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TOP STORIES
National
U.S.
Releases Rights Report, With an Acknowledgment
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07diplo.html
The Bush administration
acknowledged Tuesday that its treatment of terrorism suspects was being
questioned, even as it used an annual report to criticize the human rights
records of Iraq, Afghanistan and a long list of other countries. “Our
democratic system of governance is accountable, but it is not infallible,”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in releasing the Congressionally
mandated report. It weighs the human rights situation in 193 countries — but
not the United States, and Ms. Rice did not specifically cite any American
violations. But Barry Lowenkron, an assistant secretary of state, said the
State Department was “issuing this report at a time when our own record, and
actions we have taken to respond to terrorist attacks against us, have been
questioned.” He referred to American laws “governing the detention, treatment
and trial of terrorist suspects.”
More State Department human rights report news in NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, NATIONAL/MEDIA, COLORADO/MILITARY
Libby
'Pilloried' For Leak, Panel Members Believed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602365.html
The jurors who huddled around
two pushed-together conference tables for 10 days, meticulously filling 34
pages of facts from the trial on a large flip chart, believed that Vice
President Cheney's former chief of staff had been "pilloried" for a
CIA leak that other top White House aides had committed along with him,
according to one member of the panel. Still, the juror said yesterday, the jury
concluded that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby had lied to FBI agents and a
federal grand jury that investigated the leak. Sifting through mounds of
evidence convinced the panel that Libby's memory of conversations with
colleagues and journalists was not as faulty as the defense contended.
RELATED: Cheney's Suspected Role in Security Breach Drove Fitzgerald
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601969.html
RELATED: For an Opaque White
House, A Reflection of New Scrutiny
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602589.html
RELATED: Questions About
Cheney Remain
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07cheney.html
RELATED: Talk floats of a
possible pardon by Bush
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-libbypol7mar07,1,1919312.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Prosecutors
Say They Felt Pressured, Threatened
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600606.html
Six fired U.S. attorneys
testified on Capitol Hill yesterday that they had separately been the target of
complaints, improper telephone calls and thinly veiled threats from a
high-ranking Justice Department official or members of Congress, both before
and after they were abruptly removed from their jobs. In back-to-back hearings
in the Senate and House, former U.S. attorney David C. Iglesias of New Mexico
and five other former prosecutors recounted specific instances in which some
said they felt pressured by Republicans on corruption cases and one said a
Justice Department official warned him to keep quiet or face retaliation.
RELATED: Ex-prosecutors felt intimidation
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703070091mar07,1,5460132.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Prosecutors Describe
Contacts From Higher Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07attorneys.html?ref=us
RELATED: Statement from
Congresswoman Heather Wilson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600192.html
RELATED: Email From Cummins
to Attorneys
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602049.html
Colorado
Critics
assail private prisons
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399656,00.html
Critics say Colorado's
private prisons are driven by shareholder profits and that, ultimately, society
pays when businesses "cut corners" on staffing costs and inmate
rehabilitation. The result is incidents such as a 2004 riot at a CCA prison in Crowley County, witnesses told a House Judiciary Committee hearing on private prisons
Tuesday. State Department of Corrections officials had to come to the rescue of
33 private prison officers who lost control of 1,112 inmates. The state fined
CCA $126,000 in June for short-staffing at Crowley and another facility after
the state auditor blasted CCA for having a staff-to-inmate ratio that was
one-seventh of a state prison at the time of the Crowley riot. "That's a
direct result of you get what you pay for," testified Ryan Sherman, an
official for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which is
crusading nationally against private prisons. He cited a U.S. Department of
Justice report saying that private prisons have a 50 percent higher violence
rate than their public counterparts.
RELATED: Private-prison operator pitches savings
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370979
RELATED: House panel has more
questions about private prisons
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/13
House
committee opposes Army plans to expand
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5399224,00.html
A House committee voted 7-4
Tuesday to side with southeast Colorado ranchers who oppose Fort Carson's
planned Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site expansion, even though the representatives
acknowledged the state cannot halt the federal government's taking of the vast
acreage through eminent domain. "We got in there the part we wanted,"
said State Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, the bill's sponsor, taking a
half-a-loaf-is-better-than-no-loaf approach to the vote after almost four hours
of testimony. He said language to guarantee that ranchers are paid fair prices
for the land, which in some cases has been in families for generations, will be
added to his bill as it advances. Lon Robertson, a Branson rancher who is
president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, said the hearing
"got attention for the issue." He said the vote "makes a
statement." An unusual coalition of patriotic ranching families, who cited
the veterans in their families, and anti-war activists, who bashed the Army,
joined ranks to support the bill.
RELATED: Bill bars use of eminent domain for Army expansion
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370978
RELATED: Panel passes Pinon Canyon protest bill
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/2
Lawmakers
will consider new health rules for oil and gas drilling
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070306/NEWS/103060047
Deb Meader said she never
considered the potential health impacts when gas drilling rigs started
springing up around Parachute. Over the past 10 years, she said, she has
suffered weakness, nauseous and burning eyes, and her granddaughter was born
with congenital defects. Two of her friends with a well in their back yard died
of cancer, she said, and she was forced to sell her horse, a paint named Lady,
when the horse's eyes got bloody and her hair started falling out. "It's
the benzene," she said, citing one of the 245 chemicals experts have tied
to the gas industry in western Colorado. On Wednesday, the Agriculture,
Livestock, & Natural Resources Committee will take up a measure (House Bill
1223) that would require the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to
set rules by next July to protect public health in oil and gas operations and
bar drilling until those rules have been followed.
More energy policy news in NATIONAL/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENVIRONMENT
Election
Koenigsberg
named Dem convention CFO
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5398428,00.html
Melissa Koenigsberg,
currently serving as finance director for Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, has
been named chief financial officer and finance director of the Denver 2008
Convention Host Committee. She was named by executive committee members
including Gov. Bill Ritter; U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colorado; Congresswoman
Diana DeGette, D-Denver; Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper; Denver City
Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, and Steve Farber, a partner at Brownstein Hyatt
Farber & Schreck. Wedgeworth, president of the Host Committee, said in a
release, "We are very fortunate to have an individual of Melissa's caliber
and experience for this historic event in our city." In her role as CFO,
Koenigsberg will implement and manage a plan to raise $40 million in cash
necessary to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.
RELATED: Host committee names finance head
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5366846
Senate
backs bill to boost state oversight of elections
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399658,00.html
A bill to step up the state's
oversight of vote centers and elections won initial backing in the Senate on
Tuesday after heated debate over who should or shouldn't be allowed to vote.
Republicans made an unsuccessful bid to require proof of citizenship to
register to vote. Clashes also broke out over whether parolees should be
allowed to vote and the privacy of the ballot box.Senate Bill 83 would require
the secretary of state to set guidelines for vote centers and beef up its
oversight of how counties are conducting elections. "This bill is meant to
add safeguards in the law to prevent the election fiasco of the last
election," said the measure's sponsor, Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder.
Republicans cited concerns that illegal immigrants are being allowed to vote.
RELATED: Paroled felons may get to vote
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370449
Eidsness
switches to Democrat
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103070089
Eric Eidsness, who siphoned
away 11 percent of the vote in last year's race for the 4th Congressional
District, is switching his party affiliation to Democratic. Eidsness said Tuesday
he is not officially announcing another run for office, but he "wanted the
world to know" about his new party affiliation. "I chose the
Democratic Party for two reasons -- one is that the policies and positions that
I carved out in the 2006 election, the Democrats are willing to address and are
trying to address, where the Republicans are not," he said. "And if I
were a Republican in 2008, I'm not sure I could do much good for this
district." U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave has said she will seek another term
in 2008, so if Eidsness wanted to join the GOP, he'd have to mount a primary
challenge. Eidsness said issues close to him, including homeland security,
health care and fiscal responsibility, are increasingly espoused by Democrats.
He ran on the Reform Party ticket last year, but he was a lifelong Republican
who worked for President Ronald Reagan. Newly elected Colorado Republican Party
Chairman Dick Wadhams could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
RELATED: Eidsness declares himself a Democrat
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770306002
Hick set
to run for second term
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5398628,00.html
Hickenlooper won his first
term in 2003. One candidate, city worker Danny Lopez, beat the mayor to the
punch and is already certified as a candidate. But he has a way to go to win.
Hickenlooper raised more than $112,000 for his re-election last month alone.
Lopez says he plans to raise and spend no money on the campaign. As mayor,
Hickenlooper has launched an ambitious reform of the police department,
launched the city on an environmentally sensitive campaign, helped lure the
2008 Democratic National Convention to Denver and has launched a major
initiative aimed at eliminating homelessness.
Slew of
council candidates under the radar
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5371060
No fewer than 18 candidates
are vying for three open seats on the Denver City Council this spring, but the
contests have largely gone under the radar without a high-profile race for
mayor to draw attention to the campaign season. The field of council candidates
may narrow today, as signatures to get on the ballot are due by the close of
business.
$170,000
invested in city election so far
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=19871&template=article.html
The ways you could spend
$170,000. You could buy an LF-A Lexus supercar due off the production line in
2008, for example. Or take a two-week trip to Hong Kong and stay in a fivestar
hotel — with 41 of your friends. That amount of cash would buy 52,000 Starbucks
lattes or 1,100 bottles of Dom Perignon. Instead, it’s the amount being pumped
into mailers, billboards and yard signs by candidates seeking spots on the
Colorado Springs City Council in the April 3 city election.
Three
vying for District 6 seat
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS01/703070320/1002
The race for Fort Collins
City Council from District 6 in this year's municipal election features a
veteran of city politics and two relative newcomers. The candidates, who hold
different views on issues facing the city as a whole, agree neighborhood issues
such as safety, traffic and property rights are foremost on the minds of
district residents.
Survey
bodes well for bond issue
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_1a_school_board.html
Results of a phone survey
commissioned by Mesa County Valley School District 51 in January looks
promising to district officials who hope the community will support the
district in the next school bond issue. The District 51 Board of Education was
told during a work session Tuesday that 59 percent of survey respondents said
they would support a future school bond and property tax increase for new
schools to handle student population growth, while 35 percent were opposed.
Overall, the results show the public is aware the community is growing, and the
school district faces increasing needs, said pollster Keith Frederick, whose
company, Frederick Polls, has worked with other school districts in the past.
Effective and Ethical Government
Democrat
fires back at Suthers' 'potshots'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399566,00.html
Attorney General John Suthers
told a statewide gathering of fellow Republicans that Democratic lawmakers
don't care as much about public safety as Republican lawmakers. To back up his
point, Suthers singled out the House Judiciary Committee, which he called
"a perfect storm of liberal lawyers from Denver and Boulder." The
committee chairman, Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, was livid when he learned
of Suthers' comments. "The attorney general said what?" Carroll
demanded to know Tuesday. He called Suthers' comments
"unprofessional" and a "cheap political potshot."
Citizen
Legislator: Rafael Gallegos
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399563,00.html
Rep. Rafael Gallegos can be
counted on each Friday to deliver the weather report for the weekend, a habit
from his nearly 40 years of working for the National Weather Service. At one
time, the agency operated five bureaus in Colorado - in Grand Junction, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Alamosa - and Gallegos spent time at every one of
them before retiring in 1994.
