| Asylum-seekers kept under close guard
SIXTEEN Indonesian asylum-seekers, including 10 children, spent their first day in Australia under close guard as immigration officials brought them DVD players, clothing, and nappies for the baby girl in the group. The three families from the island of Roti, the base for an illegal shark-fin trade off western Timor, are living in three duplex units in a cluster of Christmas Island homes known as Drumsite, about 1km from the lively Chinese quarter of Poon San, where residents of the suburb's apartment blocks are known for their love of card games and karaoke. They are the island's first illegal arrivals since February, but will not be joining Vietnamese brothers Joseph and Joe in the island's detention centre. This is because families with children have been held in community detention, not detention centres, since June 2005.
Justice in 'a true people's court'
Forget lawyers. In small claims court, people get to represent themselves. "This is a true people's court," said Kathy Patton, an Onslow County magistrate who oversees small claims cases. "I give people a chance to tell me their story in their own way." Small claims court provides litigants an opportunity to recover relatively small amounts of money they feel are owed. The most money a plaintiff can recover in a North Carolina small claims court is $5,000. Patton said about 70 percent of the small claims cases she handles are evictions. Cases on Patton's docket Tuesday dealt with recovery of back rent and returning the property to the owners. Gail Ferguson, property manager of Barnett Enterprises, which has rental properties in the Southwest area, brought a case to recover back rent and the property.
Urban Warrior | 'I CAN'T TAKE IT MUCH LONGER'
IT WAS DRIZZLING outside of Big Jim Tucker's Lounge on West Market Street last week. Just two men sought shelter there, tipping back afternoon beers. Chain-link fencing has closed down the streets leading to the corner bar, which is smack-dab in the middle of SEPTA's reconstruction of the Market-Frankford El. Elected officials - city, state and federal - have come up with more than $2.5 million to help West Philadelphia merchants impacted by the massive project. But for every dollar of relief touted in press releases and photo opportunities with big blow-up checks, only a quarter has been spent so far, as the project enters its ninth and, hopefully, final year. Robert and Robena Rogers say their bar has taken a financial beating. Business is off at least 50 percent since construction paralyzed the neighborhood's main commercial corridor.
Fred Thompson Calls for Simplified Flat Tax Plan
Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson proposed an income tax plan Sunday that would allow Americans to choose a simplified system with only two rates: 10 percent and 25 percent. Thompson's proposal, announced on "Fox News Sunday," would allow filers to remain under the current, complex tax code or use the flat tax rates. Asked whether the plan would cut too deeply into federal revenues, the former Tennessee senator and actor said experts "always overestimate the losses to the government" when taxes are cut. "We've known for years any time we have lowered taxes and any time we've lowered tax rates, we've seen growth in the economy," Thompson said. Thompson added that money would be saved by his Social Security reform plan. He proposed that workers younger than 58 receive smaller monthly Social Security checks than they are now promised.
Allegheny Conference called out for tax stance
The North Side/North Shore Chamber of Commerce is calling out the Allegheny Conference on Community Development for its support of the 10 percent tax on poured alcoholic beverages and the $2 per day rental car fee proposed by Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. "Frankly, we are baffled at the position of the Allegheny Conference," said North Side/North Shore Chamber President John Graf. "This is an organization supposedly devoted to economic development. However, there's no doubt that as we sit here today, if the drink tax passes, there will be small, locally owned restaurants, taverns and banquet halls which will be put out of business. That equals lost jobs, shuttered buildings and diminished business activity" Graf is the owner of the Priory Hotel and The Grand Hall on the North Side.
|
