Free Republic

Accused Minnesota assassin Vance Boelter’s most recent job was extracting eyeballs from corpses at a funeral home, according to a pal. Boelter — a 57-year-old married dad who allegedly murdered Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded another Minnesota pol and his wife early Saturday — was carrying out his gruesome extraction work as part of an organ donation program, said the friend and sometime roommate David Carlson. “I knocked on his door, and I said, ‘Hey Vance, are you there?’ ” Carlson recalled of his interaction with the accused killer around 7 p.m. Friday —...

Billionaire entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban has become a vocal critic of Donald Trump in recent years. However, throughout his public political clashes with the former president, Cuban has quietly owned a luxurious condo in Trump International Hotel and Tower on Central Park West for nearly 25 years, records obtained by The Post reveal. The Dallas-based mogul — who has thrown his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris during the current presidential campaign — purchased the 3,700-square-foot property on the 45th floor of the iconic Trump Tower in July 2000 for $13.5 million. The white-glove condo, located at...

An investigation conducted by the Buckeye Reporter has uncovered a troubling conflict of interest involving Rob Rue, the mayor of Springfield, Ohio. The report alledges that Mayor Rue has been profiting directly from the ongoing Haitian crisis by renting out properties he owns to Haitian immigrants. This practice raises serious concerns among citizens who fear that the mayor is favoring low-wage, government-subsidized foreign residents over the local population. According to the Buckeye Reporter, a 37-year-old man who identified himself as “Works,” has confirmed that he and other imported Haitians are living in buildings owned by Rue. “Works” mentioned that he...

A Colorado landlord has agreed to sell a troubled apartment complex that was taken over by the violent Venezuelan migrant gang Tren de Aragua. Landlord Zev Baumgarten has been fighting with the Denver suburb of Aurora over the Aspen Grove after the city accused him of allowed it to become a trash-ridden, gang-infested hellhole, according to records obtained by the Denver Gazette. Baumgarten is also the owner of another apartment complex where a viral video showed a crew of gun-toting thugs breaking into a unit, according to the Gazette. Baumgarten’s company has now agreed to sell, lease, or find some...

BRIGHTON, N.Y. — A new program in Brighton hopes to help stabilize folks in poverty. The Brighton Landlord Tenant Project will connect pro-bono lawyers with people facing evictions. Forty-two percent of people in Brighton are renters. Town Supervisor Bill Moehle says the goal here is to tackle systemic poverty and stop people who are in a bad situation from making it worse. This program is run by the local nonprofit Just Cause. When you show up in Brighton Town Court a volunteer lawyer will be there, offering to help you with your eviction case. Most of the time they don’t...

President Joe Biden will propose on Tuesday a nationwide cap on rent hikes of 5% per year, according to The Washington Post, which cites “three people familiar with the matter.” The proposal will rescind unspecified tax breaks to landlords who raise rents by more than 5%, although it would only apply to landlords who own more than 50 rental units. This would cover roughly half of all rental units in the country, according to Post sources. It would not apply to units that haven’t been built yet so as to not discourage construction of new housing, which the Biden administration...

The Minnesota Senate on Friday approved a package of partisan changes to landlord-tenant law that are poised to make housing more expensive for renters and create significant burdens for landlords. The landlord-tenant conference report is the product of an agreement between Democrat House and Senate negotiators on SF 3492, the landlord-tenant bill the Senate passed by an overwhelmingly partisan vote in April. Sen. Eric Lucero (R-St. Michael), the lead Republican on the Senate’s Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee, issued the following statement sharply criticizing the misplaced priorities in the bill: “The cost of housing in Minnesota is dramatically more expensive...

New York State housing advocates say they are furious about the so-called “good cause eviction bill” in the new state budget. It grants tenant protections to people in New York City but all other municipalities will need to opt in. It also requires renters to know their landlord’s portfolio to determine eligibility for “good cause” eviction protections and the information can be hard to find. Ritti Singh, communications organizer for the group Housing Justice for All, said previous iterations would have balanced tenant and landlord interests. “What it required landlords to do was to show they had a valid cause...

(Colorado Newsline) Colorado landlords will now need a specific reason to evict or not offer a lease renewal to a tenant under a new law signed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis on Friday. It is a victory for tenants-rights organizers and progressive legislators who seek to include renters in the conversation about how to address the state’s housing and affordability issues. Colorado is the sixth state to enact such a policy. “Everybody here wants to prevent unnecessary evictions and save families money. And House Bill 1098 does these things while placing no financial burdens on landlords. This is the right...

A crafty squatter bilked his landlord of at least $72,000 in rent for his Lower East Side apartment — then made tens of thousands in profit by subletting the unit, the owner charges. For three years, computer programmer Thor Boucher hasn’t paid a cent of his bargain-rate $2,000-a-month, two-bedroom, one-bathroom Essex Street pad, claiming he didn’t have to because the building was noisy and shook, according to landlord Ed Yau and Manhattan Civil Court documents. The alleged freeloader had no qualms renting the space out, though, charging as much as $1950 per room monthly since November 2021 on platforms including...

