<p>Portland's plan for ending homelessness by 2015 has caught the attention of several Canadian municipalities, which are looking to apply the Portland model to their own cities.</p>
<p>Mark Ames, author of "Going Postal", wonders if American gun tragedies like last week's massacre at Northern Illinois University might be at least partially explained by the bleak physical built environments of middle America.</p>
<p>Because many of the homes purchased by real estate speculators over the past few years of the housing bubble were rented out, tenants are now finding themselves subject to eviction as the property owners go into default.</p>
<p>The Onion reports on the miraculous transformation of a run-down neighborhood in Detroit, thanks to the installation of a towel-sized, $150.00 plot of grass.</p>
<p>Critics have been swift to point out that the federal government's proposed (and voluntary) "Project Lifeline" does little more than set a "pause button" on at-risk mortgages. What's needed are "Neighborhood Stabilization" plans.</p>
