Lake Elmo farmer plants lawsuit vs. the city

Mike Hughlett in Star Tribune on May 18, 2010

A longtime Lake Elmo farmer sued the city on Tuesday over an ordinance that restricts local farmers from selling products grown beyond city limits…

Toronto man builds park stairs for $550, irking city after $65,000 estimate

Josh K. Elliott in CTV News on July 19, 2017

A Toronto man who spent $550 building a set of stairs in his community park says he has no regrets, despite the city’s insistence that he should have waited for a $65,000 city project to handle the problem. The city is now threatening to tear down the stairs because they were not built to regulation standards…

Reining In Wisconsin’s Regulatory State

Eric Bott in Forbes on July 31, 2017

Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin are once again showing conservative reformers nationwide how to get the job done. This month, lawmakers sent Walker the first state version of the REINS Act to be passed by a legislature, and Walker, who has championed the reform, is expected to sign the bill soon…

SEC hasn’t quashed blockchain innovation. Let’s keep it that way

Peter Van Valkenburgh in American Banker on August 1, 2017

In a recent report, the Securities and Exchange Commission stated unequivocally that blockchain-powered digital tokens can be securities. This finding could have serious consequences for the future of blockchain technology…

Sununu: Over 1,600 State Regulations Are ‘Unnecessary’ – Need To Go

Paige Sutherland in New Hampshire Public Radio on July 20, 2017

In one of his first acts after being inaugurated in January, Governor Chris Sununu asked department heads to compile a list of state regulations that could be stricken from the books.

That review has now resulted in more than 1,600 regulations that Sununu said need to go…

Sally Yates’s Legacy of Injustice at the Department of Justice

Howard Root in The Wall Street Journal on February 16, 2017

I quit. Friday I walk away from the company I started 20 years ago and grew into 650 U.S. employees and $1 billion in sales of over 100 new medical devices. I didn’t quit because I’m old—I’m 56—or want to play golf. The reason I sold my company and ended a career I loved is to avoid the risk of being criminally prosecuted under the federal government’s “responsible corporate officer” doctrine for the second time…

Stossel: Departments Grow and Cherries Rot

ReasonTV on July 25, 2017

John Stossel investigates what government agencies actually do and finds out that your tax money goes to ridiculous things…

Hey bloggers! Philly wants you to buy a license

Julianne Pepitone in CNN Money on August 24, 2010

Philadelphia bloggers were abuzz this week about a citywide move to crack down on citizens running a business without a license — which includes any local bloggers running ads on their sites…

Texas Computer Repair

Institute for Justice Case

Texas now demands that every computer repair technician in the entire state acquire a private investigator’s license to repair a computer. To get that license, you are required to have a degree in criminal justice or perform a three-year apprenticeship under a licensed private investigator. If you perform certain repairs without a private investigator’s license, or if you have your computer repaired by someone without a license, you can be punished by a $4,000 fine and one year in jail as well as a $10,000 civil penalty…

Trump’s Labor Secretary Targets Occupational Licensing For Reform

Ted Goodman in The Daily Caller on July 21, 2017

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta took on occupational licensing reform Friday, calling for the elimination of unnecessary licenses and the streamlining of those that make sense…