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Paul courts pot industry donors

 
cairo Fired up to speak out Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood chant slogans against the Egyptian government while marching on a street in Cairo’s Matariya district on Tuesday. Authorities declared the day a national holiday, two years after the mass protests that preceded the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi. Security forces responded to Tuesday’s protest, which then turned into clashes.
cairo Fired up to speak out Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood chant slogans against the Egyptian government while marching on a street in Cairo’s Matariya district on Tuesday. Authorities declared the day a national holiday, two years after the mass protests that preceded the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi. Security forces responded to Tuesday’s protest, which then turned into clashes.
Published July 1, 2015

Paul courts pot industry donors

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul courted donors from the new marijuana industry Tuesday, making the Kentucky senator the first major-party presidential candidate to publicly seek support from the legal weed business. Paul's fundraiser at the Cannabis Business Summit — tickets started at $2,700, the maximum donation allowed for the primary contest — came as the marijuana industry approached its first presidential campaign as a legal enterprise. In public remarks after the fundraiser, Paul didn't mention marijuana. But many of the 40 or so people who attended the fundraiser called his appearance at the summit a milestone.

Fire hits black church in S.C.

Firefighters are trying to extinguish a blaze at a prominent black church in South Carolina, officials say. The Post and Courier newspaper reports that crews Tuesday night are battling the fire at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville. The church was burned to the ground by the Ku Klux Klan in 1995. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said the fire could have been started by lightning from a storm that recently rolled through the area, but he could not say for sure. Federal authorities are investigating recent fires at predominantly black churches. The NAACP warned black churches Tuesday to take "necessary precautions."

High court to hear union fees case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether public-sector unions may require workers who are not members to help pay for collective bargaining. A ruling against them could deal a severe blow to organized labor. The case, Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, was brought by California teachers who said that being compelled to pay union fees to subsidize activities they disagreed with violated their First Amendment rights. Limiting the power of public unions has long been a goal of conservative groups, and they welcomed Tuesday's development.

Times wires