“Yes, virtually every slice of America still watches football in enormous numbers. But blue America—particularly the highly educated Democratic-leaning areas of major metropolitan areas—is increasingly deciding that it doesn’t want its sons playing football.”
Big Soda took a loss on Election Day when voters in Berkeley, California approved a ballot measure that will place a small tax on sugary drinks. The measure, touted as Measure D, imposes a 1-cent-per-ounce general tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and sweeteners used to flavor drinks. It’s the first tax of its kind in the country. While soda can be fine in small increments, experts say that drinking large amounts can pose many health risks, including cancer, decline of the kidney, and metabolic syndrome, which increases the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases. In passing the soda tax, Berkeley has done what dozens of cities and states have unsuccessfully attempted: impose a measure that hopes to both reduce consumption and raise revenue.
While soda can be fine in small increments, experts say that drinking large amounts can pose many health risks, including cancer, decline of the kidney, and metabolic syndrome, which increases the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases. In passing the soda tax, Berkeley has done what dozens of cities and states have unsuccessfully attempted: impose a measure that hopes to both reduce consumption and raise revenue.
The Republican wave lifted many boats last night, including that of 18-year-old Saira Blair. The college freshman was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in a landslide—she earned 63 percent of the vote to her 44-year-old Democratic opponent's 30 percent—and officially became the youngest lawmaker in the country. She'll represent a district of about 18,000 people in the eastern part of the state, near the Maryland border.
Voters in Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use Tuesday, following in the footsteps of Colorado and Washington, which legalized the drug in 2012. A ballot measure to legalize marijuana for medical purposes failed in Florida, the Associated Press reports, where voters failed to meet the 60 percent threshold needed to pass a constitutional amendment.
“Regrettably, today’s signing event for Hands Off My Gun at the TCU Bookstore from 2-3:30 central is canceled. I was really looking forward to this but unfortunately am uncomfortable gambling with my own, my family’s, or readers/listeners’s security. I’m just not cool with being a sitting duck somewhere or asking any of you to be also.”