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TOP STORIES

Top

National

As Iraq Exit Plan Arrives, Democrats' Rift Remains
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702605.html
Even in her conservative Kansas district, calls and letters to freshman House Democrat Nancy Boyda show a constituency overwhelmingly ready for U.S. troops to come home from Iraq. Yet as the House nears a legislative showdown on the war, Boyda finds herself wracked with doubts. She is convinced that Congress must intervene to stop the war, but is fearful of the chaos that a quick U.S. pullout could prompt. "Congress has an obligation to do something," Boyda said. But she is unsure what to do, worried about anything that "affects commanders on the ground." This morning House Democrats, fractured as a group and, with many members such as Boyda torn over how to proceed on Iraq, will meet to learn the details of a new proposal cobbled together by party leaders last night, which calls for bringing troops home early next year while removing remaining troops from combat by October 2008.
RELATED: Democrats to propose troop withdrawal from Iraq by fall of 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-08-dems-troop-withdrawal_N.htm
RELATED: Democrats shelve plans to force Iraq pullout
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/08/democrats_shelve_plans_to_force_iraq_pullout/

More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/CIVIL LIBERTIES, COLORADO/MILITARY

Bush Deflects Pressure To Give Libby a Pardon
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030700184.html
President Bush said yesterday that he is "pretty much going to stay out of" the case of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby until the legal process has run its course, deflecting pressure from supporters of the former White House aide to pardon him for perjury and obstruction of justice. Libby's allies said Bush should not wait for Libby to be sentenced, and should use his executive power to spare Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff the risk of prison time for lying to a grand jury and FBI agents about his role in leaking the name of an undercover CIA officer. But the prospect of a pardon triggered condemnation from Democrats and caution from some Republicans wary of another furor.
RELATED: Libby pardon question open
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080155mar08,1,6443175.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Conservatives see a scapegoat in Libby
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-libby8mar08,1,7687369.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
RELATED: Libby Trial Offered Glimpses of Way White House Worked
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702424.html

More Libby case news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT

Fed Finds Soft Spots In U.S. Economy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030701348.html
New England automobile dealers say their sales are awful. A New York City employment agency reports that hiring has slowed in recent weeks. And a North Carolina textile maker plans to shutter a plant in Virginia. In the mid-Atlantic, strong growth in services -- including the legal, medical and financial professions -- offset weaker retail sales and manufacturing. These and other anecdotes from businesses across the country suggest that the economy has slowed recently in some regions and industries, the Federal Reserve reported yesterday. Overall, the economy expanded modestly from late January through February, but some soft spots have emerged, according to the Fed's "beige book," a survey of regional economic conditions prepared to help central bank policymakers as they consider whether to adjust interest rates at their next meeting, March 20 and 21. The survey was conducted before the stock market's plunge on Feb. 27 and before the release of government figures showing further weakening in manufacturing. Home construction, factory orders and orders for big-ticket durable goods all fell sharply in January.
RELATED: Fed Survey Finds Signs of a Slowdown in Some Areas
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/08econ.html?ref=business

Top

Colorado

Ritter seeking labor's trust
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5380193
An unrepentant Gov. Bill Ritter told a union audience Wednesday that he will work to regain their trust after an angry member accused him of breaking faith with labor by vetoing a labor-friendly bill. Ritter said signing the bill would have undercut his ability to initiate an agenda beneficial to organized labor that includes health care and education. But not all of the 400 attendees at the Colorado Building and Construction and Trade Council luncheon were convinced that the Democrat they supported last year would support them in the future. "We worked hard for you to get you elected ... and you let us down. You have broken our trust," said one woman, wearing a United Food and Commercial Workers shirt. "What are you going to do in the future to get our trust back?" "I'm sympathetic to your issues," Ritter said. "I feel bad that you feel let down. I am going to do everything I can to regain your trust. I am going to govern in a way so that when I am back here in three years from now we are having a different conversation about the things that we have done." State business interests strongly opposed the measure, House Bill 1072, which would have eliminated a required supermajority vote by employees before they could negotiate for an all-union shop. Ritter arrived at the union lunch Wednesday with his shirt- sleeves rolled up and immediately launched into an explanation of his veto.

Fix gift ban yourselves, law's creators told
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5402218,00.html
Legislators on Wednesday blasted a new ethics law and said they aren't a "janitorial service" that the law's creators can order to clean up their mess. The ethics measure - Amendment 41 - bans government workers and their families from receiving gifts valued at more than $50 in a calendar year. But it has had unintended consequences, including putting some college scholarships on hold. Millionaire Jared Polis and government watchdog group Common Cause, sponsors of the initiative approved by voters in November, were blistered at a Senate hearing Wednesday. "It's offensive for them to come to me and treat me like I'm a legislative bellhop in which you ring a bell and I'm supposed to clean up the mess they made," Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, said. "I suggest Common Cause and Jared Polis go back to the ballot and take to the people an ethics amendment they wanted to create in the first place."
RELATED: Ethics measure fix in trouble
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5400901,00.html
RELATED: Senate backs creation of ethics commission
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/senate-backs-creation-of-ethics-commission/
RELATED: Ethics law caught in crossfire
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380552

Bill targeting drilling impact advances
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5402100,00.html
A bill that would require oil and gas regulators to work with health officials to minimize the impact of drilling on human health and the environment passed the House Agriculture, Livestock & Natural Resources committee on Wednesday. During a hearing before the committee, supporters of House Bill 1223, including ranchers from the Western Slope, testified about ailments such as skin conditions, nausea and headaches they believe are related to drilling in their neighborhoods. Oil and gas companies use fluids when they drill wells and fracture rocks, but the composition of those fluids is kept confidential. Many residents of Garfield County think the fluids contain toxic chemicals, although there is no hard evidence. "People in these high-density oil and gas areas are living daily with chronic health problems that are directly caused by mineral extraction," said Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, sponsor of the bill.
RELATED: Public health drilling bill ‘good first step’
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/08/3_8_1B_drilling_health.html
RELATED: Oil, gas raise wellness issues
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380554

More energy policy news in NATIONAL/RELIGION, NATIONAL/ENERGY, NATIONAL/ENVIRONMENT, COLORADO/ELECTION, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENVIRONMENT

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Gingrich to describe repentance on radio
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380721
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a potential Republican presidential candidate, will appear on James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio show and describe getting on his knees and seeking God's forgiveness for his moral failures, according to excerpts released Wednesday by the evangelical group. Gingrich talked to Dobson by phone for a two-part installment to air today and Friday. Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger emphasized that the men do not discuss the presidential race and that Gingrich's appearance should not be read as an endorsement. Gingrich discusses his new book and what he believes is the rising threat of militant Islam in the West, a concern Dobson shares, Schneeberger said.

State voters could get more voice
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380396
Colorado lawmakers are considering creating a presidential primary - rather than moving up the caucuses - to give state voters more of a voice in the 2008 presidential race. A Colorado primary, if approved by the legislature, might coincide with those in 20 other states that have either moved up their caucuses and primaries to Feb. 5 or are considering doing so. The primary would also come just five years after lawmakers dumped the primary process because of the nearly $2 million cost in 2000. "How much is your vote worth? If it costs a few bucks, let's do it," said House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, who supports a Feb. 5 primary. Bipartisan talks about the idea are still in preliminary stages, and there are a number of issues that must be resolved, including whether primaries are cost-effective compared with the current caucus system.

Parolee debate trips up election oversight
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5402308,00.html
Legislative Democrats have hijacked what was intended as a simple bill to boost the state's oversight of vote centers and elections, Attorney General John Suthers and Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Wednesday. Both GOP leaders said they will oppose a change to Senate Bill 83 that would allow parolees the right to vote, saying that it would violate the state constitution. "We're obviously monitoring this bill closely and trying to work with senators to remove the controversial issues we feel are worthy of debate, but not on this bill," said Jonathan Tee, spokesman for Coffman. The Senate delayed a final vote on the measure Wednesday in the wake of a growing backlash. The measure by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, would require the Secretary of State to set guidelines for vote centers and to increase supervision of how counties conduct elections. Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, amended the measure to allow parolees to vote upon release from prison. He chided Suthers, in particular, for making political hay out of the bill.
RELATED: Suthers, Penry decry parolee voting amendment
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/08/3_8_2b_parolee_votes.html
RELATED: Access to ballots at issue
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/access-to-ballots-at-issue/

Eidsness steps to the left
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15054
Eric Eidsness, the Reform Party candidate who won 11 percent of the vote in the 4th Congressional District last November, is now a Democrat. Eidsness announced his party change Monday and now plans to convince state party leaders that he’s the Democrat who can topple Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, in 2008.

Ballot initiative pushes for public resources agency
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5402723,00.html
Two water experts want voters to create a new state department that deals solely with protecting Colorado's natural resources. Phil Doe, of Littleton, and Richard Hamilton, of Fairplay, filed a ballot initiative with the state on Wednesday to create the Department of Public Resource Conservation. The new department, if approved by the voters in 2008, would assume a chunk of duties now overseen by other state departments, including Natural Resources and Public Health and Environment. "This is all about the resources of the state, and how to protect them," Doe said. "We're talking land, air, water." Under the current setup, Doe maintains that the time and energy the state spends on protecting natural resources depends on who is governor and who is in the legislature.

Four council incumbents have locks on their jobs
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5402281,00.html
The May municipal election will be a breeze for four incumbents on the Denver City Council. No one turned in signatures to challenge Charlie Brown, Jeanne Faatz, Michael Hancock or Jeanne Robb by Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline. But eight incumbents seeking re-election, including Mayor John Hickenlooper and Auditor Dennis Gallagher, will have to fend off competition to keep their jobs. Though the signatures for some candidates still need to be verified, at right is what the May ballot is poised to look like.

Special election under budget
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5401499,00.html
Denver’s Jan. 30 special election cost $543,000, about $150,000 less than some had estimated. A City Council committee today endorsed a supplemental appropriation to cover the costs, including $95,400 for postage and $309,900 for printing. John Gaydeski, the commission’s executive director, said he expects the May election to cost less than January’s because inactive voter files have been purged. Denver now has about 178,000 active registered voters, nearly 117,000 fewer than in January.

Bruce Hill watchful of planning, energy issues
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/08/3_8_1b_Hill_profile.html
Hill is unopposed in his bid for a second term on one of the [Grand Junction] council’s two at-large seats and is looking to parlay the knowledge he gained during his first term into addressing issues such as growth, planning and energy development impacts on the Western Slope.

Zink cites ridgeline policies in bid for re-election to City Council
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070308_5.htm
City Council candidate and Mayor Sidny Zink says she's "all about fair." Zink, 55, co-owner of accounting firm FredrickZinkElliott, addressed affordable housing, taxes and the city's new Comprehensive Plan in a wide-ranging discussion Wednesday with The Durango Herald's editorial board. Zink said she believed the plan's implementation steps could realistically be accomplished in three to five years. She said she felt the most pressing of these steps was probably the creation of ridgeline development policies. "It's probably one of the most immediate, because if you screw it up you can't very easily fix it," Zink said. "I think we'll be pleased to find out we can protect the vistas around the city."
RELATED: Rendon touts program to buy locally
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070308_4.htm

‘Passionate about our community'
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25665
As the lone woman running in the Craig City Council election, Bridgette Harris said it's helpful to have diversity on the city council. "It's important to have different perspectives," she said. "I'm passionate about our community. I chose to move to Craig, and I'm in love with the town and living here." Harris and four other candidates have filed election petitions with the city of Craig, seeking to fill one of three city council seats being filled by the April 3 election.

Trinidad councilman makes it official, resigns seat to launch bid for mayor
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/15
Former City Councilman and Mayor pro tem Joe Bonato officially resigned his seat on Tuesday, in an effort, he said, to allow the city to get on with business and to avoid costly litigation. Bonato was asked to step down from council in mid-February, after he declared his intention to run for mayor in November, but he continued to sit in his chair during council meetings. "City Council has more pressing issues to deal with," Bonato read from a written statement at the regular City Council meeting. While he said he still disagreed with the interpretation of the city charter, he said he would officially resign the seat.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Critics say acts don't fit Bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5379950
In just two months in office, Gov. Bill Ritter has emerged on the opposite side of candidate Bill Ritter on two key issues, raising questions of credibility and the reality of carrying out his sweeping Colorado Promise. First came his February veto of a controversial union bill that during his campaign he had promised to sign. Then the governor announced he is eyeing to draw from an expected increase in federal mineral lease money to shore up the state's failing education fund - a proposal in direct contrast, Western Slope leaders say, to candidate Ritter. "I really don't know what the governor's true plan is," said Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis. "I don't want to condemn him before I see it. But he did make some very specific and very on-the-record promises that he would give priority to energy-impacted areas for severance tax and federal mineral lease moneys."

