This city, which has been at the vanguard of medical marijuana legalization on everything from taxation to trade schools to the unionization of marijuana workers, voted on Tuesday to permit industrial-size marijuana farms.
After hours of public testimony, the city council voted 5 to 2 to permit large-scale indoor marijuana plantations. The cash-strapped city, which faces a US$31 million deficit and has a 17 percent unemployment rate, estimates that the marijuana factories could bring in as much as US$38 million annually in fees and taxes.
“As the industry continues to emerge and grow, we know that other cities are looking at this,” said Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who is running for mayor. “It’s important for Oakland to be a vital part of the growth and development of licensed facilities.”
While the city has been one of the most welcoming in California to medical marijuana purveyors, how the drug is grown has been largely unregulated. Oakland’s new law, which requires a final vote from the city council next week, would bring large-scale marijuana cultivators above ground, mandating that they pay a US$211,000 annual fee, provide security, conduct criminal background checks on employees, install camera surveillance and fire-safe electrical systems, and buy insurance.
If the plan receives final approval, the city would begin issuing large-scale production permits in January.
Last year, the city’s four licensed medical marijuana dispensaries sold 2,720kg of marijuana worth US$28 million and requiring approximately 4,189m²of space to grow. City officials estimate that farmers in the new facilities could produce 31,750kg a year.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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