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DC changes course on custody for public marijuana use

By Madeleine Simon

WASHINGTON — People caught smoking pot in public in D.C. will now get a citation instead of being taken into custody, thanks to a policy change announced by Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Peter Newsham on Friday.

Citing public marijuana smokers instead of custodial arrests was already an option available to D.C. police, but the new rule mandates it in an effort to cut back on the number of people in custody.

Under the new procedure, people receiving a citation must go to a police station for booking within 15 days. At that point, they can either pay a $25 fine or go to court.

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“We cherish the trust we have built between residents and the police,” Bowser said in a release. “This policy will reduce the number of people who are taken into custody and allow us to better focus our efforts and resources on building a safer, stronger D.C.”

Juveniles, people with outstanding warrants or others deemed by officers to be a threat to themselves or someone else will not be eligible for the new, more lenient procedure.

One attack, many Americas: Why 9/11 and its many griefs land differently 25 years later

By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — When the planes crashed and the buildings fell on that sunny September morning 25 years ago, the shock waves of dismay and grief went far past downtown New York City, rural western Pennsylvania and just outside Washington, D.C. They radiated through every part of the United States in communities large and small, tearing at Americans' sense of safety and their place in the world. Hearts were broken across the nation, not just of those who lost their loved ones but among strangers who mourned for them, the Sept. 11 attacks leaving no one unaffected in an unwanted moment of horrifying togetherness. A quarter of a century later, the effects linger. We all live in a post-9/11 world, with its security strictures and surveillance. But here's the thing: Americans don't all live in the SAME one. What the attacks and their aftermath have come to mean isn't a single viewpoint shared by everyone, for reasons chronological, political and personal. It's a tapestry of meaning and grief as varied as the nation in which 9/11 took place.
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