The production and sale of marijuana has been a popular family business for thousands of years and continues to be a family trade for some despite it’s illegal status. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office announced the bust of one such family that is accused of tranporting $2.5 million dollars worth of marijuana from Yonkers, NY into the Easton, PA area. From there the marijuana was allegedly broken down and distributed across Kutztown University.

24-year-old U.S. Naval Academy student Juan D. Alonso was sentenced to nine years and 10 months in a military prison and a dishonorable discharge for his role in smuggling more than 150 pounds of marijuana.

Alonso was mentioned on Spark Report back in June when he was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after trying to smuggle marijuana in a rented car at the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego.

DEVELOPING — A rumor that legendary marijuana activist and author Jack Herer passed away today following a collapse last week at Hempstalk in Oregon are false, according to family members at his side. The rumor started from a post on citizen journalism site examiner.com by Michael Stone (@pdxprogressiveX) and is currently spreading on Twitter. The problem with citizen journalism? Fact checking.

According to multiple family members on Jack Herer’s Facebook page, Jack remains in a coma but still alive.

A passer-by alerted Millville, New Jersey police to what appeared to be marijuana growing in one of the many city-owned hanging flower baskets. At least three uniformed officers showed up with a ladder to remove the 2-foot tall plants which were hanging from a light post high above High St. in city’s Glasstown Arts District.

The seasonal baskets hang from every lamp post on the street and each have a variety of color flowers. This specific one, located in front of a downtown eatery, is the only one believed to have marijuana growing in it.

It was recently reveled that police investigating Michael Jackson’s death had mistaken moldy marijuana for “tar heroin” following the pop stars death. While the moldy weed played no part in the investigation or Jackson’s death, it does bring up an often overlooked problem that faces almost every marijuana user, grower or distributor: Mold.

Anyone who has smoked marijuana more than a couple times has most likely inhaled mold spores from marijuana. That may sound alarming, however its important to remember that you are likely to inhale the same or similar mold spores while taking a walk in the park. The most common type of mold, Aspergillus, occurs naturally in almost everything in nature.