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On Thursday, Dec. 18, New York State lawmakers drafted up the rules and regulations for its new medicinal marijuana program, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law in July. According to the Buffalo News, the regulations will dictate everything from how to grow marijuana, to the system for dispensing it to patients, to the price patients will have to pay to obtain medical marijuana cards. In order to recommend their patients for medical marijuana use, doctors throughout New York State will have to complete a four-hour training course and then be approved to register as a medical marijuana prescriber. New York State says it will issue licenses to as many as five vendors to grow marijuana, with each of them being able to open and operate four dispensaries, the Buffalo News reports. State ...

Aside from sticking to their New Year's resolutions in 2015, New Yorkers will also have to get used to a new law that bans discarding e-waste with regular trash on the curb. The Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act takes effect on January 1 and will make it illegal to throw away electronic devices with normal garbage and recycling. Those who do will face a $100 fine per violation. Nearly every type of electronic device is banned under the new law, including TVs, computers, computer monitors, keyboards, cellphones, MP3 players and video games, according to the New York publication Capital. Electronics that end up in the trash pose a major threat to both the environment and people's health, filling up landfills across the country and releasing toxic chemicals into the soil. Most e...

E-cigarettes, or e-cigs, have skyrocketed in popularity. According to Statistic Brain, there are about 2.5 million e-cig smokers now. In 2008, the industry made $20 million in sales. In 2014, it's projected to make $1.7 billion. Despite the intense surge in popularity these smoking alternatives are experiencing, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has delayed passing any form of regulation. That may be set to change, however, in part because of a recent tragedy. On December 9, a one-year-old from Fort Plain in upstate New York died after ingesting liquid nicotine, which is sold separately from e-cigarettes. After he was found unresponsive, the boy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. He's believed to be the first child to die from e-cig related products. E-cigarette ...

UPDATED 11/25/2020 If you or your loved one has gotten in trouble with the law for whatever reason, but more importantly for a suggested crime and you need good legal representation, then you should hire a criminal law attorney for your criminal defense. Make sure that you hire someone who has been practicing law for a number of years as a criminal defense trial lawyer. Before you make your final pick on which lawyer is going to represent you, be sure to go through a list of legal professionals and contact each of them to ask criminal defense questions that relate to your case. It is not just criminal law, but also the details of your case that you should bring to mind. In some cases, depending on the details of your case, things could settle out of court. If your case has soli...

A new web-based app, designed to help New Yorkers determine the legitimacy of foreclosure rescue offers, was launched on Tuesday by New York State's attorney general. The goal of the new app is to make it easier for New York homeowners to identify foreclosure scams. As the basis for the new app, called AGScamHelp, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman organized a network of 86 counseling and legal services who have agreed to provide free help to struggling homeowners in the state. "While my office is committed to cracking down on scam operations that target struggling New Yorkers, the most powerful tool against these frauds is to ensure that consumers are informed and aware of the free services that are available to them," said Schneiderman, according to News 10 NBC. With the app, homeowne...

This year's midterm elections saw Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. bring the total number of states where medical marijuana is legal up to 23. Four states, including the District of Columbia, now allow recreational use of marijuana. In the aftermath of this news, it's already beginning to look like the state of Missouri could be next in line on the path to statewide marijuana legalization. According to a Nov. 13 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, Show-Me Cannabis, a pro-pot organization, filed a constitutional amendment with the secretary of state's office that would make legal the sale and production of marijuana for Missouri residents 21 and older. However, it's uncertain as to whether this amendment will ultimately be placed on the Missouri ballot in the 2016 election. For this year...

A married couple has been arrested for theft after their Fort Worth-area roofing company took in more than $100,000 from homeowners without doing any work, prosecutors say. Raul Garcia, 40, and his wife Melissa Garcia, 39, own R and M Construction and allegedly took money from more than 27 homeowners. The charge brought against them, a second-degree felony, can be punished with a sentence of between two and 20 years in prison. Eddie Moore, 83, and his wife Syble, 84, say Raul came to their door after a bad hailstorm caused damage to their roof. “He was real friendly,” Syble told the local NBC station Nov. 13. “He brought his little boy out with him.” She says that she paid him $2,000 up front, but he then disappeared. "He vanished and didn't come back,” she said. “I kept trying to call...

When it comes to finding child care options, many working parents turn to in-home day care providers to ensure their children will be properly supervised. But while these residential centers are a safe choice, some present serious danger to the families who use them. Such was the case in a recent fire in Midlothian, Virginia, where a fire in an unlicensed day care facility resulted in the death of a 13-month-old boy. Virginia State regulations state that any residential day care center, or "family day home," must be licensed by the Virginia Department of Social Services if the center plans to take care of more than five children not related to the provider. According to Chesterfield County fire officials, the day care operator, Laurie Underwood, told firefighters at the scene that she w...

The purchase of police body cameras has been on the rise since the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Black by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO. The August 9th shooting, which sparked controversy among local residents and people nationwide, is prompting local police agencies across the country to arm their officers with body cameras in hopes of providing clear video evidence of the encounters that take place between police officers and civilians. Since the increase in police body cameras has been sudden, it has many people wondering about the guidelines for proper recording and storage of videos. While many agencies have taken a thoughtful approach to body camera implementation, others are hastily equipping their officers without giving much though to privacy issues. "You...

November 4, 2014 is slated to be a noteworthy day across the United States, with elections for state and federal legislative seats scheduled to be held around the country. However, in Oregon, voters are looking forward to yet another important event: the fate of Measure 92, which could make the state the first in the nation to pass a law requiring GMO products to be labeled at the ballot box. Oregon is technically not the first to pass a law requiring agricultural products to announce whether they contain GMOs, or genetically modified organisms; for example, the Vermont Legislature approved a labeling bill which is set to begin in 2016. However, it is currently being challenged in court, making Oregon a potentially pivotal site for this controversial issue, which could help determine whet...