Al4 The Salt Lake Tribune NATION Friday, May 14, 1999 Midler, Groups Team UptoSave N.Y. Gardens THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Trust for Public Land stepped in. greens and corn. NEW YORK — Singer Bette Midler teamed with conservancy groups Wednesdayto keep the city from auctioning off 115 city-owned ration Project in 1994. “We're thrilled. This is a joyous oceasion and means that these gar- cided that he wants the property back on the tax rolls and that the city from trash-strewn eyesoresinto lush gardens. prouderthan everto be a NewYorka0 said in a statement. vent the auction, testifying at hearings and subjecting themselves to arrest at protests. One man dressed lots that residents had transformed Midler contributed $250,000 of her own moneyandgot othersto put up $4 million moretobuyall the gar- dens, said Roberta Greene, a spokes- woman for the New York Restoration Project. The lots had been slated for sale Thursday, before Midler, the New York Restoration Project and the States’ Rights MakeGains In Top Court But Mayor Rudolph Giuliani de- Midler started the New York Resto- shouldn't own so muchland. The gardenersfirst tried to pre- denswill stay in perpetuity,” Midler The community “Today, gardens I'm like a sunflower,climbeda tree out- began springing up in NewYork about 25 years ago, when residents tired of the trash-strewn lots and illegal dumping grounds scattered around the city. They cleared out broken bottles and rusted-out cars, replacing them with pansies, petunias, collard side City Hall and demanded a meeting with the mayor. Deputy Mayor Randy Levine called the sale a “win-win for every- body. This is right in the area where we expectedto beif this went to pub- lie auction.” SuzannePlunkett/The Associated Press Matthew Power dressed up as a sunflower May 5 to add some punchto a protest against New York City's planto sell 115 neighborhood gardens. The city reached an agreementthis weektosell the lots to conservation groupsfor about $4 million. é be shedinaed : : | HOME FURNISHI Ni4 _ KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON — In the un- peaqueapeerserees ceasing constitutional conflict between the U.S, government and the 50 states, the news from the nation’s courthouses is that the states are on the offensive and gaining ground. The trend seems clear enough alreadyto characterize the 1990s at the SupremeCourt as the decade of a resurgenceof state au- thority and a consequent corralling of national power. In aseries of decisions, nearly all by one-vote margins,five con servative justices — all appointees of Republican presidents — have signaled a sharp retreat ~S2e oor from the high court's longtime willingness to endorse the expansive power of Congress to regulate a vast arrayof activities. That retreat appears far from The SupremeCourtjustices | nowpreparing opinions in a that appearslikely to further expandstates’ rights. They als to rule in threeother di ting federal authority against state sovereignty. All the while, more federalstate controversies arrive at the court regularly, each petition im or 4 5 ante onal ang ploring the high court to inter: vene Thestates. armedwith the ammunition furnished by the Su preme Court precedents, are in federal courts challenging national power in many areas — includ- ing employment, the environment, crime, bankruptcy, patents AT OUR GIGANTIC INTERMOUNTAIN DISTRIBUTION CENTER! and copyrights — and making significant inroad: “Whether states are being more aggressive or the federal govern- mentis being moreoverreaching is hardtosay,” said Jeffre ton, a Columbus, Ohio whorepresents states in several SupremeCourt ¢ases challenging the enforcement of federal laws. “The great danger,” Sutton is to allowthefederal government to exercise power un. checked, rather than to resolve problems locally, where people know what is going on and are morelikely to influence power than in Washington, D.C. So the states are flexing their muscles and protecting their jurisdic tion Just last month, at oral argu ments in a seemingly mundane case from Maine, thefive court conservatives appeared ready to rein in the national government once again — this timeby ruling that state and focal governments canignorea federal law requiring that employees bepaid minimum wagescales and time-and-a-half for overtime work At their private conferences this month, the justices were scheduledto decide whether to in, tervene in four other federal state disputes The case most likely to be ac cepted for Supreme Court review asks whetherthestates must obey the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994. With numerous ex ceptions, the act prohibits the dis closure without consent of per sonal information that the nation’s motorists provide to ob tain state driver licenses Congress enacted the law after hearing evid¢nce that stalkers robbers and dssailants used state motor-vehicld records to FINANCING AVAILABLE © ky EXIT 1-80 AT 5600 475 BEDROOMSETS 4100 Dininc Room TABLES WITH CHAIRS 4600 Livinc Room DENTS! - DISCONTINUED! © ONES-OF-A KIND! UNCLAIMED SPECIAL ORDERS! © OVER STOCKS! »CRATCH & gon EL. oly. 4 ENTERTAINMENT CENTERS 4 Mattresses 4 Opp Beps 3 ALt BUNKBEDS SLIGHTLY SCRATCHED 4 Customer RETURNS 4 SLIGHT MANUFACTURER find INTERMOUNTAIN DISTRIBUTION CENTER individuals and com pilers of databases producereve Supreme Court, lawyers for [Ili nois State University se k a ruling that would bar enforcement of suits that railroads are filing against themtoavoidstatetaxes The 1990s trend toward limit ing federal power beganin 1992. when the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had improperly re quiredstates to control lower-lev el radioactive waste or lo assume ownership of the waste, Thefed eral government 't command statelegislators andstateofficials to carry out federal policy, the 7 TRAILER. AT THESE NOT AVAILABLE. 4 OCCASIONAL TABLES 4) GRANDFATHER CLOCKS federal law ag an unconstitutional invasionof its turf. In yet another petition to the & R PIECES nuesfor the states. 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