Editors note: Since this article was written, Minnesota Governor Pawlenty has announced there will be no special secession of the legislature this year and, in an unprecedented move, he states he will use the line item veto and his power to unallot to carry out massive budget cuts.

Chicago, IL – Residents of the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side are fighting to hold on to our neighborhood. We are threatened by gentrification, which is happening in many poor areas of the city. What does this mean? It means that 61st Street, which used to have a thriving business strip, would have condos instead.

Chicago, IL – Among the 700,000 people who took to the streets here for the May Day immigrants’ rights protest were anti-gentrification activists from the city’s South Side. Members of the Student/Tenant Organizing Project (STOP) carried signs saying, “Black and brown united!”

_In Minneapolis... _

Minneapolis, MN - More than 100 people rallied to demand affordable housing on the Basilica steps, June 24. Many carried signs reading, “Replace-ment, Before Demolition,” and “Forget the Stadium, Housing Now!” Police were on hand to guard city officials.

Minneapolis, MN – “You got bailed out, we got sold out! Stop foreclosures now!” was the rallying call during a protest here June 13 as a crowd of 75 people surged to the doors of a US Bank branch on Lake Street. Minneapolis police officers blocked the doors of the bank building, calling in more squad cars, which arrived with sirens blaring.

Minneapolis, MN – In a packed Hennepin County Court room, May 26, District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman decided to delay the foreclosure-related eviction trial of Rosemary Williams until June 22. A hearing on the legal issues to be considered at the trial is scheduled for June 16.

Minneapolis, MN – “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out! Stop foreclosures now!” was the chant on a spirited picked line here, April 28 at the Hennepin County Government Center. Rosemary Williams, who faces eviction from her foreclosed home, along with leaders of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign announced some important developments in her legal case.

Demonstrators say, “Moratorium now on foreclosures and evictions!”

Minneapolis, MN – About 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Minneapolis Convention Center to protest a massive auction of foreclosed homes, March 28. The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 40 protesters gathered here March 14 at the foreclosed home of Rosemary Williams, to demand that Williams be allowed to stay in her home and an end to foreclosures.

Chicago, IL – Across the country the rich are grabbing up land, pushing poor people and people of color to the suburbs and on to the streets. In Chicago this has meant the demolition of whole communities, the tearing down of public housing, violations of renters’ rights, condo conversions and working-class displacement.