mecklenburg's preschool program, Bright Beginnings. From the time that the school superintendent proposed cutting two-thirds of the slots for vulnerable preschool aged children to the district back in January, the ride has been bumpy. At certain points, the program seemed as good as saved, when the very next, it seemed doomed.

But victory has been declared! The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board announced that all Bright Beginnings classrooms will be saved. Local teachers, students and families are rejoicing.

Commenters are having a field day. Tanya McDowell was recently arrested on charges of selling marijuana and crack cocaine to an undercover officer. Take a look at people's reactions on the internet:

"Why steal someone else's education to get your kid out of a bad, drug-infested school if you're just going to raise him in a bad, drug-infested home? I bet she just sent him there so he could be a dealer to kids with money. Sicko."

"Sad to say, I knew this was coming, trying to turn a thug into Rosa Parks."

"Not surprise (sic) she is involved in drugs...I wouldn't want her or her child in my children's school. Why would I want her in a position to influence my child."

Drug charges are the perfect excuse not to care about Tanya McDowell. After all, many people might think, obviously she deserved whatever trouble she meets - whether it's a $200,000 bond for a drug arrest or a $15,000 fine for "stealing" her son's education. If Tanya McDowell was a saint, then we might be able to excuse her enrolling her son in a nicer school district to get him a better education. But if she's a sinner, she deserves what she gets.

The student loan crisis is huge, says Kyle McCarthy, part of the team behind the film Default: The Student Loan Documentary. With one in five students now defaulting on their school loans and student loan debt surpassing credit card debt, the problem isn't going away anytime soon.

But there's one thing he's asking for - one thing that could make the situation better, almost with a stroke of the pen.

United States Department of Education, could you make one thing clear, to Kyle and to all American students: you're not going to SWAT team our homes if we can't pay our student loans, right? McCarthy and the team at Default started a Change.org petition, asking the Department of Education to come out with a strong statement, letting students know they won't be criminally prosecuted for unpaid debt.

At the end of last year, Nicole Baumann heard a story that shocked her. It happened just outside her sons' school, Edison Elementary in Denver, Colorado.

"Some parents had just mentioned it to me in passing," said Baumann. "They were standing outside with their kids and this fog overcame them."

The fog was not a natural. It was chemical. Until then, Baumann didn't realize that Denver Public Schools pays TruGreen Chemlawn for lawn maintenance. As a member of the Edison Elementary green team, she and some of her team members were upset.

"These kids are rolling around in the grass," said Baumann. "Our kids' immune systems are not really developed yet. They're susceptible. Why would we knowingly apply this where our kids are playing in the grass when we know there are other options out there that are safe?"

Tuesday, May 10th is an important day for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district. It's the day where the school board will decide whether or not to ask for an additional $45 million from the county - money that would keep the school district from shutting down one of it's most successful early learning programs - Bright Beginnings.

Three months ago, Bright Beginnings teacher Michelle O'Reilly bravely stood up and asked her school district to save the program, despite budget cuts. Bright Beginnings serves thousands of Charlotte's most vulnerable students - kids who live in poverty, have learning disabilities and speak English as a second language.

"Without this program, these children are not going to become responsible citizens because they're going to be struggling," said O'Reilly.

She didn't stop there. O'Reilly gathered over 900 online signatures at Change.org and even more in her community. She's asked local groups and churches to come together on the issue and even stood up at a recent school board meeting to talk about how much the community needs Bright Beginnings.

More than 13,000 Change.org members have signed a petition telling Norwalk, Connecticut to drop charges against Tanya McDowell, a homeless woman who's being prosecuted for sending her son to the "wrong" school. But now, the people behind the petition are saying that dropping the charges against McDowell isn't enough - the prosecutor who brought the charges, Suzanne Vieux, should be fired.

Anthony Crisci, the Norwalk community organizer who started the petition, said initially, it wasn't clear where exactly the charges against McDowell - which he calls "senseless" - came from.

"We later found out that this action was orchestrated mainly by the State Attorney's office, and particularly by Assistant State's Attorney Suzanne Vieux," said Crisci. "We felt that Vieux's handling of the case was not only irrational, but an arrogant waste of taxpayers' dollars."

Jessica Kutch, Director of Economic Justice organizing at Change.org, says the lawyers and prosecutors she's talked to have been outraged by the case, with one even calling it "disgraceful." Tanya McDowell, a homeless mother, could face up to 20 years in jail and pay more than $16,000 for registering her son for kindergarten in Norwalk's school district, where they did not live, using her babysitter's address. Federal law requires public schools to enroll homeless students.

Do you have a copy of a book that's nearly falling apart because it's been read so many times? Dog-eared corners, bent binding, coffee-stains and wrinkled pages - all signs that it's a book that's been well-loved and repeatedly read.

But imagine if your favorite book disappeared if you read it too many times. It'd almost be like you were being punished for the book being too good.

That's exactly what publisher HarperCollins is doing to library e-book collections, and more than 60,000 Change.org members are standing up to the company, demanding that they change their policy which makes e-books self-destruct once they're checked out 26 times.

The size of the petition - started in April by New Jersey librarian Andy Woodworth - has garnered attention from the Library Journal, industry blog GalleyCat and global art blog Art Without Skin.

Louisiana high school student Zack Kopplin has one goal: to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act. Quite the opposite of its name, the bill, passed in 2008, gives public school teachers the ability to teach creationism in their science classes.

Even beyond issues of separation of church and state, Kopplin, a senior, understands the practical impact of the bill on his fellow students.

"When Louisiana students apply to college, people won't know if that student was taught creationism in their science classes," says Kopplin. "Maybe they'll think they don't have the science background to get into college."

Today, Kopplin and his supporters will march on the state capitol in Baton Rouge, demanding that the law be repealed and that accurate, research-based science education be the only curriculum taught in Louisiana classrooms. He's enlisted the help of state senator Karen Carter Peterson, and started a petition on Change.org to rally Louisiana supporters.