Discussions still amiable at halfway point
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/legislature-2007/
As the Legislature nears its halfway point on Saturday, Democrats and Republicans both say they're living up to their promises to work together with minimal squabbling. But so far, they have had little to squabble about. Republicans, who are in the minority in both houses, point to their cooperation with Democrats on bills promoting renewable energy — a key part of Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter's agenda. For their part, Democrats say they're keeping their promise to stick to issues that are important to voters, even if it means supporting GOP bills. "I think the most important accomplishment is our renewable energy package, which is bipartisan," House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said Wednesday. "We said when this session began it would be green, not red or blue." John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University, agreed there have been few sparks so far this session but pointed to the lack of contentious issues. "It's hard to be against renewable energy," he said.

Fight club (Roll Call, March 8)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5402279,00.html
Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, and his wife, Daun, are teaching self-defense techniques tonight to lawmakers, spouses and Capitol staffers. The Kings have owned a self-defense company, American National Protective Services, for 14 years. The cost of the seminar, $45, will be donated to The Western Slope Center for Children, a Mesa County nonprofit for sexual-abuse victims.

Change of tune? (On the side, 3/8)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380556
State Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, wants to introduce legislation that would make John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" the second official state song. "Where the Columbines Grow," the official state song, was adopted May 8, 1915, by an act of the General Assembly. Hagedorn isn't the first to try to make "Rocky Mountain High" the state song. In November 1997, the month after singer and songwriter John Denver's death, then-fourth-grader Kari Neuman and her classmates at Johnson Elementary School in Fort Collins began a letter-writing campaign to change the official state song.

New Broomfield annexation?
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/resident/
A Superior man has launched a singular campaign that, if successful, would annex the town of Superior into Broomfield. Paul Everitt, a Superior resident for the past six months, said annexation to Broomfield would increase Superior residents' access to city services and cost them less money. But annexing the town, which lies in Boulder County just outside of Broomfield's southwestern border, would be an extremely ambitious undertaking, city leaders said. "It's not impossible," said Broomfield City and County Manager George Di Ciero. "But it is next to impossible." And the town of Superior has no interest in becoming part of Broomfield, said Assistant Town Manager Matt Magley.

Courts swayed stolen laptop case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402672,00.html
Three days before the story broke that a former Denver judge had been caught in possession of a stolen state laptop computer, a top Colorado judicial department official asked Denver police to drop the case. Carol Haller, legal counsel for the state court administrator's office, says in a written statement to Denver police that she had reviewed police reports and discussed the issue with State Court Administrator Gerald Marroney and asked "that no prosecution take place at this time." Citing that request, a deputy Denver district attorney the next day officially declined to file charges against former Judge Larry Manzanares, who was then Denver's city attorney. She was quickly overruled by top DA brass, who on the same day decided to turn the case over to a special prosecutor because of the conflict of interest with the Denver DA's office. The Jefferson County district attorney is now handling the case and will decide whether Manzanares will be charged.

City of Denver hires new assessor
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5401159,00.html
Paul Jacobs has been hired as Denver’s new assessor. His initial focus will be on completing the 2007 reappraisal of all Denver properties. Jacobs brings 30 years experience, having managed the reappraisal of over 2.5 million parcels of real property and introduced digital imaging and Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal systems to jurisdictions with property accounts ranging in size from 700 to over 562,000.

Zoning meeting draws hundreds
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5381505
More than 300 people turned out Wednesday night to hear how a group of Denver officials is planning to shape the future of city development. The crowd that filled the atrium of the Wellington Webb Municipal Building heard that Denver's zoning code is so complex and conflicting that, in many cases, it is no longer useful.

Weld Republicans, Democrats elect new officers
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070308/NEWS/103070115
Weld County political parties elected new officers last month and are preparing for each party's annual dinner event. Each party has organization elections every two years.

Vail post office named for Ford
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070307/NEWS/70307015
President Bush Wednesday signed into law a bill to rename the U.S. Post Office in Vail after the late President Gerald R. Ford, who died Dec. 26. The bill was sponsored by U.S. Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard and Rep. Mark Udall, Eagle County's congressman. “When Gerald Ford made Colorado his home, he honored our state by sharing his wisdom and experience,” Salazar said. “I am pleased that President Bush signed this small but fitting tribute to a president whose service helped our nation heal.”

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Protesters go for big finish
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/08/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
Protestors are growing tired after three weeks of daily sit-ins at the congressional offices of Sen. Ken Salazar (D) and Reps. Mark Udall (D) and Diana DeGette (D). After varied responses from the offices, they will participate in a mass-action sit-in today to convince representatives to vote to stop the funding for the Iraq War. The House of Representatives will vote on the supplemental war funding budget late next week, which will determine whether the House will give more money to support the war. Carolyn Bninski, staff person with the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, said that protestors wanted to increase their efforts and make their presence even more known than it has been so far as the voting date nears. “I think we have been successful in sending the message day after day to Udall and Salazar that people are opposed to the war. (We) want it to end and not vote for the funding,” Bninski said Wednesday. “We felt that it would have more impact the week before than the week of the vote because it would perhaps give the Congresspeople more time to think about the importance of the issue to their constituents.”

Beating of white teen becomes 'community issue' in Rifle
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402725,00.html
The beating of a white 14-year- old Rifle High School girl, allegedly by several female Hispanic students, is the latest indication of rising ethnic tensions in this fast-changing community, school officials said Wednesday. The friction in this working- class town, which is becoming increasingly Hispanic, has drawn interest from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and Garfield County School District Re-2 has asked for help from the Colorado Mediation Coalition, Superintendent Gary Pack said.
RELATED: Rifle school responds to violence
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/08/3_8_3a_Rifle_High_violence.html

Top

Immigration

Allard amendment may get brushoff
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402395,00.html
Democrats don't want a homeland security package bogged down with immigration-related amendments, so Sen. Wayne Allard's proposed amendment might get shelved this week. The U.S. Senate has spent much of this week working on bipartisan legislation that's meant to more fully implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Already, the bill has been slowed by a debate over whether to give airport security screeners collective bargaining rights. Meanwhile, since the Senate is expected to take up immigration reform legislation this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he doesn't want the homeland security debate to get sidetracked by immigration-related amendments. But Allard is continuing to push for an amendment that would require the Social Security Administration to alert immigration officials when a valid Social Security number is being used in multiple places around the country.

Students rally to back Alien Minors Act
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402394,00.html
When 16-year-old David Mendez, of Denver, attended last year's Peace Jam, he asked Costa Rican President Oscar Arias what he thought of a proposal to give legal status to children of illegal immigrants who graduate from high school. "He said he supported it. That's when I decided I had to fight for it," said Mendez, a Lincoln High School junior who attended the Denver event that brought together Nobel Peace Prize winners with youths from around the world. Mendez was among of group of students and community organizers who gathered Wednesday to support the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, introduced in the U.S. House and Senate this past week. Three other efforts to pass the bill have failed.
RELATED: Immigrant kids chase dream
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380715

Prisoners may pick produce on farms
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/prisoners-may-pick-produce-on-farms/
Colorado has enacted one of the nation's toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants, denying most nonessential services to people in the country illegally, requiring more identification to get driver's licenses, and putting pressure on state and local law enforcement officers to cooperate with federal immigration agents. Normally, perhaps 10,000 migrant farmworkers — some legal, some illegal — come through Colorado each year, planting, cultivating and harvesting such crops as onions, peppers, melons and pumpkins, said Larry Gallegos, an advocate for farmworkers in the state Labor Department. But he predicted their numbers will be down as much as 40 percent this year.

Fort Collins rejects fines targeting illegal hires
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5379966
A proposal aimed at punishing companies working on city projects that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants was narrowly defeated Tuesday night by the Fort Collins City Council. But both sides of the 4-3 vote say the issue of how to enforce state and federal immigration laws locally will return to the council.

Most new construction jobs in U.S. filled by Hispanics
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5402101,00.html
Illegal immigration contributed to the trend. "In recent years, about two-thirds of the increase in the employment of recently arrived Latinos has been due to unauthorized migration," according to Rakesh Kochhar, associate director for research at the Pew center. Kochhar said the center could not provide data specifically for Colorado. But the report does show that most construction jobs for Hispanics are in the West and the South. Those two regions provided 86 percent of the jobs for construction workers last year. Dick O'Brecht, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado, said he suspects many Hispanics fill jobs involving stone masonry, bricklaying and cement finishing. "The people in Mexico are very skilled at those trades," O'Brecht said. "They can step into this country and work in those areas without a lot of retraining."

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Cervical cancer hearing set today
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5401972,00.html
As lawmakers consider one proposal to promote the vaccination of young girls against cervical cancer, they're looking at another measure to require all health insurance companies to pay for shots for their patients. House Bill 1301, from Reps. Bernie Buescher and Dianne Primavera, D-Broomfield, would also set aside $1.5 million from the state's tobacco settlement to pay for vaccinations of girls who don't have health insurance. Buescher said the bill, set for a hearing today, is separate from one being weighed in the Senate.
RELATED: Covering HPV vaccine (Under the dome, 3/8)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380557

Motorcycle helmet bill stalls in state Senate
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5401188,00.html
A bill to require helmets for children riding motorcycles was sent back to committee on a voice vote today after a two-hour fight in the state Senate. The Senate had been expected to cast its first official vote on the House Bill 1117, but in an unexpected move a handful of Democrats joined Republicans to stall the controversial measure. Republicans railed against the measure, saying it expands the slow erosion of parental rights and freedoms to decide what's best for their children. "We’re really good at telling people how to run their lives," said Sen. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs. "We want to tell people to wear a helmet. We want to tell parents to have their girls vaccinated against the HPV virus. We need to stop stomping on people’s personal liberties."

House panel kills DUI bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5402220,00.html
Lawmakers Wednesday killed a bill to toughen drunken-driving penalties, saying they first want a new task force to review Colorado's patchwork of DUI laws. House Judiciary Committee members voted 7-4 against the bill, despite moving testimony by Gerda Gavrilis. She told committee members how her 25-year daughter, Arlene, was killed by a drunken driver the night before her wedding in 2005. The truck driver who slammed into Arlene's red Volkswagen Bug at 100 mph had been convicted in a prior DUI crash that injured a couple.
RELATED: Drunk-driving device bill hits a wall
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380553
RELATED: Tougher DUI laws go down the drain
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/9

Rescuers may get new home
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15051
The Rocky Mountain Rescue Group might get its first permanent home in its 60-year existence. First, though, federal officials have to approve giving Boulder County a surplus former motor-pool facility at 3720 Walnut St. in Boulder, with the county getting it cost-free and then turning it over to the sheriff’s office. If that happens, Sheriff Joe Pelle said, the county would then craft a no-cost or low-cost lease to let the all-volunteer search-and-rescue organization house its vehicles, equipment and offices inside the property’s 2,520-square-foot building. Pelle called the arrangement “a really exciting opportunity” that could benefit both his department and the all-volunteer organization that’s been providing searches and other services for the county since 1947. The Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, which specializes in mountain-terrain work, is “extremely professional, and they’re good at what they do,” Pelle told county commissioners Tuesday.

Expert looks to plan bee
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402693,00.html
The U.S. military wanted to investigate the potential of "insect reconnaissance," so University of New Mexico chemical engineer C. Jeffrey Brinker answered the call. The initial idea was to maintain honeybee colonies and analyze the nectar and pollen that foraging bees brought back to the hive, looking for traces of explosives, toxins or bioweapons. Then Brinker and his colleagues pursued the notion of mounting tiny chips on the backs of honeybees and cockroaches. That was six or seven years ago, he said. Sensors on the chips would flash bright green when the bugs encountered dangerous agents, Brinker said Wednesday in Denver at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Salazar brothers pursue rural police institute to aid in training
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/08/3_8_3B_rural_policing.html
U.S. Rep. John Salazar and his brother, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, are pursuing legislation in each house of Congress to establish a rural policing institute. The Salazars, both Democrats, said rural law enforcement is at a disadvantage in dealing with issues ranging from methamphetamine to potential national-security threats. John Salazar, whose 3rd Congressional District includes most of the sparsely populated Western Slope, said the institute would expand training already offered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, which includes sending staff to educate local law enforcement officers.

