Vermont Mayor Hopes Sessions "Reconsiders" His Position on Marijuana
The Green Mountain State is making history, becoming the first state to legalize marijuana, not through a popular vote, but by legislation.
But the mayor of the Vermont’s capital city Montpelier told Cheddar that things need to change on the federal level.
“I think it’s just appalling, the use of federal crime resources to be chasing marijuana use,” John Hollar said. “I think it’s really ironic that this is coming from a Republican administration that purports to support states’ rights. But when it comes to marijuana, it decides that this is something it’s going to deal with at a federal level...I hope it gets overturned by Congress or reconsidered by the Attorney General.”
His comments refer to Attorney General Jeff Sessions who recently rescinded an Obama-era law that allows states to regulate marijuana without federal interference.
Under its new law, Vermont residents can carry up to an ounce of marijuana for personal, recreational use and grow, though commercial sales are still prohibited.
Some members of Congress are fighting Sessions’ efforts with the REFER Act. The proposed bill, introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), aims to protect states, and people in those states, that allow the use of cannabis.
President Joe Biden called for a war crimes trial against Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he’d seek more sanctions after reported atrocities in Ukraine.
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 4, 2022, with reports of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, a weekend shooting in Sacramento killing six and injuring 12, Mexico ending its gas subsidization for U.S. drivers, and the University of South Carolina winning the women's NCAA basketball championship, and more.
Peter Zalzal, associate vice president for clean air strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, joined Cheddar to discuss the Biden Administration's unveiling of stricter fuel-efficiency standards for new automobiles. "The administration estimated that these rules will reduce about 2.5 billion tons of climate pollution by 2050, and using less fuel also means that we have to go to the gas pump less often. And so it means we save money, thousands of dollars in avoided fuel costs each year for consumers," he noted.
The relatively robust March jobs report showed that despite the low unemployment rate, Black, Hispanic, and women job seekers are still having difficulty finding work. William M. Rodgers III, the vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis noted that participation rates in the labor force ticked up for minorities, adding to other positive signs of growth. He also spoke to Cheddar News to discuss further the jobs figures, the state of the labor market, and rising inflation.
U.S. markets opened higher to kick off the second quarter, despite a miss on the March Jobs Report. The economy added $431,000 in the month, slightly lower than the $490,000 analysts had expected. The unemployment rate also ticked down to 3.6% from 3.8%. Kevin Simpson, Founder & Chief Investment Officer, Capital Wealth Planning joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden is going after billionaires in his 2023 budget request to congress. The proposal would establish a 20% minimum tax rate on all households worth more than $100 million, as well as raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Rhett Buttle, Small Business for America's Future Senior Advisor, Business Policy Expert & Biden Campaign Business Advisor, breaks down the proposal, what it aims to accomplish, and how small businesses might feel about it.
The Biden administration has announced the U.S. will accept up to 100,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and provide more than 1 billion dollars in new funding for the growing humanitarian crisis. The move comes as President Biden meets with his western counterparts in Europe to demonstrate a united front against Russia and show support for Ukraine. Altagracia Pierre-Outerbridge, Immigration Attorney for Outerbridge Law, explains how this is going to work.
The DOJ has endorsed an antitrust bill targeting tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Google. The legislation would ban the companies from favoring their own products and services over their competitor's, making it more difficult them to dominate the marketplace. Greg Day, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Georgia, breaks down the bill and its potential impact on anti-competition in the tech sector.
