Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the January 2002 issue

Assets

Herbal Remedy

Britain will no longer arrest citizens for possessing pot. The drug is now in the same category as anti-depressants and steroids. Penalties for selling pot will also be reduced. Officials say they will focus more on heroin and cocaine prosecutions.

Bits Bought

The Net prepares to take up the slack caused by travel and snail-mail delays. AOL Time Warner says daily e-mail use peaked in September at 280 million messages -- nearly double the 150 million of a year ago. Web shopping may also boom. Forrester Research projects a holiday e-commerce total of $11 billion, up 10 percent from 2000.

Code Break

A California State Appeals Court says that the DeCSS software that unscrambles DVD codes is protected by the Constitution. Hollywood has argued the software is illegal and should be banned. The court said that the movie studios' "statutory right to protect [their] economically valuable trade secret is not an interest that is 'more fundamental' than the First Amendment right to freedom of speech."

Estimated Aid

The Internal Revenue Service allows estimated income tax payments to slide for anyone who expects the September attacks to take a big chunk out of his 2001 income. The ruling helps solve a cash-flow headache for small business owners who won't make as much money this year as last.

Tower Power

Developer Larry Silverstein, the man who helped the Port Authority privatize the World Trade Center by signing a $3.2 billion, 99-year lease just weeks before the towers were attacked, vows to rebuild on the site. Insurance and political hurdles remain, and new 110-story buildings are unlikely.

Liabilities

Clash Symbol

Goodwill Industries of South Florida fires Miami mayoral candidate Michael Italie, calling him a "subversive.'' He is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and has criticized the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan. The nonprofit has a government contract to make American flags. "Goodwill will not allow anyone to bring dishonor to such an important symbol," says the charity's CEO.

Car Crazy