Romney seeks W.H. leak probe
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into claims the White House had leaked national security information for President Barack Obama’s political gain, part of a searing speech that marked a wholesale indictment of the Democrat’s foreign policy.
In a race that has so far focused almost entirely on the sluggish economy, Romney also critiqued Obama’s handling of Iran’s nuclear threat, the violence in Syria and relations with Israel during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.
In his first foreign policy speech since emerging as the likely Republican presidential nominee, Romney accused Obama of putting politics over national security, a serious charge that went straight at a policy area where national polls show the president with the edge.
The turn also was a reminder that the increasingly biting campaign, which paused over the weekend in deference to the deadly movie theater shooting in Colorado, was on again in earnest.
“This conduct is contemptible,” Romney said of the leaks of classified information.
Airline consumer rules are upheld
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government can require airlines to show consumers a total ticket price that includes taxes and fees in print and online ads, the U.S. Court of Appeals said Tuesday, rejecting an industry challenge to a series of consumer protection regulations.
The Transportation Department, which issued the regulations last year, has the authority to regulate “unfair and deceptive” airline industry practices, the three-member panel said in its ruling.
The ruling also covers two other regulations: a requirement that airlines allow consumers who purchase tickets more than a week in advance the option of canceling their reservations without penalty within 24 hours after purchase and a ban on airlines increasing the price of tickets or baggage fees after tickets have been bought.
The rules had been challenged by Spirit and Southwest airlines, with the support of two major airline industry trade associations.
Pa. monsignor receives 3-6 years
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex-abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a judge who said he “enabled monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children.”
Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, “helped many but also failed many” in his 36-year church career, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said.
Lynn, who handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004, was convicted last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence for sexually assaulting an altar boy in church in 1999.
L.A. votes to ban marijuana shops
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Unable to rein in hundreds of medical pot shops that blossomed around the nation’s second-biggest city, lawmakers voted Tuesday to ban them until it has clearer guidance from the state’s highest court.
The 14-0 vote by the Los Angeles City Council drew an angry, profanity-laced response from some medical marijuana advocates who attended the council meeting.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was prepared to sign the ordinance, according to his spokeswoman Vicki Curry. The storefront ban would then go into effect after 30 days.
In the interim, letters will be sent to as many as 900 dispensaries advising them of the ban.
The city has fumbled with its medical marijuana laws for years, trying to provide safe and affordable access to the drug for legitimate patients while addressing worries by neighborhood groups that streets were being overrun by dispensaries and pot users.
“Relief is on the way,” said Councilman Jose Huizar, who introduced the so-called “gentle ban.”
Many cities have struggled with medical marijuana ordinances, but none has had a bigger problem than Los Angeles, where pot shops have proliferated. At one point, the city ordered closure of the shops — a process that failed amid lawsuits and conflicting rulings by appellate courts.
This time around the city has a stronger case if faced with lawsuits by pot shop owners, city officials said. A recent appellate court ruling seems to support the new ordinance that refers to a marijuana collective as three or fewer people.
The ban also allows hospices and home health agencies to provide medical pot.
“A judge could file an injunction but we think that is unlikely,” said Jane Usher, a special assistant city attorney.
The ban comes during a confusing time for Californians — despite voter approval in 1996 for medicinal use of marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. The state Supreme Court has decided to clarify marijuana’s hazy legal status by addressing whether local governments can ban medical marijuana clinics. But a hearing has yet to be set by the high court.
Meanwhile, U.S. authorities have cracked down on pot clinics around the state, saying such operations remain illegal under federal law.
Los Angeles passed an ordinance two years ago that was supposed to shutter hundreds of pot dispensaries while capping the number in operation at 70. But a set of legal challenges against the city by collectives and last month’s expiration of the ordinance thanks to a sundowner clause led to another surge of pot shops. City officials said 762 collectives have registered with the city and as many as 200 more could exist.
“We need to start with a clean slate,” Councilman Mitchell Englander said before the vote. “Los Angeles has experimented with marijuana and has failed.”
However, the ban could be temporary for some dispensaries. A motion made by Councilman Paul Koretz called for city staff to draft an ordinance that would allow for about 180 pot shops to be reopened that were in business before a moratorium was enacted several years ago. That motion isn’t expected to be considered for several months.
After the vote Tuesday, some medical marijuana advocates shouted expletives, while others questioned where they could get the drug in the future.
“You don’t care about people!” yelled one person.
At least 178 California cities from Calistoga to Camarillo and 20 counties already have banned retail pot shops, according to the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.
Reflecting the murky language of the state’s medical marijuana laws, a handful of dispensaries have successfully challenged such local prohibitions in court along with laws that merely sought to regulate dispensaries.
Most recently, an appeals court in Southern California struck down Los Angeles County’s two-year-old ban on dispensaries, ruling that state law allows cooperatives and collectives to grow, store and distribute pot. But in a separate case, an appeals court said federal law preempts local municipalities from allowing pot clinics.
The hearing came a day after a priest, drug counselors and others decried crime and other social problems they say surround neighborhood marijuana dispensaries.
Among those who spoke at that gathering was a woman who complained about having to push her baby’s stroller through clouds of marijuana smoke near dispensaries in her East Hollywood neighborhood.
Daniel Sosa, a medical marijuana advocate, told council members during the hearing it’s fruitless to approve a ban that won’t have any merit and will likely lead to more lawsuits.
“If you can’t enforce it, why are you going to pass something?” Sosa asked the council.
