Academic

The "food fight" in Orlando: What's next?

Posted on July 13, 2010
Way back at the beginning of the food-sharing lawsuit, we told ourselves: ?If we win, then we win. But even if we lose, we win.?That?s because even then, in the summer of 2006, we were thinking about the big picture. What the First Vagabonds Church of God v...

Well, we lost ...

Posted on July 06, 2010
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the city of Orlando in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of its ordinance restricting "large-group feedings."I'll write more when I've had a chance to think a bit. Read the ruling here.

Senator Robert Byrd: Remember him as a homeless advocate

Posted on June 28, 2010
Senator Robert Byrd, who died today at the age of 92, was a homeless advocate.Because of Byrd?s leadership, the first major federal program to provide funds for people experiencing homeless became law. His support ensured enough votes to override a Presidential veto, and President Reagan reluctantly signed the bill into law on July 22, 1987...

Take an in-depth look (actually, a listen)at St. Pete's panhandling ban

Posted on June 23, 2010
If you?re asking for donations for charity, selling a Sunday newspaper or just looking for a few bucks for yourself, you can?t do it anymore along the major roads in St. Petersburg. The city has enacted a ban on all kinds of transactions along busy roads in an effort to keep drivers and panhandlers safe...

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Fired cops defend vandalizing homeless camp

Posted on June 22, 2010
Three fired Grand Junction police officers claim the use of knives to cut tents at a homeless camp was consistent with their law enforcement training, while insisting May 3 wasn?t the first time local officers have used such tactics at a transient camp...

Church settles dispute with city over pancake service to homeless

Posted on June 21, 2010
Anthony Vaitkus, 53, (left) and Jason Skinner, 31, eat breakfast at CrossRoads United Methodist Church in Phoenix.The Saturday morning service includes songs, prayers and a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon.CrossRoads United Methodist Church in Phoenix has reached a deal with the city that ends an upcoming federal-court battle over the church's Saturday pancake-breakfast service...

What happens when a county runs out of money for homeless services?

Posted on June 20, 2010
One county in California may be about to find out.The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, who are staring at a $122 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1, may have to make dramatic cuts proposed for health and human services programs serving the county's most vulnerable citizens, including the homeless...

Appeal filed in homeless lawsuit against St. Petersburg

Posted on June 18, 2010
Four homeless people have appealed a federal judge's decision to dismiss nine allegations in a lawsuit that accuses St. Petersburg of violating the rights of homeless people by enforcing a series of punitive ordinances.On March 11, Judge Steven Merryday upheld the city's right to arrest people for sleeping during the day on sidewalks and for storing personal property on public land...

Why are Danny and Maggie panhandling again?

Posted on June 17, 2010
Three months ago, Danny and Maggie got off the streets of Austin. With the help of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, they moved from a tent into a mobile home.But they are still panhandling.Why?Take a look at the thought-provoking post by Mobile Loaves and Fishes founder Alan Graham.

St. Pete and the Times negotiating end to legal challenge of solicitation ban

Posted on June 17, 2010
The city of St. Petersburg and Times Publishing Co. are negotiating an end to the newspaper's federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the city's ban on street solicitation.Times Publishing Co., the parent company of the St. Petersburg Times, will drop its suit if the city agrees not to pursue legal fees, which the city attorney estimates to be in the "low" five figures for staff time and surveillance work...

Did homeless murder victim simply fall on the knife? Or was he stabbed?

Posted on June 16, 2010
A forensics expert will testify at trial that a homeless man who died from a knife wound simply fell on the knife.The expert had previously testified that he could not tell how victim Joel Boner's knife wound occurred ? that is, whether he was stabbed or fell on the knife...

Liberty City tenants protest against evictions; 2 arrested

Posted on June 16, 2010
Activists from Take Back the Land staged a protest today as a family was being evicted from an apartment building in Liberty City neighborhood of Miami.Although the tenants said they had been paying the rent to a previous landlord, the new owner, a subsidiary of the bank which had foreclosed on the property, filed eviction notices on them for non-payment...

Limbaugh suggests hungry kids should "dumpster dive"

Posted on June 16, 2010
Rush Limbaugh attacks children who get school lunches, saying they should take the summer off from eating or "dumpster dive."He was responding to a news report that a record number of children in America -- more than 16 million -- will go hungry this summer...

Cops take plates of food from hungry people

Posted on June 14, 2010
After about 30 to 40 people were served and with about 50 people still waiting in line, a Food Not Bombs sharing was stopped by authorities in Concord, California.The Contra Costa Health Department, with the assistance of the Concord police, ordered the group to cease operations and confiscated all of the remaining food and supplies...

The end may be in sight for legal battle over food-sharing (in Las Vegas)

Posted on June 12, 2010
Gail Sacco dishes up a plate of food in this August 2007 photo. "Hopefully the park marshals won't try to find other ways to harass the homeless," she said.A four-year legal battle that pitted homeless advocates against the city of Las Vegas in a rancorous debate about personal rights versus public safety is on the verge of ending...

