Vol. 50 No. 1
April 25, 2019 - May 01, 2019
This publication is a Certified DBE/ SBE / MBE in the State of California CUCP #43264 Metro File #7074 & State of Texas File #802505971
The San Bernardino AMERICAN News Celebrates ****50 years****
Homeless Persons Cannot Be Punished for Sleeping in Absence of Alternatives, 9th Circuit Decision Establishes
Publisher’s Corner Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com Clifton Harris Editor in Chief Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News
COMMENTARY: The Mueller Report and the Question of US foreign policy By Bill Fletcher, Jr., NNPA Newswire Contributor
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, NNPA Newswire Contributor People experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the west coast states of the Ninth Circuit can sleep more safely, without facing criminal punishment for simply trying to survive on the streets. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an en banc petition by the city of Boise in Martin v. Boise (formerly Bell v. Boise), leaving in place its September 2018 ruling that homeless persons cannot be punished for sleeping outside on public property in the absence of adequate alternatives. In so holding, the court of appeals permitted the homeless individuals who have received criminal citations under Boise’s policy to proceed with their constitutional claims against the City. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, which filed the case in 2009 with co-counsel Idaho Legal Aid Services and Latham & Watkins LLP, hails this decision as being essential to encouraging cities to propose constructive alternatives to homelessness. “Criminally punishing homeless people for sleeping on the street when they have nowhere else to go is inhumane, and we applaud the Court for ruling that it is also unconstitutional,” said Maria Foscarinis, executive director at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. “It’s time for Boise to stop trying to hide its homelessness problem with unconstitutional ordinances, and start proposing real solutions.” The case challenges Boise’s enforcement of its Camping and Disorderly Conduct Ordinances against persons experiencing homelessness who need to sleep in public in the absence of adequate housing or shelter. Last September, a panel of the Ninth Circuit agreed with the central premise in the suit, holding that “as long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless
This case is part of a nationwide movement against the criminalization of homelessness, spearheaded by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and more than 850 groups and individuals who have endorsed the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA) people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter.” Following that ruling, the city of Boise petitioned the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case en banc. Today, the court rejected that request, thereby affirming that within the western states that make up the Ninth Circuit, “the Eighth Amendment preclude[s] the enforcement of a statute prohibiting sleeping outside against homeless individuals with no access to alternative shelter.” “Today, the court says that people experiencing homelessness cannot be punished for sleeping or sheltering on the streets in the absence of alternatives,” said Eric Tars, Legal Director at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. “But our hope is that tomorrow, cities will begin to create those alternatives—getting homeless people into housing is a win-win approach, benefitting both the individuals helped and the communities that no longer have to deal with the negative impacts of people living in public spaces, at lower cost than cycling people through the criminal justice system.” The case gained national at-
tention in 2015 when the United States Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest brief in the case, arguing that making it a crime for people who are homeless to sleep in public places unconstitutionally punishes them for being homeless. “The outcome of Court’s decision will support cities who are addressing real solutions to the complex issues faced by homeless individuals and families rather than just create more barriers and fill more jails with persons who only needed a place to sleep for the night,” said Howard Belodoff, of Idaho Legal Aid Services, Inc. “Boise can be one of those cities—it has the resources, it just needs to apply them correctly.” Judge Berzon, in her opinion, notes that the decision, while important, is unlikely to impose dire consequences on cities. “The distressing homelessness problem…has grown into a crisis for many reasons, among them the cost of housing, the drying up of affordable care for people with mental illness, and the failure to provide adequate treatment for drug addiction. The crisis continued to burgeon while ordinances forbidding sleeping in public were on the books and sometimes en-
forced.” “We are pleased that the Ninth Circuit held that the Constitution ‘prohibits the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter,’” said Michael Bern, lead pro bono counsel from Latham & Watkins, who argued the case before the Ninth Circuit. “As the Department of Justice recognized earlier in this case, ‘[c]riminalizing public sleeping in cities with insufficient housing and support for homeless individuals does not improve public safety outcomes or reduce the factors that contribute to homelessness.’ With today’s decision, we hope that cities can redirect their efforts to identifying meaningful and constitutional solutions to the problem of homelessness.” This case is part of a nationwide movement against the criminalization of homelessness, spearheaded by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and more than 850 groups and individuals who have endorsed the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign. The court’s decision can be read here.http:// cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/ datastore/opinions/2019/04/01/ 15-35845.pdf The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty is the only national organization dedicated solely to using the power of the law to prevent and end homelessness. With the support of a large network of pro bono lawyers, we address the immediate and long-term needs of people who are homeless or at risk through outreach and training, advocacy, impact litigation, and public education. The Housing Not Handcuffs campaign is a project supported by the AmeriCorps VISTA program.
