New Hampshire Town Makes Much Ado About Muffin Mural
Leavitt’s Country Bakery has been a staple of Conway, New Hampshire, for over 45 years, serving up award-winning pastries and donuts to both locals and the visitors who flock to the region for its beautiful mountain peaks. To brighten up the drab exterior, owner Sean Young asked a local high school art class to design and paint a mural over the shop's door. But just a few days after the painting was unveiled, the local code enforcer showed up to tell Sean the painting was illegal. Now the bakery is embroiled in a First Amendment fight, forced to choose between self-censorship or ruinous fines.
Victory: IJ Serves Wisconsin a Second Helping of Cottage Foods
Victory is sweet, perhaps even sweeter than homemade fudge—which, thanks to a recent IJ win, is now lawful to sell in Wisconsin (as are any other shelf-stable foods).
Customer, Small Business Owner Sue USDA and FDA Over Policy That Outlaws Truthfully Labeling Food as Easy to Digest
The First Amendment does not allow the government to decide which facts consumers are allowed to know. Yet the federal government is preventing tens of millions of Americans with sensitive stomachs from receiving the information that they desperately need to alleviate their symptoms.
IJ Puts an End to Warrantless Inspections and Crushing Fines in Zion, Illinois
How would you feel if government officials could search your home without permission? Renters in Zion, Illinois, teamed up with IJ to challenge a warrantless inspection regime—and won.
IJ’s YouTube Channel is in second place for a Webby award in the category of Video – Public Service & Activism. Voting closes tomorrow and we still need your help to win! As a Webby Nominee, our channel has been singled out as one of the five best in the world is this category, meaning it’s among the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered. Vote for IJ here.
An IJ Client's Incredible Journey
This weekend, the Idaho Statesman published a profile of former IJ client Sonia Ekemon. Sonia learned to braid hair in a refugee camp in Benin before moving to Idaho. Unable to afford the training for a cosmetology license that taught nothing about braiding, she struggled to make ends meet before teaming up with IJ and other Idaho braiders to challenge the senseless requirement—and won. Read her incredible story of perseverance here.
IJ Podcasts
Short Circuit: Take It
We explain what the Eighth Circuit has to say not just about just compensation but where a property owner goes to get it. Then we discuss another Eighth Circuit tale of a speedy trial that was not so speedy.
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