Telling
people where not to go (On the side, 3/7)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370987
It's a sign of the political
times: "This is not a public restroom and due to the restrictions of Amendment
41 this facility can no longer be accessed by certain Registered Professional
Lobbyists, ... Nicole Kidman, Scooter Libby, illegal immigrants from New
Zealand, any member of the Whig Party, lowly members of the State House of
Representatives and of course, Jared Polis." The notice was posted Tuesday
on a third-floor Capitol restroom surrounded by Senate Democrats' offices.
Roll Call,
March 7
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399565,00.html
"It's my Palm
Pilot." Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, caught writing numbers on his hand
Councilors
OK Ethics Commission
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=6320
Councilors gave the go-ahead
Monday toward establishing a Municipal Ethics Commission that will help monitor
potential violations of trust on the part of city employees. An ordinance was
approved on first reading, adding a new chapter to the Cañon City Municipal
Code that addresses the limitations on gifts that city employees can receive.
Those affected include members of City Council, appointed officials,
independent contractors, city boards and all other designated city employees.
The move by council was spurred by its decision to opt out of Amendment 41, the
“Ethics in Government” amendment approved by Colorado voters last November. The
amendment, while most say well intended, has caused much controversy for its
potential, unintended consequences toward government employees across the
state.
A Webb of
truths
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/06/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
Wellington Webb did a lot as
mayor of Denver, but when his term expired in 2004 he didn't just walk away.
Webb, who will speak tonight on the CU-Boulder campus, has continued his
efforts to empower his community, something that student leaders at CU-Boulder
say they admire. “He is sort of an icon within the black com around Denver,” said Leah Andrews, representative at large for the CU-Boulder Black Student
Alliance. “Even though his term is up, his leadership isn't.” The CU-Boulder
Black Student Alliance will host a reception with students for Webb before he
gives a free public talk at 6:30 p.m. in auditorium A2B70 of the MCD Biology Building. Webb will sign copies of his new memoir, “Wellington Webb: The Man,
the Mayor and the Making of Modern Denver,” which chronicles his life from his Chicago boyhood to his rise as one of Colorado's most influential politicians and
policy-makers.
Government
office planning moves forward
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103070043
City of Aspen and Pitkin County officials took the first tentative step to keep government offices in downtown Aspen Tuesday. The city and county are cooperating on a Galena Block Master Plan, and
agreed Tuesday to a two-day "charette," or design meeting, to
determine how best to use land in the downtown core - surrounding the
courthouse - for government use.
Dillon
hires town manager, from Silverton
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070306/NEWS/70306013
The Dillon Town Council
selected the town administrator from Silverton on Tuesday to take over as
Dillon’s new leader. Devin Granbery, 40, will fill the vacancy left by former
town manager Jack Benson, who resigned last December. Granbery’s first day on
the job is April 2.
Louisville to study staffing numbers
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/07/louisville-to-study-staffing-numbers/
Faced with rising costs and
declining revenue, Louisville is seeking an efficiency expert to study a
reorganization of the city's staff. The City Council voted 4-2 on Tuesday to
proceed with a "strategic financial and operational assessment" and
issue a request for proposals from consultants interested in the job. The study
is part of a five-year plan that also will make recommendations on a balanced annual
budget and sustainable municipal services, according to the city.
Florence approves pay requests
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=6321
Pay requests for several city
construction projects were approved Monday evening by the Florence City Council
in a short agenda that featured more informational topics than business items.
Civil Liberties and Equality
One small
step backward?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/06/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Women's organizations around
the world agree on one thing, says CU instructor Caroline Denigan: there seems
to be a recent rollback in women's rights. “It almost seems like a backlash,”
said Denigan, who heard many international women's groups discuss the issue at
the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women. “I haven't got any
research data to show that, but that's what I perceive.” Denigan hopes
International Women's Day this Thursday will help reverse this backlash.
Immigration
LaRaza
supports bill to allow in-state tuition for immigrants
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103060111
The National Council of La
Raza is working with the United We DREAM Coalition to ask Congress to support
an initiative that would allow in-state college tuition for immigrants raised
in the U.S., it said in a statement issued Tuesday. The DREAM Act applies to
immigrants who graduated from U.S. high schools and who also would start a path
toward citizenship. The proposal was presented Tuesday before the Senate and
was coupled with the House companion bill, the "American Dream Act,"
introduced last week. The initiative was first presented to congress in 2001.
Aside from offering immigrant students in-state tuition, it would also allow
them access to more loans and grants, private scholarships, and eligibility to
work in the U.S. to help pay for college.
Worker
measure dropped
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS01/703070327/1002
The Fort Collins City Council
killed an ordinance Tuesday that would have essentially directed the city to
enforce state and federal employment laws. A 4-3 vote against the measure,
which would have allowed the city to punish contractors and subcontractors
working on city projects that knowingly hire and continue to employ
unauthorized workers, means it won't come up for a second reading. Ben Manvel,
Karen Weitkunat, Doug Hutchinson and David Roy voted against the ordinance.
Kurt Kastein, Diggs Brown and Kelly Ohlson, who led the effort to bring the
measure to council, voted for the ordinance. "Do we belong in the business
of strengthening state and national laws through our system?" Weitkunat
said. The issue drew a heavy crowd, including 20 people who spoke publicly
against the ordinance and five who spoke in support of it. Dozens of opponents
of the ordinance wore fluorescent yellow stickers reading: "Immigration is
a National Issue."
Moving
targets: Part 4
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370888
It s a game of cat and mouse
along the border, and it s costing more to play. In the end, the U.S. wins if poor migrants are priced out of the smuggling market.
Marriage and Family Issues
Measure
would extend adoption rights
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5400246,00.html
Same-sex partners and other
unmarried couples would be able to adopt children together under a bill being
considered by state lawmakers. House Bill 1330 is sponsored by House Majority
Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, and Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver. Under
current Colorado law, individual gay parents may adopt, but not same-sex
couples, and married couples are allowed to adopt each other's children from
previous relationships under stepparent adoption, said Pat Steadman, a lobbyist
for Equal Rights Colorado, which is backing the bill.
RELATED: Bill lets unwed adopt each other's children
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370977
Health Care and Public Safety
Bill
targets drunken driving
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399571,00.html
A suspected drunken driver
was involved in a crash that killed a mother and her two small children in
lower downtown last fall. The tragedy still angers Rep. Joel Judd. That's why
the Denver Democrat is carrying a bill that would increase penalties for
drunken driving and make in-car breath tests more prevalent. Judd's House Bill
1189 calls for an automatic one-year license revocation for first-time
drunken-driving offenders and a six-year revocation for a third offense. The bill
is scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee upon adjournment of
the House today. Representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving will
testify during the hearing, Judd said. Under the measure, convicted drunken
drivers could shorten their revocation time if they have a breath-test device
installed in their cars.
Senate to
vote on under-18 helmet measure
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399569,00.html
The Senate will vote this
morning on a measure that would require people under 18 to wear a helmet when
riding on a motorcycle. House Bill 1117 cleared the Senate Veterans, State and
Military Affairs Committee on Monday.
Anemia of
cancer drug not covered
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/health_care/article/0,2808,DRMN_25396_5399516,00.html
Amgen's Aranesp drug, which
is manufactured in Longmont, won't be covered to treat a certain type of anemia
by at least one company that administers Medicare plans. Noridian
Administrative Services LLC, which administers Medicare plans in Colorado and some dozen other Western states, will no longer pay for Aranesp's use in
anemia of cancer, medical director William Mangold said. The Food and Drug
Administration hasn't approved Aranesp's use in anemia of cancer, but insurers
have typically covered this so-called off-label use if prescribing doctors deem
it appropriate. "The decision has been made that Noridian will not cover
for that set of patients," Mangold told The Associated Press. Noridian is
one of 17 companies that administers Medicare plans, representing about 11
percent of the nation's 41 million Medicare Part B recipients.
City gives
go-ahead to slap mosquitoes
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/07/city-gives-go-ahead-to-slap-mosquitoes/
A plan to kill mosquito
larvae before they grow up to become annoying adults took a step forward at
Tuesday night's Boulder City Council meeting. Since 2003, Boulder has killed
mosquito larvae because the insects can carry the potentially deadly West Nile virus. The city only kills larvae when it finds disease-bearing culex mosquitoes
because that's the species that carries the virus.
Crime and Penal Reform
Capital
development Panel looks to JBC to fund new prison
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/11
The Legislature's Capital
Development Committee didn't flinch Tuesday in its game of chicken with the
powerful Joint Budget Committee. Immediately after the two six-member panels
met to discuss what to do about the $38.6 million the Colorado Department of
Corrections needs to open bids on a new penitentiary in Canon City, the CDC
voted to stay the course on its plan to pressure the JBC to come up with
additional funds. Last week, the CDC approved its annual priority list of
capital construction projects for the next year. That list included the
additional money that DOC needs to build the planned 980-bed Colorado State
Penitentiary II project, which was delayed four years because of a lawsuit over
the way the Legislature wanted to fund the project. Initially, the project was
to cost about $203 million, but because of the delay DOC needs the additional
money to cover inflation and higher construction costs. The CDC doesn't want to
use its funds to cover the increase, and the JBC doesn't want to come up with
any more money.
Fights,
frustration seen as jail crowds
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070306/NEWS/70306021
If a drunk skier ran over
your child, the cops might not put him or her in jail. Only those charged with
a felony, domestic-violence, arrested on warrants and those police deem to be a
danger to the public or themselves are jailed these days, said Bill Kaufman,
Eagle County jail administrator. The situation won’t change until a new justice
center is built to match the county’s explosive growth, county law enforcement
leaders say. Overcrowding in the jail jeopardizes public safety, creates
dangerous conditions in the jail and costs taxpayers money, they say.
GJ Police
Department undergoes big change
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_1a_gjpolice.html
The Grand Junction Police
Department is rolling out a series of changes to the way it serves the city’s
50,000 residents, a significant reform that top-level administrators say is
designed to give them a firmer grasp of critical incidents, allocate more
authority to street officers and make it easier for citizens to report crime.
In a presentation Monday night to the City Council, Police Chief Bill Gardner
made it clear he believes the community-policing system instituted by his
predecessor, Greg Morrison, didn’t work, and employee morale has improved since
Morrison resigned nearly a year and a half ago.
Delta
police turmoil appears to be calmed
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_3a_Delta_police_chief.html
When Delta Police Chief
Richard Bacher got a letter of “no confidence” signed by more than 80 percent
of his employees, mutiny seemed imminent. Rumor of mass resignations circulated
throughout the town. But nobody resigned, only one person retired, and things
have settled down, Delta City Manager Lanny Sloan said.
Columbine
papers need review
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/07/columbine-papers-need-review/
The Colorado Attorney General
on Tuesday asked a judge to allow an expert on teen violence to review
statements made by the parents of the teenage gunmen who attacked Columbine
High School. Attorney General John Suthers rebutted Jefferson County sheriff's officials reasons for keeping sworn statements, made as part of lawsuits by
victims of the 1999 school massacre that killed 12 students and a teacher,
along with the two gunmen.
