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Restrictive land use regulation has thwarted the upward mobility of many Americans, particularly Americans of color. Local restrictions imposed by affluent municipalities have limited access to safe neighborhoods, better housing, and good schools. Racism and economic self-interest have both played a role in exclusionary practices which have contributed to high housing costs that place a strain on the entire economy. Fair Housing Act litigation has been one weapon in the fight against these practices. Despite the Supreme Court's decision in Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., disparate impact litigation faces significant obstacles that limit its value as a tool to fight exclusionary zoning. First, because restrictive zoning ordinances have such widespread economic effect, it will generally be difficult to prove that their impact on members of protected classes is disparate. Second, municipalities are likely to have successful defenses against disparate impact claims arising from restrictive zoning--including the "business necessity" defense that zoning restrictions are necessary to minimize the tax burden on local residents. Third, litigation sets up an adversarial dynamic that leads municipalities to resist housing initiatives rather than embracing them. By contrast, incentives are better calculated to induce local cooperation in the development of fair housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development made some use of incentives during the Obama Administration, but those efforts were not ideally designed to promote buy-in by recalcitrant municipalities and were abandoned during the Trump Administration. States, however, are well positioned to use the real property tax system to create substantial incentives for municipalities to abandon exclusionary practices. Using tax incentives rather than mandates would enlist municipal self-interest as a weapon against exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Knick v. Township o f Scott, the United States Supreme Court held that a landowner who claimed to have suffered a taking at the hands of state or local officials could seek redress in federal court without the need to first seek compensation through state proceedings. This holding raises serious theoretical and practical concerns. On the theoretical side, Knick rests on the implicit assumption that states separate powers among branches of government in the same way the federal government does. It also relies on a second assumption: that relegating taking claims to state court makes them unique. Neither is true. Beyond the opinion's shaky theoretical foundation, Knick will require federal courts to determine precisely when an alleged "taking" is in fact complete and final--an issue they have heretofore been spared. Moreover, nothing in the Court's opinion limits its scope to regulatory takings. The opinion simply does not deal with the host of ways in which state and local government can interfere with private property rights. These include taking actions on adjacent property that have adverse impacts on a landowner's parcel (like sewage backups or Hooding) and explicitly exercising the eminent domain power. Unless the Court narrows its opinion, the Court's conceptual separation of takings from just compensation threatens to open the doors of federal courts to a variety of claims that the Court does not appear to have anticipated and that federal courts are ill-equipped to address--including but not limited to claims for valuation of property taken through exercise of the eminent domain power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although most land-use regulation in the United States remains local, the federal government has played an increasing role. Some federal intervention, particularly in the environmental area, has involved affirmative federal regulation superimposed on the local regulatory scheme. But other federal intervention operates differently by overriding local regulation to permit markets to operate. In addition to the Takings Clause, examples include the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the Telecommunications Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the First Amendment's adult-use jurisprudence. In each of these areas, local regulation survives only if it leaves intact a sufficiently thick market for the uses federal law seeks to protect. To mount a successful challenge, the landowner must demonstrate that the local regulation would leave consumers without adequate access to federally protected uses. In evaluating the adequacy of markets for federally protected uses, municipal boundaries are sometimes, but not always, critical. When the concern is assuring access to religious facilities or adult uses, a municipality should be able to justify a reasonable ordinance, despite its exclusionary effects, by demonstrating the availability of reasonable access in neighboring communities. But when access to municipal facilities--particularly schools--is at issue, municipal boundaries are critical, and access in neighboring communities is unlikely to prove adequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major goal of this paper is to make a direct comparison of the performance of the modified BS and RGW models. The testing procedure employed will enable a determination of not only if, but how often, RGW prices are significantly closer to actual market prices. Furthermore, a "dividend measure" will be employed to determine when the pseudo-American BS approximation is sufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on maintaining condominiums and homeowner associations in the U.S. It informs on existing lien priorities in the country; impact of the recent foreclosure crisis; and advantages of according lien priority to associations by legislatures. It also informs on the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 for addressing the same.

