- Social:
University of Minnesota Law School
Professor of Civil Rights Law at the University of Minnesota Law School and Director of its Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity
PROFILE
Myron Orfield
Guest
FROM Myron Orfield
To the Point
How local cops are becoming tax collectors So-called "zero tolerance" policing has been embraced as a way of reducing major crimes by focusing on minor ones. But there's another reason: fines and fees for low-level violations are now major sources of revenue for cities that have reduced taxation. When poor people can't pay, they're assessed with penalties — often increased until jails become debtors' prisons, especially for blacks and other minorities. That's led to anger, resentment and sometimes to violent confrontations with the police. We hear how back-door municipal finance causes social chaos.
To the Point
How local cops are becoming tax collectors So-called "zero tolerance" policing has been embraced as a way of reducing major crimes by focusing on minor ones. But there's another reason: fines and fees for low-level violations are now major sources of revenue for cities that have reduced taxation. When poor people can't pay, they're assessed with penalties — often increased until jails become debtors' prisons, especially for blacks and other minorities. That's led to anger, resentment and sometimes to violent confrontations with the police. We hear how back-door municipal finance causes social chaos.
To the Point
Does Your ZIP Code Determine Your Future? The federal Fair Housing Act was enacted by a bipartisan Congress in 1968 and signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. It banned outright discrimination, such as racial restrictions in zoning and deeds. It also required the government to actively dismantle segregation and foster integration in its place. Since then federal subsidies for affordable housing have focused on poor neighborhoods — with the effect of expanding racial and ethnic ghettos. The Obama Administration now wants cities to build affordable housing in more desirable neighborhoods . The goal is desegregation, but opponents denounce it as "forced integration" and predict resistance to what they call "social engineering."
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To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.