Brighton
arrests 8 in graffiti surge
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5371064
Brighton police have arrested eight people
following a surge in graffiti. Steven Aragon, 18, was charged with multiple
counts of violating a municipal ordinance barring graffiti. Seven juveniles,
males ranging in age from 14 to 17, were cited and released. Police are not
releasing their names because they are juveniles.
Economy
Colorado
lawmakers ask Pelosi to include funds for area counties
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/14
Four members of Colorado’s
congressional delegation have asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to
fund disaster assistance relief for 20 Colorado counties as part of the
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2007. The bill, originally meant
to provide $93.4 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been the target of a number of bids for domestic spending, including
drought relief and children’s health insurance. A letter signed by Colorado
Democrats John Salazar and Mark Udall and Republicans Tom Tancredo and Marilyn
Musgrave, asks that federal disaster money be made available to Otero, Las
Animas, Baca, Prowers, Bent, Crowley, El Paso, Pueblo, Huerfano, Kiowa,
Alamosa, Cheyenne, Costilla, Custer, Douglas, Teller, Elbert, Fremont, Lincoln
and Saguache counties.
RELATED: Farm Service Agency offers spring loans
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070306_12.htm
Gasoline
measure sputters
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5399657,00.html
A bipartisan bill to allow
supermarkets and big-box stores to sell gasoline and prescription drugs at
discount prices is on life-support. The measure now heads to the Senate, where it
may be suffer a defeat as rural lawmakers team with independents and small-time
petroleum distributors to kill the bill. Opponents fear that the bill would
help giant retailers such as King Soopers, Safeway and Wal-Mart seize the
market. "The independents are obviously targeting senators and claiming
(that) giving consumers discounts on gasoline will put them out of
business," said co-sponsor of the bill Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins.
"I think we, as lawmakers, need to let competition work." House Bill
1208 was introduced after a small, rural gas station, citing a 70-year-old
predatory pricing law, last year won a $1.4 million court judgment against King
Soopers for selling gas 40 cents below cost for more than a year and passing on
the discount to customers who bought groceries.
Critics
push for vote to drive off NASCAR
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5371061
[Commerce City] Residents say
they will push for a vote to keep a NASCAR track out of their community after
the City Council balked at putting the proposal on the April ballot. The
council, after hearing from residents for nearly four hours Monday night,
declined to put a nonbinding resolution dealing with the NASCAR question before
voters April 3. NASCAR critics say they will begin a petition drive for a
special election to change the city's charter to prevent the track from
locating to the city. "If the council is not going to do it, we will have
to do it ourselves," resident Kathy McIn tyre said.
Nacchio:
top-secret testimony?
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5372673
National-security issues
could become a land mine for the government and turn into a central focus of
the criminal insider-trading case against former Qwest chief executive Joe
Nacchio, experts say. The government may ultimately have to allow Nacchio, if
he testifies, to reveal classified information or face the prospect of the
judge dismissing the charges. Legal experts expect Nacchio, who contends he
needs to use top-secret information to defend himself, to take the stand.
"Things can get complicated at trial," said attorney John Cline, a
leading expert on national-security-related defenses. U.S. District Judge
Edward Nottingham has already ruled that some classified information is
relevant to Nacchio's defense. How that information will be presented during
trial is still being discussed.
RELATED: Ex-Qwest CEO accused of insider trading
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5370532
Suds push,
south of the border
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5370530
Molson Coors Brewing Co. has
shored up its finances, boosted sales of its flagship Coors Light and other
brands and is preparing to aggressively market Molson Canadian here in the
States. The company has reaped roughly $125 million in cost savings in the past
two years since the merger of Adolph Coors Co. and Molson Inc. It is on track
to exceed the $175 million in savings it originally projected for its first
three years. Thanks to the savings, Denver-based Molson Coors will be able to
invest more in building its brands, company executives said Tuesday at an
analysts' meeting in New York.
Raising
spirits, money for VF
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/03/07/news/news02.txt
Flip through the paper, flick
on the radio, walk down main street. Odds are, you’ll hear about yet another
way a person, organization or even a dog is raising money for the purchase of
the $50 million Valley Floor. The effort has caught on in the community. People
are selling personal items, businesses are donating their profits, couples are
forgoing vacations. “It’s just amazing,” said Jane Hickcox, spokesperson for
the Valley Floor Preservation Partners. “It’s extremely moving what people are
doing.” With $9.2 million left to raise in just nine days (to reach the goal
set by the private fundraisers) the efforts have reached a fevered pitch as
volunteers urge people to give whatever they can so the land may be preserved
as open space.
X Games:
disaster ... on a schedule
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103070041
Officials from the city of Aspen, Pitkin County, area law enforcement and ESPN have agreed Tuesday to do things
differently for next year's Winter X Games at Buttermilk. Attendance at X Games
is going through the roof, with more than 75,000 at this year's event. And
while officials congratulated the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority and law
enforcement for handling the added challenges in 2007, all agreed they could do
better.
On-line
scams surface in JeffCo
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5398930,00.html
Jefferson County District
Attorney Scott Storey is warning consumers to be wary when shopping on-line,
even on the popular Craig’s List Web site. In the past two days, the District
Attorney’s Economic Crime Unit has taken numerous calls from people who were
scammed while selling merchandise on Craig’s List, Story reported. The person
buying the item sends a check to the seller in an amount much higher than
agreed upon. When the seller receives the check, the seller contacts the purchaser
who instructs them to deposit or cash the check and wire the excess back to the
purchaser. The purchase check is no good and the seller is out all the money
returned in change.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Greeley
City Council changes way some businesses get tax breaks
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103070093
Some businesses in Greeley will soon have to offer wages equal to Weld County's average to qualify for tax
and fee breaks from the city. The Greeley City Council unanimously approved
these and other changes to the municipal code Tuesday night. The code details
the city's Business Development Incentive Plan. "We wanted this new plan
to be tied to what's going on in the county to keep it from going out of
date," said Kelly Peters, the city's economic development manager. The
plan, an attempt to attract manufacturing-based or technical business to the
area, to the area affects existing businesses that intend to expand and new
business relocating to Greeley. Businesses that derive 25 percent or more of
their gross income from retail sales are not eligible. Under the old code,
businesses had to pay new full-time employees $20,000 per year to qualify for a
$500 per employee development fee waiver. Under the new plan, new businesses
and existing ones creating jobs will have to pay full-time employees the Weld
average wage to qualify for the fee waiver. For the second quarter of 2006 --
the most recent data filed with the Colorado Department of Labor -- the average
wage in Weld was $649 per week. That is approximately $34,268 per year.
Housing and Homelessness
Foreclosure
reports don't add up
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5399491,00.html
Colorado's foreclosure crisis may not be as
dire as a national report contends, according to a state report released
Tuesday. The Colorado Division of Housing report shows there were at least
28,435 foreclosures in the state last year, a 31 percent increase from 2005.
The report covers an estimated 95 percent of the foreclosures in the state. In
contrast, a report from Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said Colorado, with
54,747 foreclosures last year, had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
RealtyTrac said one in 33 houses in Colorado was in foreclosure last year, while
the Division of Housing study shows one in 58. The numbers are so far apart
because of different methodologies used by the state and privately held
RealtyTrac, whose main business is selling lists of foreclosed properties.
Kathi Williams, director of the housing division, said RealtyTrac is counting
some foreclosures twice and maybe three times.
RELATED: Metro area's median home price drops
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5399499,00.html
RELATED: Foreclosure study
challenges earlier data
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103060106
RELATED: Foreclosures drag
down neighbors
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5372461
RELATED: Home sales, prices
still sliding
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5370192
Homeless
study: Montrose needs more affordable housing
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/06/local_news/2.txt
A recent statewide study
found that 82.9 percent of Montrose County’s homeless population are homeless
because housing costs are too high. “We don’t have a high percentage of HUD
(Department of Housing and Urban Development) housing,” Dale Ann Suckow, of the
local Colorado Workforce Center, said. “Compared to some other areas, there
aren’t as many units.” Suckow, along with Sonya Blackburn, homeless coordinator
at Montrose Shelter Outreach, conducted the Montrose County portion of the
survey. It was administered in one day to find who would be homeless the night
of Aug. 28, 2006. Surveys of 41 homeless people were received for the county.
Students
to take part in '24 Hours to Help the Homeless'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5398918,00.html
Students from Poudre School
District and Thompson Valley School District later this month will spend the
night in cardboard boxes to raise awareness of homeless and affordable housing
issues in "24 Hours to Help the Homeless." The idea is to help
homeless efforts in the community and raise awareness for affordable housing
and homelessness.
Four more
selected in city's latest affordable housing lottery
http://postindependent.com/article/20070307/VALLEYNEWS/103070039
Red, green, white, yellow and
blue bingo balls bounced around a bingo cage in City Hall on Tuesday afternoon,
each one representing the chances of an applicant for Glenwood Springs'
affordable housing units. "Shake it up!" one man called out before
the roll for a unit he had applied for. Blank stares and silence accompanied
the reading of the winning balls for each of the four units in the city's third
affordable housing lottery - none of the winners were present.
Education
New
graduate studies in Gunnison draws governor
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5398895,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter will travel
to Western State College in Gunnison on Friday for his first bill-signing
ceremony outside the state Capitol. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Curry,
D-Gunnison, and Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, establishes graduate
programs in addition to the school’s undergraduate curriculum. "Western State is a cornerstone for education and economic development in western Colorado," Ritter said. "This bill will help Western State build on its success
and allow us to keep educating Coloradans right here in Colorado. It also will
provide employers with a workforce that is better aligned with the needs of the
21st century."
RELATED: Governor to sign grad school bill at Western State
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_3a_Western_grad_school.html
RELATED: WSC to get grad
program (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/18
Bill
addresses CSU system and statutes
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/CSUZONE01/703070322/1002/NEWS01
The Senate Education
Committee will hear testimony on a bill concerning the recodification of
statutes governing the Colorado State University system today. House Bill 1254,
considered a "house-cleaning bill," will bring many of the
university's governing statutes up to date and solidifies the powers of the
office of the president.
Districts
fear fallout of new rules
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370883
As the legislature considers
requiring more math and science before Colorado students can graduate from high
school, local school districts fear that the new rules could be expensive and
leave many students behind. "An art student doesn't necessarily need four
years of math to be a fantastic artist," said Paula Stephenson, executive
director of the state's rural schools caucus. Stephenson worries that rural
schools, already struggling to attract qualified teachers for existing courses,
will have to cut electives such as agriculture or mechanics.
D-49 opens
window to choice
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=19867&template=article.html
Falcon School District 49 has joined the
ranks of other Pikes Peak region districts that give parents the choice of
picking where their children attend school. For the next two weeks, D-49
parents can apply for schools other than those in their neighborhoods. Students
who want to move will then be chosen by lottery based on how many open seats
are available. School choice is nothing new in Colorado, but D-49 traditionally
hasn’t offered it because schools in the fastgrowing area are too crowded.