Hudson board seeks public input on proposed women's prison
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070308/NEWS/103080088
Hudson town board members decided Wednesday night to postpone a decision to move forward with plans on annexing a portion of unincorporated Weld County for future use as a private women's prison. Close to 50 residents from Weld County were at the meeting to voice concerns they had regarding the economic impact the proposed prison would create.

Community uniting against gangs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380395
Former gang members fanned out after a recent slaying in Denver to counsel troubled youths itching for retaliation. The mentors also were on hand at the pressure-packed Thunderdome at Manual High School last month to keep the Bloods and Crips in check when the basketball teams of crosstown rivals Montbello and East High clashed. Those are just two initiatives now underway after several groups in the gang intervention and prevention business recently banded together to give new energy to an old coalition that had gone defunct. They have revitalized the Metro Denver Gang Coalition, which disbanded in 2001 after it lost key funding in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Child porn evidence on the line
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070308/NEWS/103080050
The fate of a child pornography case involving a former Aspen drama teacher is in the hands of a district judge who must decide whether to admit key evidence. Bradford Moore's lawyer is attempting to have all evidence in the child porn case thrown out. If the evidence - Internet images - is suppressed, it could virtually kill the prosecution's case. Moore, 58, who taught drama in the Aspen School District for 11 years, faces charges of felony possession of child pornography after turning himself in to police in November. The school district subsequently fired him. At issue are the 100-plus images of child sexual exploitation found on Moore's computer by a forensics laboratory. Moore's lawyer, Saskia Jordan, argued that evidence should be inadmissible because the September search of Moore's house was without probable cause and violated the Fourth Amendment. The hearing on the motion to suppress, which court employees said lasted more than five hours Monday, was closed to the public. The Aspen Times objected to the hearing being closed, and Pitkin County District Judge James Boyd gave no reason why proceedings were sealed.

School objects to proposed correctional facility in [Montrose] neighborhood
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/08/3_8_1b_New_jail.html
It may be too late to do anything about it, but Northside Elementary School principal Bonnie Grigg said a proposed correctional facility should not be near her school. Grigg attended a meeting Tuesday night where Gregg Kildow, executive director of the Lakewood company that would run the facility, tried to sell the project. “We didn’t need to be sold,” Grigg said. “I understood the need for such a facility, but the issue was the location.”
RELATED: North side residents speak out against proposed community corrections facility
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/07/local_news/1.txt

Top

Economy

Nacchio defense may not have revealed full hand
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5402099,00.html
Joe Nacchio's attorneys and prosecutors have huddled in closed hearings recently, jostling over classified material that may be admitted at trial. But is that just a diversion? While Nacchio's legal team has strongly indicated it will pursue a national-security defense, that doesn't mean it will be the main defense at his insider-trading trial starting March 19 in Denver, an expert said. "It may lead to the impression that this is the only defense they have," said John Cline, a California attorney who helped handle the classified information for Lewis "Scooter" Libby's defense team. "This is just the one they have to offer pretrial. It may turn out to be the key to their defense, or it may turn out to be a small part of their defense."

Briefs: Qwest filing shows new CFO's pay, bonus
http://test.denverpost.com/business/ci_5379897
John Richardson, who will replace Oren Shaffer as Qwest's chief financial officer April 1, will receive an annual salary of $525,000 and a bonus with a target of 150 percent of his annual salary, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. Richardson will also receive 257,000 stock options and restricted stock valued at $977,500. If he is fired without cause, Richardson would be paid one-and-a-half times his annual salary, payable over 18 months, and a lump-sum payment of the same amount after the 18-month period.

A whole lotta Centerra: McWhinney announces major shopping, residential expansion
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070308/NEWS/103070118
Chad McWhinney and the city of Loveland are growing accustomed to being under the spotlight. Wednesday, it was a much brighter bulb as the Centerra developer introduced his newest idea to more than 100 people at a press conference held just east of the Medical Center of the Rockies. With it, shopping at Centerra got a lot bigger -- 480,000 square feet to be exact, complete with valet parking, concierge services, a double-decker streetcar and a Jumbotron. McWhinney, CEO and co-founder of McWhinney Enterprises, announced a 1 million-square-foot, 110-acre facility for shopping, dining, entertainment, fitness, residential, hospitality, office, medical, civic and cultural uses. Under a tent on temporary carpet that hid winter's harsh treatment to the grass, McWhinney introduced his latest innovation -- Grand Station.

Aspen retail sales jump in January
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070308/NEWS/103080048
Aspen retailers posted an 8.8 percent increase in January sales over last year's, ringing up $57.4 million, according to a report the city's finance department released Wednesday.

Dillon to pursue economic development projects
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103070055
The Dillon Town Council gave its new economic revitalization advisory committee the official go-ahead on Tuesday to begin researching various economic development projects.

Glenwood chamber, council consider city's economic development needs
http://postindependent.com/article/20070308/VALLEYNEWS/103080039
Some Glenwood Springs elected officials and business leaders think the city needs to pursue economic development more aggressively. The idea is raising questions about just how much should be done to try to attract new businesses at a time when existing ones are having trouble finding employees, and affordable housing for workers is scarce.

Data released in bank blunder
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/data-released-in-bank-blunder/
A printing error at First National Bank of Colorado mistakenly sent personal information on IRA account beneficiaries to the wrong recipients, the bank confirmed Wednesday. The letters in question were sent to 907 customers, although it's unclear how many statements contained errors, bank president Dave Gilman said.

New law helps to prosecute identity theft
http://postindependent.com/article/20070308/VALLEYNEWS/103080037
A new identity theft law that came out of the Colorado Legislature last summer clears up "piecemeal" bits of criminal law and provides a more comprehensive approach to prosecute identity theft activities, Deputy District Attorney James Leuthauser said. "It basically has cleaned up a lot of loose ends and made things more comprehensive," he said, adding that the new law moves away from a "shotgun approach" of prosecuting smaller more fragmented offenses toward the larger picture of what somebody is doing when they engage in identity theft activities. Some activities that in the past were a series of misdemeanors could now be a felony.
RELATED: Local seniors targets of fraud
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/NEWS01/70308001/1002

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Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability

Firm plans to hire 200 engineers in Denver area
http://test.denverpost.com/business/ci_5380194
Washington Group International, a Boise, Idaho-based engineering and construction firm, said Wednesday it is looking to hire 200 engineers in the Denver area. "The positions are across the board," said Washington Group spokesman Jerry Holloway. "Structural and electrical engineers are of interest. ... We're looking for a range of experience." The jobs could have an economic impact of $21 million to $25 million in terms of wages, salaries, and spinoff jobs, said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

FBI: State hotbed for mortgage fraud cases
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5402610,00.html
Colorado's status as a mortgage fraud "hot spot" isn't cooling. The FBI, which named Colorado as one of 10 states with the most mortgage fraud cases in 2004, this week listed the state among seven with the most mortgage fraud cases in its 2006 Financial Crimes Report. Colorado is one of the few states that do not license mortgage brokers, although legislation to license them is pending. The report, based on data for 2005, lists California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan and Texas as other states with a high number of fraud cases. An FBI spokeswoman in Denver said she had not seen the report and referred questions to a spokesman in Washington, D.C., who did not respond to phone or e-mail queries.

Loan problems surface early
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5402184,00.html
Coloradans who lose their homes to foreclosure typically haven't lived in them very long. An analysis of foreclosures in 2006 for the Colorado Bankers Association released Wednesday found that, on average, homes that went into foreclosure had the loans in place for only 987 days - slightly less than three years. The study was conducted by Development Research Partners, headed by economist Patty Silverstein. The group examined 374 loans, priced from $9,000 to $6.1 million.
RELATD: Nonbank lenders lead foreclosure data
http://test.denverpost.com/business/ci_5379959

DA probing possible fraud
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/10
Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut announced Wednesday that his office is investigating possible fraud by a local insurance agency. The agency, Trinity Benefits Group Inc., and its registered agent, Maurice Goring, were indicted in December. Goring, 40, and four others are accused of racketeering in a home-foreclosure scam that allegedly netted them $2.5 million. Goring is presently free on bail. According to a statement from Thiebaut, new allegations have surfaced that premiums paid to Trinity Benefits Group never reached insurance underwriters, ultimately depriving customers of coverage even though their premiums were paid. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation also is investigating the new allegations.

Top

Media

Salazar changes channel on TV politics
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070308_2.htm
On the heels of Sen. Wayne Allard's amendment to bring Denver TV to the region, Colorado's other senator is taking the matter one step further. Sen. Ken Salazar introduced a bill Tuesday to provide Montezuma and La Plata counties with the ability to receive both Denver and Albuquerque broadcasts, said Cody Wertz, Salazar spokesman. “Coloradans deserve access to Colorado television stations and all the benefits that come with that coverage — including Denver Bronco games and vital state emergency information,” Salazar said in a prepared statement. “Television viewers in this area also deserve to get news from their region, and that includes news from the Albuquerque designated market area — this bill will accomplish this goal.” Wertz said Salazar’s legislation, Senate Bill 760, is not an attempt to undercut Allard’s move to add an amendment to the Improving America’s Security Act of 2007. Allard’s amendment would enable residents in Montezuma and La Plata counties to receive stations from Denver. “This is a fix that allows television viewers in Montezuma and La Plata counties to receive both,” Wertz said Tuesday.

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Education

Ritter's overall look at schools could bulldoze two bills
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5401974,00.html
Bills to tweak high school graduation standards may run afoul of Gov. Bill Ritter's preference for a more comprehensive look at school reform. A bill awaiting action by a House committee would increase the amount of math and science needed for graduation. A bill before the Senate would require mastery of English. Ritter has said he wants a committee to look at everything from preschool through graduate school. The committee could be formed within the next four to six weeks, said Evan Dreyer, Ritter's spokesman. Dreyer stopped short of saying Ritter will veto the bills. But minor fixes to the school system could interfere with the more comprehensive approach, he said.
RELATED: Tying English to graduation
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402191,00.html

Online course plan OK'd (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/18
The Senate Education Committee unanimously approved a measure Wednesday that will help rural schools access more online courses less expensively. HB1066, introduced by Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, and Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, earmarks $530,000 to rural schools to offer supplemental online courses, classes that aren't offered locally but are needed by some students to get into certain colleges . The measure, which heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, also establishes a grant program to help schools offset the cost of offering the classes.

Low-income students on rise
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/low-income-students-on-rise/
Colorado ranks second in the nation for increases in the number of low-income students pursuing higher education, a new report shows. The number of low-income college students in Colorado, defined as those eligible for Pell Grants, grew from 17.2 percent in fiscal year 2002 to 25.4 percent in fiscal year 2005, according to the report. Thirty-eight other states also saw increases. College in Colorado — a statewide initiative that works to improve college access, particularly for students who are minorities or from low-income families — published the report Wednesday. It was completed by an outside, national post-secondary education organization.

Meyer eager to continue as CSU-Pueblo provost
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/5
Interim Provost Russ Meyer said he would continue to make the work on student recruitment and retention at Colorado State University-Pueblo his top priority if he is given the job permanently. "I want to look at the way we recruit and where we recruit," Meyer said Wednesday. "I want to look at how we work with the different schools." Meyer, who was appointed interim provost in May 2006, met with campus and community members Wednesday as part of the search process for a new provost. He is among three finalists for the position. The new provost will replace Barbara Montgomery, who stepped down in August to teach in the speech communication department. Meyer was the last of the three finalists to participate in interviews.

Feds want colleges to rein in alcohol ads, sales, sponsorships
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5402102,00.html
The acting U.S. surgeon general has called on colleges to ban alcohol sponsorship deals, restrict liquor sales on campus, and eliminate beer and liquor advertisements in their publications. Those are among the recommendations Kenneth Moritsugu made in a report released this week urging universities, advertisers and other groups to step up efforts to reduce underage drinking. Many of the measures are in place at colleges across the nation, including the University of Colorado.

