Free Republic

Natasha Nimer had a simple question: As a trustee in a local labor union representing City of Phoenix employees, did she have a duty to check the books of a taxpayer-funded insurance account it managed? So she asked the executive board of AFSCME Local 2960. The response was an emphatic “no.” She dropped the matter and thought it would end there. She was wrong. In the months that followed, union officials tried to strip Nimer of her duties as a trustee and steward. They tried twice to force her out of AFSCME, only to have the international headquarters order her...

During Tuesday’s Los Angeles City Council meeting, where the most scintillating item on the agenda was a proposal to increase ticket prices at the L.A. Zoo, a speaker stood up and told lawmakers they were ignoring an obvious fact: “You are surrounded by tents.” He was referring to the large group of protesters camped a few hundred feet away, on a grassy lawn outside City Hall. The group, which calls itself Occupy L.A., has been there since Saturday in a demonstration against economic policies that benefit corporations and the wealthiest Americans. The speaker, a well-known political gadfly named John Walsh,...

The rocky economic recovery and stagnant unemployment rate have led to a surge in the homeless seeking shelter in shanties and tents nationwide, experts say. There's no official estimate on how many tent cities exist but, experts say, nearly every state has one and the presence of such communities is soaring. "In just about every major city, there are tent cities," said Michael Stoop, a community organizer for the National Coalition for the Homeless. "Unfortunately, we're in a growth industry and the numbers are going to continue." Stoop and his organization began formally tracking tent cities in 2010 but the...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Authorities say a Florida man faces federal misdemeanor charges after witnesses reported seeing him wandering around a national forest campground naked and armed with a pistol. Joseph Alfieri is charged in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City with being publicly nude and causing annoyance.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AFP) - Thousands of residents have fled the Nigerian city of Maiduguri over the past two days fearing more Islamist attacks and after soldiers were accused of shooting civilians, residents said on Tuesday. Residents piled into the backs of trucks and packed up their cars to leave the northeastern city, which has seen the brunt of the violence blamed on the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. The government has deployed hundreds of troops to Maiduguri in a bid to stop the sect, and last weekend a shootout between soldiers and suspected sect members left at least 11...

[snip] "In addition, the incidence for schizophrenia is almost doubled for individuals who are born and brought up in cities. "These values are a cause for concern and determining the biology behind this is the first step to remedy the trend." He and colleagues studied a series of brain scans from healthy volunteers from rural and urban areas to reach their conclusion. Dr Pruessner said: "These findings suggest that different brain regions are sensitive to the experience of city living during different times across the lifespan. "Future studies need to clarify the link between psychopathology and these affects in individuals...

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- WHAT: Three San Jose city unions establish 24/7 mobile negotiations center to demand negotiations on pension reform. Media availability and press conference scheduled. WHO: Negotiating teams for IFPTE, Local 21 & AMSP. WHEN: June 6, 2011 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM Media Availability 12:00 PM Press Conference WHERE: East Santa Clara Street, between 4th & 5th Streets (Across from San Jose City Hall) San Jose, CA 95113 Beginning at 4:00 AM Monday, unions representing architects and engineers (AEA), mid-level managers (CAMP) and maintenance supervisors (AMSP) will staff an RV parked across the...

A bill that seeks to ban “sanctuary cities” in Texas has been filed for the special session of the Legislature that began today. State Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, filed HB 9, a bill that would prohibit local entities from enacting policies that prohibits law enforcement from inquiring into the immigration status of a person lawfully detained or arrested. Gov. Rick Perry called a special session of the legislature immediately after learning Monday that the Texas Senate would not pass a bill essential to balancing the 2012-2013 budget. His original proclamation did not include sanctuary cities legislation, which he designated as...

ALTUS, Okla. – After a little over 30-minutes in executive session Thursday afternoon, the Altus City Council accepted the resignation of embattled City Manager Mike Nettles.

House, still simmering, OKs sanctuary city bill in late-night voteBy Tim Eaton and Kate Alexander | Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 12:26 AM Texas House members approved the controversial “sanctuary cities” immigration-related bill just before midnight. The vote on House Bill 12, sought by Republicans and declared a priority item by Gov. Rick Perry, was 100-47 along party lines. In the end, Republicans resorted to a brute-force approach that they earlier had tried to avoid after similar moves on Saturday brought bitter discord to the chamber. For much of the day Monday, members of the two parties had retreated into private...

