Amid the relentless chaos in Washington — tariffs, trade war, terminally rising deficits — at least one sensible idea has recently emerged: The federal government wants to free up more land to build homes. It’s a great ambition. The devil, as ever, will be in the details.

Few problems vex Americans more than the struggle to find affordable housing. With development chronically lagging demand, the country faces a shortfall of as much as 7.3 million units.

All too often, broad national support for homebuilding morphs into local opposition when the proposed construction is nearby. Policymakers resort to subsidizing buyers (which drives up prices) or to imposing rent caps and other “affordability” requirements on developers (which deters investment).

It’s therefore welcome to see two administration officials team up to open more of the federal government’s 640 million acres of land to housing development. Both bring relevant experience: Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, whose department manages 413 million acres of land, was a successful businessman and governor of North Dakota; Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner worked for an apartment developer and led a White House effort to encourage investment in opportunity zones.

The easiest parcels for the Interior Department to sell or repurpose without an act of Congress are the 245 million acres administered by the Bureau of Land Management, mostly in Western states. Only a small portion of that land will be close enough to roads, water or population centers to be appropriate for housing. Still, by one estimate, just 850 square miles — about half a million acres — of land could provide space for 3 million homes.

As promising as the effort sounds, caution is still advisable. For one thing, the proposal doesn’t address escalating costs for building materials and insurance. Furthermore, a similar effort by former President Joe Biden’s administration — which repurposed some federal land and conditioned certain grants on pro-housing policy changes by local governments — also seemed promising. But too many of the awards went to worthy-sounding initiatives that imposed burdensome affordability mandates or relied on government subsidies instead of removing hurdles to private-sector investment.

Burgum and Turner should learn from those mistakes. In selecting land for development, they should prioritize areas with the lowest rental-vacancy rates. They’ll also need to work closely with local authorities to ensure that homes are actually built, not just promised. A targeted effort focused on cities such as Las Vegas or Salt Lake City — booming, short of housing and near to undeveloped federal lands — could pay real dividends.

In exchange for land, states and local governments should also be required to make concrete changes to draw investors. The free market — not zoning boards or community groups — should be allowed to determine what kind of housing gets built and at what price. Similar levers should be used to free up development within existing metropolitan areas. For instance, cities that ease zoning restrictions, eliminate rent control and streamline permitting requirements should get priority for federal transit and housing money.

This administration has moved fast with a blizzard of initiatives, not all of them universally popular. Housing is one issue on which most Americans are demanding rapid results. With luck, there’s a chance they’ll get them.

— The Bloomberg Opinion Editorial Board

The best-tasting chicken results when you don’t take it too far from itself, when you let the chicken taste like chicken. For that, you might start with the bird, and look to “the chicken whisperer” — more specifically Mike Charles, founder and CEO of LaBelle Patrimoine.

Charles grew up around chickens in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and has always been passionate about caring for them. (His family has been in the chicken business since they immigrated from Italy at the start of the 20th century.) In grade school, when other students brought their stuffed animals for show-and-tell, Charles brought in live chickens and taught his classmates how to catch them.

He’s now a sixth-generation chicken farmer, and his love for the birds underscores his operation, which lets them roam fields, jump onto hay bales and grow slowly, living 10 weeks instead of the usual six or so.

It also yields a finer end product: His birds are yellow (from all the vitamin D they get outside) and fatty in just the right places, with normal-size breasts and big thighs (from all the roaming and jumping), the kind of heritage meat he’s eaten his whole life. “This is how chickens used to taste,” Charles remembers his Italian grandmother saying, as they ate a simply salted and peppered bird. And therein lies perhaps the most important part for the chickeniest chicken: a straightforward preparation.

Taking bone-in, skin-on portions and roasting them with little to no fat in an uncovered pan is an Italian home cook’s method, which chef Paul Bertolli describes in his seminal book, “Cooking by Hand.” Cooking the portions almost entirely on the skin side like this, using the direct heat at the pan’s bottom, results in shatteringly crisp skin, beautiful rendered fat and evenly cooked meat — like roast chicken without the oven.

“It is truly the essence of the meat that remains attached to the pan,” Bertolli explained over email, delivering “a taste that is more ‘true.’”

A final takeaway? To listen. A gentle sputtering lets you know the chicken is releasing moisture, searing against the heat. When it stops, the meat is fully cooked, and the skin crisp and evenly browned. A quick pan sauce of chicken stock, lime juice and maple syrup, made glossy with a few pats of butter, completes this dish and deglazes the pan, saving you scrubbing time later.

Pan-roasting isn’t difficult, but it can turn a home-cooked meal into something restaurant-worthy. What chefs don’t tell you is that the difference between restaurant cooks and home cooks is the venue. The best restaurants for me are the ones that feel as if you’re eating in someone’s home, and the best home-cooked meals are the ones that feel as if you’re eating in a restaurant. A good playlist, nice tablecloths, a lit candle: It doesn’t take much.

