State and Local Government

Georgia Town Enters Fight Against Sagging Pants

One of the continuing stupid issues I monitor here is the War on Sagging that still rages across this land. It seems like only yesterday, but was in fact two years ago, that a Florida judge struck down an anti-low-pants…



UPDATE: Threatened “Lemonade Uprising” Underwhelms

August 26 was the day of the most recent Last Thursday festival in Portland, an informal gathering that attracts about 15,000 people a month. Tensions were expected to be high, or at least higher than usual, because of the incident…


Nevada Legislator Proposes Bill on How to Pronounce “Nevada”

The Nevada legislature has started planning for its next legislative session, scheduled to begin in February 2010.  Currently, legislators are submitting "bill draft requests" for bills that they plan to introduce in the new session, and the one attracting the…


City Council in Illinois May Ban Eye-Rolling

Sources reported recently that the city council of Elmhurst, Ill., had asked its attorney to research various definitions of “disorderly conduct,” in the course of considering possible changes to rules of decorum in city council meetings. The move was prompted…


County Apologizes for Shutting Down Unlicensed Lemonade Stand

In the future, county health department workers should use "professional discretion" when enforcing permit requirements, said Jeff Cogan, county chairman in Multnomah County, Oregon.  He was responding to criticism over the department's decision last week to crack down on Julie…



Louisiana May Criminalize Embarrassing Emails

The Louisiana legislature, always on the lookout for important problems to solve, appears likely to pass a bill that would make it a criminal offense to send an electronic message with the intent to "harass" or "embarrass" any person under…


Stop the Sag, Says State Senator

On Sunday, New York state senator Eric Adams announced the start of the latest campaign to raise the pants of America's youth.  Adams described the "Stop the Sag!" campaign as a major effort to fight what he called the "insidious…


John O’Hara Still Deserves a Pardon

A reminder that John O'Hara deserves a pardon for the felony voting charges that resulted from the bogus prosecution I wrote about here.  He is hoping to get New York Gov. David Paterson to act on his pardon request before Paterson leaves…