In a major setback to Delhi's <keyword id="19935664" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aam-Aadmi-Party" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Aam Aadmi Party" meta.hostid="345" meta.entityid="Aam Aadmi Party">Aam Aadmi Party</keyword> government, the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Supreme Court" meta.hostid="345" meta.entityid="Supreme Court">Supreme Court</keyword> on Monday ruled that the law "expressly enables" the lieutenant governor to nominate <keyword id="22669982" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aldermen" source="keywords">aldermen</keyword> to the <keyword id="19900879" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mcd" source="keywords">MCD</keyword> and he is not bound by the advice of the council of ministers in the matter. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala rejected the <keyword id="19925995" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-government" source="keywords">Delhi government</keyword>'s plea challenging the LG's power to nominate 10 aldermen in the <keyword id="19907640" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Municipal-Corporation-of-Delhi" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Municipal Corporation of Delhi" meta.hostid="345" meta.entityid="Municipal Corporation of Delhi">Municipal Corporation of Delhi</keyword> without the aid and advice of the council of ministers. <br /><br />The apex court pronounced its verdict on the Delhi government's plea after reserving it for nearly 15 months. <br /><br />In its ruling impacting the fraught relationship between the LG's office and the AAP-led Delhi government, the bench said the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act as amended in 1993 "expressly enables the LG to nominate persons having special knowledge to the corporation". <br /><br /> It said the power expressed by the statute in the name of the LG, also seen in the context of other provisions, demonstrates the statutory scheme in which the powers and duties are distributed among authorities under the Act. <br /><br />"The context in which the power is located confirms that the LG is intended to act as per the mandate of the statute and not guided by the aid and advice of the council of ministers. The power to be exercised is the statutory duty of the LG and not the executive power of the state. This is how we analysed the constitutional provisions," Justice Narasimha said while pronouncing the verdict on behalf of the bench. <br /><br />The bench said the statutory power under provision 3(3)(b)(1) which deals with nomination of persons having special knowledge was vested with the LG for the first time by the 1993 amendment of the DMC Act of 1957. <br /><br /> The bench said the DMC Act as amended in 1993 recognises five authorities exercising the state's power and duties under the Act -- these are the Central government, the government of NCT, administrator, corporation and the commissioner. <br /><br />It said the amendment Act of 1993 carries out several amendments to the original DMC Act of 1957 by which the power, duties were allocated to the authorities depending on the function they perform under the law. <br /><br />The bench said by way of the amendment the power of nomination of aldermen was given to LG under the provision just like the power of nomination of MLAs was given to the speaker of the House. <br /><br />On May 17 last year, the top court had said that giving the LG the power to nominate aldermen to the MCD will mean he can destabilise an elected civic body. <br /><br /> The MCD has 250 elected and 10 nominated members. <br /><br /> In December 2022, the Aam Aadmi Party defeated the <keyword id="19894848" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BJP" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="BJP" meta.hostid="345" meta.entityid="BJP">BJP</keyword> in the civic elections, winning 134 wards and ending the saffron party's 15-year run at the helm of the MCD. The BJP won 104 seats and the Congress finished a distant third with nine. <br /><br /> Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, had contended during the hearing that no separate powers have been accorded to the state government to nominate people to the MCD. For the past 30 years, the practice of the LG nominating aldermen on the aid and advice of the city government has been followed, he said. <br /><br /> Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the LG's office, submitted that just because a practice has been followed for 30 years does not mean it is correct. <br /><br /> The top court had observed that giving the LG the power to nominate aldermen will effectively mean that he can destabilise a democratically elected MCD because these aldermen get appointed to the standing committees and have voting power. <br /><br /> Earlier, the top court had questioned the "source of power" of the LG under the Constitution and the law to nominate aldermen to the MCD without the aid and advice of the elected government. <br /><br /> On May 12 last year, the top court observed that LG has to act on the "aid and advice" of the council of ministers of the Delhi government in nominating 10 aldermen to the MCD.

SC backs LG's right to nominate aldermen to MCD, setback for AAP govt

<ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Residents in Tennessee are battling a plan for a "mega" Chick-fil-A in their neighborhood.</strong></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/law-could-change-chick-fil-as-sunday-policy-in-new-york-2023-12"><strong>Chick-fil-A</strong></a><strong> has previously faced complaints from communities over its out-of-control drive-thrus lines.</strong></li></ul><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-drive-thru-lines-infuriate-nearby-business-owners-2021-2">Chick-fil-A's busy drive-thrus</a> are under attack again.</p><p>A plan for a<strong> </strong>"mega" Chick-fil-A store in Tennessee is the latest project to encounter backlash from locals concerned about the fast-food chain's frequently crowded drive-thrus lines. The chain has faced opposition for its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-drive-thru-only-restaurantphotos-2022-10">snaking drive-thru lines which can cause traffic.</a></p><p>In Collierville, Tennessee, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-rebuilds-santa-barbara-drive-thru-traffic-complaints-2023-5">Chick-fil-A </a>has proposed replacing a 23-year-old 3,950-square-foot restaurant with a larger one to accommodate the growing consumer demand. Chain reps are billing the proposed 6,110-square-foot restaurant as the "latest greatest prototype Chick-fil-A has" in its system.</p><p>Chick-fil-A's development director, Brent Edmiston, who spoke on behalf of the chain at a <a target="_blank" href="https://collierville.granicus.com/player/clip/1775?view_id=3&amp;redirect=true&amp;h=d218ca5e4810d22ed369a93cc4956a6d">December 7 Planning Commission</a> meeting in Collierville, said the new design would include a 300-square-foot playground, an employee meeting room, a bigger dining room, double drive-thru lanes with the capacity to handle 43 cars, and expanded outdoor dining.</p><p>Like many Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country, cars at the current location spill into the main thoroughfare, causing traffic congestion.</p><p>Chick-fil-A said the bigger restaurant, proposed for an empty lot about a half-mile down the road, is expected to contain cars within two double drive-thru lanes that wrap the restaurant. The only access to the restaurant will be from a private drive to the north.</p><p>City planners and Chick-fil-A representatives said the restaurant's new location and upgraded design will prevent cars from backing up onto one of the city's busiest thoroughfares, Poplar Avenue.</p><p>But residents who live near the proposed location are balking. They said the new "mega" Chick-fil-A will result in more cars clogging local roads.</p><p>"They're building a significantly larger store for one reason and one reason only. It's to sell more chicken," resident Woody Reid said at the meeting, where locals submitted a petition signed by 500 people against the Chick-fil-A relocation project.</p><p>Chick-fil-A did not return a request for additional comment.</p><p>At the meeting, Edmiston said he thought "building the largest restaurant in the company" would evoke a "positive" reaction from the community because the new restaurant would have "all the tools" to serve the city.</p><p>"We've not been able to do that at our existing restaurant," Edmiston said, referring to accommodating demand for catering, delivery, and mobile orders. "We cannot serve customers with all these different service channels because we have not had the capacity to do that because the size of our site and the size of our restaurant."</p><p>Resident Raymond Descheneaux said Chick-fil-A is not solving traffic congestion in the neighborhood by relocating the restaurant. They are simply "shifting" the current problem from one neighborhood to another.</p><p>"And then building a mega CFA multiples the problem," he wrote in a letter to the city.</p><div type="image" title="Plans for a new mega Chick-fil-A in Tennessee" height="502" width="670" msid="106583554" hostid="261" sizebytes="35282"></div><p>Despite the protests, the Planning Commission voted in favor of the project. The city's Board of Mayor and Aldermen will vote on the project on Monday, January 8.</p><p>"If the Board approves the preliminary site plan, Chick-fil-A will still need to apply for a final site plan and building permit before they construct the new restaurant," city spokesperson Jennifer Casey told Business Insider.</p><p>In a similar case last year, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-forced-to-tear-down-and-rebuild-busy-drive-thru-restaurant-2023-1">busy Chick-fil-A in North Carolina</a> solved its traffic issues by demolishing the restaurant and replacing it with a store with no dining room and more drive-thru lanes.</p><p>Chick-fil-A is testing different prototypes to accommodate consumer demand for takeout and delivery. The <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-drive-thru-only-restaurantphotos-2022-10"><u>chain has more than 30 drive-thru-only locations</u></a> in the US. It also has plans to build an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-new-store-designs-photos-drive-thru-walk-up2023-7">elevated restaurant that has four drive-thru lanes that flow below the store</a>.</p><p><em>Are you a Chick-fil-A insider with insight to share? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at </em><a target="_blank" href="mailto:nluna@insider.com"><em><u>nluna@insider.com</u></em></a><em> or text 714-269-8873</em></p>

