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You Don't See Any Juul Ads Lately. Likely Because -

King County is taking its fight against teenage vaping straight to one of the country's largest producers.

The class action lawsuit filed against Juul Wednesday comes after the state banned flavored vaping products for 120 days. "Juul has compelled a generation of youth, who were never cigarette smokers, into nicotine addiction and put them at risk for severe lung injury or other health harms resulting from aerosol inhalation," the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, between 2011 and 2015, e-cigarette use among high school and middle school students increased 900% nationally. Between 2017 and 2018, e-cigarette use increased 78% -- or 1.5 million -- among high school students. "In the largest school district in King County, Seattle Public Schools, 90% percent of tobacco and nicotine violations during the 2017-2018 school year were for vaping, and over 60% of those violations were for Juul use specifically," the lawsuit says.

It's a start, but they ought to be going after the flavor cartridge makers and others in the industry.

From what I've read, that's where the main problem lies - kids vaping THC and other compounds.

 

Iron Man

CHICAGO —

A Boston man disarmed a robber on a train in Chicago on Sunday before running in the city’s marathon.

Jean Paul LaPierre, 54, was on a CTA Blue Line train when he stepped off and asked another commuter why marathoners seemed to be rushing for the doors, WGN-TV reported. He said he was told there was another man on the train robbing commuters. LaPierre got back on the train and confronted the robber. Video captured of the incident shows LaPierre struggling with the man and pulling a gun from his hands.

That accomplished, he naturally ran his 12th Chicago Marathon afterward. Why, of course! Just another day in the big city...LaPierre happens to be a boxer. Don't try to jump him in a dark alley - or anywhere else.

 

 

The Saga Continues - And Gets Deeper

A British family currently held in U.S. immigration custody was arrested for making what U.S. agents believe was a deliberate attempt to enter the United States illegally from Canada, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said Tuesday.

The arrest and detention of the Connors family has received extensive coverage in the United States and Britain after their attorney described them as tourists who accidentally drove across the border and ended up jailed with their small children in what they called squalid conditions. The family’s attorney, Bridget Cambria, said her clients were driving near the U.S. border south of Vancouver on Oct. 2 when they swerved to avoid an animal and veered into the United States inadvertently. The family members said they were stopped by a U.S. agent, were denied a request to return to Canada and instead were sent to a family detention center in Pennsylvania, where they are being held pending deportation.

Well, I've been up there, and what they did was no "accident" - the parallel roads along each side of the border have numerous signs declaring the existence of the international boundary. Moreover, in many places there are fences, while in other areas there are ditches. Oh, and lots of CCTV cameras as well....

CBP officials disputed the family’s version of events and said the Connors were spotted via video surveillance “slowly and deliberately driving through a ditch onto Boundary Road in Lynden, Washington,” between parallel roadways on the U.S. and Canadian sides. The roads are not connected by cross streets, and the only legal way to traverse between the countries is through staffed border stations throughout the region. The CBP statement said U.S. agents also determined that two of the family members had applied for travel authorization to visit the United States and were denied.

“Attempts were made to return the individuals to Canada, however, Canada refused to allow their return and two attempts to contact the United Kingdom consulate were unsuccessful,” the CBP statement read.

BUT the tale grows deeper:

The Irish travellers were accused of scamming and stealing their way around Brisbane allegedly used their children to steal designer shoes, police revealed. Most of them are believed to have fled Australia at the weekend after their images were released, while four remaining suspects are being closely monitored by Queensland police and border force officers. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was asked about the Irish scammers on Wednesday, insisting people who commit crimes in Australia should be hauled before the courts.

Looks to me as though our border patrol folks did a good job, here.

As to why Canada declined to have them back: they likely talked with Aussie authorities - the "family" has been banned from returning to Australia.

 

Recently From Florida Man

A 51-year-old man from Florida is facing a laundry list of charges after he allegedly robbed a bank and stole a patrol car while disguised as a woman. Police say that Gumersindo Reyes Jr. walked into a Chase Bank wearing a gold dress and red wig and ordered the teller to give him money.

Reyes had a criminal history of attempted murder and robbery in Puerto Rico, officials told WFTV.

Presumably, he still has that criminal history.

 

Sleepy Wood Village Isn't Sleepy Anymore

WOOD VILLAGE, Ore. (KPTV) -- A fight took place in an Oregon dispensary after a customer tried to return his pot, according to employees.

The incident was caught by surveillance cameras at NW Compassion Medical Center in Wood Village at around 5 p.m. Friday.

A cashier said the suspect, 30-year-old Daniel Applegate, tried to return a product saying he received less than he paid for. When workers told him they couldn’t accept the return, they said he became volatile.

Oh, if only there were something he could use to mellow himself out....

For all the pot-shop folks knew, the idiot might've been trying to "return" oregano. Maybe the shop should post a "no returns" sign.

Surveillance video shows the suspect reaching across the counter before fighting with employees and another customer.

In any case, he won't be patronizing pot shops for a while:

Multnomah County deputies said Applegate was later caught and arrested on charges of third-degree robbery, fourth-degree assault, criminal mischief and interfering with a police officer.

Workers said it was all over about $40 worth of marijuana.

Pot shops here always have heavy surveillance. He must not have known that.

 

Going To Court To Contest A Red-Light Camera Ticket?

