Academic

More on the Orlando food fight

Posted on September 15, 2010
Abstract Appeal (back after a hiatus) takes a look at the 11th Circuit's decisions in the Orlando food-sharing lawsuit. Read the post here.

I sure hope she's right!

Posted on September 12, 2010
The legal fight over Orlando's food-sharing ordinance got the spotlight recently over at the Constitutional Law Prof Blog.In a vigorous dissent from the 2-1 ruling in favor of the city, Judge Rosemary Barkett argued that Orlando Food Not Bombs' distribution of free food to hungry and homeless persons in a downtown park constitutes expressive conduct entitled to First Amendment protectionA majority of the Eleventh Circuit judges have voted to grant en banc review, indicating that Judge Barkett's views will be seriously entertained by the full court, Professor Ruthann Robson wrote...

Released from jail at night, homeless man killed by hit-and-run driver

Posted on September 10, 2010
Dominic Amodeo was killed less than an hour after he was released from jail.A vehicle theft charge against Amodeo was set to be dropped upon the completion of a pre-trial intervention."This was his first brush with the law of any significance," said Norma Wendt, his public defender...

Caught on video: teens attack homeless man

Posted on September 09, 2010
Three high school students are expected to be charged with an attack on a homeless man in Huntington, West Virginia. Police were alerted to the crime after a video of the incident was posted on Facebook."It's shocking and it's sad," said Lt. John Williams...

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Lakeland targets homeless with new camping law -- but says the city isn't criminalizing homelessness

Posted on September 08, 2010
Lakeland has a new ordinance on the books that bans unauthorized camping in the city limits. It?s aimed at the homeless.The City Commission voted unanimously to approve the ordinance, which prohibits homeless people from sleeping on the street or in parks...

Pinellas Hope adds apartments to its community of tents and sheds

Posted on September 08, 2010
Pinellas Hope II offers 80 new permanent efficiency apartments, in addition to its 250 tents.Pinellas Hope, which already houses more than 250 people in temporary tents and small wooden sheds, has opened 80 new permanent efficiency apartments.The newest addition, called Pinellas Hope II, cost about $4 million...

Shelter to stop serving evening meals, so advocates will offer dinner downtown

Posted on September 05, 2010
St. Augustine's only homeless shelter plans to stop serving hot evening meals to the public after Oct. 1.To fill that void, a coalition of groups is planning to serve evening meals to homeless and needy people downtown.Mary Lawrence of People United to Stop Homelessness said, "We're prepared to take up the slack...

17% of America in anti-poverty programs

Posted on August 30, 2010
One out of every six Americans are now enrolled in government anti-poverty programs. More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid,a 17% increase since December 2007. More than 40 million people receive food stamps -- an increase of nearly 50% since the start of the economic crisis...

Brazilian city makes food a basic right and ends hunger

Posted on August 29, 2010
Back in 1993, the newly elected city government of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, declared that food was a right of citizenship. At that time, the city of 2.5 million had 275,000 people living in absolute poverty, and close to 20% of its children were going hungry...

2 men get life in prison for killing homeless man in $10 robbery

Posted on August 28, 2010
Vincent Simien died after he was stabbed in the chest by two men who came to a homeless camp to steal money from the people sleeping there.That night, they got $10 from another homeless man.Now Willie Williams, 49, and Sheridan Smith, 36, are facing life in prison without parole...

The Daily City visits IDignity

Posted on August 26, 2010
Check out the video here. And if you want to help -- with your time or your money -- visit the IDignity website.

"One of the more egregious cases of robbing Peter to pay Paul"

Posted on August 24, 2010
Under growing pressure to prevent a pair of domestic spending bills from increasing the national budget deficit, Congress plans to offset new spending with unprecedented cuts to future food stamp funding.The cuts to food stamp funding would finance a bill to help fund public sectors jobs at the state level and a proposed child nutrition measure...

YouTube helps fight homelessness today

Posted on August 22, 2010
YouTube joins the fight against homelessness today as InvisiblePeople.tv founder Mark Horvath guest curates the site's homepage with videos that smash stereotypes about America's most forgotten citizens.The opportunity to curate YouTube's homepage coincides with the halfway point of InvisiblePeople...

Homeless man found living in library

Posted on August 18, 2010
A man who told police he is homeless was discovered living in the basement of a library after a custodian saw him peeking out a basement window after hours.Charles A. Jones Jr., 26, told police he had been living in the basement of Ocean Township, New Jersey, library for almost two weeks unnoticed...

We all pay for homelessness

Posted on August 17, 2010
Homelessness costs everyone, even if there's no specific tax or line-item to cover it.We pay for it in higher insurance rates when hospitals treat people who wait until they're really, really sick to get help in the emergency room. We pay for it when we fund the jail, and when tourists feel threatened by men and women hanging around businesses and don't stop to shop...

