• Two teens are shot by a Howard County, MD police officer during an investigation into suspected drug activity.
• A couple in Pennsylvania, Steve and Karen Haver, narrowly avoids losing their home after police, while investigating a burglar alarm at their residence, found five marijuana plants growing in their basement.  Although state law authorizes forfeiture of property, including homes, after a drug arrest (not just conviction), the couple agreed to a plea deal that allowed them to keep their home.  But Haver’s wife has already been fired from her job, and Haver expects to lose his when his contract expires in June.
• A Denver man is shot to death by police during a drug raid after undercover officers purchased crack from him a few days earlier.  Family members claim that Nathan Aguillard suffered from schizophrenia and was “too paranoid” to sell drugs to other people.  “They chose what seems to be the most confrontational approach to arrest him,” said a lawyer for the family.

98. The California legislature considers a bill to ban metallic balloons filled with helium, which can float away and make contact with power lines, causing power outages.  While they’re at it, I hope they can do something about those damn sneakers that always get hung up there.

99. The Pentagon prepares to issue hand-held lie detectors to U. S. troops in Afghanistan in the ongoing war on terror.  I promise you, these will never be used here on civilians.

100. Government money grabs:

• Dallas drops the timing of yellow lights at select intersections to below the minimum standards set by the Texas Department of Transportation in an effort to increase red-light violations.
• The state of New York plans to raise its cigarette tax to $2.75 per pack, which could push the price of a pack in New York City to more than $9.  Already the high taxes on smokes have led to a healthy black market.
• And not content to tax smokers into oblivion, New York also plans to go after Internet shoppers with a new online sales tax.
• The District of Columbia goes after a Montgomery County man for a $200 parking ticket . . . which had been issued to his car after it was stolen.

101. The Army kills a suspected terrorist, approximately seven pounds and answered to the name of “Fluffy”.

102. Police in Oakland ask very nicely if they can enter people’s homes and search for guns.