Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comORLANDO, Florida, April 23 (Reuters) - Marvia Robinson was dead tired from a week of overnight long-haul trips when she nosed her Greyhound bus into the station in deep predawn darkness. Still, the 63-year-old driver kept a friendly lilt in her voice as she said goodbye to the riders filing past her and stepping off the bus.“Rough night,” she said minutes later, walking toward her Toyota Corolla in the parking lot. “I had to put two off in Tallahassee, for drinking, and then another one in Ocala.” She longed to go home to sleep.But she...…Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comORLANDO, Florida, April 23 (Reuters) - Marvia Robinson was dead tired from a week of overnight long-haul trips when she nosed her Greyhound bus into the station in deep predawn darkness. Still, the 63-year-old driver kept a friendly lilt in her voice as she said goodbye to the riders filing past her and stepping off the bus.“Rough night,” she said minutes later, walking toward her Toyota Corolla in the parking lot. “I had to put two off in Tallahassee, for drinking, and then another one in Ocala.” She longed to go home to sleep.But she...WW…

By (Reuters) - As freezing temperatures settled over Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 28, Judge Jack Grate opened his online courtroom. The first of 100 cases on his docket was that of Tonya Raynor, a 64-year-old who owed $2,790 in back rent and fees on an apartment on the city’s east side, a swath of vacant storefronts and boarded-up properties.“Miss Raynor, are you there?” asked Grate, a burly 71-year-old sporting a beard, a buzz cut and a rumpled, orange short-sleeve shirt.A booming voice responded: “This is not justice. This is violence.” Soon a chorus joined in: “Judge Grate, you are...…By (Reuters) - As freezing temperatures settled over Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 28, Judge Jack Grate opened his online courtroom. The first of 100 cases on his docket was that of Tonya Raynor, a 64-year-old who owed $2,790 in back rent and fees on an apartment on the city’s east side, a swath of vacant storefronts and boarded-up properties.“Miss Raynor, are you there?” asked Grate, a burly 71-year-old sporting a beard, a buzz cut and a rumpled, orange short-sleeve shirt.A booming voice responded: “This is not justice. This is violence.” Soon a chorus joined in: “Judge Grate, you are...WW…

By NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clarence Hamer doesn’t expect to hang on to his house much longer.His downstairs tenant owes him nearly $50,000 in back rent on the four-bedroom duplex he owns in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Without those rental payments, Hamer has been unable to pay the thousands he owes in heat, hot water and property taxes. In September, after exhausting his life savings, he stopped paying the mortgage, too.“I don’t have any corporate backing or any other type of insurance,” said Hamer, a 46-year-old landlord who works for the city of New York. “All I have is my home, and it seems...…By NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clarence Hamer doesn’t expect to hang on to his house much longer.His downstairs tenant owes him nearly $50,000 in back rent on the four-bedroom duplex he owns in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Without those rental payments, Hamer has been unable to pay the thousands he owes in heat, hot water and property taxes. In September, after exhausting his life savings, he stopped paying the mortgage, too.“I don’t have any corporate backing or any other type of insurance,” said Hamer, a 46-year-old landlord who works for the city of New York. “All I have is my home, and it seems...WW…

By (Reuters) - When the temperature dipped near freezing in Columbus, Ohio in mid-October, the children had no heat. The gas had been shut off in their apartment for nonpayment. DaMir Coleman, 8, and his brother, KyMir, 4, warmed themselves in front of the electric oven.The power, too, was set to be disconnected. Soon there might be no oven, no lights and no internet for online schooling. The boys’ mother, Shanell McGee, already had her cell phone switched off and feared she could soon face eviction from their $840-a-month apartment. The rundown unit consumes nearly half her wages from her...…By (Reuters) - When the temperature dipped near freezing in Columbus, Ohio in mid-October, the children had no heat. The gas had been shut off in their apartment for nonpayment. DaMir Coleman, 8, and his brother, KyMir, 4, warmed themselves in front of the electric oven.The power, too, was set to be disconnected. Soon there might be no oven, no lights and no internet for online schooling. The boys’ mother, Shanell McGee, already had her cell phone switched off and feared she could soon face eviction from their $840-a-month apartment. The rundown unit consumes nearly half her wages from her...WW…

By , , NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - In the dreary archives of a Newark, New Jersey, courthouse, Ronald Motley found a treasure map.It was an evidence log, a detailed inventory of documents and other exhibits that had been used in an injured worker’s lawsuit. And it was freely available to anyone who bothered to look for it – for this was long ago in 1978, before the routine use of protective orders, sealed documents and other tools of concealment wrapped U.S. courts in lethal secrecy.Motley, a lanky, deep-drawling South Carolina lawyer, had been representing sick workers in lawsuits...…By , , NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - In the dreary archives of a Newark, New Jersey, courthouse, Ronald Motley found a treasure map.It was an evidence log, a detailed inventory of documents and other exhibits that had been used in an injured worker’s lawsuit. And it was freely available to anyone who bothered to look for it – for this was long ago in 1978, before the routine use of protective orders, sealed documents and other tools of concealment wrapped U.S. courts in lethal secrecy.Motley, a lanky, deep-drawling South Carolina lawyer, had been representing sick workers in lawsuits...WW…