Crispy Chicken With Lime Butter

You don’t need a thermometer to know when these chicken thighs are done. You just need your ears. In this recipe, chicken thighs are slow seared using a technique from chef Paul Bertolli called “bottom-up cooking” where the chicken cooks almost entirely on the skin side over moderate heat, resulting in shatteringly crisp skin. The gentle sputtering sound that signals the release of moisture from the chicken hitting the hot fat in the pan stops when the meat is fully cooked and the skin crisp and evenly browned. A quick pan sauce of chicken stock, lime juice and maple syrup, made glossy with a few pats of butter, completes this dish.

By Eric Kim

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

4 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 cup chicken stock or 1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving

2 teaspoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pats

Parsley, cilantro, basil or mint leaves, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. If you have time, set aside at room temperature for at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium. Add the oil and swirl the pan to coat it. Place the chicken skin side down and cook without moving it until the skin is crispy and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Reduce the heat if the chicken splatters too much or browns too quickly.

3. Add the garlic to the pan. Flip the chicken and cook until the bottom is lightly browned and the meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, skin side up. Remove all but 3 tablespoons of the fat from the pan and save for another use (see tip).

4. Add the chicken stock, lime juice and maple syrup to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over high, then reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the butter and continue simmering, now stirring constantly, until incorporated; the sauce will thicken and become shiny as the butter melts. Taste and add more salt and pepper as desired.

5. Serve the chicken with the pan sauce, lime wedges and the optional fresh herbs (spritzed with a little lime juice and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper).

TIP: Rendered chicken fat, sometimes called schmaltz when clarified, can be used to pan-fry vegetables and meat; to enrich a soup, stew, sauce or tomato-based braise; or to spread on toast.

Related Articles

Recipe: Poached salmon and broccoli Caesar salad make a healthy, hearty meal

Recipe: Pasta and Pea Soup is a tasty, simple dish with delightful brightness

St. Paul chef to shut down charity accused of mixing funds with restaurants

How to cook the perfect steak, grill marks and all

Groundswell cafe in St. Paul temporarily closes after fire

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump is set to pardon reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, the couple famous for “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their tightly knit family and extravagant lifestyle.

A jury in 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans. The Chrisleys were also found guilty of tax evasion.

Related Articles

Trump campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order

US Sen. Tommy Tuberville announces 2026 bid for Alabama governor

The US and EU are in a showdown over trade. What does Trump want and what can Europe offer?

Trump Media says investors will fund a company ‘bitcoin reserve’ through share purchases

COVID vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, Kennedy says

In a social media post Tuesday, the White House said Trump called the Chrisley family and said “he will be granting full pardons,” adding, “Trump Knows Best!”

The Chrisleys were found guilty of tax evasion by hiding their earnings while showcasing an extravagant lifestyle that prosecutors said included luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel.

Prosecutors said Todd Chrisley filed for bankruptcy, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans.

Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, and Todd Chrisley got 12 years behind bars. The couple was also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last summer upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions but found a legal error in how the trial judge had calculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence by holding her accountable for the entire bank fraud scheme. The appellate panel sent her case back to the lower court for resentencing.

By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s campaign against the legal profession hit another setback Tuesday as a federal judge struck down yet another executive order that sought to sanction one of the country’s most prestigious law firms.

The order in favor of WilmerHale marks the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has deemed Trump’s series of law firm executive orders to be unconstitutional and has permanently barred their enforcement.

“The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this!” wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.

To permit the order to stand, Leon wrote, “would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers.”

The firm applauded the ruling from Leon, an appointee of former Republican President George H.W. Bush.

“The Court’s decision to permanently block the unlawful executive order in its entirety strongly affirms our foundational constitutional rights and those of our clients. We remain proud to defend our firm, our people, and our clients,” a spokesperson for the firm said.

Related Articles

Trump set to pardon reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley of fraud and tax evasion convictions

US Sen. Tommy Tuberville announces 2026 bid for Alabama governor

The US and EU are in a showdown over trade. What does Trump want and what can Europe offer?

Trump Media says investors will fund a company ‘bitcoin reserve’ through share purchases

COVID vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, Kennedy says

The ruling was similar to one from Friday by a different judge that rejected a Trump edict against the firm of Jenner & Block and another one from earlier in the month in favor of the firm Perkins Coie.

The firms had all been subjected to Trump executive orders that sought to impose the same set of consequences, including suspending security clearances of attorneys and barring employees from federal buildings. The orders have been part of a broader effort by the president to reshape American civil society by targeting perceived adversaries in hopes of extracting concessions from them and bending them to his will.

Several of the firms singled out for sanctions have either done legal work that Trump has opposed, or currently have or previously had associations with prosecutors who at one point investigated the president.

The order against WilmerHale, for instance, cited the fact that the firm previously employed former Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who led an investigation during Trump’s first term into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Other major firms have sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports.