A federal court has struck down an Illinois law that banned licensed medical marijuana businesses from making contributions to candidates PACs and other political committees. In a decision issued March 24, U.S. District Court Judge John Z. Lee ruled that the ban violated the businesses’ First Amendment rights. Judge Lee ruled that the state had provided no justification for banning contributions from the medical cannabis industry while not banning contributions from any other regulated industries. “By singling out medical cannabis organizations,” Judge Lee wrote, the state appeared to be...
Against Chicago’s Airbnb Ordinance
Airbnb has reported that about 4,800 Chicagoans are Airbnb hosts, and they earn an average of $5,300 per year renting out their homes through the service. As the Chicago Cubs fought for their first World Series win since 1908, Chicagoans who rented out their homes made at least $2.6 million on home-sharing rentals. Fans were happy. Homeowners were happy. Chicago, a city that could always use more economic activity, saw a boom in visitors flowing in to spend money in town. But it’s not just during a Cubs World Series run that Chicago benefits from home-sharing services like Airbnb. Airbnb has...