3:53

Yellow Springs is a small college town in Ohio that has more than one head shop and a lot of tie-dye and hemp.

Many would consider it ground zero for likely supporters of the referendum on the ballot this November that could make Ohio the fifth state to legalize recreational and medical marijuana.

But the proposal is drawing some unusual opposition — and it’s coming from residents who generally support legalizing marijuana.

Samantha Van Ness is among them. While she’s all for legalizing marijuana, the 25-year-old says she’s dead set against the amendment that will be on the ballot.

“I would rather take the minor misdemeanor fine than let someone have such a massive monopoly in my state,” she says.

And that’s the word lots of liberals and old hippies in Yellow Springs don’t like: monopoly. Many people who generally support legalization have a problem with the group ResponsibleOhio that’s pushing this initiative.

That’s because it specifies just 10 locations in the state where growing pot would be allowed. And 10 groups of investors already have dibs on those sites.

These same investors are sinking $20 million into the campaign. So in essence, they are paying to try to amend the Ohio Constitution to grant themselves pot growing rights.

‘Middle-Of-The-Road Approach’ For A Purple State

Ian James, ResponsibleOhio’s director, says there’s a reason for this structure.

“There are other folks that say, ‘I think we should treat marijuana like lettuce and tomatoes,’ ” he says. “Well, lettuce and tomatoes don’t impair you. Marijuana does.”

James says limiting the proposal to 10 sites makes it easier to regulate and monitor, and a state-run control board will be able to increase that number later on.

And the big money, he says, allows them to run a big campaign.

“We are Ohio, folks. We’re not a blue state or a red state. We’re a very purple, middle-of-the-road state,” James says. “And that requires that you have a middle-of-the-road approach that doesn’t always sit well with the right and it doesn’t always sit well with the left.”

The investors are a notable group: It includes former NBA star Oscar Robertson, NFL player Frostee Rucker, Nick Lachey from the boy band 98 Degrees and two Cincinnati-based relatives of the late President William H. Taft.

Sri Kavuru, president of Ohioans To End Prohibition, says he agrees that it’s time to legalize marijuana — but thinks this is the wrong approach.

“I don’t think auctioning off the Ohio Constitution is the only way to do that,” Kavuru says.

So his group of would-be supporters is trying to pass a different amendment next year, one that would create a free market for growers.

Big Money In ‘A Few Pockets’

And pot opponents likely won’t embrace either move. Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted included the word “monopoly” in the issue title that’s supposed to go on the ballot this fall.

“You could call it a duopoly, a oligopoly or a cartel, which are other words that we could’ve chosen, but we figured that monopoly was the most easily understandable,” he says.

ResponsibleOhio has taken that wording to court. James, the group’s director, argues it’s an unfair characterization.

“It’s certainly not a monopoly when thousands of Ohioans will be able to own and operate their own retail stores, their own testing facilities, their own manufacturing facilities,” he says.

If the measure passes, James says, the amendment will create 10,000-plus jobs, and more than $500 million a year in tax revenue for the state.

Samantha Van Ness — the young pot supporter who’s against the amendment — says she’d love to see the tax revenue from a thriving weed business, too.

But “not at the cost of putting that squarely into a few pockets. That’s just as bad as it is right now, where the money’s already in a few people’s pockets,” she says.

The big money in this campaign is already showing up: The TV ads have started, and they even have a mascot: Buddie, a muscular green guy who’s touring college campuses in a bus.

3:33

This is a story of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It is the story of the meat straw. Yes, you read that right.

“It is a straw made out of pork,” explains Ben Hirko of Coralville, Iowa, the man behind Benny’s Original Meat Straws.

It’s a half-inch in diameter, the same length as a standard plastic straw. And it has a hole running down the middle of it, through which you’re meant to slurp up Bloody Marys.

Like many good stories, this one involves a snowstorm — and maybe one beer too many. Back in February 2009, Hirko was tending bar, and there was only one couple there to drink, so as the snow piled up outside, he poured himself a beer. The bar didn’t serve food, but the couple brought a bunch of meat sticks to snack on.

“After a few beers, I reached over and grabbed one of the snack sticks,” says Hirko. “And I was like, ‘You know, this would make an amazing Bloody Mary garnish.’ It just had great flavor.”

But there was a problem: Only the bottom of the meat stick was soaking up the spicy tomato juice and vodka.

“And so I grabbed a plastic straw out of one of the dispensers, and I grabbed a new stick from them. And I literally started digging a hole in it and eating the meat out of it until I got all the way through,” says Hirko, recounting the moment his meat straw concept was born.

And right there, Hirko had created his first prototype.

“I held it up to the guy that was there,” Hirko says. “And I looked him in the eye, right through the hole, and I said, ‘That’s awesome.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Yes, it is.’ “

Now, if you are thinking, “Does America really need meat straws?,” you’re not alone. Even Hirko’s father had doubts. “He didn’t really say it, but he looked at me like, ‘You know you have a family to support now, don’t you?’ ” Hirko recalls.

