THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 6, 2014 5
NEWS BRIEFS
Pot Proponents Look To California After Victories
SEATTLE (AP) — Marijuana advocates, fresh off victories for legal recreational pot in Oregon, Alaska and the nation’s capital, are already preparing for their next target, and it’s a big one: California. They are aiming to ask voters in the nation’s largest state to legalize marijuana for recreational use in 2016, hoping to draw on a more liberal and larger electorate during a presidential election to help them avoid a repeat of their 2010 failed pot measure. The victories in Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia came in a midterm election that saw a low turnout and a conservative electorate hand Republicans back control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 2006. “This is a Republican wave year, so we’re excited for our prospects,” said David Boyer, who is leading Maine’s legal pot effort for 2016. “In a tough midterm, we gained steam.” The results emboldened them — even from a loss in Florida, where a medical marijuana proposal earned 58 percent of the vote, just shy of the 60 percent required to pass. Legalization opponent Kevin Sabet called the votes “a bit of a wakeup call before 2016,” noting that drug policy groups had spent millions on the legalization campaigns, vastly outspending opponents. “This is going to make our side redouble our efforts to find donors who can put forth real money,” said the president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, adding that if they can get the resources to get their message out, voters could make informed decisions. Sabet pointed to the result in Florida as well as votes in five Colorado cities banning marijuana dispensaries in saying, “I think we’ve slowed the legal marijuana freight train.” The pot votes were considered by many to be the first real test of marijuana reform’s popularity since Washington state and Colorado passed the nation’s first legal pot laws in 2012, boosted then by the higher turnout among young people typical of presidential election years. “It was an extraordinary day for marijuana and criminal justice reform, and all the more remarkable on a night the Democrats were getting beat up so bad,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a major legalization backer.
Judge Overturns Missouri Ban On Gay Marriage ST. LOUIS (AP) — A state judge overturned Missouri’s constitutional ban on gay marriage Wednesday in a ruling that immediately set off a rush among some same-sex couples to apply for marriage licenses. St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison said in a written ruling that Missouri’s measure recognizing marriage only between a man and woman violates the due process and equal protection rights of the U.S. Constitution. The decision mirrored ones handed down recently in several other states. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster immediately
appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, saying the constitutional challenge “must be presented to and resolved” at that level. But he said that his office wouldn’t seek a stay of the order, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant stays after same-sex marriage decisions in Idaho and Alaska. Koster previously chose not to appeal a ruling requiring Missouri to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. After hearing about Wednesday’s ruling, Kelley Harris, 35, and Kelly Barnard, 36, drove to St. Louis City Hall to apply for a marriage license.
Three African Presidents Press Burkina Faso on Civilian Rule OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Diplomats pressing Burkina Faso’s military ruler to return the country to civilian rule said Wednesday they are seeking names of people who could serve as interim head of state until elections are held. The presidents of Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana are in Burkina Faso to mediate after the African Union gave Burkina Faso’s military a two-week deadline to hand over power or face sanctions that could cripple the landlocked, desperately poor country. In a sign of growing tensions, though, a meeting that brought together the political opposition and others descended into chaos. Burkina Faso’s president of 27 years, Blaise Compaore, stepped down Friday amid mounting opposition to his bid to seek yet another term in office. Compaore never identified a potential successor and his departure has created a power vacuum in which at least three people have tried to
take over control of the country in the past week. Opposition members and other activists stormed out of Wednesday’s meeting shouting “We don’t agree!” after some from the former ruling party showed up for the session. “We can’t sit in the same room as those who are to blame for the deaths of the victims whose bodies we have not yet even buried,” said Mathias Tankoano, a human right activist and member of the civil society delegation. “They should be prosecuted for the deaths and for acts against the constitution that have resulted in violence in our country.” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon backed the mediation effort by the three presidents and reiterated his call for “an inclusive dialogue” to continue, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The U.N. chief encourages all parties to reach an agreement for a peaceful civilian-led transition as soon as possible, he said.
Flags and icon
JAMES HILL / THE NEW YORK TIMES
A boy holds an icon as he and Russian nationalists prepare to march on Unity Day, which celebrates a 1612 victory over the Polish Army, in Moscow, Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin’s inconsistent embrace of nationalist tenets may have hampered turnout at the traditional march.
Obama to Seek New War Powers From Congress WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday he would work with Congress on new war powers to fight Islamic State militants and expressed cautious optimism about whether the international face-off over Iran’s nuclear program will be resolved — two issues that could prove harder for the White House to maneuver with
Republicans in charge on Capitol Hill. Obama spoke at a news conference the day after his party was thrashed by Republicans in midterm elections, leaving the GOP soon to be in charge of both the House and the Senate. When he approved U.S. airstrikes in late September against extremists who have captured territory across Syria and
Iraq, Obama used legal grounds of congressional authorizations that President George W. Bush relied on more than a decade ago. The White House maintained then that the Bush-era congressional authorizations for the war on al-Qaida and the Iraq invasion gave Obama authority to act without new approval by Congress under the 1973 War Powers Act.