NOTE: some news sites require free registration in order to read their stories. Follow these and other news stories at http://www.progressnowaction.org.

Production notes: the Denver Post forgot to post its editorial section again today. Also, the Durango Herald was not updated with today’s stories as of press time.

Kudos to the Colorado Springs Gazette, on the other hand, whose new “Jump” section makes it easy to find all their news articles in one index.

Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/031407.htm

TOP STORIES

Top

National

Siding With Bush Instead of American Public on War Could Damage Party at Polls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301548.html
With the Senate poised for a showdown on Iraq today, Republicans along the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill appear trapped between their loyalty to President Bush and growing fears about the war's impact on the party's political fortunes. As Democrats have vigorously and sometimes angrily debated the war among themselves, Republicans have marched in near lock step behind Bush. GOP officials acknowledge that the paucity of dissent, in the face of deep public discontent, could jeopardize their chances of holding the White House and regaining majorities in the House and Senate in 2008. The party's quandary comes as the Senate prepares to begin debate today on a Democratic resolution that calls for withdrawing U.S. forces by March 31, 2008, something Democratic leaders describe as a goal, not a firm deadline. Whatever peril the resolution carries for Democrats, the debate will provide a public test of Republican unity.

More 2008 election news in NATIONAL/ELECTION

More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/TOP STORIES, COLORADO/CIVIL LIBERTIES, COLORADO/MILITARY

Mortgage Report Rattles Markets
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031300505.html
A national survey showing that a soaring number of homeowners failed to make their mortgage payments in the last quarter of 2006 rattled lawmakers in Washington and the markets in New York yesterday, as the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 2 percent, or nearly 243 points. The report, which sent every major stock market indicator tumbling when it was released at noon, revealed that the problems in the market for "subprime" mortgages -- loans made to home buyers with blemished credit histories -- might be spilling over to the broader mortgage industry, analysts said. While the number of risky borrowers who missed payments climbed to a four-year high, the number of foreclosures on all homes jumped to its highest level in nearly four decades, according to the survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Home buyers who relied on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration also had record default rates.
RELATED: Subprime troubles send stocks into swoon
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-03-13-stocks-tue_N.htm
RELATED: Mutual Funds at Some Risk on Mortgages
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/business/14debt.html?ref=business
RELATED: Asian, European Stocks Plunge
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400257.html
RELATED: Stocks in Asia and Europe Fall After Wall Street Losses
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/business/worldbusiness/14cnd-stox.html?ref=business

More stock market/mortgage crisis news in NATIONAL/ECONOMY, NATIONAL/HOUSING, COLORADO/HOUSING

Gonzales: 'Mistakes Were Made'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031300776.html
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales took responsibility yesterday for "mistakes" related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year but rejected calls for his resignation from Democrats who accuse him of misleading Congress. "I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility," Gonzales said. He said he did not know the details of the plan to fire the prosecutors, but he defended the dismissals: "I stand by the decision, and I think it was a right decision." The remarks came after the Justice Department released e-mails and other documents showing that, despite months of administration statements to the contrary, the White House more than two years ago initiated the process that led to the dismissals, and that the decisions were heavily influenced by assessments of the prosecutors' political loyalty.
RELATED: White House Cites Lax Voter-Fraud Investigations in U.S. Attorneys' Firings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301725.html
RELATED: Gonzales admits `mistakes made'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140211mar14,1,1527962.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: E-mails detail White House tactics behind firings
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-emails14mar14,0,5718090.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RELATED: ‘Loyalty’ to Bush and Gonzales Was Factor in Prosecutors’ Firings, E-Mail Shows
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14justice.html?ref=washington

Calderón Admonishes Bush on Thorny Issues
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031300169.html
Mexican President Felipe Calderón chided President Bush on Tuesday for trying to build a wall between their two countries and lamented that the American leader never made Mexico the priority he once promised it would become during his presidency. As he welcomed Bush for their first meeting since taking office in December, Calderón set a polite but firm tone, raising some of the toughest issues in U.S.-Mexican relations. The comments at a ceremony for Bush's arrival underscored the difficulties that lie ahead in two days of talks between the leaders.
RELATED: Mexican leader blunt with Bush
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140172mar14,1,4149408.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Calderon pressures Bush on immigration
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bush14mar14,1,4176226.story?coll=la-headlines-world
RELATED: From Mexico Also, the Message to Bush Is Immigration
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/americas/14prexy.html?ref=washington

More immigration policy news in NATIONAL/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/EDUCATION

Top

Colorado

Two sides on war resolution
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5416643,00.html
Two Colorado parents whose sons fought in Afghanistan will offer vastly different views when they testify at the state Capitol today on a war resolution. John C. Buckley III, a Colorado Springs attorney, is furious over the Democratic-backed measure, which opposes sending more troops to Iraq. "I almost lost a son in this war, and I still think that, by and large, we have tried to do the right thing," Buckley said. He said he believes the resolution undermines support for the troops: "This resolution sends a message to every Coloradan who wears a uniform." But Gaye Lowe-Kaplan, a retired teacher from Lakewood whose son is scheduled to be discharged from the Marines in July, said she thinks it's an important issue for legislators to discuss.
RELATED: Big crowd due at Capitol for Iraq debate
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5433385

Bill would clear way for scholarships, aid
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5416525,00.html
Children of government workers would be eligible for scholarships and injured firefighters could receive donations under ethics legislation the House approved Tuesday with one catch: Voters in 2008 might have the final say on whether the law stays in place. Lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that is meant to interpret Amendment 41, approved by voters last November. Among other things, it bans gifts worth $50 or more to elected officials, government employees and their families. The fight over how to implement the law has dogged the legislature for weeks. At issue is whether Coloradans intended for scholarships, donations and such to fall under the measure. To make the issue even more murky, the Colorado Supreme Court might end up weighing in on the bill.
RELATED: House clarifies Amend. 41 ban on gifts
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429605
RELATED: 41 rewrite passes one House hurdle
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/14/41-rewrite-passes-one-house-hurdle/

Plan tackles ed funding
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5416066,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday proposed a freeze on property tax rates, a move that would eliminate reductions for some homeowners in order to fund public schools. For years, a 1994 school finance law has driven down property tax rates. The resulting decrease in local tax revenue has forced the state to make up the difference to close the gap in school district budgets. The portion of the state budget that pays for schools could be more than $100 million in the red by the 2011-12 academic year, Ritter said. Ritter's proposal drew a sharp rebuke from El Paso County Commissioner Douglas Bruce, a longtime tax opponent. He said the freeze is the same as a tax increase.
RELATED: Property-tax freeze gets cold shoulder
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5430074
RELATED: Ritter plan for school funding might aid PSD
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS01/703140327/1002
RELATED: Ritter unveils an education plan
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20138&template=article.html

