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The age-old hobby of tossing a football or Frisbee on the beach on a beautiful summer day in Los Angeles will cost you a cool $1,000 thanks to a new ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Claiming that such activity could be dangerous to other beachgoers, the Supes outlawed "any person to cast, toss, throw, kick or roll any ball, tube, or any light object other than a beach ball or beach volleyball” on or over a beach.

There are a 154 million workers in the U.S., and the current 8.5%, unemployment rate means about 13.1 million Americans are still out of work. A new report commissioned by the United States Council for Mayors and prepared by IHS Global Insight shows that only 26 of 363 metropolitan statistical areas have completely recovered the jobs they lost during the recession. We drew on the report to show the number of jobs these metros lost during the recession, their pre-recession peak level, and the metro area's employment level as a share of overall state employment. Note: The “pre-recession peak” date...

Cities hire Chinese instead of American workers for building projects.

The Advocate, an LGBT magazine, has released a list of what it says are the "gayest" cities in the U.S. The equation breakdown used is a bit different from what you may have expected. The magazine takes into account such parameters as LGBT bookstores and "International Mr. Leather competition semifinalists" among the nine criteria used to compile the list.

Formerly Great Cities All Over America Are Turning Into Open, Festering SoresJanuary 1, 2012 Once upon a time, the people of the United States constructed beautiful, shiny cities from coast to coast that were the envy of the entire globe. We had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen and life was quite good in America. But now all of our prosperity is coming crashing down and many of our formerly great cities are turning into open, festering sores. Unfortunately, we are drowning in so much debt that we can barely even slow down...

‘Just Out,’ the 28-year-old newsmagazine serving Portland’s LGBTQ community, is done for, according to a short announcement posted on the site. “Effective December 26, 2011, Just Out newsmagazine, serving Portland’s LGBTQ community since 1983, is no longer in business. Three years of recession have taken their toll. Please direct all inquiries to Marty Davis at marty@justout.com. Thank you for your many years of readership and support,” the statement read in its entirety. The paper had seven staffers on its masthead. According to the Washington Blade, “the demise of the most notable LGBT newspaper in the region is a significant development...

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano plans to ask the state Legislature to allow illegal immigrants who live in the city to be able vote in municipal elections. DeStefano said on Tuesday that the proposal would build a more engaged community and follows the lead of other cities, the New Haven Register reports. The Register reports that 10,000 to 12,000 undocumented residents are believed to live in New Haven. Immigrants who are in the U.S. legally or illegally and cannot vote now would still be unable to vote in state or federal elections. DeStefano, a Democrat, said illegal immigrants pay taxes...

This anti-Semitic flier was found by residents in Arlington and Takoma Park. Takoma Park resident Hadar Susskind awoke early Sunday morning to find a four-page, anti-Semitic screed laying in his front yard. The flier, which purports to detail "Jew crimes" and labels "Israel the problem," has been found outside homes in areas of Arlington and Takoma Park in recent days. The Anti-Defamation League says that it's currently investigating numerous complaints from Virginia residents who've received the document (others who received it in Takoma Park contacted WJW). The flier heavily resembles a multipage pamphlet that was left in front of homes...

The Los Angeles Times just reported: “Los Angeles officials have offered Occupy L.A. protesters a package of incentives that includes downtown office space and farmland in an attempt to persuade them to abandon their camp outside of City Hall, according to several demonstrators who have been in negotiations with the city.” “City officials have offered protesters a $1-a-year lease on a 10,000-square-foot office space near City Hall.” Full Story & Details here: “Occupy L.A. receives offer to decamp; Protesters could get downtown office space and farmland if they leave City Hall.”

RICHMOND -- The Richmond Tea Party is lashing out at Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones for what it sees as the city's preferential treatment of the Occupy Richmond protesters encamped at Kanawha Plaza. The tea party group is sending Jones an invoice for the charges incurred for the Tax Day rallies it has held at the plaza the past three years, arguing that the Occupy Wall Street offshoot group squatting there has been using the park illegally and free of charge since Oct. 15. "The tea party keeps being compared to the occupiers. Well, in the way we're treated, there's...

