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An increasing number of Native American tribes are looking to the marijuana business to break the poverty on reservations, but they are treading quietly over uncertainties in federal policy, which could shift under President Donald Trump. 

Cannabis is big business in states that have legalized its medical or recreational use. Arcview, a California cannabis investor network, says the U.S. marijuana market earned $6.7 billion in 2016.  

Apart from its medical and euphoric properties, proponents of cannabis cite the industrial potential of hemp, which is derived from the male cannabis plant. It is used globally in more than 25,000 products, from fabrics to food to pharmaceuticals. Because of its association with marijuana, hemp cultivation is strictly controlled in the U.S., and manufacturers must import hemp fiber, seed and oil.

Environmental, financial benefits

“Let’s just look at one small piece of what hemp can do,” said Leslie Bocskor, founder of Electrum Partners, which works with states and tribes looking to enter the cannabis industry. Hemp, Bocskor said, can be used to manufacture plastics that are more environmentally friendly than plastics made from oil and gas, which aren’t biodegradable.

“When you put hemp plastic into landfill, it will break down into things that are not damaging, at worst, and, at best, it can be additive to the soil it’s put into,” he said. “It also causes far less pollution to produce hemp plastics.” 

Tribes stand to realize even greater profits than states due to their tax advantage. 

State cannabis producers and retailers can’t deduct business expenses on their federal tax bills and end up paying a larger part of their gross earnings to the government. 

But recognized tribes and tribal corporations don’t pay federal income tax on earnings gained on reservations. 

“This effectively creates a profit margin — versus non-tribally owned cannabis businesses — of what could be up to 85 percent,” said Bocskor.

So why aren’t tribes leaping at the opportunity? 

Conflicting laws

The federal government regulates drugs through the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, which bans the use of marijuana.

“But states have been going ahead with legal marijuana programs ever since 1996, when California was the first to legalize a medical cannabis program,” said Vincent Sliwoski, a Portland attorney who represents cannabis companies. “States have been defying federal law for a long time, and there have been sporadic enforcement and non-enforcement periods.” 

In 2013, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a guidance memo essentially giving states permission to grow and sell marijuana without fear of federal prosecution — with some restrictions: States may not allow it to grow on public land, for example, be sold to minors, distributed in states where it is illegal or channel profits into drug cartels. DOJ issued similar guidance to tribal governments a few months later.

“Now this is just paper; it isn’t a law,” said Sliwoski, who also teaches cannabis law. “It’s the Attorney General telling states, ‘Don’t waste federal funds right now, but maybe our minds will change later.’” 

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized some form of marijuana use. Several tribes have attempted to enter the market; most have been shut down by the government.  

Tribal operations raided

In July 2015, federal agents raided two reservations in northern California, alleging they were producing unlawful quantities of marijuana, which the tribes denied.

Three months later, agents seized industrial hemp plants from Wisconsin’s Menominee Nation,charging that non-Natives with ties to the Colorado marijuana industry were managing the operation and that the plants contained higher levels of THC than permitted.  The Menominee said they had invited the government to test the plants and had offered to destroy any plants that tested too high.

In the wake of these raids, South Dakota’s Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe burned its crop and shut down operations, fearing a similar crackdown. 

But others, such as the Squaxin Island Tribe in Washington state, where marijuana is legal, have successful retail businesses. Still other tribes, including South Dakota’s Oglala Sioux, have banned marijuana altogether. 

It’s not clear why authorities have pressured tribal marijuana operations. Sliwoski said it’s possible some police agencies are interpreting the DOJ memo incorrectly. “It’s also possible that certain local U.S. attorneys have been more zealous than their counterparts in other areas, and that enforcement has fallen disproportionately upon tribes for that reason,” he said.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions openly opposes marijuana. And a presidential spokesman said Trump sees a big difference between medical and recreational marijuana. The president understands the use of medical marijuana to ease suffering, the spokesman said, and he suggested that crackdowns on recreational marijuana could be coming. 

Bocskor continues to advise tribes and predicts the government will hold back from stricter marijuana enforcement. 

“The federal government is in a very difficult position here,” he said, noting that Colorado has received more than $500 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales since it legalized the drug in 2014. 

Taking that revenue away from states, he said, “would be a very, very unpopular” move.

