Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe 'SMART' E-MAILS NOT SO SMART? A U.S. District Court magistrate in Charleston has ordered an 18-year-old South Carolina man to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, after the man was accused of trying to extort $3 million by falsely claiming in a series of e-mails to be the kidnapper of Elizabeth Smart. Advertisement The 14-year-old girl was abducted from her Salt Lake City area home on June 5, 2002, and has been the subject of a nationwide search. FBI agents and police said Walter Kenneth Holloway was sitting at a computer -- sending the latest of more than three dozen e-mails demanding ransom for Smart's return -- when he was arrested Tuesday at his parents' home in the Charleston suburb of James Island. Authorities said Holloway confessed to sending the e-mails to Salt Lake City police and the missing girl's family, claiming to be the "only real kidnapper" and threatening to hurt Smart if he didn't get the money. Advertisement Holloway faced charges of extortion and sending threatening messages across state lines. Federal officials plan to take the case before a grand jury in Salt Lake City next week. U.S. District Court Magistrate Robert Carr set bond at $50,000, placed Holloway on home detention and prohibited him from using computers or guns. The Charleston Post and Courier said the magistrate also ordered Holloway not to contact anyone connected to the investigation or Smart's family. SAN FRANCISCO'S GROWING POT CHALLENGE Officials in San Francisco plan to appoint a panel to look into the possibility of the city growing marijuana, now that city voters have overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure directing the city to study whether it should grow and sell pot. The vote was 2-1 in favor of Proposition S, which is widely regarded as a statement of defiance aimed at the federal government's zero-tolerance policy on marijuana. San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno said a three-member committee will be set up to look into legal and medical questions. The U.S Justice Department has prosecuted marijuana possession -- complete with arresting people at medicinal pot clubs. A spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco said the policy will continue in force. Advertisement MAYBE LAUGHTER REALLY IS THE BEST MEDICINE Researchers at University of California-Irvine are reporting that not only does laughter reduce stress -- even looking forward to something funny can also contribute to physiological effects that reduce stress. The research team -- led by Lee Berk, assistant professor of family medicine -- presented its findings Wednesday in Orlando, Fla., at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The research involved 16 subjects at California's Loma Linda University. Eight of them were told three days in advance that they would watch a funny video. Researchers said those subjects experienced decreases in the levels of three stress hormones -- and increases in stress-reducing endorphins and growth hormones. Berk told conferees that mood and body changes persist well after actual funny events -- suggesting that optimism and seems to help people recover from illness and "supporting the reality that there may be a biology to the concept of hope." DON'T SOME 'EM EVEN IF YOU'VE GOT 'EM Voters in Nevada's Clark and Washoe counties voted on Tuesday in favor of advisory measures that instruct lawmakers to enact local restrictions on smoking that would be tougher than state laws -- and ban smoke altogether in places where children are likely to be. Advertisement Clark and Washoe are the two most populous counties in the state with the highest percentage of smokers anywhere in the United States. Now that voters have approved the advisory measures, both items are to be submitted to the next Legislature. Voters went 3-2 in favor of tougher local controls on public smoking. They voted 2-1 for the total ban on smoking around kids.
