Oklahoma sees rise in Rx pot buying
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma residents bought a record amount of medical marijuana in April, as dispensaries sold enough of it to raise tax collections by more than 25%, according to the state Tax Commission.
The commission's figures show that dispensaries paid nearly $9.8 million in taxes last month, surpassing the previous record of $7.8 million set in March, The Oklahoman reported. It's the highest month-to-month gain since last summer.
People across the state spent about $61.4 million on medical marijuana in April, or nearly $217 per licensed patient, a tax collection analysis revealed.
The tax collections started just a week after Gov. Kevin Stitt issued his "safer at home" directive, which shut down many nonessential businesses and forced people to work remotely. Medical marijuana dispensaries were deemed an essential industry, which allowed them to stay open.
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With the moves, "Oklahoma patients were afforded the ability to take their medicine on a more regular basis and sample a broader range of available medicines," said Bud Scott, executive director of the Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association.
Keith Wiley, owner of Native Brothers Dispensary, said larger chains offering near-wholesale prices could be reaping the benefits as people grapple with the coronavirus outbreak.
"I've probably medicated more these past few months. You've got people staying home and getting stimulus checks, and what are they spending it on? Things that help keep them calm and collected," Wiley said.
Twister-hit county denied relief funds
CHATSWORTH, Ga. -- A county in Georgia will not receive any federal relief funds after a tornado that swept through the South in April destroyed dozens of homes in the area, authorities said.
Murray County Commissioner Greg Hogan said Tuesday that President Donald Trump declined to declare the county a disaster site.
Hogan said he was told by the Federal Emergency Management Administration that the value of the damaged property in the county did not reach the minimal $7 million to qualify for federal relief funds.
Dewayne Bain, the emergency management director for Murray County, said 254 homes were affected by the tornado, and 62 were destroyed. A majority of the damage in the county "was in the mobile home parks and the dollar amount just didn't add up," Hogan added.
Trump issued a disaster declaration on April 25 for several counties in Tennessee that were affected by the tornado. In one of those counties, the damage was estimated to be up to $300 million, the Chattanooga Free Press reported.
U.S. foreign-child adoptions fall again
NEW YORK -- The number of foreign children adopted by U.S. parents fell by more than one-fourth last year, extending a 15-year decline, according to U.S. State Department figures released Wednesday.
Sharp drops in adoptions from China and Ethiopia more than offset increases from Ukraine, Liberia and elsewhere.
In the 2019 budget year, there were 2,971 adoptions from abroad, compared with 4,059 in 2018 and a high of 22,884 in 2004. The number has dropped every year since then, even as American families continue to account for roughly half of all international adoptions worldwide.
China, as has been the case for several years, accounted for the most children adopted by American parents. But the total of 819 was down from 1,475 in 2018 and far below a peak of 7,903 in 2005.
The State Department has attributed the steady decrease in adoptions from China to an improved Chinese economy and expansion of domestic adoption, as well as laws restricting activities by foreign adoption agencies and other nongovernmental organizations.
2 men arrested in stimulus-aid fraud
WASHINGTON -- Two New England men have been arrested on charges of attempting to defraud the government's small-business lending program, marking the first federal fraud charges related to the $660 billion program that was aimed at helping businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic but has been riddled with problems.
The case against the men, David Staveley of Andover, Mass., and David Butziger of Warwick, R.I., is part of the Justice Department's broad effort to fight coronavirus-related crimes, including health care fraud, hoarding, price gouging and scams devised to steal money both from people and from federal economic assistance programs for businesses in need of aid.
Staveley and Butziger were accused of filing false applications to steal money from the Paycheck Protection Program, the newly created federal relief program that provides low-interest loans to small businesses, the U.S. attorney's office in Rhode Island said. Neither man was granted a loan.
Staveley and Butziger were charged with conspiracy to make a false statement to influence the Small Business Administration and with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Staveley was charged with aggravated identity theft. Butziger was charged with bank fraud.
A Section on 05/07/2020