COGA seeks energy blueprint
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070314/NEWS/70314002
The Colorado Oil and Gas Association has called on Gov. Bill Ritter to develop an energy blueprint for the state. Ted Brown, president of the group whose focus is to foster and promote the beneficial, efficient, responsible and environmentally sound development, production and use of Colorado oil and natural gas, said the state is at a crossroads on how it manages natural resources for the good of all of Colorado. “Many proposals currently in the legislature will dramatically change the way our state regulates the oil and gas industry. These proposals are sweeping and would have potentially wide-ranging effects on the industry's continuing ability to operate effectively in the state,” Brown said.
RELATED: Industry: Too many gas bills
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20070314/VALLEYNEWS/103140045

More energy policy news in NATIONAL/ENERGY, NATIONAL/TRANSPORTATION, NATIONAL/ENVIRONMENT, COLORADO/ENERGY, COLORADO/TRANSPORTATION, COLORADO/ENVIRONMENT

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Montrose welcomes critical report
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/14/3_14_3a_Election_react.html
Montrose County commissioners had two reports critical of the November elections to consider Tuesday: One from Secretary of State Mike Coffman telling the county it had been put on an “election watch list” and the other from their own task force. Coffman recently issued a critique of the Nov. 7, 2006, election in Montrose that in many ways dovetails with the report of the Montrose County Election Fact Finding Task Force, Commissioner Allan Belt said, and the local task force report spells out ways to meet requirements of the state. Coffman will be in Montrose on Thursday to meet with county commissioners and County Clerk and Recorder Fran Long to discuss the election watch.
RELATED: Montrose on election watch list
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/13/local_news/1.txt

New county clerk prepares for 2008 elections
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/3
Winning his primary election last year by only two votes was pretty challenging for Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz, but nothing compared to the prospect of running an election for 100,000 voters next year. But Ortiz isn't crying the blues, even after Secretary of State Mike Coffman announced this week that Pueblo and three other counties are on a "watch list" for the 2008 elections. Like Ortiz Ñ and the clerks in the other three watchable counties Ñ Coffman is new in his office. Pueblo is on the watch list because then-County Clerk Chris Munoz didn't have equipment to do electronic verification of signatures on absentee ballots. When an unprecedented 14,000-plus absentee voters in the November election caused the count to bog down for several days, allegations of impropriety to the Secretary of State's office resulted in an audit.

More places, ways to vote
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/14/more_places_ways_vote/?local_news
Steamboat Springs resident Dale Good sees a simple solution to improving Routt County elections. “More machines and more space,” Good said Monday. “It’s not rocket science.” About four months ago, Good waited for hours at the Fairfield Inn south of downtown Steamboat, hoping to vote in the Nov. 7, 2006, election that saw huge delays for voters in Routt County, Denver and across Colorado. Memories of that day — such as waiting in a stuffy hallway, which Good said was “hot as the dickens” — brought him to a Monday meeting of the Routt County Citizens Election Review Committee. The committee was formed to create strategies for improving local elections and is now bringing its ideas to the public in a series of forums across the county.

Candidate wants to increase appreciation cap
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070314/NEWS/103140044
Mayoral candidate Tim Semrau wants everyone owning government-controlled affordable housing to be able to earn more profit off properties. And, he announced Tuesday, he thinks the city should use its huge and growing affordable housing fund to help. Semrau issued a statement proposing an increase in the appreciation cap of deed-restricted affordable housing. Appreciation caps stand at 3 percent or the national rate of inflation, whichever is lower, for new ownership units under the control of the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority, and for many older units.

Municipal election lacks financial charge
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS01/703140318/1002

Campaign fundraising for the Fort Collins municipal election is less than half what it was through the same point two years ago, according to finance reports released Tuesday. With three weeks until the April 3 mail-ballot election, city council candidates, three political action committees and an issues committee have raised about $90,000. That compares to about $210,000 two years ago, when an open mayor's race, three open council seats and three major ballot issues drove fundraising to record levels.

RELATED: Annexation takes uncertain path to voters
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS01/703140325/1002

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Senate wary of funding Ritter plan
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5430072
Senate Democrats are delaying a vote on one of Gov. Bill Ritter's top initiatives because they're concerned about how he plans to pay for it. The Democratic governor announced the Government Efficiency and Management Performance Review program to reduce costs, improve services and eliminate unnecessary programs in his state of the state speech. But Ritter's budget managers asked for $700,000 in emergency funding to start it - a move that skips the normal process of full legislative debate. "Normally that would be a separate bill that we could debate," said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County. The $700,000 was added as a House amendment to a "supplemental appropriations" bill after the Senate had already approved that bill. Fitz-Gerald said the Senate might reject the House amendment and force the governor's office to pursue a separate bill.

Colorado Has Song in Its Heart, and Not Drugs on Its Mind
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/14song.html?ref=us
The Colorado General Assembly wants to be quite clear on this point: When the singer-songwriter John Denver praised the joys of Colorado and sang about “friends around the campfire, and everybody’s high,” in 1972, he was not referring to illicit drugs. Definitely not. Don’t even think it. The high in question, lawmakers say, is really about nature and the great outdoors — the tingly feeling you get after a nice hike, perhaps.

Roll Call, March 14
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5416064,00.html
The most unusual bill title this year: "Feed cattle sheep poultry goats swine." Senate Bill 207, by Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, has to do with feeding animals raised for human consumption.

Panel chairman intends to finish his term
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20135&template=article.html
The chairman of the city’s Telecommunications Policy Advisory Committee on Tuesday refused Mayor Lionel Rivera’s request that he resign over allegations of ethics violations. Mike Schmidt, the committee’s chairman, made a rare appeal to council members during their formal meeting Tuesday. He said he intends to serve until his term on the volunteer panel expires in October unless council members vote unanimously to remove him. He also said he has “performed my duties professionally and ethically.”

New Dillon town manager says Silverton complaint groundless
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/103130047
Dillon's newly hired town manager Devin Granbery says a complaint filed last week that questions his qualifications as Silverton's town administrator is baseless and isn't a reflection of the work he will do in Dillon. The Town of Dillon approved Granbery's town manager contract last week. He starts April 2. Silverton residents Bill and Laura Alsup filed a civil complaint in San Juan District Court last Monday against Granbery, Silverton's treasurer-clerk and four of the town's seven board trustees. According to a story in the Durango Herald, the couple alleges the town's finances are in disarray, accuses treasurer Linda Davis of failing to perform her duties as treasurer and Granbery of failing to properly supervise Davis. A company of the compliant was unavailable as of press time.

Fraser still has frostbitten hands on icebox title, battle with rival (Around the mountains, 3/13)
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/103130042
The story appears to be all over except the shouting ... or is it shivering? Fraser insists it won't surrender the title of "Icebox of the Nation," a nickname it began using in 1956. But International Falls, Minn., says it got the trademark for the name in 1986 and wants it back. Fraser officials last year began checking the website for the U.S. Trademark Office, and discovered that International Falls had failed to reapply for the trademark 11 years ago. After Fraser filed its new trademark application, International Falls professed indignation, and demanded that Fraser abandon its "pretended claim" for the title. The resolution adopted by town officials there called for the manner to deliver the request by snowball, if necessary.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Gay rights tour will stop in Denver
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20126&template=article.html
“A lot of people were saying that when it came out (in 1986) they were teenagers and they were coming out,” says [Cyndi] Lauper, a longtime gay rights supporter. “They were disowned by their family and their friends, and their jobs got all messed up and they were totally alone, and suicidal, and then they heard ‘True Colors’ and it made them feel hopeful.” So it’s fitting that Lauper, 53, is one of the headliners on the new “True Colors” tour, which will hit major cities nationwide to promote gay rights. Other performers for the 15-city event, which kicks off in Las Vegas on June 8 and ends in Los Angeles on June 30, are Deborah Harry, Erasure and Margaret Cho. “This tour is basically gonna be five hours of some of my favorite bands and me, and Margaret Cho making us laugh, and while we’re touring, we’re going to be raising awareness,” Lauper said. The show will also have guest artists such as Rufus Wainwright in the various cities it hits. The tour stops at Red Rocks in Denver on June 10.

