The
Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal takes a look at why marijuana growers are moving
their operations inside. In fact, the newest trends make the words "home grown"
take on a whole new meaning.
Before
2001, most marijuana was grown outdoors or smuggled from Mexico and the Caribbean.
Thanks in part to stricter border control since the Sept. 11 attacks and better
detection by authorities, marijuana growing has been brought inside by
high-tech horticulturists. They use high heat, fertilized water, track lighting
and plant genetics to propagate marijuana with dizzying levels of THC, the
ingredient that makes users high.
The indoor
crops can be worth millions of dollars. In Florida,
only vegetables and oranges generate more money each year than pot's invisible
harvest, according to a study done by Jon Gettman, a professor at Shepherd University
in West Virginia.
Nationwide,
from 2001 to 2006, seizures of indoor plants increased 71 percent, federal
agents reported.
For
investigators, finding indoor nurseries gets harder as home growers build extra
interior walls to hide the smell -- like a sweet blast of freshly cut grass --
and to conceal the plants from view.
Is
Baseball Dying Among Young Black Athletes?
The
Press of Atlantic City, N.J., identified a story that may be worth a look
elsewhere:
Many young black athletes never dream of hitting home runs.
They aspire to dunk like LeBron James or score touchdowns like
Reggie Bush.
Baseball is struggling in communities with large black populations
like Atlantic City and Bridgeton. The Atlantic City/Pleasantville
Police Athletic League and Bridgeton Babe Ruth League both scrambled for
players this season. Both leagues started late because of it.
"Baseball is stuck in the 1970s," said Lamont Fauntleroy,
commissioner of the Atlantic City/Pleasantville PAL.
Football and basketball are the sports of today. Football is the
country's No. 1 sport and basketball increased its connection to black athletes
in the mid-1990s when it aggressively aligned itself with the hip-hop culture
and rap music.
Al's Morning Multimedia: Wheelchair Fraud
WFAA-TV
in Dallas included a multimedia story on the rise in fraud among people
claiming to sell those motorized wheelchairs. This outrageous fraud is worth
your attention. Reporter David Schechter
found:
Medicare says taxpayers pick up the tab on $2.1 billion in
fraudulent billing last year.
Power wheelchairs and scooters make up a big part of that.
"Ten years ago you could barely find a provider that dealt in
power wheelchairs," said Carmen Narganes from Medicare/Medicaid.
Medicare says companies sprung up after figuring out the
government would pay for chairs for people who didn't really need them.
Many use forged documents, and high-pressure sales techniques.
"For me, especially, it's very difficult to look at an
individual in a scooter and not wonder if this person truly needs this piece of
equipment," said Narganes.
Recently, a major Medicare bust in Florida showed $2 million in billings for a
single chair.
And in 2005, 355 dealers in Harris County
were barred from doing business with the government.
Targeting Stores that Sell Gang Wear
In Denver,
a sort of vigilant pressure is building against stores that sell "gang
wear." But is this a free speech issue?
Will controlling T-shirt and jewelry sales really mean anything to gang
activity? The Denver Post reports:
The shops
selling the caps, jewelry and colors that clothe gang members are about to find
themselves the target of a new effort to reduce gangs by driving off those who
profit from them.
At least
one leader of a gang intervention program wants to start videotaping the stores
this month and have parents picket the stores if they don't yank some products.
"I
don't know how they can sell what they do in good conscience," said Cisco
Gallardo, executive director of the Gang
Rescue and Support Project, who plans to start the videotaping.
The
vendors proliferate along Federal
Boulevard in Denver,
in areas of Aurora
and along Colfax Avenue
as well as at flea markets. They sell grills for teeth -- cosmetic dental
coverings made of metal and inlaid with precious stones. They also specialize
in skull jewelry and T-shirts with gang colors or images from the 1983 movie
"Scarface."
Phat Mart
in Aurora
specializes in "Eastside" and "Westside" caps with the
colors favored by gangs in those areas of the city. The store Gen X on Federal Boulevard
sells one T-shirt that features "Web$ter's Hip-Hip Dictionary," with
a list of street slang phrases.
The shop
owners say they are not catering to gang members but, rather, supplying a
fashion need.
The dwindling number of black people in baseball has been...
