Colorado’s Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper says the state is moving forward with efforts to dismiss marijuana convictions for non-violent offenders.
“It’s roughly 40 cases where we can be absolutely sure there was no violence involved in the sentencing,” Hickenlooper told Cheddar.
Earlier in the day, Hickenlooper met with other state governors on the matter.
This comes on the heels of San Francisco’s District Attorney announcing the dismissal of more than 3,000 marijuana convictions dating back to 1975. Recreational marijuana is legal in both California and Colorado.
Hickenlooper pointed out the financial burden these marijuana convictions have had on the criminal justice system.
“This country spends $80 billion a year, if you include jails and prisons, on all the kinds of incarceration," he said.
Hickenlooper believes dismissing these convictions will cut back on prison costs and will help reintegrate non-violent offenders back into society.
The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/why-colorado-governor-john-hickenlooper-says-amazon-is-missing-out-if-it-doesnt-pick-denver-for-hq2).
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
