GA Prepares for one Execution, Schedules Another: The state of Georgia is preparing for an execution next week and signed a warrant Thursday for another, which will be the state's fifth execution this year. Rhonda Cook of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Kenneth Fults is scheduled to die by lethal injection on April 12 for murdering his 19-year-old neighbor in 1996, whom he shot five times after breaking into her home. He had been engaged in a week-long crime spree at the time, breaking into houses to steal guns with the intent of using them to kill his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. The other death row inmate, Daniel Anthony Lucas, is scheduled for execution April 27 for killing a man and his two children, aged 11 and 15, one by one as they came home separately while Lucas and a co-defendant burglarized it. Lucas' co-defendant, Brandon Rhode, was put to death on Sept. 27, 2010. Last year and 1987 were the only other times Georgia executed as many as five people in one year.
Minneapolis Sees Significant Rise in Shootings, Violence: Several shooting incidents and subsequent arrests in Minneapolis, Minn., have occurred amid a surge in gun violence that has increased in the city and others across the Midwest such as Cleveland and Chicago. Libor Jany of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that as of April 4, 65 people have been shot around the city, a 9% increase over the same period last year. In north Minneapolis, a total of 48 people were injured in shootings compared to just 17 last year. Other violent crimes have also spiked, with an overall increase of 7%. In the downtown area, aggravated assaults and rapes have increased 17% and police have seen a sharp rise in robberies as well.
Landlords Who Don't Rent to Criminals Face Bias Charges: A new guidance issued this week by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development warns landlords that they could face discrimination charges for turning down prospective tenants with criminal records, which is being criticized as "yet another move by the Obama administration to support convicted criminals." Penny Starr of CNS News reports that the 10-page guidance states that the U.S. has the largest prison population in the world with a disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics incarcerated, and policies that restrict "access to housing on the basis of criminal history has a disparate impact on individuals of a particular race" under the Fair Housing Act. The guidance specifies conviction for drug manufacturing and distribution as a justified reason to deny housing, but won't say which other past criminal activities are considered acceptable and which are not. If landlords are challenged, they will have to prove they did not turn away people "based on generalizations or stereotypes."
Minneapolis Sees Significant Rise in Shootings, Violence: Several shooting incidents and subsequent arrests in Minneapolis, Minn., have occurred amid a surge in gun violence that has increased in the city and others across the Midwest such as Cleveland and Chicago. Libor Jany of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that as of April 4, 65 people have been shot around the city, a 9% increase over the same period last year. In north Minneapolis, a total of 48 people were injured in shootings compared to just 17 last year. Other violent crimes have also spiked, with an overall increase of 7%. In the downtown area, aggravated assaults and rapes have increased 17% and police have seen a sharp rise in robberies as well.
Landlords Who Don't Rent to Criminals Face Bias Charges: A new guidance issued this week by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development warns landlords that they could face discrimination charges for turning down prospective tenants with criminal records, which is being criticized as "yet another move by the Obama administration to support convicted criminals." Penny Starr of CNS News reports that the 10-page guidance states that the U.S. has the largest prison population in the world with a disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics incarcerated, and policies that restrict "access to housing on the basis of criminal history has a disparate impact on individuals of a particular race" under the Fair Housing Act. The guidance specifies conviction for drug manufacturing and distribution as a justified reason to deny housing, but won't say which other past criminal activities are considered acceptable and which are not. If landlords are challenged, they will have to prove they did not turn away people "based on generalizations or stereotypes."
The EEOC has tried the same thing as HUD. It hasn't gone well. What's even sillier--housing projects bar criminals.
The lawlessness of this Administration knows no bounds. An ethical attorney wouldn't defend this nonsense in court.