Free Talk Live

A 60-year-old woman was arrested after exceeding her allotted three minutes of speaking time at a California city council meeting.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Smokers have just one message for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council members: butt out of our business.

“We’re outside. We should have freedom to smoke,” City Hall Park smoker Harvey Forbes told CBS 2’s Magee Hickey.

By a vote of 36 to 11 on Wednesday the City Council approved a bill to ban smoking in all city parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas.

John Bush, a local activist from Austin, Tx. was previously banned from speaking to Austin City Council for a year, previously. Finally, Council realizes they can't be dictators forever - and allow the man to speak. Ownage ensues.

Father Nathan Monk tells the City Council, "We have the right to redress our government without fear of being arrested," and is nearly arrested.

A budget battle in New Jersey's capital city has some extremely unpleasant fallout, including a toilet paper shortage at police headquarters, fire stations, senior centers and municipal offices. Supplies have been dwindling down to almost nothing in the months since a spending fight broke out among the City Council in November over a $42,000 spending request for a year's supply of paper products, including toilet paper. “I’m embarrassed,” the Council president said.

New York City is the abortion capital of America. More than 40 percent of pregnancies in New York City end in abortion (excluding miscarriages), nearly twice the national rate. The abortion rate among the city’s black residents is a jaw-dropping 60 percent. In 2009, New York City saw more than 87,000 abortions—one roughly every six minutes.

The residents of Carmel, Indiana could be forced to no longer have their private refuse company remove their waste. And if history has a way of repeating itself, it will more than likely pass with the baffoons they have sitting at the helm. The 'illustrious' city council wants to impose an Ordinance that allows the City to select a trash removal company and tack on the fee on the sewer/water bill of the residents. Of course, the fee has yet to be determined. This is being heard at the June 6 and June 20 City Council meetings.

In a sick ironic twist a priest is threatened with arrest after calling out city council for throwing out another lowly citizen after he merely criticized council. Welcome to 1984.

The 110 medical marijuana dispensaries in San Jose will be reduced to only ten after a city council vote to impose new restrictions on pot clubs.

A vote that came in early Tuesday evening would limit the city to only ten dispensaries and only two such establishments per district. The new regulation would also require that marijuana be grown on site at the dispensaries.