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City wants back rent from Kelo residents In the adding insult to injury category, the city officials that triumphed over a group of Connecticut homeowners in a landmark Supreme Court property-rights case are expecting those residents to pay the local government rent dating back to the year 2000.Pa. legislators criticized over pay raises Not only did legislators increase their salaries 16 percent to 34 percent to at least $81,050 – more than any state except California – they crafted the package in secret without debate or public scrutiny, then left town.Taking of developer’s land for open space OK’d In a twist on this summer’s Supreme Court decision allowing a Connecticut city to seize private land and turn it over to developers, a New Jersey appeals panel has OK’d the taking of property from developers to assure the area remains as open space.For N.J. family, ruling may doom beach cottage Alabama limits eminent domain Alabama yesterday became the first state to enact new protections against local-government seizure of property allowed under a Supreme Court ruling that has triggered an explosive grass-roots counteroffensive across the country.House approves limits on eminent domain Private property owners would be protected from state and local governments seizing their land for economic development purposes under a bill overwhelmingly approved by the Texas House Sunday night.States Trying to Blunt Property Ruling Alarmed by the prospect of local governments seizing homes and turning the property over to developers, lawmakers in at least half the states are rushing to blunt last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling expanding the power of eminent domain.Amendment would protect Californians’ homes Hoping to prevent government from seizing Californians’ land for use by private developers, a state senator is introducing an amendment to the state constitution to guarantee property rights. Latest property snatch: Missouri The latest region worrying about property seizures by the government under eminent domain is the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood, Mo., where city officials are looking at the possibility of improving an area mostly filled with private businesses.The selling out of America For nearly 200 years, governments in America rarely bought private property, except "… for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings," as specified in the U.S. Constitution. In the last 30 years, however, all governments – federal, state, and local – have gone on a buying spree, gobbling up land everywhere to protect and preserve, which, incidentally, is not one of the purposes authorized by the Constitution.Congress aims to blunt court’s eminent domain ruling Lawmakers are trying to blunt a Supreme Court decision that says local governments can seize people’s homes to make way for shopping malls and other private development.Property battle heads to states At least 10 states already forbid the use of eminent domain for economic development unless it is to eliminate blight and others, alarmed by the Supreme Court’s decision clearing the way for the forcible removal of homeowners and business owners from their property, are considering new property rights protections. Will Ruling Affect Ga. Homeowners? Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said Thursday’s U.S. SupremeFamily May Lose Business To Court’s Eminent Domain Decision A landmark decision by the Supreme Court regarding eminent domain paves the way for local government to take your home or business to make way for private development — and that’s exactly what’s happening to a business owner in downtown Hollywood [Florida].Freeport business loses ground to eminent domain You dreamed of the day you would own it. You saved money to buy it and hoped to live in it for years. So what would you do if the city bulldozed your home in the name of economic development? It can.Decision Puts Issue Of Eminent Domain Back In States’ Hands The Institute for Justice had bold aspirations for the Kelo v. New London case. Before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the Institute had been battling in state courts from Ohio to Connecticut to prevent governments from using their eminent domain powers to promote economic development….Private Property Pilfering The Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments about whether or not youU.S. intel once considered causing huge quake Months before the end of World War II, an American intelligence agency launched a top-secret project aimed at devising ways to trigger massive earthquakes and tsunamis that would wreak havoc among enemy civilian populations, recently uncovered documents reveal.Woman arrested over 96 cents A Mansfield, Ohio, woman was arrested and jailed for failure to file a 2001 city income tax bill totaling 96 cents.Supreme Court reviews our right to keep private property The Supreme Court is hearing a case that will affect the property rights of us all. The city of New London, Connecticut wants to condemn some private property so that private developers can build an office facility. The city claims it has the right to take property under eminent domain for the sole purpose of increasing tax revenue.Schools snub Christian group despite ruling A Christian group is battling a Maryland school district, charging officials are trying to circumvent a federal court