Ohio 4th in US for seized meth labs

Ohio 4th in US for seized meth labs

CLEVELAND

A new report ranks Ohio among the top states for seized methamphetamine labs last year.

Ohio ranked fourth in the country in 2013 as authorities uncovered 1,010 labs, chemicals and glassware used in the drug’s cooking process. Indiana topped the national last year, followed by Tennessee and Missouri.

The report was done by the Missouri Highway Patrol, based on numbers from the National Clandestine Laboratory Seizure System, a database run by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bomb kills 6 at Afghan compound

KABUL, Afghanistan

A suicide bombing killed six policemen at the Afghan Interior Ministry compound in one of the capital’s most heavily fortified areas Wednesday, part of a recent escalation in violence in the heart of Kabul.

The bloodshed is threatening to scare voters away from the polls as Afghans worry that security forces unable to guard areas previously considered safe won’t be able to protect them on election day. The Taliban have launched a campaign of violence to disrupt Saturday’s vote for a new president and provincial councils.

Poll: 75% in US say pot will be legal

DENVER

Three-fourths of Americans say it’s inevitable that marijuana will be legal for recreational use across the nation, whether they support such policies or not, according to a public opinion poll released Wednesday that highlights shifting attitudes after the drug-war era and tough-on-crime legislation.

The Pew Research Center survey also shows increased support for ending mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and doing away altogether with jail time for small amounts of marijuana.

Thousands attend firefighter’s funeral

WATERTOWN, Mass.

Thousands of firefighters from across the nation gathered Wednesday to help lay to rest a colleague who died after becoming trapped in the basement of a burning Boston brownstone last week.

Saluting men and women in blue uniforms lined the streets of suburban Watertown as bagpipers in Scottish kilts played in honor of Lt. Edward Walsh, who was married and had three young children.

“We take care of our own,” said Lee Forshner, a firefighter from Palm Beach County, Fla., who took several flights to attend Walsh’s funeral. “And that extends across state borders.”

First-responders from Washington state, Ohio, New York and even Canada paid their respects to Walsh at St. Patrick’s Church.

Shark kills woman off Australian coast

SYDNEY

A shark killed a woman today as she swam with a group of swimmers off a popular Australian east-coast beach, police said.

The woman, in her 60s, was taken as she attempted to swim the 2,970 feet between the wharf and beach near the village of Tathra, 210 miles south of Sydney, police said in a statement.

The Thathra Wharf to Waves — a swim from the wharf to the beach and back again — is an annual event that attracts hundreds of swimmers each summer.

Local-council general manager Leanne Barnes said the victim was part of a group of Tathra locals who meet at the beach every morning to swim out to the wharf and back.

Associated Press