and illegal under federal law, most growers still operate in the shadows, and scientists have little hard data on their collective effect. But they are getting ever more ugly snapshots. A study led by researchers at UC Davis found that a rare forest carnivore called a fisher was being poisoned in Humboldt County and near Yosemite in the Sierra Nevada. The team concluded in its July report that the weasel-like animals were probably eating rodenticides that marijuana growers use to keep animals from gnawing on their plants or were preying on smaller rodents that had consumed the deadly bait. Forty-six of 58 fisher carcasses the team analyzed had rat poison in their systems. Mark Higley, a wildlife biologist on the Hoopa Indian Reservation in eastern Humboldt who workedSunday, October 28, 2012

Car Thief Accidentally Shoots Himself Trying to Escape

Tracy Joyce was riding through Winter Park on Friday afternoon when he saw someone drive by in his stolen blue Volvo. The
scenario ended when the teenager behind the wheel of the Volvo rammed
an unmarked police car and accidentally shot himself in the leg as he
tried to run away.He jumped from the car and ran
north toward the railroad tracks with officers in pursuit, leapt a hedge
and pulled a .44-caliber handgun from his waistband, according to the
report. The next thing officers heard was a pop.

Johnson had
accidentally shot himself in the right calf. He was booked into Orange
County Jail about 11:15 p.m. after being treated at a hospital.

The passenger in the Volvo, Gerald Lavert Jones, 18, also was arrested. He was