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ID cards prevent medical pot smokers from arrest Associated Press Feb. 13, 2002 08:15:00 SAN DIEGO - It's a license to use pot - but only in San Diego. The San Diego City Council has approved an ID card that will protect sick people who use marijuana from being arrested. Cardholders will be able to carry up to an ounce of marijuana under the plan, which was thought up by a citizens task force. The program also will have a 24-hour hotline police can call to verify the cardholders' identification. The start of the program is still about six ...

Copyright © 2002 AP Online The Associated Press SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (February 12, 2002 7:49 p.m. EST) - The creator of an alleged tax-avoidance system targeted by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service refused voluntary extradition to the United States on Tuesday. Police arrested Anderson's Ark founder Keith Anderson on Saturday in Heredia, near the capital, San Jose. He is wanted on U.S. charges that include money laundering, fraud, and tax evasion. Court spokeswoman Maria Isabel Hernandez said Anderson refused voluntary extradition to the United States and will remain in a San Jose jail while his case is decided. ...

Government's War on Raves Went Too Far, Louisiana Court Rules NEW ORLEANS--The American Civil Liberties Union scored a victory today when U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous ruled that prosecutors cannot force the organizers of a rave dance party to ban pacifiers or glow sticks. According to the ACLU complaint, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has banned symbols of rave culture such as masks, glow sticks and pacifiers from a prominent New Orleans dance venue, saying that these items constitute "drug paraphernalia." But since the law defines paraphernalia as items that can be used to ingest drugs, the ACLU ...

Co-owner Wooldridge: 'We are a perfect fit' Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. -- State officials and the owners of the Charlotte Hornets appeared to be on the verge of completing a deal to bring the NBA team to New Orleans. "We are a perfect fit. We love New Orleans. We're bringing a very good team here," Ray Wooldridge, co-owner of the team with George Shinn, said after a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Gov. Mike Foster. Wooldridge and Foster said a deal could be announced Thursday or Friday. However, Foster also urged reporters to listen to his Thursday afternoon radio show ...

Monday, January 7 Differences caused 'the irretrievable breakdown' Associated Press CHICAGO -- Michael Jordan's wife has filed for divorce, seeking to dissolve her 13-year marriage to the world's most famous basketball player, the Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site Monday night. In a petition filed Friday in circuit court in Waukegan, Ill., Juanita Jordan cited "irreconcilable differences" in seeking a dissolution of her marriage to Jordan. She seeks permanent custody of the couple's three children, the 25,000-square-foot "marital residence" in Highland Park and half the couple's property. The petition listed the couple as J. Vanoy Jordan and M. ...

Will Mexico Pull Away From Latin America? December 29, 2001 08:01 PM ET By Andrew Hurst MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - While the world is transfixed by the U.S.-led war on terrorism, a geopolitical shift is under way in Latin America which may widen in 2002. Countries such as Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina flounder in South America, but Mexico is more firmly anchored than ever to its mighty neighbor, the United States, and appears set fair to weather financial storms that may lie ahead. In the language of emerging market economists, Mexico is seen as having "decoupled" from Latin America. It ...

Friday December 14 1:59 PM ET Italy Ready to Play Major Part in Afghan Force E.U. Agrees to Create Peacekeeping Force in Afghanistan (Reuters) ROME (Reuters) - Italy is ready to contribute up to 1,000 men for a planned multinational peacekeeping force for Afghanistan (news - web sites), Under-Secretary for Defense Salvatore Cicu said on Friday. ``(Our contribution) will certainly be significant -- in terms of numbers and quality,'' Cicu told reporters. ``Nothing has been decided yet, but our best men will certainly be made available.'' Britain has offered to lead the multinational force and is awaiting authorization from the ...

Big Brother was watching How Bill Clinton laid the groundwork for the new police state. By A.C. Thompson LIBERALS ARE AGHAST : the war on terrorism is turning out to be a war on civil liberties. Like a pair of steroid-crazed pro wrestlers, the Bush-Ashcroft tag team is running amok. They're shredding the Constitution and handing scary new powers to cops and FBI agents and just about anyone else in law enforcement or intelligence. "We are all suspects, if Ashcroft has his way," syndicated columnist Molly Ivins howled Dec. 6. Facing the Senate that same day, the attorney general ...

House passes bill to create black-heritage museum December 12, 2001 Posted: 12:10 PM EST (1710 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- A proposal to create a national museum to recognize contributions of black Americans gained ground as the House of Representatives passed a bill that begins planning for the monument. The measure, passed by voice vote, creates a presidential commission to handle planning and logistics for a National Museum of African-American History and Culture. The 23-member commission would essentially be charged with creating a blueprint for the museum's eventual completion, lawmakers said. Black lawmakers have long pushed for the museum. The commission, ...

White House Watch: THC madness The drug war blunders on: The DEA is cracking down on hempseed oil in tortilla chips Sunday, December 09, 2001 By Ann McFeatters WASHINGTON - And now, for something completely different, to borrow a phrase from Monty Python. The three earnest young men burdened with plastic bags came to the office bearing food. Pretzels with seeds. A snack bar. An energy bar. Tortilla chips. Never mind the caloric sin. We're talking serious evil here. Or so the government says. Unless you are an avid reader of the Federal Register and perused the tiny print of ...

