Police are searching for two men involved in an armed robbery at Smokey Top Tobacco Shop, 7301 W. 183rd Street, Thursday evening. Tinley Park Police Cmdr. Steve Vaccaro said one of three suspects is in custody and was detained by several employees at the store during the time of the robbery. Police were notified of the ongoing robbery at 7:15 p.m. when the employees set off a panic alarm. “When we arrived, the employees had one subject detaine ... Jump to full article >>

Former Ridley Township police officer Brian Decker stood with his hands clasped behind his back as a judge sentenced him to six months probation and ordered him to undergo anger management classes involving his conviction for assaulting a Wawa employee in December 2009. “This whole incident could have been avoided by walking away,” said Judge Patricia Jenkins. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and we did have what I noted in the verdict ... Jump to full article >>

Nuclear weapons-grade uranium is now available on the black market in Georgia, according to officials who broke up a smuggling ring in the former Soviet republic. Highly enriched uranium was smuggled from Armenia to Georgia in a lead-lined cigarette packet in March. Two men involved in transporting the substance were arrested in April. In a closed hearing, Sumbat Tonayan, a former dairy factory owner and Hrant Ohanian, a retired nuclear physicis ... Jump to full article >>

Legalizing marijuana would put a big dent in drug cartels and free up police, prosecutors and judges to go after violent crimes, a law enforcement group said Monday in endorsing Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure. Proposition 19′s passage in November would decriminalize an estimated 60,000 drug arrests made in California each year, said former Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray. Beat police would have more time t ... Jump to full article >>

Negotiators in Geneva reported significant progress in efforts to stop smuggling and counterfeiting tobacco products, the World Health Organization said Sunday. But a week of talks among 169 countries failed to produce a final agreement, WHO said. The talks did lead to provisions aimed at controlling the supply chain for tobacco products through a tracking and tracing system and licensing for manufacturers and others in the tobacco trade. Illici ... Jump to full article >>

It’s going to be an awful campaign, awful. Yesterday we were at Labour HQ (they still have a smart new building in Westminster, but after the election they may move to a scout hut in Streatham) to see the video. It was introduced by the home secretary and by Harriet Harman, glossier than ever. Her eyes were like French-polished lentils. I spoke to colleagues afterwards, and we agreed that she seemed to be staring balefully at each of us. L ... Jump to full article >>

A funeral party mourning the death of a young man killed in a Lynn motorcycle crash allegedly turned into a violent mob outside a Back Bay nightclub last week, attacking a stranger who tried to bum a cigarette, a prosecutor said today in court. That request for a smoke turned into an argument. Insults flew back and forth. Twelve of the men — including nine wearing matching rented tuxedos for the funeral — are accused of pouncing on t ... Jump to full article >>

BOCA RATON – Four masked thieves stole $8,000 worth of cigarettes from a Boca Raton Publix, police said. The burglars broke through the front entrance of the store, in the 7400 block of North Federal Highway, at about 1:10 a.m. They cut a padlock, pulled apart the metal grates and smashed the glass doors, police spokeswoman Sandra Boonenberg said. They smashed an exterior surveillance camera and fled in a dark SUV, possibly a Ford Expediti ... Jump to full article >>

Business groups in Papua New Guinea say they are alarmed at the amount of counterfeit goods being smuggled into the country from Indonesia. They say that not only do sales of cheaper black market goods hurt PNG manufacturing, but the Government loses taxes, and some products may be unsafe for consumers. There is a flourishing and lucrative trade in smuggled goods, including babies’ nappies and cigarettes, at street markets in Papua New Gui ... Jump to full article >>

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to decide Tuesday whether the Ho-Chunk Nation is entitled to thousands of dollars in cigarette tax refunds. The tribe is seeking a refund on cigarette taxes collected on sales at its DeJope Gaming property in Madison for parts of 2003 and 2004. The Ho-Chunk argue the payments are required under a state law allowing tribes to get refunds on 70 percent of cigarette taxes collected ... Jump to full article >>