Nebraska State

Columbus, OH

Colorado State

Contributors represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. They have also demonstrated their experience writing hard news for other outlets. Contributors are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

contributor

David Heitz

A bill quietly introduced this spring in the Colorado legislature to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia obtained by harm reductionists has become law. As low-key as the legislation was introduced, the bill was signed into law without fanfare June 6. It garnered little to no media attention.

Colorado legalizes needles, pipes for meth and crack if obtained by harm reduction group

Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville Today

A historic marker could be erected to honor the victims of the racist mass shooting at the Dollar General store in Jacksonville’s New Town neighborhood nearly a year ago. If approved by the Jacksonville City Council, a marker would be installed at Kings Road and Canal Street on Aug. 25, a day before the first anniversary of the shooting, when a white gunman took the lives of three Black people.

Memorial considered to honor Dollar General victims

Ohio State

The Lantern

On Tuesday, licensed Ohio dispensaries began legally selling non-medical marijuana to consumers; however, the drug’s possession, growth and/or usage are still prohibited on Ohio State’s campus. Credit: Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS [Original caption: Four citizen-led petitions with proposals to update Dallas’ charter hit the 20,000 valid signature threshold to make it on the Nov. 5 election ballot, including one that would ban police officers from arresting or citing people carrying less than four ounces of marijuana.] As of Tuesday, students 21 and older can now legally purchase marijuana in Ohio.

Dispensary sales of recreational marijuana began Tuesday; possession and usage still prohibited on Ohio State’s campus

Kansas State

Writers represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. Writers are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

writer

Missouri State

CJ Coombs

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) helps to locate missing children. Since July 1, 2024, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), 174 children have been reported missing in the U.S. Since January 1, 2024, there was a total of 1,445 reported missing in the country.

Missing Missouri children as of July 17, 2024, according to the NCMEC

Denver, CO

More dangerous substances are entering the Denver drug supply, Harm Reduction Action Center warned in a newsletter this week. “The Iron Law of Prohibition posits that as law enforcement becomes more intense, the potency of prohibited substances increases,” HRAC Executive Director Lisa Raville wrote in the newsletter. That is exactly what is happening, she said.

Dangerous substances entering Denver drug supply

In addition to collecting more than 8,000 used needles in the past year from Denver drug users, the Harm Reduction Action Center passed out 10,000 meth pipes and “snort kits,” according to a newsletter sent to its supporters Thursday. They also connected about 1,700 people to medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Denver group hands out 10K meth pipes, ‘snort kits,’ connects 1,700 to treatment annually

Apache Junction, AZ

Suzy Jacobson Cherry

When I studied Anthropology in college, I learned that teeth have been indicators of economic status just about forever. Archaeologists look at the teeth in ancient skeletons and know who the rich were based on their tooth decay. During the Renaissance period, it became fashionable for women to blacken their teeth to look like they were better off than they were, because the royals and aristocrats, who could afford sugar and sweets, had more rotten and missing teeth than the poor.

Opinion: Stop Stereotyping Bad Teeth as a Sign of Drug Addiction

Kentucky State

Northern Kentucky Tribune

Gov. Andy Beshear sent a letter to Anne Milgram, administrator for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Wednesday, expressing his support of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation that the DEA ease restrictions on marijuana.

Gov. Andy Beshear pens letter to DEA in support of easing federal restrictions on marijuana

Community Voices represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program but not yet verified their accounts. Community Voices are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

community_voice

The Lens

This year’s area of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday. The “dead zone” is approximately 6,705 square miles , as measured last week. Within NOAA’s 38 years of measuring the dead zone, this year’s assessment marks the 12th-largest area of low to no oxygen, which can kill fish and marine life.

Gulf ‘dead zone’ larger than average, larger than expected for 2024, scientists announce

Louisiana State

Natrona County, WY

Houma, LA

WyoFile

A worker died Aug. 5 when the crane he was operating toppled at a wind farm construction site in remote Natrona County, state and local officials say. The victim, John William Hoffpauir, Jr., 55, of Houma, Louisiana, was working as a crane operator at the Cedar Springs wind energy construction site north of Casper and Glenrock under the control of Blattner Energy at the time of the accident. Hoffpauir was a Blattner Energy employee, a spokesperson for the company told WyoFile.

