A federal district court judge has issued a preliminary injunction against Colorado Springs’ new panhandling ordinance. The rules were set to go into effect tomorrow. The city passed the ordinance in late November on a vote of 8-1, prompting a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU.

In a statement, ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein said they were “delighted” with the injunction, and are “relieved the Court agreed that the First Amendment does not allow Colorado Springs to outlaw our clients’ peaceful, non-threatening communications.”

A statement from the city says the Court recognized the reasons behind the ordinance as being in the public interest. City Attorney Chris Melcher says they’ll review the written ruling when it’s issued, but that they still believe the ordinance is constitutional.

 

Leave a Reply

News

AFP/Getty Images
May 19, 2013 | NPR · White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Republicans are trying to make political hay with the scandals.
 

May 19, 2013 | NPR · Police shot Andrea Rebello, 21, while they were trying to free her from a man holding her hostage.
 

AFP/Getty Images
May 19, 2013 | NPR · The storied midfielder walked off the pitch as fans — and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy — chanted his name.
 

Arts & Life

iStockphoto.com
May 19, 2013 | NPR · NPR’s Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read Ten Ring Fingers by Tamara Breuer of Washington, D.C., and Ghost Words by Matheus Macedo of Winthrop, Mass.
 

May 19, 2013 | NPR · Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a 16th-century artist who liked to play with his food, transforming it into the building blocks of many of his fantastical portraits. Artist Philip Haas has taken those portraits out of museums, reinterpreting them as colossal statues that interact with the natural environment.
 

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics
May 19, 2013 | NPR · We’ve already met Jesse and Celine, twice. In the 1995 film Before Sunset, they had a romantic encounter in Vienna. Nine years later, they found each other in Paris. In this third film, their relationship has progressed another nine years. The romance hasn’t left, says director Richard Linklater, it’s simply changed.
 

Music

Courtesy of the artist
May 19, 2013 | NPR · Less than two years ago, Laura Mvula was a receptionist honing her phone answering skills at music organization in Birmingham, England. Now, she’s got a record deal, a lot of critical acclaim, and she’s touring around the U.S.
 

Courtesy of the artist
May 19, 2013 | NPR · Toliver’s music is anchored by the violin, on which he is classically trained. He says he discovered the instrument in fifth grade — and that in a way, it chose him.
 

Getty Images
May 18, 2013 | NPR · In the 1980s, he was Robi Rosa, the lead singer of Menudo at the boy band’s peak of popularity. Rosa went on to write hits for bandmate Ricky Martin and develop a solo career. When Rosa was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, some of the biggest names in Latin music assembled to support him.
 

Get the KRCC iPhone App

The Writer's Almanac

Radiolab