RFSD
considers bringing parents of ditching students to court
http://postindependent.com/article/20070307/VALLEYNEWS/103070035
Parents of students with
truancy problems in the Roaring Fork School District Re-1 may be summoned to
court as a last resort. Under the law, parents and students could be issued
fines or even face incarceration, but that isn't actually likely to happen, and
that's not what the proceedings are really about. The goal is to attack the
root of the issue causing truancy. Magistrate Lain Leoniak, who hears the
proceedings, said students who are truant often have a very high likelihood of
not graduating high school, which in turn is linked to an increased likelihood
of committing crimes.
BVSD
superintendent candidate Chris King quizzed
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/07/bvsd-superintendent-candidate-chris-king-quizzed/
Chris King, one of three
finalists vying for the Boulder Valley superintendent job, said he would work
hard to become the public face of the school district. Now Boulder Valley's deputy superintendent, he said he supports ensuring high student achievement,
reducing the achievement gap and graduating students who aren't racist, sexist
or homophobic. "It's the superintendent's job to be the champion of that
vision," said King, 44. He answered questions from panels of parents,
community members and educators Tuesday before a private interview session with
the school board. King has worked in Boulder Valley for 14 years and started
his career as a Broomfield High teacher.
RELATED: Boulder Valley's search for superintendent
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/07/boulder-valleys-search-for-superintendent/
CSU-Pueblo
president details plans to expand dorms
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/3
Colorado State University-Pueblo President
Joseph Garcia has announced a plan to expand dormitories to accommodate at
least 500 more students. Garcia told the board of governors of the CSU System
at a recent meeting of his plan to build two, 250-bed suite-style dormitories
as part of the university's plan to increase enrollment and retention. "We
think that is an important part of our plan to grow enrollment and improve our
retention rates," Garcia said Tuesday. As part of the plan, Garcia also
would like to change the university's "live-in" policy for full-time
freshmen students to require all freshmen students to live in the dorms, except
those who live in Pueblo with their parents or another immediate relative.
RELATED: Provost candidate known for drive to get things done
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/6
Drug dog
visits high school
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/07/drug_dog_visits_high_school/?local_news
A chocolate Labrador
retriever named Czar sent a clear message to Hayden High School students last
week that drugs will not be tolerated in their school. Hayden High School
Principal Troy Zabel asked the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office to do a sweep of
the school Thursday morning. Sgt. Courtland Folks came to school with Czar, a
drug-sniffing dog that spent about 15 minutes inside the school and another 15
minutes sniffing cars in the parking lot. Hayden police assisted with the
sweep. No drugs or contraband were found by school officials Thursday, but Czar
made “hits” on four or five lockers, Hayden Police Chief Ray Birch said.
Crowd
turns out to decry violence at Rifle High School
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_1a_Rifle_school_violence.html
The words “another Columbine”
were uttered more than once Tuesday night by members of a standing-room only
crowd of concerned parents worried that recent violence among Rifle High School students could escalate. School board members listened for two hours to
comments from many of the more than 100 people at their meeting, following an
alleged attack of a female student by one or more other female students at the
high school that seriously injured the 14-year-old victim.
RELATED: School violence angers Re-2 parents
http://postindependent.com/article/20070307/VALLEYNEWS/103070043
Fire
forces evacuation at Evergreen High; arson suspected
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5398324,00.html
Evergreen High School was
evacuated for about an hour Tuesday after a fire that sheriff's officials were
investigating as arson. The fire was contained to a few lockers in the boys
locker room, Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said.
Unspecified combustibles were found in one locker, she said. Investigators had
interviewed a few people, including one boy, but no one was being called a
suspect yet, Kelley said.
Teen
linked to grisly slaying won youth award days before
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5400244,00.html
On Thursday, he was basking
in the accolades of Boulder officials who honored him with a prestigious youth
award. Two days later, Jared Sajal Guy was handcuffed and booked into the
Boulder County Jail, accused of helping a friend try to cover up the grisly
killing of a Lafayette woman. Guy, 18, was arrested Saturday night at a dance
at Standley Lake High School. Now the recipient of the Metropolitan Mayors and
Commissioners Youth Award faces a possible charge of being an accessory to
murder after the fact.
Military
Gates to
take stage (EXTRA!, March 7)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5400274,00.html
Secretary of Defense Robert
M. Gates will get his first crack at addressing future military leaders at the
2007 Air Force Academy graduation ceremony May 30. Past graduation speakers
include President Bush in 2004 and Vice President Dick Cheney in 2005, followed
by Gates' predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, in 2006.
Air Force
must clean asbestos at Lowry
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5398298,00.html
The U.S. Court of Federal
Claims this week held that the U.S.Air Force was liable to homebuilders who had
cleaned up asbestos contamination at the former Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, the Denver law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck said today. The firm
described the victory as one of national importance, because it said it was the
first judicial decision in the country interpreting Section 330 of the National
Defense Authorization Act. The court held that this section provides a broad
indemnity from the military to parties who purchase former military properties
for all costs incurred as a result of environmental contamination caused by the
military's historic activities on the property.
RELATED: AF must pay for Lowry cleanup
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5370529
Cadets
await FalconSAT-3 lift off
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5398904,00.html
Air Force Academy cadets are
awaiting the live television coverage of the Atlas V rocket lift off from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday that will thrust their FalconSAT-3
satellite into orbit. Once above the Earth’s pull, the cadet-engineered
satellite will be under the command of the cadets via the Academy’s ground
control station and will begin gathering scientific data.
Religion
Diocese
fights insurance firm over coverage
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173282581/4
The Pueblo Catholic Diocese
is fighting an insurance company's contention it has no obligation to provide
coverage to the diocese for lawsuits of men who claim they were sexually abused
by a Catholic school teacher. The diocese wants a U.S. District Court judge to
throw out North River Insurance company's lawsuit that makes the contention.
North River of Morris Township, N.J., made its no-obligation contention in a
lawsuit filed in October against the diocese, the Marianists Catholic order and
the men.
Energy Policy
Salazar
bill would put money into renewable energy
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_1b_renewable_energy.html
The Western Slope should be
involved in developing renewable energy, said U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.,
who has introduced legislation to promote development in the state. The
Cellulosic Ethanol Development and Implementation Act of 2007, H.R. 395, calls
for the establishment of two programs with $1 billion each in funding. One
would fund research-and-development grants to distill cellulosic ethanol for
motor vehicles. The second part would set up a pilot program for the
installation of E85-dispensing pumps at gasoline stations. E85 is a fuel
mixture that contains 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Recipients
would have to provide matching funds of 20 percent of the total amount of the
grant. Salazar said he had in mind that Mesa State College could apply for
research-and-development grants, or other organizations could forge
partnerships with the college.
Bill
targets oil, gas industry (Under the dome, 3/7)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370986
The House Local Government
Committee approved a measure Tuesday that would tighten reporting requirements on
oil and gas production after witnesses said there is no way to determine if
companies are correctly reporting production to counties and royalty owners.
House Bill 1142 would give the state Department of Revenue access to
confidential information about real property taxes and business personal
property taxes and clarify that valuation would be a public record, allowing
royalty owners to determine if they are paying the correct taxes. The bill,
sponsored by Reps. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and Al White, R-Winter Park, now goes to the full House for debate. The bill is part of a package introduced
by lawmakers after a state audit criticized the lack of inspections of oil and
gas well monitors.
RELATED: Energy tax records may see the light
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_1b_extraction_records.html
2 NREL
scientists take share of Dan David prize
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5371744
Two solar-power innovators at
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden will share this year's $1
million Dan David Future Prize with a NASA climate scientist, according to the
prize's website. Sarah Kurtz and Jerry Olson at NREL created a highly efficient
solar cell, which converts solar energy into electricity. The technology is
already in wide use in space exploration, including powering the Mars rovers -
Spirit and Opportunity. "These contributions have the potential to
alleviate the world's impending energy crisis," according to the Dan David
selection committee.
Watershed
group to release Genesis plan on April 2
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/07/3_7_1b_Watershed_Meetings.html
The public will not be
invited to the meetings of a group devising a nonbinding community development
plan that may govern how Genesis Gas and Oil will drill the Grand Junction and
Palisade municipal watersheds. Grand Junction City Councilman Jim Spehar has
long objected to the exclusion of the public and elected officials at the
meetings, but Palisade Mayor Doug Edwards said Monday night the working group
is involving the public quite well. The working group, composed mostly of
Genesis officials and local and federal government staffers, decided not to
open their meetings to the public because its members want to be able to talk
to each other candidly as they formulate the plan, group facilitator John
Redifer said Tuesday.
Home
energy audits on the cheap
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/07/home-energy-audits-on-the-cheap/
The Center for Resource
Conservation is making it less expensive to find out just how much money you're
wasting in higher utility bills. The average American family spends $450 in
wasted energy through holes and cracks in their home, according to the Boulder nonprofit. The center's Residential Energy Audit Program provides subsidies for
comprehensive energy audits, which include a one-hour appointment with an
energy-efficiency expert, plus a separate technical audit. The latter includes
a blower door test; inspections of walls, windows, doors, attics, basements and
insulation; a heating, cooling and hot-water assessment; and a check of
appliances and lighting efficiency.
Vail
turning wind into work of art
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5399706,00.html
It's art, you philistine.
Three thousand windmills will glow on a Vail slope March 23- April 22,
sculpting wind into light. When gusts whirl the rotors atop each windmill, a
small generator will power a tiny bulb that will beam down into the windmill
shaft, brightening the mountain darkness. The light also will reflect in
patterns off the snowy ground, increasing the interplay of wind and light. The
show depends on the blow: The stronger the wind blows, the brighter the show.
"We could get very unlucky and not have a single day of wind," said
Patrick Marold, 32, the Denver artist who created The Windmill Project.
Transportation and Infrastructure
DIA
regains its status as fifth busiest U.S. airport
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5399258,00.html
Denver International Airport
ranked as one of the fastest-growing major airports in the world last year and
regained its status as the fifth busiest in the U.S.
RELATED: DIA-Munich flight debuts with $481 fare
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5370531
FasTracks
tilt toward diesel to be assessed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5400487,00.html
An RTD director believes the
transit agency could save $200 million or more in its FasTracks program by
using only diesel- powered commuter rail in four of the new corridors. Lee
Kemp, of Broomfield, one of the 15 elected RTD board members, told his
colleagues Tuesday that going with single technology would be less expensive
upfront, less costly to maintain and perhaps forestall some of the "nickel
and dime" cutting that has hit the first FasTracks corridor, which is over
budget because of a sharp spike in construction costs. Kemp asked that the RTD
staff come up with a cost comparison between electric and diesel power.
RELATED: Fix in works on FasTracks rail holdup
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5371773
Mine-road
disputes too many to count
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370967
A small group of landowners
is suing Mineral County commissioners, claiming the old mining roads crossing
their property are not public byways. As more landowners inhabit the surface of
old mining claims and other small parcels in mountain areas, disputes over the
roads have multiplied beyond anyone's count, according to Colorado Counties Inc. Mineral County officials say they are taking a stand against those who want to
limit access to the high country.
Environment and Conservation
Climate
change messenger
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070306/NEWS/70306012
Most people have at least
heard about Al Gore’s global warming documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” What
people may not know is Gore has organized a group of “climate change
messengers” to deliver his message throughout the U.S. — and eventually the
world. Part-time Breckenridge resident Jeff Hart is now one of 1,000 certified
to deliver a modified version of Gore’s award-winning presentation. “Thousands
upon thousands applied and I was one of the fortunate to get chosen,” he said.