9-R board president Matheson resigns
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070308_1.htm
Durango school board President Mike Matheson abruptly resigned Wednesday and accused board members of meeting illegally in a plan to fire Superintendent Mary Barter and replace her with a former principal. Matheson alleged the board had secretly plotted what amounts to a leadership coup in Durango School District 9-R. Matheson's resignation and accompanying allegations sparked a flurry of denials, dramatically conflicting accounts and rumors. Board members flatly denied Matheson's allegations. They said they had not met illegally and had not decided to fire Barter and replace her with former Escalante Middle School Principal Gene Giddings on an interim basis, as Matheson alleged.
RELATED: Barter: ‘It appears I may leave’
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070308_2.htm

BVSD superintendent finalist Smyser in hot seat
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/bvsd-superintendent-finalist-smyser-in-hot-seat/
Sandra Smyser, one of three finalists vying for the Boulder Valley superintendent job, said she's not looking to impose major changes or require schools to adhere to a "cookie-cutter" approach. With nine years as a superintendent in California school districts, she has the most superintendent experience of the three candidates and describes herself as someone who prefers to help people reach a consensus when making major decisions. "I'm not a head-chopper," said Smyser, 49. "You get a better result if you take some time to work with people."

Strategic planners researching data for Pueblo City Schools
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/13
The 300 community members, educators and students commissioned to develop a strategic plan for Pueblo City Schools are getting an education of their own. Divided into six groups assigned to develop specific strategies for things like student achievement, teacher training and school environment, the committees are not only meeting weekly but also doing plenty of homework to collect ideas from around the world. Meetings are being held on Wednesday nights, with three groups meeting at 5:30 p.m. and three more at 7 p.m. That allows the six facilitators trained by the Cambridge Group to operate in two-person teams with each committee.

Knowledge Bowl awaits state bid
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/08/knowledge_bowl_awaits_state_bid/?local_news
Barb Tuchlinsky hopes the Steamboat Springs High School Knowledge Bowl team’s success this year will appeal to state officials. Although the quartet of students Austin Anderson, Max Pensack, Sam Chovan and Anna Roder finished second at the recent regional competition, the team’s average score of 107 points per competition during the regular season is impressive, said Tuchlinsky, the team’s coach. “I figure we’ve got a good chance of getting invited to the state championships,” she said.

Teacher arrested in hitting incident
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/teacher-arrested-in-hitting-incident/
A woman who's been substituting at Boulder's Creekside Elementary School for nearly a decade was arrested this week on suspicion of hitting a fifth-grade student in the head with a viola bow and swearing in front of children. Carla Shinners, 63, turned herself in to police Tuesday. She faces a possible charge of child abuse resulting in injury, according to a police report.

CU club coach booted for partying
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/cu-club-coach-booted-for-partying/
The University of Colorado's recreation center fired the coach of its club hockey team after discovering he attended an off-campus party — where there was alcohol — with some of his players.

Nude pictures of students could lead to charges
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402222,00.html
Criminal charges are possible for middle school students who showed nude photos of classmates or forwarded them to other students via cell phones, authorities said Wednesday. Investigators believe the photos of as many as six students at Castle Rock Middle School were taken as part of a dare then viewed or forwarded by as many as 50 students. Castle Rock police Lt. Douglas Ernst said students could face jail time and fines depending on the intent of the photographs.

Top

Military

VA, Pentagon urged to improve tracking of wounded soldiers
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/3
The Defense Department and the Veterans Administration need to find a "seamless" way to keep track of the records of wounded military personnel to both improve health care and help those discharged servicemen and women receive prompt VA services, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday. The Colorado Democrat sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Secretary Jim Nicholson this week, asking for an accurate accounting of all the discharged military personnel who have joined the VA system since the war on terror began, as well as recommendations on how to make that transition easier for wounded soldiers. In a telephone press conference, Salazar said the problems at Walter Reed Army Hospital underline the military's problems in keeping track of wounded soldiers and their records, especially as they are discharged and become eligible for VA services. "What is clear is the (Bush) administration was not at all prepared for dealing with the reality of the war," he said. "What we need is a clear accounting of the number of veterans we are dealing with and medical-record portability as they go through the medical system."
RELATED: Salazar reacts to Walter Reed scandal
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070308_6.htm

Soldier killed in Baghdad had followed dad's footsteps
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402312,00.html
Like father, like son. Blake Harris' dad, John, spent 11 years in the Army, and Blake followed suit. He spent three years with the ROTC at South High School in Pueblo. When Blake Harris graduated from high school in 2002, he enlisted. Deborah Harris, Blake's mother, said her son made his decision after a recruiter came to campus. "He came home, and said, 'Mom, I'm going to join the Army. I'm going to serve my country,' " his mother recalled. "It was in his blood for sure." Deborah Harris said she believed her son likely was considering the Army as his career. Spc. Blake Harris was killed Monday when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was riding in a Humvee patrolling the streets of Baghdad. He was 22.
RELATED: Briefs: Colorado soldier killed by bomb in Iraq
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5379968
RELATED: Roadside bomb kills Pueblo soldier in Iraq
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/1

Top

Energy Policy

Co-ops light up against measure
http://test.denverpost.com/business/ci_5380191
The notion of electric meters spinning backward is behind a contentious bill that has Colorado's rural electric associations at odds with Gov. Bill Ritter's renewable-energy agenda. The bill would enable homeowners, farmers, ranchers and small businesses to generate their own wind or solar power, reducing their electric bills and selling excess electricity back to their rural cooperatives. Supporters say the bill will encourage renewable energy at the grassroots level and stimulate economic development. "The whole idea is to let people generate their own electricity. If there's a little left over, you can put it back on the line," said Rep. Judy Solano, the Brighton Democrat sponsoring the bill. Yet opponents - chiefly the managers of rural electric associations - dislike the so-called "net metering" legislation because they say most of their customers would be subsidizing payments to the minority of customers generating excess power through their wind and solar systems.

New BLM rules encourage energy industry to work with landowners
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/08/3_8_1b_BLM_leasing.html
Updating regulations governing how energy companies deal with drilling on split-estate land and drilling-permit applications, the Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday solidified revised regulations that will govern how federally-owned minerals are developed and leased.

Gas prices climbing in Fort Collins, nationwide
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/NEWS01/703080365/1002
Gas prices in Fort Collins have climbed an average of 10 cents a gallon in the past week and likely are headed higher, oil industry analysts say. The average price of a gallon of unleaded regular gas was $2.48 Wednesday, 10 cents more than the average cost last week. It's also 35 cents more a gallon than the average cost a month ago.

Windmills will soon be spinning
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070307/NEWS/70307025
Drivers on I-70 will be soon be staring at Vail Golf Course like confused 21st century Don Quixotes, tilting their heads and sorting out the significance of 2,700 glowing windmills spinning in the breeze. “What in blazes are they?” the tourists ask. “What do they mean?” the skeptics ask. “Did I pay for that?” the Vail taxpayers ask. Denver artist Patrick Marold will begin installing these windmills next week on a hillside near Vail Golf Course. Each windmill will be about 8 feet tall and fitted with a small light that will turn on when the wind blows. Already though, the Windmill Project is provoking the tempers, imaginations and brimming idealism of our community. Just the idea of it is wasteful to some people, while others see it as a colorful spot on a rapidly expanding town. Then there’s the environmental aspect. The windmills are also meant to be a reminder of Vail’s commitment to offsetting 100 percent of its electricity use with wind power credits, ushering in a new age of green mountain living.

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Environment and Conservation

Report: State air regulators undercharging polluters
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5401973,00.html
Colorado is among at least 18 states losing millions of dollars because they're dramatically undercharging polluters for fees collected to operate air quality programs, according to a report released Wednesday by a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group. In Colorado, regulators are missing out on more than $2.8 million to help cover the costs of writing pollution permits, monitoring air quality, inspecting industrial sites, enforcing clean air laws and other activities within the state's Air Pollution Control Division. That $2.8 million amounts to a 66 percent cut in the $4.3 million regulators in Colorado could collect under the Clean Air Act, according to the report by the Environmental Integrity Project. The fees are collected from a variety of air pollution sources, including power plants, refineries, cement kilns and chemical plants.
RELATED: $3 million up in smoke?
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5379965

Does the water belong to farms or cities?
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5375071
When Robin Bailey wanted to escape the Denver suburbs, she bought a 160-acre alfalfa farm in northwest Kansas and fell in love with a pair of creeks that raced through the property. Two ponds she added later were just another bonus. But nine years later, the creeks are dry, the ponds puddle up a bit but are mostly empty, and a nearby section of the Solomon River doesn't run much at all. And it's not because of drought, Bailey says. "It's because of irrigators. Once they turn that spigot on down the road, that's the minute you see the water move from the pond." Irrigation, the cornerstone of modern agriculture that helped the United States become a world food supplier, has become a source of contention for farmers, environmental groups and governments. Irrigation accounts for the largest demand on freshwater supplies in the United States, and is second only to thermoelectric power in its use of U.S. fresh and saltwater supplies combined, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Study looks at how dams impact rivers
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/CSUZONE01/703080363/1002/NEWS01
As more dams pop up across the country, rivers are losing their ecological diversity, according to a new study from Colorado State University. The study, conducted by associate biology professor LeRoy Poff, examines how the 75,000 dams across the country have affected river ecosystems on a national level. "Dams, on a large scale, are reducing diversity of river types," Poff said. Before dams were common, river ecosystems reflected local climate and conditions, he said. But since then, rivers that were once very distinct now are growing more similar.

Conduit backers focus on legislation
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/6
After six years and more than $840,000 in expenses, supporters of the Arkansas Valley Conduit are concentrating efforts on passing federal legislation that would authorize federal funding for the project. The $330 million conduit would supply drinking water directly from Lake Pueblo for up to 42 communities east of Pueblo. Part of the 1962 Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, the conduit was never built because the communities could not afford it. Legislation sponsored by U.S. Sens. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Reps. John Salazar, D-Colo., and Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., would provide 80 percent federal funding.

New Castle council signs mayors climate protection agreement
http://postindependent.com/article/20070308/VALLEYNEWS/103080041
New Castle became the second town in Garfield County to sign on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement Tuesday night. Glenwood Springs signed the agreement in December. The nonbinding agreement lets communities tailor their own action plan to increase energy efficiency and address global warming. New Castle Mayor Frank Breslin said he was skeptical about the plan but voted to sign on.

State snowpack returns to normal in February
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173369825/4
Colorado's weather and snowpack returned to a more normal pattern during February, according to snowpack reports compiled by the Natural Resources Conservation Service Snotel service. Improvements were measured across Northwestern Colorado during February, while the high percentages previously measured east of the Continental Divide have moderated somewhat. In the Arkansas Valley, the March 1 snowpack was 102 percent of the long-term average, but 116 percent of last year's total on the date.

Construction accident leaves [Bennett] drinking bottled water
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5402193,00.html
Bottled water is the craze in this eastern Colorado town after a construction project severed the main water line Tuesday. "You just have to go with the flow when you live in a small community and things happen," said Corie Edmondson, who loaded up on cases of bottled water at the Bennett Town Hall. A construction project crushed about 10 feet of the city's water line Tuesday, shutting off water to 1,800 of the town's 2,300 residents, said town administrator Matt Reay.
RELATED: Water-safety alert in Bennett after accident
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5380714

How to make a neighborhood ‘green’
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070307/NEWS/103070052
"Green" buildings often use less energy, use less water, and are made with recycled materials. But leaders in the green-building effort say that's just part of the picture. "Green is a good thing, but if it's in the wrong place or you have to drive to it or build big parking lots around it, it's a warning," said Doug Farr, president of Chicago architecture firm Farr and Associates, who led a committee that devised new standards for environmentally friendly neighborhoods. One-third of greenhouse gases is produced by buildings, but another third is produced by moving people and things to and from the buildings, according to the Congress for New Urbanism.

