NewsWatch: Counties -- County Buys Foreclosed Properties, Marijuana: Tax or Ban? Staff Stay Fit With Wii

County Buys Foreclosed Properties
The federal housing agency has agreed to offer the worst of its foreclosed local properties to the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, land bank in a deal forged after the agency was blasted for ending a similar agreement with the city of Cleveland. The deal with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could effectively keep the most dilapidated HUD homes in the county out of the hands of negligent owners. And the land bank could demolish the houses that can't be salvaged to reduce neighborhood blight. Cleveland Plain Dealer

County Uses Wii to Help Employees Stay Fit
 Salt Lake County government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year encouraging its employees to be fit -- awarding cash perks for exercise and weight loss, offering health assessments, even checking out Wii game systems to help staffers get in shape. But is the Healthy Lifestyles program worth its $700,000-plus price tag? Program leaders will release a study this summer showing Utah's most populous county has saved big bucks by urging its employees to work out, eat healthy and douse cigarettes. For every dollar spent on wellness programs, the study suggests, more than three are saved on medical claims. Salt Lake Tribune

County Supervisors Move to Ban Medical Marijuana
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday moved toward enacting a complete ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county.In a unanimous vote, the supervisors directed county staff to prepare an ordinance banning pot dispensaries. The ordinance would first need to be considered by the Regional Planning Commission and then by the Board of Supervisors, a process that would probably take at least three or four months. Californians will vote in November on a closely contested ballot measure which would leglaize marijuana in the state for recreational use. Los Angeles Times
RELATED ITEM
Cash-Strapped Long Beach Seeks to Tax Marijuana