A White Employee Is Suing the City of Seattle for Alleged Racial Discrimination
"If I disagreed or offered another opinion, I was told I had cognitive dissonance," Josh Diemert says.
Local Government
Zoning Crackdown Puts Animal Rescue Operation at Risk of Closing
Fairytale Farm Animal Sanctuary's work caring for abandoned and disabled animals is imperiled by a demand from the Winston-Salem city government that the nonprofit stop hosting on-site fundraisers and volunteer events.
The Fight Over the Debt Ceiling Is Just Beginning
Legislators will increasingly argue over how to spend a diminishing discretionary budget while overall spending simultaneously explodes.
An Iowa Town Charged a Man With Disorderly Conduct Because He Called a Cop a 'Domestic Abuser'
Now a judge has cleared him of wrongdoing and struck down the rule used to justify the arrest.
Police Harassed a Man Holding a 'God Bless the Homeless Vets' Sign. He's Suing.
"My intention is to ensure that all Americans from the wealthiest millionaire to the poorest homeless person can exercise these rights without fear of consequence from our government," said Jeff Gray.
Atlanta Charges Nonviolent Protesters as Domestic Terrorists
Out of 19 suspects arrested on terrorism charges, at least nine are accused of nothing more serious than trespassing.
A Wisconsin Town Targeted a Couple's Political Yard Sign. Now, They're Suing.
"Everybody should have an expectation that they can put a sign in their yard and speak on a certain topic," a lawyer for the couple said.
A Louisiana Town Repeatedly Arrested a Man for His 'FUCK JOE BIDEN' Flags. Now, He's Suing.
"The Town has routinely detained, cited, and forced Mr. Brunet to go to trial to vindicate his constitutional rights, taking the extraordinary step of adopting a boldly unconstitutional local Ordinance to silence him," the complaint reads.
They Fell Behind on Their Property Taxes. So the Government Sold Their Homes—and Kept the Profits.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler's case challenging home equity theft.
Redding, California, Uses Public Health Red Tape to Ban Sharing Food with Homeless
Is it good public health policy to deny charity to people experiencing homelessness?
Zoning Police Continue To Find New Ways To Punish the Poor
Multiple factors contribute to housing shortages, but zoning constraints are mostly to blame.
One Foot off the Grid, Where We Don't Have To Deal With the City Water Department
Living without government services isn't necessarily cheaper or easier, but it sure beats putting up with municipal bureaucracies.
Sex Offender Registry Prevents Dying, Bedridden Man From Spending Final Days at Home
"My opinion is no exceptions should be made," says the chief of the police.
Ron DeSantis Admin Says in New Lawsuit That the Free Market Won't Produce Affordable Housing
Florida's Department of Economic Opportunity is suing the city of Gainesville to block its legalization of small "missing middle" apartment buildings in single-family neighborhoods.
Is Florida Giving Up Its Fight Against 'Woke' Disney?
Lawmakers are reportedly planning to undo legislation that would have revoked Disney's special tax and governance status.
Review: Try and Fail To Build a Virtual City in Sim Nimby
Eventually the player realizes nothing is getting built and quits.
Kenosha Legalizes Backyard Chickens—With Plenty of Red Tape
Backyard chickens are slowly making headway, but not without tradeoffs.
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.