A proposed Chick-fil-A 'mega' restaurant in Tennessee is sparking backlash and fears of drive-thru traffic 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An 11-year-old was shot by a Mississippi police officer after calling 911 for help, his mom said.</li><li>He suffered severe injuries, but has now been released from hospital, the family's attorney said.</li></ul><p>The mother of an 11-year-old boy who was shot in the chest by police in Mississippi after he called 911 for help <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/25/us/mississippi-police-shooting-11-year-old-boy-investigation/index.html">told CNN</a> that he kept asking what he did wrong and why he was shot.</p><p>Nakala Murry told CNN that she had asked her son, Aderrien Murry, to call 911 around 4 a.m. on Saturday after the father of one of her other children came to the home "irate" and she was worried for her safety.</p><p>Murry said the officer who arrived "had his gun drawn at the front door and asked those inside the home to come outside."</p><p>She said her son was shot when he followed the Indianola Police Department officer's instructions to come out of the house, adding: "I cannot grasp why."</p><p>After he was shot, his mom said Aderrien kept asking: 'Why did he shoot me? What did I do wrong?'"</p><p>The family's attorney, Carlos Moore, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aderrien-murry-911-shot-officer-mississippi-rcna86313?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&amp;taid=646fef863e63f9000106a894&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told NBC News</a> that Aderrien was "blessed to have survived, but he's still in pain emotionally and mentally."</p><p><a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/25/aderrien-murry-indianola-miss-police-shooting/70257644007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The attorney told USA Today</a> that Aderrien had a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver, and fractured ribs but that he was released from hospital on Wednesday.</p><p>He also told CNN that there was "no way" Aderrien could have been mistaken for an adult.</p><p>Moore told Insider on Friday that "Aderrien is now home and continues to heal and is now undergoing counseling."</p><p>The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation told CNN that an Indianola Police Department officer shot Aderrien in the chest. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aderrien-murry-911-shot-officer-mississippi-rcna86313?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&amp;taid=646fef863e63f9000106a894&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It said</a> that it was looking into the incident and that "upon completing the investigation, agents will share their findings with the Attorney General's Office."</p><p>The Indianola Police Department named the officer as Greg Capers, according to CNN, but did not provide any additional details on the shooting. CNN reached out to Capers for comment but did not immediately hear back, it said.</p><p>Moore <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/25/us/mississippi-police-shooting-11-year-old-boy-investigation/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the Indianola Board of Aldermen voted to place Capers on paid administrative leave while the incident was being investigated. His family said it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mississippi-family-seeks-charges-after-officer-shoots-11-year-old-boy-2023-05-26/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wanted the officer to be dismissed and charged</a> with aggravated assault.</p><p>Moore also said there should be a "full and transparent investigation" into the shooting and called "for those responsible to be held accountable for their actions," USA Today reported.</p><p>He added: "No child should ever be subjected to such violence at the hands of those who are sworn to protect and serve."</p><p>The Indianola Police Department didn't respond to a request for comment sent outside of normal working hours.</p>

An 11-year-old boy shot in the chest by police after calling 911 kept asking: 'What did I do wrong?'

New York, Having been duped, a US city has scrapped a sister-city agreement with the fictional nation of "Kailasa" that the <keyword id="9500247" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fugitive-godman-nithyananda" source="Orion">fugitive godman Nithyananda</keyword>'s outfit claimed was recognition by the US.<br /><br />"Based on deception, the (sister-city) ceremony was groundless and void," Newark Press Secretary Susan Garofalo said in a message to IANS on Wednesday.<br /><br />"As soon as we learned about the circumstances surrounding Kailasa, the City of Newark immediately took action and rescinded the sister-city agreement on January 18," she added.<br /><br />Despite Newark revoking the agreement, the make-believe "government of Kailasa" continues to post it on its website with the claim, "The United States of America recognises the United States of Kailasa (USK) and signs a bilateral agreement."<br /><br />The Newark caper illustrates how easy it is for groups to manipulate municipal and state bodies taking advantage of their lack of international sophistication to unwittingly make them appear to confer legitimacy on their causes, even when they are at odds with official US positions.<br /><br />"USK's" Newark effort was a part of the disinformation campaign claiming legitimacy for the "nation" set up by Nithyananda, who fled India in 2019 while facing charges of rape and abduction.<br /><br />Last month, two members of "USK made an appearance at a meeting of a United Nations panel in Geneva when the session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) on sustainable development opened up for questions and comments from the audience.<br /><br />One of them injected their claims that Nithyananda was being "persecuted" into her comments.<br /><br />They then created the false impression on social media that "USK" was recognised by the UN.<br /><br />In January when a UN panel in Geneva asked for comments on the sexual exploitation of children for a report, USK sent in comments that the panel collated along with those of others.<br /><br />USK then claimed that their report was an official UN document.<br /><br />The agreement with Newark was signed on or around January 11 at a ceremony at which Newark's Mayor Ras Baraka and other city leaders were present.<br /><br />A picture on the "USK" website showed Baraka signing the since revoked agreement with a woman with a turban and a pendant on her forehead and wearing several necklaces while another similarly dressed woman in their trademark attire looked on.<br /><br />Council Member Luis Quintana, who made the motion to junk the agreement, said, "We cannot bring Sister-Cities International into an issue where there is controversy."<br /><br />"We cannot put ourselves in a situation where we put a sister-cities (agreement with a city) that has no human rights and (is involved) in terms of the issues that are created elsewhere," he added.<br /><br />He said, "This oversight cannot happen any longer."<br /><br />There have been other instances of cities and states stepping into controversies involving India.<br /><br />For example, last year, the Connecticut General Assembly influenced by Khalistanis issued a citation "in recognition of the 36th anniversary of the declaration of Sikh independence" while the town of Norwich in the state declared April 29 as the "Sikh Declaration of Independence Day".<br /><br />At least six US cities have passed resolutions condemning India's Citizenship Amendment Act that speeded up citizenship for non-Muslims fleeing persecution to India, while also allowing citizenship under the normal time frame for Muslims.<br /><br />But in 2021, a Chicago City Council resolution critical of India was defeated.<br /><br />Speaking afterwards, Mayor Lori Lightfoot set the standards for local bodies wading into international matters.<br /><br />She questioned whether the aldermen, as council members in the city are known, had adequate information about India, according to The Chicago Tribune.<br /><br />She added that she wouldn't "pretend to be an expert" on India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<br /><br />"What I say sitting here as Mayor of Chicago is I'm not going to get ahead of the (President Joe) Biden administration," Lightfoot said.<br /><br />With a population of 307,000, Newark is the largest in New Jersey.<br /><br />Although New Jersey has the third highest number of Asian-Indians in the US and the most by percentage, their population is minuscule in Newark city compared to other areas of the state.<br /><br /><br />