BEAVERTON, Ore. (KOIN) — After years of late-night research, frustration, ridicule and even lawsuits, Mats Jarlström of Beaverton could finally say, “I told you so.” But he didn’t use those words after learning his research into whether yellow lights are too short for drivers making turns was validated at the highest level. Instead, Jarlström expressed joy. ​

“I feel totally vindicated here,” Jarlström told KOIN 6 while holding back tears after learning the news Thursday, which happened to be his birthday.​

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), which makes the traffic control policies for the United States and other countries, notified Jarlström that he’s right: drivers often get caught in a no man’s land when trying to make a turn and they end up running red lights.​

“This is a tremendous amount of work I put into this and the impact this will have for everyone in the world, it’s going to be dramatic,” said Jarlström. “The yellow lights are too short in the U.S.”​

It took Jarlström 6 years of research (and facing indifferent authorities in Beaverton, Washington County, and the state of Oregon), but he finally prevailed. Most entities responded that they follow best practices determined by ITE. And yesterday, ITE notified him that he was right and they had screwed up:

“The existing Kinematic Equation does not fully cover several dilemma-zone situations for left-turn and right-turn movements,” concluded members of an ITE panel considering Jarlström’s research. “The Panel suggests that this item be properly reconsidered by ITE.”​

This is going to tick off a lot of bureaucrats in cities across the country. They're going to have to recalibrate all of those cameras.

 

For Once, A Road Hog Does Some Good

SEATTLE - As a 24-year-old wanted suspect led dozens of police cars on a wild high-speed chase from Bellevue to Renton to South Seattle Wednesday, the speeding driver nearly slammed into Scott Tanner and his wife, who were in the HOV lane of I-405.

"It was one of the most surreal things I've ever been involved with in my life," said Tanner, who believed the driver of the black Jeep Grand Cherokee was "road raging," so Tanner slowed the suspect down, refusing to allow him to pass as police caught up.

Police say the chase started shortly after 10 a.m. in Bellevue after police were called to a domestic violence incident. Police said a man drove a car into a building trying to get to his former girlfriend inside. She has minor injuries.

When officers arrived, the man fled. Chopper 7 recorded video of the suspect speeding southbound on Interstate 405 as Bellevue officers followed.

Only Chopper 7 was overhead as the suspect drove through Eastside neighborhoods, then ran lights on Rainier Avenue South in Seattle. During the chase, the suspect drove into oncoming lanes, swerved around traffic and hit other cars as he fled.

When he reached Rainier Avenue South and South 23rd Street, the driver stopped and got out of the battered Jeep, perhaps because of a breakdown. KIRO 7 video showed one of the Jeep's rear tires was blown out and shredded. The Jeep's front end and side were also damaged, perhaps in the earlier crash into the building.

Oh, the cops got the 24 year-old idiot, all right; he was also wanted on a felony shooting charge. He seems to have added a number of additional charges to his string. On the bright side, he may have taught his girlfriend a lesson on the benefits of selectivity.

 

PG&E Problem

Shares of California utility PG&E Corp. were slammed on Thursday, as the second day of power cuts left more than 1.5 million people in the northern part of the state in the dark, with a victory for bondholders in a bankruptcy ruling adding to the downdraft. PG&E shares have lost 67% of their value in 2019, while the S&P 500 SPX, +1.61%  has gained 17% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.60%  has gained 14%. 

Maybe they should have maintained their equipment. Pulling the plug, as they've chosen to do, simply antagonizes the ratepayers.

Meanwhile, parts of SoCal are engulfed in wildfire.

But stocks in solar companies are jumping in response to the mess.

 

And So It Begins In California

(CNN)In an attempt to avoid sparking a wildfire, California's largest utility intentionally cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers Wednesday, and power isn't likely to be restored for days, the company said. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo urged residents on Monday to prepare to be without power for as long as seven days.

By Tuesday evening, local newspapers were reporting that PG&E was going to shut off power for an area with about 2.4 million people by the next morning. Those include residents on dialysis and home oxygen and who use electric wheelchairs. It also includes families and individuals who live paycheck to paycheck and can barely afford the groceries currently in their fridge, which will likely spoil.

Maybe you only found out when your lights wouldn’t turn on Wednesday morning. By then, store parking lots were filled with people stuffing ice into their trunks. Batteries in drugstore aisles were flying off the shelves. Hardware stores were running out of flashlights. Lines at gas stations stretched for blocks. The lights were out inside the rainbow-arched Robin Williams Tunnel that connects Marin County to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Unquestionably, this action is going to cost businesses and residents a lot of cash - likely into the billions. And there's likely to be a significant death toll. Especially since they've cut power to large parts of places like Oakland.

This is a man-made disaster.

Meanwhile, natural disasters are on the way, as Denver plunges into an overnight deep-freeze:

A drastic temperature drop Wednesday will make it feel like Denver has gone from fall to winter in 24 hours.

Temperatures there will plummet from a high around 80 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday to below freezing for Thursday's high.

 

And it won't be just Denver; freeze warnings extend from the Midwest to Texas. Hope they can get the warming shelters open quickly.....

 

 

Florida Man - Meme Strikes Again

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A man in Clearwater is facing aggravated assault charges after he pulled a machete on a woman who refused to date him, according to arrest records.

Clearwater Police arrested Leonard Thomas, 55, just before 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Yeah, he's still in jail. Presumably, "How To Win Friends And Influence People" wasn't on his reading list.