A national group advocating less-stringent drug laws are criticizing eight former Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs for their call to nullify new laws in Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational marijuana use.

The New York-based Drug Policy Alliance said in a statement Tuesday that the former administrators have a vested interest in defending policies they promoted for decades but that many Americans are now rejecting.

The group’s executive director, Ethan Nadelmann, says the ex-officials face the same legacy as agents who enforced alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s. It was eventually viewed as a failure and reversed.

The ex-DEA chiefs say federal law banning marijuana use has supremacy over state laws. They’ve urged the Obama administration to try to nullify the Washington and Colorado laws.

Two Tucson-area Girl Scout troops were crime victims as thieves grabbed and ran off with the troops’ cash boxes from cookie sales.

Both thefts took place over the weekend.

In one case, two women spoke with girls selling cookies outside a grocery store before one of the women grabbed the cash box containing about $375. The women fled in a car that had its license plate covered.

In the second case, a man grabbed a box with about $250 from a troop’s table outside a bookstore. He ran off and hopped a nearby fence.

Debbie Rich, CEO of Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, says the Girl Scouts will consider what they can do to improve security, possibly including training for different scenarios.

 

Health officials say there’s been an alarming increase in some dangerous superbugs at U.S. hospitals.

These superbugs are common germs that have become extremely resistant to treatment with antibiotics.

The number of hospitals reporting infections with these superbugs is still small. But a government report shows 1 in 25 hospitals saw at least one case last year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new tally Tuesday. They’re urging hospital workers to take steps to keep the germs from spreading.

The dangerous germs can cause pneumonia and urinary tract and bloodstream infections in vulnerable, hospitalized patients.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Roger Breed has announced his plan to retire later this year.

Breed’s retirement takes effect June 30. In a statement read Tuesday to the Nebraska Board of Education, Breed said he wants to spend more time with his family.

Breed has served as Nebraska Education Commissioner since October 2008. He oversaw the implementation of statewide reading, mathematics and science tests and worked with the Nebraska court system to address excessive absenteeism in public schools to improve attendance and student achievement. He was recently named the National Educational Administrator of the Year.

Breed has served as an educator for nearly 42 years in Nebraska.

A search committee was named Tuesday and charged with naming a new state education commissioner.

Nebraska authorities say a fatal fire last month that killed an 8-year-old boy and his grandmother was not criminal.

The Nebraska Fire Marshal says the Feb. 23 mobile home fire in Bellevue was caused by either combustible material that came in contact with a space heater or electrical wiring problems.

Authorities have not released the victims’ names pending DNA results. But family identified them as Sandy Nielsen and Devin Nielsen.

Three others escaped the fire and were transported to a hospital. They later were treated and released.

Eight years after Martha Stewart was released from prison for lying about a stock trade, the home diva is now facing another legal mess that may not be easy to clean up.

Stewart, 71, is scheduled to take the stand in New York State Supreme Court Tuesday. She is at the center of a bitter legal battle between two of the nation’s largest retailers — Macy’s Inc. and J.C. Penney Co.

Macy’s has sued the media and merchandising company Stewart founded for breaching an exclusive contract when she signed a deal with Penney in December 2011 to open shops at most of its stores this spring.

Macy’s, which has sold Martha Stewart products including towels and pots since 2007, is trying to block Penney from selling those products.

More than 50 vehicles have been caught up in crashes on Interstate 70 as heavy snow and wind move through the Colorado mountains.

Lake Dillon Fire Rescue says one accident Monday on westbound I-70 at Silverthorne involved 25 vehicles and sent three people to a hospital. Rescue officials say another accident on eastbound I-70 near Frisco involved 29 vehicles.

No serious injuries were reported. The area is about 70 miles west of Denver.

The adverse conditions temporarily closed westbound I-70 from Georgetown to Silverthorne, eastbound I-70 from Frisco to Silverthorne, and eastbound I-70 at Vail Pass. Westbound I-70 also was closed briefly at Floyd Hill because of accidents.

The accidents came as ski resorts along I-70 reported fresh snow. Loveland reported a foot of new snow Monday.

 

A suburban Philadelphia school district is making extra counselors available to students a day after a sixth-grader was taken off life support following injuries suffered in a fight.

Family members say Bailey O’Neill died Sunday morning, a day after he turned 12. The sixth-grader suffered a concussion, broken nose and other injuries in a fight at Darby Township School on Jan. 10. Doctors later put him in a medically induced coma after he began having seizures.

Southeast Delco School District Superintendent Stephen D. Butz says the school sends its condolences to the boy’s friends and family. He says additional counselors are being made available for students and staff.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan has been investigating what happened. Messages left for Whelan and the boy’s family weren’t returned.

Two people in eastern Nebraska face drug charges after authorities seized more than 24 pounds of marijuana during a weekend traffic stop.

The Nebraska State Patrol says a trooper stopped a sport utility vehicle Sunday afternoon on Interstate 80 near the Seward-Lancaster County line, west of Lincoln. The trooper detected the smell of marijuana and found the drug in two plastic buckets inside the vehicle.

Sadedra Williams, of North Las Vegas, Nev., and Marcus Smith, of Lynwood, Ill., each face a felony count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. They remain at the Seward County Jail.

Records do not list attorneys for the pair.