ruling allowing the evangelistic ministry to advertise on campuses.Students: Professors inject politics in class A new poll finds that nearly half of students at 50 leading American colleges say professors frequently inject political comments into classroom discussions, even if those comments have nothing to do with the subject being taught.American despotism Last week, Washington Post columnist George Will penned a column "Despotism in New London" (Sept. 19, 2004). In it, he described how Connecticut’s Supreme Court, by a 4-to-3 ruling, allowed the New London Development Corp. to use laws of eminent domain to condemn much of the city’s Fort Trumbull neighborhood, near a $270 million Pfizer research facility, and lease it to luxury hotel, condominium and office building developers. New London, Conn., is hard up for tax revenues, and if the property is taken away from middle-class homeowners and transferred to wealthy interests, it will yield the city more tax revenue.Court Takes on Question of Seizing Land The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide when governments may seize people’s homes and businesses for economic development projects, a key question asU.S. Videos, for TV News, Come Under Scrutiny Federal investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, which would be offered to help elderly Americans with the costs of their prescription medicines. On the night of January 13, 1993, Eden Jacobowitz, a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, had been writing a paper for an English class when a sorority began celebrating its Founders’ Day beneath the windows of his high-rise dormitory apartment. The women were singing very loudly, chanting, and stomping. It had prevented him from writing, and it had awakened his roommate. He shouted out the window, "Please keep quiet," and went back to work. Twenty minutes later, the noise yet louder, he shouted out the window, "Shut up, you water buffalo!" The women were singing about going to a party. "If you want a party," he shouted, "there’s a zoo a mile from here." The women were black. Within weeks, the administrative judicial inquiry officer (JIO) in charge of Eden’s case, Robin Read, decided to prosecute him for violation of Penn’s policy on racial harassment. He could accept a "settlement" — an academic plea bargain — or he could face a judicial hearing whose possible sanctions included suspension and expulsion.1 Pentagon auditors spent 1,139 hours altering their own files in order to pass an internal review, say investigators who found that the accounting sleuths engaged in just the kind of wasteful activity they’re supposed to expose. A federal court in New Orleans ruled a Louisiana school district unconstitutionally denied after-hours use of its facilities to a Christian group while allowing non-religious organizations full access.
School’s Padded Room Draws Ire
Eminent-domain abuse widespread If you believe your home is your castle or that the government can only take it for public use, you should be warned otherwise, says a public-interest law firm that documented thousands of cases nationwide where governments have abused eminent domain. On television screens around the world, Kofi Annan said: "The members of the Security Council now face a great choice. If they fail to agree on a common position, and action is taken without the authority of the Security Council, the legitimacy and support of any such action will be seriously impaired." How to rig an election All you need is the power to draw district lines. And that is what America provides: a process, called redistricting, which, through back-room negotiations too boring for most voters to think about, can distort the democratic system itself.
Report: Clinton Gifts Total $400G
President Clinton (news web sites) left office with more than $400,000 in gifts, including $75,000 in china, crystal, and furniture received in his last weeks in office, according to a congressional report.Thieves in the night Like thieves in the night, a handful of U.S. senators have set into motion a new law that can steal the property rights from private owners in the name of protecting wildlife.
Private developers and local governments, using the power of eminent domain, are increasingly joining together to force property owners from their land, coercing the transfer of property from one private owner to another. President Bush’s claim of executive privilege in rejecting a congressional subpoena for records related to both a Clinton-era campaign finance probe and a 30-year-old Boston mob case – in which a man the FBI knew to be innocent was imprisoned for 30 years – has drawn the ire of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
BLM Tries to Ignore Input From Citizens
The Bureau of Land Management presents options on management plans to the public for comment, but the BLM has already decided which option to accept. According to Idaho Attorney General Alan Lance, as reported in the Deseret
President Clinton Wants to Redistribute Income
Senator Orrin Hatch (R, Utah) Doesn’t Care
GOP Delegates at the 1997 state convention voted against a US bill co-sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senator Edward Kennady (D-Mass.) to provide federal assistance to needy children. In response, Hatch "’lovingly’ and with ‘great respect’ lecture[d] delegates in a half-hour response that articulately told |
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