Group effort seeks to expunge pot convictions in Ohio

Group effort seeks to expunge pot convictions in Ohio

COLUMBUS

An Ohio group is moving ahead with its effort to create a way to purge old pot-related convictions made obsolete if marijuana is legalized this fall.

ResponsibleOhio is the campaign behind the pot legalization effort. It says it was filing nearly 238,000 petition signatures Tuesday for the so-called Fresh Start Act.

The proposal calls for reviewing sentences and expunging criminal records for people with previous marijuana convictions if their actions would no longer be considered illegal.

ResponsibleOhio needs some 92,000 valid signatures to get the issue before state lawmakers next year. Legislators would need to act within the first four months of 2016 or supporters could potentially put the issue to voters next fall.

‘Happy Birthday’: in public domain

LOS ANGELES

A federal judge has ruled that the music publishing company that has been collecting royalties for the song “Happy Birthday To You” does not hold a valid copyright to the popular tune that is sung worldwide.

U.S. District Judge George H. King ruled Tuesday that the copyright originally filed by the Clayton F. Summy Co. in 1935 granted only the rights to specific arrangements of the tune and not the actual song itself.

In invalidating the copyright, King ruled that Summy never acquired the rights to the song’s lyrics.

Police: Man, 78, hit over waffle sample

BURBANK, Calif.

A 24-year-old man has been charged with elder abuse after authorities say he punched a 78-year-old man over free Nutella waffle samples at a Los Angeles-area Costco store.

Prosecutors say Derrick Gharabighi, of Burbank, was charged Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty in an afternoon court appearance.

He is being held on $50,000 bail, and he faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison if convicted.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office says he was hoarding samples of the waffles at the Burbank Costco on Sunday morning when the 78-year-old told him to take just one.

Prosecutors say Gharabighi then punched the older man in the face. Police say the senior citizen was hospitalized with a 1-inch cut and swelling above his eye.

UN: Food need surpasses donations

UNITED NATIONS

The head of the U.N. food agency said Tuesday the overwhelming humanitarian needs in crises from Syria, Yemen and Iraq to South Sudan and Africa’s Sahel region are outstripping the generosity of donors, and it is seeking new sources of money.

Ertharin Cousin said in an interview with The Associated Press that the World Food Program is not facing “donor fatigue.”

In fact, traditional donors have been more generous, she said, but food needs have escalated because of an increasing number of refugees, people caught in conflict, and suffering from climate-related events including drought.

Deputy fatally shot

SHALIMAR, Fla.

A gunman fatally shot a deputy sheriff outside a lawyer’s office Tuesday and then barricaded himself inside a motel, where he exchanged gunfire with other deputies and was killed, authorities said.

Joel Dixon Smith, 33, was being served a domestic violence restraining order at the lawyer’s office and was supposed to be turning over his guns to Okaloosa County Deputy Bill Myers, 64, when he pulled out a concealed weapon and shot the deputy multiple times in the back of the head and back, authorities said.

Associated Press