The Social Climber: Feds Face Quandary on Pot Laws
Fifty-two percent of adults favor legalizing marijuana, according to Pew.
June 29, 2013— -- quicklist: 1
Title: Feds Face Pot Law Quandary: Smoke Up or Just Say No? Text: When it comes to marijuana, the country has gone from "just say no" to medical marijuana being legal in 18 states and Washington, D.C, and now two states ending the prohibition on recreational use. That leaves federal lawmakers struggling with how to approach the sticky subject.
Colorado and Washington have both legalized it for recreational use, and are examing how ro regulate state-wide pot growing and distribution industries, despite federal prohibition.
As supporters push for more states to join the legalization movement, opponents voice concerns about whether making marijuana legal would mean more teens and even children smoking pot.
"Think about it: Do you want a nation where your young people are stoned?" Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the national Institute on Drug Abuse, told The Associated Press.
Yet 52 percent of adults favor legalizing marijuana, up 11 percentage points just since 2010, according to the Pew Research Center. Sixty percent think Washington shouldn't enforce federal laws against marijuana in states that have approved its use.
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Title: Beyoncé Reveals New Photos of Blue IvyText: Blue Ivy may only be 17 months old, but it is clear Beyoncé is training her that girls run the world.
The "Love on Top" singer, 31, took to her Tumblr account to post photos of her daughter. In one snapshot, she's seen sporting a bejeweled crown, while another photo revealed a glammed-up Beyoncé and her baby girl sharing a private moment.
Blue Ivy may have even inherited her mom's killer fashion sense, if Beyoncé's snaps of a mini-champagne colored dress and Baby Tom Ford stilettos are any indication.
"In the back of my mind, she's my priority," Beyoncé said earlier this year of her daughter. "Life is completely different now. So I'm -- I feel really, really just lucky that I can still do what I love and now have a way bigger meaning. And that's to be her mother."
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Title: Jeep's Recall Flip-Flop Leaves Owners Baffled by Safety Concerns Text: Nearly 3 million Jeep Grand Cherokee drivers are left in limbo after the government and Chrysler continue their tug of war over whether the car is safe to drive.
The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration mandated a recall of 2.7 million older models of Jeep SUVs in early June, citing the location of the vehicles' fuel-tanks as cause for concern.
Following a nearly three-year investigation, the NHTSA found the fuel tank could rupture, leak and cause fires in rear-end crashes, The Associated Press reported.
But outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne compromised last week to lessen the callback to only 1.5 million vehicles, removing about 1.2 million Jeep Grand Cherokees, model years 1999 to 2004, from the recall, the AP reported.
Chrysler indicated it would contact owners in this group and offer to inspect affected vehicles, according to a NHSTA statement. But not all owners are driving off worry-free.
"It's in my mind that if a car crashes into the back of me, that I've got to be on my toes and I've got to get out," Els Sipkes, who drives a 2000 Grand Cherokee, told the AP.
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Title: Danica Patrick: I'm Not Just a 'Marketing Machine' Text: Race car driver Danica Patrick dismissed NASCAR television analyst and former racer Kyle Petty's criticisms of her prowess on the speedway after he accused her of being merely a "marketing machine."
"She can go fast, but she can't race," Petty said Thursday on Speed's "Race Hub" show.
"I really don't care," she said Friday during a news conference at Kentucky Speedway. "It's true that there are plenty of people who say bad things about me. I read them. People want me to die. At the end of the day, you get over that stuff and trust you are doing a good job."
Patrick's former boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., stuck up for her.
"If she was not able to compete, I think you might be able to say [Petty] has an argument," he said. "But she's out there running competitively and running strong on several accounts. I think that she has got a good opportunity and a rightful position in the sport to keep competing and she just might surprise even Kyle Petty."
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Title: Bollywood Star Returns Home to India 'Cancer Free'Text: Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala returned to her home in Mumbai, India, after spending six months in New York City undergoing chemotherapy to fight ovarian cancer.
"Manisha has landed in India and she is absolutely fine now. She is looking as gorgeous as she was before," Koirala's manager Subroto Ghosh told the Indo-Asian News Service.
Koirala took to Facebook to reveal that her doctors had declared her "cancer free" in May, which she referred to as her "rebirth."
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