War protest planned by Eagle Co. group
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/70313018
The Eagle County for Peace and Justice will rally throughout the valley Monday afternoon to protest the war on Iraq on the fourth anniversary of the invasion. The group will stand a major intresection throughout the county from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and supply participants with white crosses meant to symbolize troops who have died in Iraq and modeled after the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery, the group said. “Help send a message to bring the troops home,” says Edwards resident Susie Davis, a member of the group. “We cannot sit by and allow this war to continue.”

Top

Immigration

Guest worker programs, Tancredo and Colorado hospitals
http://blogs.denverpost.com/washington/2007/03/13/guest-worker-programs-tancredo-and-saving-colorado-hospitals/
After weeks of closed-door negotiations, Congress appears set to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a guest worker program and a path to “earned citizenship” for illegal immigrants, the Christian Science Monitor reported. Rep. Tom Tancredo’s presidential campaign was profiled by MSNBC’s Tom Curry, who wrote that unlike other contenders, the Colorado Republican is the “full-spectrum, 24-carat” conservative. While campaigning in New Hampshire this week, Tancredo said the government should not be blamed for separating parents from their children after an immigration raid at a Massachusetts factory.

Top

Marriage and Family Issues

Gay adoption, teen tanning bills facing final House votes today
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5416087,00.html
House lawmakers gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill allowing gay adoptions and another restricting the use of tanning salons by teens. Both bills face final votes today. Each ignited scorching floor debate. House Bill 1330, sponsored by Rep. Alice Madden, D-Boulder, would allow cohabitating couples, including gay couples, to adopt. "This bill is about children," Madden said. "It would allow more Colorado children to have two parents." In turn, they would have more emotional and economic stability, she said.
RELATED: House votes for same-sex adoptions
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429604
RELATED: House gives preliminary OK to adoption bill
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20151&template=article.html

Group offers do-it-yourself divorce classes
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20070314/VALLEYNEWS/103140037
Divorce is a common enough practice today that a poster in the Garfield County Court Clerk's office advertises do-it-yourself divorce classes.

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Report: Colorado has one of highest rates of uninsured children
http://blogs.denverpost.com/washington/2007/03/13/report-colorado-has-one-of-highest-rates-of-uninsured-children/
Colorado has one of the highest rates of uninsured children in the country, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Rocky Mountain State ranked 43rd in the report among U.S. states, with almost 15 percent of its 18-and-under population without health coverage. The report comes as Congress debates how to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides insurance to poor children ineligible for Medicaid. According to federal statistics, as many as 1.5 million children could lose coverage in the next decade unless Congress increases its $5 billion annual contribution to the program.

Lung care going high-tech
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/health_care/article/0,2808,DRMN_25396_5415725,00.html
The University of Colorado Hospital is launching a statewide test program to track the well-being of emphysema patients from the comfort of their own homes. The technology potentially could curb health care costs to treat a condition that affects as many as 460,000 Coloradans. The initial phase of the test showed the electronic monitoring system can save nearly $3,200 per patient over just a 12-week period, largely by alerting health care providers to signs of developing problems before they balloon into larger complications like pneumonia. "A lot of times patients will have symptoms that wax and wane," said Dr. William Vandivier, project director. "They don't come in nearly as often as they should because for a lot of them, it's difficult to access the health care system."

Public forum on health care
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070314/NEWS/103130135
The North Colorado Health Alliance will have a public forum on health care Wednesday. Experts from Weld County will talk about the challenges for businesses, providers and patients in the region. They also will give an overview of reform in other states and tasks before the Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform.

A 'crucial' time for avalanches
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070314/NEWS/103140046
Avalanche forecasters warn that conditions are precarious on backcountry slopes right now and timing of travel is "crucial." Both the Aspen-based Roaring Fork Avalanche Center and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center warned in their reports Tuesday of two major developments - deep slab instability and wet, loose activity. The activity is common as temperatures climb to the levels they have reached this week, said John Snook, a forecaster with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
RELATED: Backcountry slide kills two skiers
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070314/NEWS/103140048

Deputies going bald (EXTRA!, March 14)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416480,00.html
Being bald has its benefits and on Friday, Douglas County sheriff deputies will be shaving their heads to support the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Former Broncos stars Leroy Mitchell, Doug Widell and Ken Lanier will be in attendance to help the benefit. St. Baldrick's raises money and awareness globally for childhood cancer research. This event will honor Isabella Ackerson, daughter of Investigator Niles Ackerson of the sheriff's office. She lost her battle with cancer at age 6 months. The event will be at 11 a.m. in the jury assembly room in the Robert A. Christensen Justice Center at 4000 Justice Way, Castle Rock.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Man killed by Lakewood police officers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416088,00.html
A man was shot to death Tuesday by police after he threatened officers with a handgun, said Steve Davis, of the Lakewood Police Department. Davis said police received a call at 10:50 a.m. from a woman who said she was being threatened by a man with a gun in a domestic quarrel.
RELATED: Cops probe fatal shooting
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5430001

Jail employee's ties to slaying suspect lead to her arrest
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5415904,00.html
A woman working at the Arapahoe County jail was arrested for allegedly having an "inappropriate relationship" with an inmate accused of killing a murder witness and the victim's fiancee. Nicole Sue Beal, 23, is accused of exchanging mail and phone calls with Robert Keith Ray, a man now serving 108 years in the Department of Corrections for his role in a 2004 Aurora slaying. Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Tuesday that Beal was arrested and suspended without pay on March 8 after an investigation revealed she made and received phone calls from Ray at her home. When she was arrested, deputies found a 3-inch blade in her purse, Robinson said. She was on duty at the time in a maximum security section of the jail, Robinson said.
RELATED: Jail staffer accused in probe (Briefing, 3/14)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5430009

Sheriff pushes for more jail staff
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS01/703140326/1002
A cap on the number of inmates housed in the Larimer County jail could be imposed within a few weeks unless county officials come up with funding to hire staff for the crowded facility. Following a meeting Tuesday with county commissioners about staffing levels at the jail, Sheriff Jim Alderden said he could "maintain the status quo" at the jail only so long.

Causal connection
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25722
Seen by Craig Police Chief Walt Vanatta as a sign that anti-drug efforts are making an impact, drug-related incidents reported to the Police Department in 2006 decreased for the first time in five years.