 
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The world’s worst smelling flower has bloomed at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington. The stench of the ‘Corpse Flower’ is often compared to the odor of rotting flesh or garbage. Each giant plant grows one large flower that only lasts only up to a couple of days. VOA’s Deborah Block went to the botanic garden to find out what the smell was all about.
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China expressed “strong dissatisfaction” on Monday with the U.S. launch of an investigation into China’s alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property, calling it “irresponsible.”

The U.S. Trade Representative formally announced the investigation on Friday, a widely expected move following a call from President Donald Trump earlier last week to determine whether a probe was needed.

The investigation is the administration’s first direct measure against Chinese trade practices, which the White House and U.S. business groups say are damaging American industry.

China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement that the move sent the wrong signal to the world, and would be condemned by the international community.

“The United States’ disregard of World Trade Organization rules and use of domestic law to initiate a trade investigation against China is irresponsible, and its criticism of China is not objective,” an unnamed ministry spokesman said.

“China expresses strong dissatisfaction with the United States’ unilateral protectionist action. We urge the U.S. side to respect the facts, … respect multilateral principles, and act prudently,” the official said, adding that Beijing would take “all appropriate measures, and resolutely defend China’s lawful interests.”

The United States should instead work with China to find consensus and promote healthy trade relations, the ministry said.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a popular trade tool in the 1980s that has been rarely used in the past decade, allows the U.S. president to unilaterally impose tariffs or

other trade restrictions to protect U.S. industries from “unfair trade practices” of foreign countries.

Beijing would almost certainly challenge any such measures at the WTO.

But China’s policy of forcing foreign companies to turn over technology to Chinese joint venture partners and failure to crack down on intellectual property theft have been longstanding problems for several U.S. administrations.

Administration officials have said that Chinese theft could amount to as much as $600 million, though Chinese officials deny that such forced technology transfers exist. They say the country is continuously improving intellectual property protection.

The probe will likely further complicate the U.S. relationship with China, the country’s largest trading partner.

The Trump administration has been pressing Beijing to take steps to encourage North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile programs.
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American Comic legend Jerry Lewis, who teamed up with the late Dean Martin before starring in his own movies, has died at age 91 at his home in Las Vegas.

During the peak of their popularity, Martin and Lewis ruled nightclubs, radio and then the box office with their breezy yet physical comedy act, reigning as the top draw at theaters from 1950-56.

After their breakup Lewis remained the No. 1 movie draw through the mid-1960s on the strength of such classics as The Bellboy (1960) and The Nutty Professor (1963).  As Paramount’s biggest star, he had the creative freedom to make the moves he wanted to make.

Lewis also was known for more than a half-century to fighting the neuromuscular disease, Muscular Dystrophy, hosting an annual Labor Day telethon and raising nearly $2.5 billion from 1955 until 2011.
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U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will recommend on Aug. 24 whether to eliminate or shrink nearly two dozen national monuments, creating the first major test for a 111-year-old law that gives presidents the power to protect swaths of public land.

Zinke is expected to recommend that at least some of the national monuments under review — which were all created since 1996 — be rescinded or shrunk in size, responding to an order by President Donald Trump, who believes there should be greater opportunity to increase local resource development and economic opportunities.

Any recommendation of reductions could herald a move into unchartered territory.

Under the Antiquities Act, a president can declare certain areas of historic or scientific interest a national monument.

However, no president has ever revoked a previous designation.

Previous presidents, including Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft did reduce the size of some existing monuments. But this time, environmental groups are prepared to challenge any changes in court — something that has not happened before.

Trump has argued that previous administrations “abused” their right to designate federally protected monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act and put millions of acres of land — mainly in western states — off limits to drilling, mining, logging and other activity without adequate input from locals.

Under the Antiquities Act, a president can declare certain areas of historic or scientific interest a national monument.

‘Willing to go into battle’

Conservation groups, state attorneys general and Native American tribes, including the five tribes which lobbied to create one of the sites under review — Bears Ears National Monument in Utah — have already said they plan to challenge any changes in court.

“We told Zinke that all the tribes are willing to go into battle in terms of litigation and we are here to fight for our monument,” said Davis Filfred, a council delegate for the Navajo Nation council.

While Zinke has said so far that six monuments of the 27 on the review list should be left intact, he is expected to recommend downsizing some through presidential decree or

Congressional action, which could change how future presidents use the 1906 law.

Zinke has already said he intends to scale down Bears Ears, which covers 1.35 million acres and was created last December by former President Barack Obama, who said it would protect the cultural legacy of Native American tribes and preserve “scenic and historic landscapes.”

