Drug Recognition Experts: In light of marijuana legalization, a select group of 200 law enforcement officers around Washington are receiving specialized training to detect whether a driver is under the influence of drugs (or alcohol).
Assholes Who Fake Disability for Free Parking: The state is trying to figure out a way to crack down on the selfish, lazy assholes who abuse disabled parking placards to score better parking.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: The young black woman whose cancer cells were harvested without consent and have been publicly passed around and studied for the past 62 years—generating HeLa cells, billions of dollars, a publicly accessible genome sequence, and a book—is finally being acknowledged for her contributions to science. It’s more of an ethical victory than a financial one:
On Tuesday, the National Institute of Health announced it was, at long last, making good with Lacks’ family. Under a new agreement, Lack’s genome data will be accessible only to those who apply for and are granted permission. And two representatives of the Lacks family will serve on the NIH group responsible for reviewing biomedical researchers’ applications for controlled access to HeLa cells. Additionally, any researcher who uses that data will be asked to include an acknowledgement to the Lacks family in their publications.
The new understanding between the NIH and the Lacks family does not include any financial compensation for the family. The Lacks family hasn’t, and won’t, see a dime of the profits that came from the findings generated by HeLa cells.
California’s Amber Alert Continues: The hunt is still on for James Lee DiMaggio, a man whose San Diego home was discovered burned to the ground with two bodies inside Sunday evening. Police believe that DiMaggio is driving a blue Nissan Versa (license plate 6WCU986), is suspected to have abducted a 16-year-old girl, and may be headed to Canada by way of Washington state.
$448 Million Jackpot: At least three people are splitting the top prize. I am not one of them. Sigh.
Living the Dream: Nine undocumented Mexican activists, who were raised in the US and likely qualify for citizenship under the Dream Act, have been released from a federal detention center after crossing the border into Mexico and trying to re-enter the US. Their goal was to draw attention to mass deportations.
Commuter Shark: A dead, four-foot long shark was found on a commuter train in New York.
Homeless Rats: Tunnel construction has displaced rat communities, leading to a “ratpocalypse” downtown, pest controllers say.
Tikal and the Snake Lords: An ancient Mayan frieze has been discovered at an archeological site in Guatemala.
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