In the Nation
Bike racer dies at 285 m.p.h.
LIMESTONE, Maine - A motorcycle racer trying to top 300 m.p.h. died Sunday after losing control and zooming off a runway at a former air base in northern Maine.
Bill Warner, 44, of Wimauma, Fla., was clocked at 285 m.p.h. before he lost control of his modified turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa. It was unclear how fast the motorcycle was traveling when it veered off the paved runway and crashed, said Tim Kelly, race director the Loring Timing Association, which hosted "The Maine Event" at Loring Air Force Base. The remainder of Sunday's event was canceled. - AP
Wash. pot law vague on hash
SEATTLE - Washington state's new legal-pot law is prompting a conversation about the place of hash and other potent, concentrated marijuana products in the industry.
The law doesn't allow the sale of pure hash or hash oil at state-licensed stores. But state regulators have issued draft rules saying the products can be sold - as long as they're mixed with something else, such as brownies, sodas, or even a tiny drop of glycerin.
Alison Holcomb, the Seattle lawyer who led the legal-pot campaign, says the Legislature might want to put new limits on sales of concentrated marijuana before the stores open next year. - AP
Largest human playing card?
VERONA, N.Y. - Six-hundred people dressed in colored ponchos have aced their attempt to set a record for the largest human playing card.
The Oneida Indians say the record was set Saturday by 600 guests at the tribe's Turning Stone Resort Casino Event Center in central New York.
The 600 guests wore either a white or a red rain poncho and were told where to stand to form a human version of the ace of diamonds. A Guinness World Records official was at Turning Stone to verify the record. - AP
Suing to register cloned horses
LUBBOCK, Texas - Two Texas quarter horse breeders want a federal jury to rule that their cloned animals should be registered by the American Quarter Horse Association, something the organization has banned since 2004.
Panhandle rancher Jason Abraham and Amarillo veterinarian Gregg Veneklasen sued the 280,000- member organization last year to try to overturn the prohibition of cloned horses from the registry.
AQHA spokesman Tom Persechino said the antitrust lawsuit, to be heard in Amarillo this week, would be closely monitored by horse breeders and registries worldwide because no registry currently allows clones. Registering a horse adds value to the animal, he said, and it could then participate in breed competitions. "It is a big deal." - AP
