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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Down But Not Out? Fair Housing Advocates Rally in Portland

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Wednesday, August 9, 2017   

PORTLAND, Maine - Fair-housing advocates delivered 1,000 more signatures than were required, but the Portland City Clerk's Office says the rent-stabilization referendum they're requesting cannot appear on the November ballot.

The clerk's office calls it an "honest mistake," saying it only discovered this week that there wouldn't be enough time for the City Council to hold public hearings prior to the vote. Jack O'Brien, an organizer for Fair Rent Portland, said his group has worked with the clerk's office from the very start and was told to get the signatures in by Monday, which they did.

"That citizens of Portland understand that this should certainly be on the November ballot," he said, "and there is nothing preventing the City Council from ensuring that that's so."

He said the next steps are rallies at noon and 5 p.m. today at Portland City Hall. Supporters of another initiative, known as "Give Neighborhoods a Voice," also were told that signatures had to be turned in by Monday, but this week the clerk's office told them their measure also will not appear on the November ballot.

A big reason for today's rally, O'Brien said, is to point out that city officials are turning the intent of the rules for scheduling public ballot initiatives on their head.

"These scheduling dates were put in place to protect referenda from shady, poor scheduling for referenda. And to turn around and use them in order to thwart a people's initiative is in clear violation of the spirit under which these were written."

O'Brien said his group is exploring legal action to force the city to put the measure on the ballot. It would put a cap on rent increases by big landlords.


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