Robbers beat homeless man to death with wooden plank

Posted on August 15, 2010
A 58-year-old homeless man was beaten with a wooden plank, robbed and left mortally wounded in the street of a South Dallas neighborhood this morning.Officers found the victim lying in the street about 1:55 a.m. The victim, whose name was withheld until family members were notified, told police that two men walked up to him and began hitting him with the wooden plank...

Take a look at IDignity

Posted on August 15, 2010
Mark Horvath of invisiblepeople.tv visited us at the IDignity event in Sanford the other day.I had no idea we're the only folks in the country doing this kind of thing -- but if Mark says so, it must be true!

Social Security lifts 1 million elderly Floridians out of poverty

Posted on August 13, 2010
Social Security reduces elderly poverty dramatically in Florida (and every other state in the nation).Without Social Security, the poverty rate for Floridians aged 65 and over would exceed 46%. With Social Security, the elderly poverty rate is slightly more than 10%...

City vows to enforce camping ban on protestors

Posted on August 12, 2010
"They chase us around, but there really is no place for us to go. They don't have shelter space for us," said Red, a participant in the protest. "They are prosecuting us for something we can't help. That's what the Jones decision was about."One person was ticketed when a six-week protest of the Santa Cruz camping ban took up residence on the City Hall lawn...

Ever heard of "learned helplessness"?

Posted on August 11, 2010
If you've never heard of "learned helplessness," you probably don't understand why some homeless people say they don't want help.A lot of people believe that many homeless people live on the streets by choice. Just read the comments to any newspaper article about homelessness...

Homeless tour guides reveal the unseen city of London

Posted on August 07, 2010
A volunteer-based organiszation called the Sock Mob is focused on bringing about social change by bringing together people from different walks of life, and their spin-off social events branch has launched Unseen City Tours as part of this month's London Fringe Festival...

Seeking oil spill work, homeless fill Gulf Coast shelters

Posted on July 31, 2010
The director of the homeless service center 15 Place in downtown Mobile calls them "rainbow chasers" -- unemployed, sometimes unemployable, people who've come to Mobile in hopes of striking oil cleanup gold."I would say easily since the debacle began, particularly in the last 60 or 70 days, we get two new people a day," 15 Place Director Lyn Manz-Walters said...

Mayor urges homeless to leave Transbay Terminal

Posted on July 31, 2010
"Go away, man!" Kolinio Waqairawai hollered at Mayor Gavin Newsom at first. But after they talked, he agreed to accept the mayor's offer of housing.San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom visited a homeless encampment as part of a final push by city officials to find homes for about 30 die-hards who have used the soon-to-be-demolished Transbay Terminal and its web of overpasses as a shelter for years, repeatedly resisting the city's stepped-up efforts to get them into transitional housing...

Florida has third-largest uninsured population in nation

Posted on July 30, 2010
Florida had the third-largest uninsured population in the nation in 2007, with more than 24% of its population lacking health insurance, according to the latest figures released by the United States Census Bureau.Texas lead the nation with 26.8% uninsured, followed by New Mexico, with 26...

It's closing time ... but will the homeless leave?

Posted on July 20, 2010
Counselor Jason Albertson arranges a spot in a shelter for Ed Jones (right), who was sleeping in the terminal.There are as many as 140 homeless people sprawled every night across the ancient wooden benches inside San Francisco's Transbay Terminal or in dozens of tents alongside the outside walls...

Does "homeless dumping" happen? Or is it the stuff of urban legend?

Posted on July 18, 2010
PolitiFact Florida -- which usually examines the truth of campaign ads -- has tackled the question of "homeless dumping," where cops from one city drive homeless people to another city, drop them off and leave.St. Petersburg Council Chair Leslie Curran claimed that other Pinellas cities are dumping their homeless in St...

College student lives among Lakeland's homeless

Posted on July 18, 2010
Southeastern University student Brian Seeley, right, sits with his friend Donna Leslie outside a day labor facility. Leslie did not get to work that day, and says it's hard for women to get day labor.After his classes at Southeastern University ended in May, Brian Seeley began living on the streets among the homeless...

No drop in the bucket: County urges motorists not to help panhandlers

Posted on July 17, 2010
Motorists shouldn't give to panhandlers, they should donate to charity instead, Palm Beach County commissioners agree.The commission hopes to spread that message by launching a public awareness campaign designed to curb the number of panhandlers asking for cash at the county's busiest intersections...

A Statement from Orlando Food Not Bombs

Posted on July 16, 2010
"Orlando Food Not Bombs is not going anywhere. We will not slink out of Orlando because a court ruling goes against us. Some accuse us of being "outside agitators" with a covert agenda, but we freely admit that our purposes are both humanitarian and political...

What Wall Street reform means for tenants of foreclosed properties

Posted on July 15, 2010
When President Obama signs the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law next week, at least two provisions will benefit tenants of foreclosed properties.? Makes clear that tenants can remain in their homes for 90 days after the date on which title to a property is transferred by a court order...

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