No Muslims In My Backyard?
Plus: Kamala Harris doubles down on rent control, Gavin Newsom issues a new executive order on housing, and the natural tendency to keep adding more regulation.
California
Prostitution Surveillance Tower Goes Up in San Diego
Warrantless surveillance, Comic Con "sex trafficking," and the persistence of trafficking myths
California Forever, Forever
The company needs a lot of government permission slips to build its planned new city in the Bay Area. It's now changing the order in which it asks for them.
The Government Is Choking Off Wineries
It seems anything the government touches dies—today, it’s thousands of acres of once-productive vineyards.
FTC Opens a Backdoor Route to Age Verification on Social Media
In a "novel" order concerning the app NGL, the agency takes aim at online anonymity and at minors on social media.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Crushed a Ballot Initiative That Could Have Limited Tax Increases
What happened to caring about the will of the people?
California's Minimum Wage Law Has Led Some Employers To Cut Hours and Hike Prices
"I've been in the business for 25 years...I never had to increase the amount of pricing that I did this past time in April," one business owner told the A.P.
California Democrats 'Water Down' Sex Trafficking Bill. Good.
The original version was overly punitive.
The Authoritarian Side of Effective Altruism Comes for AI
Proposed bills reveal the extreme measures E.A.’s AI doomsayers support.
Sacramento Cops Shared License Plate Data With Anti-Abortion States
And a grand jury says that's illegal.
California Lawmakers Kill World's Most Marginal Psychedelics Reform
The now-dead bill would have permitted three counties to establish pilot programs in which military veterans could take psilocybin under the supervision of medical professionals.
RealPage Conspiracy Theories
The media, state attorneys general, and the Biden administration are blaming rent-recommendation software for rising rents. Normal stories of supply and demand are the more reasonable explanation.
Reason Wins 7 Southern California Journalism Awards
First-place finishes include an investigative piece on egregious misconduct in federal prison, a documentary on homelessness, best magazine columnist, and more.
New York Cuts Real Rents at Rent-Stabilized Apartments
The city's Rent Guidelines Board approved a nominal 2.75 rent increase for one million rent-stabilized apartments. That's below the year's 3.3 percent inflation rate.
NIMBY Towns, Fake Parks, and Eminent Domain
Plus: unpermitted ADUs in San Jose, Sen. J.D. Vance's mass deportation plan for housing affordability, and the California Coastal Commission's anti-housing record.
Will This Bill Save or Scuttle California's Builder's Remedy?
Plus: Sen. John Fetterman introduces a new zoning reform bill, U.C. Berkeley finally beats the NIMBYs in court, and Austin's unwise "equity overlay."
California YouTuber Faces 10 Years for Having Too Much Fun With Fireworks
The feds charged Alex Choi with “causing the placement of explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft” after he shot fireworks out of a helicopter into an empty desert.
AI Could Become the Next Victim of the 'Sacramento Effect'
California's stringent AI regulations have the power to stifle innovation nationwide, impacting all of us.
Police Flew Drones Over One California City Nearly 20,000 Times in 6 Years
A WIRED investigation reveals the extent to which residents of Chula Vista are subjected to surveillance from the sky.
California Is Doubling Down on Banning Plastic Bags
They're coming for new bags after old bag-ban failed.
Mike Solana: Can San Francisco Be Saved?
Pirate Wires Editor in Chief Mike Solana discusses the lessons of San Francisco's politics, his vision for the future, and his critiques of libertarianism.
New York and New Jersey Want To Let Felons Serve on Juries. Here's Why.
Bans have resulted in what some have called the "whitewashing" of American juries.
California's Tortilla Bill Threatens To Flatten Small Businesses
Proposed legislation mandates folic acid in masa flour, sparking fears among traditional tortilla makers about costs and cultural impact.
California's Regulations Might Steer Self-Driving Innovations to Other States
Despite being the so-called epicenter of innovation, California certainly doesn't give innovators a lot of room to experiment with new ideas.
California's $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Law Is Already Having Disastrous Unintended Consequences
Many have seen their hours reduced—or have lost their jobs entirely.
California Man Gets $900,000 Settlement for 'Psychological Torture' During 17-Hour Police Interrogation
Detectives in Fontana, California, told Thomas Perez Jr. that his father was dead and that he killed him. Neither was true.
The Rise of the Bedroom Counters
Plus: The results of rent control are in, California's tiny home program gets minimal results, and yet another city eyes a crackdown on short-term rentals.
Gavin Newsom Is 'Pro-Choice' on Abortion and Nothing Else
A new California law amends the state's ban on out-of-state doctors practicing medicine to allow doctors from Arizona to perform abortions for patients who are also from Arizona.
California's Telemedicine Restrictions Are Forcing Rare Disease Patients To Travel Out of State for Care
A new lawsuit argues the state's requirement that doctors must be licensed in California to do remote consultations with patients there is unconstitutional.
San Diego Is Cracking Down on Groups Exercising Outside Without a Permit
A revision to the municipal code made it illegal for groups of four or more people to convene in public spaces for commercial recreational activities without a government stamp of approval.
The Real Reason for Self-Checkout Bans
It isn't about stopping crime—it's about protecting a favored constituency's jobs.
California Lawmakers Might Resurrect Failed 'Urban Renewal' Program
In practice, these programs have empowered local governments to use eminent domain to seize property to redistribute to developers.
Marine Cloud Brightening Geoengineering Experiment Halted
Why do environmentalist ideologues oppose research on a possible emergency backup system to cool the climate?
Zoning Regulations Empower Control Freaks—and Bigots
The Institute for Justice has launched a project to reform land use regulation.
California's Leaders Still Ignoring State Pension Debt
California has just 72 percent of the assets needed to make payments to retired public workers, many of whom get to collect six-figure annual payments.
Reason Is a Finalist for 14 Southern California Journalism Awards
Nominated stories include journalism on messy nutrition research, pickleball, government theft, homelessness, and more.
California Students Get $1 Million After They Were Expelled for Wearing Supposedly Racist Acne Masks
School officials falsely accused the boys of posing for a photo in blackface.
Does Uncle Sam Consider Your Backyard Restricted Airspace?
The areas where you need FAA approval to fly a model plane or drone are surprisingly large.
AI Regulators Are More Likely To Run Amok Than Is AI
Proposed AI legislation would enshrine tech-killing precautionary principle into law.
'Equity' Grading Is the Latest Educational Fad Destined To Fail
Why work extra hard when you won't be able to get an A? Why try to improve when you won't get worse than a C?