Olathe outlaws graffiti
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/13/local_news/2.txt
The wording of this ordinance differs from the Montrose graffiti ordinance, which was passed last year, in that it does not regulate the sale of graffiti implements within the town. However, the Olathe ordinance does include penalties of fines and restitution for those convicted.

Cub Scouts' predicament undone by contributors
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416481,00.html
The kindness of strangers has bailed out Cub Scout Pack 459 after a former troop treasurer allegedly took $2,231 from its bank account. The 18 members of the Littleton pack have received more than $3,535 of donations, said Rhonda Slade, the Cub Scouts' new treasurer.

Top

Economy

Bill would let stores sell cheap gas, meds
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5416089,00.html
Supermarkets and big-box stores could sell cheap gas and discounted prescription drugs under a bill that won the Senate's initial backing Tuesday after a bruising floor flight. "Competition in our society always benefits the consumer," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins. "It doesn't make sense to try to restrict healthy competition." But opponents fear the bill will help giant retailers such as King Soopers, Safeway and Wal-Mart seize the market and drive convenience stores and independent petroleum distributors out of business.
RELATED: Retailers may get OK to discount gas, drugs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429538
RELATED: Gas bill sparks Senate debate
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS01/703140321/1002
RELATED: Gas discount advances in Senate
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20145&template=article.html
RELATED: Senate OKs bill to allow below-cost fuel
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/11

Small firms' tax cut on tap
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5429443
A bill to cut personal property taxes for small-business owners in Colorado looks like it's on track to pass the House Finance Committee today, according to committee chairman Joel Judd, D-Denver. The bill would gradually increase the exemption for business personal property taxes, which apply to business equipment ranging from computers to construction cranes. The tax is not collected on items with a value below $2,500, and House Bill 1325 would eventually increase that exemption threshold to $7,000. Gov. Bill Ritter has said he would support such a change, although he has not taken a public stance on this bill.

Colorado launches tourism campaign
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5414828,00.html
The Colorado Tourism Office announced a $6.9 million spring and summer marketing campaign that aims to lure more visitors from large urban areas such as New York, San Francisco and Boston. The advertising and public relations blitz will draw from the state’s $19 million promotion budget and marks a major shift in the state’s strategy for attracting more tourists. More money will go toward Internet and television advertising than in the past. Roughly one-third of the spring and summer campaign budget will be spent online, while 27 percent will go toward broadcast, 26 percent to magazines, 7 percent to newspapers, 6 percent to direct marketing and 2 percent to search engine marketing.
RELATED: Tourism office unveils Colorado campaign
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5426221

AG Suthers, General Steel settle lawsuit
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5429441
Lakewood-based General Steel Corp. will pay $4.5 million to settle a consumer-protection case following three years of litigation, the Colorado attorney general's office said Tuesday. General Steel is a nationwide provider of large, metal buildings and advertises on radio programs such as the Paul Harvey and Rush Limbaugh shows. The company has 30 days to make the payment. In 2004, a Jefferson County judge found that the company practiced deceptive sales and marketing tactics by falsely implying that it had an inventory of buildings at factory-direct or clearance prices.

5 questions for Wellington Webb, president and CEO of the Colorado Black Chamber
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5415727,00.html
Wellington Webb has permanently taken over the job as president and CEO of the Colorado Black Chamber, a position he accepted on an interim basis 11 months ago. "I didn't even realize it was a year ago," said Webb, who was first elected as Denver's mayor in 1991 and held the position for 12 years. Webb will continue in his other duties, such as trying to redevelop the former Dahlia Square in northeast Denver.

Disabled CEO inspires others
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/14/3_14_Vail_Horton.html
Vail Horton, 29, was born without legs. His left arm is fused and won’t bend, and he can move only three fingers on his right hand. “I kind of admire God’s humor,” he said Tuesday after speaking at Two Rivers Convention Center before a gathering of the Lion’s Club. He usually tells people he “was born on a Friday afternoon” when the Big Guy kicked off for the weekend. “He missed a few pieces,” said Horton, a resident of Portland, Ore. Instead of letting his disabilities and his lot in life get him down — his mother gave him up for adoption at birth — Horton likes to stand before an audience and tell everyone how he conquered his disabilities. “What else am I going to do,” he said. “I love life.” He shared a few inspirational stories with the audience. One spoke of how he formed his own company, Keen Mobility, which manufactures and designs medical equipmentfor people with disabilities.

Shoppers hungry for select retailers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5415823,00.html
Denver's fashionistas no longer have to jet off to Chicago, New York or Los Angeles to satisfy a yen for trendy clothes. Today, most of what they crave is within driving distance - with a few notable exceptions. Despite Denver's maturity as a retail market, there are still some highly sought-after stores that haven't found a home here. A handful of names pop up most often in conversations with the fashion-conscious. Top of the list: H&M, Barney's and Zara. Furniture icon IKEA and quirky grocery Trader Joe's also make the most-sought-after lists.

Valley Floor shopping day raises $40,000
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/03/14/news/news01.txt
People have taken out second mortgages, foregone vacations, cried, donated money and bled. And now they’ve bought thongs and lingerie. All in the name of preserving the Valley Floor. The aforementioned underpants — sold at La Femme Fatale — were but a cog in last Friday’s main street shopping day machine, in which local retailers and some restaurants donated some — or all — of their profits to the preservation efforts.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

Soft mortgages bury stock market
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5429440
A growing number of homeowners in Colorado and nationwide fell behind on mortgage payments during the final three months of 2006, sending the stock market tumbling and indicating that home prices overall could fall this year. A report released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association, combined with tepid retail sales numbers for February, spooked investors and sent stocks sliding, erasing gains made in recent sessions. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 242.66 points, or 1.97 percent, to close at 12,075.96. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite both ended the day down.
RELATED: Trouble for lender having local effects
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/14/3_14_1a_New_Century.html

Opening the market (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/18
The Senate Finance Committee approved a measure that prohibits property and casualty insurers from requiring appraisals or repairs be made by specific businesses. HB1104, introduced by Pueblo Democratic Rep. Dorothy Butcher and Sen. Abel Tapia, also requires insurers to be sure that estimates restore damaged property to its pre-damaged condition, and repair services are based on competitive prices. The measure, which cleared the House last month, heads to the full Senate.

Website lets users price title insurance
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5429444
A Denver company today is unveiling a website intended to make it easier for real-estate agents and consumers to shop for title insurance. At "Realtor Rally" at the Colorado Convention Center, TI Services LLC, a title consulting service owned by Garry Wolff and Larry Thompson, is demonstrating MyTitleIns.com, which will allow users to compare costs of title insurance. The site will be available to consumers and real- estate agents Monday. Title insurance, required in most real-estate transactions, costs consumers about $18 billion a year, according to TI. Lenders require it when making a new loan, and buyers need title insurance to protect against potential claims or liens on the property.

