WASHINGTON (AP) - The new mayor of the nation's capital was hoping to get along fine with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Instead, they've threatened her with prison and she has accused them of acting like bullies in a showdown over legal marijuana that could end up costing District of Columbia residents dearly. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, defied threats from Congress by implementing a voter-approved initiative on Thursday, making the city the only place east of the Mississippi River where people can legally grow and share marijuana in private. But Congress still has the final say over the city's budget and laws, and the Republicans in charge seem determined to make Bowser pay. [continues 531 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - The mayor of the nation's capital was hoping to get along fine with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Instead, they've threatened her with prison, and she has accused them of acting like bullies in a showdown over legal pot that could end up costing District of Columbia residents dearly. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser defied threats from Congress by implementing a voter-approved initiative Thursday, making the city the only place east of the Mississippi River where people can legally grow and share marijuana in private. [continues 128 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Members of Congress from states with legal pot urged their colleagues Thursday not to stand in the way of expanded legalization and to approve measures that would make it easier for marijuana businesses to operate. Voters in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia approved ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana possession last week. Those places would join Colorado and Washington state, which already have legal pot. Amid close midterm elections around the country, "there was one clear winner: ending our failed prohibition of marijuana and instead legalizing, regulating and taxing adult use," Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, of Oregon, said at a news conference with three House colleagues. [continues 91 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - The national marijuana legalization debate ismoving into the backyard of a Republican-controlled Congress, now that the District of Columbia has voted to legalize growing, possessing and sharing small amounts of pot. Voters in Oregon and Alaska also approved legalization initiatives, joining Colorado and Washington state, where pot is already legally available. But while states out West enjoy both autonomy and distance, federal lawmakers have the power to quash any District law they don't like. And with legalization getting a foothold on the East Coast for the first time, the District's initiative could force Congress to make decisions affecting the future of legal pot nationwide. [continues 475 words]
washington (AP) - The national marijuana legalization debate is moving into the backyard of a Republican controlled Congress, now that the District of Columbia has voted to legalize growing, possessing and sharing small amounts of pot. Voters in Oregon and Alaska also approved legalization initiatives, joining Colorado and Washington state, where pot is legally available. But while states out West enjoy autonomy and distance, federal lawmakers have the power to quash any D.C. law they don't like. With legalization getting a foothold on the East Coast for the first time, the District's initiative could force Congress to make decisions affecting the future of legal pot nationwide. [continues 612 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - A debate over legalizing marijuana in the nation's capital is focusing on the outsized number of arrests of African Americans on minor drug charges. Pot legalization supporters in Colorado and Washington state also spoke about racial justice, but their voters are mostly white and their campaigns focused more on other issues. The race factor hits closer to many more homes in the District, where nearly half the population is black. And that means this referendum could change how the nation talks about marijuana, some drug-policy experts say. [continues 429 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - A debate over legalizing marijuana in the nation's capital is focusing on the outsize number of arrests of African-Americans on minor drug charges. Pot legalization supporters in Colorado and Washington state also spoke about racial justice, but their voters are mostly white and their campaigns focused more on other issues. The race factor hits closer to many more homes in the District, where nearly half the population is black. And that means this referendum could change how the nation talks about marijuana, some drug-policy experts say. [continues 296 words]
Washington (AP) - A debate over legalizing marijuana in the nation's capital is focusing on the outsized number of arrests of African-Americans on minor drug charges. Pot legalization supporters in Colorado and Washington state also spoke about racial justice. But their voters are mostly white, and their campaigns focused more on other issues. The race factor hits closer to many more homes in the district, where nearly half the population is black. And that means this referendum could change how the nation talks about marijuana, some drug-policy experts say. [continues 235 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - A debate over legalizing marijuana in the nation's capital is focusing on the outsized number of arrests of African Americans on minor drug charges. Pot legalization supporters in Colorado and Washington state also spoke about racial justice, but their voters are mostly white and their campaigns focused more on other issues. The race factor hits closer to many more homes in the District, where nearly half the population is black. And that means this referendum could change how the nation talks about marijuana, some drug-policy experts say. [continues 320 words]
(AP) - If House Republicans have their way, D.C. residents won't be allowed to walk the streets with a joint in their pocket, and they will be allowed to carry a semi-automatic rifle. The GOP-controlled House approved a spending bill Wednesday that would undo the District's strict gun-control laws and its law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. The fate of the spending bill and the amendments will likely depend on negotiations between the House, Senate and White House. [continues 430 words]
Possession of Less Than an Ounce Would Merit a Fine. WASHINGTON - It took nearly 15 years after voters approved medical marijuana for it to become available in the District of Columbia, but the next major change to pot laws in the nation's capital is on the fast track. The D.C. Council is poised to approve a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot, and Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray announced last month that he supports it. He could sign the bill into law as early as January. [continues 662 words]
Some Activists Want the Nation's Capital to Also Legalize, Tax and Regulate Marijuana. Washington (AP) - It took nearly 15 years after voters approved medical marijuana for it to become available in the District of Columbia, but the next major change to pot laws in the nation's capital is on the fast track. The D.C. Council is poised to approve a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot, and Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray announced last month that he supports it. He could sign the bill into law as early as January. [continues 448 words]
The former tenant who beat and stabbed social activist and U.S. Senate candidate A. Robert Kaufman at his Baltimore home last year pleaded guilty today to attempted second-degree murder. Henry Leon Davis, 42, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with all but 12 years suspended, and five years of probation. Kaufman, 75, has suffered numerous complications since the near-fatal attack last June. He went into a coma and contracted blood poisoning, leading to kidney failure. He gets dialysis three times a week and needs a kidney transplant. [continues 313 words]
"The Wire" is only nominally about Baltimore detectives' protracted investigation of a drug gang in the city's west side housing projects -- it's also a conduit for David Simon's exploration of the futility of the drug war and the pervasiveness of corporate culture. In Simon's view, the police department and the drug organization are dysfunctional corporations that treat their employees as expendable and have lost touch with the public they serve, existing just to sustain themselves; and his two protagonists -- homicide detective James McNulty (Dominic West) and midlevel drug dealer D'Angelo Barksdale (Larry Gilliard Jr.) -- are frustrated middlemen whose iconoclasm puts them at odds with their bosses. [continues 398 words]
