Over 40% of people using alcohol or cannabis recently drove under the influence, study finds

More than 40% of drivers reporting alcohol and cannabis use in a national survey also reported driving under the influence of one or both of the substances, a new study found.

"Alcohol and cannabis are two of the most common substances involved in impaired driving and motor vehicle crashes" in the United States, said Priscila Dib Gonçalves, the study's first author, in a news release. Gonçalves is a postdoctoral research fellow in the epidemiology department at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, new report says, but critics disagree on science

Having alcohol or cannabis in one's system while driving can impair cognitive function and physical movements related to those mental processes, impacting driving performance, according to prior research.

Use of both substances together has led to more severe and fatal driving-related outcomes when compared to how many of these outcomes resulted from the use of either substance alone, especially among younger people, previous research found.

Astroworld Fest: FBI portal goes online for photo or video uploads of the Houston concert disaster

The investigation into the Astroworld Festival disaster, which left 10 concertgoers dead, all under the age of 30, is now getting federal support from the FBI.

On Friday, more than two months after the deadly concert surge at NRG Park, the Houston Police Department announced the establishment of a public-facing FBI website, urging those who have any photos or video taken at the concert venue back on Nov. 5, 2021, to upload them to the portal.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform announced it is leading an investigation into Live Nation's role in the tragedy.

Despite nearly 300 civil lawsuits filed against the organizers, Travis Scott, the headlining performer and organizer, has not verbally expressed taking responsibility for the incident.

The victims, with the youngest being a 9-year-old, all died of compression asphyxiation, the medical examiner ruled. Just one of them, Danish Baig, had his cause of death as asphyxiation but with a contributory cause of combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and ethanol.

How far should Iowa go to crack down on nuisance bars? Here's what Davenport proposed

Iowa bars could be taken to court and held liable for shootings, assaults and riots committed by unruly patrons who spill out of their establishment into alleys, streets and adjacent property, under proposed legislation.

An Iowa House subcommittee advanced a bill last week being pushed by the city of Davenport to amend state law to help cities shut down nuisance bars for safety concerns.

City officials have requested lawmakers allow cities to bring a case before local district courts to abate public safety nuisances caused by alcohol establishments.

PA-Centre County couple made, sold moonshine for more than 30 years, investigators say

A Port Matilda couple was charged Wednesday after a nearly yearlong, undercover investigation into allegations they’ve illegally produced and sold moonshine from their home for more than three decades. Glenn McCleester, 79, and Barbara McCleester, 65, were charged after they told an investigator from the state police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement they couldn’t make enough moonshine to keep up with demand. The investigation kicked off in April after the alleged bootleggers invited the officer into their home to tout the quality of their moonshine. The recipe, Barbara McCleester said, came from “legendary moonshiner” and late NASCAR driver Junior Johnson.

NC-Wilkes Co. Moonshiner Pleads Guilty In Federal Court

According to filed plea documents and today’s plea hearing, from April 2018 to September 2020, Anderson conspired with Nance, Nicholson, and Ray to operate and maintain an illegal still at a barn owned by Ray in Wilkes County. Anderson leased the barn from Ray for $500 per month and used it to illegally produce more than 9,000 gallons of untaxed liquor, commonly known as moonshine. Court records show that, during the relevant time period, Nance, Nicholson and Ray transported the moonshine across state lines to Patterson in Virginia for sale and distribution, which resulted in a total federal and state excise and sales tax loss of over $100,000.

Anderson was released on bond following his guilty plea. The conspiracy charge and the charge of possession of an unregistered still each carry a maximum prison sentence of five years and $250,000 fine.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended the work of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Triad Municipal ABC Board for their investigation of the case.

Police Combine Drones With Zoom for Real-Time Response

“We’ve had a number of missions where they were looking for overhead intelligence as they were approaching a target,” Reed recounted. “The SWAT commander was unable to pull up the feed for some unknown reason. I don’t know exactly what the technical problem was that caused that. But we were having that problem frequently enough that we were looking for another option.”

Enter Zoom, the video-conferencing tool that the world became so familiar with during the pandemic. The Oceanside Fire Department was the first agency in the city to use Zoom with drones and suggested that their police counterparts try it out.

It turned out to be an elegant solution for Reed’s team, which was already acquainted with Zoom.

“We use a screen-share feature like if you were going to be giving a presentation on a Zoom meeting, and then we share the screen generally from the phone that we’re using to fly the drone, log into the Zoom meeting and launch it,” Reed explained. “We send usually a text out on an app that lets everybody know that the meeting is live. With our account, we basically have the same Zoom meeting and password so that we can all quickly log in.”

Wine tanker used to smuggle thousands of kilos of drugs across Europe

Wine-searcher reports that a five-year investigation into a drug smuggling ring has culminated in the discovery that a wine tanker was being used to transport drugs between Spain and Italy. The tanker would leave Northern Italy filled with wine bound for Malaga. Per investigators, when the tanker arrived in Malaga, a sealed metal container containing the drugs would be concealed in the still-full wine tanker as it headed back to Italy.

“The system moved 1500 to 2000kgs of hashish every two months and three kilos a month of cocaine, imported from Spain,” La Repubblica reported. “About a quarter of this was destined for the Sardinian market.”