LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This is just wrong.”
Dee Lund of East Hampton, Conn .,
on an unusually early storm that is dumping snow along the East Coast Article, 5ACain foresees top-spot finishes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Saturday that he expects to finish first or second in first-voting Iowa and New Hampshire.
He also predicted victory in South Carolina, which will hold the South’s first presidential contest in 2012.
“And then, look out,” Cain said Saturday before plunging into a crowd of football tailgaters at Samford University, a Baptist-affiliated school in Alabama.
That win, he said, will set the stage for him to capture the Republican nomination.
Cain said he plans to “dial back” his campaign and media appearances to avoid missteps. Since climbing in the polls, he has had a series of fumbles, forcing him to clarify comments on abortion, immigration and terrorism suspects.
Cain has chalked up the mistakes to a grueling campaign schedule jammed with media interviews.
“When you’re too tired you’re not on your ‘A game,’” the 65-year-old Georgia businessman told a throng of reporters who greeted the arrival of his bus on the Samford campus.
He said it was a mistake to schedule interviews immediately after debates. Cain maintained he did not flip-flop on issues, but simply did not hear questions properly.
Blast rocks grain elevator in Kansas
ATCHISON, Kan. - An explosion at a northeast Kansas grain elevator injured at least two people Saturday, shaking the ground for miles around and sending a fireball high into the night sky that was visible across the river in Missouri, authorities said.
The two injured victims were in critical condition in the burn unit at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., about 50 miles south of the blast site at the Bartlett Grain Co. elevator in Atchison, Kan., hospital spokesman Dennis McCulloch said.
A news release from Atchison city officials said multiple injuries were reported, but that authorities were withholding details pending notification of families.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, though grain elevator mishaps often occur after grain dust becomes suspended in the air and turns explosive in the right conditions.
Shots in air break up fight at church
RICHARDSON, Texas - A 22-year-old man fired a gun inside a church to break up a fight, police said. No one was injured.
The Dallas Morning News reported that a group of people had gathered Friday night at the church, Solomon’s Porch, when some others arrived about 10 p.m. Richardson police spokesman Kevin Perlich said the groups began fighting and one man who had been at the church pulled out a gun and fired several times into the air. The groups dispersed.
Officers arrested the man, who was charged with discharging a weapon in a public place, a Class B misdemeanor.
Perlich, who said the man had no intention of shooting anyone, called the gunfire “effective, but that it was a poor decision.”
Addiction doctors resist ‘pot’ plan
SAN FRANCISCO - A medical society for addiction doctors has reiterated its opposition to marijuana legalization as its California chapter considers voicing its support for allowing and regulating adult use of the drug as a way to prevent its abuse by adolescents.
Directors of the American Society for Addiction Medicine meeting in Washington are to discuss today a report from three of its top California members that recommends replacing the state’s besieged medical-marijuana program with a system that treats and taxes marijuana like alcohol.
“The best course at this point is to replace the current system of medical marijuana dispensaries and physician recommendations with a more strictly regulated system in which physicians are no longer gatekeepers for access, and fees and taxes from marijuana sales preferentially support education, prevention, and intervention for youth with marijuana-related problems,” reads the 15-page California Society for Addiction Medicine report.
The national group’s board Thursday restated its official position, last approved in 2006, that marijuana should not be legal for medical or recreational use until its health benefits and risks are more fully understood.
Even in states that have passed legislation allowing medical marijuana, the drug is still outlawed federally.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 10/30/2011