By The Associated Press

PUEBLO — After 30 raids for illegal marijuana cultivation in Pueblo County last year, the sheriff’s department says people are getting the message, and deputies have made only one bust this year.

The Pueblo Chieftain reported Sunday deputies arrested a total of 41 people in last year’s raids, mostly from March through May.

This year’s lone raid brought three arrests.

Undersheriff JR Hall says many people didn’t understand the rules last year, but now they do.

On March 30 last year, deputies seized more than 1,900 illegal plants in five homes. Authorities estimated the street value of the plants was $7.5 million.

They say also seized weapons and $250,000 worth of equipment for making hash oil.

Hall says after those raids, the sheriff’s department began getting more tips from the public.

By Darlene Superville, The Associated Press

BRANCHBURG, N.J. — President Donald Trump signed his first piece of major legislation on Friday, a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government operating through September.

The bill cleared both houses of Congress this week and Trump signed it into law behind closed doors at his home in central New Jersey, well ahead of a midnight Friday deadline for some government operations to begin shutting down.

Trump signed the bill despite his objections to numerous provisions included in the measure. One such provision prohibits the Justice Department from using any funds to block implementation of medical marijuana laws by states and U.S. territories. In a signing statement that accompanied the bill and that laid out his objections, Trump said he reserved the right to ignore the provision. He held out the possibility that the administration could pursue legal action against states and territories that legalize marijuana for medical use.

Marijuana remains illegal for any purpose under federal law. The White House previously signaled a looming crackdown on recreational pot use.

“I will treat this provision consistently with my constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” Trump said in the signing statement, a tool that previous presidents have used to explain their positions on appropriations bills.

Other budget battles lie ahead as the White House and Congress hammer out a spending plan for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

Republicans praised $15 billion in additional Pentagon spending obtained by Trump, as well as $1.5 billion in emergency spending for border security, though not for the wall he has vowed to build along the U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigration, and the extension of a school voucher program in the District of
Columbia.

Trump also wants a huge military buildup matched by cuts to popular domestic programs and foreign aid accounts.

Trump also objects to provision governing the transfer of prisoners held at a U.S. facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But the White House said his objection should not be seen as a shift in policy, but as a statement of his view that the provision could conflict with his constitutional authority and duties in some circumstances.

Trump said during the presidential campaign that he wanted the detention center, known as “Gitmo,” kept open. At one point, he pledged to “load it up with some bad dudes.”

Republicans and Democrats who negotiated the spending bill in recent days had successfully defended other accounts Trump had targeted for spending cuts, such as foreign aid, the Environmental Protection Agency, support for the arts and economic development grants, among others.

The sweeping, 1,665-page bill also increases spending for NASA, medical research, and the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

Trump took to Twitter earlier this week to complain about the bipartisan process that produced the measure but later changed his tone and began highlighting the spending that was added for the military and for border security. He advocated in one tweet for a “good shutdown” in September to fix the “mess” that produced the bill, but then appeared in the White House Rose Garden hours later to boast that the measure amounted to a big win for him.

In other areas, retired union coal miners won a $1.3 billion provision to preserve health benefits for more than 22,000 retirees. House Democrats won funding to give Puerto Rico’s cash-strapped government $295 million to help ease its Medicaid burden.

Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

By Cory Dawson, The Associated Press

MONTPELIER, Vt. — In the waning days of the legislative session, Vermont’s efforts to legalize marijuana appeared to have stalled. But Friday afternoon, one day before legislative leaders plan to adjourn, the Senate approved a marijuana legalization bill that they say serves as a compromise.

The legislation is nearly identical to the legalization measure the House already has passed, and key House lawmakers are behind it. Sen. Dick Sears, Reps. Maxine Grad and Chip Conquest, all Democrats and staunch legalization advocates, had been crafting the legislation during recent days.

It’s unclear when the House will take up the legislation. Lawmakers had hoped to adjourn Saturday, but Democratic House Speaker Mitzi Johnson tweeted the House would go into recess Friday and resume Wednesday.

When the House discusses the marijuana legislation, members could take a vote or attempt to send the bill to a conference committee, where House and Senate lawmakers would hash out the details in the final hours of the 2017 session.

Small amounts of marijuana would be legal to possess and grow starting in July 2018 under the bill the Senate passed Friday. In the meantime, a nine-member commission will develop a law that would tax and regulate marijuana and present it to the legislature next year.

“This is an effort, Mr. President, to compromise. To find a way for Vermont join two other New England states to have a legalized, regulated seed-to-sale system at some point in the hopefully near future,” said Sears, a key player in Vermont’s legalization effort.

Maine and Massachusetts have legalized marijuana.

Vermont senators voted 20-9 to pass the legalization measure.

“We cannot continue to stick our heads in the sand,” said Republican Sen. Joe Benning, a longtime legalization advocate.

Opposition to the bill was muted, partly because it was a foregone conclusion it would pass. Senators already approved a bill that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana weeks ago.

Marijuana legislation isn’t the only outstanding major issue. House and Senate budget writers still are haggling over how to fund teachers’ retirement, and hanging over every lawmaker’s head is the possibility of a veto.

Republicans and Democrats are split over how to realize up to $26 million in savings due to new, cheaper health care plans for teachers mandated under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott and House Republicans narrowly lost a vote late Wednesday to pass their plan, which would force teachers to negotiate their health care benefits directly with the state.

“It was a tough vote,” said House Republican minority leader Don Turner. “My perspective now is the governor has to issue a veto threat.”

Democrats say forcing teachers to negotiate with the state infringes on teachers’ collective bargaining rights and proposed an alternate system that would keep negotiations at the local level.

But Scott said he isn’t convinced the Democrats’ plan would work and has said it would be “irresponsible” to leave the statehouse without developing a system to save the money and lower property taxes.

Scott has yet to grant House Republicans’ wish by saying he will veto the budget so as to force lawmakers into considering his plan.