Housing advocates say easy public access to landlord-tenant complaints hamstrings renter efforts to find new housing, but pulling records from public view also raises concerns. The Strip District woman would feel a lot more confident about apartment hunting if her tenant history was not marked by three recent court complaints filed against her by her current landlord. “Honestly, it makes me feel like a criminal,” she said. The tenant, whose name is being withheld for privacy reasons, faced a health crisis last year and an ongoing disability that slashed her income, even prompting a GoFundMe plea for help with medical...

Peeling lead paint. Roach infestations. Blinking electricity. Mold. These are just some of the dangerous conditions that Daniel Ohebshalomthe Big Apple’s “worst landlord,” has allegedly ignored in two of his Washington Heights apartment buildings, city housing officials said Monday. The nearly 700 open violations between the buildings at 705 and 709 170th Street earned Ohebshalom an open arrest warrant, a two-month vacation at Rikers Island and fines of more than $3 million, the officials said. “The worst landlord in New York City is Daniel Ohebshalom,” Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development...

(KRON) — With the new year comes new changes involving housing in California. Governor Gavin Newsom signed several bills into law this year that will go into effect starting Jan. 1, 2024. Some bring changes to the workplace, others to the state’s official symbols. Here are five impacting housing that you’ll want to be aware of: 1. Security deposits Tenants will no longer have to fork over several month’s rent as a security deposit. A new bill caps the amount a landlord can charge to one month’s rent. 2. Evictions based on alleged criminal activity Tenants will not be able...

A Queens landlord was killed by her teen tenant during a fight that erupted this week when he failed to make good on rent, authorities said Thursday. Davi Vidal, 19, lashed out at Leo Zoraida, 55, around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday inside their building on 96th Street near Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst, cops said. Vidal hadn’t been paying rent, sparking the deadly altercation with Zoraida. Cops say the landlord was found unconscious and unresponsive with scratches on her face inside an apartment.

An Oregon man’s dogged search for the truth has left him nearly $1.4 million richer. Joshua Smith was forlorn when his feline sidekick, Frank, mysteriously disappeared. But Smith sported a Cheshire cat smile this week after a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury deliberated less than two hours before awarding him $1.375 million for the loss of his 3-year-old tabby, oregonlive.com reported. Smith had previously sued, claiming his landlord had “catnapped” the furball. “The jury’s message should be loud and clear to landlords,” said purr-suasive attorney Michael Fuller, who won the case. “You need to respect the rights of tenants, especially...

The city of Rochester has asked a state judge to order an out-of-town real estate investor to pay more than $131 million for code violations at derelict properties he owns. The request is by far the largest judgment sought since the city began more aggressively pursuing neglectful landlords in court a year ago. Citations for rodent infestations, holes in walls, smashed windows, and dilapidated roofs are among the more than 470 violations that have accumulated at 15 single-family homes and apartment houses owned by Meyer Hirschhorn, of Rockland County. Hirschhorn, who has real estate holdings across New York and New...

A D.C. landlord who tells the News4 I-Team he hasn’t been paid rent in three years will have to wait at least another four months to get a trial on evicting the tenants. John Jones owns a single two-bedroom unit in Southeast D.C. The I-Team first met him when he complained he was missing $14,000 from a COVID-era rent relief program. City documents show a check was sent in 2021 to the tenants, and that check was cashed — but the tenants never sent the money to Jones. He says they hadn’t paid rent for a few months before, and...

California lawmakers have voted to strengthen eviction protections for renters, closing an existing loophole allowing landlords to circumvent the state's rent cap. SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Legislature voted Thursday to bolster eviction protections for renters and close a loophole in an existing law that has allowed landlords to circumvent the state’s rent cap. The eviction reform bill was among hundreds approved before the end of a late legislative session, including giving striking workers unemployment benefits and reforms to the state’s mental health system. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Oct. 14 to act on the bills by signing them...

MONROE – A federal lawsuit filed by a group of landlords, including Pamela Lee, who own rental properties, says that a Monroe town law passed earlier this year is discriminatory against landlords and violates the federal Fair Housing Act. The lawsuit also alleges that families with more than two people cannot reside in a one-bedroom rental unit. The lawsuit, filed by six LLCs that own rental properties and Pamela Lee, a member of all of the LLCs and owner of properties in Monroe personally, asserts that the town is attempting to prohibit them from enjoying their constitutional right by depriving...

A landlord in Canada brutally killed a young engaged couple who lived in his building over an apparent housing dispute Saturday before he was shot dead by police. The 57-year-old fatally shot tenants Carissa MacDonald and Aaron Stone outside a home in Stoney Creek, Ontario, on Saturday evening, Hamilton police said. Both MacDonald, 27, and Stone, 28, were already dead when officers reached the property at 322 Jones Road around 5:40 p.m., the officials said. The couple was “fleeing the residence” when they were shot, Hamilton Detective Sgt. Steve Berezuik told reporters Sunday morning, according to CBC News. “They are...