- Suit Alleges Developer Violated Civil Rights.
Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday against Related Companies, one of New York City’s most prolific builders, charging that the developer had violated the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against disabled tenants in the design of two 23-year-old apartment buildings.- California chief justice warns of civil rights crisis from court cuts.
. . . The lawsuit claims that Related’s TriBeCa Green building, at 325 North End Avenue, and One Carnegie Hill, on East 96th Street, are inaccessible to disabled tenants because kitchens, closets and bathrooms are not big enough for someone in a wheelchair to maneuver within, mailboxes are mounted too high, and room identification signs lack raised-letter Braille for persons with visual impairments.
. . . New York developers insist that they have complied for the past 25 years with a city law requiring them to ensure that all apartments they build are accessible to disabled people. The local law, developers and city officials say, essentially meets the requirements of the federal Fair Housing Act. But the federal law was toughened three years after the city law passed, and developers, city officials and federal authorities have not agreed on whether the city requirements meet the standards of the current federal act.
California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told the Legislature on Monday that the closure of budget-strapped courts has deprived more than 2 million residents of accessible justice and left the state on the verge of a "civil rights crisis."
"A one-way, three-hour trip to a courthouse can't be fair in anyone's book," Cantil-Sakauye said in her annual address to state lawmakers.
California court budgets in the last several years have been cut by about $1 billion, and Cantil-Sakauye has been pleading with legislators to restore more funding next year. Her address stressed collaboration among the branches, and she asked lawmakers to help the courts recover from the losses.
She told lawmakers that court employees have not had a cost-of-living pay hike in seven years, and some courts, including the California Supreme Court, continue to furlough employees.
The budget cutbacks also have triggered long waits for trials in civil cases, including family law.
"As long as the branch is underfunded, we will continue to see harmful and astonishing delays," she said, citing civil disputes involving business, discrimination, employment, family matters, foster care and personal injury.
- Texas Ranger who spoke with Warren Jeffs testifies in civil rights case.
There’s a Texas Ranger named Nick Hanna, and he’s spent time chatting with Warren Jeffs.
Hanna is one of the many witnesses who has testified in the Cooke civil rights trial, which has been taking place in Phoenix. In case you’re just tuning in now, the case boils down to whether or not the mostly-polygamous towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., discriminated against the Cooke family because they aren’t members of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
. . .The most relevant parts of Hanna’s testimony to the Cooke trial had to do with information he discovered allegedly indicating church control of the city governments. During examination by the Cooke’s attorneys, Hanna said he found letters between Jeffs and church leaders. The letters discussed finances, a sewer system in the community and many other things. At one point, Jeffs appears to rebuke a town mayor, saying that "if you are cut off from connecting with me you’ll be cut off from the presence of God."
In another letter read during Hanna’s testimony, it appeared that church leaders were trying to block a former member from setting up new businesses in the community.
The information fits into the narrative, woven by the Cooke’s lawyers, of a city controlled by insular religious leaders. The Cookes’ complaint specifically says they were denied water and other utilities at their home because they were outsiders.
It started with a warm holiday in Folly Beach and a poodle named Lillie.
It became controversial with a police ticket from a city that limits when dogs can frolic on the sand.
And it has now resulted in a lawsuit with allegations of civil rights violations and demands for a change in how city authorities view certain dogs on the beach.
That's because Lillie, according to her owner, is a service dog trained to comfort Summerville resident Christin Barnhart during episodes of anxiety.
Critics of Barnhart's suit, though, have raised questions about whether her dog was being used for its intended service and about how much freedom such dog owners should have.
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act makes it illegal to stop people with service dogs from doing the things that more able-bodied folks routinely do. It defines such dogs as ones trained to perform tasks for owners who suffer mental or physical disabilities.
