On Wednesday, the Uruguayan House of Representatives approved a bill to legally regulate marijuana. Passing with 50 out of 96 votes, the bill now goes to the Senate. If approved by the Senate, Uruguay will become the first country in the world to legally regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana.

The marijuana legalization proposal was put forward by President José Mujica of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) last June as part of a 15-measure …

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Civil rights leaders on Wednesday hailed the passage of a Los Angeles City Council resolution calling for federal prosecutors to investigate the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

In a 13-0 vote, the Council passed the resolution by Councilmember Bernard Parks, which urged the U.S. Department of Justice and the Attorney General to conduct an investigation into possible civil rights violations in Martin’s death.

The vote makes L.A. one of the first U.S. …

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he President visited Chattanooga yesterday to continue to promote his job-creation campaign. But Amazon? Really? Why is President Obama using Amazon to tout his ideas for job creation?

President Welcomed To Chattanooga

Today in Chattanooga the President visits an Amazon warehouse to propose a “grand bargain for middle-class jobs.” (This is written before the proposal, details on that later…) A Chattanooga newspaper, the Times Free Press, responded to the President’s visit by reiterating the basic Republican position, …

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When the ten Democrats and eight Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned James Comey in his hearing on July 9 for confirmation as director of the FBI, the words “Lockheed Martin,” where Comey was general counsel and senior vice president between 2005 and 2010, were mentioned only twice. The first was when Chairman Patrick Leahy reviewed his career highlights. The second was when Senator Chuck Grassley noted that the FBI had cancelled Lockheed’s contract …

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WASHINGTON — House GOP leaders Wednesday halted debate on an austere measure that was full of cuts to transportation and housing programs and community development grants, a setback for their budget strategy of embracing the stark spending levels dictated by automatic spending cuts known as sequestration.

GOP aides said there wasn’t enough time in a busy House floor schedule to continue debate, but House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said it was apparent there weren’t …

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Thanks to new DNA evidence a Kansas City man was released from prison three decades after a wrongful rape conviction, though the 70-year-old clerk instrumental in his release was fired for insubordination.

Sharon Snyder, who was fired about nine months prior to her retirement after 34 years as a court employee, was let go by a Jackson County Circuit judge in Missouri for offering legal advice to 49-year-old Robert Nelson, convicted in 1984 to 50 years …

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Shaker Aamer, the last British resident imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, says he suffers from regular assaults, including those of a sexual nature, from the guards. He has spent more than 11 years at the US detention facility without charge.

Aamer, who was arrested in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad in November 2001, has been cleared for release by both Bush and Obama administrations, yet he remains incarcerated at Guantanamo.

Aamer has described mistreatment he receives by Forcible Cell Extraction (FCE) …

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(Reuters) – Chinese authorities visited a regional office of French drugmaker Sanofi this week in the latest sign of a widening investigation into Western drugmakers.

Eli Lilly said it had also been visited by officials in the same city of Shenyang as part of a “routine” probe which had started earlier this year, while the CEO of AstraZeneca, which has a sales executive in detention in Shanghai, warned of short-term “turmoil” in the sector.

The latest …

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives easily passed a bill on Wednesday to tighten sanctions on Iran, showing a strong message to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program days before President-elect Hassan Rouhani is sworn in. The vote also highlighted a growing divide between Congress and the Obama administration on Iran policy ahead of international talks on the nuclear program in coming months. Iran insists the nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes. The …

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By the narrowest of margins — and after a lengthy vote held open due to one senator’s absence — the Senate voted Wednesday evening to break a Republican filibuster of B. Todd Jones to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Mark Kirk (R-IL), John McCain (R-AZ) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) crossed over to vote with all 54 Democrats to break the …

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