Skijoring, which has its origins as a competitive sport in Scandinavia, has been adapted over the years to include a team made up of a rider and skier who must navigate jumps, slalom gates, and the spearing of rings for points. Leadville, Colorado, with an elevation of 10,152 feet (3,094 m), the highest incorporated city in North America, has been hosting skijoring competitions since 1949.
Five homes have been destroyed by the Cold Springs Fire near Nederland, Colorado that authorities say two transient men accidentally started, according to the Associated Press. The fire started on Saturday and spread quickly.
Fans of marijuana have long marked April 20 as a day to roll weed or munch on pot-laced brownies, and call for increased legal access to it. This year’s celebrations throughout the U.S. come amid loosening of marijuana restrictions and increasing tolerance for the plant’s use from Alaska to Massachusetts.
A gunman opened fire inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, engaging in gun battles with authorities during an hourslong standoff that killed three people and wounded nine others, officials said. The suspect was arrested Friday and identified as Robert Lewis Dear of North Carolina. –Tribune wire reports
The world’s first state-licensed marijuana retailers legally permitted to sell pot for recreational use opened for business in Colorado on Wednesday with long lines of customers, marking a new chapter in America’s drug culture.
Activists demonstrate during the second anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Mount Sinabung spews rocks and red-hot ash, flooding in Colorado continues and more in today’s daily brief.
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In addition to the devastating wire photos coming out of Colorado, the people of the troubled state have taken to their smart phones to capture the scenes around them using Vine, Twitter’s 6-second video clip app.
Firefighters battled on Thursday to control a wildfire that Colorado officials say is the most destructive blaze in the state’s history. At least two people have been killed and at least 360 homes have been destroyed, with the fire continuing to burn.
Today, April 20 or 4/20, is embraced by marijuana smokers nationwide as a celebration of cannabis culture. By and large, observance has remained underground given pot’s classification as an illegal substance by federal law. This year, though, things have changed, with voters in Colorado and Washington deciding in 2012 to decriminalize marijuana within state borders.
In Maryland, lawmakers opted not to decriminalize pot, but the General Assembly authorized a medical marijuana program. In recent years, Baltimore prosecutors have been easing up on marijuana possession penalties. (For contrast’s sake, D.C.’s first medical marijuana dispensary is set to open this month.)
A state ballot measure legalizing marijuana for recreational use passed Nov. 6 in both Colorado and Washington state, in what might be the biggest statement of the 2012 Election aside from President Obama’s re-election and same-sex marriage.
In Colorado, the new amendment would allow adults 21 and older to legally purchase one ounce of marijuana as soon as the end of the month, while in Washington voters approved the selling and taxing of small amounts of marijuana-related products to adults beginning Dec. 6. A similar initiative was rejected in Oregon.
Despite opposing the measure himself, Colorado’s governor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday night saying that “This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug so don’t break out the Cheetos or gold fish too quickly.” In a KUOW radio interview Nov. 7, Washington governor Chris Gregoire also expressed concern about federal reactions saying that “The jury is out on what happens. Meanwhile, my job as governor is to do what the people of the state of Washington have said they want done.”
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