SUBSTANCE ABUSE
DEA: Teens are hiding drugs in clocks and calculators
The Drug Enforcement Administration tweeted out a link last month with a simple imperative: Find out where kids hide drugs. The link takes you to a page titled “Hiding Places” at getsmartaboutdrugs.gov, a DEA resource for caregivers and educators.
“If your loved one is dealing with drug addiction, they often become secretive,” the DEA warns, “and as parents you may find answers in their rooms or vehicles. For those facing this serious issue, here are a few common places your teen could be hiding drugs.”
Small baggies in the battery compartment alongside the batteries in alarm clocks and graphic calculators. Drugs can be also be stashed in highlighter caps. Other common places listed on the DEA site: shoes, heating vents, teddy bears, car interiors, game consoles, candy wrappers and posters.
Warnings signs of teen drug use include “disinterest in school, lack of interest in clothing, new friends and excessive attempts to be alone.”
It’s important to note that among teens, use of illicit drugs other than marijuana is near historic lows and marijuana use is flat or falling. – Joana Suleiman
IDENTITY THEFT
You’re not protected against all bank fraud
In most cases under federal law, if you are the victim of fraud regarding your bank account, protections limit how much money you’d lose to about $50 if you report it right away. But what if someone fraudulently accessed your account and made a wire transfer?
There is a loophole that could keep consumers from getting their money back.
Beth Mills, with the California Bankers Association, told CBS during a recent interview that domestic wire transfers are not part of federal protection laws. Although the industry standard is to refund you if the bank investigation confirms the fraud, it can take longer than 30 days for bank costumers to get their money back, leaving them with no cash in hand in the meantime.
To help protect yourself from this and other types of fraud, security experts say you should implement tough security questions and two-step authentication on all bank and email accounts. You should also check with your bank to see if you can turn off the ability to wire money. Chase says yes, and Wells Fargo and Bank of American say no, CBS reported. – Joana Suleiman
EDUCATION
Petition seeks to boot DeVos from commencement speech
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is scheduled to give the commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University on May 10, but not if teachers unions or some of the historically black Florida college’s alumni get their way.
Two separate petitions have popped up, calling on the school to disinvite DeVos. “DeVos has no understanding of the importance, contributions, and significance of HBCUs,” the alumni petition says. A union petition says, “The policies DeVos pushes would have terrible consequences for future generations of Bethune-Cookman students—and for historically black colleges and universities themselves.”
In an Orlando Sentinel op-ed, university President Edison Jackson defended the invitation, writing, “I am of the belief that it does not benefit our students to suppress voices that we disagree with, or to limit students to only those perspectives that are broadly sanctioned by a specific community.”
Much of the debate centers on what school founder Mary McLeod Bethune would have done, with Jackson noting the college has historically been supported by people with diverse views. One union official and alum counters, “This is not what [Bethune] stood for.”
As of May 4, the alumni petition had roughly 5,700 signatures, while the union petition had more than 25,000. – Jason Russell