Organizers of Wausau's Labor Day parade say Republican lawmakers aren't welcome in this year's event. The Marathon County Central Labor Council sponsors the September 5th parade. The council includes about 30 local unions from the Marathon County area. Council president Randy Radtke says they choose not to invite elected officials who have "openly attacked worker's rights" or did nothing to intervene.

DETROIT (WXYZ) - It was a deadly night in the city of Detroit. From 6:00 am Friday, August 12th to 6:00 am Saturday, August 13th, a total of fifteen people were shot in the city. Six of those victims died at a total of 9 separate shooting scenes. Mayor Dave Bing's office released the following statement: "Reducing violent crime is our number one priority. Chief Godbee and the men and women of the Detroit Police Department are working around the clock to bring these criminals to justice. Our community must continue to work with us to stop this kind of...

The East Bay city will begin issuing its own ID cards this summer, ... Nearly 40 percent of Richmond residents are Latino, and about 1/3 of the city's people are immigrants of all backgrounds, ... Supporters say the cards show the Bay Area is serious about including its many undocumented immigrants into the fabric of the community. Critics, ... say the cards encourage illegal immigration.

Detroit was once called the Paris of the West, but at this point it’s more reminiscent of Venice. Like Venice, its demise has been imminent for some time, as crucial businesses and huge chunks of the population flee. * * * * Imagine blocks that once boasted 30 houses, now with three; imagine hundreds of such blocks. Imagine the green space created by the city’s heartbreaking but intelligent policy of removing burnt-out or fallen-down houses. Now look at the corner of one such street, where a young man who has used the city’s “adopt-a-lot” program (it costs nothing) to establish...

A video of a vicious beating at a Baltimore County McDonald's restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on various websites and prompting the fast food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident. The video was apparently first posted to YouTube, then taken down by administrators who said it violated the site's policies. But it sprung back up on various sites and was ultimately linked from the popular Drudge Report, which gave it top billing for much of the day. By mid-afternoon, the video had received 450,000 views on one site alone. The specific location of...

The educrats strike again, and make themselves look ridiculous again, according to a 16 year old student identified only as Jessica, who volunteered to do a project at a local elementary school, supplying plastic eggs filled with jellybeans. From MyNorthwest.com: "I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration to see if it was okay," Jessica explained. "She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat 'spring spheres.' I couldn't call them Easter eggs.

PORTLAND -- Ceasefire Oregon collected 243 guns Saturday at a turn-in event at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum. The group worked with the newly reinstated Portland Police gun task force to host the event. The firearms collected Saturday were given to police and will be destroyed. For each gun turned in, the owner received a $50 Fred Meyer gift card. Helen Carons and Andrew Perez, who attended the event, were both affected by gun violence two years ago when Perez accidentally shot Carons' son. "I just want to thank everyone for turning in their guns,” Carons said. “I really do appreciate it....

To plug the budget holes, Mayor Virg Bernero has proposed drastic spending cuts, including: Laying off 78 police officers from the city's 245-member force, including 11 detectives from the investigations unit. Closing three of Lansing's eight fire stations and slashing 71 fire department positions. Eliminating all neighborhood watch and school liaison officers. Shrinking the number of code enforcement officers and housing inspectors. Slashing $4 million for sewer, road and parks maintenance.

Imagine for a moment that every single person living in the city of San Jose, plus another 150,000 or so, just up and left. Vanished. Poof. Gone. Leaving their homes, business buildings and factories behind. That is, in effect, what has happened to the city of Detroit, according to 2010 U.S. Census data released this week. The city that boasted 1.8 million residents in 1950, and was the nation's economic engine for most of the 20th century, now is home to 714,000 people, a population loss of some 1.1 million — with a 25% drop in the last decade alone....

Cities: Poor Detroit. It hasn't had any good news for decades, and now, despite a $77 billion bailout of the auto industry, its population continues to implode. The No. 1 reason: the United Auto Workers union. Census data released Tuesday show Detroit's population has plunged 25% since 2000 to just 713,777 souls - the same as 100 years ago, before the auto industry's heyday. As recently as the 1970s, Detroit had 1.8 million people. What's happening is no secret: Detroiters are fleeing an economic disaster, the irreversible decline of the Big Three automakers. In his now-famous Super Bowl commercial for...

