Biden pardons thousands convicted of marijuana charges in D.C. and federal lands
CBSN
President Biden is pardoning thousands who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana in Washington, D.C. and on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, in executive clemencies that are intended to rectify racial disparities in the justice system.
The president is also granting clemency to 11 people "who are serving disproportionately long sentences for non-violent drug offenses," he said in a statement Friday. He added that all of these individuals, had they been charged today with the same offenses, "would have been eligible to receive significantly lower sentences."
The White House said that the 11 individuals had been sentenced to decades in prison, some for life sentences.
Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, agreeing to review a lower court decision that upended the mechanism for funding programs that provide communications services to rural areas, low-income communities and schools, libraries and hospitals.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched six space tourists on a high-speed dash to the edge of space and back Friday, giving the passengers — including a husband and wife making their second flight — about three minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before the capsule made a parachute descent to touchdown at the company's west Texas flight facility.