Washington state gets access to FBI database
SEATTLE – After a year of requests, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday it is giving Washington state access to an FBI database so it can conduct nationwide background checks on people who apply to run legal marijuana businesses.
In a statement provided to The Associated Press, the department said allowing the checks is consistent with its priorities in letting legal marijuana experiments in Washington and Colorado move forward – including keeping people with troublesome criminal histories out of the industry.
Washington state officials first asked last April for permission to run the checks.
Community holds vigil for injured driver
DETROIT –Several hundred people are gathering at a Detroit church to stand against racism and pray for a white motorist beaten by a black mob after he stopped to check on a child struck by his pickup truck.
Bishop Charles Ellis III urged the community not to dwell on the bad, but to embrace good in the city, including good Samaritans.
Fifty-four-year-old Steve Utash was attacked April 2 when he stopped to help 10-year-old David Harris.
Utash remains hospitalized with severe head injuries. Harris suffered leg and other injuries.
A 16-year-old boy is charged as a juvenile with assault and ethnic intimidation. Four men are charged with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.
Congress moves to ban Iran’s choice for envoy
WASHINGTON – Congress said no way to Iran’s choice for ambassador to the United Nations, outraged by the prospect of a member of a group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran stepping on U.S. soil. The move forces President Barack Obama to make a decision with serious diplomatic repercussions.
In a rare unanimous vote on Thursday, the House backed a bill that would bar entry to the U.S. to an individual found to be engaged in espionage, terrorism or a threat to national security. The vote came four days after similar action in the Senate and sends the bill to the White House.
The Obama administration opposes the selection of Hamid Aboutalebi because of his alleged participation in a Muslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days in the 1979 takeover. American officials have told Iran that Aboutalebi is unacceptable, and the State Department indicated Thursday that the issue could be resolved if Tehran simply withdrew the nomination.
Iran has called U.S. rejection of Aboutalebi “not acceptable,”
Woman throws shoe at Clinton during speech
LAS VEGAS – A woman was taken into federal custody Thursday after throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton as the former Secretary of State began a Las Vegas convention keynote speech.
The incident happened moments after Clinton took the stage before an Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries meeting at the Mandalay Bay resort.
Clinton ducked, and she did not appear to be hit by the object. She then joked about it.
“Is that somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque de Soleil?” Clinton quipped.
Associated Press