Duped US city scraps agreement with fictional 'Kailasa' created by fugitive godman Nithyananda

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <keyword id="11898268" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mississippi" source="Orion">Mississippi</keyword> library was told to remove LGBTQ+ books or lose $110,000, <a href="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/20068/ridgeland-mayor-demands-lgbtq-book-purge-threatens-library-funding/">a local report said</a>.</li><li>Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee withheld the cash over his "Christian" beliefs, per the library director.</li></ul><p>A library in Mississippi said it has been told to remove LGBTQ+ books in order to receive its next chunk of $110,000 funding, <a href="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/20068/ridgeland-mayor-demands-lgbtq-book-purge-threatens-library-funding/">according to the Mississippi Free Press</a>.</p><p>Tonja Johnson, director of the Madison County Library System, told the paper that the ultimatum came from City of Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee, who cited his Christian faith.</p><p>"He explained his opposition to what he called 'homosexual materials' in the library, that it went against his Christian beliefs, and that he would not release the money as the long as the materials were there," Johnson told the paper. </p><p>Johnson said she told McGee: "I explained that we are a public library and we serve the entire community. I told him our collection reflects the diversity of our community.</p><p>"He told me that the library can serve whoever we wanted, but that he only serves the great Lord above," she is reported to have said. </p><p>When approached by Insider, McGee said: "I am responding to citizens' complaints about this material being displayed at the library. A number of people have complained."</p><p>He did not address Insider's questions about his conversation with Johnson, or about whether he is empowered to withhold the funding. </p><p>He did not attend a library board meeting on Tuesday, at which board members resolved to challenge McGee's ultimatum with the city aldermen. </p><p>Among the books that McGee objected to were both adult and children's titles, Johnson told the paper. Some books have strong LGBTQ+ themes while others have only characters who are incidentally LGTBQ+, she said.</p><p>She said they include "The Queer Bible," a collections of essays about queer cultural icons such as Susan Sontag, David Bowie, and RuPaul; and a children's book called "Grandad's Camper," in which a grandfather who had a same-sex relationship is a central character.</p><p>Bob Sanders, the library board's counsel, said that McGee does not have the legal authority to withhold the funding, per the Free Press.</p><p>It came after several informal objections from members of the public, who did not follow up by using the library's formal complaint system, Johnson told the paper.</p><p><a href="https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/01/12/ridgeland-mayor-seeks-8th-term-office/96510094/">According to the Clarion-Ledger</a>, McGee has been mayor of Ridgeland since 1989. </p>

Mississippi city library says mayor is withholding $110,000 in funding until it purges LGBTQ+ books

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hal Marx, the mayor of Petal, <keyword id="99644" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mississippi">Mississippi</keyword>, tweeted that <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword> wasn't choking when a <keyword id="191558" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Minneapolis">Minneapolis</keyword> police officer stood on his neck because he could still speak.</li><li>"If you can say you can't breathe, you're breathing," Marx wrote. "Most likely that man died of overdose or heart attack."</li><li>Seth Stoughton, co-author of "Evaluating Police Uses of Force," told Insider the position Floyd was placed in easily could have led to his death. "You and I can hold our breath and still talk. We don't need to breathe to talk."</li><li>The Petal Board of Aldermen has called for Marx's resignation and residents have staged protests calling for his removal.</li></ul><p>A mayor in Mississippi is defending the officers involved in the arrest of George Floyd, who died while being subdued by police in Minneapolis.</p><p>Hal Marx, the mayor of Petal, Mississippi, tweeted that Floyd was not asphyxiating when officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for eight minutes.</p><p>"If you can say you can't breathe, you're breathing," he wrote before <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorHalMarx/status/1265468035151904768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">deleting his Twitter account</a>.</p><p>Marx added that he didn't see anything "unreasonable" in Chauvin's conduct.</p><p>"Most likely that man died of overdose or heart attack," he wrote. "Video doesn't show his resistance that got him in that position. Police being crucified."  </p><p><div type="image" title="minneapolis protest" height="1000" width="1333" msid="76098484" hostid="261"></div></p><p>In an interview with the <a href="https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/2020/05/27/mississippi-mayor-criticized-over-george-floyd-police-death-comments/5267825002/">Hattiesburg American</a>, Marx said his statements had been misinterpreted.</p><p>"I can't say whether a crime was committed or whether they did anything right or wrong, all I'm saying is don't rush to judgment based on what you see in that video," he told the paper.</p><p>"I've seen too many cases before where the police were judged to be guilty in the public's eye but later were found to be not guilty under the law," Marx added. He did not provide any examples.</p><p>On Thursday, the Petal Board of Aldermen voted unanimously in a special session to call for Marx's resignation, <a href="https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2020/05/28/george-floyd-mississippi-aldermen-call-mayor-resign/5279811002/">Mississippi Clarion-Ledger</a> reported<a href="https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/2020/05/28/george-floyd-mississippi-aldermen-call-mayor-resign/5279811002/"></a>.</p><p>He refused, saying, "I will never surrender to the mob mentality."</p><p>According to Mississippi law, an elected mayor can only be forcibly removed if convicted of a felony.<br /><br />"The city of Petal and the cities surrounding have grown to be a place where individuals of all walks, backgrounds, and beliefs are valued, supported and celebrated," Alderman Clint Moore said in a statement, according to the Hattiesburg American.</p><p>Moore said Marx's comments "have isolated, enraged, and belittled individuals in a way that is unbecoming to our city."</p><p>Marx told the board he and his family have received death threats as a result of his tweet. He has deleted his Twitter account and made his Facebook page private.</p><p>Seth Stoughton, a law professor at the University of South Carolina and co-author of "Evaluating Police Uses of Force," said the position Floyd was placed in by Chauvin easily <a href="https://www.insider.com/use-of-force-experts-condemn-george-floyd-police-custody-death-2020-5">could have led to his death</a>.</p><p>In positional or compression asphyxia, Stoughton said, a subject is able to breathe enough to speak but "they're not able to draw enough oxygen over an extended period of time to maintain basic life functions."</p><p>"Officers need to understand that there's ventilation, and there's respiration," Stoughton told Insider. "You and I can hold our breath and still talk. We don't need to breathe to talk. So that myth has to be dispelled."</p><p>Protestors have gathered outside Petal City Hall for three days to protest Marx's comments and call for his resignation, <a href="https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2020/05/30/petal-mayor-hal-marx-george-floyd-comments-protest-continues-call-resign/5291111002/">according to the Clarion Ledger</a>.  </p>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/mississippi-mayor-who-said-george-floyd-could-breathe-asked-resign-2020-5">Insider</a>

'If you say you can't breathe, you're breathing': A Mississippi mayor defended the officer who stood on George Floyd's neck

