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NEWS
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U.S. Supreme Court halts McCarver execution
Calif. initiative would have institutions close for good
Library's $10.4 million renovation ignores wheelchairs
Restaurant Assn. pushes ADA Notification Act-- again
Gallaudet students fearful in wake of second murder
Kansas City ADAPT protests for airport access
VA comes close to apology for sterilizations
Memphis advocates push for accessible apartments
Bush Nine, others protest in Austin -- no jail yet, though
U.S. Supreme Court Halts McCarver Execution
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, March 2 --Just a few minutes after Governor Mike Easley
announced he would not stop the execution of convicted murderer Ernest Paul
McCarver, word came that the U.S. Supreme Court was ordering a temporary
stay of execution.
More.
Calif. initiative would have institutions close for good
SACRAMENTO, CA-- Like many other states, California has been moving
from an institution-based service system for people with developmental
disabilities to a community-based one. Assemblywoman Dion Aroner from Berkeley has introduced a bill
that would transfer resources from the state's five remaining institutions
and use it to develop homes in the community. More.
Library's $10.4 million renovation ignores wheelchairs
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN--If you use a wheelchair and you want to get into the
Central Library in downtown Milwaukee, you have two choices:
You could either take your chances with the rather narrow access ramp at the
West Wells Street entrance, or
you could try the access door off of 8th Street, which, unfortunately, will
lead you down to an elevator that does not work.
Or ou could get out of your chair and crawl up
the stone steps and slide through the front entrance of the newly-renovated
building. More.
Restaurant Assn. pushes ADA Notification Act-- again
In a press announcement last week, the National Restaurant Association continued to call for "giving small businesses 90 days to
comply with an alleged ADA violation." The "ADA Notification Act" was introduced in the last session of Congress by Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) to, as the restaurant association puts it, "inject common sense" into the Americans with Disabilities Act. It would require that a business be given an additional 90 days to comply with the law before a disabled person could sue. Actor Clint Eastwood is one of the bill's biggest promoters. The bill has so far not been introduced in the 107th Congress.
The National Restaurant Association says it works on behalf of "the nation's 844,000 restaurant locations."
Read more about the ADA Notification Act:
from October, 2000
From July, 2000
Read the Restaurant Assn. press release from last May endorsing the bill
Gallaudet students fearful in wake of second murder
Last weekend, 19-year-old Gallaudet freshman Benjamin Varner was found stabbed to death early Saturday morning in Cogswell Hall, the same dormitory where another 19-year-old freshman, Eric Plunkett, was found beaten to death last September. The murderer is still at large -- whether the same murderer or two different ones, police either don't know or won't say. The entire campus is edgy.
Read ongoing coverage from The Washington Post
Gallaudet website coverage
Kansas City ADAPT protests for airport access
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 6, 2001
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI--A group of about 100 protesters, most in wheelchairs,
demonstrated at the Kansas City International Airport on Friday.
The demonstrators, from the Kansas City chapter of the disability rights
group ADAPT, assembled to demand equal access within the airport and for
accessible transit and shuttle buses. Protesters say most of the shuttles do
not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Riders risk missing
flights if they have to wait for the few vans that are accessible.
KCTV on-line ran a text version of the story, at the following web address.
A video news story is also available here:
http://kctv5.com/Global/story.asp?S=233543&nav=1Pub
VA comes close to apology for sterilizations
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 5, 2001
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA--Without coming right out and apologizing, the Virginia
House of Delegates on Friday passed a proclamation expressing "regret" for
the forced sterilization of thousands of Virginians with disabilities during
much of the last century. More.
Memphis advocates push for accessible apartments
The Memphis Fair Housing Center has filed a complaint in federal court against several Memphis area apartment complexes, charging them with violating the Fair Housing Act's access requirements. "People with disabilities face discrimination in housing each day in our community," said Memphis Center for Independent Living. director Deborah Cunningham. "Our choices are limited by architectural design and construction." She called the action an effort to bring to an end "the blatant disregard of the civil rights of all individuals with disabilities."
The complaint alleges that 147 of the ground-floor units of the Wyndham Apartment complex and over half of the ground-floor units at three Champion Hill complexes have no wheelchair access.
The Memphis CIL and the Fair Housing Center have surveyed recently constructed rental housing in Memphis for compliance with the law's requirements that ground-floor rental units have an accessible entrance and that partment complex have accessible common-use amenities. For more on the survey, visit http://home.mem.net/~mcil/news/newsr44a.htm
Bush Nine, others protest in Austin -- no jail yet, though
At the Austin "State School" where James Templeton was warehoused for 30 years, "there weren't enough people to help me with dressing, bathing, eating." Templeton was one of the Bush Nine prepared to go to jail in Austin mid-January. But they didn't go. More
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