Academic

A look into the world of the newly homeless

Posted on June 01, 2009
A new blog called Car Camper is written by a guy who lost his job without warning and found himself homeless. The experiences he shares may change your life, too.Check out the Car Camper blog and his Twitter feed @carcamper.Thanks to @hardlynormal for the link.

"The Cave": a netherworld where homeless people live

Posted on May 29, 2009
Pearl Mibbs, who lives in the Cave, gives her dog Queenie water before making herself some coffee.To reach the secret place they call the Cave, its denizens must climb a ladder toward a small, hard-to-notice opening in the tall concrete slab that helps hold up the 10 Freeway...

Another picnic in the park

Posted on May 27, 2009
Tonight's dinner at Lake Eola: fruit salad (mangos, peaches and apples), garden salad with croutons, hearty vegetable soup with lots of lovely vegetables, Mexican rice, mashed potatoes mixed with carrots and honeydew melon slices.There was a big crowd, and the food went fast...

Homeless sue St. Petersburg, claim abuse of constitutional rights

Posted on May 24, 2009
Six homeless people backed by a handful of advocacy organizations have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the city of St. Petersburg that challenges the constitutionality of a series of ordinances that target homeless people. The city has passed six ordinances that restrict some behaviors associated with street homelessness in recent years, including measures that limit where and when the homeless can sleep and the amount of personal belongings they can keep by their side...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

What companies can learn from the homeless

Posted on May 23, 2009
"I'm homeless. I'm hungry. I've got 6 kids. I've got AIDS. Please help. God bless," reads the handwritten cardboard sign sitting in front of the homeless man.Sometimes we are drawn to give and sometimes we're not. Regardless of what you may think is happening that sign he are holding is in fact a piece of marketing...

Family dumps elderly aunt at homeless shelter, goes to Disney

Posted on May 22, 2009
Investigators say a woman did not want her elderly aunt to go with her to Disney World so she dropped her off at a homeless shelter.Officials say Beverly Edwards dropped off her 96-year-old aunt, Ruth Smith, at a Salvation Army Center in Bradenton.The fragile woman who has medical conditions was left with all of her belongings in trash bags, and her niece said she was not coming back to get her...

Apparently in Tampa, it's OK to run over and kill the homeless

Posted on May 22, 2009
In the case of a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a homeless woman three months ago, all roads lead to a posh home on Davis Islands, police say.That's where, Tampa police say, they found the maroon SUV that they think hit 33-year-old Melissa Sjostrom as she limped across a street on Feb...

Rain doesn't stop the food-sharing

Posted on May 20, 2009
Despite today's rain, dinner was served at Lake Eola tonight.The menu: Mexican corn chowder (very tasty over rice), roasted asparagus and zuchini, sweet potato mash, green bean casserole, baked baby carrots, salad and corn on the cob.

Blending in: Walk through a day in the life of a homeless man

Posted on May 17, 2009
Finding food and clothing around town isn?t too challenging thanks to local missions, Tom Rogers says, but finding shelter is a big concern.Tom Rogers first spent a night without a roof over his head about a year ago. He'll never forget it.He remembers feeling lost, but never worthless...

1 in 6 Florida kids live at risk of hunger

Posted on May 13, 2009
One in six young children live on the brink of hunger in Florida.That means about 178,000 children under the age of 5 -- about 16.4% of all Florida children -- do not consistently have access to the daily caloric intake needed to grow and thrive.Florida is about in the middle of the states...

Mango and green onion dressing

Posted on May 13, 2009
Sounds great, doesn't it? It could be something you'd pay quite a bit for at one of the nicer restaurants in downtown Orlando, but it was on the menu for the food-sharing at Lake Eola tonight.The mango and green onion dressing was served over a salad of spinach, cherry tomatoes and avocado slices...

If you're homeless, you can't renew your driver's license

Posted on May 10, 2009
An Indiana law has left a homeless man unable to renew the license he needs to drive the car he lives in.Brian Wilkinson said financial and personal hardships forced him onto the streets of Indianapolis several years ago. Since then, the former correction officer has lived in his car, surviving on his food stamp allowance and help from a relative...

Jail inmate charged in 2007 slaying of homeless woman

Posted on May 07, 2009
Orlando police have charged an Orange County jail inmate with murder in a 2007 killing.Heath Helvey, 33, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Venus Martinez.Martinez, 29, was found July 29, 2007, near the Orlando Lynx bus terminal alongside Interstate 4 near the intersection of Amelia and Garland...

Homeless man dies with $100,000 in the bank

Posted on May 07, 2009
A homeless South Korean man died of cancer without being able to use a single penny of his life savings of $100,000 because he could not prove his identity to his bank.Residents of the Yongbong district of Gwangju, in southwestern South Korea, knew little about the quiet man who had drifted into their neighborhood in 2007...

Some rare good news from the Florida Legislature

Posted on May 05, 2009
The conference committee on Senate Bill 1718, the court funding bill, just agreed on the bill -- and it includes the restoration of filing fee waivers for indigents. (Yay!) I'm told that only the Governor could derail things now and there is no indication that there are any problems.

