West Coast Wasteland

The state’s unemployment rate stands at more than 12 percent, and in some poorer counties it’s in the 25 percent range. In Los Angeles, that number is 12.2 percent. “It boggles the mind,” says LA’s mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. “Not since the Depression have we had numbers this bad.” To make matters worse, in an attempt…

Coca-Cola is tasting green.

Unveiled at the Copenhagen Climate summit, the new bottle has been found to have a 12 to 19 percent smaller carbon footprint than traditional plastic bottles. In part, that stems from the fact that Coke’s petroleum-based plastic bottles require upwards of 17 million barrels of oil per year to produce, the Pacific Institute, a California…

Obama Fails report card Bioterror Threats

President Barack Obama will use his State of the Union address to unveil a new plan for a better and quicker response to bioterrorism threats and attacks, the White House said Tuesday. Government leaders will be told to rethink their plans for medical countermeasures so that quick, reliable and affordable antidotes will be available during…

Marijuana legally prescribed to young people is showing up in classrooms.

This is putting teachers and principals in a new and challenging position. Aimee Polacci, garden product manager, carries a tray of cannabis clones to be sold at the Peace in Medicine dispensary in Sebastopol, Calif. The lone medical marijuana dispensary in this Northern California enclave has become such a pot destination that it has more…

Breaches show how sophisticated industrial espionage is becoming.

Black Swans throughout cyber space. Caveat Emptor The big question: Who’s behind them? Not to long ago, computer hacking was mainly the handiwork of individuals with overactive imaginations and good programming skills, and they often broke into computers for sport. More recently, people with more sinister motives – including organized criminal gangs – have made…