Kleenex's maker not sneezing at Skico's concerns
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070308/NEWS/103080051
The Aspen Skiing Co.'s environmental principles might have met their match in chairlift lines. The Skico has dropped Kimberly-Clark tissue products everywhere in its operations except in the lift lines. The Skico hasn't found a suitable alternative yet for the iconic Kleenex brand it supplies skiers and riders outdoors. There's a good reason for that, said Dave Dickson, director of corporate communications for Kimberly-Clark. He said the tissues there need to be durable and strong to hold up in the elements but still soft for customers' noses. Virgin fibers, rather than recycled fibers, supply those qualities, Dickson said. But Auden Schendler, the Skico's executive director of community and environmental responsibility, scoffed at the idea that the Skico must stick with Kleenex or another company's product that uses virgin fibers.

Speeding cars taking toll on sheep
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070308/NEWS/103080044
Colorado Division of Wildlife officer Kelly Wood likes to pose a trick question to people: What creates a greater management problem with the bighorn sheep herd in the Fryingpan Valley, hunters or vehicles? The answer is vehicles. A bighorn lamb was hit by a vehicle and had to be killed by a Basalt police officer at the direction of Wood in late February.

Top

Opinion

Griego: DREAM Act would give children a chance
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5402310,00.html
This is not a Border Street column, but it is informed by my experience there. Ten months observing life among residents of the Denver block has allowed me plenty of time to examine my assumptions about how illegal immigration affects a community, and as the series winds down over the next couple of months I'll talk about that. But, if Border Street has hardened some of my views, it also has shed more light on counterproductive immigration law, the rules that not only discourage people from becoming legal residents, but hold us back as a community and a state. Which brings me to Maria the Other and the DREAM Act.

Broaden state oil and gas panel
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5378161
The oil and gas industry has long enjoyed a favorable regulatory climate in Colorado, to put it mildly. It's time to bring broader public interests to the table when natural resource and environmental issues are decided. Former Gov. Bill Owens once headed the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association, and during his eight years as the state's chief executive, Owens appointed members of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. They were always respectful - and sometimes obsequious - to the industry. Gov. Bill Ritter wants to expand the commission's membership from seven to nine, add representatives for landowners, environmentalists and public-health agencies to ensure that the agency balances energy production goals with overall public interest in "the protection of the environment, wildlife resources and public safety and welfare."

Health-care solutions come from public, too
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/OPINION01/703080325/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
A statewide panel hoping to address health- care reform is sensibly turning to the public for some suggestions. The 24-member Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform is scheduled to present proposals to expand insurance coverage for all Coloradans by April 6. While the highly regarded group is diverse in representation, it is wise to seek public input on creating a sustainable plan to make health care affordable for residents. Such solutions may be more obvious to those facing insurance difficulties.

Children’s health care
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=opin&article_path=/opinion/opin070307_1.htm
The growing number of Coloradans who lack health insurance is a vexing problem. That is true for the uninsured families, the emergency rooms swamped by visits that could have been avoided, and for the state and its insured residents, both of whom are left with the tab - through increased premiums and health-care costs - for those who cannot pay their bills. It is in everyone's best interest to reduce the number of uninsured people in the state, and it makes sense for a variety of reasons to begin with children. Senate Bill 211, now under consideration in the state Legislature, would increase families' income limits for their children to qualify for Medicaid or the Children's Basic Health Plan, as well as ease the application process for the programs. The measure also would establish a committee charged with studying ways to find medical insurance for all low-income children in Colorado by the end of 2010. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, is an ambitious start to reaching the goal of expanded coverage for Coloradans who need it, improved overall health of the state's residents, and, ultimately, reduced cost of health care in Colorado.

Chutzpah
http://pueblochieftain.com/editorial/1173369825/2
In its latest filing in the combined lawsuits over sewage spills, Colorado Springs admits it “may have” discharged untreated sewage, fecal coli bacteria and other dangerous substances from its sewage system, but it denies that those discharges have caused a wrong or damage to anyone “to the extent required” for the Pueblo district attorney and the Sierra Club to have a legal right to bring their lawsuits.

Good for green growth
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070307/EDITS/70307017
Environmentalists finally gave Vail Resorts some credit for planning to make its new West Lionshead village environmentally friendly, and also for building it on land that’s already occupied. There was a caveat, however. Colorado Wild, an environmental group that has never been a fan of Vail Resorts’ ideas, said the most environmentally friendly alternative would be no development at all. Tough words for a community that considers itself environmentally progressive simply because many of us fled crowded, traffic-clogged cities for lifestyles closer to nature. But each of our flights to the mountains has added to the growth some of us now call out of control.

Politician baiting
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/07/opinion/op1.txt
Speaking of capitalization, while Edwards might hope to make a quick buck from folks who can’t stand Coulter, he should do us all a favor and stop according legitimacy to her bilious babble. Plus, her fans and her foes alike should realize Coulter laughs all the way to the bank at times like these. Ain’t no publicity, after all, like bad publicity. Edwards is rising to the bait when he should be rising above it. And here we thought he was smart enough to understand what it means to cast pearls before swine. How disappointing.

Pushing around U.S. attorneys
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5378162
The dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys is a reprehensible case study in Washington corruption - ironic because their jobs include prosecuting corruption. The episode comes complete with a threatening phone call and an e-mail that was never supposed to be made public. In the phone call, a senior Justice Department official told one of his prey that if he and others didn't stop talking to the press about their dismissals, department officials would publicly criticize their performance.

The fiasco at Walter Reed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5401832,00.html
Contacted by distraught families with wounded soldiers at Walter Reed, the Post documented dilapidated and unsanitary housing, unreasonable and arbitrary demands on the outpatients and soldiers left in bureaucratic limbo as they sought rehabilitation and benefits. Walter Reed is a straight shot up 16th Street from the White House, regularly visited by VIPs and within easy distance of the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. If the outpatient care is so bad there, it makes one wonder what it is like at less visible hospitals.
RELATED: More must be done for those who serve
http://www.longmontfyi.com/opinion.asp

Fort Carson needs to focus on treatment
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5378160
When Iraq veteran Jessica Rich was killed in a collision driving the wrong way on Interstate 25 last month, the Fort Carson Army reservist was undergoing therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder - after having been on a waiting list for more than a year. In 2005, Pfc. Stephen Sherwood, on leave from Iraq, killed his wife and himself days after returning to Fort Carson. He had been a "stellar soldier." Their deaths underscore the toll that the war is taking on returning soldiers and highlight the need for Fort Carson to improve its ability to identify and treat psychological problems.

Writers on the Range: Are we being too hard on our new pariahs?
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070307/COLUMNS/103070051
Where once in our nation's history we allowed cigarettes but banned beer, now we allow beer but ban cigarettes. I see no good coming from efforts to nudge society too close to perfection. Newspapers and our history books are thick with horrors committed in the name of perfection. I distrust the impulse altogether. Where to draw the lines of compromise - that's the difficult task of justice. But I believe we need room for a few smoky taverns. I don't need to go into them; I just want the choice.

School violence raises questions
http://postindependent.com/article/20070308/OPINION/103080040
When questions arise, answers should follow.Right now the number of questions surrounding the Garfield School District Re-2 far outnumber the answers. And that is a problem. A Feb. 23 fight at Rifle High School sent a female student to the hospital with multiple injuries. According to the girl's parents, it took the school two hours to call them. In the meantime, the injured girl waited. She wasn't taken for medical attention until her parents arrived at the school. So many questions. School Board President Jay Rickstrew said at the March 6 school board meeting that there isn't a written policy in place concerning how to get medical attention for a student. That's a big problem.

Secretly abusing animals: CU stops inhumane vivisection, but openness needed
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/08/secretly-abusing-animals/
In recent years, the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center has killed at least 18 dogs and 191 pigs during sales "training" for Boulder-based Valleylab. This appalling form of vivisection was not for legitimate research. CU abruptly suspended the practice last month, noting that killing animals for sales-training purposes is inconsistent with the university's "core mission." No kidding. But if not for the dogged work of a local animal advocate, the carnage would not have been exposed, let alone stopped.

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

Nebraska Senator to Announce Monday Whether He Will Run for President
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/us/politics/08hagel.html
Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who has been one of the fiercest Republican critics of the Iraq war, intends to make clear on Monday whether he will seek his party’s 2008 presidential nomination, a spokesman said Wednesday. Mr. Hagel, 60, has flirted with a White House bid for months. But he has yet to travel this year to early voting states, build an extensive political organization or begin raising money to the degree other candidates have. Mr. Hagel, whose second term in the Senate ends next year, could also announce his intention to seek re-election or to leave politics. His spokesman, Mike Buttry, declined to elaborate on the announcement, which is scheduled for Monday morning at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Edwards to Skip Nevada Debate Hosted by Fox
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702137.html
Former Sen. John Edwards campaign announced that he will skip the Nevada Democratic Party's planned August presidential debate, the latest fallout from the party's decision to have the Fox Network host the event. The move sparked an outcry, particularly among liberals and activist bloggers, who accused Fox of being too sympathetic to Republicans and demanded that the Democratic candidates boycott the forum.

Obama says he was unaware of stocks in trust fund
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080154mar08,1,6049958.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday that he was unaware until this week that he once held stock in two companies owned by political contributors, but that he never took any actions in the Senate or elsewhere to further their business interests before ending his brief foray into high-risk investing. Under the terms of a trust he was setting up in February 2005, Obama said, his broker made the decision to invest as much as $100,000 in shares in the companies, both of which had business interests before the federal government around that time. "At no point did I know what stocks were held," Obama (D-Ill.) said at a news conference. "And at no point did I direct how those stocks were invested." Obama said the decisions to invest in those two companies were made by the broker without his knowledge, as part of a "quasi-blind trust" arrangement he said he had hoped would fend off conflict-of-interest questions. The trust documents were actually signed three months after the securities were purchased, but Obama was operating under the terms of the agreement and knew no details about the investments.
RELATED: Obama denies wrongdoing in investments
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama8mar08,1,4769551.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

New York Label May Not Fit All in Giuliani Run
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/us/politics/08rudy.html
When Republicans say they are skeptical that Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, can survive their party’s presidential nominating process, they usually point to his record of support for abortion rights, gay rights and gun control. But there may be a less obvious hurdle that Mr. Giuliani has to overcome: Whether he is too much of a New Yorker for the rest of the country.

Unions To Delay Supporting A Candidate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702326.html
Leaders of the AFL-CIO pledged yesterday to consult more widely with workers before making a decision about endorsing a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and strongly urged individual unions not to back any candidate until later in the fall. The go-slow approach appeared to be a response to the unsuccessful record of labor groups in the last presidential race. Key service-employee unions endorsed former Vermont governor Howard Dean and key industrial unions backed then-Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), but both collapsed in the Iowa caucuses. The main competition for labor support appears to be among Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), former senator John Edwards (N.C.) and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). "Edwards and Obama are getting the most chatter," said a Democrat with close ties to labor who asked not to be identified to handicap the competition. "But Clinton has really started working it hard with a lot of one-on-one meetings and checking in with people."

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

A name disclosed, now life relocated
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080159mar08,1,16050.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
A life has ended for Valerie Plame. When she and her husband, Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador, and their 7-year-old twins depart this week for a new home in Santa Fe, Plame, 43, will leave a near-hermetic social circle of covert CIA officers. She has plans for a book, tentatively titled "Fair Game," and could make more than $2 million--if the CIA allows Simon & Schuster to publish it. The book would recount her life in the CIA and what happened after a Bush administration official disclosed she was an operative.
RELATED: Next for the C.I.A.’s Least Secret Officer: A Quieter Life
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/washington/08valerie.html

Subpoenas Likely for Justice Officials in Prosecutor Firings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030701546.html
Senate Democrats said yesterday they are preparing to subpoena five senior Justice Department officials as part of a widening probe into whether eight U.S. attorneys were fired for political reasons. The fallout from the investigation into why the prosecutors were dismissed continued yesterday. Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) hired a top defense attorney to handle a related probe by the Senate ethics committee, which is investigating allegations that he pressured a New Mexico prosecutor to bring indictments against a Democrat just before the November elections.
RELATED: Fired U.S. attorney's testimony raises broader concerns
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-newmex8mar08,1,5722671.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Inquiry Into Ouster of U.S. Attorneys Moves Toward Subpoenas at Justice Department
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/washington/08attorneys.html?ref=washington

Universities get free pass on new House ethics rules
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-colleges-lawmakers-travel_N.htm
New House ethics rules that restrict lobbyist-funded travel exempt trips paid for by colleges and universities, a powerful lobbying force in Washington. Colleges, universities and other higher-education groups spent at least $75 million on federal lobbying efforts in 2005, and more than $900,000 on travel for lawmakers since 2000, according to a USA TODAY analysis of travel and lobbying reports compiled by non-partisan data-tracking firms. Universities, which spent more on lobbying than hospitals and nursing homes in 2005, seek help on issues such as federal student aid, immigration restrictions for foreign students, and special grants.

