Mass. Strip Club Dances Around Town Zoning Restrictions

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Nude dancing is a form of constitutionally protected expression, but just barely. The U.S. Supreme Court has described it as only within the outer ambit of the First Amendments shield. Courts have upheld a slew of restrictions on strip clubs based on their possible secondary effects on a surrounding community, like blight, decreasing property values and increase in crime (especially prostitution).

But sometimes the strip clubs win. The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday handed a rare victory to an adult entertainment company seeking to build a8,935-square-foot Adirondack style club in Mendon, Mass., a town of about6,000 people located about an hour southwest of Boston.

The Mendon Board of Selectman granted Showtime Entertainment LLC a license to build the strip club in 2010, on the condition that it abide by 18 pages of regulations and several newly amended zoning bylaws. Showtime could only build on four parcels in the town specifically carved out for adult entertainment. The company would have to confine the club to 2,000square feet; make it no taller than 14 feet; and open the clubs doors no earlier than 4:30 p.m. on school days. The town also banned alcohol in the club.

The justification for the rules: maintaining the rural aesthetics of Mendon as asmall town and avoiding traffic congestion.

Showtime sued, alleging that the zoning restrictions violated the First Amendment. A federal district judge sided with the town, ruling in 2012 that the regulations were narrowly tailored to serve the towns substantial government interest.

Showtime appealed, placing the case before the Boston-based First Circuit. The appeals court suggested that the towns justifications for the restrictions were pretense.

We see no cognizable difference in aesthetic impact between a large building hosting adult-entertainment activities and a large building hosting a bridge club or a bible study, Judge Juan Torruella wrote in theunanimous First Circuit decision.

The First Circuit also found insufficient evidence that the proposed club would impact traffic.

We believe that the record makes clear thatthese interests, although theoretically substantial in their ownright, are not what prompted Mendons amendments to the bylaws, JudgeTorruella wrote.

The ruling means that Showtime cant be held to the bylaws.

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Mass. Strip Club Dances Around Town Zoning Restrictions

Attorney discusses first amendment rights in wake of alleged Gull Lake threat

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RICHLAND, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - The former Gull Lake High School student, who reportedly posted a song with potentially threatening lyrics to YouTube will not face charges.

On Thursday, Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas said they won't be seeking charges against the teen.

He adds that no crime had been committed that they could determine.

Newschannel 3 sat down with an attorney to find out just how far your First Amendment rights will carry you.

Tuesday, Gull Lake Community Schools sent out a robo-call to parents, alerting them to a possible threat.

In that call, the Superintendent said a former student wrote a song that contained lyrics describing violence against the district.

That song was posted to YouTube, but has since been removed.

"In this case, if it didn't even get past step one, that tells me the Sheriff doesn't think it was a legitimate threat, and that might be because of who it's coming from, the circumstances that was made, and you know, when they look at...what the individual's actually capable of, they realize it was a totally empty threat," said attorney Don Smith, with Willis Law.

But how far is too far? And at what point is someone no longer protected under the First Amendment?

The Sheriff's Department will not say what those lryics were, but Smith says for authorities to pursue the case, it would have to be a specific threat that causes an imminent risk to people.

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Attorney discusses first amendment rights in wake of alleged Gull Lake threat

Dominic Frisby: Bitcoin Is One of the Most Important Developments Since the Internet – Video

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Dominic Frisby: Bitcoin Is One of the Most Important Developments Since the Internet
Oct 6 Dominic Frisby discusses his new book, Bitcoin: The Future of Money? and the revolutionary technology that drives bitcoin, blockchain technology. Thi...

By: Financial Sense

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Dominic Frisby: Bitcoin Is One of the Most Important Developments Since the Internet - Video

The Kabalyero Show [E1] Strife Brawl Tournament, SotA & Bitcoin, Daily Shoutouts And More – Video

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The Kabalyero Show [E1] Strife Brawl Tournament, SotA Bitcoin, Daily Shoutouts And More
Strife Brawl Tournament, Shroud of the Avatar and Bitcoin, Daily Shoutouts and more. Hi guys, my name is Kabalyero and thank you for watching The Kabalyero Show. The show where I share to...

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The Kabalyero Show [E1] Strife Brawl Tournament, SotA & Bitcoin, Daily Shoutouts And More - Video

Bitcoin's 'BearWhale' shakes things up

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Even without the big sell limit, bitcoin's value has seen a steady degradation since early July when its price topped $630. Various explanations have been offered for the move, but one of the most common has been that the increased merchant adoption of the currency has put downward pressure on it.

The theory holds that merchantswho almost always accept bitcoins as payment for products and services and then immediately exchange them back into local currenciesare creating an excess of sellers in the marketplace, thereby adding to the fall in exchange value.

"More merchants want to take advantage of the purchasing power of the community, and the more merchants accept, the more bitcoins will be for sale," Euro Pacific Capital's Peter Schiff told CNBC in September. "(The market is) not going to be able to come up with enough new buyers."

Read MoreApple Pay won't bite into bitcoin: Winklevoss

This point of view has been expressed by Citi and other observers.

But Gallippiwhose BitPay system enables businesses to accept bitcoins and then instantly exchange them for local currencydisputed this theory. While it is true that these transactions are bringing more sellers to the market, he said, most people are only using bitcoins for goods and services when they see the price spiking.

So in effect, the increased adoption of bitcoin by merchants is putting a ceiling on the price, but not applying general downward pressure, Gallippi said.

For more on the possible reasons why bitcoin may be sliding, CoinDesk put together a summary of the digital currency's third quarter.

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Bitcoin's 'BearWhale' shakes things up

Bitcoin 'BearWhale' rattles cryptocurrency world

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Even without the big sell limit, bitcoin's value has seen a steady degradation since early July when its price topped $630. Various explanations have been offered for the move, but one of the most common has been that the increased merchant adoption of the currency has put downward pressure on it.

The theory holds that merchantswho almost always accept bitcoins as payment for products and services and then immediately exchange them back into local currenciesare creating an excess of sellers in the marketplace, thereby adding to the fall in exchange value.

"More merchants want to take advantage of the purchasing power of the community, and the more merchants accept, the more bitcoins will be for sale," Euro Pacific Capital's Peter Schiff told CNBC in September. "(The market is) not going to be able to come up with enough new buyers."

Read MoreApple Pay won't bite into bitcoin: Winklevoss

This point of view has been expressed by Citi and other observers.

But Gallippiwhose BitPay system enables businesses to accept bitcoins and then instantly exchange them for local currencydisputed this theory. While it is true that these transactions are bringing more sellers to the market, he said, most people are only using bitcoins for goods and services when they see the price spiking.

So in effect, the increased adoption of bitcoin by merchants is putting a ceiling on the price, but not applying general downward pressure, Gallippi said.

For more on the possible reasons why bitcoin may be sliding, CoinDesk put together a summary of the digital currency's third quarter.

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Bitcoin 'BearWhale' rattles cryptocurrency world