Author: Gene Johnson
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Canada becomes world’s largest legal marijuana marketplace, pot pardons introduced
TORONTO — Ian Power was among the first to buy legal recreational marijuana in Canada but he has no plans to smoke it. He plans to frame it. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday in Newfoundland. Power was first in line at a store in…
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Washington state ends death penalty
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OLYMPIA, Wash. • Washington’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state’s death penalty Thursday as arbitrary and racially biased, making it the 20th state to do away with capital punishment. Execution was already extremely rare in Washington, with five prisoners put to death in recent decades and a governor-imposed moratorium blocking its use since 2014.…
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Plane theft prompts review of security measures
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SEATTLE • The spectacular theft of a 76-seat plane from the Seattle airport by a ground crew employee is prompting an industrywide review of how to thwart such insider security threats, though it remains unclear what steps airlines might take. “This is too big a deal. It’s not going to go away,” said Glen Winn,…
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Cougar attacks cyclists in Washington state, killing 1
SEATTLE — The two mountain bikers did what they were supposed to do when they noticed a mountain lion tailing them on a trail east of Seattle. They got off their bikes. They faced the beast, shouted and tried to spook it. After it charged, one even smacked the cougar with his bike, and it…
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10 African Americans named Rhodes scholars, most ever
The latest group of U.S. Rhodes scholars includes 10 African Americans — the most ever in a single Rhodes class — as well as a transgender man and four students from colleges that had never had received the honor before. The Rhodes Trust on Sunday announced the 32 men and women chosen for post-graduate studies at Oxford…
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Vegas shooter had interest in guns, video poker, real estate
MESQUITE, Nev. — Stephen Paddock had a penchant for guns, high-limit video poker and real estate deals. His father was a notorious fugitive bank robber. He had a recent live-in girlfriend and two ex-wives and seemed to live a comfortable life in a Nevada retirement community. His life is the subject of a sprawling investigation…
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Bikini baristas sue Washington city over dress code law
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SEATTLE — Seven bikini baristas and the owner of a chain of the coffee stands called “Hillbilly Hotties” sued the city of Everett, Washington, on Monday, saying two recently passed ordinances banning bare skin violate their right to free expression. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, says the ordinances passed by the…
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15 states, DC sue Trump administration over ending DACA
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NEW YORK — Fifteen states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. government Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s plan to end protection against deportation for young immigrants who New York’s attorney general labeled the “best of America.” The lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn asked a judge to strike down as unconstitutional…
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Appeals court refuses to reinstate Trump travel ban
SEATTLE — Another U.S. appeals court stomped on President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban Monday, saying the administration violated federal immigration law and failed to provide a valid reason for keeping people from six mostly Muslim nations from coming to the country. The decision by a unanimous three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S.…
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Federal judges ask if travel ban is biased against Muslims
SEATTLE — Federal judges on Monday peppered a lawyer for President Donald Trump with questions about whether the administration’s travel ban discriminates against Muslims and zeroed in on the president’s campaign statements, the second time in a week the rhetoric has faced judicial scrutiny. Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, defending the travel ban, told the…