skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

Critic of Boise Mayor Skeptical about Public Forum on Homelessness

play audio
Play

Friday, November 22, 2019   

BOISE, Idaho – Boise Mayor Dave Bieter holds a community forum on homelessness today, but an attorney with a history of challenging the mayor on this issue is skeptical about what it will accomplish.

Bieter says addressing homelessness is central to his campaign. But a decade ago, Idaho Legal Aid Services attorney and Associate Director Howard Belodoff took the mayor and City of Boise to court for giving people citations and fines for sleeping on the streets.

He's concerned Bieter could oversimplify the issue at the forum and thinks the city has failed to address its root causes.

"There's no one reason why somebody's homeless,” says Belodoff. “It's multi-faceted, and it requires a multi-faceted approach to address the lack of housing."

Today's forum at Trailhead Boise at noon includes remarks from the president of the Downtown Boise Neighborhood Association, police and firefighters. Bieter also has invited his challenger in the December 3 mayoral runoff, Lauren McLean.

In September, Bieter announced a plan to invest $6,000 in each of 166 Boise families experiencing homelessness.

Boise eventually tweaked its rules on fining people sleeping outdoors, but the city still would cite them if there was a bed available at a local shelter. As Belodoff and others have noted, shelters aren't always a good fit and some even have religious requirements.

A federal appeals court sided with Belodoff and his plaintiffs, but the city has appealed that decision. Now, cities across the West with similar rules are waiting to see if the Supreme Court takes up the case next month.

In Belodoff's view, Boise's ordinance criminalized homelessness.

"It was written to be punitive,” says Belodoff. “It was written to deter people, but there's really no deterrence effect to somebody who has no choice. So, I don't understand the thinking, and I know it's not a solution."

Bieter says the ordinance was necessary to prevent homeless camps, and that those camps can be dangerous for the people who live in them.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021