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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Will Vote On Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales Through A System Of State-Run Stores Today

Pennsylvania Democrats have officially released a much-anticipated bill to legalize marijuana with a novel state-run regulatory model. And it’s already slated for an imminent House committee vote.

The new legislation is being sponsored by Reps. Rick Krajewski (D) and Dan Frankel (D), who chairs the House Health Committee that will be taking up the proposal on Monday.

“The time is now for Pennsylvania,” Krajewski said in a press release. “We have listened carefully to public health experts, criminal justice reformers, small business advocates and community leaders. Our bill reflects what we’ve learned—that we can and must legalize cannabis in a way that is safe, equitable and beneficial to all Pennsylvanians.”

Under the bill, adults 21 and older would be able to legally possess and buy cannabis from stores licensed and operated by the Liquor Control Board (LCB), which currently controls alcohol sales in the state.

While there’s a competing bipartisan legalization measure that’s expected to be unveiled soon, this one already has 27 House Democrats signed on as cosponsors—more than one-fourth of the party’s caucus in the chamber.

“By legalizing and regulating cannabis thoughtfully, we can avoid pitfalls that have marred roll outs in other states,” Frankel said. “Our plan will create clear rules that protect consumers, educate the public, and ensure that Pennsylvania small businesses and taxpayers—not out-of-state corporations—benefit from the profits.”

LCB would directly control the cannabis retail side of the industry under the measure, but it would also be responsible for licensing marijuana cultivation, processing, transportation and on-site consumption businesses that could be privately owned.

The legislation would specify that cannabis shops could not sell more than 42.5 grams of marijuana, which would be the possession limit, to an adult within a 24-hour period. Cannabis flower could not contain more than 25 percent THC, and edibles would be limited to five milligrams of THC per serving, with a maximum 25 milligrams total.

Adults who obtain a home cultivation permit from LCB would be able to grow up to two mature and two immature plants in a secure location at their residence for personal use.

Marijuana products sold at licensed shops would be subject to a 12 percent excise tax. Revenue from those taxes would be deposited in a Cannabis Revenue Fund, managed by the Department of Revenue (DOR).

That fund would be used to cover administrative costs within the various departments that have a hand in regulating the cannabis program, including the facilitation of expungements for people with prior marijuana convictions for activity that would be made legal under the law.

The remaining revenue would be distributed for a community reinvestment fund (50 percent), substance misuse treatment programs (10 percent), cannabis business development (5 percent), minority business development (2.5 percent) and grants to county courts that process expungements (2 percent).The rest would go into the state general fund.

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts would be tasked with overseeing cannabis expungements, providing courts with a list of eligible cases that must be automatically sealed within two years.

A Social and Economic Equity Advisory Committee would be established under the bill to “promote inclusion and participation in the regulated cannabis industry, including through an indirect cannabis business, by persons that may qualify to be a social and economic equity applicant.”

The committee would be responsible for a new Social and Economic Equity Loan and Grant Program that would “provide financial assistance to certified social and economic equity applicants, certified social and economic equity licensees and indirect cannabis businesses that meet the qualifications of a social and economic equity applicant.”

Eligible social and economic equity applicants are defined as those with a “household annual income below 200 percent of the Area Median Income in their county of residence,” and they’d also have to either have a minimum of 65 percent ownership by justice-impacted individuals or those who’ve spent five of the last 10 years in a designated historically impacted community.

The bill also contains rules around policies related to cannabis advertising, packaging and labeling—as well as requirements for businesses around ownership and a mandate to have a labor peace agreement in place for workers.

The largest challenge for the legislation going forward will likely come down to the proposal to have the state control cannabis sales—a regulatory model that exists in no other legal market in the U.S. While there’s evidently strong support within the Democratic caucus given the cosponsorship list, it’s expected to face steep resistance from Republicans, who control the Senate, and at least some Democrats.

For what it’s worth, a recent poll found that Pennsylvania voters say they favor a model where cannabis is sold by licensed private businesses, rather than through a system of state-run stores.

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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Marijuana Just One Day After It Was Introduced

Just one day after Pennsylvania Democrats filed a much-anticipated bill to legalize marijuana with a novel model of state-run stores, a House committee has already approved the measure—with floor consideration now expected imminently in the face of criticism about how fast the proposal is advancing.

