INQUIRER readers disagree … Read More
Silicon Valley Business Journal Redesign: Local Publication To Be Model For National Update
Print journalism may be dwindling, but one local publication is doubling down. The Silicon Valley Business Journal unveiled a dramatic redesign of its print publication earlier this month that will soon act as a template for 40 other papers American City Business Journal chain.“I’m totally immersed in making SVBJ the leading news brand in Silicon Valley,” Editor-in-Chief Greg Baumann told The Huffington Post. Baumann joined SVBJ last October and is overseeing the changes alongside publisher James MacGregor and world-renowned newspaper designer Mario Garcia, who is credited for the redesign of the Wall Street Journal and Philadelphia Inquirer. Garcia will oversee the redesign of all 40 of the chain’s papers.Read More…
Brickbat: He Fits Right In
In 2002, the Roman Catholic
Church defrocked Thomas Harkins because of allegations he
molested two grade-school girls. Harkins was never criminally
charged, but the church paid $195,000 to settle civil lawsuits.
Four months after he was removed from the priesthood, Harkins was
hired by the Transportation Security Administration to screen
airline passengers at Philadelphia International Airport. The
Philadelphia Inquirer reports he is still employed by the TSA, but
he has been promoted and no longer pats down passengers. … Read More
Bob Casey Voices Concerns Over Militias, Gun Violence
During a meeting with constituents, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) further detailed his changing gun control views in light of last month’s tragic shooting in Newtown, Conn., voicing concerns over the existence of citizen militias and the proliferation of gun violence.Casey, a longtime gun advocate who has earned high marks from the National Rifle Association, made headlines last month when he told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was so deeply impacted by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that he would support legislation banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips. “The power of the weapon, the number of bullets that hit each child, that was so, to me, just so chilling, it haunts me. It should haunt every public official,” Casey told the paper. Read More…
More on Gun Control
US plans for possibility that Assad could lose control of chemical arms cache – Washington Post
CBS NewsUS plans for possibility that Assad could lose control of chemical arms cacheWashington PostAs Bashar al-Assad's hold on power steadily weakens, U.S. officials are increasingly worried that Syria's weapons of mass destruction could fall into the hands of Islamist extremists, rogue generals or other uncontrollable factions. Last week, fighters from a …Islamist rebels take Syrian base at AleppoPhiladelphia InquirerSyrian Warplanes Bomb Palestinian Camp in DamascusVoice of AmericaU.N. chief alarmed by escalating violence in Syria | News , Middle East | THE …The Daily StarBBC News -New York Times -Reuters Indiaall 1,403 news articles » … Read More
Jury Nullification Keeps NJ Weedman Out of Jail; DEA Comes Calling
Last week, Ed
Forchion, a.k.a. the NJ Weedman, was found
not guilty of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute
after being caught by cops in New Jersey with a pound of marijuana
in his car. Formerly a perennial third party candidate in the
state, the Weedman took his activism in support of legalizing
marijuana to California, where he opened a medical marijuana
dispensary. He was caught in New Jersey while visiting and wanted
to use the trial to test New Jersey’s recent medical marijuana law,
which requires registration and purchase from one of
six dispensaries in the state. ;A pound of marijuana,
because it is a lot of weed, automatically yields a possession with
intent charge. The jury found him not guilty.
His California dispensary, meanwhile, had been raided in
December by the DEA and, relentless, Forchion opened another
one. ; The feds, though, have kept their eye on the Weedman.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s ;Monica Yant Kinney
explains
his victory was short-lived:
“Two hours,” Forchion gripes. “Two hours after
I won, I got a call from the DEA in L.A. They had a ‘Google Alert’
on me. Sore losers.”
…No federal charges were ever filed against Forchion, but the DEA
still has his belongings. The phone call last Thursday was an
invitation of sorts for him to stop by and pick up (some of) his
stuff.
A day later, as Forchion remained in New
Jersey, ;another ;DEA agent visited his new
dispensary – the “United States Collective” conveniently located
near the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
“I’ll advise you to close by the end of business today,” the agent
reportedly said, “or we’re going to launch another investigation
and you’ll be involved.”
…I called the DEA Press Office in L.A. seeking comment, but Special
Agent Sarah Pullen couldn’t say anything about what she dubbed an
“ongoing investigation.”
“If Mr. Forchion wants to provide information, that is his
choice.”
Choice ;is one of Forchion’s favorite words.
He chose to seek out an investor to open a second dispensary
knowing the feds would come knocking and he could again lose
everything.
He chose to put New Jersey’s criminal statute up against the
state’s medical-marijuana law, to force jurors to question why a
drug he can use legally in California to ease agony should cause
him even more pain in the Garden State.
“You know,” Forchion reminds, “I could still get 18 months in
prison for being convicted of possession.
“I never denied that weed was mine. I admitted it.”
You can’t vote for the NJ Weedman for president this year, but
there are at least a couple of candidates on the ballot that have
admitted to drug use, Barack Obama, who’s spent four years as
president
vigorously prosecuting the war on drugs, and another, Gary
Johnson, who wants to end the war on, and legalize, drugs.
New Initiative Encourages Philly Cops to Harrass Those Predicted as “Likely To Offend”
A new program in Philadelphia plans to keep the city safer by locking up those most likely to shoot someone.You read that right – not by arresting those who have committed a crime with a gun – but by predicting who is the most likely to offend. … Read More