In Murr v. Wisconsin, the Supreme Court outlined a process for ascertaining the denominator in takings cases-an issue that arises both with respect to Penn Central takings claims and Lucas takings claims. The underpinnings of Penn Central claims and Lucas claims are not identical: Penn Central's primary concern is assuring fairness to landowners, while the focus of Lucas is on restricting government efforts to bypass the condemnation process. Although this difference in focus might suggest a difference in appropriate denominator, the Court's multi-factor balancing approach apparently applies to all takings claims. Although the Court's approach is consistent with Penn Central objectives, it is less consistent with Lucas objectives and reduces the likelihood that Lucas claims will be successful. At the same time, the Court's opinion, if taken literally, appears to break both with basic federalism principles and with the Court's own doctrine by rejecting state law as the source for the takings denominator. Closer analysis reveals, however, that the factors outlined by the Court remain closely tied to state law, resulting in less of a break with principle and precedent than suggested by Chief Justice Roberts's dissent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty years ago, John Langbein published "The Nonprobate Revolution and the Future of Succession." The article celebrated testators' newfound ability to avoid the expense and delay of the probate court system by holding assets in a variety of non-probate devices, such as retirement and bank accounts with beneficiary designations and revocable trusts. Langbein highlighted problems the revolution might generate and predicted how they might be resolved. Since then, significant problems have indeed developed. First, wills law doctrines designed to effectuate intent of testators have not been universally extended to non-probate transfers. Second, the fragmentation of the wealth transmission process has created coordination problems that did not exist when almost all of a decedent's assets passed through the decedent's probate estate. This has increased opportunities for attorney error. Even when attorneys get it right, rogue clients can easily undermine a carefully constructed estate plan, and the law does not always allow courts to correct these errors. Third, the non-probate system increases the potential for wrongful takers to dissipate assets before rightful beneficiaries have an opportunity to make claims to those assets. As we explain, neither lawyers, financial institutions nor the legal system have successfully resolved these issues. We advance several proposals that might ameliorate the costs of the non-probate system, such as conferring broader power on estate executors to coordinate non-probate assets, and a voluntary registration system that would reduce the risk of inadvertent conflicts among wealth transmission documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Americans currently hold more than $9 trillion in retirement savings accounts. Those accounts, together with the family home, are the principal source of wealth for most working and retired Americans. But when a retirement accountholder dies prior to exhausting retirement savings, what governs the distribution of the account? Most often, not the accountholder's will or trust, but a one-page fill-in-the-blanks beneficiary designation form that the accountholder filled out, typically without advice of counsel, when she or he opened the account. When accountholders fill out beneficiary designation forms, they are focused on starting a new job or beginning to save for retirement, not on estate planning. Yet the accountholder's beneficiary designations often trump express provisions in a will, trust instrument, prenuptial agreement, or divorce decree--documents prepared with inheritance in mind. Moreover, the accountholder may neglect to change the beneficiary designation to take account of changed life circumstances, causing his or her retirement assets to pass to a beneficiary he or she never would have chosen later in life. To make matters worse, although wills doctrine has developed a set of constructional rules to deal with changes of circumstance, those rules do not generally apply to beneficiary designation forms. The current legal framework often frustrates the intent of the accountholder. This problem, which has already spawned a significant volume of litigation, will become exponentially worse over the coming decade, as more holders of substantial accounts reach the end of their life expectancy. Reform is critical. The financial intermediaries who currently draft beneficiary designation forms have little incentive to improve them because accountholders and employers are unlikely to choose providers based on the quality of their forms. Federal and state legislation is necessary to ensure that these assets are distributed consistently with accountholders' intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses American land use regulations, Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs), and the potential use of taxation as a substitute for overregulation in the development process as of January 2013. Eminent domain power, U.S. environmental laws, and deceased American political economist Henry George are addressed. American common law is mentioned, as well as nuisance and zoning laws in the U.S. in relation to the nation's housing market.