The legislation is being sponsored by Reps. Rick Krajewski (D) and Dan Frankel (D), who chairs the House Health Committee that took up the proposal on Monday, where it passed in a party-line vote of 14-12 with all Republican members in opposition.

The measure now moves to the House floor, where an initial vote is expected as soon as Tuesday.

“Right now, Pennsylvanians who use cannabis are either crossing state lines to purchase from other legal markets or buying from the illicit market,” Krajewski said at the hearing. “The reality is criminalization of cannabis does not work. It does not deter usage, it does not promote safety and it is not in the best interest of our commonwealth.”

“With legalization, we have the opportunity to rein in a market that is completely deregulated in terms of potency, content or labeling,” he said. “We can promote public health while bringing hundreds of millions of public dollars that can be directed to the communities hit hardest by past criminalization.”

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We’ve been ostracised for telling the truth about how the liberal elite got Covid so wrong

It is more than five years since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and yet the measures used to respond to it still, it seems, have the capacity to shock.

Stephen Macedo, a liberal academic at Princeton University, has just spent months examining how the Western political class got its response to the crisis so wrong – an endeavour that has made him an outlier among many of his peers.

Macedo, 68, a professor of politics, says he was “shocked on a daily basis” by information that he and Frances Lee, a professor of politics and public affairs at the university, unearthed throughout the writing of their book, In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us.

“I have often not been able to believe what I’ve been reading,” says Macedo. Among the most perturbing facts was a “pandemic preparedness” plan published by the World Health Organisation in 2019, months before the coronavirus outbreak, followed by a report by Johns Hopkins University later that year, in which both sets of authors were “sceptical about a whole range of non-pharmaceutical interventions [NPIs, i.e. face coverings and social distancing],” Lee explains. A 2011 UK government pre-pandemic plan had reached similar conclusions. And yet these “interventions” formed a central part of the response to the pandemic in Britain and the United States.

Along with Lee, Macedo has become a loud voice in the effort to challenge how the “laptop classes” defined our pandemic response, and got it badly wrong.

In their book, which is published on Tuesday and has been described by The New York Times as “an invitation to have a reckoning”, Macedo and Lee argue that, in the face of a global emergency, democracy and free speech failed.

We meet at Princeton, in New Jersey, on a grey spring day, earnest undergrads clutching coffee cups passing along the cherry blossom-lined streets.

The authors explain that their goal is “not just to look back for looking back’s sake” but to reflect on where the liberal political class veered off course, and set out the change of approach they believe is required ahead of the next global emergency.

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Mexican Federal Agent Killed After Testifying in U.S. Trial of Drug Lord’s Son

A highly decorated Mexican federal police officer and his wife died during a targeted attack by gunmen in Mexico. The murder came just weeks after it became known that his testimony in a U.S trial had helped seal the fate of the son of the leader of Cartel Jalisco New Generation. The drug lord’s son received a life term in prison.

Last week, authorities in Mexico confirmed the murder of  Ivan Morales and his wife as they travelled in their personal vehicle in Morelos State, about 100 kilometers away from Mexico City.

Mexican authorities are investigating the case. Politicians and pundits in Mexico have been quick to make the connection that Morales had been a key witness in last year’s U.S. trial against Ruben “El Menchito” Oseguera Gonzalez. El Menchito is the son of Mexico’s most violent cartel kingpin, Ruben Nemesio “El Mencho Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of Cartel Jalisco New Generation. Earlier this year, El Menchito received a life sentence in prison for his role in his father’s criminal empire.

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ICE Responds to Accusations of Illegal Raid: “WRONG!”

After Democrats accused ICE of raiding the wrong house and terrorizing a U.S. citizen family in Oklahoma, the Department of Homeland Security fired back, beginning their official statement on X with a blunt response: “Wrong.”

What actually happened was that ICE conducted a lawful, court-authorized search targeting a property long tied to a human smuggling network, not specific individuals. Surveillance conducted the day before the raid confirmed that a member of the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization was still paying utility bills at the home, which remained legally owned by an indicted smuggling suspect. The warrant, based on an 84-page affidavit, authorized the seizure of evidence regardless of who was present. As DHS stated, “This is an ongoing investigation, and we have not ruled out current occupants’ involvement in the smuggling ring.”

