Homeless shelter residents with jobs will have to start paying rent later this year, thanks to a new plan to end "open-ended handouts" from the city. Though the city hopes that this will encourage residents to save money and move out, critics say the plan would keep the homeless from saving enough. According to the Daily News, residents would have to pay 30% of their gross income as rent in the first year of the program, and the highest of either 30% of the resident's income or 50% of the cost of their housing the second year. more ›

Legal aid societies that offer pro bono services to poor people with noncriminal cases such as foreclosure disputes and evictions have been battered by the recession, just as the need for their services is soaring. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts have cost legal aid groups around the nation dearly, because much of their funding comes from law firms that donate the interest from short-term deposits held in trust for clients during real estate deals. Cutbacks in staffing could soon reach 20% nationwide, while requests for legal aid have risen by at least 30%. And here in New York, Governor Paterson's proposed budget would cut the entire $8 million it gives to legal service groups. Steven Banks, chief attorney for New York City’s Legal Aid Society, tells the Times his staff is now forced to make wrenching decisions about which clients to help that remind him of choices made in "a MASH unit in a war zone." more ›

Court papers obtained by the NY Post reveal that two Brooklyn Legal Aid defense attorneys were involved in a physical altercation outside Boat Bar in Cobble Hill after one of them urinated on the floor inside the bar. The incident occurred earlier this summer after Legal Aids Brendan Relyea and Michael Pate went outside the bar after Relyea relieved himself on the floor rather than wait on a long bathroom line. When they were encouraged to leave by former prosecutor Matthew Knouff, their response was to punch Knouff out and fling him into a roll-down gate. Knouff is no stranger to drunken mischief himself, having been suspended since 2006 after he threw a brick through a car windshield following the DA's office Christmas party. Pate and Relyea were charged with assault, menacing and harassment and Relyea with public urination. more ›

When a colleague at the Legal Aid Society discovered that Peter Barta had been secretly recording his co-workers changing clothes with the use of a hidden camera placed in their offices, police were called to investigate. The cops eventually searched the 32-year-old lawyer's apartment and collected boxes of material they considered possible evidence. The New York Post ferreted out the contents of these boxes from what it describes as "wacky court documents." more ›

The Post got varying opinions from neighbors of Peter Barta, the Legal Aid lawyer accused of secretly videotaping his female colleagues. Barta was charged with four counts of unlawful surveillance and six counts of attempted unlawful surveillance after he allegedly planted a Sharper Image Security Camcorder Clock in his colleagues' offices to film them while they changed in their offices for the gym or court appearances. more ›

A Legal Aid Society lawyer was arrested yesterday for allegedly planting a clock with a hidden surveillance camera inside it in a female co-worker's office. WNBC reports that 32-year-old Peter Barta's distaff co-workers told police detectives that they regularly used their offices to change into work clothes (like a suit for court) or for after-work activities. Barta had videotape in his home of one of his workers with her breasts and buttocks bared. more ›

Yesterday's reports about the number of people arrested during the 50th annual Puerto Rican Day Parade were incorrect: While numbers like 80 and 173 were offered, today the NY Times reveals 208 people were arrested, due to police concerns about the Latin Kings. However, there's some question as to whether more people without gang connections were arrested during the sweep. more ›