Hart recalls pursuing the issue of global warming aggressively after seeing the
alarming film last summer. “I was so moved by it,” he said. “I have never seen
so much relevant material put together so effectively.” Compelled by the film,
Hart assembled his own presentation and began giving it the week after seeing
the film, using his own money and free time.
Forest
improvement district bill clears Senate hurdle
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070306/NEWS/103060041
A bill that would allow local
governments to create a a forest improvement district to tackle forest health
problems resulting from the mountain pine beetle passed the Senate on second
reading Tuesday. House Bill 1168, sponsored in the House by Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, is one step away
from moving through the Senate. The House passed the bill on third reading on
Feb. 14. "We have a growing amount of dead standing timber in the High
Country due to the pine beetle infestation," Sen. Fitz-Gerald said.
"One of the pieces of this measure offers incentives for the use of this
wood product, which can be used as biomass and reduce fire hazards or risks to
our watershed."
Beginning
July 1, some items can’t go out with trash
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=19870&template=article.html
A new law that for the first
time will regulate the disposal of household waste in Colorado takes effect
July 1. As of then, residents cannot dispose of used motor oil, lead-acid
batteries or tires in landfills, meaning those items cannot be put in household
trash picked up by commercial-waste collectors. Violating the law is a petty
offense and could result in a fine of $100. Lawmakers who sponsored the law
feared the oil and batteries could pose a threat to the environment should
chemicals leach into the ground. They also were concerned about the danger
posed by tire fires, which are difficult to extinguish.
Wood
waste, biosolids form part of landfill's future
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070306/NEWS/103060051
It's 6:40 a.m., and after a
quick head count and a few quips about unsigned permission slips, the bus full
of Summit County's commissioners, county and landfill staff, and other
resource-recovery-minded citizens pulls out of the Office Max parking lot in
Silverthorne. The crew is going on a field trip to the Rattler Ridge composting
facility in Keenesburg to get a glimpse of what the Summit County landfill's composting operation could look like. A white picket fence stands demurely at
the 430-acre facility's entrance. The spotless wood guards steaming piles of
biosolid cake — "a nice, friendly name for sewage sludge," according
to assistant county manager Thad Noll — and the smell is surprisingly
unobtrusive. Even as the bus rolls over the wood base and past the freshest
biosolids, the odor doesn't intensify to nose-holding proportions. On a smaller
scale, this scene could be a part of the Summit County landfill's future, and
right now, that seems like a pretty manageable idea.
No red
flags yet for water supplies
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15031
State snowpack numbers
released Monday still have Longmont officials seeing the glass as half-full for
local water supplies this summer, though a lingering concern about the Western
Slope’s snowfall remains. The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s March 1
snowpack report, released Monday, shows snowpack for the South Platte River Basin at 111 percent of average. That basin includes the St. Vrain Creek basin,
which supplies at least half of Longmont’s water. Snowpack estimates show the
amount of water in snow, which is important for planning summer water supplies
for cities and agricultural producers. The South Platte snowpack decreased 3
percentage points from last month, but no one is raising a red flag about the
decline. “It’s not all that alarming,” said Mike Gillespie, a snow-survey
supervisor for the NRCS. “It’s been a little on the dry side. The impact of the
December and January blizzards has been mitigated a bit.”
RELATED: Summit County snowpack hangs near average
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070306/NEWS/103060050
Bennet's
water restricted
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5371593
Residents of the town of Bennett were being warned Tuesday not to drink the water. The state health department
advised town officials to restrict consumption and cook with tap water as a
safety precaution while chlorine levels were adjusted. The warning stems from a
water main break early that morning at a construction site in the 1000 block of
First Street, which affected about 700 homes and businesses. Water was
completely shut off for about six hours. After repairs were complete, the line
was sanitized and the system's chlorine levels were adjusted. Town officials
advised that the water will be monitored over the next 48 hours, with the water
restrictions lasting until Thursday afternoon.
City looks
to save water
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070307_1.htm
"Xeriscape" may
soon become a household word in Durango, as it already is in much of the dry
Southwest. After languishing for two years, a city effort to develop rules for
"water-efficient landscape" is back on track. The rules currently
contemplated could, among other things, compel new development to use
low-water-use landscaping, known as Xeriscaping. Resource Conservation
Coordinator Nancy Andrews told the city's Water Commission Monday that a draft
ordinance was nearly complete in 2005 but was held up because representatives
of the landscape and irrigation industries had not been consulted.
County to
act on Gaynor Lake odor
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15029
The sulfurous stench has
resurfaced at Little Gaynor Lake south of the city, but Boulder County officials say help is on the way. All the way from North Dakota, in fact. The county
recently discovered that its $34,000 solar-powered water circulator had slipped
its moorings and drifted or was wind-blown to the east side of the lake.
Without that device fulfilling its function, Little Gaynor Lake stagnated and
once again emitted the rotten-egg odors that frequently plagued neighbors and
passers-by before the county installed the water circulator in September 2005.
Opinion
Bush
should punish, not pardon, Libby
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5368475
Tuesday's conviction of I.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby was a repudiation of the arrogance of White
House insiders who manipulated intelligence and attacked their critics. Libby
resigned last year as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney and now he's
on the hook for a prison term. Some loyalists are already whispering the
"P" word, but it would be intolerable for President Bush to overturn
the jury's judgment with a pardon. Libby should be held accountable. The
picture that emerged from the perjury and obstruction trial of Libby is one of
officials who thought nothing of attacking an opponent of their Iraq war policy, even jeopardizing a career intelligence officer.
RELATED: The lies he told
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5399259,00.html
RELATED: The liar and the
war: Cheney aide guilty, but key questions unanswered
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/07/the-liar-and-the-war/
RELATED: Cohen: The system
worked in Libby trial
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5368479
ID rules
must be reasonable
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5368474
The 2006 law established five
ID requirements to get services: a Colorado driver's license, state photo ID
card, a tribal document, military ID or merchant mariner card. To get one of
those IDs, Hartwell must produce a birth certificate. To get a birth
certificate, he needs the state photo ID. It's a vicious cycle, and state
officials need to correct the problem in a hurry.
Spencer:
Health care to receive a quick cure
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5370451
Jonathan Swift couldn't have
conjured a more sarcastically modest proposal. On Monday, the Colorado Blue
Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform sent out a news release asking
"anyone who is interested" to submit a plan to solve the state's
health care crisis. "Proposals," the release stated, "must be
submitted no later than April 6, 2007." The commission's chairman, Bill
Lindsay, understands how silly it sounds to give people a month to draft a fix
for one of the state's most vexing problems. But he says the blue-ribbon panel
has been meeting publicly since November. Though it didn't formally publish
guidelines for proposals until Feb. 22, Lindsay said, the players who will
shape Colorado's most important public policy in decades have been all over
this since last year. That's when the state legislature established the
commission.
Winter
Kill
http://pueblochieftain.com/editorial/1173282581/1
The costs of snow removal for
the towns and counties have been staggering. In many cases, county governments
have been stuck with bills of more than $1 million each, including overtime and
contract heavy equipment work. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was quick
to respond, and it says it will cover 75 percent of counties’ extraordinary
snow removal costs. But FEMA doesn’t cover losses of individual agricultural
producers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which covers some of those costs
in some instances, has denied any direct aid other than low-interest loans.
Many producers already have agricultural loan debts to area banks. Colorado’s congressional delegation is seeking federal action. Sen. Wayne Allard has
introduced a bill to require USDA to cover some livestock losses, while Sen.
Ken Salazar has asked Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to consider livestock
losses in addition to crop production losses. We urge the federal government to
step up to the plate.
Johnson:
Man's name was all right, identity was all wrong
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5399705,00.html
There is Haroon Rashid, the
cricket star of Doha, Qatar who, it was last reported, "could manage only
one run and was run out pushing for the second that left the teams level, both
on runs scored and wickets lost." There also is Haroon Rashid, a respected
mental health professor in the Punjab, and another Haroon Rashid, a Peshawar, Pakistan-based journalist, who recently won the first-ever BBC World Service
Award for best reporter/presenter. Then, too, there is Haroon Rashid Aswat, a
Briton suspected in the 2005 London subway bombings and of plotting to set up a
camp in Oregon to train fighters for war in Afghanistan. That Haroon Rashid is
the one the feds thought they had when police busted Haroon Rashid, a
36-year-old Lakewood mechanic and 10-year legal resident of the U.S. with an
American wife and four American children, following a late-night fight with
suspected gang members outside of a relative's home.
Massaro:
For-real hunger pangs give 8th-graders taste of poverty
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5399674,00.html
Eighth-graders got a taste of
what some poor kids experience every day of their short, destitute lives -
hunger. The 49 students at Shrine of St. Anne Catholic School volunteered to
fast for 30 hours, to perform service projects and to raise money and awareness
about hunger in Africa. "We don't notice hunger with three meals a day and
food everywhere," said Austin Lucero, 14. "We had a choice. For
people without a choice, it's harder."
Election
Early
presidential campaign gains considerable interest
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-06-2008-poll_N.htm
Nearly half the country has
given "quite a lot" of thought to a presidential election still 20
months away, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll that suggests high
interest in a wide-open race already in full swing. Among registered voters,
one in five said they had "a good idea" whom they will support in
2008; an additional 55% said they have thought about the candidates but don't
yet have a good idea. Asked about the early start to the campaign, 48% of poll
respondents called it a good thing; 44% said it was a bad thing. Democrat
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani still lead their respective
nomination races, the poll found. Clinton, the New York senator, leads Illinois
Sen. Barack Obama 36%-22%. Last month, she led 40%-21%. On the Republican side,
former New York City mayor Giuliani led Arizona Sen. John McCain 44%-20%, up
from 40%-24% last month.
Obama
bought speculative stocks favored by donors
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703070066mar07,1,6049958.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Less than two months after
ascending to the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama bought more than $50,000 worth of
stock in two speculative companies whose major investors included some of his
biggest political donors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that was
starting to develop a drug to treat avian flu. In March 2005, two weeks after
buying about $5,000 of its shares, Obama took the lead in a legislative push
for more federal spending to battle the disease. The most recent financial
disclosure form for Obama (D-Ill.) also shows that he bought more than $50,000
in stock in a satellite communications business whose principal backers include
four friends and donors who had raised more than $150,000 for his political
committees. A spokesman for Obama, who is seeking his party's presidential
nomination in 2008, said Tuesday that the senator did not know that he had
invested in either company until fall 2005, when he learned of it and decided
to sell the stocks. He sold them at a net loss of $13,000.
Fundraising
Comes at Van Hollen Fast
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601907.html
Last year, Rep. Chris Van
Hollen (D-Md.) sat in the minority, with little seniority, calling for
lobbyists to disclose when they're gathering stacks of campaign checks for
members. Now, his party is in power, he heads the Democrats' key fundraising
arm, and he'll be judged in part by his ability to collect those bundles of
checks from lobbyists. The Democratic takeover last fall fostered change across
Capitol Hill, but few are feeling the effects as directly as Van Hollen, the
third-term congressman from Bethesda who will guide his party's 2008 House
election efforts.
