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Fate of Los Angeles pot shops left to voters |
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Written by GREG RISLING, Associated Press
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Monday, 20 May 2013 06:43 |
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles politicians have struggled for more than five years to regulate medical marijuana, trying to balance the needs of the sick against neighborhood concerns that pot shops attract crime.
Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide how Los Angeles should handle its high with three competing measures that seek to either limit the number of dispensaries or allow new ones to open and join an estimated several hundred others that currently operate.
Election Day in the nation's second-largest city comes just two weeks after a pivotal state Supreme Court decision gave cities and counties the authority to ban pot shops. More than 200 local municipalities have bans, and some cities that were awaiting guidance from the state's highest court have taken immediate action this month and begun shuttering clinics.
While some cities have been able to manage pot collectives, Los Angeles fumbled with the issue and dispensaries cropped up across the city as a result. Councilman Ed Reyes said Los Angeles has run into trouble where other cities such as Oakland haven't because of the sheer size of LA and a movement that is more organized and litigious.
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Economists predict increase in consumer spending |
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Written by Associated Press
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Monday, 20 May 2013 06:41 |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending is likely to pick up this year while government spending declines at a faster rate, according to a survey of business economists.
The economists predict that the U.S. economy will grow 2.4 percent this year and 3 percent next year. That's unchanged from their forecast in February.
But they are more bullish on consumer spending and the housing market than they were three months ago. That partly reflects a more positive view on unemployment.
The survey was released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics.
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Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
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Maker of 'pink slime' continues to struggle |
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Written by Associated Press
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Monday, 20 May 2013 06:42 |
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The beef-processing company that makes the product that critics call "pink slime" continues to struggle more than a year after the initial stories on the lean bits of beef that Beef Products Inc. makes.
The Sioux City Journal reports (http://bit.ly/15YXsIh ) the Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based company lost 80 percent of its business after the uproar over what BPI calls lean finely textured beef.
The meat BPI separates from trimmings with heat and treats with ammonia to kill bacteria used to be widely used in hamburger, but consumers objected to it after media reports depicted it as unsavory.
Many schools and retailers pledged to stop using BPI's products after the "pink slime" reports, and the company saw demand fall to 2 million pounds a week from the previous 5 million pounds a week.
The private company closed three of its four plants, scrapped expansion plans in South Sioux City and eliminated more than 700 jobs, which won't return soon. The plants that closed were in Waterloo, Iowa; Amarillo, Texas; and Garden City, Kansas.
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Consumer group flags high SPF ratings on sunscreen |
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Written by MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Health Writer
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Monday, 20 May 2013 06:38 |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sunbathers headed to the beach this summer will find new sunscreen labels on store shelves that are designed to make the products more effective and easier to use. But despite those long-awaited changes, many sunscreens continue to carry SPF ratings that some experts consider misleading and potentially dangerous, according to a consumer watchdog group.
A survey of 1,400 sunscreen products by the Environmental Working Group finds that most products meet new federal requirements put in place last December. The rules from the Food and Drug Administration ban terms like "waterproof," which regulators consider misleading, and require that sunscreens filter out both ultraviolet A and B rays. Previously some products only blocked UVB rays, which cause most sunburn, while providing little protection against UVA rays that pose the greatest risk of skin cancer and wrinkles.
Despite that broader protection, one in seven products reviewed by the watchdog group boasted sun protection factor, or SPF, ratings above 50, which have long been viewed with skepticism by experts. In part, that's because SPF numbers like 100 or 150 can give users a false sense of security, leading them to stay in the sun long after the lotion has stopped protecting their skin.
Many consumers assume that SPF 100 is twice as effective as SPF 50, but dermatologists say the difference between the two is actually negligible. Where an SPF 50 product might protect against 97 percent of sunburn-causing rays, an SPF 100 product might block 98.5 percent of those rays.
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