Killed by pirates America's Cup hero Blake shot dead on Amazon river Peter Blake, who died at the age of 53, won the New Zealand Sportsman of the Year award twice. Nick Wilson/Allsport SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Peter Blake, one of the world's most accomplished sailors who headed the New Zealand crew that won the America's Cup in 1995 and 2000, was shot and killed by river pirates during a robbery of his boat on the Amazon River in northern Brazil, police said Thursday. Blake was shot dead late Wednesday during a holdup aboard his 119-foot (36-meter) yacht, the ...

World: War-torn Colombia in shock after civilian massacre Copyright © 2001 AP Online By JARED KOTLER, Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (December 5, 2001 10:25 a.m. EST) - The bus was rambling along an arid, remote stretch of Colombian highway when gunmen in ski masks parked a car in its way and forced the driver to stop. Then the travelers on board were forced off the bus and made to lie down in a row along the pavement. The gunmen then shot 15 people twice in the back of the head. Engineers. School teachers. The bus driver. When the corpses ...

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer October 24, 2001, 10:21 PM EDT TEHRAN, Iran -- The Third Muslim Women Games -- which draws female athletes from 27 countries -- opened Wednesday with a concert by a female singer. It marked the first time a woman performed here to an audience that included men since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Thousands of spectators, mostly women, filled the Tehran University stadium for the ceremony, singing and waving flags as five young Iranian athletes dressed in white-and-pink robes and black Islamic head scarves took a lap around the grounds in horse-drawn chariots. One ...

Flock of whooping cranes takes off from Wisconsin October 18, 2001 NECEDAH WILDLIFE PRESERVE - A flock of whooping cranes, led by their human guides, flew the first leg yesterday of a planned journey to Florida, where scientists hope to establish a second migratory flock of the rare birds. On a brisk overcast morning, nine of the 5-foot-tall (1.5 metre) cranes took off from this central Wisconsin refuge, completing the initial 29-mile (47 km) leg of their 1,250-mile (2,000 km) trip in a fast 44 minutes, said Joan Guilfoyle of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A ninth crane separated ...

Thursday October 4, 4:23 PM International media create havoc as they pour into Afghanistan JABAL SERAJ, Afghanistan, Oct 4 (AFP) - As the world waits for a US attack on Afghanistan, scores of international journalists have poured into this remote country, ill-prepared to accommodate for such an invasion. Barred from entering Taliban-ruled Afghanistan because the regime has refused to issue a single visa, several hundred Western journalists have converged on the opposition-held zone in the north. All routes are virtually blocked apart from through neighbouring Tajikistan. Most reporters, who flew to Dushanbe a fortnight ago hoping to hop across the ...

Students meet, prepare to establish gay fraternity at Duke By Matt Bradley A poster in the Center for Lesbian, Gay , Bisexual and Transgender Life advertises a gay fraternity some students hope to bring to Duke. Delta Lambda Phi, a nationally recognized social fraternity for gay, bisexual and gay-allied men, hopes to establish itself at the University by the end of the year. Forming a colony is the first step in what founders hope will become a nationally recognized chapter in the future. After a meeting Sept. 22, the club--currently designated as an interest group--had six members and hopes to ...

Audit: Customs Dept. Lost Computers Updated: Wed, Sep 19 8:08 PM EDT By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Customs Service, which is responsible for tracking down and stopping dangerous materials from entering the country, lost 1,134 of its computers over the past three years, a government audit shows. Treasury officials said they were not sure whether any of the computers held sensitive government data. "At this point, we don't know whether any of these missing items pose a national security risk," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "We ...

September 18, 2001 BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST WASHINGTON--As President Bush and his highly experienced national security team Monday pondered a way for America to fight the war against terrorism, there was agreement on only one point: something must--and will--be done very soon. Otherwise, there was sharp disagreement between the State and Defense departments. State would like to isolate Afghanistan as the source of the terrorist contagion. Defense contends that the real hubs of terrorism are spread out across the entire Middle East. For the short term, if Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime does not surrender terrorist leader Osama bin ...

Powell comes to fore in Bush's hour of need Veteran rises to occasion and moves closer to seat of power Martin Kettle Saturday September 15, 2001 The Guardian Throughout the 10 years and more since the Gulf war, public opinion polls in the US have repeatedly shown one man to be the most admired American of the era. In each of the two most recent presidential elections he has been under pressure to run for the White House. If he ran he would be hard to beat. But on both occasions he has stood aside. Today, though, as the US ...

Giuliani enjoys life as part of the odd trio Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday September 4, 2001 The Guardian The turbulent life of New York's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has never quite imitated art. It has been closer to a television sit-com, and never more so than now. In an earlier episode, the man known as Hizzoner (New York for His Honour) was ejected from his official mansion by his estranged wife. Now we learn that the mayor is crashing in the spare room of his friends' house where his hosts, a gay couple, insist that he make his bed ...