Effective and Ethical Government
President
Cites 'Encouraging Signs' From New Iraq Plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602142.html
President Bush said yesterday
that there are "encouraging signs" that his new strategy in Iraq is
working and bluntly challenged a divided Congress to provide funding for the
war with no restrictions on commanders. The president's appraisal, his first
detailed assessment of the war since unveiling his new plan for Iraq on Jan. 10, was immediately attacked by congressional Democrats as a new attempt to raise false
hopes about a deteriorating situation in Iraq. Advisers said Bush's comments
were based on briefings from commanders on the ground and were designed to
counter the argument from many Democrats on Capitol Hill that his Iraq strategy is destined to fail.
Leaders
Try to Get House Democrats Together on Measures to End Iraq War
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07cong.html?ref=washington
House Democratic leaders on
Tuesday implored their rank and file to stick together as the debate
intensified over the financing and direction of the Iraq war, saying a
fractured party would impede the overarching goal of bringing the conflict to a
close. As Congress considers President Bush’s $93.4 billion spending request
for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democrats are struggling to
reach agreement over what conditions should be placed on war financing. Among
the sticking points is whether the legislation should include a specific date
for a withdrawal from Iraq.
Waxman
Seeks GSA Chief's Testimony
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602648.html
A powerful House committee
chairman released new details yesterday about a widening investigation into
allegations of "improper conduct" by the chief of the U.S. General
Services Administration. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), head of the Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform, said his investigators had obtained
information that raises "further questions" about GSA Administrator
Lurita Alexis Doan's efforts to give a no-bid job to a longtime friend and
professional associate.
Hispanic
Caucus huddles but doesn't settle disputes
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-latino7mar07,1,5071897.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Capitol Hill's version of a
telenovela — complete with power struggles, character assassination and
personal betrayal — looks set for an indefinite run after the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus met Tuesday without apparent success in ending weeks of nasty
disputes that have marred its reputation. The trouble burst into the open when
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) quit the caucus after claiming that Rep. Joe
Baca (D-Rialto) called her a "whore," a charge the caucus leader has
denied. But the dust-up reflects long-standing tension between the younger women
in the caucus and their older male colleagues over the way money is handled,
power is wielded and women are treated — or mistreated.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Hearings
for 14 Guantanamo Detainees to Be Held in Secret, Officials Say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602084.html
Military tribunals are
scheduled to begin Friday for 14 high-value foreign terrorism suspects held at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but the hearings to determine whether they are enemy
combatants will take place behind closed doors because of the risk that
top-secret information could surface, defense officials said yesterday. The
hearings will be the first secret Combatant Status Review Tribunals at Guantanamo; similar proceedings for hundreds of other detainees have been open to news
media.
RELATED: Hearings Set on Status of Detainees
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07gitmo.html
Feds test
new data mining program
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-datatools_N.htm
Lawmakers and privacy
advocates are concerned that a powerful new data searching tool being tested by
the Department of Homeland Security could pose a threat to Americans' privacy
as it sifts through mountains of information for patterns that might reveal
terrorists. Called ADVISE — for Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight
and Semantic Enhancement — the program is capable of linking and cross-matching
material from websites and blogs to government records and personal data.
Homeland Security has quietly been developing the ADVISE program since 2003,
the same year another powerful data mining program at the Pentagon called Total
Information Awareness was scuttled over privacy concerns.
Racial
tensions are simmering in Hawaii's melting pot
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-06-hawaii-cover_N.htm
A violent road-rage
altercation between Native Hawaiians and a white couple near Pearl Harbor two
weeks ago is provoking questions about whether Hawaii's harmonious
"aloha" spirit is real or just a greeting for tourists. The Feb. 19
attack, in which a Hawaiian father and son were arrested and charged with
beating a soldier and his wife unconscious, was unusual here for its brutality.
It sparked a public debate over race relations that is filling blogs and
newspaper websites with impassioned comments along stark ethnic lines.
Foreign Policy
Iranian
foreign minister confirms his country will attend Baghdad conference on Iraq
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-07-iran-baghdad-conference_N.htm
Iran will attend the international
conference on Iraq that will be held in Baghdad on Saturday, Iranian Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday. The conference of Iraq's neighbors and the Big Five of the U.N. Security Council will be the first public encounter
between U.S. and Iranian envoys since late 2004. "We hope the conference
will result in sending a clear message that the countries of the region are
standing alongside the government and nation of Iraq," Mottaki told a news
conference. Mottaki said the Iranian delegation to the conference would be lead
by the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Abbas
Araghchi.
118 Shiite
Pilgrims Killed in Iraq Attacks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600181.html
At least 118 Shiite pilgrims
were killed in a series of attacks across central Iraq on Tuesday, a wave of
violence on the eve of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred holidays that appeared
intended to widen Iraq's sectarian divide. A Sunni insurgent group asserted
responsibility for the carnage, which occurred three weeks into a U.S. and Iraqi effort to bring security to Baghdad and other parts of the country. The attacks came
a day after nine U.S. soldiers were killed in two roadside bombings, one of
which was the deadliest single strike against U.S. ground troops this year. The
U.S. military is deploying 21,500 additional troops, mainly in Baghdad, to enforce the security plan.
RELATED: Attacks Across Iraq Kill at Least 109 Shiite Pilgrims
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?ref=world
NATO
Offensive Targets Taliban In S. Afghanistan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600109.html
NATO and Afghan forces on
Tuesday launched what commanders described as a major operation in a key
province of southern Afghanistan, part of a bid to win back territory that has
become a haven for insurgents. The operation, the international force's largest
to date in the country, was centered in the northern part of Helmand province,
where Afghan government authorities have little control and insurgents move
with relative impunity. The province's governor said Tuesday that 700 al-Qaeda
fighters had moved into the region, and were believed to be planning more of
the suicide bombings and other attacks that have besieged Afghanistan for the past year and a half.
RELATED: NATO Mounts Largest Attack on Taliban in the South
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/world/asia/07afghan.html?ref=world
Report:
Security forces beat Palestinians
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703070062mar07,1,4477090.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Israeli security forces
frequently beat Palestinians working illegally in the country, sometimes
severely, and detain them for hours without food and water, an Israeli
human-rights group said in a report published Tuesday. Security officials said
in response to the report by the B'Tselem human-rights group that Israeli
troops are operating under tough conditions to prevent Palestinian suicide
bombers from infiltrating the country. Any abuse allegations are investigated,
the officials said.
U.S.: Darfur Genocide Worst Rights
Abuse
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600422.html
Fledgling U.S.-backed
democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq are failing to protect human rights, the
State Department said Tuesday, despite huge flows of American aid to improve
conditions after the ousters of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. In its annual
global survey of human rights practices, the department criticized the two U.S. allies in the war on terror for their records last year, when they were beset by
increasingly bloody insurgencies and saddled with weak administrations and
poorly trained security forces.
RELATED: Sudan deemed the worst rights violator
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-rights7mar07,1,6984016.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Mortar
Shells Greet Ugandan Peacekeepers in Somalia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601779.html
More than a dozen mortar
shells slammed into Mogadishu's airport Tuesday shortly after the first major
contingent of Ugandan peacekeepers landed there, and a deadly gun battle ensued
as authorities searched nearby houses for suspects. Three people were killed in
the battle and one was wounded in the mortar attack, witnesses said. None of
the Ugandans was hurt.
RELATED: The Other Somalia: An Island of Stability in a Sea of Armed Chaos
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/world/africa/07somaliland.html?ref=world
U.S.
pleased with results of N. Korea talks
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-norkor7mar07,1,6061921.story?coll=la-headlines-world
American negotiator
Christopher Hill said Tuesday that two days of talks with his counterpart from
North Korea had been "very good" and that the plan to dismantle the
country's nuclear program and normalize ties with the United States was
"on the right track." Hill met with North Korean Vice Foreign
Minister Kim Gye Gwan on Monday and Tuesday in New York to discuss the legal
and political hurdles to establishing relations between their two countries,
which have never made peace since the 1950-53 Korean War.
RELATED: Talks between Japan, N.Korea abruptly canceled; negotiations in limbo
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-07-japan-nkorea_N.htm
State
Dept. Human Rights Report Faults China's Curbs on Internet
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601795.html
China is at the top of a list
of countries blocking Internet access, and Russia and Venezuela have shown
serious regression in several areas, mainly in centralizing power in the
executive branch, according to State Department officials who released the
department's annual human rights report yesterday.
China Says
Japan Should 'Face Up' to History About WWII Sex Slaves
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601905.html
The Japanese government
should acknowledge that thousands of foreign women were forced to serve as sex
slaves for Japanese troops in World War II, Chinese Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing said Tuesday. "I believe the Japanese government should face up
to this part of history, take the responsibility and seriously view and
properly handle this issue," Li said at a news conference on the sidelines
of China's legislature, the National People's Congress. "History in my
view is a strong progressive force. It should not become a burden that impedes
progress."
2
Americans suspected of being poisoned, hospitalized in Moscow
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-07-americans-moscow-poison_N.htm
The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday
confirmed that two American women have been hospitalized in Moscow for possible
thallium poisoning. An embassy spokesman identified the women as Marina
Kovalevsky and her daughter Yana, but gave no further details. He said they
were hoping to return home soon, but it was not immediately clear when they
might be able to do so. The hospital where they have been treated since falling
ill on Feb. 24 said Wednesday morning that they were in moderately serious
condition. Moscow's top public health doctor, Nikolai Filatov, was quoted by
the RIA-Novosti news agency as saying that thallium poisoning had been
confirmed.
British
media have more on Labor scandal
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-scandal7mar07,1,4421118.story?coll=la-headlines-world
The British media fought off
court-ordered censorship Tuesday to report allegations that the Labor
government was advised to doctor its account of events surrounding the alleged
trading of peerages for campaign loans. The revelation, which came amid intense
police efforts to halt publication or broadcast of the latest leaks, suggests
that investigators are examining whether aides and advisors to Prime Minister
Tony Blair engaged in obstruction of justice in connection with the
long-running inquiry. But whether there's a smoking gun, or just smoke, remains
uncertain. No document was reproduced or directly quoted by any media outlet.
German
chancellor, French candidate form a bond
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/03/07/german_chancellor_french_candidate_form_a_bond/
Their politics differ, their
styles clash, and they don't speak the same language, but when the German
chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Ségolène Royal, who hopes to become her French
counterpart, met yesterday there was what advisers described as a bit of
"female bonding."
Immigration
350 are
held in immigration raid
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/07/350_are_held_in_immigration_raid/
Hundreds of immigration
officers and police descended on a New Bedford [Mass.] leather goods factory
yesterday , charged top officials with employing illegal immigrants, and
rounded up 350 workers who could not prove they were in the country legally.
The waterfront company, Michael Bianco Inc., was using the illegal immigrants
to produce safety vests and backpacks for the US military, officials said.