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b4ef527e121fe29008b4630-1800/gettyimages-187387351.jpg" border="0" alt="Chicago skyline" data-mce-source="Scott Olson/Getty Images"><p class="source"><span>Scott Olson/Getty Images</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Universal basic income, a scheme which offers money to citizens with no strings attached, gaining traction in small pockets of the US and other countries.</strong></li><li><strong>Chicago City Council is being presented with a plan to trial giving 1,000 families $500 per month as a pilot scheme.</strong></li><li><strong>It would need to pass a committee phase and a vote before being put into practice.</strong></li><li><strong>36 of Chicago City Council's 50 lawmakers have co-sponsored a bill, which could be a good omen.</strong></li><li><strong>If implemented, the scheme would make Chicago the largest US city to trial a universal basic income among its citizens.</strong></li></ul><hr><p>Chicago could become the largest city in US to test a universal basic income programme, if its local government takes up a new proposal to start handing out $500 a month to some households for free.</p><p>City lawmakers have voiced support for legislation that would trial a basic income scheme for 1,000 families in Chicago.</p><p>A bill, proposed by&#xa0;<span>Chicago lawmaker Ameya Pawar, has started the legislative process by gaining support from 36 of the city's 50 alderman, who vote on local laws.</span></p><p><span>Pawar&#xa0;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/07/16/chicago-universal-basic-income-ubi/">spoke about his plan with news website The Intercept, </a>where he said that he was proposing the scheme in light of the threat of automation to the workforce, and to provide a lifeline to the majority of US families he said have very little money in the bank for emergencies.</span><span></span></p><p><span>The legislation will now be deabted by aldermen on&#xa0;</span>the city's Committee on Workforce Development and Audit.</p><p>If enough members are in favour of the plan, it will then be put before the City Council for a vote.</p><p>Chicago law means the mayor could then veto the proposal if he doesn't approve, but that in turn can be over-ruled by a two-thirds majority in the council.</p><p>Pawar told the Intercept he is hopeful that the council and mayor will support it, but it's not yet clear what the level of support will be.</p><p><span>A universal basic income scheme is already in place in Alaska, where up to&#xa0;$2,000 is given to a citizen a year from a state fund. Other parts of the US are also looking to trial a universal basic income, with an 18-month trial to begin for 100 families in Stockton, California in 2019.</span></p><p><span>Finland began a universal basic income trial at the beginning of 2017 that gave 2,000 unemployed Finns €560 a month, tax free. There was a plan to expan it to cover working people as well, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/finland-to-end-basic-income-experiment-2018-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">but the scheme was pulled in favour of other social welfare projects</a>.</span></p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>My legislation calling for the creation of a Chicago <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UniversalBasicIncome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UniversalBasicIncome</a> pilot has 36 co-sponsors! On to the Commitee on Workforce Development and Audit. Committee chair <a href="https://twitter.com/40thWard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@40thWard</a> is also a sponsor. More soon! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UBI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UBI</a> <a href="https://t.co/W7D5Hbx31E">pic.twitter.com/W7D5Hbx31E</a></p>- Ameya Pawar  (@Ameya_Pawar_IL) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1012033000824025088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2018</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nobel-winning-economist-says-non-competes-are-keeping-wages-down-for-all-workers-2018-6">A Nobel Prize-winning economist says 'non-competes' are keeping wages down for all workers</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/QeyiNPE5-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div></hr>

Chicago could soon become the biggest US city to trial a universal basic income

<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54a59a69eab8ea0b5b8b4567-622-466/pearlriverlouisianamunicipalcomplexjpg.jpg?maxX=600" border="0" alt="Pearl_River,_Louisiana_Municipal_Complex.JPG" width="600"><span class="source"><span>Wikimedia </span></span><span class="caption">The municipal complex in Pearl River, Louisiana. </span></img></span><p></p></span>James Lavigne, the former mayor of Pearl River, Louisiana, ended 2014 with a bang.</p>
<p>According to the New Orleans Advocate, Lavigne <a href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/sttammany/11222565-171/pearl-river-mayor-james-lavigne">had a rough year that included an indictment, questions about his spending, and losing an election after six terms in office</a>. Lavigne's farewell speech on New Year's Eve was no less eventful.&#xa0;</p>
<p>The newspaper reported the mayor <a href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/sttammany/11222565-171/pearl-river-mayor-james-lavigne">called for an "emergency" meeting</a> of the local&#xa0;Board of Aldermen on Wednesday to give his final address. He was surprised when reporters began showing up and started "demanding" to know how they found out about the meeting.</p>
<p>According to the Advocate, Lavigne's question was answered by&#xa0;WWL-TV's Ashley Rodrigue, who the newspaper said&#xa0;"broke the story on financial irregularities at the town."</p>
<p>"It's a public meeting," Rodrigue said, adding, "It was all over Facebook."</p>
<p>"Facebook can kiss my ass, and you too and Channel 4 news," Lavigne responded.&#xa0;</p>
<p>After encouraging Facebook and the local media to embrace his posterior, Lavigne reportedly got into his car and drove away. A member of the Board of Aldermen then <a href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/sttammany/11222565-171/pearl-river-mayor-james-lavigne">read his speech</a>, which the Advocate said was "five pages of single-spaced copy" and included his explanation for his spending.&#xa0;</p>
<p>"I am not the best bookkeeper or paperwork man in the world, but I am certainly no thief," the speech said. "There is no indication in my personal lifestyle, my home, my investments or any other assets that I have stolen or misappropriated a dime from the Town of Pearl River. If anything, I have given, given, given to the town."</p>
<p>(h/t <a href="http://jimromenesko.com/2015/01/01/happy-new-year-to-you-too-mr-mayor/">Jim Romenesko</a>)</p>
<p><span><span><span>&#xa0;</span></span></span></p>

Indicted Louisiana Mayor Says Facebook And Local Media 'Can Kiss My Ass' 

