Free Republic

PHILADELPHIA — A state court ruled Friday that Philadelphia was not entitled to set its own gun laws, invalidating five measures passed by the City Council last year and striking a blow against the city’s efforts to strengthen gun control. The Commonwealth Court dismissed a petition by two City Council members, Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller, who filed suit last year arguing that the state’s Uniform Firearms Act did not pre-empt Philadelphia’s gun laws. The two council members had also argued that the state legislature had created a “state of danger” for Philadelphia residents by their continued refusal...

A judge has ruled that the Detroit City Council cannot hold a hearing to try to remove Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office.

CHICO — A group of residents want the Chico City Council to back up their request to impeach the president and vice president. The group, which informally calls itself the "Chico Impeach Team," is asking the council to pass a resolution urging Congress to "do its job" and begin the process to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, group project leader Marla Crites said. While acknowledging the terms of both will end in January, Crites said she believed it was not too late for impeachment. "I think they need to be held accountable whether they have one more...

A proposed ordinance targeting illegal immigration in Fremont may be dead, but the discussion of the problems fueling the debate is just getting under way, say those involved in the issue. Fremont Mayor Don “Skip’’ Edwards cast the deciding vote late Tuesday night against a proposal that would have banned renting to, harboring and hiring illegal immigrants Fremont is, however, the first Nebraska city to attempt such a proposal, said Norm Pflanz, an attorney with Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest. Other communities, including Hazleton, Pa., Escondido, Calif., and Riverside, N.J. have attempted similar measures but have...

After three-plus hours of testimony at a crowded public hearing Tuesday night, the mayor of Fremont broke a 4-4 council vote and killed a proposal targeting illegal immigrants The issue has stirred strong opinions. Tuesday's hearing drew comment from Fremont residents and many other from Omaha, Lincoln and other nearby areas. Supporters of the proposal expressed their frustration over lax enforcement by federal officials. They pointed to medical costs, job losses and increased crime among the impact illegal immigrants have had. Opponents, meanwhile, voiced concern about discrimination and worries the proposal could cause more problems than bring solutions. Fremont resident...

Eugene, OR (AHN) - Eugene city officials fed up with crime are mulling an ordinance that will keep convicts and would-be criminals out of the downtown area for up to one year. Under the proposal, which is awaiting the council's vote pending the conclusion of a public hearing, a person charged with a crime such as robbery or assault would be banned from downtown Eugene for 90 days. Convicted criminals will not be allowed downtown for one year.The proposal from councilors Andrea Ortiz and Mike Clark drew mixed reactions from the police and merchants supporting the ban and human rights...

CITY PRAYER POLICY UPHELD Fredericksburg Free Lance - Star Fredericksburg Virginia http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/072008/07242008/397448 Date published: 7/24/2008 BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE Fredericksburg City Council can keep Jesus Christ out of its prayers. The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the city's right to start its meetings with nonsectarian prayers. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sat on the three-judge panel hearing the case and wrote the opinion. "She didn't feel my rights were being violated, but my rights are definitely being violated," said City Councilman Hashmel Turner, who filed the case. "It removed an opportunity for me to pray...

OMAHA — A Nebraska city is the latest community to try its hand at regulating illegal immigration — a job traditionally reserved for federal officials. A proposed ordinance introduced by the Fremont City Council earlier this month and set for decision in late August would force prospective renters to prove they’re not illegal immigrants before becoming tenants in the city. A city councilman also has asked to make the measure prohibit hiring illegal immigrants. Supporters say the law is needed to enforce federal rules they believe are falling by the wayside in the city of 25,000. Opponents of the measure...

Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee. Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of "self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width," after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

Resolution encourages U.S. 59 development El Campo City Council joined in the protest cries against the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor Monday night advocating an improved and expanded U.S. 59 instead. Possible economic impacts from the proposed TTC corridor caused concern with draft versions of the roadway limiting access, cutting through family farms and bypassing many cities completely.

A group called “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” is suing the city of Greece, New York because they don’t like the prayer they have before city council meetings.

Council votes to apologize; resolution aims to squelch mayor vs. Marines flap Toledo City Council yesterday attempted to quell the controversy surrounding Mayor Carty Finkbeiner’s order to cancel a Marine Corps warfare training exercise downtown with a unanimous vote of apology. Without discussion, the 12-member council approved a resolution apologizing to Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., for the mayor’s action Friday afternoon. Mr. Finkbeiner, who has refused to apologize and has defended his decision, yesterday declined to say whether he would sign the resolution or if he believed the controversy would hinder the city’s...