Missteps test faith of Patrick devotees
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/08/missteps_test_faith_of_patrick_devotees/
With the latest headline, dissent erupted in the blogosphere. "The caddy didn't matter. The drapes don't matter. This matters," wrote Charley Blandy, a cofounder of Blue Mass. Group, the state's leading left-wing blog and a strong voice for Deval Patrick during last year's gubernatorial campaign. Some voters like Donald W. Bourne of Yarmouthport, who backed Patrick last fall because of his populist appeal, worry that the governor has begun to lose that touch. "I hope he learns," he said. Even Mr. Bartley's Gourmet Burgers in Cambridge has changed Patrick's namesake burger from the optimistic "Together we can eat this," a play on his campaign theme, to "The 'Cadillac' of Burgers," a reference to his opulent official vehicle. Nine weeks into his four-year term, Patrick is struggling to keep his balance amid a wave of mini-scandals and bad press days.

Barry must serve jail time, assert prosecutors
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/08/barry_must_serve_jail_time_assert_prosecutors/
Federal prosecutors filed a court document yesterday seeking jail time for D.C. Council member Marion Barry, alleging that Barry, who was spared incarceration last year in a criminal tax case, "has not acted like a person who has been given the opportunity of probation, and should not be treated like one."

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Gates says closed Guantanamo hearings needed
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo8mar08,1,5219133.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday defended a Pentagon decision to hold secret hearings for 14 suspected terrorists transferred to Guantanamo Bay last year, despite the fact that similar proceedings have been held in open session. The decision, announced earlier this week, represents a change in administration policy and was criticized by former military lawyers and human rights organizations. Gates said he did not think that closing the combatant status review tribunals for the 14 suspects, who include alleged Sept. 11 organizer Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, would undermine the credibility of the process. "For these particular individuals, a good deal of the discussion associated with their evaluation is going to [involve] classified information," Gates said at the Pentagon. "That's the reason." But some of the former military lawyers disagreed.

U.S. Sues Walgreen Over Racial Prejudice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702374.html
The federal government sued Walgreen on Wednesday, alleging widespread racial bias against thousands of black workers at the drugstore chain. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a class-action lawsuit that Walgreen makes decisions about employee assignments and promotion based on race. Most of the complaints that led to the lawsuit came from employees and former employees in St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit and Tampa. But EEOC officials in St. Louis said they have found evidence of the same trend around the country. Walgreen said in a statement that it is committed to "fairness, diversity and opportunity" and that it was "saddened and disappointed" by the EEOC action. The lawsuit alleges that Walgreen assigns black managers, management trainees and pharmacists to low-performing stores and stores in black communities, and denies them promotions.
RELATED: U.S. Accuses Walgreen of Racial Bias
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/08walgreen.html?ref=washington

Top

Foreign Policy

White House foreign policy has shifted
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bushpol8mar08,1,4014140.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Beset by dangers abroad and rivals at home, the Bush administration has embarked on a broad adjustment of its foreign policy in hopes of using its final two years to improve a record now widely viewed as a failure. Since January, an administration known for stubbornly holding to its positions has launched a new Mideast peace initiative and reopened diplomatic channels with North Korea, Syria and Iran. And as President Bush arrives today in Brazil, he brings a new approach to Latin America. However, these moves mark a course correction rather than an overhaul. The administration's primary approach for dealing with adversaries such as Iran and North Korea still combines economic and political pressure with confrontational rhetoric. Yet the White House is showing a willingness to consider strategies more acceptable to allies as well as to the Democratic-controlled Congress, which increasingly threatens to obstruct the administration's path.

Jordan's king says U.S. must lead way to peace
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080019mar08,1,5656742.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Citing the risks of further delay, Jordan's King Abdullah II told Congress on Wednesday that the United States must take the lead in creating conditions for a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking to a joint meeting of House and Senate members, Abdullah said that history has shown that progress in Mideast peacemaking is impossible without American leadership. "We look to you to play a historic role," he said, adding that results are needed "not in one year or five years but this year." "No more bloodshed, no more lives pointlessly taken," Abdullah declared. His speech, lasting just under a half-hour, was delivered in flawless English, with an occasional aside in Arabic. He was interrupted several times by applause.
RELATED: Jordan: Militants plotted to kill Bush
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-07-jordan-plot_N.htm

Shiite Bloc in Parliament Diminished by Defection
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030700357.html
A small Shiite political party on Wednesday pulled out of the governing Shiite parliamentary bloc that put Iraq's prime minister in power. The move could lead to more squabbling in a parliament widely seen as paralyzed by sectarian and political differences. Some interpreted the pullout of the Fadhila Party, which holds 15 of the 275 seats, as a sign of growing dissatisfaction with the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Fadhila leaders said their withdrawal from the United Iraqi Alliance reflected a desire to defuse sectarian influences in the country's politics. "The first step to save Iraq from its present crisis is to dismantle this bloc and not to allow the formation of any sectarian blocs in the future," Nadim al-Jabiri, a senior party official, said at a news conference Wednesday.
RELATED: Political bloc to target Shiite extremists
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-07-iraq-politics_N.htm

U.S.: Iraqi insurgent attacks intensifying
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-08-insurgent-attacks_N.htm
Insurgents have sought to intensify attacks during a Baghdad security crackdown and additional U.S. forces will be sent to areas outside the capital where militant groups are regrouping, the new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said Thursday. U.S. Gen. David Petraeus said the troop buildups outside Baghdad will focus on Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a growing hotbed for suspected Sunni extremists fleeing the U.S.-Iraqi security operation in Baghdad. But Petraeus stressed that military force alone is "not sufficient" to end the violence in Iraq and political talks must eventually include some militant groups now opposing the U.S.-backed government. "This is critical," Petraeus said in his first news conference since taking over command last month. He noted that such political negotiations "will determine in the long run the success of this effort."
RELATED: Gates: 2,200 more troops going to Iraq
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-iraq-troops_N.htm
RELATED: Attacks on Shiite Pilgrims Continue
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.ready.html?ref=world

Iranian influence soaring in Iraq
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080164mar08,1,6508711.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
In the cafeteria of Iraq's parliament, Shiite legislators slip into Persian when they don't want their conversations overheard. In the holy city of Najaf, an Iranian charity helps newlyweds buy furniture. Iranian weapons, freshly manufactured, are turning up in arms caches seized from insurgents in and around Baghdad. These are among the many ways in which Iran's soaring influence is being felt in Iraq, where Iran's complex entanglement in the affairs of its neighbor lies at the heart of the schism threatening to tear Iraq--and the region--apart.
RELATED: Iran will attend meeting on Iraq
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/03/08/iran_will_attend_meeting_on_iraq/

Former Iranian Defense Official Talks to Western Intelligence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702241.html
A former Iranian deputy defense minister who once commanded the Revolutionary Guard has left his country and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran's ties to the organization, according to a senior U.S. official. Ali Rez Asgari disappeared last month during a visit to Turkey. Iranian officials suggested yesterday that he may have been kidnapped by Israel or the United States. The U.S. official said Asgari is willingly cooperating. He did not divulge Asgari's whereabouts or specify who is questioning him, but made clear that the information Asgari is offering is fully available to U.S. intelligence.

IAEA ratifies Iran atom aid cut
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/08/AR2007030800322.html
U.N. nuclear agency governors on Thursday ratified cuts in technical aid to Iran over concern that Tehran might be trying to build nuclear bombs. The move by the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) followed U.N. sanctions passed in December that ban transfers of technology or expertise to Iran that might be of use in producing nuclear fuel.
RELATED: Tension rises in Iran over women's rights
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran8mar08,1,1135149.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Israelis Arrest 18 Suspects in Raid on Palestinian Site
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/world/middleeast/08mideast.html
Israeli forces arrested 18 men suspected of being militants in a raid on the Palestinian Authority’s military intelligence headquarters near Ramallah early Wednesday, in what appears to be a growing security clampdown in the West Bank. Last week, one Palestinian man was killed in three days of Israeli Army raids into Nablus in search of militants and laboratories for explosives. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told Agence France-Presse that the raid on Wednesday “could have grave consequences and compromise efforts aimed at installing calm.”

Sudanese Leader's Long Letter Gets Brief Response From Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702460.html
How do you write a letter to a man you've accused of abetting mass murder? President Bush faced that dilemma last week. Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, last month wrote Bush a lengthy private letter about the situation in Darfur, where as many as 450,000 people have died in a campaign that the United States has labeled genocide. Bashir's letter, which was not previously disclosed, was described by U.S. officials who read it as an extremely well-written whine about U.S. pressure on Sudan to expand an undermanned African Union force into a much larger force including U.N. peacekeepers. Bashir argued that he was implementing a deal to expand the force as fast as he could. He argued that U.S. pressure tactics will not work and are aimed at the wrong problem. Instead, he said, the problem rests with the rebels in Darfur. "His message was that he has agreed and things are moving forward," a senior administration official said. "We don't see things that way."

US hires firm for Somalia mission
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2007/03/08/us_hires_firm_for_somalia_mission/
The State Department has hired a major military contractor to help equip and provide logistical support to international peacekeepers in Somalia, giving the United States a significant role in the critical mission without assigning combat forces. DynCorp International, which also has US contracts in Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, will be paid $10 million to help the first peacekeeping mission in Somalia in more than 10 years.

At a Camp In Chad, Hope Wanes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702253.html
Most of the victims of violence on both sides of the border are black Africans, and they usually blame the attacks on the Janjaweed, an Arab militia backed by the Sudanese government. Observers here say the perpetrators are often members of Chadian Arab tribes aligned with the Janjaweed militia. At the same time, anti-government rebel groups, made up of both Arabs and Africans, have stepped up their efforts to overthrow the Chadian president, Idriss Deby. The government says the rebels receive support from Sudan and launch attacks from Sudanese territory. In return, Sudan's government accuses Chad of supporting Sudanese rebels fighting in Darfur.

Japan, N.Korea talks abruptly end again
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-08-japan-nkorea-talks_N.htm
Talks between Japan and North Korea on normalizing ties ended after just 45 minutes on Thursday, leaving wide gaps as their top envoys blamed each other for the lack of agreement on key issues. "I hope they understand the consequences," Japan's top envoy Koichi Haraguchi said of the North Koreans during a news conference at the end of the rocky two-day talks. No further discussion is planned in Hanoi, he said. No date was immediately announced for future talks.

Denial Reopens Wounds of Japan’s Ex-Sex Slaves
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/world/asia/08japan.html?ref=world
The long festering issue of Japan’s war-era sex slaves gained new prominence last week when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied the military’s role in coercing the women into servitude. The denial by Mr. Abe, Japan’s first prime minister born after the war, drew official protests from China, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines, some of the countries from which the sex slaves were taken. The furor highlighted yet again Japan’s unresolved history in a region where it has been ceding influence to China. The controversy has also drawn in the United States, which has strongly resisted entering the history disputes that have roiled East Asia in recent years.

Mother, daughter return to L.A. after being poisoned in Moscow
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-doctor8mar08,1,7180625.story?coll=la-headlines-world
A physician and her adult daughter returned to Los Angeles Wednesday after being poisoned during a trip to Moscow, the latest in a string of Russian poisoning cases that have sparked international intrigue. Marina Kovalevsky, a 49-year-old internist well known in L.A.'s Russian community, and her daughter Yana, 26, were sickened 12 days ago by thallium, an odorless, colorless, toxic chemical element initially suspected in the death of a former Russian spy in London last year.

Britain's House of Commons supports election of Lords
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-lords8mar08,1,4747718.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Britain's House of Commons took a historic step Wednesday to endorse a fully elected House of Lords, a move that could eventually end the reign of Parliament's upper house as a seat of privilege and patronage. After debating for the better part of a century a more democratic foundation for a house rooted in Britain's aristocratic and baronial past, the House of Commons voted 337 to 224 to endorse the idea of a fully elected upper chamber. By an even greater margin, members voted to abolish the 92 seats still reserved for lords by virtue of having inherited their titles.

