AltWeeklies Wire
The Feds Cry Wolf on Pot Potency (Again)new
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) trumpeted its most recent report on increased marijuana potency in the starkest language possible. But there's no evidence that more potent marijuana is any more dangerous for users.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Daniel McQuade |
06-30-2008 |
Drugs
Cloudy Weather at Denver Meteorologist Conferencenew
The American Meteorological Society-sponsored gathering is a party of sorts -- but the pressure isn't as low as in previous years because of the uncertainty plaguing traditional electronic media.
Is California Witnessing the Return of the Abalone?new
The culture of abalone diving saw its heyday in the 1970s, and even though sea snail searching will never again be the same, a San Miguel Island fishery may be in the works.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Alastair Bland |
06-30-2008 |
Animal Issues
Taking the MySpace Train to Juvienew
Law enforcement flexes its web-snooping muscle as a quartet of teen rapists is brought to justice in Washington.
Seattle Weekly |
Rick Anderson |
06-30-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Too Many Pregnant Addicts Call Salt Lake County Metro Jail Homenew
With treatment-center beds so hard to come by, judges hand pregnant women jail sentences to provide them at least with safety and some prenatal care. But most of the babies will still be born into a world where drug withdrawal is one of their first sensations.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Eric S. Peterson |
06-30-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Cuba Pushes Gay Rights, but Rum-Soaked Despair Lingersnew
Four decades after gays were sent to forced labor camps, and two decades after people with AIDS were forcibly hospitalized, the country recently celebrated its second international day against homophobia. But if the new political page is meant to salvage the standing of the revolution, it's not going down well among the people I meet. Cubans are more overtly cranky than on my last trip a few years back, none more so than the young gay guys on the Malecon.
NOW Magazine |
Glenn Wheeler |
06-30-2008 |
LGBT
Sheryl Grossman Suffers from One of the Rarest Diseases the World Has Ever Knownnew
People with Bloom's Disease -- there are fewer than 300 worldwide -- seldom grow taller than four and a half feet or weigh more than 90 pounds. Most develop cancer by their mid-twenties, and they are prone to diabetes, allergies, asthma, pulmonary disease, ear infections and immune disorders. The men are sterile. There is no cure, and no one with this genetic disorder has ever lived past 48.
Riverfront Times |
Aimee Levitt |
06-27-2008 |
Science
Think the Housing Crisis Was Bad? You Ain't Seen Nothing Yetnew
While many eyes are focusing on the housing meltdown and its hugely negative effect on an economy clearly moving into recession, few are paying attention to the next bubble expected to burst: credit cards.
Los Angeles CityBeat |
Danny Schechter |
06-27-2008 |
Economy
Gas Crisis Hits the Memphis Area Transit Authority Like a Runaway Busnew
For most Memphis motorists coping with $4-a-gallon gas, mass transit is unfortunately not really an option. Now a near-doubling of the price of diesel will likely bring higher fares and reduced services at a time when MATA already is criticized for a lackluster effort to boost its efficiency and ridership.
The Memphis Flyer |
John Branston and Mary Cashiola |
06-27-2008 |
Transportation
Global Mushroom Culture Hits Idaho Forestnew
An unusually fecund mushrooming season has filled the Idaho forest with an international rainbow gathering of commercial morel pickers who step slowly through the trees filling buckets with the valuable commodity.
Boise Weekly |
Nathaniel Hoffman |
06-27-2008 |
Environment
Newest Buzz on Colony Collapse Disordernew
Why bees thrive in the city, promote life on earth and deserve a guerrilla movement.
North Bay Bohemian |
Alastair Bland |
06-27-2008 |
Environment
An Inmate Beating Brings Up Issue of Transgender Discrimination in Memphisnew
A video leaked from the Shelby County Correction Center shows Officer Bridges McRae repeatedly punching Duanna Johnson inside a waiting room at the jail. The 18-minute video has no audio, but Johnson claims McRae assaulted her after she refused to respond to homophobic slurs of "he/she" and "faggot."
The Memphis Flyer |
Bianca Phillips |
06-27-2008 |
LGBT
Paul House is Being Retried for a Murder that DNA Says He Didn't Commitnew
Rather than acknowledge defeat -- never mind admitting error -- the very same prosecutor who tried House for capital murder 23 years ago announced he was going to take one more shot at convicting the ailing man for murder. But this time, he'd have to come up with a different motive, given that the theory he argued the first time -- that House killed to cover up rape -- had been shredded by the emergence of scientific evidence.
Nashville Scene |
Sarah Kelley |
06-27-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Combat Exposure for Women Soldiers Complicates an Old Problemnew
On the front lines, equality means exposure to more danger for women soldiers. Whether that's progress or not depends on whom you ask.
Arkansas Times |
Jennifer Barnett Reed |
06-27-2008 |
War
'Stop-Snitching' is More Complicated than You Might Thinknew
The mainstream media is generally the last to know, and by the time it catches on, the trend it's highlighting ceases to be a trend. So it is with the stop-snitching movement. But the culture of snitching and the incipient rise of its anti-snitching counterpart are deadly matters.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Damon Hodge |
06-27-2008 |
Crime & Justice
