It's hard to keep count of the lawsuits piling up against cheap chic retailer Forever 21. The cases numbered more than 20 in October, when menswear label Trovata joined Anna Sui, Harajuku Lovers – Gwen Stefani's line – and Diane von Furstenberg Studio in filing an intellectual property suit against the Downtown Los Angeles company. Forever 21, they claim, stole their prints, logos, patterns, favorite colors and lunch money to boot. OK, not the lunch money. Forever 21 then sells the knock-offs at prices so low, they befuddle even the most thrifty chain store shopper.

Some of the arguments are pretty convincing. The yellow, printed von Furstenberg smock dress, an item in question under the Manhattan-based clothier's lawsuit, looks identical to the one sold for less than a tenth of the price at Forever 21. Less convincing is that Anthropologie and Bebe, who themselves copy high-end designers as a matter of course, also have lawsuits pending against the chain. >>

Recently, "Weekend America's" Neille Ilel learned something disturbing about a regular at the dog park near her: he was on the state sex offender registry. Dog parks, especially in the sprawl of California, are one of the last places where people from very different backgrounds, who aren't connected in the usual ways -- work, kids, a love of organic vegetables -- actually hang out and talk. She brings us a story of community and fear.

When I walked into Rose and Gary Singletary’s house in the black, middle-class Gentilly section of New Orleans in February, I saw the shell of a building. The floors, the walls, and all the fixtures—toilets, sinks, doors—had been removed. Floodwater from Hurricane Katrina had reached higher than the Singletarys’ front door, and their home had to be stripped down to the frame to bleach out the mold. After months of on-again, off-again work, the house was finally ready to be rebuilt. >>

Forest Hills bankruptcy attorney Kevin Ribakove said it’s nearly the same story every time. “My clients are typically an individual or a couple who live month to month. Maybe they have $5,000 or $10,000 in savings,” he explained. “Over time they incur credit card debt, but they manage every month to pay off the minimum. >>

Dipika Palit said she liked “Dianetics” because the techniques in the book helped her to concentrate. “There are lots of things (in the book) that help you not to think so much,” she said, noting that thinking too much is a major cause of stress.

Palit discovered L. Ron Hubbard’s tract on living a healthy life—part self-help, part religion and very much controversial—in the last few weeks when followers set up a table offering free “Stress Tests” at the 74th Street/Roosevelt Avenue subway station in Jackson Heights. >>

Although Queens is hundreds of miles away from farmland or textile manufacturing, negotiations over a new trade agreement between the United States and Central America hits close to home among many of the borough’s immigrants. >>

"It almost fell on my daughter’s head," Jeanette Gotay said as she pointed to the water-damaged ceiling in the bathroom of her Corona apartment.

She and her two children live at 93-35 Lamont Avenue, which is owned by Nicholas Haros, the city’s sixth worst landlord, according to the Housing Here and Now Coalition. >>

As if Newtown Creek isn’t a far enough stretch for a pleasant taste of nature, city naturalist Erik Baard has chosen a narrow, and even more obscure, inlet of water north of the creek to try and restore.

"You’ve got to adopt the nastiest place," said the 37-year-old Flushing native, standing amid a pile of trash bags and a submerged barge. Indeed, this finger of water may well be the nastiest. >>