This Week in the Legislature: Cannabidiol Oil, Teacher Pay Raises and Bentley Impeachment
There are only eight meeting days left in Alabama’s 2016 Legislative Session, and the Alabama State House saw a burst of activity this week. For an update from Montgomery, we talk with Don Dailey, host of Capitol Journal on Alabama Public Television. To start, Dailey tells WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley about Leni’s Law, a bill the House passed Wednesday that would decriminalize a specific marijuana oil in a bid to help people coping with debilitating seizures. It’s named for Leni Young, a former Alabama resident who suffers from a seizure disorder.
Cannabidiol doesn’t cause a high like marijuana, and is being explored as a treatment for epilepsy. The bill would give people a defense from drug possession charges if they are using the oil to help with seizures. Lawmakers previously approved access to the oil through a study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but some, including Young, couldn’t get into the study.
Additionally, the Alabama House of Representatives is expected to vote next week to establish a 15-person investigatory committee to probe the possible impeachment of Governor Robert Bentley.
Rapper Tory Lanez is hospitalized after being stabbed in a California prison
The rapper's Instagram account says his lungs collapsed after he was stabbed 14 times, but he is "in good spirits." Lanez is serving a 10-year sentence for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.
The ‘Oscar’ of food prizes goes to a Brazilian who harnessed the power of bacteria
This year's $500,000 World Food Prize, for advances in agriculture and nutrition, goes to Mariangela Hungria, who boosted Brazil's farming revolution, turning the country into a soybean superpower.
FDA moves to ban fluoride supplements for kids, removing a key tool for dentists
The agency is taking steps to remove prescription fluoride treatments that children swallow.
So far at Cannes: De Niro gets a Palme d’or, Trump gets criticized, nudity gets banned
The updated dress code prohibits nudity on the Red Carpet and in other areas of the festival. The new rules surprised one jury member, who had to make a last-minute outfit change.
As few as 3 radar controllers monitored Newark’s airspace Monday night, FAA says
At times Monday evening, as few as three air traffic controllers per hour were lined up to monitor via radar the planes flying into and out of the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Privacy advocates urge states not to comply with USDA requests for food stamp data
One payment processor has so far signaled to states that it intends to turn over data about millions of Americans to the federal government even as privacy groups warn that the request is illegal.