Workers inside the plant described a terrifying scene. At first, several
hundred employees, most of them Guatemalan or Salvadoran, were told to remain
at their sewing stations as officials reviewed their status. Chaos ensued, as
some panicked workers tried to flee. "When we realized what was going on,
a lot of people were screaming and crying," said Tina Pacheco, a
supervisor who has worked at the company for 14 years. "They told American
citizens to stand in one area and the people without papers to stand in another
area. It was terrible, they were crying and didn't know what was going to
happen." Witnesses said police guarded exits while other officers grabbed
some of the fleeing workers and shouted at them to lie on the ground. Several
officers drew their handguns . Workers tried to leave the building, but went
back inside after emerging into the bitter cold to find more officers
surrounding the three-story red brick factory.
In Arizona Desert, Indian Trackers vs. Smugglers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07wolves.html
A fresh footprint in the
dirt, fibers in the mesquite. Harold Thompson reads the signs like a map. They
point to drug smugglers, 10 or 11, crossing from Mexico. The deep impressions
and spacing are a giveaway to the heavy loads on their backs. With no insect
tracks or paw prints of nocturnal creatures marking the steps, Mr. Thompson
determines the smugglers probably crossed a few hours ago. “These guys are not
far ahead; we’ll get them,” said Mr. Thompson, 50, a strapping Navajo who
follows the trail like a bloodhound. At a time when all manner of high
technology is arriving to help beef up security at the Mexican border —
infrared cameras, sensors, unmanned drones — there is a growing appreciation among
the federal authorities for the American Indian art of tracking, honed over
generations by ancestors hunting animals. Mr. Thompson belongs to the Shadow
Wolves, a federal law enforcement unit of Indian officers that has operated
since the early 1970s on this vast Indian nation straddling the Mexican border.
Health Care and Public Safety
Positive
workplace drug tests at 18-year low
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2007-03-07-workplace-drugtests-usat_N.htm
Drug use by employees and job
applicants tested in 2006 declined to the lowest level in 18 years, according
to data to be released today by Quest Diagnostics, the nation's largest
provider of employment drug testing. Among the 9 million people given
urinalyses by Quest last year, 3.8% tested positive for drugs, down from 4.1%
in 2005 and down from a high of 13.6% in 1988, the first year it began
compiling data.
Lung Cancer
Study Says CT Scans Yield No Benefits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602863.html
A new study suggests that screening
smokers and former smokers for lung cancer with CT scans does not save lives or
prevent the disease to advance, and may lead to unneeded and harmful treatment.
Some experts have hoped that the scans will prevent lung cancer deaths by
getting people into treatment earlier. But there has been no convincing
evidence of that. Without that evidence, the American Cancer Society does not
recommend the test, which costs $300 to $400. Most insurance firms do not cover
it.
HIV Study
Raises Caution About Circumcision
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601911.html
Men with HIV who get
circumcised hoping they will be less likely to transmit the AIDS virus may have
a greater-than-normal risk of infecting their partners if they resume sexual
activity too soon after the operation. That observation -- drawn from
preliminary analysis of a study in Uganda -- threatens to complicate efforts to
tout circumcision as a new weapon against HIV in Africa.
Atkins
Fares Best in Study Of Four Weight-Loss Regimens
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601166.html
A year-long, head-to-head
study of four widely used diets found that overweight women who followed the
very low-carbohydrate Atkins diet had no adverse health effects and lost
slightly more weight than women on the other three. The study by Stanford University researchers compared the Atkins approach with three others: the
standard low-fat, reduced-calorie regimen long recommended by many physicians
and weight-loss experts; the Zone, a reduced-carbohydrate approach developed by
author Barry Sears; and the very low-fat, high-carbohydrate regimen created by
Dean Ornish.
RELATED: Atkins diet wins for losing
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-diet7mar07,1,4760369.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
Crime and Penal Reform
As to the
Direction of the Roberts Court: The Jury Is Still Out
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07scotus.html
Over the Presidents’ Day
weekend, Douglas W. Kmiec went to a popular legal Web site, Findlaw.com, to
post his thoughts on the Supreme Court at midterm. Mr. Kmiec, a law professor
at Pepperdine University, had nothing but praise for Chief Justice John G.
Roberts Jr., his onetime government colleague from the Reagan administration
days. The chief justice was “splendidly” on course toward his professed goal of
getting the court to “speak with one voice,” Professor Kmiec wrote, noting that
11 of 14 cases decided so far had been 9 to 0. Unanimity “adds both credibility
and stability to the law,” he wrote, adding that under its new chief justice,
it was evident that “the court is more likely to reach” that desirable measure
of agreement. The day after Professor Kmiec offered that assessment, the court
came back from a four-week recess and issued two 5-to-4 decisions.
Police
investigate claims of sexual abuse at 22 Texas youth prisons
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-06-juvenile-prison-abuse_N.htm
Police were sent to 22 Texas
Youth Commission facilities and the agency headquarters Tuesday to investigate
claims that young inmates were sexually abused and that agency officials
covered it up. Jay Kimbrough, appointed by the governor to look into the allegations
at a West Texas youth prison, said the officers would conduct interviews at the
prisons and halfway houses, secure equipment and collect documents if
necessary.
Green
License Plates Proposed to Identify Ohio Sex Offenders
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/us/07license.html?ref=us
A bipartisan effort in Ohio’s
legislature could make the state the first to require convicted violent sex
offenders and child predators to place fluorescent green license plates on
their cars. The legislation stems from a three-year effort by the friends and
family of Kristen Jackson, 14, who was raped and killed in 2002 by a convicted
sex offender who abducted her as she walked home from the Wayne County Fair in Wooster. A 2005 bill that called for pink license plates for all sex offenders failed
after critics deemed it too harsh and Mary Kay Cosmetics and advocates for
breast cancer research objected to the color.
Economy
Greenspan
Lays Odds On U.S. Recession
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601980.html
Former Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday that there is a "one-third
probability" of a U.S. recession this year and that the current economic
expansion won't have the staying power of its decade-long predecessor. "We
are in the sixth year of a recovery; imbalances can emerge as a result,"
Greenspan said in an interview at his District office. "The historically
normal business cycle is much shorter" than a decade and is likely to be
this time, he said.
U.S.
Stocks Rally As Markets Rise In Asia, Europe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600519.html
U.S. stocks rallied yesterday following
a recovery in Asian and European markets. The surge in all major U.S. indicators occurred despite disappointing manufacturing figures and was stronger than
the 50-point bounce-back Feb. 28, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average
shed 416 points. The Dow jumped 157.18, or 1.3 percent, to close at 12,207.59.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 44.46 points, or 1.9 percent, to
2385.14. And the broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 21.29
points, or 1.6 percent, to 1395.41.
RELATED: Dow's bounce may not signal recovery
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-03-07-dow-bounce-usat_N.htm
Revised
Figures Show Sharper Slowdown in Productivity in the Fourth Quarter of 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/business/07economy.html?ref=business
In business cycles,
productivity slowdowns can be a difficult time for workers because employers
typically respond by letting employees go. New labor statistics released
yesterday showed that productivity is indeed slowing faster than first thought,
raising the question of whether layoffs are soon to follow. A report yesterday
by the Labor Department said productivity in the final three months of 2006 was
about half the rate first reported. And for the year, it grew at the slowest
pace since 1997. The government also said that companies compensated employees
at a much higher rate than first calculated, which could add to pressure on
businesses.
Democrats
look to shift a tax back to the rich
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/07/democrats_look_to_shift_a_tax_back_to_the_rich/
Democrats in Congress are
preparing a long-awaited plan that seeks to deliver a major tax break to
millions of middle-class families -- paid for by raising taxes on upper-income
earners. The centerpiece of the proposal, now being crafted by key Democratic
lawmakers, would dramatically limit the unpopular Alternative Minimum Tax, a
provision that was designed to prevent rich taxpayers from ducking taxes via
deductions but is ensnaring millions of middle-income payers because it was
never adjusted for inflation.
U.S., E.U. Agree to Recognize Each
Other's Accounting Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602122.html
U.S. and European Union regulators
agreed to recognize each other's rules for reporting corporate financial data
by 2009, a move that may increase international investing and reduce corporate
compliance costs. European companies using international accounting standards
now must reconcile financial data with U.S. rules if their shares are listed on
New York exchanges. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher
Cox and Charlie McCreevy, the E.U.'s internal market and Services commissioner,
said yesterday that they want to eliminate that requirement.
Funds told
to cut ties to Iran
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-07-iran_N.htm
Federal lawmakers and
officials in at least four states are pushing government-employee pension funds
to dump shares of foreign companies that do business in Iran. On Tuesday, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., proposed legislation that would require
federal pension funds to unload shares of any company with more than $20
million invested in Iran's energy sector.
Venezuela
Disavows 1980s-Era Bonds
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/business/worldbusiness/07venezpay.html?ref=business
The dispute over the bonds,
which bear the name of an extinct state agricultural development bank, the
Banco de Desarrollo Agropecuario, or Bandagro, has not recently been discussed
in public by the government of Venezuela, where President Hugo Chávez rarely
lets any issue involving the United States pass.
Bank Chief
to Apologize for Overcharges
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602308.html
The chief executive of Chase
Card Services, one of the nation's five largest credit card issuers, will
apologize to Congress today for charging a financially strapped customer $7,500
in interest charges and late fees on purchases of $3,200, the company said
yesterday. Richard J. Srednicki's apology before the Senate permanent
subcommittee on investigations will follow testimony by the customer, Ohio resident Wesley Wannemacher, on how Chase's penalty fees and interest charges made his
initial bill triple over six years. The hearing by the subcommittee, part of
the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will examine credit
card industry practices that subcommittee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) says
are "unfair" and "unethical." The hearing follows a Senate
Banking Committee hearing in January on credit card industry practices. The two
are part of a wider focus by the new Congress, now controlled by Democrats, on
financial practices that affect rank-and-file consumers, including those in the
home-lending and retirement-savings industries.
RELATED: Senate to examine credit card fees
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-credit-hearing_N.htm
Microsoft
Attacks Google Over Book Search
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601896.html
Microsoft launched an
unusually caustic public broadside yesterday against Google, accusing its
archrival of running roughshod over copyrights as it creates an online service
for searching books. Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association
of Publishers in New York, Thomas C. Rubin, Microsoft's associate general
counsel, devoted much of his remarks to an attack on Google's practice of
copying entire books into its database, often without the permission of
copyright holders.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Lawmakers
Scrutinize Fees for 401(k) Plans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601993.html
Workers are being overcharged
tens of billions of dollars a year in unnecessary and often hidden fees imposed
on popular, company-sponsored retirement savings plans known as 401(k)s,
financial experts told a congressional committee yesterday. Mutual funds and
other professional investment firms often charge fees totaling 3 percent to 5
percent of the assets they manage, when 1.5 percent would be more appropriate,
Matthew D. Hutcheson, an independent consultant on pension fees, told the House
Education and Labor Committee.
Senate
Backs Union Rights for Airport Screeners
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/washington/07screeners.html?ref=washington
The Senate voted Tuesday to
give 45,000 airport screeners the same union rights as border patrol, customs
and immigration agents, despite a White House threat to veto it. The vote, 51
to 46, rejected an amendment by Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South
Carolina, which would have removed the union rights from a broad antiterrorism
bill to carry out recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission previously rejected
by Congress.