Worker killed in accident on wind energy construction site in Natrona County

The Current GA

Since 2020, the condition known as long COVID-19 has become a widespread disability affecting the health and quality of life of millions of people across the globe and costing economies billions of dollars in reduced productivity of employees and an overall drop in the work force .

Expert: Long COVID puzzle pieces are falling into place – picture is unsettling

No, pallet shelters for people experiencing homelessness don’t fold into caskets. It’s a question a reader posed one of the first times I wrote about pallet shelters. I find the pallet shelters to be more palatable than ice fishing tents. The Colorado Village Collaborative operates both micro-communities and the so-called Safe Outdoor Spaces with the tents. We all learned the tents are not safe when a fire roared through a CVC Safe Outdoor Space, destroying the compound quickly. Officials never disclosed a cause of the fire.

Opinion: No, pallet shelters for homeless in Denver, Aurora don’t fold into caskets

Camden, NJ

Cornelius, NC

Morristown Minute

CAMDEN, N.J. – Lisa Smith, 61, of Cornelius, North Carolina, has admitted to her role in a fraudulent scheme involving over $3.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today that Smith pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams in Camden federal court on July 17, 2024, to a charge of bank fraud conspiracy.

Woman Pleads Guilty to $3.5M COVID Relief Scam

Jersey City, NJ

Essex County, NJ

NEWARK, N.J. – Efrin Wade, a former correctional officer at Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF), has admitted to accepting $14,000 in bribes to smuggle contraband, including tobacco and a cell phone, into the facility for inmates. The announcement was made today by U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.

Correctional Officer Guilty of Smuggling Contraband: $14K in Bribes Accepted

Denver doesn’t look very “vibrant,” to use the mayor’s term, when bus stops are transformed into open-air drug dens. In fact, the people who smoke meth and fentanyl in homeless encampments, in front of businesses and walking down the street are tarnishing the reputation of Denver’s unhoused neighbors.

Opinion: Open-air drug use in Denver not so ‘vibrant’

Wyoming State

The Wyoming Democratic Party is calling on U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman to apologize for calling Vice President Kamala Harris a diversity, equity and inclusion hire. “It took only three days for Harriet Hageman to disgrace herself on national television by launching a reprehensible and racist attack on Vice President Kamala Harris,” the WDP wrote in a statement .

Wyoming Dems demand Hageman apologize for calling Harris a ‘DEI hire’

Newark, NJ

Paterson, NJ

NEWARK, N.J. – Jasmine McGregor, 32, and Jhenelle Lewis, 35, both of Paterson, New Jersey, have pleaded guilty to conspiring with a physician to distribute oxycodone, a powerful opioid, without legitimate medical justification. The announcement was made today by U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.

Paterson Residents Conspired with Physician to Illegally Distribute Opioids

A Black woman may be leading the presidential ticket of a major political party for the first time, but for Jacksonville’s Black conservatives, political values trump a candidate’s personal identity.

Republicans look to shore up support among Black conservatives in Jacksonville

The Denver City Council will vote Monday whether pump about $580,000 into its jail-based RISE, or Recovery in a Secure Environment program. The council will consider contracts for $389,434 and $193,475 through Sept. 30, 2025, with the Mile High Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and The Empowerment Program. Inmates enrolled in the RISE program spend much of their time out of their cells during the day engaging in therapeutic activities. There are group sessions and one on one treatment.

Jail-based drug, mental health recovery program costs Denver $580,000 for a year

Have you ever thought about what it costs to be homeless?. Oh, I know, the quick answer is that it doesn’t cost anything. Everything is free. My readers bemoan free phones, Medicaid, food stamps … everything that is provided to people experiencing homelessness. So, they especially didn’t like it when I reported that the Denver Basic Income Project wants more money from the city.

Opinion: Living unhoused proves an expensive pit to be in; Denver Basic Income Project provides exit

North Platte Post

NewsBreak

Nebraska’s 2023-24 general tax receipts come in $10.6 million below latest projections

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s tax receipts for the 2023-24 fiscal year released Monday came in 0.1% below the most recent projections. In the past year, the State...

Nebraska’s 2023-24 general tax receipts come in $10.6 million below latest projections

Comments / 0