Elderly residents defend housing manager
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070314/NEWS/103140049
Some residents of a senior housing complex in Carbondale feel their "happy, beautiful community" is getting a bad name because of a nasty dispute between one tenant and the management. Dorothy Doyle, a four-year resident of the Crystal Meadows apartments, said she was among about a dozen residents who decided to speak out Tuesday in defense of manager Jerilyn Nieslanik and Kerry McQuay, the maintenance man. They have been unable to speak up for themselves in an eviction action with resident Lea Cano, Doyle noted. Cano's lease wasn't renewed on March 1 after she'd been living there for eight years. She was ordered out of the complex for allegedly breaking the rules over several years. Many allegations center on Cano's relations with neighbors and management, according to documents Cano supplied. Cano claimed she is being unjustly targeted because she has voiced complaints against management. She said she may leave but will still fight the eviction and attempt to change Crystal Meadows' management practices.

Top

Media

KGNU debuting Denver digs
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/14/kgnu-debuting-denver-digs/
Two years ago, Boulder community radio station KGNU expanded its reach into Denver when it acquired a signal at 1390 AM. This weekend, KGNU extends its physical reach to the Mile High City as well, opening a satellite studio near Seventh and Kalamath streets. "It's sort of a new concept in community radio," KGNU music director John Schaefer said. "We're community radio because we're all in the same community, and so people can come and broadcast from Denver if that's their immediate community. They're coming in there and then broadcasting on 88.5 (FM) and 1390.

Top

Education

Life Skills charter school asks for one more year
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5415890,00.html
The Colorado State Board of Education will hear an appeal by a charter school trying to stay open after Denver Public Schools opted not to renew its contract. The appeal was filed Tuesday by Life Skills Center of Denver. "We are hoping the state board allows us one more year to show student growth and that our program is all about allowing the changes (we) have put in place to start bearing fruit," Life Skills Center District Superintendent Benjamin Valdez said. "To expect changes and being real productive after five months isn't realistic." Life Skills, West 10th Avenue and Cherokee Street, serves about 260 Denver-area high school students who dropped out of traditional high schools in the district.

Faculty says UNC hurt by low pay
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5430002
Relatively low salaries among faculty members at the University of Northern Colorado will likely be the focus of an employee-satisfaction survey planned for this spring. The survey could also be a referendum on the job performance of UNC president Kay Norton, who has been criticized for her management of Colorado's third-largest university. Faculty members are demoralized by the fact that their salaries are the lowest among the country's 154 doctoral universities, said Laura Connolly, an associate professor of economics at UNC. "It's a situation that is steadily deteriorating," Connolly said.

CSU-Pueblo chief to speak on campus
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS01/703140323/1002
Colorado State University-Pueblo President Joe Garcia is scheduled to speak at the Lory Student Center on Monday afternoon. Garcia, who was named president last year, is speaking as part of CSU's "Latino/a History of Empowerment: Past, Present and Future" series. Before becoming a lecturer and administrator within Colorado's higher education system, Garcia received his law degree from Harvard University and worked for both state and federal agencies.

Tuition rebate offer attracts first student
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/8
When Adam Martin heard that Colorado State University-Pueblo was willing to refund his final semester's tuition, the East High School senior couldn't wait to sign up for the offer. Last week, Adam, who enrolled at CSU-Pueblo on Monday, became the first student to sign a contract with the university as part of its new four-year incentive program.

IMMERSION IN ENGLISH
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20148&template=article.html
In Academy School District 20, one student speaks Azerbaijani, an Ethiopian tongue, and three speak Tagalog, the language of the Philippines. In Colorado Springs School District 11, students speak languages ranging from Bosnian to Burmese, Hindi to Hungarian. There are 14 distinct African dialects. Welcome to the culturally chaotic world of English Language Learners — also called English Second Language — where students come from more countries than some people can name. About 2,500 students speak more than 46 languages in the Pikes Peak region’s two largest districts. Schools are required by federal law to provide programs for non-English-speaking students, and teachers who undertake the challenge relish in bringing communication to a classroom where students quite literally have spanned the globe.

City schools face $6 million in cuts
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/1
In order to avoid another year of deficit spending and what financial experts warn is a spiral into bankruptcy, Pueblo City Schools will face close to $6 million in budget cuts next year. That was the grim news delivered Tuesday to the board of education during a midday work session. The district’s chief financial officer, Carolyn Lueck, supported by the Budget Oversight Committee, said that based on current revenue projections and ongoing spending patterns, the district faces a shortfall of $5.5 million in the 2007-2008 school year.

Science prize won (Briefing, March 14)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416524,00.html
Meredith MacGregor, a senior at Fairview High School in Boulder, earned ninth place and a $20,000 scholarship in this year's Intel Science Talent Search. MacGregor, 18, won for a study of fluid dynamics called the "Brazil Nut Effect," which showed that shaken particles separate by size, largest on top. More than 1,700 U.S. high school seniors competed. The winners were announced Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

St. Vrain nixes school-bus fees
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/14/st-vrain-nixes-school-bus-fees/
The St. Vrain Valley School District's unpopular proposal to charge students to ride the school bus is off the table, except as a last resort.

Feds spend hours eyeing mine for underground lab
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5415902,00.html
Members of a federally appointed review panel inspected Colorado's Henderson Mine on Tuesday as part of a four-state tour of finalist sites for a $300 million underground lab. Henderson is competing against sites in South Dakota, Minnesota and Washington state for the federal Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, known as DUSEL.

Checks and balances
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/13/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Given the recent violent outbursts from a number of CU-Boulder students, it's no wonder there is talk of the university's Office of Judicial Affairs, which oversees the Restorative Justice Program (CURJ). The judicial affairs process is a complex system that can lead to serious consequences such as suspension or expulsion of student offenders who have violated the student code of conduct, either on or off campus. An alternative to that process, however, is known as the CURJ, which uses the principles of “restorative justice” to help students understand the consequences of their actions and participate in group meetings with volunteer members from the city, community and university.

"Timeout" room uproar
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429537
Allegations that disabled elementary students were forced to sit in their own blood and urine while being held for hours in a "timeout" room are "inflammatory" and not founded in fact, Colorado Springs School District 11 officials said Tuesday. The Legal Center for People With Disabilities and Older People issued a 21-page report Monday that says five disabled students at Will Rogers Elementary School were subjected to 45 incidents of improper restraint and seclusion during the 2005-06 school year. Investigations are underway in five other Colorado school districts, including in the Denver-metro area, said Heidi Van Huysen, attorney for the center. The nonprofit advocacy group investigates allegations of abuse and neglect in settings for disabled people.
RELATED: D-11: No wrongdoing found
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20154&template=article.html

School tug-of-wear settled
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429607
What compelled students at a Denver middle school to paste fliers up on campus, persuade their parents to write letters and engage in protest gambits? Cotton hoods. The hooded sweatshirt, or "hoodie," has become de rigueur for so many kids that when Morey Middle School officials moved to ban them to thwart kids from hiding iPods and cellphones, the students rose up.