<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/undividing"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5956bcd0a3630f2c008b6f2c-800/bi-graphicsundividing america800x100post.png" alt="BI Graphics_Undividing America_800x100_Post" data-mce-source="BI" /></a></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59824c304fc3c01d008b4832-2400/louras.jpg" alt="Christopher Louras Rutland Vermont" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Elise Amendola" data-mce-caption="Chris Louras poses outside an exhibit featuring Syrian art in downtown Rutland, Vt. After months of bitter debate, the down-on-its heels city is preparing to start accepting up to 100 Syrian refugees" /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Elise Amendola</span></p><p class="caption">Chris Louras outside an exhibit of Syrian art in Rutland, Vermont.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Chris Louras, the former mayor of Rutland, Vermont, had a plan to bring 25 Syrian refugee families to town.</strong></li><li><strong>Many residents criticized Louras over what they saw as the 'secrecy' in which the plan was carried out.</strong></li><li><strong>The issue divided the town into two camps, with both sides furious with the other. A recent town meeting devolved into insults and shouting.</strong></li><li><strong>Louras lost his reelection bid, and only three of the 25 families made it to Rutland.</strong></li></ul><p>The plan was supposed to revitalize the economy of a sleepy Vermont town, and give its small workforce a much-needed boost. It seemed like a win-win. But when Rutland's five-term mayor Chris Louras announced in April 2016 that 25 refugee families would be coming to the struggling postindustrial town, he awoke fear and vitriol that eventually cost him his job.</p><p>This was around the time Donald Trump, then a candidate for the Republican nomination, proposed national bans on refugees and immigrants from certain majority-Muslim countries. Rutland became a referendum on the nation's willingness to welcome displaced people from around the world.</p><p>Some in the town formed a group called "Rutland Welcomes," a volunteer group that planned to find housing, transportation, and jobs for prospective refugees, and even gave the few who arrived baskets of fruit and vegetables.</p><p>Those against the plan formed "Rutland First," a loose-knit coalition of residents whose opinions ranged from skepticism at whether Rutland could bear the costs of resettling the refugees to outright hostility and fear-mongering.</p><p>Then, on March 6, came the mayoral election.</p><p>Louras, an Army veteran who had been a popular and uncontroversial mayor for a decade, was ousted by alderman David Allaire, who had lost to Louras in two previous elections. Allaire clobbered Louras, centering his campaign on opposition to the plan, which he criticized for freezing out the board of aldermen and Rutland residents.</p><p>The election was "absolutely" a referendum on refugees, Jennie Gartner, a local high-school history teacher and a representative of Rutland Welcomes, told Business Insider.</p><p>Allaire's election win, combined with Trump's travel ban barring refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq and Syria, all but decided the issue.</p><p>Only three refugee families - two Syrian and one Iraqi - have been resettled so far.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5982502f4fc3c02d008b483a-2400/ap16328774098803.jpg" alt="Rutland vermont" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Elise Amendola" data-mce-caption="A pedestrian walks onto Center Street in downtown Rutland." /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Elise Amendola</span></p><p class="caption">Downtown Rutland.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>An American town like any other</strong></h2><p>In 2015, Louras had an idea to fix the town's "unhealthily low unemployment rate."</p><p>Rutland was shedding population. Since the 1970s, <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/rutlandcityvermont/PST045216">16%</a> of its people have moved away, leaving homes empty and nearby businesses looking for workers.</p><p>"That's the story of many small postindustrial cities that have a declining population and a graying population," Louras told Business Insider.</p><p>Louras spotted an opportunity to get Rutland involved in the US's newly announced plan to resettle thousands of refugees from the Middle East. Rutland's businesses have tons of open, entry-level jobs, and the town has cheap, vacant housing stock for 3,000 additional residents, according to Louras, who thought refugees would be perfect candidates to solve some of the town's problems.</p><p>While only a few refugees made it to town before Louras was ousted, those who did confirmed Louras' intuition, he says. One refugee, who arrived in January, secured a full-time job at The Bakery, <a href="http://rootsrutland.com/thebakery/">a popular local café</a>, within weeks. He now splits his time between an early-morning baking shift and English-language classes, Louras said.</p><p>What Louras didn't count on was that Rutland's debate would get sucked into a larger divide stretching across the country.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59824f704fc3c01d008b4871-2400/ap16328774190286.jpg" alt="Wendy Wilton Rutland treasurer" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Elise Amendola" data-mce-caption="Rutland City Treasurer Wendy Wilton speaks outside city hall." /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Elise Amendola</span></p><p class="caption">Rutland's treasurer, Wendy Wilton.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>Rolling out the unwelcome mat </strong></h2><p>A month after Louras presented his plan, the town, much of it divided between Rutland Welcomes and Rutland First, began to unravel.</p><p>Some accused Louras of hatching the plan in secret.</p><p>Tim Cook, one of the founders of Rutland First and an Iraq War veteran, alleged that Louras submitted a State Department application for refugees six months before the April announcement. Breitbart, the far-right website, picked up the <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/06/09/emails-reveal-mayor-conspired-secret-resettle-syrians-town/">story</a>. Small Rutland was becoming big <keyword id="6355005" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="News">news</keyword>.</p><p>"The national story out there is that we're hateful and biased, and that's bulls---," Wendy Wilton, a member of Rutland First, said. "We just wanted to know what was in that application."</p><p>Like other critics, she accused Louras of lying about the plan, saying that he told the town he intended to resettle only 100 refugees but that his actual plans were to bring 100 a year. According to Wilton, when the town aldermen requested a copy of the refugee application from the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the nonprofit was uncooperative.</p><p>"If this was the most wonderful thing in the world, why wouldn't you want to cooperate with the local governing body?" said Wilton, who, like Cook, added that she wasn't opposed to resettling a few refugees, just not 100.</p><p>Meanwhile, on the other side, Rutland Welcomes was holding regular meetings at a Unitarian Church with hundreds of residents forming committees to push the resettlement process along, arrange English tutors, and gather donations of household goods and clothing.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5982506d76084a11068b4796-2400/ap17027862105208.jpg" alt="Rutland vermont" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Lisa Rathke" data-mce-caption="Kerry Coarse, coordinator for support services for the Northwest Primary School, shows Dania Khatib, 5, the school playground as her mother Mahasen Boshnaq, left, and father Ahmed Khatib, right, follow behind in Rutland" /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Lisa Rathke</span></p><p class="caption">Kerry Coarse, coordinator for support services for the Northwest Primary School, shows a newly arrived refugee family the school playground.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Then criticism of Rutland Welcomes spread across the town.</p><p>Gartner, the high-school history teacher and a member of Rutland Welcomes, says she and others were criticized online by people associated with Rutland First for teaching her class about Islam, which is part of the state curriculum.</p><p>Gartner, Louras, and others in favor of resettlement have said that very few of those against the resettlement actually care about the secrecy of "the process," seeing it as a cover for fear. The vast majority of Rutland First, she says, is people who "were afraid of Muslims, afraid of people from other countries," she said. If Louras was planning on bringing a new tech firm to Rutland, people wouldn't criticize the way the decision came about, she added.</p><p>Many Rutlanders have said that much of the criticism falls on Louras, who they say did little to allay the concerns and anger of those against the plan. Christopher Ettori, a pro-refugee town alderman, told Business Insider that Louras didn't have "a real dialogue with people" and failed to arrange speakers or panels to educate residents why the plan would benefit the town and not sacrifice security.</p><p>Instead, Meg Hansen, a columnist for the Rutland Herald, <a href="http://www.rutlandherald.com/articles/an-end-to-liberal-moralizing/">wrote in March</a>, Louras "chose to malign his critics as racist."</p><p>For his part, Louras seemed to have little patience for Rutland First's objections.</p><p>Cook, the local doctor, maintained that he wanted to see the refugees succeed - and has even offered his services as a physician - but says he wants them to succeed by "Americanizing" themselves.</p><p>"Getting them a baseball bat, and Keystone beer by the suitcase, whatever it takes," Cook said. "You succeed in this country by accepting the fact that there is such a thing as American culture, and by practicing it."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/588d217b713ba130008b5353-2000/rtsxtvq.jpg" alt="protest jfk airport" data-mce-source="Reutesr/Andrew Kelly" data-mce-caption="A man yells during a protest against Donald Trump's travel ban outside Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, U.S., January 28, 2017." /><p class="source"><span>Reutesr/Andrew Kelly</span></p><p class="caption">A protest against President Trump's travel ban outside John F. Kennedy International Airport in January 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>The national conversation</h2><p>Things came to a head in the run-up to this year's election in March. Days after Trump was sworn into office in January, he signed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/its-not-a-muslim-ban-trump-defends-controversial-executive-order-on-refugees-2017-1">the executive order temporarily barring refugees and immigrants</a> from seven majority-Muslim countries. While his base loved it, protests broke out in cities and at airports across the country.</p><p>Rutland's mayoral election soon became a microcosm of the national debate about immigration and refugees, according to Louras, who said residents used language that echoed the rhetoric of the Trump campaign.</p><p>Trump "definitely influenced what happened here," said Gartner, who added that the administration's position on refugees gave Rutland First cover to "feel pretty safe in their fear."</p><p>As a result, Louras says, the Rutland First side wasn't willing to listen to the pro-resettlement side's explanations for why the refugees would be a boost to the town's economy.</p><p>"The noise around the irrational concerns didn't allow a lot of those rational people to listen to the facts," Louras said.</p><p>At the same time, David Allaire, Louras' opponent, ran his campaign on a message criticizing the mayor's handling of the refugee issue and called for "healing the divide" in the community. The refugee issue, combined with fury over Louras' unrelated attempt to reform the fire department, led to a landslide victory for Allaire.</p><p>"This is what sunk him, from my perspective," Gartner said of the refugee issue. "This is what Louras had to fall on his sword for."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598250bb76084a11068b479d-2400/ap17027862081305 1.jpg" alt="Rutland Vermont" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Lisa Rathke" data-mce-caption="Newly arrived refugee Dania Khatib, 5, tours a classroom with her mother Mahasen Boshnaq, center rear, and father Ahmed Khatib, right, at the Northwest Primary School Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in Rutland." /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Lisa Rathke</span></p><p class="caption">Newly arrived refugees tour a classroom at the Northwest Primary School in Rutland.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Allaire declined requests for an interview.</p><p>In the months that followed, Allaire has done little publicly to bring the town together, alderman Ettori said. He added that he doesn't expect the new mayor to lead "some sort of reconciliation."</p><p>In some ways, Allaire is repeating Louras' mistakes. While no new refugees are expected in 2017, Allaire has met with the <span>US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) </span>and the State Department to discuss bringing 100 more refugees to the city in 2018, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting. Publicly, Allaire has said that he is deferring to the federal government on the refugee issue, according to Ettori.</p><p>And the issue, in some ways, is still raw. </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At a board of aldermen meeting at the end of May, a number of anti-refugee aldermen publicly lashed out at representatives from the USCRI, who were present. Members of the public, some of whom had threatened violence against the USCRI representatives, were permitted to l</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">ob personal attacks from the microphone. Policemen in the room had to step in to maintain order. Ettori called the meeting a "debacle."</span></p><p>Those that championed the resettlement, like Hunter Berryhill, a high-school English teacher in town, say that as the refugees who did make it are successful (there were three families total). He and others hope the "false stereotypes start to crumble."</p><p>Sana Mustafa, a Syrian student who arrived in the US in 2013 and visited Rutland in June, said that she too thinks that refugees suffer from stereotypes.</p><p>"There's no name. There are no faces. There are only numbers, and we're always associated with guns and terrorists," said Mustafa. "When people see me, they see me as a civilized, normal person … and that's how we all look."</p><p>Business Insider made several attempts to speak with the refugees who have settled in Rutland but was told by USCRI officials that interviews weren't a good idea for the refugees' safety, given the tense situation.</p><p>Louras, who is in regular contact with the families, said they are "faring very well."</p><p>Still, he still struggles, he says, with what went wrong with the plan.</p><p>"If I had the silver bullet, I'd still be in office," Louras said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598250ff76084ac4198b456b-2400/ap17028496560745 1.jpg" alt="Rutland Vermont" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Lisa Rathke" data-mce-caption="Syrian refugee Ahmed Khatib, left, sits with his wife Mahasen Boshnaq, and son Mohammed in the home of their sponsoring family, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in Rutland." /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Lisa Rathke</span></p><p class="caption">A newly arrived Syrian refugee family in the home of their sponsoring family in Rutland.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>Unemployed</strong></h2><p>Rutland is the kind of place where people can't escape one another. Even now, Louras sees his replacement, Allaire, regularly when he goes to maintain his garden, which is a few hundred feet from the new mayor's home. The two even have the same nieces and nephews through marriage.</p><p>Louras said it's not his responsibility to help the new mayor or give him advice.</p><p>"I'm an unemployed former army helicopter test pilot. And now, I'm an unemployed former small-town mayor. I'm just looking for a job that I can be successful at," Louras said.</p><p>He doesn't think Allaire has done much to fix the issues that Louras was once criticized for.</p><p>"I'm not sure anyone can communicate the value of refugee resettlement in a way where an entire community will accept it. It's the families themselves who provide the best argument."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-was-latin-americas-richest-country-heres-how-it-fell-apart-2017-7">Venezuela was Latin America's richest country and now it is in complete crisis - here's how it fell apart</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="poZXYzYzE6mrlGtTm6Sn1IIHfESSKA9P" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'poZXYzYzE6mrlGtTm6Sn1IIHfESSKA9P',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