In this article, the authors explored associations of multiple domains with regular drinking and getting drunk among adult African American men. Questionnaire-based, computer-assisted interviews were conducted with 484 men in Atlanta, Georgia. Data analysis involved multivariate logistic regression analyses. Findings show that being older increased the odds of both drinking behaviors. Sensation seeking increased the odds of regular drinking, and having experienced childhood sexual and physical abuse increased the odds of getting drunk. Having health insurance reduced the odds of both outcomes. Insurance coverage and the heterogeneity among adult African American men must be considered in risk reduction efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between one specific type of avoidant coping behavior-namely, having sex to cope with one's worries or problems-and the frequency with which 'at risk' women engage in risky sexual relations. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 221 African American women drug abusers in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. The community identification process was used for recruitment, with additional recruitment done via targeted sampling. A variety of demographic characteristics, background and experiences measures, childhood maltreatment experiences, substance use-related measures, psychosocial and attitudinal items, and relationship characteristics were examined for their influence both on the frequency of engaging in risky sex and the extent to which women had sex to cope. Multivariate analysis revealed that having sex to cope was a statistically-significant predictor of the frequency with which women engaged in risky sexual behaviors. A separate analysis of the predictors of having sex to cope yielded seven items that were important for understanding the extent to which women engaged in sexual coping: age, number of health information sources, amount of physical abuse, reasons for not using condoms, overall attitudes toward condom use, level of partner communication, and the amount of help available from one's support network. The intervention-related implications of these findings are discussed, emphasizing the needs: to target younger women, to target and help survivors of childhood maltreatment to deal with unresolved issues, to make attitudes toward using condoms more conducive, to improve partner communication, and to bolster support network relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses aspect of the zoning doctrine in land use cases in the U.S. It provides an overview of the distinctive structure of the nation's zoning doctrine. It examines the role of finality in legal decisionmaking and explains that traditional claim preclusion doctrine should have no place in zoning law. It also argues that the issue preclusion doctrine should and does operate to constrain zoning decisionmakers.

Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a culturally- and stage-of-disease-appropriate measure of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among a population of African-American individuals with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) using a mixed-method design. Design: Data were collected in two phases. In phase 1, qualitative data were used to refine an existing CAM measure for the specific study population in the present study. In phase 2, this refined instrument was implemented in a larger sample. The resulting numeric data were analyzed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the revised CAM instrument. Setting: Data were collected from patients who were receiving care from the infectious disease clinic of a large, public, urban hospital in the Southeastern United States. Subjects: Patients were eligible to participate if they (1) were receiving their care from the clinic, (2) had an AIDS diagnosis, (3) were identified as African-American, (4) were ≥21 years of age, (5) spoke English, and (6) were not cognitively impaired. Measures: Focus groups in phase 1 were conducted with a semistructured focus group guide. Participants also completed a basic sociodemographic survey. Phase 2 participants used programmed laptops to answer questions about their CAM use and several sociodemographic questions. Results: Information from the focus groups prompted some substantive revisions in the already-existing CAM survey. The revised instrument had satisfactory face validity and adequate test–retest reliability ( r = 0.79). Furthermore, the instrument factored in a manner that was interpretable and consistent with prior findings. Conclusions: In order for human immunodeficiency virus health care providers to provide the best care to their patients, they need to be informed about the types and frequency of CAM use among their patients. This can be accomplished by methodologically developing CAM instruments, rigorously implementing and assessing these instruments, and then disseminating the findings to researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the practice of foregoing necessary medical care in a population of young adult Ecstasy users. The objectives are to (1) investigate how the failure to receive needed medical care is related to drug-related outcomes, and (2) identify factors that are associated with receiving versus foregoing needed medical care. Face-to-face, computer-assisted, structured interviews were conducted with 283 active young adult Ecstasy users in Atlanta, Georgia between August 2002 and October 2007. Study participants were recruited using a targeted sampling approach. Results indicated that almost one-third of the young adult Ecstasy users interviewed did not receive the medical care that they needed during the preceding year. Foregoing such care was associated with a variety of adverse drug-related outcomes, including experiencing a greater number of negative effects from using Ecstasy, experiencing a larger number of drug dependency symptoms, a greater likelihood of ever having binged on Ecstasy, and a greater likelihood of being classified as a "high end" polydrug abuser. Several factors were found to be associated with a greater tendency not to receive the medical care they needed, including race (not being African American), educational attainment (having completed at least high school), self- identification as belonging to the lowest socioeconomic status grouping, low self-esteem, and having experienced sexual abuse during one's formative years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current emissions trading debates in the EU and the USA were examined and the prospects for creating a transatlantic carbon market were analysed. A future US Emissions Trading Scheme (US ETS) may be designed very differently from the EU ETS, raising questions of compatibility. Crucial differences relate to the stringency of targets, the recognition of offsets, and price control mechanisms. These differences flow directly from the different policy and economic perspectives on emissions trading and climate policy in the USA and the EU. The two sides should therefore seek a way forward that reconciles potentially different climate policies. For example, the USA and the EU should consider an effort to harmonize carbon prices, and US legislation could phase out cost-containment mechanisms after some time period. Finally, both US and EU policies should have mechanisms that allow periodic recalibration, which would allow each to adjust to new technology, react to developing-country climate policies, and learn from each other. In the longer term, this would allow both sides to strive for greater policy convergence, either through linked trading systems, harmonized prices, or a transition from harmonized prices to linkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: Background: Ecstasy use has increasingly become popular among young adults, many of whom view it as a safe drug with no or limited negative social and health consequences. In this paper, we explore the perceptions of ecstasy users about its recreational use as well as regarding the normalisation of use. Methods: The study participants were recruited using targeted and theoretical sampling. To be eligible, they had to be between 18 and 25 years and have used ecstasy at least four times within the past 90 days. In-depth interviews were conducted with 112 individuals. Data analysis included the constant comparison method commonly used in modified grounded theory. Results: The study participants associated their recreational ecstasy use with control, shaping both the timing and setting of their use. In addition, they supported that easy access/availability and social accommodations of use contributed to their acceptance of ecstasy use as a normal part of life. Moreover, low risk perceptions of the social and health consequences of ecstasy used were identified as resulting in normalisation. Conclusion: The study findings reveal the importance of considering recreational ecstasy use from the perspective of the users themselves for prevention efforts and when providing social and health services, including intervention strategies. In addition, the potential normalisation of ecstasy use must be considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Clarity can be a considerable virtue in property rights. But even when property rights are defined clearly in the abstract, ascertaining the scope of those rights in concrete situations often entails significant cost. In some instances, the cost of acquiring information about the scope of property rights will exceed the social value of that information. In those circumstances, further search for information about the scope of rights is inefficient: the social harm avoided by further search does not justify the costs of the search. Potential resource users, however, make decisions based on private costs and benefits, not social costs and benefits. Legal rules can create incentives to search for information even when the search would be inefficient In particular, "property rule" protection often gives leverage to right holders disproportionate to the harm those right holders would suffer from intrusion on their rights. That leverage, in turn, gives potential resource users private incentives to expend time and money on search even when search will generate minimal social benefit. "Liability rule" protection, by contrast, limits incentives to conduct inefficient search for the scope of property rights. Property, doctrine reflects this insight in a number of contexts. Thus, high search costs can explain the unwillingness of courts to award injunctive relief in cases of "innocent" boundary encroachments, as well as the Supreme Court's recent limitations on the routine award of injunctive relief in patent and copyright cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methamphetamine use and its social and health consequences pose a serious public health challenge in the United States and beyond. The focus of this article is on functional methamphetamine use from the insider's perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted in Atlanta, Georgia with 40 heavy methamphetamine users. Heavy use was defined as having used methamphetamine at least 10 times during the 30 days prior to the interview. For these respondents, functional use comprised using methamphetamine to improve an action or skill. Further exploration resulted in three recurrent categories of functional use. These include enhanced functioning, increased productivity, and the ability to function normally while using methamphetamine. It is argued that functional drug use may not be unique to methamphetamine. In addition, the findings show the importance of incorporating the complexities of functional use in future studies as well as risk reduction and treatment services targeting drug users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this paper are to describe ecstasy use patterns among young adult (18-25 years) users and to compare use patterns and self-reported effects according to the frequency (number of days used in the last 90 days) and intensity (typical number of pills taken per sitting) of ecstasy use. Computer-assisted structured interviews were conducted with 261 young adult active ecstasy users in Atlanta, Georgia. A typical dose of ecstasy intake was two pills, often followed by a booster dose. In addition, binging on ecstasy was reported. Ecstasy was mentioned as the primary drug of choice by one fifth of respondents. Poly-drug use dominated, and a substantial proportion of the respondents reported symptoms of ecstasy dependence. Differences in sociodemographic characteristics, poly-drug use, and reported effects of ecstasy use were found according to frequency and intensity of ecstasy use. Findings from this paper are important for the development of effective prevention efforts, including drug treatment and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines how various living conditions impact the context within which low-income African American women engage in a diverse range of high-risk behavior that increases their risk for HIV infection. Analysis of the living conditions of African American women at risk for HIV infection in a high-risk neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia; Use of a black feminist perspective to guide the study's analytical framework; Revelation that various types of living arrangements place women at risk in different ways; Suggestion that low-income African American women at high risk for HIV infection have unique "within group" needs that must be addressed in HIV prevention intervention research.

