Overnight trip: $50 exemption, excluding alcohol and tobacco, but only if the goods you bring back are worth less than $50. Your goods may be seized and, depending on the circumstances, you may have to pay another 25 per cent to 80 per cent of the value of the merchandise to reclaim it. Finally, your infraction will be recorded in the customs computer system and saved for six years, meaning you're more likely to be searched in the future. If you have been away 48 hours or at least seven...

The drought, among the worst in state history, has affected the area in ways other than mandatory water restrictions and Burlington s decision to cut water sales to Greensboro by 35 percent. Replacing those wells over the past year or so accounts for about 30 percent of Cummings business and represents a significant increase for her company. Dry conditions don t affect actual drilling, but the lack of ground moisture does make it easier for crews to get to sites, especially new...

The report, released last week, says indoor marijuana growing is up, as growers duck tough enforcement on open-air crops. The state attorney general's office reported Tuesday that the number of plants destroyed this year topped 2.9 million -- 1.2 million more than last year and continuing the explosive trend of the past half-decade. What is it about marijuana that makes our society consider it so "worse than alcohol?" Why can't it be a regulated revenue source instead of a revenue drain?...

Scunnered Fifer / 9:16am 14 Nov 2007 If there are severe restrictions on alcohol availability, such as price rises, I suspect that health problems will get worse as people make illicit spirits with all the inherent dangers that go with the consumption of suspect alcohol. He highlighted beer being displayed next to barbecues, white wine in the lingerie department, bottles of wine at every checkout and "ubiquitous" piles of beer in every doorway. The beer is sold by the beer retailers...

Notes: Congress may outflank Bush on controversial nominee and more Sunday, November 18, 2007 By Lisa Hoffman, Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON -- Six months after his nomination to be the nation's top doc triggered fevered objections, James Holsinger could soon get the job via a side door. Notes: Congress may outflank Bush on controversial nominee and more Sunday, November 18, 2007 By Lisa Hoffman, Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON -- Six months after his nomination to be the...