How a plan to resettle 100 Syrian refugees ripped apart a small Vermont town

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b6db61d959f3419008b4ed1-1814/paul-manafort-drive.png" border="0" alt="paul manafort drive" data-mce-source="CNN" data-mce-caption="Officials in New Britain, Connecticut have been faced with the conundrum of what to do with a street named &amp;quotPaul Manafort Drive&quot;" data-link="https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/08/09/paul-manafort-drive-moos-pkg-vpx.cnn" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/08/09/paul-manafort-drive-moos-pkg-vpx.cnn">CNN</a></span></p><p class="caption">Officials in New Britain, Connecticut have been faced with the conundrum of what to do with a street named "Paul Manafort Drive"</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Some residents in New Britain are anxious to see "Paul Manafort Drive" renamed. </strong></li><li><strong>The road is named after Paul Manafort Sr., the late mayor of the town who was the father of the former Trump campaign manager with the same first and last name.</strong></li><li><strong>Many say that the road name brings dishonor to the town, since the younger Manafort is currently on trial for tax evasion. </strong></li></ul><hr /><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b6dbce10ce5f511178b4a82-2000/paul-manafort-mugshot.jpg" border="0" alt="paul manafort mugshot" data-mce-source="Getty" data-mce-caption="Paul Manafort Jr. is currently on trial for tax evasion." data-link="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/997147078" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/997147078">Getty</a></span></p><p class="caption">Paul Manafort Jr. is currently on trial for tax evasion.</p></div><p></p></div></div>In New Britain, Connecticut, residents hear the name "Paul Manafort" not only in the news, but on their GPS as well. </p><p>For months, a small but strong contingent of residents have been looking to rename "Paul Manafort Drive," a half-mile road that runs through the campus of Central Connecticut State University. </p><p>The road is not named after the former Trump campaign manager, but for his father, Paul Manafort Sr., a prominent local businessman who became the town's mayor. He died in 2013 at the age of 89. </p><p>The road was named after him in 1994. But as the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rick-gates-testifies-committed-crimes-paul-manafort-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">younger Manafort is on trial</a> as part of the special counsel's investigation, many residents are fighting to erase the name from town. </p><p>Last year, Dan Russell, who drove down Paul Manafort Drive nearly every day to get to work, started a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/rename-paul-manafort-drive-to-george-springer-drive-in-new-britain-ct">petition</a> to rename the street after George Springer, a New Britain native who went on to be a star player for the Houston Astros. </p><p>That petition got over 1,500 signatures when it was sent to the city for consideration, but the plan was rejected. </p><p>Mayor Erin Stewart, a Republican, told the <a href="http://www.courant.com/community/new-britain/hc-news-new-britain-manafort-drive-20180808-story.html">Hartford Courant</a> this week that she doesn't want to punish the father for the son's misdeeds. </p><p>"Mr. Manafort served the city for a long time, he was a war veteran. You can't control what your kids do and what they don't - that doesn't take away from the service that the father gave the city," Stewart said. </p><p>But others on the city council don't necessarily agree. </p><p>Majority leader Carlo Carlozzi Jr., a Democrat, told The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/10/its-totally-an-embarrassment-a-connecticut-town-ponders-renaming-paul-manafort-drive/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.84224f54d518">Washington Post </a>that he is open to the idea. </p><p>Carlozzi said that he used to live near Manafort Sr. and ran into him often. While they differed politically, he said there was no question that he loved his community. </p><p>However, the name is creating negative connotations for the community. </p><p>"It's something where it's totally an embarrassment - New Britain being in the news because of this particular situation," he said.</p><p>The road sign has also been causing problems. Alex Kuzma, a Ukrainian-American activist from nearby Glastonbury, said he has organized four anti-Manafort protests on the road between April 2017 and November 2017. </p><p>Before news outlets started reporting on the little-known street, Carlozzi said that he didn't get too many calls from the public to change the road. </p><p>But now that the story is gaining national attention, he says community members are calling him and others on the council and asking, "are you going to change the name or what?" </p><p>While the mayor seems dead set against the idea, the council can still overrule Stewart's veto if 10 of the 15 aldermen vote against her. </p><p>But Carlozzi says it's best not to jump to any conclusion just yet. </p><p>"We can't just make a policy decision on a whim. There's a lot involved in that - we don't want to be accused of making decisions the same way the White House makes decisions, sporadically and haphazardly," he said. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/make-america-great-again-hat-christl-mahfouz-ace-specialties-trump-campaign-merchandise-2018-7">Meet the woman behind Trump's $20 million merch empire</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Up7D9bzl-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