Battle royal brewing at Berkeley council meeting Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff WriterSaturday, February 9, 2008 If you want to get a seat at Tuesday night's Berkeley City Council meeting, you better start lining up now. And you might want to bring earplugs. And a flak jacket.Hundreds of protesters from across the country and the political spectrum are expected to descend on City Hall with bullhorns, drums, banners and plenty of vitriol in anticipation of the City Council's debate over the Marines' recruiting station in town.The ruckus started last week when the council voted to send a letter to the...

An Orwellian phenomenon if ever there was one, the “Free Speech Movement” flourished at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s. We call it an Orwellian phenomenon because freedom of speech was the last thing the obstreperous little left-wing snots and their professors who participated in the “movement” were interested in. To the “Free Speech Movement,” free speech meant the right to shriek lame-brain slogans and malicious slanders, throwing in some choice obscenities along the way, and shout down any who didn’t agree with your views. This tradition continues at Berkeley. The Berkeley city council has given its approval...

Berkeley Attacks U.S. Marines - MAF Responds!PROTEST OF BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL * TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2008 * 2134 MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. WAY – BERKELEY, CA - CLICK HERE for MAP * Council Meeting Begins at 7:00 PM (We are asking people to be there early, however – if possible, start arriving by 5:00 PM) ** Also… If you can, please join us for our “picketing” of the City Council Chambers. We will be out there at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way beginning at 5:00 AM for the morning news. We will have a presence all throughout the day...

For three years the Philadelphia council of the Boy Scouts of America held its ground. It resisted the city’s request to change its discriminatory policy toward gay people despite threats that if it did not do so, the city would evict the group from a municipal building where the Scouts have resided practically rent free since 1928. Hailed as the birthplace of the Boy Scouts, the Beaux Arts building is the seat of the seventh-largest chapter of the organization and the first of the more than 300 council service centers built by the Scouts around the country over the past...

A Colorado city is considering a plan that one attorney calls the epitome of the war against Christmas. Tonight, the Fort Collins City Council will meet and decide the fate of a task force report that urges the city to decorate with white lights, winter symbols not traditionally associated with any particular holiday, and unadorned garlands of greenery. City staffers are also encouraged to remove ornaments or stars from trees and red ribbons from wreaths. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, says the task force is seriously misguided. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous that anyone would consider banning red and...

Is bitch a four-letter word? The New York City Council thinks so. It's trying to officially albeit symbolically ban the use of the word. Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn introduced a measure on July 25 that would make the term verboten. The move follows the council's ban earlier this year of the "n-word" (as the New York Times refers to it). Councilwoman Mealy calls the term deeply sexist and hateful. But some New Yorkers aren't so sure. “Half my conversation would be gone,” Michael Musto, the Village Voice columnist who writes about celebrity gossip and the club scene, told the...

Call it a show of patriotic pride. Or call it a crass red-white-and-blue marketing ploy. Either way, the city of Las Vegas has ordered a Hummer dealership to take down an American flag that flies 100 feet above the business. Dan Towbin, owner of Towbin Hummer, said he was in disbelief at the City Council's decision this week to require the business to take down the 30-by-60-foot Stars and Stripes that has flown since May 2006 in front of the dealership.

The ACLU alleges in a lawsuit that the city of Lake Forest violates the rights of day laborers with a law that bans solicitation on the sidewalk. The civil liberties group also requested a temporary restraining order Friday against the city to ensure it does not enforce the sidewalk ordinance, which it says infringes on workers' First Amendment rights. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on Thursday on behalf of La Asociacion de Trabajadores de Lake Forest (Workers Association of Lake Forest), Colectivo Tonantzin and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "They have the fundamental...

Memphis, Tenn. (WHBQ)- Even before the ink dried on the last criminal complaint, two more Memphis City Council members have an appointment with the law. The two council members were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury Friday afternoon, eight days after two other councilmen were accused of bribery.

Minneapolis City Council Member Ralph Remington said Tuesday that he fears for his safety with cops nearly a month after a "loud and hostile" meeting with high-ranking police union officials over his views on police reform. "The escalating body language, raised voices and being told, 'We will remove you,' gives me pretty good cause to feel this way," he said. But union leader Sgt. John Delmonico called Remington's accusations "absurd." Delmonico, who acknowledges friction, disputes Remington's allegations of "blatant intimidation" and said they shook hands after talking about matters of mutual concern, such as language training skills for officers. "I...

