Free Republic

As hemp makes a comeback in the U.S. after a decades-long ban on its cultivation, scientists are reporting that fibers from the plant can pack as much energy and power as graphene, long-touted as the model material for supercapacitors, according to David Mitlin, Ph.D. Supercapacitors are energy storage devices that have huge potential to transform the way future electronics are powered. Unlike today’s rechargeable batteries, which sip up energy over several hours, supercapacitors can charge and discharge within seconds. But they normally can’t store nearly as much energy as batteries, an important property known as energy density. One approach researchers...

A neighbor says he heard the cries of a 9-month-old boy who authorities believe later starved after his mother died of an apparent overdose inside their Pittsburgh-area apartment. William Gonzalez tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ( http://bit.ly/1BdYU7k ) he heard the cries of little Casey Kessler when he went in and out of the apartment building in Millvale but didn't think much of it at the time. Gonzalez says he feels horrible.

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Santa Ana police are investigating the death of a 40-year -old transgender woman who attended a silicone injection party in December. KNX 1070’s Mike Landa reports the woman is believed to be the latest victim in a nationwide trend of transgender women who want to look more feminine by getting injected with industrial-type silicone through cattle syringes.

FLORENCE, Ky. – Briana and Kaitlyn Himes said they feel lucky they're not planning a funeral for their parents after five adults overdosed on heroin at their parents' mobile home Saturday. While the adults got high and passed out, three children they were supposed to be caring for – ages 1, 11 and 12 - were in the house with them, according to a Boone County deputy's report. The Himes sisters said the adults might have died if their uncle, Michael Young, hadn't arrived just in time to save them.

With marijuana legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington; decriminalized in 13 more states; and available by prescription in 6 more; there is a growing concern about driving and other activities while under the influence. Several companies are rushing to provide a breathalyzer to accommodate these concerns. The device is timely, since there is currently no way to verify recent marijuana use without taking spit or urine samples – a practice that would involve the collection of DNA and potentially run afoul of sections 7 and 8 of the 4th Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure.

Given the link between alcohol consumption during pregnancy and birth defects, should expectant mothers who drink be arrested for assault? If not, it is hard to see why Mallory Loyola is in jail. Loyola, who was arrested last week after giving birth to a baby girl who tested positive for amphetamine, is the first woman to be charged under a new Tennessee law that criminalizes drug consumption by pregnant women. The law, ostensibly aimed at protecting children, is really about punishing what its chief sponsor described as "the worst of the worst": women who not only use arbitrarily proscribed intoxicants...

As the U.S.-Mexico border has been inundated with children crossing alone and ending up detained in U.S. facilities, liquid methamphetamines are also flowing across the border. The liquid form allows smugglers to disguise the substance in beverage and repurposed plastic containers until reaching a meth house where it is cooked down to crystal form to be sold. An Associated Press report quoted John Donnelly, once in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Fresno office, who said of the Central Valley, “We're the source point for Seattle, Portland, Alaska and as far east as the Carolinas." The Central Valley is...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — In methamphetamine's seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico.

EAST LIBERTY, Pa. — A 26-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday after police said undercover agents purchased heroin from the woman while she was working at the East Liberty McDonald’s. According to Mike Manko, a spokesperson for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, authorities received information that heroin was being sold by an employee at the McDonald’s Restaurant on Penn Avenue in the Bakery Square section of East Liberty. Manko said several law enforcement officers set up a controlled buy at the restaurant Wednesday. Investigators said the customer looking for heroin was instructed to go through the drive-through lane and say,...

MCDONALD, Pa., - Police in Pennsylvania said they responded to a report of two men burning something in a shed and discovered an alleged moonshine making operation. McDonald police said Midway residents called officers to their neighborhood April 11 with a report of neighbors burning something in a shed and one witness told police he suspected they were making moonshine because he had seen a man loading Mason jars into a vehicle, The (Washington, Pa.) Observer reported Tuesday. Police said they entered the shed to discover Matthew Zirwas III, 33, and Matthew Kirks, 29, operating what appeared to be an...

Yes it is time for another “Hippie Report” from Humboldt county Ca. Join us as we explore The Triad of Death. Humboldt State University, the Ciy of Arcata Ca., and The glorification of marijuana aimed at the youth of the community by the local newspaper - The North Coast Journal. 01/07/09

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, California (CNN) -- Beyond the towering trees that have stood here for thousands of years, an intense drug war is being waged. Illegal immigrants connected to Mexico's drug cartels are growing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marijuana in the heart of one of America's national treasures, authorities say. It's a booming business that, federal officials say, feeds Mexico's most violent drug traffickers. "These aren't Cheech and Chong plants," said John Walters, director of the National Drug Control Policy. "People who farm now are not doing this for laughs, despite the fact Hollywood still thinks that....