'Are you going to change the name or what?' Connecticut town grapples with 'Paul Manafort Drive'

<p><div type="image" title="george floyd i cant breathe flag" height="1722" width="3444" msid="76406618" hostid="261"></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The protests against racism and police brutality are radically moving public <keyword id="6356002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinion">opinion</keyword> in a positive direction. But police reforms will mostly take place in governments at the local level.</li><li>Americans aren't prolific voters as is, but they really don't show up for local <keyword id="6355644" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="elections">elections</keyword>. And young Americans vote less than the rest of the adult population.</li><li>Incumbents are the system, they're the ones who negotiate and sign-off on sweetheart police contracts. If an incumbent doesn't unequivocally pledge to reform policing, vote them out. Vote them all out.</li><li>Unless you live in one of a small handful of swing <keyword id="6359922" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="States">states</keyword>, a vote for president is almost never impactful. A vote in a local election, however, not only has a far greater effect on your own life, the vote itself matters exponentially more.</li><li>This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.</li></ul><p>"These protesters better show up on election day," is a sentiment likely to grate on the ears of young people who have lost faith in the system. </p><p>Who could blame them? </p><p>Politicians, for good reason, have a reputation for saying all the right things when campaigning and doing things just as they've always been done when legislating or governing. </p><p>Young voters <a href="https://infogram.com/untitled-1h8n6myv70o96xo">consistently rank at the bottom</a> of the age cohorts for voter turnout, which is a big part of the reason their concerns are never made a top priority. </p><p>This makes it imperative that the  young demonstrators who have taken to the streets to protest police brutality and racism in the wake of George Floyd's killing at the hands of Minneapolis PD police recognize that protest is just one step towards reform. </p><p>Protesters should also focus their energy on the places where the reform will meaningfully happen. In a presidential election year it's easy to focus on making Donald Trump a one-term president, but protesters should acknowledge that meaningful police reform is not going to be determined by who's in the White House. Reform efforts will live or die based on state and <keyword id="664316" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="local-governments">local governments</keyword>. </p><p>Local elected officials need to be terrified of the wrath of the voters. They need to believe they will be summarily swept out of office if they don't push for substantial and meaningful changes from police departments.</p><p>They need to know their time in office will be short if they don't tear up the contracts they've made with police unions that are the foundation of the systemic rot at the heart of policing in the US.</p><h2>Federalism prevents a top-down solution, local elections will determine the future of reform</h2><p>America's federalist system itself is arguably the biggest impediment to top-down criminal justice reform. </p><p>Each community in each of the 50 states, plus Washington, DC, is endowed with myriad rules and regulations on the use-of-force, officer discipline, record-keeping, transparency, and accountability. </p><p>This hodgepodge of rules can be exemplified by one issue, does someone need a license to become a cop?</p><p>If you want to legally cut hair In New York, 1,000 hours of training plus "written and practical examinations," are required to <a href="https://www.dos.ny.gov/licensing/cosmetology/cosmetology_faq.html#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20requirements%20to%20obtain%20a%20license%20for%20Cosmetology%3F,-If%20you%20are&amp;text=You%20must%20complete%20a%201%2C000,to%20operate%20in%20this%20state.ate.">obtain a cosmetology license</a>. If you want to be a police officer in New York, no license is required. </p><p><a href="https://www.nj.com/politics/2020/06/nj-will-track-police-use-of-force-require-licensing-cops-ag-says-as-protests-roil-nation.html">New Jersey has finally pledged to license police officers</a>, so now there are only four states remaining that don't require police officers to be licensed. They're all blue states — Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, California — and include the first and third most populous states in the country. </p><p>Hawaii actually passed a law in 2018 requiring cops to be licensed, but the governor <a href="https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2019/01/05/hawaii-news/police-standards-board-requesting-more-time-money/">never signed or vetoed it</a>, so while it's in effect it has yet to be implemented, according to Roger Goldman, an expert on police licensing and professor emeritus of law at St. Louis University School of Law.</p><p>See, it's all over the place.</p><p>But licensing is obviously not the only issue. </p><p>"There are many other states that have very weak de-certification laws," Goldman said. He adds that in about a third of states, "You have to actually have been convicted of a crime to be decertified, which is ridiculous. I can't think of any other profession, hairdressers, doctors, lawyers, school teachers, where you have to actually be convicted before you can lose your license."</p><p>There's also the fact that a great many local PDs are not required to submit officer disciplinary records to their state's police department Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) agencies. And <a href="https://reason.com/2016/09/30/why-its-so-hard-to-stop-bad-cops-from-ge/">there's no national database</a> that makes such records publicly available. </p><p>Then-FBI Director <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fbi-director-calls-lack-of-data-on-police-shootings-ridiculous-embarrassing/2015/10/07/c0ebaf7a-6d16-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html">James Comey</a> in 2015 admitted it was "ridiculous" and "embarrassing" that the FBI had no national database tallying the use of force by police. The bureau <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ucr/use-of-force">finally launched such a database</a> in 2019, with some important caveats: "All law enforcement agencies are encouraged to participate," but "The FBI has no legal authority to mandate reporting of any data to the UCR [Uniform Crime Reporting] Program."</p><p>These are just a few reasons explaining how cops who've been fired for cause — or even for criminal convictions — manage to get law enforcement jobs in other PDs. </p><p>So without a massive reformation of the American system that devolves authority from the state and to the federal government — which is both improbable and ill-advised — change is going to have come at the local level. </p><p>That's why elected officials who represent their communities in negotiations with police unions need to be afraid of the voters' wrath. </p><h2>Vote local, and vote them all out</h2><p>It's not just governors and attorneys general, it's mayors, judges, district attorneys, city councils, and aldermen. </p><p>If a politician is a local liberal legend, they need to know that having a "D" next to their names will not protect them from being voted out and replaced by a candidate who promises to tear up police union contracts that don't have substantial independent oversight and quantifiable measures to hold police accountable.</p><p>A Republican lawmaker who's typically a union-buster but bends the knee to the police unions needs to know that "law and order" applies to the police as well. </p><p>Incumbents are the system, they're the ones who negotiate and sign-off on these sweetheart police contracts which are not in the public service.  </p><p>If an incumbent doesn't unequivocally pledge to reform policing, vote them out. Vote them all out. Let them know that returning the rule of law to police departments across the country is not a niche issue but a prerequisite for office. </p><p>It will take thousands of unglamourous and little-covered elections, probably for several cycles, for systemic change to be visible at the national level.  </p><p>Just 15% to 27% of Americans vote in municipal elections, according to the <a href="https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/national-civic-review/issue/spring-2020-volume-109-number-1/?popup=true">National Civic League</a>. A <a href="https://www.governing.com/topics/elections/gov-voter-turnout-generations-millennials.html">Portland State University study</a> found that voters over 65 vote at a median rate seven times higher than voters 18 to 34.</p><p>Low turnout <a href="https://faculty.ucmerced.edu/jtrounstine/low_turnout_UAR_RR.pdf">leads to higher rates of incumbents</a> winning reelection. That's how incumbents come to call their seats "safe."</p><p>A politician should never believe the seat is "theirs." They're not our leaders, they're our representatives, who should always be following the lead of the people. But the people need to continually remind them of that. </p><p>If locally-popular incumbents won't explicitly commit to taking on the police unions and insisting out on accountability, transparency, and clearly defined rules on use-of-force — the public should let them know their public service is no longer needed. </p><p>We should also demand that our leaders pass fewer laws, in general. This may seem counter-intuitive, since politicians are often judged by how much "work" they've done, which is typically interpreted by the number of laws they've helped pass.</p><p>But we are an <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/282-overcriminalization">absurdly over-criminalized country</a>, and every law passed carries a potential for violent confrontation. </p><p>Unless you live in one of a small handful of swing states, a vote for president is almost never impactful. A vote in a local election, however, not only has a far greater effect on your own life, the vote itself matters exponentially more.</p><p>Activism, especially massive peaceful protests, can galvanize and radically change public opinion. But that change needs to be certified at the ballot box. </p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-de-blasio-do-something-great-new-yorkers-resign-2020-6">Bill de Blasio can finally do something great for New Yorkers: resign</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/george-floyd-protests-end-coronavirus-lockdowns-permanently-police-brutality-racism-2020-6">Science experts have a duty to tell protesters the cold hard truth about the coronavirus</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rightwing-media-peaceful-protests-ben-shapiro-tomi-lahren-colin-kaepernick-2020-6">Right-wing media stars don't actually care how peaceful the protests are</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/police-rioted-george-floyd-riots-justifying-protests-2020-6">Police rioted, justifying the point of the protests</a></li></ul>