Zinke said he believes previous presidents took too many liberties with the Antiquities act.

“Clearly the Antiquities Act was designed to protect the smallest area compatible with protection of the object,” Zinke told Reuters in June in Boston, where he met with stakeholders to discuss the Atlantic coast Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine monument. Zinke said that “Congress needs to step to the plate, too,” to take up legislation that could change some monument sizes and create other designations like national recreation and conservation areas.

Molly Block, a spokeswoman for Utah Republican Representative Rob Bishop, chair of the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, said while the House may be able to pass legislation regarding monuments, enactment of a measure would be an uphill battle.

“You can get something through the House, but anything we do will face a tough time in the Senate,” she said.

Meanwhile, public support for monuments has grown in visibility.

Zinke has said Interior has received over 1.2 million public comments on the Regulations.gov website and thousands more via traditional mail. Environmental groups have said more than 2.7 million comments were submitted, mostly in favor of keeping the monuments intact.

“The debate has galvanized a lot of different interests beyond traditional environmental groups, including outdoor retailers and hunters and fishers, who are out there mobilizing during this review,” said Sharon Buccino of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Outdoor retailer Patagonia aired its first-ever TV ads on Sunday, featuring a direct appeal to Zinke to leave the monuments intact.

The ads will air in Zinke’s home state of Montana, as well as Utah and Nevada, where several monuments are under review.
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Add next week’s total eclipse of the sun to the list of worker distractions that cost U.S. companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity.

American employers will see at least $694 million in missing output for the roughly 20 minutes that outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates workers will take out of their workday on Monday, Aug. 21 to stretch their legs, head outside the office and gaze at the nearly two-and-a-half minute eclipse.

And 20 minutes is a conservative estimate, said Andy Challenger, vice president at the Chicago-based firm. Many people may take even longer to set up their telescopes or special viewing glasses, or simply take off for the day.

“There’s very few people who are not going to walk outside when there’s a celestial wonder happening above their heads to go out and view it,” Challenger said, estimating that 87 million employees will be at work during the eclipse.

To get the overall figure of nearly $700 million, Challenger multiplied that by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest estimate for average hourly wages for all workers 16 and over.

Just as the Earth is a mere speck in the universe, however, Challenger said this is still a small sum.

“Compared to the amount of wages being paid to an employee over a course of a year, it is very small,” Challenger said. “It’s not going to show up in any type of macroeconomic data.”

It also pales when compared with the myriad other distractions in the modern workplace, such as the U.S. college basketball championship known as March Madness, the recent U.S. shopping phenomenon called Cyber Monday and the Monday after the Super Bowl.

During the opening week of March Madness, the firm estimated employers experienced $615 million per hour in lost productivity as people watched games and highlights, set up pool brackets and avidly tracked their standings rather than performed actual work.

The Monday after the Super Bowl, meanwhile, resulted in an estimated $290 million in lost output for every 10 minutes of the workday spent by workers discussing the game or watching game highlights and re-runs of their favorite Super Bowl commercials.

And Cyber Monday on the heels of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday at the start of the annual holiday shopping season resulted in $450 million in lost productivity for every 14 minutes spent shopping, not working.

Events like this are likely to have an outsized effect on smaller companies, Challenger said. When their workers are absent, small firms may not have sufficient coverage from coworkers, especially in the current tight labor market where it is hard to find skilled workers.

“When three or four people are missing from an office of 15, it’s a lot more disruptive,” Challenger said.

EVENT AMOUNT IN LOST PRODUCTIVITY

Total Eclipse:   $694 million for the 20 minutes it takes to go outside and watch the eclipse

Cyber Monday:   $450 million for every 14 minutes spent

shopping

March Madness:   $615 million for each hour spent on March Madness activities

Super Bowl:   $290 million for every 10 minutes lost

discussing the game

Fantasy Football:   $990 million for each hour of work time

spent on Fantasy Football

 
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Thousands of leftist activists marched Saturday through downtown Boston in opposition to a planned free-speech rally that featured right-wing speakers, heavily outnumbering the few dozen people who showed up for the rally.

WATCH: VOA’s Carolyn Presutti in Boston

WATCH: VOA Spanish service broadcast Celia Mendoza in Boston

The rally was organized in July by a group calling itself Boston Free Speech, which says it is made up of a coalition of “libertarians, progressives, conservatives and independents.”

