Article: States debate use of eminent domain; Supreme Court's ruling have made legislators rethink government's property-taking powers

LONG BRANCH, N.J. (AP) - The city wants Anna DeFaria's home, and if she doesn't sell willingly, officials are going to take it from the 80-year-old retired preschool teacher.

In place of her "tiny slip of a bungalow" - and two dozen other weathered, working-class beachfront homes - city officials want private developers to build upscale townhouses.

Is this the work of a cruel government? Or the best hope for resurrecting a town that finally is showing signs of reviving after decades of hard times?

Echoes of the debate are happening across the country, after a U.S. Supreme Court decision brought new attention to governments' ability to seize property through the tool of eminent domain. Some ...

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