Bloomberg – by Jennifer Kaplan

The U.S. marijuana industry has a new spokesman: John Boehner.

The Republican former Speaker of the House has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a company that cultivates, processes and dispenses cannabis in 11 U.S. states. Boehner’s endorsement, after saying nine years ago he was “unalterably opposed” to legalization, could be considered a watershed event: Marijuana has gone mainstream.  Continue reading “Ex-Speaker John Boehner Joins Marijuana Firm’s Advisory Board”

New York Daily News – by Leonard Greene

They were part of the city’s Bravest and Finest, but prosecutors say two ex-cops and a former firefighter are now among the Sleaziest.

Three former NYPD officers — including one who also used to be a firefighter — were arrested Wednesday for separate schemes that netted them more than $1 million in bogus disability benefits, authorities said.  Continue reading “Ex-NYPD cops cuffed for swiping $1M in disability grifts”

The Hill – by Ellen Mitchell

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on Wednesday accepted federal funding to add National Guard troops to his state while blasting President Trump over his immigration policies.

Brown wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen that the California National Guard would accept federal funding to add “approximately 400 Guard members statewide to supplement the staffing of its ongoing program to combat transnational crime.”  Continue reading “California gov accepts funding to add National Guard troops, blasts Trump over immigration”

AOL

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) – Gun control advocates are planning to send birthday packages to newly turned 18-year-olds in 10 states where they believe pro-gun lawmakers are vulnerable. Inside each: a voter registration form.

The effort is part of a teen voter sign-up campaign aimed at electing a gun control-friendly Congress in November by seizing the momentum of a movement driven by young people shaken by gun violence, organizers told Reuters.   Continue reading “Teen birthday vote drive targets pro-gun US lawmakers”

Business Insider – by Haley Peterson

Sears is closing several stores and selling 16 others in an online auction.

The closing stores include Sears locations in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Youngstown, Ohio, as well as Kmart stores in Brandon, Florida, and Saugus, Massachusetts. Sears will also likely close its store at Tacoma Park Mall in Tacoma, Washington. The owner of the mall, Simon Property Group, recently revealed plans to demolish the Sears store and replace it with several buildings, including a movie theater.  Continue reading “Sears is closing more stores and selling others in an online auction”

Kansas City Star

An 80-year-old man has been charged with murder in the shooting death last fall of Kansas City attorney Tom Pickert.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced the charges Wednesday at a news conference at the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Kansas City.  Continue reading “Suspect in Brookside killing accidentally taped his talk about murder, police say”

AccuWeather

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms, including the potential for a few tornadoes, is anticipated from portions of the central and southern Plains to the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys spanning Friday and Saturday.

The eruption of thunderstorms will be inspired by a strong temperature contrast, fueled by daytime heating and a surge of Gulf of Mexico moisture and enhanced by strong winds and dry air aloft.  Continue reading “Multi-day severe outbreak, isolated tornadoes loom across central, southern US”

Huffington Post – by Nick Wing

Last week, on April 4, exactly 50 years after her father’s assassination, Rev. Bernice King, the youngest child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, picked up a gun for the first time in her life.

The white-handled revolver wasn’t as big as the rifle used to kill her father in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. But in the half-century since his death, handguns were responsible for the vast share of the more than 1.5 million gun deaths in the U.S. Continue reading “This Group Is Turning Guns Into Shovels And Using Them To Plant Trees”

Washington Post

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) told colleagues Wednesday that he will not seek reelection this year, ending a nearly 20-year tenure in Congress and adding further uncertainty about whether embattled Republicans can maintain control of the House.