But it turns out, Bloody Mary meat straws actually can support a family. For Hirko, the big break came when he got a call from the Detroit Lions football team, which serves a Hail Mary Bloody Mary drink.

“We serve it in a plastic mason jar,” says Joe Nader, executive chef for Levy Restaurants at Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions. He oversees food service at the stadium. “So it’s a pretty good-sized portion, and it’s got a bunch of other garnish with it. The meat straw is kind of the piece de resistance.”

Last year, the Lions sold 30,000 Bloody Marys with meat straw garnishes. The meat straws are also sold in grocery stores and bars, and on the Benny’s website.

And the hankering for meat straws has spread. At a recent Washington National’s baseball game in D.C., meat straws were prominently displayed at a “make-your-own-Bloody-Mary” bar in one of the luxury lounges.

Jonathan Stahl, executive director of ballpark operations and fan experience for the Nationals, demonstrates a meat straw in action, using it to stir horseradish into the Bloody Mary mix.

“As you can see, it comes straight through the meat straw,” says Stahl, taking a gulp to demonstrate. “There you go.”

The straw infuses each sip with a hint of meaty, umami flavor. And by the time imbibers have finished guzzling the drink, the meat straw is well-soaked in Bloody Mary and ready for snacking. Stahl says they’ve been a hit.

“We couldn’t get them one time, and so people were asking where the meat straws were,” says Stahl. “We never have a Bloody Mary bar unless we have the meat straws available now.”

Nat’s fan Bill Foster sits on a patio overlooking the ballpark, testing out a meat straw Bloody Mary. He isn’t convinced this product is really answering a great need.

“Sometimes, as Steve Jobs pointed out, we don’t know what we needed until he put it together, so maybe enough people will think we need this,” says Foster. “I don’t know. I doubt if I’ll be in that crew, but maybe others will.”

The Steve Jobs of meat straws, Ben Hirko, recently sold his company to a larger firm with better distribution channels, but he stayed on. So now he can spend all his time convincing people that meat straws are the answer to a problem they didn’t know they had.

3:57

Mining moves in boom-and-bust cycles. It’s busting right now as metals prices are the lowest they’ve been in years. In states like Montana, that means small mining towns are looking for other options.

Transcript

ARUN RATH, HOST:

Mining for metals like copper, gold and platinum has long been a story of boom and bust, and it’s busting in the U.S. right now. Metals prices are the lowest they’ve been in years. In states like Montana, that means small towns with their futures tied to mining are looking for other options. Montana Public Radio’s Eric Whitney reports they’re hard to find.

ERIC WHITNEY, BYLINE: Buddy Hanrahan runs a one-man computer services business in White Sulphur Springs, Mont., population 900.

BUDDY HANRAHAN: Bring ’em over. They can come down…

WHITNEY: Hanrahan’s also president of the local chamber of commerce. He’s trying to stay on good terms with other local businesses. So when I ask him how the local economy’s doing…

HANRAHAN: Oh boy, I’ve got to be careful what I say just ’cause I don’t want to offend – steady, level, but at a very low level.

WHITNEY: Way lower than when Hanrahan was in high school. Back then, White Sulphur Springs still had three thriving timber mills. But when federal forest management policies changed in the ’90s, the mills closed, and two-thirds of the town’s residents moved away. That’s why Hanrahan and a lot of other Main Street businesses here now have signs in their windows saying they support opening a new copper mine nearby.

HANRAHAN: Any industry right now is an improvement. I mean, agriculture’s great, and tourism is great, but it’s – it’s tough. It’s a hard road to hoe when you just have that.

WHITNEY: When a Canadian mining company set up a storefront here about four years ago, copper prices were up, and prospects looked good for it to open the mine and create about 200 good-paying jobs. Kim Deal, who’s been here 41 years, would love to see that happen.

KIM DEAL: I moved away after I graduated out of high school, was gone for nine years, and I come back. It’s home.

WHITNEY: Deal spent 31 years tending bar in White Sulphur Springs because she says it’s one of the few steady jobs available here. But she just bought a property management business and is hoping something will come along so her family can stay, too.

DEAL: There’s just nothing here for people to do. There’s no work. You know, and it’s sad when your kids don’t have the option to graduate and say, oh, you know, I’m going to stay at home for the summer and work, or, you know, I don’t want to go to college so I want to get a job, and they can’t do that here. There’s nothing here for them to do that with.

RATH: The proposed copper mine is near the Smith River, one of Montana’s most prized boating and fishing experiences. Environmental groups are trying to stop the mine, but a pretty effective barrier right now could be that the price of copper is only about half of what it was in 2011. K.C. Chang, an economist with the financial research firm IHS Global Insight, says that’s mostly because of China’s economy. It’s shifting away from the rapid industrialization that caused a spike in prices for raw materials.

K.C. CHANG: That shift towards a market that’s more driven by their domestic consumer means that there’s going to be an overall lower copper demand in terms of the global picture.

WHITNEY: A weak forecast for rising copper prices means hopes for another natural resources boom in towns like White Sulphur Springs are fading.

