WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has ruled against a tobacco company that sued to challenge a District of Columbia law aimed at making it tougher for kids to get materials that can be used to smoke marijuana.
The Kentucky-based National Tobacco Company sued the city last year, arguing that a 2010 law banning the sale of wrapping papers used to roll cigars was vague and unconstitutional. But a judge Monday ruled for the city.
Lawmakers said in passing the law that they were concerned teens were using cigar wrappers to smoke large marijuana cigarettes, but Washington has never enforced the ban.
A lawyer for the city had argued in court that National Tobacco could not sue because it is a supplier, not a seller, and therefore cannot face potential fines from the law.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is calling for a new study of a Louisville landfill because of new reports of waste found during routine monitoring.
The 112-acre Lees Lane landfill in western Louisville was removed from the nation’s Superfund list of most toxic places in the 1980s. But an EPA official told The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/OkZ9qyhttp://cjky.it/OkZ9qy ) that now there isn’t enough data about the risks at the site.
In 1975 methane at the dump caused flash fires in nearby homes. Testing over the last decade found explosive levels in one methane gas monitoring well between the landfill and homes on several occasions.
New methane monitoring wells installed in the same area in 2010 have not shown elevated gas readings.
EPA officials have called a public meeting for July 19.
Donna K. Seadler, remedial project manager in the Environmental Protection Agency regional office in Atlanta, said the study is needed to look into questions about the Lees Lane dump air monitoring systems, possible soil contamination and the condition of groundwater.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A new project will provide access to a 39-acre area that the University of Louisville plans to develop into a research park.
The $31 million project calls for a new road and two bridges to provide better access to the land bordered on three sides by railroad tracks. UofL officials had a ceremonial groundbreaking Monday for the project.
Most of the targeted area was formerly owned by Kentucky Trailer and purchased by the University of Louisville Foundation in 2008. The property is situated between UofL’s engineering school on the north and Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium on the east.
The foundation plans to use the property to create the Belknap Engineering and Applied Sciences Research Park.
UofL officials say the research park may take 15 to 20 years to fully develop.
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Two U.S. lawmakers plan this week to press Pakistani Ambassador Sherry Rehman for the release of a doctor jailed after he helped to track down Osama bin Laden.
The meeting is the latest step in U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s push to free Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani physician convicted of having ties to militants. The Kentucky congressman said he considers Afridi a hero.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will host the Wednesday meeting at his Capitol office. A McConnell aide said the meeting is “to discuss the bilateral relationship” between the U.S. and Pakistan.
Paul sponsored an amendment earlier this month to the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act to withhold U.S. foreign aid to Pakistan until Afridi’s prison sentence is overturned and he’s allowed to leave Pakistan. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid initially blocked a vote on the proposal. But Paul told The Associated Press he now has enough backing from fellow senators to force a vote, which he said he intends to do in July unless Afridi is released.
Afridi was convicted in May but is widely believed to have been targeted by Pakistani authorities because he helped the U.S. track down bin Laden. Afridi ran a fake vaccination program designed to get DNA from the al-Qaida leader.
“I have a lot of sympathy for him and for his bravery,” Paul, an eye surgeon, told fellow senators in a floor speech earlier this month. “Doctors are not soldiers. We’re taught to heal and taught to help. But he thought this was important enough and bin Laden was a bad enough person that he would help America get bin Laden. He set up a vaccination clinic and they did DNA testing to try to prove that bin Laden was in the compound. He risked his life to get this mass murderer.”
