Find Community Education Resources with Lone Star Legal Aid

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA), a nonprofit law firm that advocates on behalf of low-income and underserved populations here in the Greater Houston area, has recently added a library of videos to its website to educate the community about some common civil legal issues. The videos were prepared by LSLA staffers and provide tips and answers to frequently asked questions encountered by the organization in its interactions with its client community. With the world still in the grips of the current health crisis, many videos are COVID-related and provide tips in such areas as consumer law, employment law, family law (available in Spanish, too), the pandemic’s impact on veterans and other public benefits, safety planning, economic stimulus and tax information, and SNAP benefits. To assist veterans with questions that may be specific to their situation, the Military & Veterans Unit (MVU) of LSLA has created videos to answer questions relating to VA service-connected disability claims, preventing identity theft, solutions for identity theft, and military discharge upgrades. The MVU has also produced videos that provide all Texans, regardless of military status, with helpful information about the divorce process in Texas as well as expunctions and nondisclosures.

In addition to these community education resources, LSLA assists with a wide array of legal matters, including:

  • postconviction reentry issues;

  • fraud or deceptive trade practice, unlawful repossessions, and bankruptcy;

  • work place safety issues and employment discrimination;

  • divorce and child custody;

  • Medicaid and Medicare and county indigent health care;

  • evictions and foreclosures; and

  • delinquency and neglect issues.

In addition to the services listed above, LSLA has other programs and initiatives that are of help to the community. LSLA’s Crime Victim Unit provides assistance to individuals who have been victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and elder abuse. The goal of its Equitable Development Initiative is to promote revitalization in low-income neighborhoods through community advocacy, environmental justice, and fair housing. LSLA also has a Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic that represents individuals involved in disputes with the IRS. You can find a list of all of LSLA’s services here.

National Senior Citizens Day

Today is National Senior Citizens Day. First proclaimed a holiday in 1988, National Senior Citizens Day seeks to recognize the achievements and contributions of the older members of our country and to demonstrate our gratitude for all they have done, not just for our country, but for our local communities and families. Here, at the Harris County Law Library, we thought we’d celebrate the day by compiling a list of resources that can help seniors with their legal needs and can point them to some community partners that might be able to assist them with any additional needs, such as meal programs and other social services.

Legal Information & Resources

Elder Law Handbook - Prepared by the Houston Bar Association

Seniors & the Law: A Guide for Maturing Texans - Prepared by the Texas Young Lawyers Association

Senior Citizen Rights : Nursing Homes and More - Available on TexasLawHelp.org

Old Age Benefits - Toolkits and related articles available on TexasLawHelp.org

Retirement & Pensions - Related articles available on TexasLawHelp.org

Facts for Consumers: Long-Term Health Care: Is Private Insurance Right for You? - Available on TexasLawHelp.org

Wills & Estate Planning - Toolkits and related articles available on TexasLawHelp.org

Senior Scams - Attorney General of Texas

Legal Aid and Hotlines

Legal Hotline for Texans (age 60 or older) - A project from the Texas Legal Services Center

Lone Star Legal Aid (Houston)

Advocate Legal Senior Center (Houston)

Community Resources

Harris County Protective Services for Children and Adults - Services for seniors and disabled adults, including guardianship programs and the Senior Justice Assessment Center.

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services - Report abuse, neglect or exploitation.

Harris County Community Services Department - Information on transit services, social services, and more.

Harris County Area Agency on Aging - Provides federally-funded social services for the elderly, including benefits counseling and meal programs.

Texas Health and Human Services - Provides a variety of services for eligible older Texans, such as long-term care options and caregiver services.

Interfaith Ministries - Provides home-delivered meals to homebound seniors through its Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston and Galveston County program.

What's That in the Sky?

Image by CoolCatGameStudio from Pixabay 

Image by CoolCatGameStudio from Pixabay

Maybe Fox Mulder, the indefatigable FBI special agent, assigned to the X-Files, who sought answers to the unexplained week after week, did have it right. Maybe the truth is out there. The Pentagon is looking to find out whether that is indeed the case. The Department of Defense and the Pentagon have recently announced the formation of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force (UAPTF). According to a press release issued on August 14, the mission of the UAPTF, which will be led by the Department of the Navy and its Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for intelligence and Security, is “to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. National Security.” The creation of the task force was the result of concerns triggered by the appearance of unauthorized aircraft in military airspace and near military installations and from encounters reported by Navy personnel. (Back in April, the Pentagon released three formerly classified videos documenting these encounters.) Additionally, the Senate Intelligence Committee had requested an analysis of all data relating to UAPs that would be made available to the public. These moves are sure to elicit responses of “I knew it!” from fervent believers in the existence of extraterrestrials and UFOs. However, many seem to believe that the UAPs at issue are intelligence-gathering drones, a more likely explanation that still merits investigation. Eventually, though, the truth will out, but until then, there may be many out there like Fox Mulder wanting to believe.

A New Entry Cast into the Vote-By-Mail Fray

Image by conolan from Pixabay

Image by conolan from Pixabay

With Election Day a mere three months away, the process by which Americans will be casting votes still remains a bit unsettled, here in Texas and elsewhere, too. The last volley in the litigation fight over the right to submit ballots by mail because of the pandemic was the United States Supreme Court’s denial to vacate the stay that was entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit back in June. However, Justice Sotomayor did express some hope that the issues could be resolved by the time of the November election.

Hope may spring eternal, but so far, the voting rules here in Texas are the same as they were before the pandemic arrived in our state. Those wishing to vote by mail must be 65 years of age or older, be disabled as defined by Tex. Elec. Code Sec. 82.002, be away from the county on Election Day and during the period allowed for early voting, or confined in jail, if otherwise eligible. Voters who do not meet one of these requirements must cast their vote in person at one of the designated polling locations on Election Day or during the early voting period. In an effort to reach more voters over the age of 65, the Texas Democratic Party launched a mail-in ballot initiative, targeting the five largest counties in the state, including Harris County. So far, a total of 1.75 million mail-in ballot applications have been sent to eligible Texas voters. For the primary run-off election in July, the Harris County Clerk sent nearly 400,000 vote-by-mail applications to seniors. All indications are that the county clerk will do the same for the general election.

Even though mail-in ballots seem like a godsend in this era of the coronavirus, it is not without its difficulties. The most glaring one seems to be a lack of confidence in the United States Postal Service. The country has seen long delays in mail delivery, and those problems might worsen in the coming months with the implementation of new postal service regulations and funding cuts. Of course, the current delays are merely stoking the fears of those who are eligible to submit mail-in ballots and raising concerns that their ballots will not arrive in time to be counted.

To get around the postal woes, some states are investigating the use of ballot drop boxes. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a ballot drop box is “a secure and convenient means for voters to return their mail ballots.” Boxes can be staffed or unstaffed. Drop boxes were used for primary elections in Michigan, Hawaii, Montana, Wisconsin, Washington, and Connecticut, to name a few. These, too, were not without their controversies, though. These difficulties range from battles over where to place the boxes to fears that the boxes will invite voter coercion or pressure. President Trump and the Republican National Committee, among others, have filed a lawsuit alleging that the State of Pennsylvania violated the election law and increased the risk of fraud due to the use of these drop boxes. It seems now that the new legal battleground in the vote-by-mail saga is the use of these ballot drop boxes. So far, Texas has yet to throw its gauntlet down in this conflict.