Low-key, high-stakes vote in Northern Ireland
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080153mar08,1,5656741.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Northern Ireland is moving on. Nine years after the Good Friday agreement brought an end to the state of war here, most people are more concerned about affordable housing and good schools for their children than whether their neighbor might be Catholic or Protestant. Downtown Belfast, whose streets until recently were demarcated by barbed wire and military checkpoints, is showing signs of economic regeneration. New construction is blossoming everywhere--shopping malls, fancy new restaurants and hotels. The smell of money has replaced the smell of fear. At the same time, another type of construction continues. The "peace walls"--corrugated steel and barbed-wire fences 30 feet high that separate Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods--are being extended into new areas. They are grotesque, but those who live in their shadow say they bring a sense of security.

Bush: Cuban people should choose Castro's successor
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-bush-castro_N.htm
President Bush says that when Fidel Castro dies, his communist government should as well. "How long he stays on earth, that's a decision that will be made by the Almighty," Bush told foreign journalists Tuesday ahead of a week-long trip to Latin America. "I don't know how long he's going to live. But nevertheless, I do believe that the system of government that he's imposed upon the people ought not live if that's what the people decide." Castro is in failing health. For 47 years, he has had led a communist regime south of Florida's shores.
RELATED: U.S. leaves Cuban physicians in limbo
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-medicos8mar08,1,2188309.story?coll=la-headlines-world

3 Guatemalan Security Officials Resign in Wake of Killings
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/world/americas/08guatemala.html
Three of Guatemala’s top security officials submitted their resignations Wednesday in a deepening scandal surrounding the deaths of four police officers who were implicated in a quadruple homicide last month and subsequently killed while in custody. The three officials, Security Minister Carlos Vielmann; the national police chief, Erwin Sperisen; and the head of the prison system, Víctor Rosales, offered to step down in connection with the case, which has confirmed for many here suspicions of corruption in the security apparatus. President Óscar Berger has not yet decided whether to accept the offers.

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Immigration

Immigration arrests leave kids stranded, advocates say
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080143mar08,1,5197988.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Dozens of children were stranded at schools and with baby-sitters after their parents were rounded up by federal authorities who raided a [Massachusetts] leather-goods maker suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, advocates said Wednesday. Immigration officials said 327 of the 500 employees of Michael Bianco Inc., mostly women, were detained Tuesday for possible deportation.
RELATED: Fear grips kin after immigration raid
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/08/fear_grips_kin_after_immigration_raid/

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Crime and Penal Reform

One Account of Abuse and Fear in Texas Youth Detention
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/us/08youth.html?ref=us
Joseph Galloway says he was molested at 15 by a female corrections officer in a Texas Youth Commission detention center and later raped by a fellow inmate as a guard stood by. “That’s when I started to try to kill myself,” Mr. Galloway, now 19, said by telephone from another youth facility as he waited late Tuesday to be interviewed by the Texas Rangers. Mr. Galloway’s account is among about 150 new complaints that have emerged from 44 secure state schools, halfway houses and residential youth care programs in Texas as a result of several overlapping inquiries into accusations of sexual abuse and other mistreatment there. A senior investigator, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to news organizations, said that only Wednesday, a registered sex offender was found to be working at the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, near San Angelo, a Youth Commission facility operated by a private contractor.

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Economy

Most investors say they'll stick with foreign stocks
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-03-08-foreign-stocks-usat_N.htm
You'd think the global stock sell-off over the past few weeks would have soured U.S. investors' insatiable appetite for foreign stock investments. It hasn't. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 668 stock owners conducted March 2-4 — after the Feb. 27 plunge that knocked the Dow down 416 points and rocked global markets — 72% of the investors who own foreign stocks said they would "make no changes" to their current allocation of non-U.S. stocks. Only 12% said they would "decrease" their foreign stock holdings, matching the 12% who said they would "increase" their weighting. Overall, 36% of stock owners polled own foreign stocks.
RELATED: Paulson Urges China to Open Its Markets More Quickly
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/worldbusiness/08trades.html

Democrats Look for Permanent AMT Fix
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702393.html
Key House leaders are pushing to sharply limit the scope of the alternative minimum tax, providing relief to many families who already pay the unpopular levy as well as millions more who would be hit for the first time next year. The proposal being crafted by Democratic lawmakers would halt the relentless expansion of the tax, which was created in 1969 to target 155 super-rich tax dodgers. Because it was not indexed for inflation, the tax is projected to ensnare 4.2 million families when they calculate their taxes next month.

Senators slam credit card rules
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080148mar08,1,7164073.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
An Ohio man whose $3,200 credit card debt mushroomed to $10,700 with interest and fees told his story Wednesday to senators who denounced the industry for confusing billing practices and shifting interest rates. Executives of three major banks defended their credit card practices as responsible and responsive to consumers' needs at the hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' investigative subcommittee. Those from Citigroup Inc. and Chase Bank USA said their companies were eliminating some practices, including the one that hit Wesley Wannemacher of Lima, Ohio. He was charged over-limit fees on his Chase card account 47 times even though he went over his credit limit only three times. Interest charges and fees more than tripled his debt although he made payments averaging $1,000 a year over six years, noted Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the subcommittee's chairman.
RELATED: Senators grill bank execs on 'unfair' credit card fees
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-credit-hearing_N.htm

Insurance antitrust exemption questioned
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-insurance_N.htm
An effort to end the insurance industry's exemption from antitrust laws got a boost Wednesday at a Senate hearing where two Gulf Coast lawmakers aired frustrations over how insurers handled Hurricane Katrina claims. Sens. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of legislation that would repeal a more than 60-year-old law that allows insurance companies to share information. Lott, who has sued his insurance company over Katrina's destruction of his Pascagoula, Miss., home, sparked the effort by introducing a similar bill last year. He said he began to investigate the insurance industry after witnessing its "reprehensible behavior" in responding to Katrina and was "astounded" by what he discovered.

Group Seeks to Rein In Corporate Prosecution
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702347.html
An unusual coalition of former prosecutors, corporate lawyers and civil liberties advocates will tell a congressional panel today to consider legislation that would relax Justice Department policies on charging businesses with crimes. The group, including the former chief of the government's Enron Task Force and the president of the American Bar Association, contends that prosecutors did not go far enough when they made concessions last December in the face of pressure from Congress. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) introduced legislation this year that would bar the government from considering whether companies invoked their attorney-client privilege and whether they paid attorney fees to employees under investigation in deciding to file criminal charges against corporations. Today, the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime and terrorism will consider whether revised guidelines issued by Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty resolve concerns expressed by lawmakers and the coalition.
RELATED: Some Lawyers Urge More Safeguards on Rights in Corporate Fraud Cases
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/08legal.html

$3 Million Frozen in Cyber-Fraud Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702240.html
A federal judge has frozen $3 million belonging to an Eastern European cyber-ring in an online stock manipulation case involving seven major brokerages, the largest asset freeze to date in such cases. The ring's members lived in Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and the British Virgin Islands, and netted at least $733,000 from December 2005 to December 2006 in a complex scheme that combined hacking with traditional "pump-and-dump" market manipulation, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington. Using a technique growing in popularity with cyber-criminals, the hackers cloaked their electronic footprints by hijacking the Internet protocol addresses of unrelated third parties across the United States, the SEC said yesterday.

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Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability

Senate curtails labor rights of airport screeners
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bargain8mar08,1,754567.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
The Senate approved a measure Wednesday that would scale back slightly the collective bargaining rights of airport screeners, but the bill to implement new security measures still appeared likely to be vetoed by President Bush. By a party-line vote of 51 to 48, Democrats passed a provision that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to waive the right of the 43,000 passenger and baggage screeners to negotiate their working conditions in times of national emergency. Republicans argued that, even with the waiver, the bill would needlessly tie the hands of the Transportation Security Administration, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, as it tried to assign airport security workers where they were most needed.

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Housing and Homelessness

Cases of Mortgage Fraud Up, FBI Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702313.html
The number of mortgage fraud cases investigated by the FBI almost doubled in the past three years, reflecting a problem that is "pervasive and growing," the bureau said yesterday in its annual report on financial crimes. The FBI said its mortgage fraud cases increased to 818 in 2006 from 436 in 2003, and acknowledged that its caseload probably represents a small piece of the problem. Mortgage fraud comes in two broad varieties. Fraud for profit is committed mostly by industry insiders and involves practices such as falsely inflating property values. Fraud for housing is committed by borrowers and involves actions such as acquiring a house under false pretenses. Mortgage fraud is difficult to track, the FBI said, because the industry is not required to report fraud, and the sale of mortgage loans on secondary markets can "conceal or distort the fraud," thereby reducing the number of cases reported. "The true level of mortgage fraud is largely unknown," the report said.

U.S. Orders Lender to Tighten Policies
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/08fremont.html
Federal bank regulators on Wednesday ordered Fremont Investment and Loan, a major lender in the subprime home mortgage business, to tighten its loan policies and operations to avoid future losses from defaults. It was the first move by federal regulators against an individual institution related to turmoil in the market for subprime mortgages — higher-interest loans for people whose credit or income makes them a higher risk. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced the cease-and-desist order with Fremont Investment, a bank based in Brea, Calif., and its parents, Fremont General and Fremont General Credit. The companies agreed to the order without admitting or denying the federal agency’s allegation that Fremont Investment was operating “without effective risk-management policies and procedures” in its subprime mortgage and commercial real estate lending operations.

FEMA Taking Hit on Sale of Surplus Trailers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702628.html
Stored in such places as the vacant land near an airfield in Hope, Ark., an industrial park in Cumberland, Md., and a warehouse in Edison, N.J., are the results of one of the federal government's costliest stumbles in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- tens of thousands of empty trailers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency hurriedly bought 145,000 trailers and mobile homes just before and after Katrina hit, spending $2.7 billion largely through no-bid contracts. Now, it is selling off as many as 41,000 of the homes, netting, so far, about 40 cents on each dollar spent by taxpayers. Thousands more of the homes -- critics say more than 8,000 -- have never been used and cannot be sold immediately, even though scores of people in the South have been made homeless by recent storms.

Top

Media

XM, Sirius Pitch Merger to Hill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702243.html
The price of satellite radio service has become a sensitive topic in the debate over whether the nation's two space-based radio companies should be allowed to merge, and lawmakers zeroed in on it yesterday. XM Satellite Radio Holdings of the District and Sirius Satellite Radio have charged customers $12.95 a month for all-or-nothing access to their many channels for several years. If federal regulators permit the companies to merge, listeners may have more options, at prices above and below that figure, executives told a House panel yesterday.

`Happy slapping' Web images made illegal
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080011mar08,1,2511006.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
A new law in France makes it a crime for anyone who is not a professional journalist to film real-world violence and distribute the images on the Internet. Critics call it a clumsy effort by authorities to battle "happy slapping," the youth fad of filming violent acts--which most often they have provoked--and spreading the images on the Web or between mobile phones. The measure, tucked deep into a vast anti-crime law that took effect Wednesday, has alarmed media advocates who say it tramples on freedom of expression. Critics said the measure will also hinder citizens' abilities to expose police brutality.

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Education

Education Dept. Is Urged to Explain Loan Subsidy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/washington/08loan.html?ref=washington
Lawmakers from both parties are pressuring the Education Department to explain why it let a student loan company keep $278 million in subsidies that an audit found improper. The pressure indicates that both parties are focused on the increasing costs of higher education. The loan company, Nelnet, received the payments through a subsidy program that guaranteed a 9.5 percent interest rate on student loans. In an accord reached in January, the department allowed Nelnet to keep the $278 million it had received but suspended future payments of more than $800 million until a future audit could determine whether the company was eligible for the money. Ten Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee, as well as a separate bipartisan group of 10 members of Congress, sent letters to the department in the last two days seeking an explanation of that decision.

Gates Voices Concerns About U.S. Education
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/08gates.html
Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, told Congress on Wednesday that overhauls of the nation’s schools and immigration laws are urgently needed to keep jobs from going overseas. “The U.S. cannot maintain its economic leadership unless our work force consists of people who have the knowledge and skills needed to drive innovation,” Mr. Gates told the Senate committee that helps oversee labor and education. Mr. Gates, whose charitable foundation has given away more than $3 billion since 1999 for educational programs and scholarships, encouraged lawmakers to push for higher educational standards and to make more challenging coursework available to students.

