There's good news, New York: despite what the Internet wants you to believe, your kids probably aren't getting shitfaced off hand sanitizers.

We didn't say they're not getting shitfaced, just that they're doing it the old fashion way and aren't part of the current "trend" of teenagers using sanitation products to get drunk.

The national media has jumped on a story out of California about an alarming number of kids getting alcohol poisoning from ingesting hand sanitizers. Health officials in New York, however, tell the Voice that if kids using hand sanitizers to get drunk is a trend, it's not one that's found its way to the Empire State -- that they know of, anyway.

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Yesterday, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi attended a press conference to discuss the pepper spraying of a group of passive students. After a long delay, Katehi eventually left the building where the press conference was being held and was confronted by an unknown number of silent students sitting cross-legged--just like their peers who were pepper sprayed the day before. Watch the eerie protest above.

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The above video was posted to YouTube yesterday evening, and it shows UCD Police Lt. John Pike pepper spraying a line of peaceful protesters at UC Davis. BoingBoing describes the officer's casual nature "as if he's dousing a row of bugs with insecticide," and Gawker agreed, saying Pike's behavior was that of "a gardener using pesticide." We disagree; if you used that much insecticide, you'd poison your yard.

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Mitt Romney, who is unemployed, plans on bulldozing his 3,009-square-foot home in California in order to replace it with an 11,062-square-foot mansion. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Romney has filed an application for the construction on the plot of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla. The Republican presidential hopeful bought the home for $12 million three years ago. Romney should have no problem in getting the project green lit; the home, built in 1936, was originally thought to have historical significance but was later deemed to have a "lack of integrity."

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GREGORY BOJORQUEZ (COURTESY OF MOCA)

The "Art in the Streets" show currently on display at the MOCA in Los Angeles, under the new leadership of Jeffrey Deitch, was slated to travel next to New York City, but the Brooklyn Museum has pulled out, our sisters at the LA Weekly have learned. An email from Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold Lehman went out to artists in the show today explaining that while the museum saw "Art in the Streets" as "an appropriate next exhibition for us after our Jean-Michel Basquiat and graffiti exhibitions," budget reductions have made hosting the show impossible. "With no major funding in place, we cannot move ahead," Lehman wrote. Read his whole letter of contrition here, and as well as a review of the show as it was experienced on the opposite coast. [LA Weekly]

via Newport Beach Patch

A professional clown in California has been arrested for kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old girl in 2002. All while wearing his clown makeup and mask. According to the Daily News:

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​The Daily has an article (not that I can read the whole thing in my iPad-less state!) about irritating Berkeley, Calif. residents being irrationally afraid of radiation from the nuclear crisis in Japan. They are flocking to the area's health food vitamin apothecary-places to buy potassium iodide, which protects against thyroid cancer resulting from exposure to radioactive iodine. This, despite the fact that no elevated radiation levels have been detected in California. More »

Via The Daily: seven-year-old Asher Bradshaw is a precociously talented skateboarder in L.A. who is totally the next Tony Hawk. Just look at him go! My favorite element of this is watching him interact with the older skaters at the skate park. His role models are these grizzled burnouts with holey Vans and ear gauges. Oh, to be young.

[@_rosiegray]

As the results of America's midterm elections come to light, the Village Voice's expert panel of political thinkers and shapers will be weighing in live over the course of the evening. Covering California's landmark vote on whether or not to legalize Marijuana, Proposition 19, is our special correspondent, a self-certified expert in the field of Marijuana Studies and an avid reader of High Times, Broam Chronsky. Broam?

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Dear California -

Tomorrow, you vote on Proposition 19, which is an opportunity to legalize Marijuana in California. Right now, the referendum's prospects don't look great, as it's currently polling seven points under being voted into law. You've got to pass this thing (to the left). Not just for you, but for America. Though especially us.

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