Articles

The Obscure isn't your ordinary distillery. Found in the heart of the Los Angeles Arts District, most people passing by the black, unmarked building have no clue that just on the other side of the windowless door, a gothic, fantastical realm awaits. The Obscure's tasting room feels more like the set of a theatrical production. Candlelight illumi ...

Johnston is a small Rhode Island town where Ralph Santoro's family has long worked. Ralph was not one of the lucky few who inherited generational wealth, but he did inherit his father's priceless, working-class wisdom. His father had immigrated from Italy after marrying his mother—a true first-generation American. Ralph's mother had been brought to ...

Our communities are the building blocks of society. Whether neighbors, churches, family, or the family we create from our friends, our communities shape who we are. They also serve as core support systems. It is through these connections that we know what it means to be human. For 25-year-old Austin Davis, his love for his community is the drivi ...

New affordable housing is impossible without affordable timber. With housing costs increasing, now would be the time to encourage growth in the American lumber industry, especially in areas that are rich in timber. The Tongass National Forest can help provide the lumber we need to provide affordable housing to more people … if only the federal g ...

It's stating the obvious to point out that the world has changed drastically since the post-WWI era. Yet, the government is still clinging to an outdated law from 1920 that is doing far more harm than it ever did good. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, or the Jones Act as it is more widely known, was adopted during a time when the United States g ...

Workplace discrimination doesn't, well … discriminate; it can happen to anyone regardless of race, gender, or religion. Yet, while it can, and certainly does, happen to anyone, the burden of proof an employee must provide to the courts is not the same for every person. Under the "background circumstances" rule, "majority-group" employees, like whit ...

Jason Murchison has been drawn to the ocean his whole life. Surfing is his passion, and for him, there is nothing like the adrenaline rush of a good barrel wave. He also loves that surfing doesn't have to be competitive; it can be just about the synergy of him and the ocean. It's good for the soul. Born and bred in Southern California, Jason beg ...

There are countless stories of governments tramping on individual rights, causing extreme financial burdens along with mental and emotional stress. For PLF client Tom Hamann, the violation of his property rights and the subsequent economic losses and stress were accompanied by physical injuries that have forever altered his life. On top of fighting ...

In one of the first legislative exactions opinions issued since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division just struck down a provision of New York City's rezoning plan that would have imposed "Arts Fund" fees on certain landowners. New York's SoHo and NoHo districts have long be ...