Federal agents executed the search warrant on April 24 at a single-family home in northwest Oklahoma City. According to DHS, the property had been used as a stash house for human and drug smuggling involving individuals from Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, and China. When agents entered the home, they encountered a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Guatemala and her three daughters, the youngest of whom was 17. Although none of them were detained, DHS emphasized that the investigation is ongoing.

Local news outlet KOCO 5 confirmed that the house remains in the name of Cidia Marleny Lima Lopez, a key suspect in the smuggling ring, and that utility records showed members of the criminal organization were still linked to the property as of the day before the raid, “despite the fact that new residents had moved in.” DHS clarified that the warrant legally allowed agents to seize electronic devices and documents found in the home, regardless of the current occupants.

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Bangladeshi Islamists March in Protest at ‘Western’ Laws Guaranteeing Freedom, Equal Rights for Women

Thousands of angry Islamist men marched Saturday across the streets of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, to protest against proposals guaranteeing equal rights for women in the Muslim-majority country.

“Men and women can never be equal: the Koran outlines specific codes of life for both genders,” protester Mohammad Shihab Uddin, 53, told AFP. He is leader of a women’s madrassa, a religious school.

“There is no way we can go beyond that.”

AP reports leaders of the Hefazat-e-Islam group said the proposed legal reforms – ensuring a range of freedoms for women – are contradictory to Sharia law and an affront to Islam.

More than 20,000 followers of the group rallied near the Dhaka University, some carrying banners and placards reading “Say no to Western laws on our women, rise up Bangladesh.”

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Effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure on cancer in laboratory animal studies, a systematic review

More than ten years ago, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a monograph concluding there was limited evidence in experimental animals for carcinogenicity of Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Field (RF EMF).

Objective

The objective of this review was to systematically evaluate the effects of RF EMF exposure on cancer in experimental animals.

Methods

Eligibility criteria: Based on pre-established Populations, Exposures, Comparators, Outcomes, and Study Type (PECOS) criteria, studies in experimental animals of the following study types were included: chronic cancer bioassays, initiation-(co–)promotion studies, and studies with tumor-prone animals.

Information sources: MEDLINE (PubMed), Science Citation Index Expanded and Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science), and the EMF Portal.

Data abstraction and synthesis: Data are publicly available online as interactive visuals with downloadable metadata. We adapted the risk-of-bias (RoB) tool developed by Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) to include considerations pertinent to the evaluation of RF EMF exposure and cancer bioassays. Study sensitivity was assessed with a tool adopted from the Report on Carcinogens (RoC). We synthesized studies using a narrative approach. Effect size was calculated as the 1% Bayesian Average benchmark dose (BMD) of a respective study when dose–response or a trend was identified (see BMDAnalysisSupplementaryMaterial) (Supplement 1).

Evidence Assessment: Certainty of the evidence (CoE) was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Developing and Evaluations (GRADE) approach, as refined by OHAT. Evidence from chronic cancer bioassays was considered the most directly applicable to evaluation of carcinogenicity.

Results

We included 52 studies with 20 chronic bioassays No studies were excluded based on risk of bias concerns. Studies were not considered suitable for meta-analysis due to heterogeneity in study design, species, strain, sex, exposure characteristics, and cancer outcome. No or minimal evidence of RF EMF exposure-related cancer outcomes was found in most systems or organs in any study (these included gastrointestinal/digestive, kidney, mammary gland, urinary, endocrine, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and auditory).

For lymphoma (18 studies), with 6 chronic bioassays (1,120 mice, 1,780 rats) inconsistency between two chronic bioassays was not plausibly explainable, and the CoE for lymphoma was rated ‘moderate’.

For brain tumors (20 studies), including 5 chronic bioassays (1,902 mice, 6,011 rats), an increase in glial cell-derived neoplasms was reported in two chronic bioassays in male rats. The CoE for an increased risk in glioma was judged as high. The BMD analysis was statistically significant for only one study and the BMD was 4.25 (95% CI 2.70, 10.24).

For neoplasms of the heart (4 chronic bioassays with 6 experiments), 3 studies were performed in rats (∼2,165 animals), and 1 in mice (∼720 animals). Based on 2 bioassays, statistically significant increases in malignant schwannomas was judged as high CoE for an increase in heart schwannomas in male rats. The BMDs from the two positive studies were 1.92 (95 %CI 0.71, 4.15) and 0.177 (95 %CI 0.125, 0.241), respectively.

