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In about the last 10 years, the legalized cannabis industry has grown into a $32 billion business. Today, in 21 states, and the District of Columbia, you can legally purchase recreational marijuana if you are 21 or older. And 37 states have legalized medical marijuana programs.
While it's easy to feel that cannabis has come a long way from the scare tactics of Reefer Madness, since 1970's Controlled Substance Act, marijuana has been classified as a drug on par with cocaine and heroin - dramatically increasing penalties for possession, sale, and distribution. Those penalties were enforced in ways that continue to disproportionately target people of color, especially black people.
While the same states that once prosecuted the sale of weed are now regulating and taxing it, will those most affected by the punitive frameworks of the past be able to profit too?
Host Michel Martin speaks with Devin Alexander, owner of the cannabis delivery business, Rolling Releaf, based in Newton Massachusetts. And we hear from Tauhid Chappell, President of the Philadelphia CannaBusiness Association.
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he welcomes a bipartisan effort in Congress to push for new rail safety regulations in the wake of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Buttigieg spoke to NPR's Ari Shapiro a day after Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw apologized for the East Palestine derailment during a Senate hearing, but stopped short of endorsing specific new regulations for his industry.
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Some 16 million American households receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will get less money this month.
During the pandemic, the federal government temporarily increased SNAP benefits. But those extra benefits have now expired. That means recipients will get about $90 less each month on average, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research institute. Some families may see their benefits cut by more than $250 per month.
Dr. Megan Sandel, co-director of the Boston Medical Center's Grow Clinic, which focuses on treating malnutrition issues in kids, explains how children's health can suffer when families are not able to put enough food on the table.
And NPR's Stacey Vanek Smith reports on another worrying trend in Americans' personal finances. Credit card debt is increasing at a record rate, as people struggle to keep up with inflation.
This episode also features reporting from NPR's Alison Aubrey.
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Before he was the face of a protest movement and a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, Colin Kaepernick was a teenager who was trying to figure out who he was and where he was going.
Kaepernick's new graphic novel "Change The Game," written with Eve L. Ewing and illustrated by Orlando Caicedo, is about that time in his life. He talked to NPR about his coming-of-age story, his career, and whether the NFL has changed since his departure.
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He hasn't yet entered the contest, but even so, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is one of the leading Republicans in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.
DeSantis has just released a new book that highlights his pugnacious style and hardline stance on issues ranging from education to public health. And he has attracted even more attention as Florida's Republican-led legislature began its session Tuesday.
NPR's Greg Allen has this look at how DeSantis became what some believe is the future of the Republican Party.
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Tennessee passed a bill last week restricting drag shows. The law specifically bans "adult cabaret performances" in public or in the presence of children.
In more than a dozen states, Republican lawmakers have been pushing similar bills.
Historian Jules Gill-Peterson of Johns Hopkins University says laws that target drag have a long history in the U.S, and LGBTQ people have fought back before.
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When Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her re-election bid this week, many people saw the result as a referendum on how she handled crime.
But crime is not just a Chicago issue. Nationally, murders, shootings, and thefts are up. Communities that feel under siege are looking to hold elected leaders accountable for their failure to address the problem. But when agreements on how to solve crime break down along party lines -and even within parties- are politics hindering potential solutions?
Host Michel Martin talks to Thomas Abt, senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, about non-partisan, research-based solutions. We also hear from Ja'Ron Smith, a fellow with Right on Crime, a conservative criminal justice reform coalition.
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Documents released as part of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit reveal that many Fox News stars knew conspiracy theories about the 2020 election were baseless but invited guests who spewed those claims on air anyway.
The documents were released by Dominion Voting Systems as part of its lawsuit against both Fox News and its parent company. They include text messages sent by Fox News personalities and statements made under oath by the network's controlling owner Rupert Murdoch.
NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik explains that the lawsuit is the latest in a series of ethical breaches during Murdoch's decades-long reign at the helm of one of the most powerful media companies in the world.
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The Supreme Court is weighing whether or not the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutional based on how it receives its funding.
Last fall a panel of three Trump appointees on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals outlined that if funding for a federal agency like the CFPB is not appropriated annually by Congress, then everything that agency does is deemed unconstitutional.
While the agency's fate is in limbo, its latest initiative is aimed at cracking down on junk fees that can cost Americans a lot of money.
We speak with CFPB's director, Rohit Chopra, on how unnecessary fees impact everyday people.
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Raghavan Iyer built his career helping Americans get to know the fundamentals of Indian cooking. Now, after years of treatment for aggressive cancer, he has released what he says will be his last book.
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Raghavan Iyer, about the book, "On The Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World."
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