| Stephon Averyhart. |
Seven months have passed since police officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department shot and killed 27-year-old Stephon Averyhart during a wild chase, but the investigation is still ongoing and few details have been released. Now, the mother of the deceased wants to know why it’s taking so long — and why she has never been contacted by police since they called her to identify her son’s body. On February 12, Averyhart was fleeing police before he crashed his car into a telephone poll near the corner of Harney Avenue and Union Boulevard. He then jumped out of the car and ran as officers followed him on foot. Averyhart turned into an alley and then was shot dead by the officers. The officers say Averyhart pointed a gun at them first and a gun was found on the scene. But friends and relatives say he although he kept a gun for self-protection, he wasn’t the type to shoot at police; he was just running to evade getting arrested for warrants from unpaid tickets.
The only blemishes on Averyhart’s criminal record are traffic tickets and a misdemeanor marijuana charge.
While the United States military continues to frown on its soldiers’ use of marijuana, the Italian army is planning to puts its troops to work in the cannabis fields to cultivate medicine for patients throughout the nation. In addition, the country announced earlier last week that it will release nearly 10,000 inmates that have been incarcerated due to outdated pot laws — making Italy the latest nation to impose sensible drug reform.
| The president of the Louisiana State Fair got a ticket and a ride from local police |
Every fall in Shreveport, folks travel from far and wide to attend the annual Louisiana State Fair. Besides the carnival games, rickety rides, and overripe port-a-potties, fair-goers to this southern affair can drop their hard-earned dollars on such heart-stopping treats as bacon-covered caramel apples and deep fried watermelons. Not only is this carb-filled-cardiac-arrest-inducing fair food totally legal, it is one of the main attractions.
Chris Giordano runs the Louisiana State Fair, and he says, “Every year we bring new foods and try to mix things up with the attractions and rides to keep the fair fresh for everybody and I think it’s something that some people look forward to all year long.”
Giordano, 43, was arrested this past Saturday and was promptly taken to jail when local cops busted him with pot in his car after pulling him over to ticket him for rolling through a stop sign.
Positive tests for pot have increased by about 20 percent in Colorado from 2012 to 2013, according to Quest Diagnostics, a company responsible for a huge number of work-related drug testing across the country.
But the director of the drug testing branch of Quest says it’s too early to draw any conclusions from the data, though it’s easy to draw a parallel between the increase in positive pot tests and the legalization limited amounts of pot to adults 21 and up. Sales of cannabis to adults didn’t start until January of 2014, so that would not factor into the data.
| Payayita/Flickr. |
A Michigan medical marijuana patient says that cops had no right to search his home and discover his alleged 200-plant grow after his 6-year-old kindergartner showed up at school in January with a skunky smell on their clothes.
In the middle of the scenic San Fernando Valley stood a 14,000-square-foot warehouse. And in this warehouse, cops say, was much weed.
So much weed, in fact, that the operation allegedly churned out $3.7 million dollars with of street-value marijuana every two months, the Los Angeles Police Department announced in a statement this week.
That would be an alleged $22 million worth of pot a year. LA Weekly has the full story.
Any Highlands Ranch High School student thinking about pre-gaming before heading to Saturday night’s Homecoming dance should think twice. The school will be doing breathalyzer tests on all students before they can gain entry, and those who score a positive for alcohol use will be tested again — this time by a member of law enforcement.
Read on to see how Highlands Ranch High Principal Jerry Goings says reasons behind the new policy are sound and why he doesn’t believe it will lead down a slippery slope.
| Anti-pot Florida AG Pam Bondi and her derp-faced ad. |
This is pretty amazing, considering we’re talking about a talent pool that contains Rick Scott, a man with the social poise of a 13-year-old in sex ed, and Charlie Crist, a man who probably would fail the replicant test from Blade Runner, but we might have The Derp Face of the 2014 campaign season: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi just dropped her first television ad for November’s contest.
Although the spot touts the politician’s record, it fails to address to two heavyweight issues that could sink her campaign: medical marijuana and gay marriage. But she does want you to know she’s curtailed all synthetic acid manufacturing in her state. More over at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
| You won’t find this for sale at D.I.A. |
Passengers flying out of Denver International Airport after a vacation or work trip here have lots of choices if they want to squeeze in one last Colorado activity or buy a souvenir. They can drink local craft brews at cafes branded by Rock Bottom and Boulder Beer, eat at Elway’s or Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs, and shop at the Tattered Cover or Kazoo & Company. They can buy Denver Broncos hats, Climax beef jerky, Rocky Mountain T-shirts, and shot glasses and underwear imprinted with the state flag.
But when it comes to Colorado’s budding marijuana industry, the only souvenir that tourists can take with them is a photo of DIA’s sign prohibiting the herb’s use. More at the Latest Word.
Colorado tax records for July show that recreational dispensaries in the state pulled in $28,921,068 in July, while medical sales only generated $28,313,034 — roughly a $608,000 difference and the first time that rec sales have outpaced medical.
So how much is that in weed? At around $400 an ounce at a number of recreational retail stores, it comes out to about 93 pounds.