WASHINGTON—Many motorists don't know it, but it's likely that every time they get behind the wheel, there's a snitch along for the ride.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday proposed long-delayed regulations requiring auto manufacturers to include event data recorders—better known as "black boxes"—in all new cars and light trucks beginning Sept. 1, 2014.

Flint decriminalization of marijuana vote only 'symbolic;' arrests will continue

FLINT, MI -- Flint police will continue to arrest people for marijuana possession despite a ballot proposal that voters approved Tuesday, Nov. 6, to decriminalize the drug, according to a statement released by the city Wednesday.

What the hell is going on? I leave the country for a couple of weeks and when I get back there’s like 5 times the police abuse stories I’m used to. I generally try to handle the question with kid-gloves because I know for most people the term “Police State” triggers all kinds of cognitive dissonance and they’ll just stop listening. But it’s getting so bad, and so common, I’m starting to think we don’t have time for kid-gloves anymore. So, new approach. This time I’m not pulling punches. Just pure escalation.

LA JOYA, Tex. (AP) — A Texas state trooper who fired on a pickup truck from a helicopter during a deadly chase through the desert was trying to disable the vehicle and suspected that it was being used to smuggle drugs, the authorities said.The disclosure on Friday came a day after the episode, which left two illegal immigrants from Guatemala dead on a gravel road near here, just north of the Mexican border.

Eight people were arrested; most were from Guatemala. Investigators said no drugs were found.

Honorable mentions go to New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission for driving out Uber’s online taxi-hailing service and to automobile dealers’ groups in four states for trying to have Tesla dealerships declared illegal. But the grand prize in this week’s unexpectedly heated competition for most creative use of government to stifle innovation has to go to Minnesota.