In brief: Group moves to put marijuana legalization on California ballot
SAN FRANCISCO – A national marijuana advocacy group took steps Wednesday to begin raising money for a campaign to legalize recreational pot use in California in 2016, a move with potential to add a dose of extra excitement to the presidential election year.
The Marijuana Policy Project filed paperwork with the California secretary of state’s office registering a campaign committee to start accepting and spending contributions for a pot legalization initiative on the November 2016 state ballot, the group said.
The measure would be similar to those passed in 2012 by voters in Colorado and Washington, the first U.S. states to legalize commercial sales of marijuana to all adults over 21.
The Washington, D.C.-based group also has established campaign committees to back legalization measures in Arizona, Massachusetts and Nevada in 2016.
Voters in Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia will weigh in on marijuana legalization in November.
Missing-student suspect arrested in Texas
RICHMOND, Va. – A man charged in the disappearance of a University of Virginia student was captured Wednesday in Texas, a day after police announced they had probable cause to arrest him.
Police believe Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. was the last person seen with Hannah Graham, an 18-year-old sophomore missing since Sept. 13. Authorities obtained a felony warrant for his arrest late Tuesday. He has been charged with abduction with intent to defile.
Matthew had sped away from a police station Saturday after coming with family members to ask for a lawyer. It’s not clear whether the longtime area resident knew Graham, who was last seen in an area lined with shops and restaurants where police believe she went into a bar with him.
Longo added that police still were searching for Graham.
U.S. paying Navajos $554M in settlement
TUCSON, Ariz. – In a historic settlement, the federal government will pay the Navajo Nation more than half a billion dollars to settle claims that it mismanaged reservation funds for more than 60 years, the tribe and the government announced Wednesday.
At $554 million, the settlement is the largest obtained by a single American Indian tribe against the U.S. It caps a drawn-out dispute filed in 2006 with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The lawsuit alleged that from 1946 to 2012, the U.S. government, which served as trustee for the tribe’s natural resources, did not negotiate appropriate deals with entities that were extracting natural resources such as coal, uranium, oil and gas from the Navajo reservation.