Denver
Legalizing pot: Voters will decide this fall whether recreational marijuana use should be legal in Colorado, setting up a possible showdown with the federal government over its authority to outlaw America’s most commonly used illicit drug. A referendum will be placed on the ballot this November asking voters whether adults should be allowed to possess up to one ounce of marijuana or six plants without a doctor’s recommendation. Colorado will be the second state, after Washington, to put the issue before voters; no state currently permits recreational use of the drug. “The time is right,” said advocate Mason Tvert, citing a December poll by Public Policy Polling that showed 49 percent of Colorado voters supported legalization. The state voted down a similar initiative in 2006, but legalized medical use in 2000. A recent Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana use, up from 36 percent five years ago.
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky
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Deadly tornadoes: An estimated 13 people were killed this week as a line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across the Midwest. In Harrisburg, Ill., where 10 deaths were reported, more than 100 people were injured and 300 homes destroyed or damaged when an apparent tornado touched down at 5 a.m. Three other deaths were reported in Missouri, where severe storms raked a mobile home park outside the town of Buffalo. In Branson, Mo., dozens of people were treated for injuries after a twister ripped through the downtown tourist district. “The theater next to me kind of exploded,” said local diner owner John Moore. “The hotels on the two sides of me lost their roofs. Power lines are down. Windows are blown out.” Tornadoes were also recorded in Kansas and Kentucky, and forecasters warned of more to come, even before the start of the spring tornado season.
Chardon, Ohio
Three dead in school shooting: A lone teenage gunman opened fire in a high school cafeteria this week, killing three students and wounding two others. T.J. Lane, 17, a student at a nearby school for at-risk youth, reportedly confessed to the shootings at Chardon High School, in a small blue-collar town about 30 miles from Cleveland. Armed with a .22 caliber pistol, Lane fired 10 shots at a table of students, choosing his victims at random, authorities said. Lane revealed no motive for the shooting, but police produced his Facebook page, on which he ended a hate-filled poem with the line: “Die, all of you.” A prosecutor described him as “not well.’’ Calling the incident “an unspeakable tragedy,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that if it were not for “the extraordinary courage’’ of an unarmed teacher who chased the shooter out of the school, “the toll of these shootings could have been even worse.”
Washington, D.C.
9/11 remains mishandled: The remains of 9/11 victims were incinerated and sent to a landfill by a military contractor, according to an independent report released this week. While looking into mismanagement at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary, investigators found that portions of unidentified remains from the attacks on the Pentagon were reportedly cremated and placed in containers at the mortuary. The containers were then incinerated and disposed of in an unidentified landfill. “The fact that we failed to ship only seven of the more than 2,400-plus portions represents, from a purely statistical perspective, success but falls short of the ‘zero-defect’ operation we and the Department of Defense expect,” a 2002 Defense Department internal memo said. The Dover mortuary, which is the country’s entry point for war dead, has been under intense criticism for mishandling the remains of deceased soldiers. A federal probe last year said it had found “gross mismanagement” after whistle-blowers reported incidents of lost body parts, shoddy record-keeping, and lax supervision there.
Annapolis, Md.
Gay marriage passes: Cheers and applause erupted from onlookers in the State House last week as Maryland moved one step closer to becoming the eighth state to legalize same-sex marriage. The 25–22 vote in the Senate ended a year-long showdown that pitted religious leaders against liberal Democrats in a state where polls show the issue has split the electorate 50–50. Before Gov. Martin O’Malley even signed the bill, African-American church leaders vowed to start a petition drive to repeal it. Gay-rights advocate David Mixner said the ongoing conflict calls for an election-year decision from President Obama. The president has never publicly supported gay marriage, but has stated that his views were “evolving.” “We can’t afford to have his statement be ambiguous,” said Mixner.
Richmond, Va.
Abortion bill revised: Under mounting political pressure, the Virginia legislature narrowly adopted a revised bill this week that requires doctors to perform an ultrasound on women before they have an abortion, but stops short of insisting on an invasive vaginal procedure. The original bill set off a storm of protests from women’s groups and critics, who denounced the requirement as “state rape.” Gov. Bob McDonnell, a possible Republican vice presidential candidate, insisted that lawmakers drop the provision demanding the internal ultrasound. The passage of the revised bill this week all but assures that Virginia will become the eighth state to require pre-abortion ultrasounds. Ralph Northam, the only physician in the state Senate, called the bill “a tremendous assault on women’s health care and a tremendous insult to physicians.”
