Articles

Unshackle Nebraska’s Healthcare : Repeal CON Laws to Expand Access and Lower Costs 

May 14, 2025 | By JIM MANLEY

Nebraska's healthcare industry is handcuffed by certificate of need (CON) laws, and state senators hold the key. CON laws limit healthcare access, prevent growth in the industry, and raise prices. To be competitive with neighboring states and allow Nebraska's healthcare industry to flourish, legislators must remove the shackles and pass Legislative ...

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Reparations Roundup : March-April 2025

May 08, 2025 | By ANDREW QUINIO

Lawmakers across the country are proposing reparations to black Americans for slavery and America's history of racial discrimination. Proposals have included direct cash payments, grants, formal apologies from the government, and government programs with race-based eligibility. Because certain reparations proposals would inevitably advantage and ...

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A fantastical Los Angeles distillery is challenging New York’s unconstitutional shipping laws

May 06, 2025 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

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 ...

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You can’t ‘cease and desist’ equality

April 22, 2025 | By ANDREW QUINIO

I recently received a startling email from an attorney, demanding that I "cease and desist" speaking out against reparations for black Americans. First, some background: For decades, Pacific Legal Foundation has been reporting and speaking out against government efforts to reward or disadvantage individuals based on their race. That includes rep ...

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Arizona city punishes charity workers for giving away free food

April 10, 2025 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

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 ...

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Ninth Circuit considers first grader’s free speech in ‘any life’ drawing case

April 10, 2025 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

Did a California school district violate the First Amendment when it punished a first grader for writing "Black Lives Mater sic ... any life" on a drawing and giving it to a friend? That question was before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in oral arguments this week. Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Caleb Trotter argued the case of B.B. v. C ...

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What was the impact of AB5 on California’s marginalized communities?

March 27, 2025 | By ALISON SOMIN

A few years ago, Jennifer Butler unexpectedly became a single mom to two young kids. At that time, she was working only a few hours a week while homeschooling them. But as an independent contractor, she was quickly able to pick up projects and cobble together meaningful work, following a schedule that suited her needs, so that she could continue ho ...

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Here’s the status of COVID-19 policies, 5 years later

March 18, 2025 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

The COVID-19 pandemic happened "gradually and then suddenly," to steal from Hemingway. In early 2020, the U.S. Commerce Secretary optimistically predicted that the coronavirus outbreak in China would "help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America." New York City's health commissioner encouraged New Yorkers "to go about their everyday lives ...

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TownHall : Erasing Medical Debt Won’t Fix the Problem — Competition Will

March 14, 2025 | By JOHN SWEENEY, JAIMIE CAVANAUGH

A new rule from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), slated to take effect in March, will remove health care debts from credit reports and bar lenders from considering medical debts in loan decisions. Meanwhile, state and local policymakers nationwide are pushing plans to forgive consumer medical debt. Such measures are intended ...