OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland residents overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to approve a first-of-its kind tax on medical marijuana sold at the city’s four cannabis dispensaries.

Preliminary election results showed the measure passing with 80 percent of the vote, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

The dispensary tax was one of four measures in a vote-by-mail special election aimed at raising money for the cash-strapped city. All four measures won, but Measure F had the highest level of support.

Scheduled to take effect on New Year’s Day, the measure created a special business tax rate for the pot clubs, which now pay the same $1.20 for every $1,000 in gross sales applied to all retail businesses. The new rate will be $18.

Oakland’s auditor estimates that based on annual sales of $17.5 million for the four clubs, it will generate an estimated $294,000 for city coffers in its first year.

Pot club owners, who openly sell pot over the counter under the 1996 state ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana use in California, proposed Measure F as a way to further legitimize their establishments.

“It’s good business and good for the community,” said Richard Lee, who owns the Coffee Shop SR-71 dispensary and Oaksterdam University, a trade school for budding dispensary workers.

The measure had no formal opposition; in November 2004, a ballot initiative that required Oakland police to make arresting adults using marijuana for personal use their lowest priority passed with 63 percent of the vote.

Support for Measure F was expected to be just as strong. As a result and given the mail-in nature of the election, there was little campaign activity, according to Lee.

“We put out signs, but outside of that it’s been pretty low-key,” said Lee, who hosted a victory party at Oaksterdam University’s Student Union building in downtown Oakland.

Although California’s 800 or so pot clubs also are expected to pay state sales tax, Oakland is the first city in the country to create a special tax on marijuana sales.

Advocates of legalizing pot for recreational use hope to use Oakland’s experience with Measure F to persuade California voters next year to approve a measure that would legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol.

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Originally posted 2009-07-22 16:38:42.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s glam Costa Rican wedding was marred by gunfire last night when security guards hired to keep paparazzi away fired at two photographers as they fled the scene with their film. No one was hurt.

According to two spokesmen for the INF photo agency, photographers were hiding in the brush near Gisele’s beachfront home taking pictures of the event when they were rousted by the newlyweds’ security guards.

The photographers, identified as Yuri Cortez and Rolando Aviles, were marched up to Bundchen’s villa where they were ordered to surrender their still photos and video. The men refused and fled with the security guards in pursuit.

Two of the photographers ran to a waiting SUV and jumped in as a guard fired a shot at them, the photo agency said. The bullet shattered the Suzuki’s rear window, passed between the two men in the front seat and bounced off the windshield.

“No one was hurt but one of their cars was messed up,” the INF spokesman said.

The photo agency posted pictures of a photographer standing by an SUV with a shattered back windshield. A second picture shows the photographer holding a bullet.

It is unclear whether Mr. and Mrs. Brady and their 25 guests knew about the incident. According to People magazine, the newlyweds looked relaxed and happy as they mingled under a tent on the balcony of Gisele’s beachfront estate during their dream wedding redux.

(Check out tomorrow’s Boston Herald print edition for exclusive photos of Tom & Gisele’s Costa Rican wedding!)

The beauteous Brazilian bombshell married her pigskin Prince Charming at dusk yesterday, saying “I Do” for the second time in two months before a small gathering of family and friends.

Gisele, in a long designer dress and a veil that trailed 10 feet, and holding a bouquet of white orchids, “looked so gorgeous,” a source told People. “She looked beautiful.”

Brady, 31, in a gray suit and vest with white pants, looked very happy as he greeted guests holding his 1 1/2-year-old son, Jack .

“They all seemed like they were having a great time,” one onlooker told the magazine.

Earlier in the day, Brady hosted a brunch at the nearby Milarepa hotel for the male guests including his dad, Tom Sr., Gisele’s father Valdir, New England Patriots [team stats] poohbah Bob Kraft and 12’s main man Will McDonough .

Meanwhile, Gisele and her attendants dressed at the nearby Hotel Flor Blanca while workers readied her home. At around 4:30 p.m. Bundchen and other guests raced back to her home just in time for the sunset nuptials, People reported.

As you are so well aware, the lovebirds exchanged vows for the first time last month in La-La with only a half-dozen or so of their nearest and dearest. Last night’s “I Deux” capped three days of pre-wedding festivities, which began Thursday night with a rollicking rehearsal dinner at the Milarepa beachfront hotel and restaurant near Gi’s place on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

The town is a popular spot for surfers and celebrities. Besides Gisele, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mel Gibson, Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and the Olsen twins also own property there.

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Originally posted 2009-04-06 08:52:23.

Popularity: 1% [?]

MIT has recently developed technology that could soon end up in cars that could recharge in seconds. But for some designers, quick recharging isn’t the only way electric cars could be promoted. Designers like Nicolas Stone believe solar energy is the future and car manufacturers should sooner or later venture in designs that generate their own fuel with on-board systems.

Thus, Stone has come up with a new family car designed for Hyundai dubbed the Hyundai 2020. The small car is aimed at a small family of four. Inspired by plants, the car generates fuel for itself using nothing more than sunlight and water, the two fuels for plants to carry out their natural processes.

The transparent solar cells that the car is equipped with generate electricity from ambient light, which is afterwards used to carry out electrolysis of water finally generating hydrogen, which fuels the car. The only by-product of the car engine will be clean potable water and breathable oxygen. Utilizing a new energy model, the vehicle uses the electricity to stimulate a central water tank, splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen gets stored in special reserve tanks, while the oxygen gets expelled into the air as exhaust. So, no emissions, since this cute little car functions exactly like a plant, being powered by an artificial system of photosynthesis.

The sleek, mono-volume design allows for optimal interior space and utility. Special design features also include layered body panels, unique headlight/side mirror units, and offset seating to allow elbow room for all occupants.

The overall design of the car looks pleasing and the technology used by Nicholas ensures a pleasant ride. However, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and then storing hydrogen in an on-board tank seems a complicated and risky mechanism, not to mention the cost of incorporating this technology in a small car. But since this is just a concept for now, we have to wait and see what happens next.

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Originally posted 2009-06-29 07:29:52.

Popularity: 2% [?]