John Medlar, one of the group’s organizers, told multiple media outlets the rally would not welcome white supremacists, and he has denounced racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

Despite the group’s rejection of white supremacists, ANSWER Coalition Boston, a local chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement, held a counterdemonstration, which it dubbed “Fight Supremacy,” to oppose the free speech rally.

The free speech rally, however, was sparsely attended, with never more than a few dozen people. Reuters reported that the event’s speakers could not be heard over the shouts by counterprotesters, who were kept away from the gazebo where the free speech rally was held.

The free speech rally ended a half-hour early — it had received a permit to gather from 12-2 p.m. EDT.

Police estimated that 15,000 people took part in the counterprotest march.

WATCH: Counterprotesters march to Boston Common

WATCH: VOA’s Carolyn Presutti in Boston at start of counterprotest

 
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Thousands of leftist activists marched through downtown Boston Saturday in opposition to a planned free speech rally that featured right-wing speakers, heavily outnumbering the few dozen people who showed up for the rally.
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U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will not attend an annual ceremony at Washington’s Kennedy Center honoring the lifetime achievements of select artists to avoid distraction, a White House statement said Saturday.

“The president and first lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction,” the White House said.

The announcement came after one of the honorees, dancer Carmen de Lavallade, said she would boycott a separate White House reception that is held in conjunction with the award ceremony.

The 86-year-old de Lavallade issued a statement Thursday announcing her decision.

“In light of the socially divisive and morally caustic narrative that our current leadership is choosing to engage in, and in keeping with the principles that I and so many others have fought for, I will be declining the invitation to attend the reception at the White House,” she said.

Another honoree, TV writer Norman Lear, has also said he will not attend the reception. A third, singer Lionel Richie, has said he is “on the fence” about the White House event.

In addition to Richie, Lear and de Lavallade, singer Gloria Esfefan and rapper LL Cool J will be celebrated for their lifetime contributions to the arts at the December 3 ceremony.

The White House announcement came just days after members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resigned in protest against Trump’s controversial remarks this week following last Saturday’s violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The latest developments are indicative of Trump’s contentious relationship with the arts world. After his election, Trump had a difficult time finding entertainers to perform at his inaugural gala in January.
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How does a former stay-at-home mom become an employee of a tech company that could be worth more than $1 billion?

For Ellein Cheng, mom to a 5½- and a 2½-year-old, the answer involved a “returnship.”

So-called returnships are internships that target men and women who have been out of the workforce, either for childrearing or other caregiving. It gives them a chance to retrain in a new field.

In Cheng’s case, the former math teacher and tutor took a returnship at AppNexus, an online advertising company.

For companies, returnships are an opportunity to tap into more mature and professionally diverse talent pools. For participants who may be out of the workforce, it’s a chance to refresh their networks, learn new skills and try on new roles.

Beneficial arrangement

For both parties, it’s a low-risk, low-commitment arrangement. Companies can achieve their goals to make the employee ranks more diverse. Job seekers can potentially find full-time work.

Cheng’s returnship was set up by Path Forward [[www.pathforward.org/]], a New York-based nonprofit that works with tech companies to coordinate 16-week, paid assignments for those who have been away from the labor market for two or more years because of caregiving.

The organization partners with tech companies that range in size from 30-person startups to behemoths such as PayPal, which has more than 10,000 employees.

“What these companies of every size in the tech sector have in common is rapid growth, and also not enough talent to fulfill their needs,” said Tami Forman, executive director at Path Forward.

Women re-entering the workforce often struggle to explain the gap in their resume and find employment harder to come by, Forman said.

“They often get feedback from companies and recruiters and hiring managers that makes them believe that they’ll never be hired, that no one will ever overlook their gap,” she said. The organization says it gets results — 40 out of the 50 women who have gone through the program were offered ongoing employment at the companies in which they interned.

Teaching background

In her job search, Cheng applied for teaching positions but was also open to other fields. The product support work struck a chord with her in its appeal for candidates “passionate about learning and teaching.”

The program gave both managers and participants the chance to see if a long-term opportunity would be the right fit for them.

It also provided a dose of inspiration.

Other employees were “inspired to see people stepping out of their comfort zone, taking a big risk, working on something they haven’t done before,” Lorraine Buhannic, senior director of talent acquisition at AppNexus, said.

