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Following the deciphering of the potato's genetic code there may soon be some new varieties to add to our traditional favourites Link: New chips off the old block

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As demand for food rises along with the world's population, policymakers are looking at ways of intensifying crop production while reducing the negative impact of farming on the environment. View post: Intensive farming: Ecologically sustainable?

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Delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week continued work on evolving draft texts of treaties to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs), or folklore. But more work will be needed to complete them, according to participants. Go here to see the original: Traditional Knowledge, Folkore Treaty Texts Still Advancing At WIPO

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Poll shows a change in attitudes as California seeks ways to comply with court-ordered cuts to its prison population. Soured economy is a key factor. By Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2011, Reporting from Sacramento Cash-strapped Californians would rather ease “third-strike” penalties for some criminals and accept felons as neighbors than dig deeper into their pockets to relieve...

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The Sacramento Bee – By Cynthia Hubert and Sam Stanton - PUBLISHED THURSDAY, JUL. 21, 2011 The legacy of the notorious McMartin Preschool case of the 1980s is playing out this week in Sacramento. As the principal of a private elementary school in Citrus Heights stands accused of molesting his students, authorities are warning the school’s parents against aggressively...

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Encryption defense attorney fights DOJ demands (Q&A) JULY 12, 2011 11:38 PM PDT – by Declan McCullagh, CNET News The U.S. Department of Justice is determined to make sure that a case in Colorado will set a legal precedent allowing it to force Americans accused of crimes to decrypt their computers’ hard drives. Phil Dubois is equally determined...

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By Sandy Hodson - Staff Writer - Thursday, July 21, 2011 WAYNESBORO, Ga. — One of the driving forces behind the creation of Georgia’s public defender system admitted Wednesday that mistakes were made by two attorneys for capital murder defendant Tony O. Grubbs but asserted that the defense team is still on track. Stephen Bright, the president and senior...

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Study: Shasta County felon rate high; ratio found to be out of proportion By Scott Mobley The Record Searchlight – Shasta County Posted July 20, 2011 at 11:06 p.m. Shasta County contributes to California’s chronic prison overcrowding by locking up a disproportionate number of its felons, a recent study found. Steve Carlton, Shasta County district attorney, said he...

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Tacoma, WA: Tacoma voters will decide this November on a municipal initiative that seeks to make marijuana law enforcement the city's "lowest priority." Proponents of the measure submitted over 4,000 valid signatures from registered municipal voters to qualify the measure for the 2011 ballot. The proposal (Tacoma Initiative 1) seeks to make cannabis possession related offenses "the lowest...

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Madrid, Spain: Cannabis' active components show promise in halting the progression of certain neurodegerative disorders and should be evaluated in clinical trials, according to a review published online in the British Journal of Pharmacology . An international team of researchers from Spain and Israel assessed the potential of cannabinoids to moderate Huntington's disease (HD) and Parkinson's disease (PD),...