Mom points finger at educator
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416086,00.html
The mother of a boy who had a romantic relationship with his teacher went on national television Tuesday and blamed the Brighton school's then-top administrator for trying to cover up the situation when it came to light. But at other points in the seven-minute interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show, Sheree Clay and her son, Tommy, conceded that he and the teacher initially lied about their relationship and the boy's parents helped keep it quiet. "We were honoring Tommy's wishes at first," Sheree Clay said. "We didn't do anything. We didn't call the police. We didn't do anything because Tommy was adamant about protecting the teacher."
RELATED: Teen: Offered to be fall guy in affair
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429999

Top

Military

Better access to health care sought for veterans
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429669
Veterans in Colorado need better access to health care, particularly mental health services, activists told Colorado congressional delegation members Tuesday. As more veterans returning from Iraq suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, the need for immediate care is crucial. "It can't be hundreds of miles away," said Marvin Meyers, legislative co-chair with United Veterans Committee of Colorado. Activists voiced their concerns during a conference call with U.S. Reps. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs; Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs; and John Salazar, D-Manassa. Aides to U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden, and U.S. Sens. Wayne Allard, a Republican, and Ken Salazar, a Democrat, also were on the call. Udall and John Salazar, who is on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, want to look for ways to use Department of Veterans Affairs resources to better serve rural veterans, Udall chief of staff Alan Salazar said.

Big procession expected for soldier's funeral
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/2
Police and funeral directors are warning Puebloans of possible traffic delays and parking issues as an estimated 500 people are expected to attend Friday's funeral for Army Sgt. Blake Harris. A Pueblo native, Harris was member of the 1st Cavalry Division and was killed March 5 while on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was 22. At the time of his death, Harris held the rank of specialist, but his family said Tuesday they have been told by Army officials that he was being promoted to sergeant posthumously.

Marine vets do about-face on parade
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416478,00.html
Hell no, they won't go. A group of U.S. Marine veterans say they will skip Saturday's St. Patrick's Day parade after being bumped from the 14th position in the parade to the 74th position overall. For a time, that would have put them behind a group of llamas, but parade officials made a last-minute adjustment to put them in the 72nd spot, a bit ahead of the llamas. Llamas to the front or llamas to the rear, Al Apodaca said he and his fellow vets from the 1st Marine Division will not be there when the 45th edition of the parade kicks off through lower downtown Denver.

Contractor picked for housing on 2 bases
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20144&template=article.html
Air Force Space Command has chosen a contractor to build hundreds of houses at two area bases. Actus Lend Lease will build 230 houses at Peterson Air Force Base and 269 at Schriever Air Force Base under the agreement, a public-private partnership with the Defense Department. The Tennessee-based firm will also obtain a long-term lease on existing houses and land at the bases, and will be able to rent property back to military families in exchange for their basic housing allowance payments.

Guard-rodent disharmony at armory
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/14/guard-rodent-disharmony-at-armory/
Before this week, prairie dogs living on the Colorado Army National Guard armory site in north Boulder would see sun, sky and traffic passing by on Broadway when they peered out of their burrows. Now, those prairie dogs have a close-up view of the undercarriages of the olive-green troop transport trucks that have been parked over the burrows, damaging and destroying some of them. A military spokesman said Tuesday that officials will work to solve the problem — something prairie dog advocates may have to count on, because a Boulder ordinance that protects the animals doesn't appear to apply to state-owned parcels.

Top

Religion

Lawsuit alleges fraud by Rev. Acen Phillips
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416519,00.html
A federal civil lawsuit alleges a prominent Denver minister is linked to more than $1 million in fraudulent life insurance claims. The lawsuit filed Tuesday by AIG Life Insurance Co. says that among the fraudulent claims involving the Rev. Acen Phillips are one covering the death of his own brother and another on a woman linked to the missing Aarone Thompson. The AIG suit alleges that Phillips and four other defendants altered beneficiary forms and falsely claimed people were enrolled in policies meant for Baptist ministers. Then two disbarred attorneys - including one of Phillips' sons - falsified the letterhead of a licensed attorney and tried to stymie the AIG investigation, the lawsuit claims.
RELATED: Acen Phillips sued for insurance fraud
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5426731

Icky trouble gets sticky
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416090,00.html
Unless there's proven negligence, municipalities are usually immune from liability for sewage backups, said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. And even though the backup wasn't the church's fault and occurred off its property, the church probably can't get damage reimbursement because it doesn't have a special insurance rider covering such an event. All in all, Knott isn't hopeful that the church will recover easily from the sewage disaster: "My overall feeling is, we're going to take a shower on this one."

Top

Energy Policy

Ritter pushes renewable energy
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5416082,00.html
Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter urged lawmakers Tuesday to back an energy bill that is a crucial part of his agenda. "The most significant issue on the minds of governors of this country is how states play a role in renewable energy and how we move forward," Ritter told lawmakers in his first appearance before a legislative committee as governor. "Colorado is poised in so many respects to play a leadership role." The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee passed House Bill 1281 on a 3-2 party-line vote. The measure by Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, and others would double the renewable energy standard required under Amendment 37 passed by voters in 2004. It would require large utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources such as sun and wind by 2020.
RELATED: Ritter lobbies for energy bill (Under the dome, 3/14)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5430091
RELATED: Ritter steps up for renewable energy
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/5

BLM to hold public meetings on land use plan revision
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20070314/VALLEYNEWS/103140039
As the Bureau of Land Management gears up to revise its 1984 comprehensive land plans for the Glenwood Springs and Kremmling field offices, it's looking for public comments on what issues should be included in the new plan. Public scoping sessions are scheduled for Tuesday, April 10, in Rifle and Wednesday, April 11, in Carbondale. Much has changed in both field areas in the interim. "Generally (BLM) likes to update or revise them every 15 to 20 years," said BLM Glenwood Springs community planner Brian Hopkins. "Enough changes in that timeframe. That's generally what we plan for." One issue the BLM is not planning to address in depth at this point is oil and gas development, which has taken place primarily in the western portion of the land overseen by the Glenwood Springs field office.
RELATED: BLM to draft plans for large swath of land
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/103130053

Pipeline company indicted in bid-rigging scam
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5429462
A federal grand jury in Denver has indicted a gas-pipeline company and two of its executives for participating in an alleged bid-rigging conspiracy involving construction projects in Colorado. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, charges that B&H Maintenance of Eunice, N.M.; its vice president, Jon Paul Smith; and Landon R. Martin, manager of marketing, conspired with another company to submit rigged bids to BP America Production Co. The second company isn't named. The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly submitted noncompetitive, rigged bids to BP, a violation of interstate trade and commerce, the indictment said.

City invests energy in saving some
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20160&template=article.html
Manitou Springs Public Works Director Kelly McGinn already has swapped out the old fluorescent light bulbs in the city garage for more energy-efficient ones. He’s traded chemical fertilizers for organic and researched buying vehicles that use biodiesel fuel. That’s a start, but it’s not enough, say Manitou Springs leaders, who decided this month to take full stock of the city’s ecological footprint and do what they can to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. “This is right for us as a city,” said Councilwoman Liz Feder, who spearheaded the effort to join the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign.

River district scores $300k to study energy’s impact on water supplies
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/14/3_14_1B_energy_water_needs.html
Commercial oil shale, tar sands and increased natural gas development are likely coming to the northern Colorado Plateau, and the state is struggling to figure out how much water all that drilling will suck from the Colorado River. Now, the Colorado River Water Conservation District has the go-ahead to study whether the water needs of oil shale, tar sands and natural gas development in the region will have negative consequences on the area’s water supply. But state water managers want cooperation from the energy industry.