Although Mayor Bill White says it's an unnecessary expense, state law requires that the city conduct a special election to fill the seat of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who must resign for her brief stint in Congress. The special city election can be no earlier than May, meaning whoever wins will have to run again next November to keep the job. "It's sort of a shame that we have to pay a lot of money to hold a special election," White said. "But that's the state law as it exists." Sekula-Gibbs was elected Tuesday to serve out the term of former House...

Since Day One, St. Paul bar owners have complained that the city's smoking ban is killing their business. The city is starting to listen, but the tools it's using to help bar owners offset the effects of the ban may provoke controversy. The city is giving a handful of bar owners thousands of city sales tax dollars to build outdoor smoking patios, all the rage since the March 31 ban, as a way for bar owners to get back some of their customers.

If the mud slinging in a city council race this fall seems right out of divorce court it could be because two of the candidates are a former husband and wife. Leah Berlanga, one of seven people running for three open seats, said Monday that her former husband, Frank Berlanga, entered the race to harass her. "I'm not going to let somebody intimidate me," she said during a news conference in front of City Hall. Frank Berlanga, 53, was arrested Friday, the day after he filed his papers to run, and placed in San Mateo County jail without bail for...

In gushes of anger, humor, acceptance and even gratitude, former Minneapolis City Council Member Dean Zimmermann readied himself for federal prison Thursday after a jury convicted him on three counts of political corruption. "Everything I was convicted of was manufactured by the FBI,'' Zimmermann contended as he left federal court in Minneapolis, where the verdict was read after an eight-day trial that concluded Wednesday. Seven women and five men found Zimmermann guilty of three charges related to allegations he accepted three payments totaling $7,200 from a developer who sought Zimmermann's help at City Hall....(continues)

Local members of the American Civil Liberties Union cheered Tuesday's surprise vote by the Los Altos City Council to rescind a ban on proclamations regarding sexual orientation. "We are pleased with the council's decision. But we're going to be watching to make sure the new rule is applied equally," said Tamara Lange, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. City officials approved the ban in February after the Gay Straight Alliance of Los Altos High School asked the council -- for a third year in a row -- to OK a proclamation declaring a citywide Gay Pride Day....

SAN DIEGO – An attorney for the city's largest employee union is demanding that the City Council levy a new tax on San Diego property owners to help pay municipal pension obligations. In a letter sent to Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council, SDMEA attorney Ann Smith stated that “adding such a 'pension' tax to the city's annual tax levy is not a matter of discretion, but rather a matter of duty, and therefore, enforceable by the courts.” The mayor could not be immediately reached for comment on the letter, which was sent Friday and made public Monday. But...

The City Council asked Mayor Ron Gonzales to resign on Wednesday in the wake of his indictment over a secretly negotiated garbage contract. Gonzales voted against the proposal, which passed 8-3, and said he has no plans of quitting. Gonzales was booed by a heckler at one point when he vowed to stay in office. The council is now mulling ways to strip Gonzales of his power. Possible actions, according to City Attorney Richard Doyle, include cutting Gonzales' office staff's budget, revoking his city-issued credit card, withholding his travel funds, and reducing the mayor's $105,000 salary to as low as...

Cigarette smoking would be banned at city beaches and parks under a measure tentatively approved Monday by the city council. Sponsors said the measure will reduce litter and allow beachgoers to avoid secondhand smoke. "To me, this is a quality-of-life issue for San Diego," said Councilman Jim Madaffer, a co-sponsor. "This is an issue that is about public health and safety." The council unanimously approved the ban. A second vote is required before the measure becomes law. San Diego, whose miles of beaches are a major tourist draw, joins a handful of other California cities that have similar bans, including...

ANN ARBOR, MI – A virulently anti-Catholic resolution unanimously passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors condemning Catholic moral teaching on homosexuality and urging the Archbishop of San Francisco and Catholic Charities of San Francisco to defy Church directives prohibiting gay adoptions has prompted a federal lawsuit by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two San Francisco Catholic citizens, challenges the anti-Catholic resolution as a “startling attack by government officials on the Catholic Church,...

Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel Wes Hanscom told a City Council panel that City Hall is preparing to sue ticket resellers who make a killing on the Internet but leave taxpayers in the lurch. The crackdown can't come soon enough for Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th). He believes that as much as $16 million in amusement taxes is slipping through the city's fingers because of growing Internet purchases. $4.2 mil. loss on Sox postseason? "One registered ticket broker paid $140,000 in amusement tax on White Sox postseason. EBay, it is estimated, is 20 times the size of that broker....

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales said he was trying to be a ``get-it-done kind of mayor'' when he failed to tell his colleagues on the City Council that there was a labor problem with a Norcal Waste Systems contract that ended up costing the city an extra $11.25 million. Gonzales made his comments today, his first attempt to explain his motives in the controversial Norcal matter, before the city council took up the issue of whether to level the city's first-ever censure of a mayor. ``I've always tried to carry myself as a get-it-done kind of mayor,'' said Gonzales in...

An independent investigator has found that the mayor of San Jose and his top budget aide misled the public and the city council and treated council procedure as a ``mere formality'' when the two men sought to help Norcal Waste Systems get reimbursed for labor costs in excess of its bid. The report by investigator Chris Scott Graham said that Mayor Ron Gonzales and his aide Joe Guerra ``at the very least'' appear to have violated city policies calling for independence and impartiality, and acted in ways that ``were not consistent with the structure of government as set forth in...

FROM: Melanie Morgan – Move America Forward SUBJECT: Major Drill on Tuesday – November 22ndFriends, I’ve been telling you about the national effort to get City Councils to come out against Operation Iraqi Freedom and demand an immediate withdrawal of our troops. We’ve now documented the websites that have organized these efforts and suggested the tactics to bully Councils to take action and provided the boilerplate language to anti-war groups around the nation. See the far-Left anti-military propaganda and organizing strategies for yourself here: http://citiesforprogress.org*** WE FIGHT BACK ON TUESDAY ***On Tuesday evening, November 22, 2005 military families will...

Forty-ounce bottles of beer and malt liquor -- some of it so cheap and potent it's known on the street as "liquid crack" -- would be banned in Chicago under an ordinance proposed by Bridgeport's alderman. Fed up with public drunkenness and the litter, loitering and public urination that come with it, Ald. James Balcer (11th) wants to broaden the ban against selling individual cans and bottles of beer, flavored malt beverages, and malt liquor or ale.

Fellow Americans: The Sacramento City Council is feeling the heat because of you and this Veteran's Day weekend we need to step up our efforts. After the Council passed a resolution by an 8-1 vote calling for the immediate withdrawal from Iraq and saying that, "we're losing in Iraq," the Council Members have been bombarded with over 1,000 phone calls, emails, letters and FAXes. This is all because of you. And here's the best part - now the Council Members are starting to back track. Not only have they gone to the news media to "clarify" their intentions, but...

Zucchet acquitted of conspiracy UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM 2:36 p.m. November 10, 2005 SAN DIEGO – Former City Councilman Michael Zucchet was acquitted Thursday by a federal judge of conspiracy after a day and a half of legal arguments in the City Hall corruption trial, KGTV-Channel 10 reported. Zucchet and fellow former Councilman Ralph Inzunza were convicted July 18 of extortion, wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges in a scheme to trade campaign contributions to try to repeal the law banning touching between dancers and patrons at strip clubs. Lance Malone, a Las Vegas lobbyist, was convicted of multiple...

WE NEED ALL FREEPERS THROUGHOUT THE NATION TO HELP!!The Sacramento City Council has passed a resolution on an 8-1 vote (passed late in the night) condemning the war on terrorism in Iraq and demanding our troops be brought home immediately.It's time to flood the email boxes of the Council Members and let them know that they are undermining the mission our troops are serving on, and that they DO NOT speak for us, and that they should immediately RESCIND this horrible, anti-military/anti-troop resolution.+++ Email the Sacramento City Council and tell them how you feel. Let these misguided individuals hear...

SAN DIEGO – The City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to begin the process of negotiating a possible settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged violations of federal securities laws. The city is being investigated by the SEC and other agencies for errors and omissions discovered in its financial disclosures to potential investors related to the debt-ridden pension system and wastewater rates. A settlement with the SEC would not protect individuals under investigation for alleged wrongdoing, but would shield the city from prosecution, city officials said. City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the vote "reflects a real change on the...

