Free Talk Live

Occupy MN: Protesters occupy veteran Bobby Hull's foreclosed home

While many fret about the waning momentum of the larger Occupy movement, Occupy Foreclosures seems to be picking up steam.

Occupy MN has been involved in an attempt to save three homeowners from eviction -- the latest is Marine veteran Bobby Hull. Yesterday afternoon, 100 demonstrators gathered on the front lawn of his Richfield home and declared their intention to halt Hull's February 17th eviction date. If they cannot, they will refuse to leave.

An Orlando man is fighting city officials to keep his vegetable garden in his front yard. You have to step over radishes, wax beans and kale to get to Jason Helvingston's front door in College Park. However, his 25 x 25 foot micro-irrigated vegetable garden is against city code, and the city of Orlando has asked Helvingston to dig it up by Wednesday.

SIOUX CITY -- Authorities charged with seizing Sioux City's unregistered pit bulls won't talk about how and when they plan to make their rounds, especially after one delinquent pet owner challenged them Monday to try to take his dog away.

Gardeners aren’t generally known for their civil disobedience, yet in the last couple of years several have run afoul of local officials for tending vegetables in their front yards. In Ferguson, Mo., a stay-at-home father was ordered to dig up his 55 varieties of edible plants. In Tulsa, Okla., a gardener who didn’t want to remove her veggies and medicinal herbs saw them largely cleared by the city.

Glendale (CA) city officials are forcing residents to take down mirrors they’ve attached to trees in the public right-of-way so they can better see oncoming traffic while exiting their driveways. Residents say in the absence of any speed-reduction enhancements, such as speed humps, the round convex mirrors are one of the few safety measures they have. City officials, though, say it’s about more than tree damage. City codes don’t allow anything to be attached to city-owned trees or street-light poles. Also, nothing can be placed in the public right-of-way because of liability concerns.

The buses stop running at 6:15 p.m. now, and most streetlights stay dark throughout the night. Three city pools have shut down, and turf is withering in more than 100 parks. What's a city to do when its museums are struggling to stay open and there aren't enough police officers to investigate crimes? Colorado Springs residents have met their city's attempts to get by with less on their own terms. For some, there is anger and lost jobs. For others, there are weary shrugs and mild complaints.

A free stater gets pulled over by the Police, and audio records the event. The police says "the city is the victim"!

MCLOUD, OK -- Several residents in McLoud are upset after the city announced a $17 water bill for residents who use a well. According to City Manager Larry Dillon, the small fee will help pay for emergency services such as police officers and fire fighters. Because of an old city ordinance, rural residents with in 100-yards of a water line didn't have to pay for those services; but because of a struggling economy, every dollar counts.

Don’t mess with your neighbor’s lawn — especially if that neighbor is the city of Columbus. Property owners along Columbus’ three reservoirs — Griggs, O’Shaughnessy and Hoover — are being taken to court for mowing, weeding and otherwise sprucing up waterfront property owned by the city that abuts their backyards.