Firm brings Colorado biodiesel to its pumps in the Springs
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20143&template=article.html
Biodiesel fuel refined from virgin soy and canola oil at a plant in Burlington became available at public pumps for the first time Tuesday. American Agri-Diesel, which opened in August, is supplying Chief Petroleum Co’.s three public biodiesel pumps at its automated fueling stations in Colorado Springs, two at 2808 N. Nevada Ave. and one at 301 S. 10th St. The cleaner-burning fuel made from vegetable oil, animal fat or soy products and blended with petroleum diesel makes sense economically and environmentally, said Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera, who attended a debut event at the Nevada pumps.

We are the (solar) champions
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/13/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
The undefeated world champions are returning for Round Three. CU's Solar Decathlon team on Tuesday unveiled the design for its entry in the 2007 Solar Decathlon competition. CU is the reigning two-time champion of the international challenge, in which students from the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe concoct an efficient solar-energy powered home. CU is one of 20 teams in the competition, held once every five years. The entries will be displayed and judged on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in October.
RELATED: CU team unveils house design
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/14/cu-team-unveils-house-design/

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

CDOT looks at speeding up revenue
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429667
State transportation officials are eyeing possible tax increases to raise billions of dollars for roads and transit in the coming decades. Today, Colorado Department of Transportation officials will discuss how much revenue would be raised by increasing various taxes - including levies on gasoline, sales, income, rental cars and lodging. "Our transportation costs are increasing, demand on the system is increasing with more people traveling more miles, yet our revenues are declining," said Jennifer Finch, CDOT's top planner.

Citizens' input could reroute FasTracks line
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416067,00.html
RTD was looking to solve a serious FasTracks conflict with freight trains on its Adams County line when ordinary citizens chimed in with a suggestion. Why not run new tracks to the east of the Commerce City industrial area? That way, the future commuter rail line would better serve the commercial and residential part of town. Now it appears this idea could potentially serve Commerce City better than other potential track locations, as well as save RTD money on the North Metro transit corridor.

Officials still want Weld tax for roads
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15159
Weld County commissioners continue to promote to municipal leaders a sales tax proposal that could raise $22 million for road projects annually. Though nothing is final yet, Commissioner Rob Masden said his board is looking at a 1 percent sales tax to raise money for projects throughout the county. If municipalities agree to put the tax question on their ballots in November, half of the money raised within a town or city would stay there for road projects. The rest would go to projects within a 3-mile radius of the municipality, Masden said. The tax would sunset in 10 years.

Eagle County driven to slow global heat
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429154
County officials Tuesday unveiled a new fleet of 20 hybrid cars intended to reduce local contributions to global warming. "For me ... this is a very exciting moment to be able to walk the talk," said County Commissioner Arn Menconi, who generated the idea to buy the Toyota Priuses as replacement vehicles for several county agencies.
RELATED: Eco-friendly car not employee friendly?
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/70313020

Top

Environment and Conservation

Global warming story hits critical mass
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/103130045
Global warming is the hottest story of our time, and it will get even bigger as the full implications of melting ice caps and rising sea levels percolate through the media pipeline and into general public awareness, a panel of journalists said last weekend during the American Bar Association's environmental law conference. The discussion was focused on how the media has covered the story and whether or not public perception of global warming has changed in recent months and years. Among the questions the panelists tried to answer is why it has taken so long for the story to reach critical mass. Most of the panelists credited Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, with helping to generate attention. The Democratic takeover in Congress has also advanced public debate, the panelists said. And even though the basic global warming science - heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere - is "third-grade" stuff, according the Wall Street Journal's John Fialka, the issues have been clouded by a massive, industry funded propaganda and disinformation campaign aimed at creating uncertainty.

EPA wants Flats off Superfund list
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5415896,00.html
The Environmental Protection Agency wants to formally remove most of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site and buffer lands surrounding it from the Superfund list of the nation's most-polluted sites. The agency on Tuesday announced its proposal to remove 25,413 acres in Jefferson and Boulder counties from the National Priorities List. A central portion of the site covering 1,308 acres, once home to plutonium-processing buildings, would remain a Superfund site and off-limits to the public. The EPA is seeking public comment on the proposal until April 12.

Colorado roadless areas get another look
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/103130059
State officials are taking yet another look at the management of national forest roadless areas in Colorado and may consider making some changes - or even withdrawing - the management petition that was submitted to the federal government last November. Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are studying the issue, and are likely to make a decision sometime within the next month, said DNR deputy director Mike King. "The Governor and (DNR director) Harris Sherman are trying to get their arms around this," King said, explaining that there is a window of opportunity to make some changes because the federal government has not yet started its state-by-state review of roadless management.

BLM travel planning effort underway
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/13/local_news/3.txt
The Bureau of Land Management last week opened the first stage of a planning effort to regulate travel on roughly 578,000 acres in the six counties that make up the Uncompahgre Field Office. The BLM opened a 45-day comment period Thursday as part of a scoping process that will provide the public with information as well as give users a chance to identify issues and concerns to be considered in the travel policy. The field office proposes to change most of the areas in its jurisdiction from open, which allows for cross country travel, to restrictions that would keep motorized and mechanized travel to existing roads and trails.

Board OKs ammonia curbs
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5416526,00.html
The state water-quality board on Tuesday approved sweeping new curbs on ammonia in Colorado's waterways, including the South Platte River, to better protect fish. The new state rules, stemming from upgrades to federal pollution regulations, will collectively cost sewage treatment plants across Colorado hundreds of millions of dollars to meet. In many cases, new water- treatment processes must be installed. The nine-member Water Quality Control Commission gave wastewater plants through 2011 to incorporate the changes, although even with that time frame some facilities likely will seek extensions, the board acknowledged.

Cemex manager states case for how plant has improved conditions
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15161
Members of the county health board Monday heard Cemex’s manager debate a county air inspector on how the cement plant has or hasn’t improved environmentally. Lyons plant manager Steve Goodrich listed recent plant modifications and told the Boulder County Board of Health how state officials might spend a portion of Cemex’s $1.5 million air-quality fine. Goodrich said Cemex has already cut down the use of dynamite to remove buildup in one of its towers and has made truck washing mandatory to limit dust. The company has begun relocating storage facilities to reduce the plant’s footprint, has submitted quarterly emissions data to the county and has hired a third environmental staff person.

Water Issues: Colorado Springs students study well shut-down problems
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070314/NEWS/103140091
Johnson said the 12 students, mostly freshmen, are familiar with tributary groundwater issues and came to Greeley to get a better understanding of water appropriations, decrees, exchanges, augmentations and other issues from water managers and farmers. They spent their morning at the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District and the afternoon on a farm southeast of La Salle, owned an operated by Larry and Skylar Loeffler. In the morning, Tom Cech, director of the district, the district's attorney and Jim Hall, director of the Greeley office of the Colorado Division of Water Resources, spoke to the group. The well the Loefflers have on their farm was one of more than 400 shut down by the state last year. That action limits them to surface water rights they own, which Skylar Loeffler said is not enough to irrigate their 320 acres of alfalfa and alfalfa grass, which complements their 300-head cow operation.

