In many ways, the spread of meth through the heart of America feels like last year's story. It's something we've already tsk-tsked over and then moved past, especially once it seemed like the epidemic had ebbed after federal intervention - such as limiting customer access to over-the-counter cold and allergy drugs containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, meth's basic ingredients. But in his new book, "Methland," journalist Nick Reding makes the case that the epidemic is still with us, as is the devastation it wrought in small-town America - particularly across the Midwest. [continues 410 words]
Libertarian Jim Gray Is Challenging Barbara Boxer in a Longshot Campaign. He Believes Changes Are Made by Example. UKIAH, Calif. -- Jim Gray, rigid as a judge's gavel, stood at the front of a high-ceilinged tavern here and ran through a list of political positions he hoped would appeal to Mendocino County's famously idiosyncratic voters. Pot should be legal. Genetically modified foods should be labeled. The Patriot Act should be gutted. "We are galloping, racing toward a police state," said Gray, his voice curt and direct. "This Patriot Act is the most recent, but our civil liberties are in jeopardy." [continues 1478 words]
Killed Allegedly by People Who Knew of His Ties to Police Chad MacDonald, a 17-year-old from Yorba Linda, spent the last months of his life playing at the edges, balancing his involvement with illicit drugs against his role as juvenile police snitch. When he slipped off that edge, the fall was dramatic, resonating far beyond his Orange County neighborhood to spark broad condemnations of the Brea Police Department's use of juvenile informants and calls in Sacramento for laws banning the practice. [continues 1861 words]
