The World

THURSDAY

Thousands sparked joints, bongs and pipes under the Space Needle as Washington became the first state in the nation to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use.

The net wealth of U.S. households rose $1.72 trillion to $64.77 trillion in the third quarter, its highest since late 2007. Wealth peaked at $67.3 trillion in the third quarter of that year.

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign had $25.7 million left in the bank after the Nov. 6 election, while President Barack Obama’s re-election effort had $14.2 million left. More than $2 billion was spent on the campaigns overall.

A New York man was charged with murder and denied bail for pushing a subway rider onto the tracks ahead of an oncoming train in a moment captured by a freelance photographer and printed on the cover of the New York Post.

FRIDAY

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review two challenges to federal and state laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The autopsy of murdered hip hop star Notorious B.I.G. was released by the Los Angeles County Coroner, more than 15 years after his shooting. It said the fatal shot that struck his abdomen perforated his colon, liver, heart and lung. The murder remains unsolved.

A new scientific study claims that human urine can be converted into brain cells.

A cache of gold dust has gone missing from a Pfizer Inc. laboratory in suburban St. Louis. Police say they are investigating whether it was lost or stolen.

WEEKEND

Hundreds braved cold and rain to celebrate 140 weddings at Seattle City Hall on the first day same-sex couples could marry in Washington state.

U.S. President Barack Obama met with Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner on Sunday at the White House to negotiate ways to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” Still no deal.

Indiana man Timothy N. Thompson, 23, just released from jail, was sent back after being pulled over for speeding at an estimated 100 mph to his wedding. Three of Thompson’s relatives began “flailing their arms and yelling at him,” to which Thompson responded by accelerating, doing a “doughnut” and “creating a thick blanket of tire smoke,” according to the police report.

A seven-year-old boy was shot to death by his father in the parking lot of a gun store in western Pennsylvania in an apparent accident.

MONDAY

Pot smokers formally gained the right to light up in Colorado as Governor John Hickenlooper signed into effect a law legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use.

Investigators in Florida using ground-penetrating radar and soil samples found at least 50 graves - 19 more than officially reported - on the grounds of a former state reform school for boys.

A federal judge blocked North Carolina from issuing an anti-abortion specialty license plate, ruling that offering plates with a “Choose Life” slogan without an alternative supporting abortion rights is unconstitutional.

U.S. Army Sergeant John Russell, 48, has been ordered to undergo forensic hypnosis to unlock buried memories about his alleged killing of five fellow servicemen at a military counseling center in Iraq in 2009.

Marijuana-laced cookies taken by a student to a Maine high school on a day ethics and values were being discussed sickened some classmates, resulting in the suspension of nine students.

TUESDAY

A hockey-masked gunman went on a shooting spree at the Clackamas Town Center mall outside Portland, killing two before turning the gun on himself.

North Korea successfully launched a $1.3 billion rocket, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to opponents.

Nisource’s Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline exploded in flames near Charleston, West Virginia, setting nearby buildings on fire and injuring several people.

The University of California’s Berkeley campus announced the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund has given $1 million to fund scholarships for illegal immigrants.

An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket carrying a small robotic space shuttle lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for the third flight in a classified military test program.

A Swazi Member of Parliament urged the government to hike taxes on witch doctors to help solve a funding crisis in Africa’s last monarchy.

Florida executed a former police officer for a 1986 killing spree in which he murdered nine people whom he described in court as “parasites” and “leeches” and had “no right to live.”

A new report by British scientists found maggot slime is an effective treatment for removing necrotic flesh and boosting immune systems.

Compiled by Gazette staff from a variety

of sources.