In brief: Feds raid Calif. marijuana ‘university’

OAKLAND, Calif. – Federal agents targeted one of the nation’s leading pot advocates Monday in a raid on a San Francisco Bay Area medical marijuana training school started by an activist who has been instrumental in pushing for ballot measures to legalize the drug.

The doors to Oaksterdam University in downtown Oakland were cordoned off by yellow tape and blocked by U.S. marshals following an early morning raid by agents with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Agents carted trash bags of unknown materials out of the school as protesters gathered to condemn the feds’ action.

Agents also raided Richard Lee’s home and briefly detained him during their search but did not arrest him, said Dale Sky Jones, Oaksterdam’s executive chancellor.

The raid is the latest move by the federal government to crack down on California’s thriving medical marijuana industry. Federal prosecutors across the state joined together late last year and have shut down dozens of dispensaries by threatening to seize landlords’ property if they did not evict marijuana retailers.

Oaksterdam University was founded by Lee, who spent more than $1 million as the main backer of a California ballot measure defeated in 2010 that would have legalized marijuana in the state for recreational use. Lee did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

EPA moves toward E15 gas distribution

DES MOINES, Iowa – The federal government announced Monday it has taken a step toward wide distribution of gasoline mixed with 15 percent ethanol by allowing manufacturers to register as suppliers.

While the EPA is moving the process forward by allowing the registration, E15 still must clear another set of federal tests and become a registered fuel in individual states. Ethanol makers then must convince petroleum marketers to sell it at gas stations.

Most ethanol fuel sold for passenger cars and pickups today is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gas. The new blend that boosts ethanol to 15 percent would only be sold for use in 2001 and newer vehicles.

The industry trade group Renewable Fuels Association said the EPA’s move is the most significant in a three-year effort to get E15 approved for the market and Midwestern states that have started the regulatory process could see E15 for sale as early as this summer.

The EPA said Monday’s action followed an extensive technical review required by law, and testing by the Department of Energy and other organizations has shown E15 is compatible with engines in the model year 2001 and newer.

Derelict ship heading toward Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A derelict Japanese ship dislodged by last year’s massive tsunami was drifting toward Alaska Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The shrimping vessel was floating slowly northwest in the Gulf of Alaska about 125 miles west of the nearest point of land – Forrester Island outside the Dixon Entrance, a maritime transportation corridor separating U.S. and Canada jurisdictions.

The ship is heading in the direction of the southeast Alaska town of Sitka 170 miles to the north, traveling at about one mile per hour, Coast Guard spokesman David Mosley said.

There are no immediate concerns regarding the community of about 9,000, however.

The vessel has been adrift since it was launched by the tsunami caused by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake that struck Japan last year. The ship has been identified as coming from Hokkaido, Japan.

Missing barista’s body found

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The body believed to be that of missing 18-year-old barista Samantha Koenig, of Anchorage, was found in a lake Monday, almost two months to the day she was last seen on a surveillance camera video being led away from the coffee shack where she worked, Anchorage police Chief Mark Mew said.

The body was recovered by a forensic dive team from Matanuska Lake north of the city, Mew said at a Monday evening news conference. City police, state troopers and FBI agents spent hours at the lake scene earlier in the day.

The state medical examiner will conduct an autopsy, which will include verification of identity, he said.

“Investigators believe Samantha died within hours of her abduction,” Mew said, adding the investigation is ongoing.