The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
DC MEDICAL MARIJUANA APPLICANTS
Washington Times: "The District passed its first milestone in selecting who gets coveted licenses for the city’s burgeoning medical marijuana program — even as the federal government takes a second look at its hands-off approach to those who grow and sell the drug for patient use. More than 80 people or businesses applied to cultivate or dispense medical marijuana through letters of intent submitted to the Department of Health. The applicants range from entrepreneurial lawyers and “green thumbs” in the District to medical marijuana business veterans from states as far away as Colorado and Montana."
STAFFORD RESIDENT FOR PRESIDENT
Fredericksburg.com: "When your teachers told you anyone could run for president, they perhaps didn't explain just how literal that is.As of this week, 170 people have filed statements of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to run for president, including Stafford resident Craig Ennis. Ennis has twice been a candidate for the House of Delegates in the 28th District, and once as a write-in for Congress. He has sometimes been affiliated with the Independent Greens, but his presidential campaign is as a Republican.He claims to have been behind a number of military operations in the Middle East, to have come up with the idea for the Department of Homeland Security, and to have warned the White House that Osama bin Laden would attack the United States. "
MARYLAND BUTTERFLY
Baltimore Sun: " Don't look now, but Maryland's state insect is fluttering away. The Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly, named for the state's founding Calvert family, has dwindled to just a handful of places, mostly in Western Maryland. Experts worry that the butterfly, once fairly common, may disappear entirely from the state. Wildlife Pockets of dedicated butterfly lovers, though, are trying to slow or even reverse the decline by breeding the species in captivity. One such nursery is in a tent in back of an old maintenance shed at Black Hill Regional Park in Montgomery County."