Twelve studies reported neoplasms in the adrenal gland (5 chronic bioassays). The CoE for an increased risk in pheochromocytoma was judged as moderate. None of these findings were dose-dependent when compared to the sham controls.

Sixteen studies investigated tumors of the liver with 5 of these being chronic bioassays. The CoE was evaluated as moderate for hepatoblastomas.

For neoplasms of the lung (3 chronic bioassays), 8 studies were conducted in rats (∼1,296 animals) and 23 studies in mice (∼2,800 animals). In one chronic bioassay, a statistically significant positive trend was reported for bronchoalveolar adenoma or carcinoma (combined), which was rated as moderate CoE for an increase in lung neoplasms with some evidence from 2 initiation-(co–)promotion studies.

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DHS Announces They Will Pay for Flights of Illegals Who Want to Self-Deport and Give Them a Stipend – Here is How Much Money This New Policy Will Save Taxpayers

The Department of Homeland Security has announced a creative way to ensure illegal aliens leave the country while saving taxpayers money.

As Fox News’s Bill Melugin reported this morning, the DHS announced it would start paying for the commercial flights of illegals who self-deport America. In addition, the government will also pay these illegals $1,000 extra once they are confirmed to have left the country.

To qualify, illegal immigrants must register on the CBP border app and file their notice to leave America. Moreover, illegal migrants who self-deport will be able to come back to America in the future, provided they use the legal channels.

Bill Melugin notes that the DHS told Fox News that this would result in tremendous savings for American taxpayers. Right now, it costs over $17,000 to detain, arrest, and deport someone from America.

But if an illegal accepts the offer of self-deportation, the self-removal flights and the stipend will cost only $4,500 per illegal. This is a savings of at least $12,500 for just one invader or 70% savings for the taxpayer alone.

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CBS scores Emmy nomination for ‘60 Minutes’ Kamala Harris interview at center of $20B Trump suit

The controversial “60 Minutes” interview at the center of President Trump’s high-stakes lawsuit against CBS News is now an Emmy-nominated program. 

The nominations for the 46th News & Documentary Emmy Awards were announced Thursday.

“60 Minutes” landed several nods, most notably in the Outstanding Edited Interview category for its primetime special featuring then-Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. 

Other nominees in that category include CBS’ interviews with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the late Pope Francis, as well as NBC’s interview with Celine Dion and ABC’s interview with Brittney Griner.  

“Of course it’s nominated for best editing because it takes some serious talent to edit Kamala’s answer into something that’s coherent and understandable, which in the end they still failed to do,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.

Neither CBS News nor representatives for Trump’s legal team responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

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No, State Media And Democracy Don’t Go “Hand In Hand.” Just The Opposite

The press watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or FAIR.org, which I read regularly as a young reporter, weighed in on the NPR debate:

One could look at this threat as part of Trump’s general distrust of major media and desire to seek revenge against outlets he believes have been unfair to him… Going after public broadcasters is also a part of the neo-fascist playbook authoritarian leaders around the world are using to clamp down on dissent and keep the public in the dark, all in the name of protecting the people from partisan reporting. That’s largely because strong public media systems and open democracy go hand in hand.

Titled “Cuts to PBS, NPR Part of Authoritarian Playbook,” the above is either satire or written by someone consciously ignoring the history of state media. Yes, Car Talk and the MacNeil/Lehrer report were cool, but outlets like Neues Deustchland, Télé Zaïre, and Tung Padewat more often went “hand in hand” with fingernail factories or firing squads than democracy. It’s bizarre to see Americans trying to whitewash this.

The office of my first full-time reporting job with the Moscow Times was in the Pravda building. I used to spend lunch hours walking through the doors shown in the photo above, beering up in a cafeteria with writers from the sports section of Komsomolskaya Pravda, at the time the Guinness Book record-holder for world’s largest circulation. With over 21 million readers, “Komsomolka” sure as hell qualified as “strong public media,” but hardly went “hand in hand” with democracy. Like the rest of ex-Soviet media, its owed its circulation to decades of forcing insane lies on readers, like cheery dispatches about the “Doctor’s Plot” purges of 1953.

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