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His comments refer to Attorney General Jeff Sessions who recently rescinded an Obama-era law that allows states to regulate marijuana without federal interference.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.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to 576,000, a hopeful sign that layoffs are easing as the economy recovers from the pandemic recession.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Cheddar to discuss the growing calls from some Democrats to have President Biden eliminate up to $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower.
President Joe Biden says he will withdraw the remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan and end America's longest war.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif. 15th District)
Officer Kim Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon both resigned two days after the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.
Japan’s government has decided to start releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years.
President Joe Biden and congressional leaders will pay their respects to Evans, who was struck by a car and killed while he manned a barricade near the Senate side of the building.
The U.S. government’s budget deficit surged to an all-time high of $1.7 trillion for the first six months of this budget year.
Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua have pulled production of their runaway slave drama “Emancipation” from Georgia over the state’s recently enacted law restricting voting access.
The chairman of the Federal Reserve says the U.S. economy is poised for an extended period of strong growth and hiring even though the coronavirus still poses some risk.