The article reports that the property protected by the Takings Clause is defined not by a single sovereign, but by the legislative enactments and judicial pronouncements of fifty separate states of the U.S. As a result, federalism concerns-underappreciated in the takings literature-do and should play an important role in shaping the Court's takings doctrine. In particular, these concerns make it inappropriate for the Court to use the Takings Clause as a vehicle for articulating a comprehensive theory of the limits on government power to regulate land. The Supreme Court cannot and does not provide the primary protection against overly burdensome land use regulations. Whenever the Supreme Court provides a federal constitutional standard against which state acts must be measured, it must inevitably leave application of that standard to other decision-makers. The sheer volume of enactments prevents the Court from taking the leading role in enforcing constitutional standards. As a result, state courts, lower federal courts, legislatures, and administrative agencies must play a role in fleshing out the Court's pronouncements. Takings cases, however, provide a challenge different in kind from those raised by other constitutional provisions. For example, the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause provide federal constitutional standards against which state and local enactments are to be measured.

Discusses the role of the U.S. Supreme Court under William Rehnquist in the establishment of the Takings Clause. Influence of nuisance law on land use regulation; Details of the book "Takings," by Richard Epstein; Significance of originalism in solving the reciprocity problem.

In the United States, much of the public views welfare recipients negatively, as unmotivated, as lazy, as chronic drug users, and as exploiters of the system. Yet, despite a large body of sociological literature regarding welfare recipients and their stigmatized social position, there exists a dearth of information from the individuals themselves, most notably from those engaged in drug use. That is, the voices of welfare recipients are largely absent from published sociological research. The link between drug use and public assistance is seen frequently as absolute, though the reasons for this relationship are chiefly unknown. In this paper we present a qualitative analysis that allows for new understandings of the welfare system and of the lives of the female drug users who are publicly seen as unworthy of assistance. Our in-depth interviews demonstrate that welfare dependency and drug use are symptoms of the women's societal position, largely resulting from barriers including a lack of education, few job skills, the absence of employment and affordable child care, and restricted geographic mobility. Furthermore, the respondents identify no correlation between their status as welfare recipients and their drug use. By focusing on poverty and drug use as social problems, we negate prevailing narratives while providing concrete suggestions for improving the lives of individuals in need, including those we interviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on an article about legislative entrenchment in the U.S. Legal aspects of entrenchment; Definition of entrenchment; Problems associated with entrenchment; Types of legislative entrenchment.

Evaluates the effectiveness of an HIV intervention for Afro-American women who use crack cocaine in Atlanta, Georgia. Need to develop HIV prevention, intervention and education that is gender-specific; Differences in sex-related and drug-related characteristics of participants; Changes in the drug and sexual behaviors after the intervention; Obstacles to behavior changes.

Explains how value-based performance measures may be used to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and profitability of hospitality establishments in the U.S. Examples of commonly used traditional financial measures; Findings from a survey of hotel managers that support the potential value of economic value added-type measures to hotel management; Suggestions for implementation.

Describes the Health Intervention Project (HIP), an intervention program for African American women cocaine users in Atlanta, Georgia. Incorporation of race, ethnicity and cultural factors in intervention programs; Details of the formative research phase of the HIP; Evaluation of intervention methods used in the program.

Describes community involvement in substance abuse and HIV research in the United States. Focus on the dynamics involved in assuming a close collaboration with communities; Importance of understanding the target population; Advantage and disadvantage of community involvement in research.

Focuses on the ways pregnant drug users are viewed and responded to by the legal and medical systems in the United States. Treatment for addict mothers; Criminal prosecutions and termination of parental rights in Georgia; Prosecution and legal and medical ethics; Experiences of female drug users.

Reports the results of a study exploring friendship relations of homeless, male drug users in an urban setting. Twenty-seven in-depth interviews were conducted among men who were part of a larger study of 253 drug using males in Atlanta, GA. Methods; General sample characteristics; Drug use and friendships; Concluding remarks.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate potential predictors of drug risk among a community-based sample of individuals who are exposed to illicit drugs. The four domains of interest are individual socio-demographic and social-psychological attributes, current situational circumstances and family-of-origin characteristics. Interviews were conducted with 242 individuals who were recruited in Atlanta, Georgia. Initial descriptive analyses were followed by multivariate analyses. The final model predicted 60% of the variance in drug risk. Current situational circumstances were statistically significant regarding drug risk. Family-of-origin characteristics also were significant, even when entered into the predictive model after current situational circumstances. In addition to individual social-psychological characteristics such as depression and self-esteem, the impact of childhood emotional abuse is noted. The findings indicate a need for considering proximal as well as more distal influences on drug risk behavior when designing drug use prevention and intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]