Suicide Shootings at Schools in Michigan and Texas
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/us/08school.html?ref=us
A 17-year-old shot his ex-girlfriend four times Wednesday as they talked in the parking lot of her central Michigan high school and then fatally shot himself in the head, the authorities said. The incident was one of two suicides at an American high school on Wednesday. Earlier in the morning, a 16-year-old boy shot himself at his high school in Texas and later died at a hospital.

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Military

Dole, Shalala Pledge Full Investigation Into Military Care
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030700863.html
The co-chairmen of a new bipartisan presidential commission charged with looking into the care of wounded service members vowed today to conduct a comprehensive and vigorous investigation, possibly leading to recommendations that could change the system for decades. Former senator Robert J. Dole, a Republican from Kansas who was seriously wounded in World War II, and former health and human services secretary Donna E. Shalala, a Democrat who served for eight years in the Clinton administration, told reporters after a meeting at the White House that President Bush wants them to look at the entire military care system following revelations of shortcomings at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
RELATED: Army surgeon general scrutinized in Walter Reed case
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-veterans8mar08,1,5715812.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Bush: Medical neglect of U.S. troops will not be tolerated
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-bush-walter-reed_N.htm

Military prodded on brain injuries
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-07-brain-injuries_N.htm
The Pentagon lacks a comprehensive plan to identify and treat tens of thousands of troops who may suffer from traumatic brain injury, the signature wound of the Iraq war, according to a previously undisclosed Defense Department memorandum obtained by USA TODAY. The memo was released this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Troops with mild and moderate brain injury are of greatest concern, the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, now part of a new Defense Health Board, said in the Aug. 11 memo.

Former Sailor Accused of Providing Data to Terrorist Web Site
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702577.html
A former sailor was arrested yesterday in Phoenix on federal charges of providing material support for a conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals amid allegations that he sent classified information about a U.S. Navy battle group's movements in the Middle East to a terrorist Web site in early 2001. Paul R. Hall, 31, allegedly used his position aboard the USS Benfold and his secret clearance to forward details of the battle group's defensive capabilities and how the ships were going to cross the Strait of Hormuz in April 2001. Federal officials wrote in a criminal complaint that Hall -- who is referred to as Hassan Abujihaad throughout the document -- was contacting the Web site to order jihad videos and supported the terrorist mission of attacking American targets such as the USS Cole.

Air Force Programs Late, Over Budget, Audit Finds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702358.html
Four of the Air Force's largest transport plane programs are behind schedule and over their target cost by a total of almost $1 billion, federal auditors said yesterday. Three Lockheed Martin programs and one Boeing program are still in early stages, and their combined cost is already $962 million, or more than 35 percent, over the target of $2.7 billion, William M. Solis and Michael Sullivan, analysts at the Government Accountability Office, told a panel of the House Armed Services Committee. The cost growth must be stemmed, they said, because the service has budgeted about $12 billion for the programs.

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Religion

Living Day to Day by a Gospel of Green
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/garden/08ball.html?ref=science
THE Rev. Jim Ball is an evangelical Christian minister whose pulpit is parked in front of his townhouse. It’s a deep blue hybrid Toyota Prius, but it is not just any Toyota Prius. It is the original “What Would Jesus Drive?” car. Four years ago Mr. Ball, the executive director of the nonprofit Evangelical Environmental Network, and his wife, Kara, drove the Prius from Texas east across the Bible Belt in a provocative stunt that, in keeping with the core mission of his organization, awakened evangelical churches to the threat of global warming. It also awakened Americans to the existence of the human hybrid known as a Green Evangelical.

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Energy Policy

Environmental Group Behind the TXU Deal Hires a Banker
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/08deal.html?ref=business
The environmental movement is about to take a page from Wall Street’s deal-making playbook that may give “green mail” a good name. One of the nation’s largest and most influential environmental groups, Environmental Defense, has hired Perella Weinberg Partners, the boutique investment bank, to advise it as the group takes on an unusual role in the middle of the $38 billion buyout of TXU, the Texas energy giant. Two weeks ago, Environmental Defense helped negotiate environmental terms of the buyout deal that the Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company struck with TXU, including concessions to reduce coal-fired plants and carbon emissions limits.
RELATED: With Coal Plans Cut Back, Texas Faces Energy Gap
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/business/08energy.html?ref=business

Top

Environment and Conservation

Taking climate legislation to the Hill
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080147mar08,1,6770856.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The perils of climate change are attracting much attention these days, with a popular award-winning documentary on the subject, a UN panel emphasizing the dangers and widespread agreement among scientists that global warming presents a potentially catastrophic threat. The concern has prompted a flurry of legislative activity on Capitol Hill, with four major bills, soon to be five, vying for support and votes, and some measure appearing likely to pass. But it remains unclear how strong it will be, how far lawmakers are willing to go in restricting U.S. industry, and whether President Bush might veto a bill.

Memos Tell Officials How to Discuss Climate
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/washington/08polar.html?ref=science
Internal memorandums circulated in the Alaskan division of the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service appear to require government biologists or other employees traveling in countries around the Arctic not to discuss climate change, polar bears or sea ice if they are not designated to do so.

Heavy Rains Kill Dozens, Trigger Disease in South America
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702157.html
Recent heavy rains in South America have killed dozens of people, wiped out thousands of homes and triggered outbreaks of dengue fever in several countries. The floods have hit hardest in Bolivia, where flooding has killed more than 40 people, destroyed nearly a half-million acres of farmland and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Bolivian army officials announced this week that more than 77,000 families have been affected by the floods since December, mostly in the low-lying Amazon flood plains of Beni province. Flooding in northern Argentina has also resulted in hundreds of evacuations in recent days. The heavier-than-normal rains early this year are blamed on an El Niño weather cycle -- a periodic warming of tropical Pacific Ocean waters that causes severe weather every several years, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.

Top

Opinion

Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.

Hoagland: 'What Has Happened to Dick Cheney?'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702044.html
Is the vice president losing his influence, or perhaps his mind? That question, even if it is phrased more delicately, is creeping through foreign ministries and presidential offices abroad and has become a factor in the Bush administration's relations with the world. "What has happened to Dick Cheney?" That solicitous but direct question came from a European statesman who has known the vice president for many years. He put it to me a few days ago -- even before the discovery of a blood clot in Cheney's leg and the perjury conviction of Scooter Libby, his former chief of staff, brought headline attention to the volatile state of the vice president's physical, emotional and political health.

Chapman: `Scooter' Libby and Bush's unkept promise
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0703080194mar08,0,679404.column?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed
So now we have confirmation that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief assistant set out to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson by secretly telling reporters his wife worked for the CIA--and then repeatedly lied about it during a federal criminal investigation. When George W. Bush assured us during the 2000 campaign that Cheney "is a man of integrity and sound judgment, who has proven that public service can be noble service," I doubt this is what Americans were expecting. Nor does it quite jibe with what Bush and Cheney promised about the tone they would set. Cheney lamented that under Bill Clinton, Washington had "often become a scene of bitterness and ill will and partisan strife." In accepting the Republican nomination, Bush confided, "I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect." How are we coming on that project?
RELATED: Green: The coverup paradox
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/08/the_coverup_paradox/

The Gonzales Eight
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/opinion/08thu1.html
Americans often suspect that their political leaders are arrogant and out of touch. But even then it is nearly impossible to fathom what self-delusion could have convinced Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico that he had a right to call a federal prosecutor at home and question him about a politically sensitive investigation. That disturbing tale is one of several revealed this week in Congressional hearings called to look into the firing of eight United States attorneys. The hearings left little doubt that the Bush administration had all eight — an unprecedented number — ousted for political reasons. But it points to even wider abuse; prosecutors suggest that three Republican members of Congress may have tried to pressure the attorneys into doing their political bidding.

Morrison: If L.A. were Baghdad
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-morrison8mar08,0,4802705.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Imagine our reaction to suicide bombers killing 40 USC students and blowing up South Coast Plaza in the same month.

Bookman: Bush gambles and soldiers pay the price
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/bookman/stories/2007/03/07/0308edbookman.html
President Bush still expresses hope that the ongoing surge of U.S. troops into Iraq — small as it is — will ease the violence and allow the Iraqi people to start rebuilding their country. And since the escalation is going to happen anyway, I'm rooting for it to work. I hope that maybe, somehow, it will make a difference. But it would be foolish to confuse hope with expectation. This week's Mega Millions lottery jackpot reached $370 million, and a lot of people spent a few bucks on tickets, dreaming that somehow they might win. Few, though, had any expectation that would happen. In essence, President Bush has used the surge to buy a few more lottery tickets, hoping it will pay off against the odds. But he is purchasing that small hope with the lives of American troops who, under the circumstances, are being asked to exercise a degree of patience, restraint and courage that may be beyond even their capability.

Mr. Bush at Bay
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702145.html
With each blow, it seems less likely that he might accomplish anything in his remaining time in office. And yet we'd caution once again against writing his administration off entirely. For one thing, his unaccustomed exposure to challenge, so bracingly on view in the new Democratic-controlled Congress in the past few days, may prove as healthy for the administration as it is for the nation. The congressional hearings on veterans' care and on the firings of eight U.S. attorneys were welcome signs of life in a legislature that for six years allowed administration excesses and errors to roll past unquestioned. Firing Army brass and promising a serious commission to study veterans' care are early steps, but they show Mr. Bush can adjust course when forced. Imagine what a favor Republican leaders of Congress would have done by similarly pressing him, in a timely way, on Abu Ghraib or the Iraqi occupation.

Achenbach: Crunched by The Numbers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702502.html
As you may have heard, the latest White House proposal for the federal budget amounts to a bazillion gazillion dollars, give or take a jillion. The great news is that, according to White House calculations, the budget deficit has been cut in half, a feat achieved primarily by running up the deficit to such grotesque levels that the halving of it is like drinking too much and then passing out. The president boasts that the budget will be running a surplus by 2012, though this hypothetical surplus is based on such things as the sudden outbreak of World Peace.

Sotero, Alden: Building a Biofuels Alliance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702046.html
President Bush and Congress have promoted the increased use of biofuels such as ethanol as key to achieving American "energy independence." But breaking free of the U.S. reliance on imported oil will require diplomatic skill as well as homegrown solutions. The agreement that Bush will ink with Brazil this week is an excellent place to start. Together, Brazil and the United States produce more than 70 percent of the world's ethanol. Cooperation in developing and spreading technologies for ethanol production, setting common international standards and opening new markets for alternative fuels could pay big dividends for both economies while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative could also help shore up the United States' deteriorating standing in the region by acknowledging that Brazil is the largest and most stable democracy in Latin America.

Super-Sized Tuesday
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/opinion/08thu3.html
The jockeying among states to have early presidential primaries next year has the nation’s legislatures acting like schoolyard rowdies elbowing one another to get to the front of the line. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — which hold the first party votes in January — now depend so much on the quadrennial infusion of political cash and media attention that they are furiously lobbying the two parties to keep their pride of place while later states are preparing to muscle in right behind.

The mess after the raid
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/08/the_mess_after_the_raid/
THE LAW WAS enforced on Tuesday when federal immigration authorities raided Michael Bianco Inc. in New Bedford. But some of the raid's outcomes were troubling.

Denying Rights in Nigeria
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/opinion/08thu2.html
A poisonous piece of legislation is quickly making its way through the Nigerian National Assembly. Billed as an anti-gay-marriage act, it is a far-reaching assault on basic rights of association, assembly and expression. Chillingly, the legislation — proposed last year by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo — has the full and enthusiastic support of the leader of Nigeria’s powerful Anglican church. Unless the international community speaks out quickly and forcefully against the bill, it is almost certain to become law. Homosexual acts between consenting adults are already illegal in Nigeria under a penal code that dates to the colonial period. This new legislation would impose five-year sentences on same-sex couples who have wedding ceremonies — as well as on those who perform such services and on all who attend. The bill’s vague and dangerous prohibition on any public or private show of a “same sex amorous relationship” — which could be construed to cover having dinner with someone of the same sex — would open any known or suspected gay man or lesbian to the threat of arrest at almost any time.

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