Reason.tv: Sandy Springs, Georgia - The City that Outsourced Everything April 12, 2011 While cities across the country are cutting services, raising taxes and contemplating bankruptcy, something extraordinary is happening in a suburban community just north of Atlanta, Georgia. Since incorporating in 2005, Sandy Springs has improved its services, invested tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure and kept taxes flat. And get this: Sandy Springs has no long-term liabilities. This is the story of Sandy Springs, Georgia—the city that outsourced everything. Approximately 8 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

Metropolitan area results are beginning to trickle in from the 2010 census. They reveal that, at least for the major metropolitan areas so far, there is little evidence to support the often repeated claim by think tanks and the media that people are moving from suburbs to the historical core municipalities. This was effectively brought to light in a detailed analysis of Chicago metropolitan area

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin came under fire for publicly saying he wanted to rebuild his city as a "Chocolate New Orleans." Now, a report by National Public Radio is using similar terminology, calling the nation's capital "chocolate," but noting a change in its flavor. The article, titled, "D.C., Long 'Chocolate City,' Becoming More Vanilla," by Alex Kellogg, opens by stating: "For decades Washington, D.C., was known affectionately as 'Chocolate City' to many black Americans, because it was predominantly African-American. "Most big U.S. cities are getting browner as more blacks, Hispanics and Asians move...

According to Forbes, the top 10 most dangerous cities are: 1. Memphis, Tenn. 2. St. Louis, Mo. 3. Kansas City, Mo. 4. Detroit, Mi. 5. Miami, Fla. 6. Tulsa, Okla. 7. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn. 8. Indianapolis, Ind. 9. Oklahoma City, Okla. 10. Stockton, Calif. http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/nashville-ranked-seventh-most-dangerous-city

City mulls stripping workers' health careBy Linda Metz, Staff writer 11/2/2010 3:33 AM Washington city employees eventually could find themselves shopping for their own health care plan. At council's agenda meeting Monday morning, Councilman Joe Manning introduced the concept of the city not offering health care benefits to its employees by taking advantage of The Affordable Care Act that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March. "If we, as an employer, do not provide health care, our employees would be eligible for federal government subsidies" to purchase their own, Manning said. He also...

Recently, the California “Crash Tax” has received national attention as Sacramento is one city on a growing list to potentially adopt a measure imposing fines on out-of-town drivers that wreck in their cities. The measure is supposed to increase revenue for local fire and rescue budgets that are strained from accidents resulting from careless visitors to popular tourist destinations.

WASHINGTON –Six officers with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) were charged today in connection with the federal investigation of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced today. The incident resulted in the death of two civilians and the wounding of four others. The indictment charges four officers – Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso – in connection with the shootings, and charges those four officers and two supervisors – Arthur “Archie” Kaufman and Gerard Dugue – with helping to obstruct justice during the subsequent investigations. The...

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - First lady Michelle Obama has arrived in the Florida Panhandle to meet with business and tourism leaders to discuss how the Gulf oil spill has harmed them. Obama's plane landed Monday at the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City.

City Journal's Steve Malanga offers the most detailed and succinct history yet on how public sector unions grew from being toothless employee associations to having a virtually lock on all of the key power levers in California and how they've used that power to enrich themselves while all but ruining a once-goldern state. As Malanga explains, what has already happened in California is well underway across the rest of the nation and in Washington, D.C.: "The story starts half a century ago, when California public workers won bargaining rights and quickly learned how to elect their own bosses—that is,

hots fired at City Hall prompt Texas AG to ask for more troops on border EL PASO – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today demanded that President Obama send more troops to the Texas-Mexico border and used the shots that hit El Paso City Hall as an example of increased violence on the border. Abbott said in a letter that the seven shots that hit City Hall in El Paso were an example of the violence that is plaguing the border area and that sending 1,200 National Guard soldiers to the entire U.S.-Mexico border is not enough