Public Health Investigates Measles Outbreak Residents urged to get measles immunization to protect their health and prevent disease spread Los Angeles County News LOS ANGELES – Given widespread outbreaks in the United States and internationally, and locally-acquired cases, the chance of exposure to measles is increased at this time. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is investigating a number of reports of measles in Los Angeles County residents (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena as any cases identified in those cities are reported by their local health departments). These include a local outbreak of four confirmed measles cases linked to one another after international travel and an additional single case of measles after international travel. Public Health urges residents who have not been fully
immunized against measles with two doses of the measles immunization, to contact their healthcare provider to get fully immunized in order to better protect their individual health and to prevent the spread of measles to others. Infected people can infect those around them before they have symptoms and know they are infected. The measles virus can be transmitted from one person to another up to 4 days before the onset of rash. About 90% of people who have never been immunized against measles become ill 7-21 days after exposure. These five cases are the first cases of measles confirmed by Public Health among Los Angeles County residents and the
first cases of transmission within LA County in 2019. These are unrelated to the four non-resident cases that traveled through Los Angeles County earlier this year. The majority of the cases were unvaccinated. “We will likely see additional measles cases in Los Angeles County, so it is important if you or someone you know has the symptoms of measles or has been exposed to measles to contact your healthcare provider by phone right away before seeking treatment,” said Muntu Davis, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County Health Officer. “The best way to protect yourself and to prevent the spread of measles is to get the measles immunization, with
two doses of measles immunization being about 97% effective at preventing measles.” Public Health recommends the following: All children should receive two doses of measles immunization. The first should be administered between the ages of 12 to 15 months, and the second between the ages of 4 and 6 years. Written confirmation from the administering doctor or other clinician should be kept. The immunization can be given from ages 6-11 months, if there is concern about direct exposure to measles or if travel to places with current measles (continued on page 4)
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the former president of TransAfrica Forum. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and www.billfletcherjr.com. He is the author of the new mystery The Man Who Fell From the Sky. If there had been any question about Russian interference in the 2016 election, that is now a settled matter in light of the Mueller Report. Whether that interference had a demonstrable impact on the election results will be debated for years to come, but Robert Mueller’s committee established, early in the report, sufficient evidence of the scale and scope of interference that further debate about “whether” is pointless. Yet, what has been interesting throughout this entire period of discussion of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections has been the hypocrisy of most so-called mainstream commentators and political officials. On the one hand, they have expressed absolute outrage concerning alleged Russian interference. They have pointed to how the manipulation of social media and hacking, along with possible efforts to affect voter registration rolls, compromises the system and could call into question the legitimacy of any election result. This is all true. So, where is the hypocrisy? It is found in the actions carried out historically by the US government in its various forms of covert activity over most of the 20th century and to this day. Yet, this sort of covert activity receives precious little attention from mainstream commentators and politicians. They act as if it was never done. We can start with coups. Whether the 1953 coup which overthrew the Mossadegh government in Iran; the 1954 coup in Guatemala against Arbenz; the 1964 coup in then British Guiana against Chedi Jagan; the 1973 coup against Allende in Chile; the 2009 coup in Honduras against Zelaya; or the contemplated coup today against the Maduro government in Venezuela, the US government has rarely restrained itself from undoing democratically elected leaders. Coups are among the most extreme forms of electoral in-
terference. The USA, through the Central Intelligence Agency and/or numerous other intelligence organizations has offered financial and organizational support to political candidates and parties and conducted dis-information campaigns against individuals and political parties that were perceived as a threat to the interests of the US ruling groups. To paraphrase Bugs Bunny: what’s all the hubbub…bub…? Please do not get me wrong. The activities of the Russians in the 2016 elections in the USA or their activities in Europe are reprehensible and should be exposed and opposed. Yet, we in the USA should not be sitting back acting as if such activities are a shock to our system; something that we have never seen previously. The reality is that, in the name of the USA, immense criminal acts have been conducted that have ignored the rule of law and undermined efforts at national self-determination and democratic rule. The lesson from all of this? If we are going to oppose Russian electoral interference— which we should—then what is demanded of democraticminded people in the USA is absolute opposition to interference in the internal affairs of countries trying to pursue their own paths, particularly when those paths are consistent with rule of law and democracy. Anything else is hypocrisy, though I was going to use another term. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the former president of TransAfrica Forum. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com. He recently authored the mystery novel The Man Who Fell From the Sky from Hardball Press. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BlackPressUSA.com or the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
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