Vermont governor vetoes marijuana bill
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Republican Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have made Vermont the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana but indicated that he was willing to work with the Legislature on a compromise.
Scott said he was sending the bill back with suggestions for another path forward and called for changes to be made to the proposal, such as more aggressive penalties for smoking pot while driving or in the presence of children.
Under the legislation, small amounts of marijuana would have been legal to possess and grow for anyone over age 21. Scott has said he’s not opposed to marijuana legalization but has concerns about public safety.
Eight other states, plus the District of Columbia, have legalized recreational marijuana. Vermont would have been the first state to legalize marijuana by vote of a state legislative body. The other states and D.C. legalized marijuana after public referendums.
Legalization advocates said that while disappointed by the veto, they were encouraged that there’s a path forward.
Candidate said to assault reporter
HELENA, Mont. — A reporter for The Guardian newspaper accused the Republican candidate for Montana’s sole congressional seat of body-slamming him Wednesday, the day before the polls close in the state’s special election.
The Gallatin County sheriff’s office said late Wednesday that Greg Gianforte is being charged with misdemeanor assault.
Campaign spokesman Shane Scanlon said Gianforte was in a private office giving an interview with Fox News when Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs entered without permission and “aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face” before being asked to leave.
Jacobs had walked into the office and asked the candidate about the GOP’s health care bill and persisted when Gianforte referred him to his spokesman, according to reports.
Alicia Acuna of Fox News, in a first-person account posted online, said she then saw Gianforte grab Jacobs by the neck and slam him to the ground.
Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist, who declined to comment, are seeking to fill the state’s sole House seat in Congress, left vacant when Ryan Zinke joined President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of the interior.
Texas House OKs guns in cars at schools
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House has voted to allow concealed-carry permit holders to have guns in their locked cars parked outside schools.
Tentative approval came late Tuesday night as an amendment to an otherwise unrelated bill on school boards. Final House approval is expected in the next few days. The state Senate already approved a full, bipartisan bill seeking to do virtually the same thing.
Earlier in the session, a similar, full bill had died in the House without reaching a floor vote but now lives on as the amendment.
The measure is aimed at teachers and school employees who have licenses to carry concealed handguns and want to keep guns in their cars while at work.
Supporters say a number of teachers expressed interest in doing that but were worried about violating state bans on guns on school grounds.
Death caps wild drive at Tulsa airport
TULSA — The driver of a stolen utility truck crashed through a fence at a Tulsa airport and into oncoming freeway traffic, where it plowed head-on into a car and killed one person early Wednesday, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Troopers said the 24-year-old driver, who wasn’t identified, was later arrested about 12 miles from where he abandoned the vehicle.
A trooper chasing the stolen vehicle on Tulsa International Airport property saw it barreling toward a parked private jet, Highway Patrolman Dwight Durant said. Worried there were passengers on the jet, the trooper tried to ram the truck, even though the truck outweighed his cruiser by about two to three times, Durant said.
The maneuver diverted the truck away from the plane. The truck then crossed over a runway twice during the pursuit, burst through a fence and onto nearby U.S. 75, where it crashed head-on.