Columbus City Council to Iraqi Government: "Ban Suicide Bombers!": A satirical look at Columbus City Council's latest legislation This week, in a shocking turn of events, Columbus City Council voted unanimously to ban suicide bombers within city limits. After most council members arrived over an hour late to the meeting, they announced that after Aug. 11th, that all suicide bombers would be outlawed. All current suicide bombers will have 90 days from Monday night to register themselves with Columbus' Department of Public Safety or face a first-degree misdemeanor charge. Columbus City Councilman, Michael Mentel, seemed optimistic that this piece of...

Saying it wanted to remove offensive signs and symbols, the Center City Commission approved a resolution Thursday asking the Memphis City Council to "consider and evaluate" renaming three parks commemorating the Confederacy. The resolution, approved on a voice vote, stops short of recommending changing the names of Confederate, Jefferson Davis and Forrest parks Downtown. It also does not address the removal of the statues of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, and Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest, who later became the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, is buried with his wife in the park bearing his...

Natalie Glebova in Toronto, Tuesday. "I definitely don't think that the Miss Universe title is any kind of stereotype or sexual stereotype." The city of Toronto, which years ago prevented the Barenaked Ladies from playing at City Hall because of the group's name, has now barred Miss Universe from opening a festival over concerns about sexual stereotyping. "I was a little bit hurt by the whole thing. I love Toronto. It's my hometown," said Natalie Glebova, the 23-year-old Canadian woman who captured the Miss Universe title in Bangkok in May. Glebova was set to open the Tastes of Thailand...

A federal jury has found San Diego City council members Ralph Inzunza and Michael Zuchett guilty of several charges in connection with allegations that they accepted money from a strip club owner in return for efforts to rescind the city's no-touch ordinance. LISTEN FOR LIVE COVERAGE ON NEWSRADIO 600 KOGO.

ARLINGTON - The City Council took one more step toward eminent domain Tuesday when the council unanimously approved acquiring 47 lots in the path of the Dallas Cowboys stadium through condemnation. City Attorney Jay Doegey said those homeowners in the area have not responded to city offers, can't agree on a price or have refused to sell. Mayor Robert Cluck said the city had no choice but to begin eminent domain proceedings. "We have to have the land tied up by January," he said. He said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that expanded a city's ability to exercise...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The City Council has agreed to let voters decide whether to keep a 43-foot-tall wooden cross atop Mount Soledad by donating the land to the federal government. On Tuesday, the council voted 6-3 to place the issue on the July 26 ballot, which also includes a mayoral election. The council rescinded its previous rejection of a plan to donate the land to the National Parks Service for a veterans memorial. That plan had been a key part of a federal bill designed as a last-ditch effort to preserve the cross on public land. Supporters raised more...

Lone Republican won't run for re-election Reid to give up seat on Ann Arbor City Council Saturday, April 30, 2005 BY TOM GANTERT News Staff Reporter Saying he wants to spend more time with his family, the Ann Arbor City Council's lone Republican said he will not seek re-election to a third term. Mike Reid, R-2nd Ward, said he is stepping down after four years. Reid's departure gives Democrats an opportunity to claim all 11 seats on the council. "That would be - I hate to say the word 'travesty' - but it would be," said Marlene Chockley, treasurer of...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The City-County Council on Monday night rejected an ordinance that would have prohibited businesses with at least six employees from considering sexual orientation and gender identity in employment decisions. The ordinance, which also would have prohibited the refusal of housing and real estate opportunities for people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, was turned down by an 18-11 vote. Conservative groups and gay-rights advocates had lobbied council members about the proposal. Some opponents of the proposal said current laws were adequate. Before Monday's meeting, council member Scott Schneider said he opposed the plan because it elevated a...

The Mount Soledad cross must go, the San Diego City Council said yesterday. The 16-year saga of whether the cross would stay on public land in La Jolla came to an emotional conclusion last night as the council voted 5-3 to reject a last-ditch effort to keep it in place. The vote capped a six-hour public hearing that attracted 350 people, most of them Christians who urged the council to donate the cross and surrounding land to the federal government so it possibly could remain where it has stood since 1954. But the cross now must be moved to comply...

The Mount Soledad cross must go, the San Diego City Council said yesterday. The 16-year saga of whether the cross would stay on public land in La Jolla came to an emotional conclusion last night as the council voted 5-3 to reject a last-ditch effort to keep it in place. The vote capped a six-hour public hearing that attracted 350 people, most of them Christians who urged the council to donate the cross and surrounding land to the federal government so it possibly could remain where it has stood since 1954.