The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There was no possibility, in my view, that Ms. Lerner would be given a fair opportunity to speak, to answer questions or to tell the truth.”

William Taylor, the lawyer for Lois Lerner, a former Internal Revenue Service official who refused to answer questions at a hearing over the agency’s targeting of conservative groups Article, 2A

Washington licenses first ‘pot’ business

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington state issued its first legal-marijuana business license Wednesday, beginning a new phase in the state’s effort to regulate a market that has been illegal for more than 75 years.

Sean Green, who has operated medical-marijuana dispensaries in Spokane and the Seattle suburb of Shoreline, proclaimed the document “beautiful” as it was handed to him at a state Liquor Control Board meeting in Olympia.

The license will allow him to grow 21,000 square feet of cannabis at his Spokane facility - the first marijuana that will be grown for sale under the highly taxed system approved by voters in 2012. The possession of marijuana became legal for adults over 21 soon after the vote, but it’s still illegal to grow or sell it for recreational use until marijuana shops open in the state later this year.

Sales began Jan. 1 in Colorado, the only other state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. But Colorado already had a regulated medical-marijuana system and simply began by allowing medical dispensaries to sell recreational “pot.” Washington had no regulated medical system.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Arizona’s abortion-drug limits draw suit

PHOENIX - Abortion providers announced Wednesday that they have sued Arizona to try to block new state rules limiting the use of the most common abortion-inducing drugs.

The federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson by Planned Parenthood Arizona and Tucson Women’s Center alleges that the new rules required under a 2012 law will effectively block the ability of many women to use medication abortions. Lawyers for the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America are representing them.

The rules released in January by the Arizona Department of Health Services are set to take effect April 1. They require that the most common abortion-inducing drug be administered only at the FDA-approved dosage no later than seven weeks into a pregnancy rather than nine weeks, and that both doses be taken at a clinic.

The usual dose is lower and usually taken at home, decreasing the cost and the chance of complications.

Drug-treated, 2nd infant tests HIV-free

BOSTON - When scientists made the stunning announcement last year that a Mississippi baby born with HIV had apparently been cured through aggressive drug treatment just 30 hours after birth, there was immediate skepticism that the child had ever been infected in the first place.

But on Wednesday, the existence of a second such baby was revealed at an AIDS conference, leaving little doubt that the treatment works. A leading researcher said that there might be five more such cases in Canada and three in South Africa.

And a clinical trial in which up to 60 babies who are born infected will be put on drugs within 48 hours is set to begin soon, another researcher added.

The first infant to make an apparent recovery from HIV infection, now more than 3 years old, is still virus-free, said Dr. Deborah Persaud, a virologist who has run ultra sensitive tests on both children.

The second baby, a girl born in Long Beach, Calif., is now 9 months old and apparently free of the virus that causes AIDS.

Detroiters leap from burning apartments

DETROIT - A fire ripped through a Detroit apartment building early Wednesday, forcing dozens of adults and children to leap to safety from second- and third-story windows as the flames intensified.

Arson investigators and cadaver dogs were set to begin sifting through the charred wood and brick rubble at the Jason Manor Apartments on the west side of the city later in the day. No deaths had been reported, but the dogs were on standby because some residents still had not been found by early Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s hard to nail down,” said Detroit Fire Department Capt. Pat McNulty, who added that some people leave on their own or get rides from relatives after fires.

The collapsed roof made it hard for firefighters to search, said Tracy Thomas, a fire battalion chief. Thomas was hopeful no bodies would be recovered.

At least four people were taken to hospitals and several others were treated for minor injuries at the scene, according to Fire Commissioner Jonathan Jackson.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/06/2014

Upcoming Events