Local Government
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
The Government Shut Down His Dallas Small Business—for Someone Else's Crime
"Look at the corruption," says Dale Davenport. "Look how many city councilmen have gone to jail."
Massachusetts Town Votes To Boycott Any Business That 'Sustains Israel's Apartheid'
City officials should spend and invest public funds in the most prudent manner possible.
Baseball's Solution to the Dodgers Isn't a Salary Cap
Plus: Teams in city-owned stadiums keep ending up in court, and Israeli soccer fans get banned from a match in England
Oklahoma's Obscenity Bait and Switch Could Ban Pride Parades and Public Drag Shows
These lawmakers expect local authorities to ban "obscenity" before it happens—a recipe for chilling a wide variety of legal speech.
They Face $1 Million in Fines—for Someone Else's Code Violations
Humboldt County, California's sketchy code enforcement scheme piles ruinous fines on innocent people and sets them up to lose.
How Opioid Settlement Money Turned Into a $600K Party Fund
Cities and states promised to use opioid settlement money to fight addiction. Instead, they’re spending it on concerts, police cars, and political perks.
Zohranpocalypse?
Plus: The rise of Luddite clubs, Defense Department struggles to respond to questions on legality of boat strikes, and more...
Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Tennessee Man Over Facebook Meme
Larry Bushart was arrested on a $2 million bond for posting a meme on Facebook. He was released this week, after more than a month in jail.
The Left's Secret Repeal of No Taxes on Tips
Progressive cities are scrapping the tipped-wage credit, shifting workers from tax-free tips to taxable wages, and likely leading to lower take-home pay.
Michigan Mom Fights School District Rule That Says 7-Year-Old Can't Walk 3 Minutes Home From the Bus Stop
The superintendent blamed the “significant liability the district assumes whenever we are transporting students.”
New Jersey Town Tentatively Agrees to Not Seize 175-Year-Old Family Farm
After a nationwide uproar over Cranbury, New Jersey's plan to seize Andy Henry's farm, the township says it's found another site to place a planned affordable housing development.
Is Republican Nominee Curtis Sliwa a Spoiler in NYC?
Desperate New York influencers try to shame the longtime local activist out of the mayoral race, so that a disgraced former governor can again lose to Zohran Mamdani
Alabama Police Arrest 61-Year-Old Woman in Penis Costume at No Kings Protest
Police officers took Jeana Gamble to the ground on the side of the road because they found her costume "obscene."
Texas City Council Approves $500,000 Payment to Former Member Who Said Her Advocacy Led to a Bogus Arrest
The settlement, which followed Sylvia Gonzalez's victory at the Supreme Court, also includes remedial First Amendment training for city officials.
New York Doubles Down on Delivery Wage Disaster
After restaurant delivery drivers quit in droves and costs soared, the city is expanding minimum wage rules to grocery couriers.
This Indiana City Doesn't Have To Pay an Innocent Mom $16,000 After Police Wrecked Her Home, Court Rules
Law enforcement launched 30 tear gas canisters into Amy Hadley's home, smashed windows, ransacked furniture, destroyed security cameras, and more. The government gave her nothing.
Missouri Judge Backs City's Eminent Domain Redevelopment Plan
By calling the Manchester Road Corridor “blighted,” the city can now use eminent domain to clear the way for a $436 million project.
How Oregon's Drug Experiment Backfired
The lesson isn’t that decriminalization can’t work. It’s that Portland-style governance is broken.
Mamdani's Fare-Free Buses Wouldn't Be NYC's First Wasteful Public Transit Boondoggle
A previous pilot program found free access slowed down buses in New York City, which already has the slowest buses in the nation.
91-Year-Old Pennsylvania Woman With Dementia Loses $247,000 Home Over a $14,000 Tax Debt
Gloria Gaynor had almost finished paying off her house in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. But she will not see a dime in equity.
Some Red States Are Trying to Take Control of Their Blue Cities
Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. was just one example of Republicans curbing local autonomy under the banner of public safety.
