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Colorado regulators have issued the first licenses to individuals seeking to open psilocybin-related businesses.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division had approved seven license applications for prospective business owners, including one who wants to open a psilocybin mushroom cultivation and another who hopes to operate a healing center. Additionally, the division issued one license to a local who hopes to work in the nascent industry.

The licenses mark the first step in Colorado’s rollout of a legal psychedelic-assisted therapy industry. Although individuals have received approval from the state, each respective business also needs to be issued a license before it can begin operating. So far, no business licenses have received approval from the Natural Medicine Division, according to state data. Still, regulators at the agency expect the public could have legal access to services in this space as soon as spring.

Greeley, Colorado, resident Troy Leonard is among the first people to have his application approved. The 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran is the CEO of a company called Valor Minds, which seeks to open a small mushroom cultivation facility in Englewood to supply licensed healing centers. read more

After a Maryland teacher died by apparent suicide while under investigation for alleged financial fraud and child sex abuse, investors across six states told The Baltimore Sun Justin Rieger had invested their money in the cryptocurrency market.

The Sun interviewed two crypto experts about what cryptocurrency is, what investors should know about digital currencies, and why they can be riskier than traditional investments.

Jimi “Fitz” Fitzgerald is the host of “The Crypto Fitz Show and Podcast” where he decodes complicated financial terms. Daren Firestone is a partner at Levy Firestone Muse, where his practice focuses on representing whistleblowers in the crypto industry. Their answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Is crypto a digital stock market?

FITZ: Sort of. Stock markets are numerous and very different around the world. In the U.S. we have the Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ, Russell 2000, and many others. Traditional stock markets are closed more hours than they are open. The crypto market is a worldwide 24/7 marketplace with all buying and selling out of the same pool of assets. read more

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Fabric and crafts retailer Joann Inc., which has been a destination for generations of quilters, knitters and lovers of crafts projects for 80 years, is going out of business and shuttering all its stores.

The announcement comes after the Hudson, Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, the second time in a year. It cited sluggish consumer demand and inventory shortages. At the time it vowed it would keep all of its stores open.

But earlier this month, Joann said it planned to close 500 stores — or more than half of its nationwide footprint. The company said on Sunday that after a recent auction, financial services company GA Group, together with Joann’s term lenders, were selected as the winning bidder to “acquire substantially all of Joann’s assets” and would begin winding down the company’s operations and conduct going-out-of-business sales at all store locations.

By Lacy Pfalz, TravelPulse

Low-cost air carrier Frontier Airlines is launching more than one dozen extra routes this spring with new service to destinations from coast to coast and in the Caribbean.

By CORA LEWIS

NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Safarik, 32, of Lincoln, Nebraska, has worked in the food industry since he was 21, delivering for quick service restaurants like Raising Cane’s and stocking groceries at stores like Trader Joe’s. With his earnings, Safarik, who has Down syndrome, recently bought a treadmill to stay active when the weather’s bad and helped cover the cost of braces for his teeth.

That’s unusual, financially speaking, and it’s thanks in part to a little-known savings account called an ABLE account, which lets people people with disabilities save money beyond the $2,000 asset limit that’s linked to benefits like Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. Without the account, Safarik could have risked losing government assistance if he had more than $2,000 in assets saved at one time in a given month.

“With this ABLE account, we don’t have to worry as much,” said Deb Safarik, 71, Paul’s mother, with whom he lives. “It’s nice that he can work and save, and not have that be held against him.” read more