For Cheng, the inspiration came from a more personal place — her daughters.

They are growing up “in a world that is changing so quickly with technology, and I just want to be part of that,” she said. “I want to grow with them, I want to learn with them.”

In the end, the match worked. After the returnship, AppNexus hired Cheng as a product support specialist.

Now working in the fast-paced world of online advertising, Cheng says she doesn’t feel she has left her old self behind.

“I’m still obviously learning a lot, because I’m switching careers completely, but at the same time, still bringing the teaching element part of it every day to work,” she said.
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Four police officers were shot in two separate shootings in Florida late Friday night. One officer died from his injuries and two others are in critical condition.

Two police officers in Kissimmee, Florida, were investigating a suspicious persons report shortly before 9:30 p.m. EDT Friday, Kissimmee Police Chief Jeff O’Dell said at a news conference early Saturday. About five minutes later a shooting was reported, and other officers responding to the scene found the wounded policemen.

O’Dell said Officer Matthew Baxter has died from his injuries and Sgt. Sam Howard is in “grave, critical condition.”

“And the prognosis does not look good,” O’Dell added.

According to the Kissimmee Police Department’s Twitter feed, O’Dell said the shooting “looks as though it may have been an ambush.”

President Donald Trump tweeted condolences to the Kissimmee Police Department early Saturday morning.

According to The Associated Press, three suspects are in custody and a fourth is being sought.

Meanwhile, two officers were shot responding to a call in Jacksonville, Florida, about 150 miles north of Kissimmee.

One of those officers is in critical condition and the other is in stable condition. Police shot and killed the suspect in that shooting.
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When the ebola crisis erupted in 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent staff to help West African countries contain the pandemic. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research and supported pharmaceutical giants to produce a vaccine that would save lives but not turn a profit.

In his budget proposal, President Donald Trump seeks big cuts in spending on global health research. Those cuts could affect work being done to end malaria and AIDS and protect against other infectious diseases. 

Trump’s proposed 2018 budget calls for an 18 percent funding cut for NIH and a 17 percent cut for the CDC. 

Impact on health security

“If these cuts as proposed were enacted, it would have severe impact on health security,” said Stephen Morrison, who heads the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Watch: Proposed US Budget Cuts Could Have Severe Impact on Health Security

And in the long run could be costlier because it’s far cheaper to be ready for a disease outbreak than to fight one once it starts, Jami Bay Nishi of the Global Health Technologies Coalition said.

“The National Academy of Medicine put out a report estimating that responding to a pandemic threat costs $60 billion,” she said. “Yet, ongoing investment in preventative research in attempts to mitigate against a future threat is $1 billion per year.”

U.S. investments, Nishi said, have produced malaria drugs that have saved 750,000 lives and an inexpensive meningitis vaccine that has prevented nearly 400,000 deaths.

The NIH has been instrumental in the fight against AIDS and malaria. AIDS deaths are now close to half of what they were in 2005, according to the U.N. AIDS agency, and researchers seem to be closing in on a malaria vaccine.

In addition, large pharmaceutical companies, like Johnson and Johnson, need the government to back research, especially for drugs for low-income countries. said Jamie Taylor of Johnson and Johnson.

“We can’t do it on our own, and that’s definitive,” she said.

If cuts become routine

But, Morrison observed, the president’s budget request isn’t a done deal.

“He’s not going to get all that he wants, but he’s going to get something,” he said.

The main problem, as Morrison and others see it, is if budget cuts continue, the U.S. will lose its position as a world leader in medical research, and the world will be more vulnerable to the spread of infectious disease. 

Elizabeth Cameron, from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, says bioterrorism could also become a greater risk to the U.S.

“(It’s) absolutely vital that we get to a point where we’re able to respond to any disease threat that comes our way no matter how it comes our way,” Cameron said.

And, finally, Nishi argues, U.S. research and development (R&D) creates jobs that would be lost by budget cuts.

“U.S. government investments in global health R&D not only save millions of lives around the world, but they support U.S. jobs, the U.S. economy and U.S. health security,” she said.

But the secretary of the Health and Human Services Department thinks budget cuts can be made without any loss of research.

“I think what the budget is trying to do, in the first step in this process, is trying to bring focus to the kinds of things that we ought to be able to do to get a bigger bang for our buck,” said Dr. Tom Price, secretary of HHS.

Congress will tackle these issues when the lawmakers return from their summer recess in September.
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