HANRAHAN: Yeah, that three screens really does people in sometimes.

WHITNEY: Back in Buddy Hanrahan’s computer shop, he says local leaders have no choice but to keep looking for other economic options.

HANRAHAN: The mine is a possibility. It may never happen. So we’re just rolling the way things need to roll to survive, not necessarily depending on the mine. It’d be great if it happened, but we’re not going to rely on it.

WHITNEY: Right now, Hanrahan thinks his town’s best hope still lies underground – but not in copper ore. Federal subsidies helped lay fiber-optic Internet cable to White Sulphur Springs, and Hanrahan’s trying to lure some telecommuters who want to be surrounded by the great outdoors. For NPR News, I’m Eric Whitney in Missoula.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MINING ALL DAY LONG”)

MIRACLE OF SOUND: (Singing) And I feel good ’cause I’ve been mining all day long. Hey, hey, hey, I’ve been mining all day long. I feel…

Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

3:34

NPR’s Ari Shapiro and Audie Cornish talk to Reyhan Harmanci of the website Atlas Obscura about its reader contest to select the worst businesses that use puns in their names.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

There is a subset of puns – businesses that name themselves based on a pun. You know, the kind of thing you see on a storefront sign that makes you groan or maybe laugh, depending on your mood.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

So, for example, I’ve been living in East London for the last couple years in the neighborhood where actually Jack the Ripper operated, and there is a hair salon near my apartment called Jack The Clipper.

CORNISH: That’s a very good one. Another good one is an e-cigarette emporium named Darth Vapor.

SHAPIRO: You know, if there were only a map of businesses with names like this so you could seek them out or maybe steer clear of them.

CORNISH: Well, Ari, it’s happening.

SHAPIRO: Yes.

CORNISH: Reyhan Harmanci is on the case. She’s with the online magazine Atlas Obscura, and she’s asking for you or anyone to submit your favorite punny business names. Reyhan Harmanci, welcome to the show.

REYHAN HARMANCI: Thank you, guys.

CORNISH: First, tell us how this idea came about.

HARMANCI: Well, it’s been a source of much discussion in Atlas Obscura group chat room, and being a place called Atlas Obscura, we traffic in a lot of maps. So this has been a pet project for the last few months.

CORNISH: It’s like lunchroom chatter, basically, you guys going back and forth about maybe business names you’ve seen that you thought, oh, that’s a groaner.

HARMANCI: Yeah. And one of the reasons why we decided to it is when we would bring it up to other people, their response was like, oh, man, there was a place in my hometown or I just drove by a weird nail salon. It felt like it was ripe for some mapping.

SHAPIRO: What kind of trends are you seeing with the submissions you’ve gotten so far?

HARMANCI: Well, it’s funny you mentioned a hair salon in London. I just looked today. We have had already over 600 submissions, and there’s at least 10 different Curl Up And Dyes.

CORNISH: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: Oh, D-Y-E, Curl Up And Dye.

HARMANCI: Yes, D-Y-E, yeah. So we’re seeing – I mean, I think the bulk have been categorized as restaurants – a lot of Thai restaurants in there. Washington, D.C., is extremely well represented. I think it’s the city with the most submissions thus far.

SHAPIRO: Here in D.C., we have a Bow Tie. We have a Titanic.

HARMANCI: Yes, yes.

CORNISH: Oh, Titanic, yeah, I never thought about that.

HARMANCI: Yes. Other places have a Thaiphoon, appeThaizing. For Vietnamese restaurants, there’s also a lot of submissions involving pho.

SHAPIRO: P-H-O – the Vietnamese soup.

HARMANCI: Yes, exactly, the soup. Beverly Hills apparently has a 9021Pho.

SHAPIRO: Pho.

CORNISH: Very nice.

SHAPIRO: Reyhan Harmanci, how do you anticipate people using this map? Are they going to seek these places out or are they going to avoid them as best they can?

HARMANCI: I will leave that to the discretion of the reader. I think that puns – it’s a funny thing. It’s not like a ha ha thing. It’s kind of like a gut feeling of, like, oof.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: Can you distinguish between a great pun and a terrible pun, or are they actually the same thing?

HARMANCI: I think they’re actually the same thing.

CORNISH: Really?

HARMANCI: Yes. I think that the feeling you get from a great pun and a terrible pun is quite similar.

CORNISH: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: I saw a falafel shop called Pita Pan.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: Isn’t that good?

CORNISH: I see how you’re…

SHAPIRO: Pita Pan.

CORNISH: You’re amused. I’m appalled. You’re right. It’s kind of like two sides of the same coin.

SHAPIRO: Two halves of the same coin.

(LAUGHTER)

CORNISH: Reyhan Harmanci – she’s from the online magazine Atlas Obscura. She’s partnering with the news aggregator Digg to create an interactive map of American businesses with pun-based names. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

HARMANCI: Thank you guys so much.

CORNISH: And for people who still want to sneak in some of their top choices, how can they submit to the map?

HARMANCI: You can go to AtlasObscura.com/puns.

Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.