Take the pledge: Never to judge a homeless person

Posted on May 05, 2009
Contemplate the reality of the situation. You do not know it.You do not know what that person has been through or why they are in that position. Instead of jumping to the conclusion of judging them and placing the blame on their shoulders, why not make it just that little bit easier and encourage, rather than berate them?Take the pledge here.

"They took the food right out of my hands before I could get it into my mouth"

Posted on May 04, 2009
"They took the food right out of my hands before I could get it into my mouth," Reverend Cocomo Rock of the 191914 Ministries said on Sunday at an aborted Food Not Bombs shared meal. "And then he told me he was going to throw all of it in the garbage...

Food Not Bombs to continue sharing food without a license

Posted on May 03, 2009
Food Not Bombs has been cited in Middleton, Connecticut, for distributing food to the public without a license, but plans to continue sharing food despite the possibility of more citations.Fred Carroll, one of two Food Not Bombs members cited, said he plans to plead not guilty in Superior Court in Middletown...

The new homeless don't fit old stereotypes

Posted on May 03, 2009
Kenneth and Stacy Dowdy can't afford a place to live in Charlotte, North Carolina. Neither can Charles DuPree. But if you passed them on the street, you might not recognize them for what they are: Homeless.They are among a growing number of newly homeless who don't fit old stereotypes...

How an open-container violation led to a homeless man's death

Posted on April 29, 2009
Charlie Shafer died after he was hit by an Orange County deputy's patrol car -- just minutes after he was released from the Orange County Jail.Shafer, a 56-year-old homeless man, was crossing John Young Parkway about 3:17 a.m. when the deputy pulled out of the jail parking lot and accidentally ran him over...

Americans stand firm behind government-paid legal aid programs

Posted on April 20, 2009
Americans overwhelmingly back the provision of legal services for those facing serious legal and financial problems who could not hire a lawyer.More than two-thirds (68%) say it's extremely or very important that Americans have access to legal resources and advice when they are in crisis, according to a survey commissioned by the American Bar Association...

Teen charged with killing homeless man in Orlando

Posted on April 19, 2009
Murder victim Ora James Light, 51, a homeless man, worked odd jobs for a living. Police said he was homeless by choice."Everybody that met him said he was the nicest person you've ever met. He would give them the shirt off his back, he wouldn't confront anybody," a detective said...

The first state to protect the homeless from hate crimes is ...

Posted on April 16, 2009
Maryland is on track to become the first state to protect the homeless in hate crime statutes. The state legislature this week approved adding extra penalties for violent crimes against victims singled out because of gender, disability or because the person is homeless...

I hope it's not somebody I know

Posted on April 13, 2009
You didn't have to be close to the body to see blood splattered on the concrete.A body was found this morning on the concrete embankment under Interstate 4 at Orange Blossom Trail.The man's identify has not been released.So I'm worrying about Charlie and Bruce and Frank and all the other men I know who live on the streets of O-town...

Grading Obama for his work on poverty

Posted on April 11, 2009
This week, President Obama earned a D for his work on poverty, says clevelandhomeless.The blog has been grading the Administration on its attempts to fight poverty. For the first eight weeks, the Obama Administration has averaged a solid C in fighting poverty...

New poverty measure? Maybe later

Posted on April 10, 2009
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama endorsed the idea of updating the federal poverty measure, which just about everybody considers out of date and close to useless. Now that he?s the president and dealing with an economic meltdown, though, his White House team is a lot less enthusiastic about the idea...

Gainesville wonders: What should be the rules for feeding homeless?

Posted on April 09, 2009
Many laws in Gainesville regulate how and where the homeless and destitute may be fed and sheltered, but those laws have been uniformly ignored for many years -- until now.Some proposed changes to how those laws govern places of religious assembly will come back before the City Commission, including a recommended end to the no-feed zone around the University of Florida campus and placing no limits on the number of lunches that can be served in single-family neighborhoodsCommissioners also directed staff to analyze meal limits that were enforced for the first time on the St...

Panhandling is protected by the Constitution, another judge rules

Posted on April 03, 2009
A panhandling ordinance that prohibits solicitation of money at intersections and other locations is unconstitutional, an Oregon judge has ruled.The judge found that the city of Medford's ordinance violated the Oregon Constitution, which prohibits passing any law restricting freedom of speech...

Housing for homeless alcoholics saved taxpayers $4 million

Posted on April 01, 2009
Providing housing to homeless alcoholics, regardless of their sobriety status, reduces health-care use and costs, U.S. researchers report.They evaluated a type of program called Housing First, which removes the usual housing for homeless requirements of sobriety and mandatory attendance to alcohol treatment programs...

Food stamp benefits increase about $20 per person

Posted on April 01, 2009
More than 1.8 million Floridians will receive an increase in food stamps starting today as part of the federal economic stimulus.Food stamp benefits will go up by about $20-$24 a person per month. All food stamp households will benefit. In February, 1,863,588 Floridians received food stamps ? 31% more than in February of 2008...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.