Local Government
A $33 Burger? As New York City Eyes $30 Minimum Wage, Restaurants Brace for Impact
The proposal would eliminate the tipped-wage credit and send labor costs skyrocketing in an industry notorious for its tight margins.
Can Zohran Mamdani Make NYC Affordable?
Zephyr Teachout and John Ketcham debate the mayor of the Big Apple.
ICE Is on a $45 Billion Building Spree. Can Small Towns Support These New Migrant Warehouses?
The government is selling the policy with the same arguments you’d expect for subsidized factories or sports stadiums.
62-Year-Old Protester Acquitted on All Charges for Wearing Penis Costume
The judge felt there was probable cause for an arrest but he declined to go so far as to convict.
State vs. Local, State vs. State
A popular revolt against state-led zoning reform in Colorado, Massachusetts' contradictory approach to housing supply, and how municipalities lobby to kill housing.
Chicago Progressives Voted To Freeze Minimum Wage Hikes for Restaurant Workers. Why Won't the Mayor Listen?
While eliminating the tipped wage may sound like a win on paper for waiters, the results have been disconcerting.
Seattle's Minimum Wage Laws Backfired on Uber and Lyft. Now the Union Wants To Limit Drivers.
As demand for trips has plummeted in the wake of the wage hikes, the Drivers Union is trying to limit the number of gig workers on the road.
NYC Transit Just Got Rid of MetroCards for Fares. The Successor Could Put Your Privacy at Risk.
Unlike the MetroCard, the OMNY system requires train and bus riders in New York City to give their name and phone number to the government.
Mamdani's 'Rental Ripoff' Hearings Won't Fix New York Housing
Demonizing landlords might make for good social media, but it does nothing to reduce the regulations that make New York housing so expensive.
Zohran Mamdani's $70 Million Grocery Gamble
Amid a $5.4 billion budget deficit, the mayor of New York City is pushing forward with a proposal that has historically yielded terrible results.
It Looks Like the End of the Road for Rideshare Alternative Empower in D.C.
The company may soon shutter its operations in the District of Columbia, following recent decisions by the D.C. Superior Court and Court of Appeals.
Virginia Democrats' Push for Mandatory Government Unions Is Not an 'Affordability' Agenda
The legislation would almost certainly lead to a higher cost of living in the form of substantial tax increases.
In Mamdani's War on Delivery Apps, New Yorkers Are the Collateral Damage
New York City's own past policies are to blame for much of the gig economy drama, which Mayor Mamdani will further exacerbate.
States and Local Governments Are Still Sitting on Billions of Dollars of 'Emergency' COVID Relief
The Biden administration said the $350 billion bailout was urgent and necessary. Five years later, that doesn't seem true.
Blame Overregulation for High Child Care Costs
Politicians like New York’s Mayor Mamdani promise to solve a problem that they created.
Can Congress Get 'YIMBY Grants' Right?
Plus: The House passes housing reform, Florida advances ADUs, and Zohran Mamdani hosts show trials for bad landlords.
Do Republicans Want To Control Elections?
Plus: assessing Trump’s first year, the dysfunction of Washington, D.C., and the politics of the Super Bowl. (Recorded live in Washington, D.C.)
A City Fined Her Over $100,000 for Parking on Her Own Grass. The Florida Supreme Court Won't Hear Her Case.
Sandy Martinez's little-known story is a microcosm of the broader debate over what, exactly, transgresses the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on excessive fines.
The Real Reason You Pay for NFL Stadiums
Economist J.C. Bradbury breaks down why taxpayer-funded stadiums are a bad idea, how team owners market them to politicians, and why another stadium building boom may be coming.
What Mamdani Gets Wrong About the NYC Nurses Strike: State Regulations, Not Greed, Are the Problem
Zohran Mamdani had a chance to pursue health care reform in the New York State Assembly. He didn’t take it.
Why Can't New York Get Rid of 2-Person Subway Crews?
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill mandating two-person subway crews, but union contracts and bipartisan support ensure New Yorkers will keep paying for them anyway.
Culture War Politics Have Been Costly for This California Town
Huntington Beach's elected officials are pursuing performative MAGA policymaking and keep losing in the courts.
A Socialist Swearing In
Plus: the limits of Zohran Mamdani's ability to ruin New York, Trump's National Guard withdrawal, and a deadly New Year's blaze in Switzerland
NYC Schools Are Losing Students and Burning Cash. Mamdani Could Make the Situation Worse.
New York schools need more choice and better curricula, but the city's new mayor wants to take choices away.
Zohran Mamdani Can't Ruin New York City
Mayors come and go, but New York City remains fundamentally itself.
Is Zohran Mamdani Coming Around to Housing Deregulation?
New York's new mayor has moved away from some of his far-left beliefs, acknowledging that private businesses play an important role in homebuilding.
Mamdani's $6 Billion Child Care Expansion Would Be a Handout to Wealthy New Yorkers
The more the government intervenes in the market, the more New York parents pay for child care.
Good News for D.C.'s Gun Owners
Plus: Homeownership myths and realities, discrimination at the theater, career diplomats brought home, and more...
Mamdani Needs a Maximalist Vision of Mayoral Power To Achieve His Goals. Lina Khan Has a Plan.
As one of Mamdani's top advisers, Khan has been making a list of all the "authorities that the mayor can unilaterally deploy."
Zohran's Inner Circle: Meet the Radicals on Mamdani's Transition Team
The new mayor's advisers include people who have praised antisemites and called for defunding the police.
Seattle's Delivery Minimum Wage Failed Drivers and Raised Costs
Increased hourly rates corresponded with lower tips and fewer orders to share between drivers, leaving gig workers no better off than they were before the law passed.
Trump Blames Illegal Immigrants for High Housing Prices. Blame Zoning Instead.
Low-skilled immigrants would expand the supply of housing more than they increase demand, if local governments would just allow new construction.
Localism and the Limits of Regulating What We Love
When the perceived emotional harm from new development becomes a justification for state intervention, the law gets really arbitrary really quickly.
Muriel Bowser Was a Flawed Mayor. We'll Miss Her When She's Gone.
Bowser's apathetic pragmatism sustained D.C.'s turnaround success while keeping a hard-left approach to city government at bay.
How Lina Khan Is Busy Striving To Maximize Mamdani's Power
Using the mighty power of government to…make stadium hot dogs cheaper? It's one of many ways Khan's petty populism could be coming to New York City.
The New Luddites Want To Pump the Brakes on Driverless Cars
To fully realize human flourishing, America must embrace the future—not fear it.
Libertarians Quietly Notch Local Wins in Michigan and Pennsylvania
Nonpartisan ballots and small electorates create openings where party identity fades and community ties decide outcomes.
NYC Proposes a Pantry To Give Away Free Pet Food. That Won't Solve the City's Animal Shelter Crisis.
The surge in shelter surrenders is driven by housing instability, soaring vet costs, and a post-pandemic pet boom, not the cost of kibble.
Wyoming Woman Sues Her Town To Let Her Keep Her Pet Pygmy Goat
Venus Bontadelli thought she'd left the nanny state behind when she fled California. But her new home of Powell, Wyoming, wasn't as free as she'd hoped
