Drone Testing Sites Named, Police Deaths Drop, Obamacare Rules Hit Vending Machines: P.M. Links

Keep your eyes on the skies in
Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia. Those
are the states selected by the federal government for
drone test sites.
The incoming mayor of Boston is not on board with the police
there getting
AR-15 rifles.
As said police continue their efforts to militarize, 2013 saw
the
fewest number of police killed by firearms since 1887. More
were killed in car crashes. Overall deaths in the line of duty are
the lowest since 1959.
But what about those on the other side of that thin blue line?
In Seattle, shootings by the police accounted for
one-fifth of all homicides in the city, six out of 29. Police
officials there blame poor management of those with mental
illnesses.
The latest stupid revelation from the unexplored innards of the
Affordable Care Act is that next year vending machines will be
required to show
calorie counts for the products inside. This is expected to
cost vendors (and therefore consumers) about $25 million a
year.
France’s proud rejection of Economics 101 continues apace. The
government has given approval to a
75 percent tax on the rich. It has also ordered car services
like Uber to institute a
15-minute wait before picking up riders in a completely
undisguised move to protect taxi drivers from competition.