Housing and Homelessness
Bernanke
Calls for Stronger Regulation of Fannie, Freddie
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600786.html
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
S. Bernanke said yesterday that the scale of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's
mortgage investments could pose risks to the financial system, and he called
for them to limit their holdings almost exclusively to loans for affordable
housing. Bernanke's proposal would sharply curtail the growth and profits of
the government-chartered mortgage-funding companies, and it would force them to
focus on investments that have, as he described it, "a clear and
measurable public benefit."
Patrick
says he erred in call to firm
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/07/patrick_says_he_erred_in_call_to_firm/
Facing an uproar that is
shaking even his own supporters, [Massachusetts] Governor Deval Patrick said
yesterday that he made a mistake when he called a top executive at Citigroup,
which has operations that are regulated by the state, to vouch for a
controversial lending firm. "I regret the mistake," Patrick said in a
statement issued late yesterday, his second public mea culpa in two weeks over
politically sensitive errors in judgment. Two weeks ago, Patrick placed a call
to former US Treasury secretary Robert E. Rubin, now a top executive at
Citigroup, interceding on behalf of owners of Ameriquest Mortgage, which was
seeking urgent financial assistance from the giant firm. When questioned by the
Globe late Friday, Patrick defended the call, saying that he was not acting in
his role as governor and that he simply offered a reference at the request of a
top official at ACC Capital Holdings, which owns Ameriquest and other financial
firms.
Media
1,000
Journalists Killed in 10 Years While Reporting
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/world/07safety.html
More than 1,000 journalists
have been killed while reporting the news over the past 10 years as homicide
has emerged as an increasingly popular tool for silencing them, a new survey
has found. The victims, overwhelmingly men, were more likely to be shot and
killed while investigating local issues than while reporting from the battlefield,
according to the survey, by the Brussels-based International News Safety
Institute, a coalition of international news media organizations and human
rights groups. Since 2000, the annual toll has steadily increased, with 147
dying in 2005, followed by a record 167 fatalities last year. The three
deadliest countries for journalists in the last decade were Iraq, Russia and Colombia. In most cases, the killers were never identified or punished, according
to the institute, which spent two years tracking the statistics.
F.C.C.
Chief Questioning Radio Deal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/business/media/07radio.html?ref=business
Kevin J. Martin, the chairman
of the Federal Communications Commission, has privately questioned recent
Congressional testimony by the architect of a proposed merger of the nation’s
two satellite radio companies that subscribers would both pay the same monthly
rate and receive significantly more programming. As he sought to sell the
proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio to Congress,
and by extension to regulators like Mr. Martin, Mel Karmazin, the chief
executive of Sirius, vowed last Wednesday that prices would not be raised and
that listeners would benefit enormously by getting the best programming from
both companies.
N.Y. Times
says ex-reporter gave subject of story $2,000
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/07/ny_times_says_ex_reporter_gave_subject_of_story_2000/
The New York Times
acknowledged yesterday that a reporter who wrote an acclaimed 2005 article
about a teenage Internet pornographer helped gain the boy's trust by sending
him a $2,000 check. Former Times staff writer Kurt Eichenwald made the payment
in June 2005 to Justin Berry, who at the time was an 18-year-old star in a
seedy network of child-porn sites. Six months later, Berry became the leading
figure in Eichenwald's expose on sex websites run by teenagers. The Times
investigation prompted congressional hearings, led to arrests, and fueled
changes in the way Web-hosting companies screen their clients. The story also
garnered attention for the unusual relationship between Eichenwald and his
primary subject.
Science and Technology
Seabed
site mystery: No Earth crust
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703070059mar07,1,6770856.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
British scientists have
embarked on a mission to study a huge area on the Atlantic seabed where the
Earth's crust is mysteriously missing and is covered with dark green rock from
deep inside the planet. The 12-member expedition to take an unprecedented peek
at Earth's mantle left the Canary Islands on Monday with a high-tech vessel and
a robotic device that will dig up rock samples at the site and film what it
sees. The main site--there is at least one other in roughly the same area and a
third is suspected--is about 3 miles below the surface of the Atlantic and
about 2,000 nautical miles southwest of the Canaries.
Military
Dole,
Shalala to Lead Troop-Care Panel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600395.html
President Bush yesterday
named former senator Robert J. Dole and former secretary of health and human
services Donna E. Shalala to co-chair a bipartisan commission that will examine
the care that wounded U.S. troops receive after they return from the
battlefield, one more among several high-level investigations spawned by recent
revelations of squalor and bureaucratic woes facing veterans at Walter Reed
Army Medical Center. The review will encompass troops' reintegration into
civilian life back home. Bush also announced that he has asked the secretary of
veterans affairs to lead a Cabinet-level interagency task force to deal with
immediate shortcomings in helping veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
RELATED: Bush appoints Dole, Shalala to investigate veterans' care
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-veterans7mar07,1,5257058.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Bush calls Walter
Reed conditions 'unacceptable'
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-06-walter-reed_N.htm
Medic Is
Convicted of Desertion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600693.html
A U.S. Army medic who jumped
out a window of his base housing and fled to California to avoid a redeployment
to Iraq was convicted of desertion Tuesday at a court-martial. He was sentenced
to eight months in prison. Spec. Agustin Aguayo, 35, who testified that he
refused to return to Iraq because he believes war is immoral, admitted to a
charge of being absent without leave but was unsuccessful in contesting the
more serious desertion charge. He and his attorneys turned to each other and
smiled as the judge, Col. R. Peter Masterton, read out the sentence. The
maximum allowable was seven years.
Funds to
help people with heating bills running out
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-03-07-heating-costs-usat_N.htm
Some states are running out
of money to help low-income homeowners pay their heating bills, putting
millions of people who rely on energy assistance at risk of falling behind on
their payments, or even having their service shut off. States are straining
under strong demand while at the same time federal funds are far lower than
they were a year ago. Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia are either out of money or are close to the bottom
of their energy assistance funds, according to a report from the National
Energy Assistance Directors' Association to be released today. Several other
states are rapidly depleting funds and are serving fewer clients or are
reducing average payments, the report says.
Venture
Capitalists Want to Put Some Algae in Your Tank
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/business/07algae.html?ref=business
The idea of replacing crude
oil with algae may seem like a harebrained way to clean up the planet and
bolster national security. But Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones and her husband, David
Jones, are betting their careers and personal fortunes that they can grow
masses of the slimy organism and use its natural photosynthesis process to
produce a plentiful supply of biofuel. A few companies are in a race to be
first to convert algae to fuel on a commercial scale, and it will require not a
small amount of money, luck and biotech tweaking. “You have a vintage here that
you are not sure is going to mature into anything good, and you are putting
money into it on the off chance that it might,” Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones,
acknowledged during a drive the other day to an algae-filled catfish farm in
this secluded desert town.
U.S. to
Owe Billions for Delays in Nuclear Dump, Official Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/business/07energy.html
The federal government will
owe $7 billion in damages for delays in opening a nuclear waste dump if the
repository opens in 2017 — the earliest date now possible — and any further
delay will raise the price half a billion dollars a year, the head of the radioactive
waste program said Tuesday. The money would reimburse current and former
nuclear plant operators who signed contracts under which the federal government
agreed to begin accepting their wastes in 1998. The official, Edward F. Sproat
III, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said
progress toward opening a waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., near Las Vegas, had been slowed by lack of money, despite a $19.5 billion fund financed by a
fee on each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by reactors.
Rising
temps chill Italy vintners
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703070058mar07,1,6377639.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Imagine a world where Chianti
wine is made in Scandinavia. It could come to just that by the end of the
century, experts in Italy warn, if global warming is unchecked. A study by University of Florence linking the effects of rain and temperature to wine production
concluded that increasingly high temperatures and intense rains are likely to
threaten the quality of Tuscan wines. And Italy's farmers association warned
that the cultivation of olive trees, which grow in a mild climate, has almost
reached the Alps.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
The Libby
Verdict
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602020.html
THE CONVICTION of I. Lewis
Libby on charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice
was grounded in strong evidence and what appeared to be careful deliberation by
a jury. The former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney told the FBI and a
grand jury that he had not leaked the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame to
journalists but rather had learned it from them. But abundant testimony at his
trial showed that he had found out about Ms. Plame from official sources and
was dedicated to discrediting her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson
IV. Particularly for a senior government official, lying under oath is a
serious offense. Mr. Libby's conviction should send a message to this and
future administrations about the dangers of attempting to block official
investigations.
RELATED: Kass: Fitzgerald's return will be fun to watch
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0703070083mar07,1,977218.column?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Verdict: He lied.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703070025mar07,0,4532101.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed
RELATED: A Libby Verdict
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/opinion/07weds1.html
RELATED: Libby's fibs
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-libby07mar07,0,5138254.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
RELATED: Kupchan: Libby, lies
and another bad war
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-kupchan7_mar07,0,5935171.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
RELATED: Cohen: The spin
cycle runs dry
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-cohen7mar07,0,211566.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
RELATED: The cloud over
Cheney
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/07/the_cloud_over_cheney/
The Wider
Shame of Walter Reed
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/opinion/07weds2.html
It is impossible not to feel
fury at the shameful neglect of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed’s outpatient
facilities, just a few miles from an oblivious and neglectful White House. Many
have been housed in rooms coated with mold and infested with cockroaches and
mice. They have been swamped with confusing paperwork and forced to take
responsibility for managing their own medical care. And when they or their
family members have complained, their pleas for help have been callously
ignored. In a desperate scramble to mute public outrage, President Bush
yesterday named two political veterans to lead a commission charged with
investigating conditions throughout the entire system of military and veterans’
hospitals. The choices seem to be good ones: Bob Dole, a veteran wounded in
World War II and a former Republican Party candidate for president, and Donna Shalala,
who ran the Health and Human Services Department for President Bill Clinton.
Froomkin:
Bush's Anti-Chavez Tour
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/06/BL2007030600623.html
Just before heading off for a
six-day visit to Latin America, President Bush yesterday attempted to co-opt
the populist rhetoric of his hemispheric arch-nemesis, President Hugo Chavez,
of Venezuela. Speaking to the "tens of millions in our hemisphere"
who "remain stuck in poverty, and shut off from the promises of the new
century," Bush said: "My message to those trabajadores y campesinos
is, you have a friend in the United States of America. We care about your plight."
Meyerson:
'Family Values' Chutzpah
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601600.html
As conservatives tell the tale,
the decline of the American family, the rise in divorce rates, the number of
children born out of wedlock all can be traced to the pernicious influence of
one decade in American history: the '60s. The conservatives are right that one
decade, at least in its metaphoric significance, can encapsulate the causes for
the family's decline. But they've misidentified the decade. It's not the
permissive '60s. It's the Reagan '80s.
Jackson: Do not disturb
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/07/do_not_disturb/
IT IS TIME FOR the bald eagle
to fledge from the federal endangered species list. The question is how much
danger to return it to.
Marcus:
Can Rudy Get Past the First Date?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601596.html
Does America's Mayor want to
be America's President? Poll after poll suggests that Rudy Giuliani has a
serious shot at winning his party's nomination, and therefore the presidency,
despite his abortion rights/gay rights/gun control baggage. But listening to
Giuliani's lackluster speech to a conservative group last week, I was not
convinced that he craves the job -- or that he has a particular vision of what
he'd do if he got it.
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