“The speaker is proud of all that has been accomplished and is ready to devote more of his time to being a husband and a father,” said Brendan Buck, counselor to Ryan, adding that Ryan plans to serve out his term and retire in January.  Continue reading “House Speaker Paul Ryan will not seek reelection”

NPR – by Scott Neuman, Bill Chappell

President Trump had a ready retort to a Russian threat to shoot down any U.S. missiles in Syria: “Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ ”

Trump tweeted that news early Wednesday and added, “You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”  Continue reading “Trump Tells Russia: ‘Get Ready’ For U.S. Missiles Striking Syria”

Post and Courier

A South Carolina Republican congressman is not backing down from critics after he pulled out his own personal — and loaded — .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun during a meeting with constituents Friday.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, told The Post and Courier he pulled out the weapon and placed it on a table for several minutes in attempt to make a point that guns are only dangerous in the hands of criminals.   Continue reading “U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman pulls out loaded gun in constituent meeting to make point about safety”

Wired – by Issie Lapowski

FACEBOOK NOW SAYS the data firm Cambridge Analytica gained unauthorized access to up to 87 million users’ data, mainly in the United States. This figure is far higher than the 50 million users that were previously reported.

Facebook’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer shared this figure at the end of a lengthy—and somewhat unrelated—blog post Wednesday that laid out a slew of changes Facebook is making to restrict access to user data.  Continue reading “Facebook Exposed 87 Million Users to Cambridge Analytica”

AOL

SOUTH CENTRE TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (WNEP) — A former Berwick police officer is accused of attacking another man at a church in Columbia County.

South Centre Township police say Jimmie Hill, 33, of Benton, choked a man Sunday morning as church let out after an Easter service.   Continue reading “Former cop arrested after allegedly choking man during Easter service at church”

The Weather Channel

Severe thunderstorms packing damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes are possible Tuesday across a wide area, from Texas to the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

An area of low pressure will slide eastward across the Midwest while its trailing cold front sweeps through the south-central states and a warm front lifts northward into the Ohio Valley.   Continue reading “Severe Thunderstorms Packing Damaging Winds Possible from Texas to the Ohio Valley on Tuesday”

The Buffalo News – by Matthew Spina

New York gun owners convicted of misdemeanors in domestic-violence cases would have their firearms taken away under a bill lawmakers approved along with the new state budget.

Convicted felons already are barred from gun ownership in the state. The new bill, promoted by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, would strip guns from people convicted of misdemeanor counts of assault, menacing, criminal contempt, unlawful imprisonment, aggravated harassment and similar charges if the victims are members of their family or their household.   Continue reading “Bill passed to confiscate guns for domestic-violence misdemeanors”

Media Matters

TED NUGENT: The level of ignorance goes beyond stupidity. Again, the National Rifle Association are a bunch of American families who have a voice to stand up for our God-given Constitutionally-guaranteed right to keep and bear arms. We have no blood on our hands. No NRA member have ever been involved in any mass shootings at all, in fact the National Rifle Association is the lone organization that has taught firearm safety in schools, and for law enforcement, and for military, and for childrens organizations and family organizations around the country for 100 years. So once again, this poor pathetic individual is a liar.   Continue reading “NRA board member Ted Nugent calls Parkland students poor, pathetic liars with no soul”

WNEP 16 News

LOS ANGELES — A preliminary decision from a California superior court judge in Los Angeles could affect thousands of coffee shops including Starbucks, 7-Eleven and even your local gas station.

The shops may have to put up a warning that tells customers there is a possible cancer risk linked to their morning jolt of java. The court said in a statement Wednesday that the companies “failed to meet their burden of proof on their Alternative Significant Risk Level affirmative defense” and ruled against them.
Continue reading “A Cup of Coffee in California May Soon Come With a Cancer Warning”

The Weather Channel

The second blue moon of 2018 is set for Saturday morning and will be the last one to adorn the night sky until 2020.

Saturday’s Sap Full Moon, which is also a blue moon because it is the second full moon of the calendar month, is set to peak at 8:37 a.m. EDT.  Continue reading “Second Blue Moon of 2018 Arrives Saturday; It’s the Last One Until 2020”

Daily Mail

A patient at a Texas hospital has managed to play the flute for doctors while she was undergoing major brain surgery.

Anna Henry, who is a professional flute player, was wide awake when doctors operated on her at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston on Tuesday.    Continue reading “Woman plays flute during her brain surgery at Houston hospital”