California voters asked to defy stem cell limits

The U.S. government spent $25 million last year on studies involving human embryonic stem cells. But California, in an act of political and scientific rebellion against limits on stem cell research imposed by the Bush administration, may be on the verge of spending $300 million a year for the next 10 years on such research. A coalition of Hollywood producers and actors, technology billionaires, scientists, patient advocates and business organizations, including Michael J. Fox and Bill Gates, has marshaled emotion, scientific argument and money to underwrite a proposal that would let Californians make the decision. The initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot, Proposition 71, would authorize the state to issue $3 billion in bonds to pay for a range of stem cell research. This promising but ethically controversial field of biomedical research is severely limited by President George W. Bush’s policy of restricting federal money for research on embryonic stem cells. Read the story here.

Peterson Defense Implies Botched Investigation

Scott Peterson’s defense lawyers are again accusing police of narrowly focussing on their client while ignoring other possible leads. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos spent his fourth day Wednesday cross-examining Modesto police Detective Craig Grogan and pointing out how police failed to follow up on a number of reported sightings of Laci Peterson on the day she vanished. Geragos on Tuesday mentioned four calls to the police tip hot line within days of Laci’s disappearance—one from a man who said he saw a woman who looked like Laci “being forced into a van, correct?” Geragos asked the detective. “Yes,” Grogan replied. Read the story here.