The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to train and arm Syrian rebels fighting against the self-described Islamic State militant group.
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Sen. Kaine's Bill Would Limit Obama's Options Against ISIS
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine is introducing legislation that would authorize use of military force against the Islamic State including language that strictly limits the deployment of U.S. ground forces.
Strong euro dents 1st-half profits for Zara owner
MADRID -- Spanish fashion retailer Inditex, which owns Zara stores, says net profit fell by 2.4 percent in the first half of 2014 despite robust sales, mainly due to the impact of a strong euro.
The company said Wednesday that profit for February to July was 928 million euros ($1.2 billion) compared with 951 million euros for the same period in 2013.
The decline came despite a 6 percent rise in sales to 8.1 billion euros.
Inditex says it opened 129 new stores during the period, boosting its global store count to 6,460.
Founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega, Inditex operates eight brands including Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Oysho.
Inditex's shares were down 1.7 percent in morning trading in Madrid while the main Spanish index was up 0.3 percent.
3 La. metro areas among top 20 in GDP growth
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Metropolitan areas across south Louisiana fared well in 2013 in terms of the value of goods and services they produced.
The percentage gains in gross domestic product placed Lake Charles among the nation's 10 fastest-growing metro areas. Two other metros — Baton Rouge and Houma-Thibodaux — were among the top 20.
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1ygcDui ) those findings were released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Lake Charles' goods and services were valued at nearly $14.9 billion last year, and its growth rate was 7.9 percent.
The Houma-Thibodaux area's GDP grew to nearly $13 billion in 2013. Those numbers revealed a growth rate of 6.8 percent.
The Baton Rouge area's GDP of nearly $52.3 billion was an increase of $2.6 billion over 2012.
Miss. oyster season could open in late Oct.
BILOXI, Miss. -- The Department of Marine Resources says the Mississippi Sound oyster reefs are either depleted or stressed, but there will still be an oyster season this fall that could extend into winter.
The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/XB1NhM ) the season, which will begin at the discretion of DMR Executive Director Jamie Miller, probably in late October, will be only for the tonging reefs off Pass Christian. Dredging will not be allowed.
DMR scientists had proposed just a one-week harvest, but Commissioner Richard Gollott talked the other commissioners into an open-ended season that essentially will end when tongers stop finding oysters and quit fishing.
Miller also could close the reefs if the water quality becomes unacceptable.
Marijuana industry battling stoner stereotypes
DENVER -- Tired of Cheech & Chong pot jokes and ominous anti-drug campaigns, the marijuana industry and activists are starting an ad blitz in Colorado aimed at promoting moderation and the safe consumption of pot.
To get their message across, they are skewering some of the old Drug War-era ads that focused on the fears of marijuana, including the famous "This is your brain on drugs" fried-egg ad from the 1980s.
They are planning posters, brochures, billboards and magazine ads to caution consumers to use the drug responsibly and warn tourists and first-timers about the potential to get sick from accidentally eating too much medical-grade pot.
"So far, every campaign designed to educate the public about marijuana has relied on fear-mongering and insulting marijuana users," said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation's biggest pot-policy advocacy group.
The MPP plans to unveil a billboard on Wednesday on a west Denver street where many pot shops are located that shows a woman slumped in a hotel room with the tagline: "Don't let a candy bar ruin your vacation."
It's an allusion to Maureen Dowd, a New York Times columnist who got sick from eating one on a visit to write about pot.
The campaign is a direct response to the state's post-legalization marijuana-education efforts.
One of them is intended to prevent stoned driving and shows men zoning out while trying to play basketball, light a grill or hang a television. Many in the industry said the ads showed stereotypical stoners instead of average adults.
Even more concerning to activists is a youth-education campaign that relies on a human-sized cage and the message, "Don't Be a Lab Rat," along with warnings about pot and developing brains.
The cage in Denver has been repeatedly vandalized. At least one school district rejected the traveling exhibit, saying it was well-intentioned but inappropriate.
"To me, that's not really any different than Nancy Reagan saying 'Just Say No,'" said Tim Cullen, co-owner of four marijuana dispensaries and a critic of the "lab rat" campaign, referring to the former first lady's effort to combat drug use.
A spokesman for the state Health Department welcomed the industry's ads, and defended the "lab rat" campaign. "It's been effective in starting a conversation about potential risks to youth from marijuana," Mark Salley said.
The dueling campaigns come at a time when the industry is concerned about inexperienced consumers using edible pot. The popularity of edibles surprised some in the industry when legal-marijuana retail sales began in January.
Edible pot products have been blamed for at least one death, of a college student who jumped to his death in Denver in March after consuming six times the recommended dose of edible marijuana.
The headlines, including Dowd's experience, have been enough for the industry to promote moderation with edible pot.
"I think the word has gotten out that you need to be careful with edibles," said Steve Fox, head of the Denver-based Council for Responsible Cannabis Regulation.
The group organized the "First Time 5" campaign, which cautions that new users shouldn't eat more than 5 milligrams of marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, or half a suggested serving.
The campaign warns users that edible pot can be much more potent than the marijuana they're smoking — and that the pot-infused treats on store shelves are much stronger than homemade brownies they may recall eating.
The advocacy ads tackle anti-drug messaging from year past.
Inside pictures of old TV sets are images from historic ads. Along with the fried-egg one is an image from one ad of a father finding his son's drug stash and demanding to know who taught him to use it.
The kid answers: "You, all right! I learned it by watching you!"
The print ad concludes, "Decades of fear-mongering and condescending anti-marijuana ads have not taught us anything about the substance or made anyone safer."
It then directs viewers to consumeresposibly.org, which is patterned after the alcohol industry's "Drink Responsibly" campaign.
Marijuana activists plan to spend $75,000 by year's end and eventually expand it to Washington state, where pot is also legal.
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Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://bit.ly/1mwIkdv
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Online:
http://bit.ly/1mdM6Zd
http://bit.ly/1u6ZFsk
Sides to argue: Did billionaire get off too easy?
CHICAGO -- Did the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies get off too easy when a federal judge sentenced him earlier this year to community service but no prison time for hiding at least $25 million from U.S. tax authorities in Swiss bank accounts?
That's the question a three-judge appellate panel at the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago will consider Wednesday as it hears arguments from prosecutors who say Ty Warner's punishment was way too lenient and from defense attorneys who say it was just right.
At Warner's January sentencing, prosecutors asked that he spend at least a year behind bars. Instead, Judge Charles Kocoras heaped praise on Warner for his charitable giving, declaring society was better served by letting the suburban Chicago businessman go free.
"Mr. Warner's private acts of kindness, generosity, and benevolence are overwhelming," Kocoras told the hearing.
In addition to two years' probation, the sentencing judge ordered Warner to do 500 hours of community service. Earlier, Warner agreed to pay $27 million in back taxes and interest, and a civil penalty of more than $53 million
While prosecutors rarely appeal sentences, they have argued that the inadvertent message sent by the lower court judge to the public at large was that there are different standards of justice for the rich and the poor.
Since Warner's sentencing hearing, some tax attorneys in separate cases have pointed to Warner's light punishment as a reason why their own clients — who concealed a fraction of the money Warner concealed from the IRS — should also not go to prison.
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