Veterans who struggle with PTSD and pain have some new hope on the horizon. On March 14, the Health and Human Services Department granted approval for the purchase of research grade marijuana to Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), in order to study the plant's effectiveness at treating PTSD, which has devastated the lives of so many veterans.

April may be officially recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in California if ACR 129, proposed by Assemblymember Cheryl R. Brown (D-San Bernardino) and co-authored by 77 other lawmakers, is passed by the state Legislature. The resolution was introduced on April 1 and was adopted by the Assembly on April 21. Along with officially recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness Month, April 23, 2014, would be recognized as Denim Day California.

With fingers pointing and eyebrows raised, Democrats blame Republicans for poor performance of the country’s public education system. It’s also true that with fingers pointing and eyebrows raised, Republicans blame Democrats for the poor performance of the country’s public education system. In fact, they’re both right and both wrong.

While the American media's interest in Asia seems solely focused on the recovery efforts of Flight 370, China is once again expanding its sphere of influence by holding multi-national joint naval drills at the end of this month. The People's Daily News has reported that ships from 4 countries have already arrived, with officers from over 20 nations expected to participate.

Esquire and NBC places this number at 51 percent. A Gallup poll finds that only 34 percent of Americans self-identified as moderates in 2013.

Remember when Vladimir Putin was a land-grabbing nationalist dictator who invaded Georgia? This was before he was our strategic partner who shocked the world by being a land-grabbing nationalist dictator who invaded Ukraine. That was in 2008.

To All Candidates for Secretary of State,

As co-chairs of the Independent Voter Project, we are respectfully requesting that all of the candidates for secretary of state decline to participate in the Sacramento Press Club event scheduled for Wednesday. The Press Club has chosen to deny David Curtis, a Green Party candidate, the right to participate in this debate.

On FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s website, he recently predicted that the GOP will win the U.S. Senate, and retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Due to President Obama’s lagging popularity and the GOP’s more viable candidates, Silver’s research forecasts that Republicans are favored to win at least 6 seats in the Senate alone.

Editor's note: This article, originally published on April 22, was updated on April 25, 2014. The initial article had Ret. Staff Sgt. Dean Graham's name as Alex Graham. The article has been corrected.

On Monday, April 21, a federal appeals court ordered the release of key parts of a memorandum detailing the justification behind targeted drone strikes against people linked to terrorism, including U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki. The 3-judge panel from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed to reverse a lower court's decision by ordering the DOJ to release this information.