Whites are abandoning Massachusetts cities at a rapid clip, continuing well-worn paths to the suburbs or out of state, according to new demographic data from the US census. ...The migration of whites out of communities has also left many public school districts in cities made up overwhelmingly of minority students. In Lawrence, just 6 percent of this year’s public school students are white. In Chelsea just 8 percent are, according to state Department of Education figures. ...The trend was strongest in lower-income communities plagued by violent crime and struggling schools. Yet wealthier communities like Beverly, Gloucester, Melrose, and Salem also...

Various shootings in Chicago have killed one person and left at least 9 others wounded, authorities said Thursday night. A man was shot dead about 9:40 p.m. in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side, police said. The victim was identified as Carlos Morales, of the 11700 block of South Lowe Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office, which said he was shot at his home. The man suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, said police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro, citing preliminary information.

How fitting that a school named after our profligate, post-achievement president is shutting down thanks to fiscal mismanagement and non-achievement. R.I.P., Barack Obama Elementary School (hat tip: reader Peter): "The state fiscal monitor who oversees financial operations in the school district Thursday morning ordered the closing of the Barack H. Obama Elementary School as of July 1." .... Peter adds: “Asbury Park’s school system was taken over by the state of New Jersey a few years back (along with those of other underachieving municipalities) for gross managerial incompetence...

Since its beginning, West Hollywood has offered the country’s closest approximation of a gay city. It was founded by gay activists over 26 years ago, most of its City Council members are gay, and the community is famous for its concentration of gay residents and nightlife. But an uncommonly bitter election has exposed a growing divide over what West Hollywood should represent, with prosperity and urban development pitted against the city’s history as a countercultural haven. The six challengers in Tuesday’s City Council election — all of them gay men — are seeking to oust three incumbents by running on...

ROSEDALE, Md. (WJZ)—An elaborate extortion scheme generating thousands of dollars. Wednesday night, investigators say it was Baltimore City police officers and the owners of a local business who were behind it all. Kelly McPherson explains how investigators say the operation worked. In a more than two yearlong investigation, federal authorities claim 17 officers took kickbacks for illegally steering car accident victims to a Rosedale auto body shop.

Smoking banned in New York City parks and on beachesBy Deborah Brunswick, CNN February 22, 2011 8:14 p.m. EST New York (CNN) -- Life just became more of a drag for New York City smokers after Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill Tuesday banning smoking in many public places. The new law will make smoking illegal in New York City's 1,700 parks and on the city's 14 miles of public beaches. Smokers will also be prohibited from lighting up in pedestrian plazas such as Times Square. The ban, which the city council overwhelmingly approved earlier this month, is designed to...

America’s largest cities are increasingly divided into three classes: the affluent, the poor, and the nomadic class of young people who generally come to the city for a relatively brief period and then leave. New York, the aspirational city of my grandparents, now has the smallest share of middle-income families in the nation, according to a recent Brookings Institution study, with Los Angeles and San Francisco not far behind. In 1980 Manhattan, New York’s wealthiest borough, ranked 17th among U.S. counties for social inequality; by 2007 Bloomberg’s “luxury city” was first, with the top fifth earning 52 times the income...

Mackinac Center analyst Jack McHugh has called the long process of hollowing out a private economy to prop up an unsustainable government "Detroitification." Detroit's most recent comprehensive annual financial report shows just how much the title-city itself has been hollowed. The report lists the number of jobs provided by the city's largest employers, which indicates how sensitive its finances are to the actions of a particular firm. In Detroit's case, six of the top 10 employers are not private businesses at all, but government entities: public schools, the city government, the U.S. government, Wayne State University, the State of Michigan...

Tuesday October 26, 2010 Court Allows San Fran City Resolution Condemning Catholicism as 'Insulting,' 'Hateful' By Kathleen GilbertSAN FRANCISCO, October 26, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has shakily allowed to stand a resolution by the city government of San Francisco that lambasted the Vatican as "meddl[ing]" and "insult[ing]" for reaffirming its teaching against homosexual adoption, and which urged Church officials to disobey the Magisterium.The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2006 had issued a statement clarifying that Catholic Church agencies, in line with the Church's moral teaching on sexuality, should not hand...

BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore City Health Department issued its first environmental citation for repeat violations of the city's trans fat ban. The Health Department issued Healthy Choice, a food facility in the 400 block of Lexington Street, a $100 fine on Thursday. "It was the second time they were found with a high trans fat level in their ingredients," said Health Department agent Juan Gutierrez. Officials said that during inspections in July and this month, the facility was found to be using a margarine product with trans fat levels in excess of what the law allows. The law banning food...

Live feed from KRON Oakland Ca.

DETROIT (AP) - Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, already in state prison for probation violations stemming from his conviction for lying about an affair with his chief of staff, was indicted Wednesday on federal fraud and tax charges for allegedly using his charity as a slush fund. Federal prosecutors said the alleged scheme is related to the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, a tax-exempt fund that was supposed to pay for voter education and other purposes. Instead, they accuse the former mayor of taking cash payments from the fund for himself, friends and relatives. He is charged with filing false tax returns for...

DETROIT—This shrinking city needs to hang on to people like Johnette Barham: taxpaying, middle-class professionals who invest in local real estate, work and play downtown, and make their home here. Ms. Barham just left. And she's not coming back. In seven years as a homeowner in Detroit, she endured more than 10 burglaries and break-ins at her house and a nearby rental property she owned. Still, she defied friends' pleas to leave as she fortified her home with locks, bars, alarms and a dog. Then, a week before Christmas, someone torched the house and destroyed almost everything she owned.

A man was found shot in the head and back this morning on Chicago's Far South Side, one of five shootings across the city overnight, police said. He was found lying on the ground at about 3:21 a.m. in the 200 block of East 115th Street in the West Pullman neighborhood, said Police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines, and was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. There was no immediate information available about the victim's age or the circumstances of the shooting. In other violence: • Shortly before 2 a.m., another man was found with...

DETROIT'S SOCIALIST NIGHTMARE IS AMERICA'S FUTURE!One of the most important things to remember about socialism – or coercion of any kind – is it fails eventually because human beings have an innate desire for liberty and a strong need for personal property rights. In fact, the origins of government lie in the need of agricultural communities to protect themselves from violence and theft. So it is particularly ironic that in more recent times, it is government itself that has more frequently played the role of bandit. When you start taxing people at extreme rates to pay for socialist "benefits," when...

L.A. Teetering on Bankruptcy, Former Mayor Says Wednesday, 05 May 2010 02:20 PM By: Dan Weil California’s finances have deteriorated rapidly since the beginning of the financial meltdown in 2007, and now it’s really getting bad. “Los Angeles is facing a terminal fiscal crisis: between now and 2014 the city will likely declare bankruptcy,” former mayor Richard Riordan wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. “Yet Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council have been either unable or unwilling to face this fact.” Riordan’s column was co-authored by Alexander Rubalcava of Rubalcava Capital Management. The basic problem: pension and...

Cities and counties that have sanctuary policies include: Anchorage, AK Fairbanks, AK Fresno, CA Los Angeles, CA National City, CA4 San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA Sonoma County, CA Evanston, IL Chicago, IL3 Cicero, IL Cambridge, MA Orleans, MA Portland, ME Baltimore, MD Takoma Park, MD Ann Arbor, MI Detroit, MI Minneapolis, MN Newark, NJ1 Trenton, NJ1 Durham, NC Albuquerque, NM Aztec, NM Rio Arriba, County, NM Sante Fe, NM New York, NY Ashland, OR Gaston, OR Marion County, OR Austin, TX Houston, TX Katy, TX Virginia Beach, VA Seattle, WA Madison, WI Currently there are two statewide policies regarding...

Okay, maybe the Obamas’ Asheville, N.C., trip is just a romantic getaway and a chance to grab some 12 Bones BBQ, as the White House suggests. But you know something is going on when even the local “tea party” affiliate welcomes Obama to their “mountain paradise.” Critics like Hoover Institution fellow Shelby Steele have complained that Obama’s “ultimate vision, he has not been very clear about.” So given that the Obama’s “kind of fell in love” with the Buncombe County burg during a debate prep visit during the 2008 campaign, could Asheville itself be a clue to what the President...

Urban cityscapes uniting large and vastly diverse populations have long been sources of great inspiration, commerce and community spirit, but for as long as they have existed, cities have also been beset by their own dangers. While it's a fair to say no city, where humans interact freely, is spared the scourges of violence and criminal activity, it is also evident that some are far more affected than others. It's a tall order to quantify these problems and rank cities in terms of the most dangerous, particularly in countries so ravaged by conflict and chaos that day-to-day safety is only...

