Ban

The federal government each year bans about 1,000 retailers found to have engaged in fraud from ever accepting food stamps again.

But scores of these retailers disobey the permanent prohibitions and continue to shortchange complicit customers and unwitting taxpayers.

SEATTLE -- The fight over plastic bags could move to the Washington state Legislature in the coming session as environmentalists seek to expand the ban unanimously approved Monday by the Seattle City Council to the entire state.

At the same time, the plastics industry, which poured $1.4 million into defeating a 20-cent Seattle disposable-bag fee in 2009, suggested it would seek statewide legislation to encourage recycling, rather than fighting bans in every city.

PLEASANT GROVE -- City councilmembers in Pleasant Grove have decided to allow Sunday beer sales at convenience stores, but not at drive-through windows.

The Daily Herald reports (http://bit.ly/s3eC27 ) the 4-1 vote came Tuesday night, amid some residents' complaints that the city was overstepping its boundaries by proposing a ban on the alcohol sales.

City Attorney Tina Petersen said the law technically permits Sunday beer sales at places outside of restaurants, such as convenience stores.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A Canadian judge ruled Wednesday that the country's anti-polygamy law is valid and that the harms polygamy inflicts on women and children outweigh any claims to religious freedom.

SYRACUSE -- Texting during council meetings is inappropriate.

That's the crux of new rules of conduct for members of the city council, approved during meetings on Nov. 8.

OAK PARK, Ill. -- An arborist who travels throughout the Chicago area, Phil Fitch is in his car much of the work day, which means his automobile is often his dining car.

Fitch was chagrined Wednesday to learn that Oak Park, the community where he had stopped at a fast-food eatery for lunch, was considering a comprehensive crackdown on distracted drivers, banning everything from using a hand-held cell phone to grooming to eating while driving.