| Child's death prompts action
June 2007: Bryanna Harris died after being given a lethal dose of methadone and being beaten. Her mother, whose older children are in state custody, was arrested in connection with the toddler's death.
May 2006: Zion Clemmons, a 16-month-old boy, died after his mother left him in the care of an incompetent babysitter who threw him against a chair. Zion's mother, who had two other children, had been cited for abuse the year before.
May 2004: Emonney and Emunnea Broadway, twin girls who were less than a month old, died of malnutrition while living with their parents in an abandoned rowhouse. Six months earlier, the couple's 2-year-old daughter had been removed from their care for abuse.
February 2004: Alicia Mackey was smothered by her mother, who had lost custody of five older children.
Report shows dip in food spending
UK households are spending more of their budget on mortgages or rent and less on food than they did 50 years ago, official figures out show. Housing costs such as mortgage interest payments or rent now make up 19% of spending - up from 9% five decades ago. Spending on food and non-alcoholic drinks has dropped to 15% of the average household's weekly budget compared to one third in 1957, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show. Fuel and power have halved from 6% of spending in 1957 to 3% in the year 2006/07. Clothing and footwear expenditure has also halved from 10% to 5% of the average weekly budget, the ONS Family Expenditure Survey says. Motoring and travel costs are up from 8% of spending in 1957 to 16%.
Homestead building moratorium passes first test
Indeed, the council in October 2006 approved an amendment to the city's development master plan that would allow for the mixed-use project. But the state Department of Community Affairs -- which reviews municipal land-use changes -- shot the amendment back to the city on a technicality, city staff said. The master plan change now has to go through the process all over again. An attorney for the Algers said the family wanted a firm guarantee that once the amendment passes state scrutiny, a moratorium wouldn't prevent the Algers from getting the land rezoned and site plan approval. Without such a guarantee, said attorney Santiago Echemendia, the Algers would not immediately pony up the $9 million for the Turnpike construction -- and that an agreement with the Turnpike Authority was pending.
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