A rampage by gun-slinging youths through New York's Times Square this week underscored a surge in murders and shootings that has some New Yorkers fearing a return to the city's dark past. The European-style pedestrian zones, bicycle lanes and flower pots of Times Square epitomize Mayor Michael Bloomberg's clean and tourist-friendly Big Apple.

A bitter political dispute between this city's elected leaders and its powerful municipal utility threatens to push the city into insolvency as early as next month. Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel warned this week that the city's general fund could run out of money and fall $10 million into the red by May 5 unless the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power transfers a planned $73.5 million payment it has so far said it would withhold. Without the payment, the city would need to dip into its reserve fund, leaving that contingency dangerously low in the event of...

The Los Angeles city controller has warned the mayor and City Council that the city will not be able to make payroll next month if it doesn't dip into its reserve fund. In a memo to officials on Monday, Controller Wendy Greuel said the city faces its most urgent fiscal crisis in recent history after the council blocked a proposed electricity rate hike last week

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (April 4) - An engaged couple returning to their northern New Jersey home early today were fatally shot in what authorities believe was a botched carjacking. Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said 27-year-old Michael Muchiaki and his 25-year-old girlfriend, Nia Haqq, were both shot twice in the head. They were found near their car, which was not taken. The couple had attended a party in New Brunswick and returned to their Jersey City home around 3 a.m., DeFazio said.

The city's new district attorney and the state Supreme Court are moving to all but decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use in an effort to unclog Philadelphia's crowded court dockets. Under a policy to take effect later this month, prosecutors will charge such cases as summary offenses rather than as misdemeanors. People arrested with up to 30 grams of the drug - slightly more than an ounce - may have to pay a fine but face no risk of a criminal record

Scores of gangbangers marauded through Times Square and nearby streets last night, storming businesses and harrassing pedestrians as three people were shot in possibly related violence. Hundreds of cops struggled to disperse the youths. One man was shot in the ankle on West 41st Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues. Early this morning two people were shot at 34th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues. Their conditions were not immediately known. Twenty young men were seen fleeing the scene. * * * At least 30 people, including seven juveniles, were arrested by early this morning. In past years, the NYPD...

<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. - D.C. Police sources tell FOX 5 that radio communications are down citywide in the District, and police officers on the street have no way to receive or respond to calls via radio.</p>

Pals heading home from a Midtown nightclub yesterday tossed their trash out a subway door, setting off a senseless slashing rampage that left two of them dead -- and added to the explosive spike in homicides around the city. The carnage erupted at around 5 a.m., shortly after the 10 Brooklyn friends -- who had been at the trendy Cellar Bar in the Bryant Park Hotel -- boarded a southbound No. 2 train at 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, police said. One of the men had a bag of trash and tossed it out the door as the train stopped...

Cambridge will turn off all nonessential lights in municipal buildings for one hour Saturday, starting at 8:30 p.m., in support of Earth Hour. Turning out the lights for Earth Hour is intended to serve as a call for action on climate change and to symbolize a positive impact can be made by working together. The city will turn out non-essential lights for one hour, and residents are encouraged to do the same Saturday at 8:30 p.m. This year is the third year of the Earth Hour event which attracted more than 80 million participants in the U.S. last year, and...

Average cost of sheltering a single homeless family in D.C.: $2,500-$3,700 a monthBy Mike Riggs 03/25/10 at 9:33 AM According to a study released today by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and reported by USA Today, it’s cheaper to put homeless families in real homes than it is to house them in shelters: Many communities probably don’t know that they are spending as much “to maintain a cot in a gymnasium with 100 other cots” as it would cost to rent an efficiency apartment, says Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor who studies housing policies. “We are...

Nearly one out of five District residents lives at or below the poverty line, a statistic that helps expose a widening gap between the rich and the poor in the nation's capital, according to a study released Tuesday by social justice organizations gearing up for the 2010 elections. Based on unemployment rates and other data, the coalition estimates that the city has 106,500 residents -- up 11,000 in a year -- living at or below the poverty rate, which in 2009 was $21,800 for a family of four. "With D.C.'s unemployment rate of 12 percent, it's very likely poverty is...