Mainstream News

6-year-old Colorado girl in national spotlight over medical marijuana

"Charlotte Figi suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. She’s endured violent seizures since she was a newborn. Most weeks, she’d have about 300 seizures a week. After countless emergency room visits, trips to specialists and children’s hospitals, and more than a dozen pharmaceuticals, nothing worked. Then, a year-and-a-half ago, as a last resort, her mom tried cannabis oil. The medical marijuana worked immediately. 'It’s potent, it’s strong, it’s spicy, it’s got some kick,' her mother, Paige Figi, told FOX31 Denver as she showed us a syringe full of the cannabis oil. It’s diluted with olive oil, and mixed with food." Continue reading →

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Video Shows Pembroke Pines Cop Punching Mentally Ill Girl

"The public defenders uncovered what they’re calling systematic use of physical and chemical force to restrain patients at the Pembroke Pines Facility. They said their investigation revealed kids are routinely tied hand and foot to their beds and administered drugs to knock them out. Weekes said his office conducted five, separate interviews with clients at the facility, all of whom said they had essentially been hogtied and injected – knocked unconscious. Dr. Michael Jochananov, the facility’s director, declined to speak with CBS4′s Gary Nelson at the center Thursday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVideo Shows Pembroke Pines Cop Punching Mentally Ill Girl

Snowden revelations force Obama’s hand on surveillance program

"After his administration issued repeated defenses of a National Security Agency monitoring program that collects Americans' phone and Internet data, Obama announced during a press conference Friday afternoon that reforms to the system will make the collection activities more transparent and 'give the American people additional confidence that there are additional safeguards against abuse.' Officials will also launch a new website next week that will serve as 'a hub for further transparency' for interested members of the public." Continue reading →

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Apartment tenants told they must get rid of their guns

"Retired Marine Art Dorsch says his Second Amendment rights are in danger. His apartment complex, the Oakwood Apartments in Castle Rock, sent out a notice telling all residents to get rid of their guns. The 77-year-old retired US Marine Corps veteran sent a newstip to 9Wants to Know saying he's afraid he'll be homeless if he doesn't comply. The letter went out to residents on August 1 and says they have until October 1 to comply with updated 'community policies.' On page 2 is a brand new provision saying 'firearms and weapons are prohibited.' 'I'm a hunter. I'm a licensed conceal and carry person,' Dorsch said." Continue reading →

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Protected plates give growing number of officials the green-light to avoid fines

"In Colorado, special license plates issued to 100 state lawmakers and representatives not only shield them from radar tickets for speeding, but also prevent collection notices on past-due parking tickets. That’s because the legislative plates in Colorado aren’t entered into the Division of Motor Vehicles database. If someone with a special license plate blows through the speed limit and is caught on radar, there is no actual information in the state’s records to cross-reference the plate. A Denver-based CBS investigation revealed 16 legislative license plates that have accumulated more than $2,000 in fines and penalties that have not been paid." Continue reading →

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Americans Giving Up Passports Jump Sixfold as Tougher Rules Loom

"Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship surged sixfold in the second quarter from a year earlier as the government prepares to introduce tougher asset-disclosure rules. The U.S., the only nation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside, is searching for tax cheats in offshore centers, including Switzerland, as the government tries to curb the budget deficit. Shunned by Swiss and German banks and facing tougher asset-disclosure rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, more of the estimated 6 million Americans living overseas are weighing the cost of holding a U.S. passport." Continue reading →

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U.S. E-Mail Services Close and Destroy Data Rather Than Reveal Files

"The shutdown of two small e-mail providers on Thursday illustrates why it is so hard for Internet companies to challenge secret government surveillance: to protect their customers’ data from federal authorities, the two companies essentially committed suicide. In effect, both businesses destroyed their assets — in part or in full — to avoid turning over their customers’ data. Such public displays are far more difficult for large companies to make, and help explain why the most public efforts to challenge secret government orders have come from small companies and nonprofits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. E-Mail Services Close and Destroy Data Rather Than Reveal Files

Border Patrol agent who shot Mexican teenager dead will not be charged

"U.S. authorities will not bring charges against a Border Patrol agent in Arizona who shot dead a rock-throwing Mexican teenager two years ago because the fatal injury did not occur in the United States, the Justice Department said on Friday. An unidentified Border Patrol agent shot Ramses Barron, a 17-year-old Mexican citizen, through the border fence in Nogales, Arizona, in the early hours of January 5, 2011. Over the past five years, U.S. border agents have fired into Mexico at least 10 times, killing six Mexicans, according to a report released earlier this year by the Washington Monthly and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute." Continue reading →

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America’s Fastest-Growing Cities Since The Recession

"An analysis of post-2007 population trends by demographer Wendell Cox in the 111 U.S. metro areas with more than 200,000 residents reveals something both very different from the conventional wisdom and at the same time very familiar. Virtually all of the 20 that have added the most residents from 2007 to 2012 are in the Old Confederacy, the Intermountain West and suburbs of larger cities, notably in California. The lone exception to this pattern is No. 15 Portland. The bottom line: growth is still fastest in the Sun Belt, in suburban cities and lower-density, spread out municipalities." Continue reading →

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