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Utah Business

A Utah community has rallied around former high school football coach Erik Thompson.

Thompson was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in 2021. He now uses a wheelchair and can no longer move his right arm. His ability to speak, swallow and breathe are also fading away.

Thompson and his family are the recent recipients of a new South Weber home built by Nilson Homes, in partnership with The Have a Heart Foundation, the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors and the Northern Wasatch Homebuilders Association.

The home serves as a love letter to Thompson from his community.

A year after the Grants Pass ruling, advocates remain divided on homelessness solutions

Lauren Irwin writes:

Robert, 42, pointed to rabbits running in the grass but paid no mind to the tourists whizzing by on electric scooters. Just minutes before, he was standing on the concrete barrier in Georgetown, one of the nicest areas in Washington, D.C.

He’s shirtless, tanned and holding a cardboard sign. He accepted a water bottle from a car before another laid on its horn — all while Washington experiences its worst heat wave in years. He accepted a Gatorade – and another for his girlfriend – as we spoke on a park bench nearby.

After being in-and-out of the “revolving door” prison system in Georgia for much of his life, he left town. Robert came to Washington, a place he said changed his life, despite living on the street for some time — and because he “wanted to talk to presidents.”

Robert’s story is similar to more than 500,000 others who are unsheltered or in emergency shelters across the country. They not only face the elements, but a divide among advocates about what should be done to help them.

Read more about why the Grants Pass homeless Supreme Court ruling is still hotly debated and how it impacts people like Robert.

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