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Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is pushing legislation to make it easier for gun owners in the state to have their firearms confiscated. Her push is being done in response to the October 25, 2023, Lewiston shootings, in which Robert Card killed 18 people. Maine already has a yellow flag law, which allows police to secure a judge’s order to confiscate firearms from a gun owner believed to be a threat to himself or others. On July 1, 2022, Maine Public Radio focused on Maine’s yellow flag law, suggesting it “could be a model for gun control” and noting the...

The right to carry a concealed weapon in California is mostly reserved for those at risk of violence — jewelers, bail bondsmen and criminal prosecutors among them. But some legislators say their job has become dangerous too. Despite objections from some law enforcement officials and even gun rights advocates, they want a law that would make it easier for them to tote firearms for protection. The lawmakers cite the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in Tucson and threats from constituents in California as cause for permits to carry weapons. "I've had guys physically come up to me

A state senator from Cape May has introduced a bill (S-2264) to make it easier for New Jerseyeans to carry handguns. Jeff Van Drew, who owns two guns himself, proposes that New Jerseyeans should be able to carry guns if they take a gun safety class, pass a rigorous background check and pay an annual $500 licensing fee. Gun control advocates, unsurprisingly, hate the measure, which is modeled on a similar program in Pennsylvania. Gun groups think the $500 fee is excessive.

EVERETT — When the government prepared to count everyone a decade ago, a lot of the people it hired changed their minds and walked off the job. “Ten years ago, they were trying to find people who wanted to work,” Leland Dart, who manages the Everett office of the U.S. Census Bureau, said Thursday. “This time, that's not an issue.” Dart, who will be in charge of gathering census information this spring from Snohomish County to the Canadian border in Western Washington, is preparing to hire about 1,000 temporary, part-time workers throughout the northern Puget Sound area. The pay for...

WASHINGTON — There'll be no parade this time for President Barack Obama . No grand speech from the west front of the Capitol, no fireworks, no glittery balls to kick off the second year of his presidency on Wednesday, as there were for the first. Just a lot of hard work, an agenda full of unresolved problems and perhaps a more sober sense of just what's possible for the 48-year-old president, who's a little grayer now than he was a year ago. He faces a country that's struggling to find its footing after a staggering recession, a nation that's starting...

SIERRA VISTA — The new Veterans Administration Sierra Vista Community Based Outpatient Clinic was officially dedicated Wednesday, adding to the growing number of specialized federal medical facilities throughout the nation. Each week a million veterans are treated in VA medical facilities throughout the nation, with most of them in community clinics, which are seen to be more efficient and effective, said Patricia A. McKlem, director of the federal agency’s Southwest Health Care Network, which is located in Mesa. American citizens have been given the gift of living in the United States, and part of the responsibility they have is to...

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has launched a new system to sign up organ and tissue donors, hoping to significantly increase the state's pool of donations. Those applying for or renewing a driver's license or ID card can now register by checking "yes" at the organ and tissue donor option, officials said Monday. The decision has legal standing and is automatically transmitted to the state's donor registry, taking the decision about whether to donate out of a family's hands. "Now, for the first time, each and every one of the 23 million licensed California drivers will have an effective,...

PHOENIX - Siding with public sentiment over prosecutors, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation Monday to make it easier for those who kill others to claim self-defense. The action on SB 1145 came despite a plea from the association that represents prosecutors from around the state who urged her to reject the measure because of provisions that would put new requirements on them to convict those who say they had no choice but to shoot another person. But gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said Napolitano received more than 1,200 e-mail messages in the last 24 hours urging her to sign the...

Breathing Easier with Vitamin D Janet Raloff Most people associate vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, with strong bones. But studies in the past few years have linked this essential nutrient to a bonanza of additional benefits—from fighting cancer and diabetes to strengthening muscles. Physicians in New Zealand have now linked the vitamin to yet one more apparent advantage: improved lung function. Peter N. Black is a University of Auckland internist with a research interest in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)—a category including diseases most people know as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Classic signs of COPD are holes in lung tissue...

11/23/2005 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- The U.S. Central Command Air Forces aerial port control center here makes it easier to move troops and cargo through this region each day. That includes tons of cargo and thousands of troops and is a process that takes a lot planning and coordination, officials said. The center cuts a step out of the process. The center, located in the air mobility division of the combined air operations center here, eliminates the need for theater aerial ports to coordinate travel with ports in the United States. Instead, aerial ports, terminal units and customers in...

Thrift Savings Plan makes saving, investing easier Journalist Seaman David Beyea, USS Kitty Hawk public affairs Posted 11/4/2002 ---------------------------------------------------- ABOARD USS KITTY HAWK AT SEA -- Senior Chief Torpedoman’s Mate (SW/AW) Ron Wood, from Sylacauga, Ala., informs Sailors about the benefits of the Thrift Savings Plan. (U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Justin Proulx) ABOARD USS KITTY HAWK AT SEA -- Saving for retirement has become easier for Sailors on board USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) with the Thrift Savings Plan. According to the summary of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for the uniformed services, compiled by the...

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The Minnesota affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to go to court to force Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer to expand the type of documents voters can use to prove they are properly registered on Election Day. "We're prepared to sue," said Chuck Samuelson, the ACLU's executive director.

Folks are complaining that government took God out of public life, but they fear trying to do anything about it. Much of our common language is now censored in favor of "political correctness" and it probably will not be long before making any derogatory remark will be a federal felony. Today, instead of teaching kids patriotism and American history in school, parents stand by and allow their kids to be taught the feel-good benefits and joys of foreign cultures by socialist leaning public school teachers. Even in government schools, American patriotism is somehow painted in a bad light in favor...