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Jack Gerard (left), a leader in the Mormon church, stands with Heather Nelson and her son Matthew, 10, after an August news conference in Salt Lake City on Utah’s medical marijuana ballot initiative.
Jack Gerard (left), a leader in the Mormon church, stands with Heather Nelson and her son Matthew, 10, after an August news conference in Salt Lake City on Utah’s medical marijuana ballot initiative.

Mormons support Utah cannabis deal

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Mormon church is backing a deal that would legalize medical marijuana in conservative Utah after months of fierce debate.

The church is joining lawmakers, the governor and advocates in a deal Thursday to push medical marijuana forward, even if a November ballot initiative fails.

Gov. Gary Herbert said he'll call lawmakers into a special session after the Nov. 6 election to pass the compromise into law.

Leaders of the Republican-dominated Legislature say the deal guards against the possibility of broad legalization. Medical-marijuana advocates said they're backing it to avoid continued fighting and uncertainty.

The deal differs from the ballot initiative by removing a provision that would allow people to grow their own marijuana if they live too far from a dispensary and limiting the types of edible marijuana that would be available.

Missouri abortion site denied exemption

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A federal judge denied Planned Parenthood's request for a mid-Missouri clinic to be temporarily exempted from certain abortion regulations, ensuring that the Columbia clinic will not be able to resume abortions.

U.S. Western District Court Judge Brian Wimes wrote in his ruling late Wednesday that even if he did lift the requirement that doctors at the clinic have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals before they perform abortions, the Columbia center still would not be able to provide abortions because the clinic's license expired Tuesday. Missouri is down to one clinic performing abortions, which is located in St. Louis.

Attorneys for Planned Parenthood had requested that Wimes temporarily exempt Columbia from the hospital privileges requirement as Planned Parenthood's broader challenge to abortion regulations plays out in court.

The Columbia Planned Parenthood clinic has been unable to secure physician privileges or find a doctor with those privileges after a panel of medical staff at University of Missouri Health Care voted to stop offering those privileges altogether in 2015 during a Republican-led legislative investigation on abortion in the state.

Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson in a Thursday statement called Wimes' ruling a "victory for protecting the sanctity of life." Brandon Hill, president of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement that the ruling is a "disappointing setback in our effort to protect access to safe, legal abortion in Missouri."

Letters explain Pennsylvania car blast

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- A man killed in a car explosion last weekend with his toddler son and adult friend blew the vehicle up with homemade explosives, detailing his plans in letters to police and family members in which he lamented how miserable his life was, authorities said Thursday.

Jacob Schmoyer, 26, sent the letters shortly before the blast in Allentown that killed him, his 2-year-old son Jonathan "J.J." Schmoyer, and a friend, 66-year-old David Hallman, authorities said. One letter was delivered Tuesday, the rest Wednesday, and were dated Sept. 29, agent Don Robinson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said at a news conference.

"He was miserable," Robinson said. "Basically, the four letters described a miserable life, he was unhappy with himself. ... He admitted to a number of criminal acts, and he didn't think it was going to get any better."

The crimes he admitted to included petty thefts and burglaries, Robinson said.

It wasn't clear why Schmoyer targeted Hallman, but Robinson said Schmoyer "lured" the man to his vehicle on the night of the blast, which scattered debris and body parts over a wide area and forced the closure of several city blocks for days.

Massachusetts pot shops get green light

BOSTON -- Marijuana regulators issued final licenses Thursday to operators hoping within weeks to open the first commercial pot shops in Massachusetts.

The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday voted 4-0 to issue the licenses to Cultivate Holdings in Leicester and New England Treatment Access in Northampton. Both companies operate medical-marijuana dispensaries at those locations and had earlier been granted provisional licenses by the commission to sell recreational marijuana.

Massachusetts voters legalized recreational marijuana for adults in November 2016, but nearly two years later there is still no place in the state to legally purchase the drug. The slow rollout has frustrated both consumers and cannabis businesses seeking a foothold in what is viewed as a potentially lucrative market.

One of the five commissioners, Shaleen Title, abstained from voting on the final licenses Thursday, citing her concerns over host community agreements the companies signed with Leicester and Northampton officials.

Once open, the Massachusetts pot shops would be the first recreational marijuana outlets in the eastern United States.

A Section on 10/05/2018

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