You want radical police reform? Vote in local elections.

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/554a69376bb3f7ca72f10c71-1200-924/jon-burge-chicago.jpg?maxX=600" border="0" alt="Jon Burge Chicago" width="600"><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)</span></p><p class="caption">In this June 8, 2010 file photo, former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge arrives at the federal building in Chicago. </p></img></div><p></p></div>Chicago will pay a total of up to $5.5 million to dozens of people tortured by the city's police in the 1970s and 1980s and make other reparations such as a memorial to torture victims under an ordinance approved by the city council on Wednesday.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Police reparations of this magnitude are a first for America, according to the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/06/chicago-police-torture-victims-deal">Guardian</a>.</span></p><p>"We are strong enough to say we were wrong," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said after the vote. "Chicago will finally confront its past and come to terms with it."</p><p>The ordinance also calls for the city to provide psychological counseling, job placement aid and other services to torture victims.</p><p>During this era of brutality, disgraced Chicago police Commander Jon Burge ran a group of rogue detectives known as the "Midnight Crew." From 1972 to 1991, under his leadership, <span>the Guardian reports, </span>they allegedly tortured 120 people, mostly African American residents of Chicago's impoverished South Side. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Those in custody were allegedly subjected to electric shocks, beatings, and even faux-Russian roulette, according to the </span><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-city-council-rauner-cupich-met-20150506-story.html">Chicago Tribune</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. </span></p><p><span>Burge was fired in 1993 (although not directly as a result of the violence) and later convicted of lying about police torture in testimony he gave in civil lawsuits.</span></p><p>Chicago and Cook County already have paid about $100 million in settlements and verdicts for lawsuits related to Burge's actions.</p><p>"Chicago has taken a historic step to show the country, and the world, that there should be no expiration date on reparations for crimes as heinous as torture," Steven Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.</p><p>Hawkins said the ordinance will help set a precedent for holding torturers accountable in Chicago and elsewhere in the United States.</p><p>The reparations package was developed with representatives of Burge's victims, Amnesty International, the mayor and aldermen.</p><p>Under the new measure, reparations from the $5.5 million approved on Wednesday would not be available for victims who have already had payouts from the city in civil lawsuits, but several dozen victims probably will be eligible, according to one of the lawyers.</p><p>Chicago has long struggled to build trust between police and minority communities. The approval of the reparations comes at a time of increased scrutiny on police use of force in the United States, particularly against minorities.</p><p>(Reuters reporting by Fiona Ortiz)</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-after-black-widow-spider-bite-poison-2015-4">Here's what happens when you get bitten by a black widow</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="5wdGFndDqN2zqp8TnWPghhDHfhDWYD_r" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '5wdGFndDqN2zqp8TnWPghhDHfhDWYD_r',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

You Searched For "aldermen" and got 14 results

SC backs LG's right to nominate aldermen to MCD, setback for AAP govt

PTI

A proposed Chick-fil-A 'mega' restaurant in Tennessee is sparking backlash and fears of drive-thru traffic

Nancy Luna

An 11-year-old boy shot in the chest by police after calling 911 kept asking: 'What did I do wrong?'

Sinéad Baker

Duped US city scraps agreement with fictional 'Kailasa' created by fugitive godman Nithyananda

IANS

Mississippi city library says mayor is withholding $110,000 in funding until it purges LGBTQ+ books

Mia Jankowicz

'If you say you can't breathe, you're breathing': A Mississippi mayor defended the officer who stood on George Floyd's neck

K. Thor Jensen

Chicago could soon become the biggest US city to trial a universal basic income

Sinéad Baker,Sinéad Baker,Sinéad Baker

Indicted Louisiana Mayor Says Facebook And Local Media 'Can Kiss My Ass'

Hunter Walker

How a plan to resettle 100 Syrian refugees ripped apart a small Vermont town

Jeremy Berke

'Are you going to change the name or what?' Connecticut town grapples with 'Paul Manafort Drive'

Ashley Collman

You want radical police reform? Vote in local elections.

Anthony L. Fisher

A group of rogue Chicago cops known as the 'Midnight Crew' tortured dozens of people in the 70s and 80s - and now the city is paying millions for it

Reuters,Christina Sterbenz

The death of Queen Elizabeth will be the most disruptive event in Britain in the last 70 years

Rob Price

The death of Queen Elizabeth will be the most disruptive event in Britain in the last 70 years

Rob Price