Judge refuses to block St. Pete's soliciting ban

Posted on June 11, 2010
A federal judge has refused to block St. Petersburg's new ban on street solicitation, clearing the way for officials to begin enforcing it this weekend.Starting Sunday, panhandlers, charity fundraisers and street vendors on the city's major streets could face arrest if they don't leave after a warning, St...

Praying won?t get you a free meal if you?re the 131st person in line

Posted on June 09, 2010
A Gainesville ordinance which caps the number of free meals at homeless shelters was criticized again by residents at a City Commission meeting.The city threatened on April 2, 2009, to shut down St. Francis House, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in downtown Gainesville, if it did not begin complying with the ordinance, which limits the number of daily meals to 130...

Newspaper sues St. Pete over its new street solicitation ban

Posted on June 08, 2010
Calling a new ban on street solicitation a violation of its constitutional right to free speech, the St. Petersburg Times has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of St. Petersburg."The right of access to public streets and sidewalks to distribute the news is essential to the exercise of the press' First Amendment freedoms," the suit states...

Maybe the 100th try will be the charm

Posted on June 07, 2010
I've now checked the website of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals 99 times* to see if the court has handed down a decision in the Orlando food-sharing case.Nothing yet. Maybe the 100th try will be the charm.Keep a good thought for us.---------------* Since the oral argument on December 17.

Couple discover homeless man living on their roof

Posted on June 06, 2010
A British couple was shocked to discover a homeless man was living on their roof.Pregnant mother of two Steph Wallace noticed the foot of a sleeping man sticking out over the edge of the roof on her home in southern England when she was taking out the trash...

St. Pete bans all panhandling

Posted on June 06, 2010
In a meeting that lasted five hours, St. Petersburg city council members voted to ban panhandlers from begging on street corners.While some are overjoyed to see them go, a great number of people are disappointed and say the ban goes too far. The ordinance not only affects the poor and homeless; non-profit organizations, charities and newspaper hawkers will all be banned...

Teen gets 30 years for murdering homeless vet

Posted on June 05, 2010
Daniel Case played football in high school and served his country in the Army in Vietnam. After years on the street, he was finally starting to piece his life back together when two selfish teenagers ripped that away from him.A teenage gang member has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatally beating a homeless Vietnam veteran...

Cops fired after vandalizing homeless camp

Posted on June 04, 2010
Three police officers have been fired as a result of their intrusion into a homeless camp in May.No criminal charges will be filed. ?There are no eyewitnesses to the alleged criminal acts, there is no forensic evidence, the property was left unattended for several hours in an open field accessible by the general public and a significant number of the victims declined to cooperate,? District Attorney Pete Hautzinger wrote in letter on his decision...

A somber note at the food-sharing

Posted on June 03, 2010
The Wednesday evening food-sharing is usually a happy* picnic in the park, with lots of good talk, laughs and -- of course -- great food.But last night there was a somber note, as word spread that one of the regulars had been killed by a drunk driver...

Guilty verdict for setting homeless man on fire

Posted on June 03, 2010
A Daytona Beach man was found guilty today of attempted voluntary manslaughter for setting a homeless man on fire in dispute over money.A jury deliberated for about four hours before finding John R. Harper, 46, guilty. He faces up to 10 years in prison as a habitual felony offender...

Cops vandalize homeless community

Posted on June 02, 2010
Police officers slashed tents, punctured bicycle tires and wrecked other property in a homeless camp along the banks of the Colorado River.Now that the allegations of vandalism have surfaced, three officers have been suspended from the Grand Junction police department...

Will the new homeless hate-crime law be used against the homeless?

Posted on June 02, 2010
A new Florida law aimed at curbing attacks on the homeless may be considered in charging the suspects in a brutal attack on a 68-year-old man in Lauderhill.Both the victim and at least one of the suspects may be homeless. Police think victim Johnny Warden might be homeless is because he was arrested last month on a trespassing charge in nearby Plantation...

Homeless man reunited with his cat

Posted on May 31, 2010
Daniel Harlan was tearful upon being reunited with Samantha, his companion of nearly four years.Samantha the cat and Daniel Harlan, a homeless man who owned her, have been reunited.Harlan wept when Tom Neville, who had the missing cat for weeks, gave Samantha back...

On being ... homeless in Seminole County (part 2)

Posted on May 30, 2010
Dale lives in an unlawful (and undisclosed) camp in the woods of Seminole County.Three homeless men who live in a hidden -- and illegal -- woods camp share their stories and their perspective on being homeless. Central Florida Matters accompanied a team of two outreach specialists who daily bring hope and advice to more than 200 other clients...

Santa Monica settles lawsuit over treatment of homeless

Posted on May 29, 2010
Santa Monica has agreed to settle a lawsuit over the city?s treatment of the homeless, and a federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed the suit.But no details will be available until June 8, when the City Council is scheduled to approve the resolution and report it publicly...

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