Kenosha Legalizes Backyard Chickens—With Plenty of Red Tape
Backyard chickens are slowly making headway, but not without tradeoffs.
Local Government
A Michigan Mayor Tried To Stop Constituents From Criticizing Her. Now, They're Suing.
Monique Owens shouted over critical speakers at a September city council meeting, claiming it was her "First Amendment right."
Federal Court Upholds Cruel, Unconstitutional St. Louis Ban on Sharing Food with Homeless
The ordinance governing how food can be shared is designed to make it next to impossible to share food.
What Is a Family? Ask a Zoning Official.
Big cities like New York, Baltimore, and others use strict definitions of family to restrict housing.
L.A.'s Leaked City Council Tape Reminds Us Why 'Smoke-Filled Rooms' Are Bad
A lack of transparency doesn't make politicians better people.
San Francisco Police Can Now Have Live Access to Nearly Any Camera in the City
A new ordinance passed by the city's Board of Supervisors allows police to request live access to private security cameras even for misdemeanor violations.
This Tennessee Town Claims Restricting Protests Helps 'Facilitate' the First Amendment
A new ordinance in Franklin will restrict evening and weekend protests and subject violators to misdemeanor charges.
Denver Police Hurt 6 Bystanders in a Shooting. So the City Cracked Down on Food Trucks.
The police admitted wrongdoing, but Denver moved forward with a plan to reduce crowds and crimes downtown—by targeting food trucks that did nothing wrong.
Local Law Prevented an Alabama Town From Firing Two Cops. So They Dissolved the Police Department Instead.
When one police officer's racist text messages surfaced online earlier this month, local officials found that city law prevented the outright firing of the officers involved.
Renegade District Attorneys Who Defy State Mandates Are Often Freedom's Last Line of Defense
Perhaps, as we relearn the virtues of local decision-making, we'll also reacquire a taste for individualism.
A New Jersey Town Wants To Charge This Woman $5,000 To Sell Cookies
Somerville still has costly regulations on the books even though New Jersey has legalized the sale of home-baked items.
Blame Congress for Pandemic Fraud
The inconvenient truth behind all the COVID-19 relief fraud and waste is that these government programs never should have been designed as they were.
Government Employees Got $872 Million in Bonuses Out of COVID Aid Cash
The federal bailout of state and local governments padded the paychecks of many public employees.
The Death of Walt Disney's Private Dream City?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to end a wildly successful half-century experiment in municipal governance.
This Michigan Town Repealed a Ban on Fortunetellers, but Might Break State Law if It Tries To Regulate Them
Petoskey's draft ordinance would require both "legitimate" fortunetellers and people pretending to tell fortunes to be licensed, calling into question the sense of licensing at all.
The State Took Her Home Because She Missed $900 in Property Taxes
Tawanda Hall's house was worth $286,000 more than her overdue tax bill. There was nothing she could do about it.
No, Florida Republicans Do Not Care About Crony Capitalism
The state has 1,288 independent special districts. But we aren't hearing significant GOP complaints about anyone's but Disney's.
City Council Furious at Cop Who Played Disney Songs To Keep from Being Recorded
There is some confusion over what the response should be, but there is broad agreement that the officer acted inappropriately.
Town Official Lies, Files Lawsuit When Someone Calls Him a Liar
A town attorney threatened a local activist with a frivolous lawsuit so she would stop criticizing him. She complied, and he sued her anyway.
Georgia Cops Crack Down on Vape Shops for Selling Legal Products
In Georgia, the difference between delta-8 and delta-9 THC is the difference between legal and illegal, but police are threatening store owners over both.
Spring Break in Miami Brings a 'State of Emergency'
Curfews and alcohol rollbacks meant to mitigate danger actually hurt local businesses.
This Libertarian Won His Local Election, but the Politicians He'd Audit Refuse To Seat Him
A Pennsylvania township's board of supervisors is refusing to seat elected auditors.
If Government Is Good at One Thing, It's Making a Crisis Worse
The same institution that's unable to run the Postal Service or Amtrak orchestrated our invasion and withdrawal of Afghanistan.
State Governments Didn't Need Coronavirus Bailouts. They Got Billions of Dollars Anyway.
As it turns out, state and local tax revenues hardly collapsed.
A Town in New Jersey Tried To Seize This Property To Block a Housing Development, Which Has Still Not Been Built
If politicians want lower housing prices, they need to let people build more housing.
When Eminent Domain Is Used for Economic Assassination
Government officials who wield land grabs to pick economic winners and losers now want to use them to kill disfavored businesses.
If You Want To Fix the Country, Devolve Power
Revived federalism is a start, but it doesn’t go far enough.
A California Man Died After Cops Knelt on His Neck During a Mental Health Call. Then the Department Tried To Hide It.
Angelo Quinto's family has filed a wrongful death claim.
Tech Companies Could Form Their Own Governments Under a New Nevada Proposal
Plus: Replacing cops with health care workers saves lives, tech policy advice for President Biden, and more...
To Avoid More Political Violence, Allow Americans To Escape Each Other's Control
Let people join with the like-minded to reject officials and laws that don’t suit them and to construct systems that do.
The Atlanta Sex Toy Magnate Who Can't Stop Picking Fights
Michael Morrison used to be a boxer. Now he brawls with zoning boards and tax collectors.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Is Suing Atlanta's Mayor Over the City's Mask Mandate. Good.
Mask mandates are dangerous and unjust, regardless of which level of government imposes them.
Do COVID-19 Complications With Marriage Licenses Show It's Time To Get the Government Out of Marriage?
Post-pandemic deregulation will be more complicated than it looks.
Be Warned, Coronavirus Snitches: You Too May Be Snitched On
St. Louis tattlers discover their complaints about open businesses are public records.
A Woman Set Up a Little Free Pantry Without a Permit. The County Threatened Criminal Charges.
A civil rights lawsuit alleges that the government violated Kathy Hay's constitutional rights when it shuttered her free pantry.
California's Fees on New Development Are 3 Times the National Average. New State Legislation Would Cap Them.
California lawmakers have introduced legislation to cap impact fees, change the way they are assessed, and give developers more tools to claw back unjustified charges.
Judge Rules Businesswoman Must Remove Dresses From Her Home
Fairfax County, Virginia, allows home businesses but prohibits them from keeping inventory on site.
SimCity Created a Generation of Urban Planners
Three decades later, is it time for the city simulation game to get political?
A Tennessee County Destroyed Hundreds of Records Requested by a Local Newspaper
The Hamilton County Attorney's Office later admitted that its policies conflict with the state's public records law.
City Says Man's Giant, Semi-Ironic 'Trump 2020' Sign Is a Code Violation
A massive 15 foot tall Trump/Pence yard sign has unfortunately turned political.
Virginia Bill Would End Single-Family-Only Zoning in the Old Dominion
The legislation would allow duplexes on any residential plot in the state.
A Tennessee Police Department's Last Officer Resigns Over Ticket Quotas
Ridgetop no longer has any police officers after recordings captured city officials demanding that the department write 210 citations a month.
A Florida Retiree's Uncut Lawn May Cost Him His House
Jim Ficken was fined $29,000 for violations of his town's tall grass ordinance.
Judge to Charlottesville: You Can Put a Statue Up, but You Can't Take It Down
A judge has ruled that the town's Confederate monuments must stay.
Is Your Hometown Balancing Its Budget by Fining Everybody It Can? Here's How To Find Out.
Governing puts together a database of cities and towns addicted to money from fines and forfeitures.
