PLF petitions prompt major improvements to Endangered Species Act

On Monday, the Department of the Interior announced the most significant gain for property rights under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in decades.

Prompted by two PLF petitions, the feds reformed an ESA rule to adapt to the different needs of listed species and encourage landowner efforts to recover species.

As Jonathan Wood explains, the new rule aligns the incentives of landowners with the interests of species. This promises to significantly boost the rate at which we recover endangered species, because the primary challenge for recovering species is protecting and restoring habitat on private lands.

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The Detroit News: Wayne County steals $107,495.55 in foreclosure auction

The Prince of Motown himself, Marvin Gaye, sang that “Life’s a Game of Give and Take.” But for county treasuries across the state of Michigan, it’s more like a game of take, and take, and take some more.

Erica Perez learned this the hard way when Wayne County sold her modest apartment building and kept every cent of the $108,000 proceeds—all to collect $504.45 in back taxes, interest, penalties, and fees.

This home equity theft is not only permitted under Michigan tax law, it’s encouraged—for now. In his op-ed for The Detroit News, Dave Deerson tells us the Perez family is fighting back with the U.S. Constitution on their side.

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Freedom of speech means freedom not to speak, too

Our First Amendment right to speak freely without government interference or compulsion also includes the right not to speak for—or pay for the speech of—anything against one’s will.

Yet many states violate this right by requiring attorneys to maintain state bar association memberships and give money to the bar against their will, in order to practice law.

Tim Snowball has some encouraging news, however, about new lawsuits filed around the country by our friends at the Goldwater Institute and Louisiana’s Pelican Center for Justice. These cases challenge mandatory bar requirements as violating our fundamental free speech rights.

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