Free Republic

RED LAKE, Minn. (AP) - The obituary in the small town paper was heartbreaking: Chase Albert "Beka" Lussier, born Dec. 23, 1989, died March 21 at Red Lake High School. A freshman who played basketball and loved computer games. Six paragraphs down, beside the photograph of a chubby-cheeked, smiling boy, came this sentence: "He spent his time juggling life between his family and his son." A father at 15. Dead three months later. Shot with eight others by an alienated, despondent upperclassman who, at the end of his 10-minute walk through Red Lake High School, turned one of his guns...

<p>'WE'RE TOGETHER'</p> <p>It has been four years since the Silvers have lived in a home. They are a strong family that must survive while living in an aging van.</p> <p>San Francisco has the nation's worst problem with hard-core homelessness. Thousands of people are without shelter, and as many as 5,000 spend virtually all their time on the street. Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan and photographer Brant Ward spent four months among the homeless and those who deal with them. In this series, they explore how one of the nation's wealthiest and most cultured cities came to have so many people living on its streets.</p>