Ark Valley water projects to get funds from board
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/7
Three projects in the Arkansas Basin received $270,000 in funding Tuesday as part of the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s first round of interbasin roundtable requests. A fourth was pulled from consideration because it needed more work. Funding requests were frustrating both for roundtables and for CWCB staff under a state law that provides $40 million over four years for water projects that tie into meeting perceived shortages under the Statewide Water Supply Initiative.

Badger Creek turns turbulent at meeting
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173880626/13
Fishermen, wildlife supporters and a conservancy district provided more drama than usual to what is usually a routine procedure for the Colorado Water Conservation Board Tuesday. The board heard testimony from five Trout Unlimited representatives, the Audubon Society, the Bureau of Land Management Advisory Council, the Sierra Club and the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District on a proposal to expand stream flow protection in Badger Creek, a 30-mile-long tributary on the north side of the Arkansas River near Howard. In reviewing three current in-stream flow applications, as well as several that could be applied for 2008, the CWCB had more than usual consternation about the process.

Funding shortfall means whitewater park unlikely
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/14/3_14_1a_whitewater_park.html
The U.S. Bureau of Reclam-ation on Tuesday slapped a $2.9 million price tag on a proposed whitewater park on the Colorado River east of Palisade, raising questions and doubts about whether backers of the park can raise money in time for the project’s April deadline.

Fighting the weed war
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/14/fighting_weed_war/?local_news
Although they’ve yet to rear their ugly heads, the weeds are on the way. To encourage Routt County rural landowners to control noxious weeds this spring and summer, the Routt County Conservation District, in partnership with the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Service, is offering $62,000 in grants to landowners for the cost of chemical, cultural or biological weed control.

Aspen achieves 14% recycling rate
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070313/NEWS/70313020
Aspen residents and businesses recycle 14 percent of the overall waste produced in the resort, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8,703 tons in the process, according to a review of the city’s stepped-up recycling requirements. A four-page report, detailing the impact of a waste reduction/recycling ordinance adopted in the fall of 2005, was released Tuesday.

Get a green-building roadmap
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070313/NEWS/70313022
Built Green is a program of the Denver Metro Home Builders Association and is the largest green home building program in the nation., said Matt Scherr, executive director of the Eagle Valley Alliance for Sustainability. “It’s like a roadmap, tells you what places you can consider, material choices, mechanical systems, everything involved with green building,” Scherr said.

National Park historian shares insider view
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15160
Historians rarely double as fundraisers. But National Park Service historian Richard Sellars ultimately motivated Congress to approve nearly a half-billion dollars to revitalize natural resource management and science in the national parks by writing “Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History” (Yale University Press). The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Center of the American West on Monday afternoon hosted the Santa Fe, N.M.-based historian to discuss his upcoming companion book about the history of historic preservation in the national parks.

Top

Opinion

Still defensive about Walter Reed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5415888,00.html
The scandal of the Army's after-care of wounded soldiers has claimed the jobs of the secretary of the Army, the Army surgeon general and the commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The responsibility for reforming a clearly failing system now falls to the interim surgeon general, Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock. She has an impressive resume - a nurse anesthetist, graduate degrees in business and health-care administration, 30 years in the military - so maybe she can start rectifying the daunting situation she has been handed. But an e-mail she sent to the staff of the Army Medical Command - which was quickly leaked to The Washington Post - makes outsiders wonder if she has any kind of grip on what happened. It certainly shows a bureaucratic mentality at work.

Johnson: 'Get Out of Iraq' measure's author taking some blows
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5416065,00.html
You cannot turn on the radio without hearing someone attacking Gordon. Think Benedict Arnold handing over Gen. David Petraeus' war plans for Baghdad to Osama bin Laden. That is talk radio's portrayal of Ken Gordon.

Sunshine Week celebrates open government
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/OPINION01/703140303/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
Today, Congress will consider a package of five bills that address how the federal government is approaching open government. Among the proposals is legislation that would make it more difficult for current and former presidents to withhold presidential records. Another bill would reverse a Bush administration directive by restoring the presumption that federal agencies should release records to the public when allowed by law, according to The Associated Press. In Colorado, support for open records and open meetings is just as important. The Legislature is considering several pieces of legislation that could have an effect on whether residents can access, if not afford, public records. For example, Senate Bill 45 reduces the amount that residents will pay for accessing public records and clarifies the process for requests of more than 50 pages. Currently, Coloradans pay the highest price (up to $1.25 a page) for copies of public records, which could be prohibitive to those who have a right to such records.
RELATED: FOIA fix is necessary
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/03/14/3_14_07_records_edit.html

BLM on the right trail
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/03/14/3_14_trails_edit.html
In the Montrose area, the Bureau of Land Management is pushing the novel idea that off-road vehicles should stay on designated trails and not have free rein to go roaring over every acre of public land they please.

Focus on the culprits
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/14/focus-on-the-culprits/
The recent spate of violence apparently based in bigotry may well be, as one headline said, a "black eye for Boulder." But this isn't a municipal issue. The alleged attacks were individual criminal acts that reveal persistent societal prejudice.

Spencer: School tax plan: Is it new math?
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5429543
Coloradans might be willing to pay 16 extra bucks a year for an $80 million revenue boost. But they're going to be leery as long as they need a calculator and an MBA to figure out why.

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

Clinton: Right-Wing Conspiracy Is Back
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031300638.html
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday described past Republican political malfeasance in New Hampshire as evidence of a "vast, right-wing conspiracy." Clinton's barbed comments revived a term she coined for the partisan plotting during her husband's presidential tenure and echoed remarks she made last weekend in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary. Her rhetorical red meat to a sympathetic audience of Democratic municipal officials comes as Clinton courts New Hampshire voters and squeezes donors for dollars ahead of a March 31 fundraising report deadline. She also continues to face criticism from the party's liberal base for her failure to repudiate her vote authorizing military force in Iraq.
RELATED: Clinton and Obama Court Jewish Vote
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/14aipac.html

Firefighters Group in Rift With Giuliani
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/politics/14rudy.html
John McCain will be there, as will Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards and half a dozen other presidential candidates. But when firefighters hold a candidates forum today in Washington, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the contender most closely identified with their profession, will not attend.

Dodd's Team Creates a Pre-"Daily Show"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301148.html
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" last night for a few minutes of witty banter, following what is becoming a well-worn path laid by candidates trying to reach a younger audience. But before the "Daily Show" camera in New York started rolling, Dodd's team had its own cameras filming. The campaign put up a Web page yesterday afternoon to bring visitors behind the scenes at the show. At four, Dodd was filmed prepping with his communications director Beneva Schulte for the interview. "You'd hardly know you were walking into the Daily Show from looks outside the building," the Web site said. "A non-descript "607" awning hangs atop a door leading backstage."

Edwards is going 'carbon neutral'
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-briefs14.3mar14,1,7033149.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards pledged to run a "carbon neutral" campaign that would offset any contributions that it makes to global warming. The former senator often travels in private jets that spew carbon dioxide. He vowed to compensate for that, and for his campaign's other energy consumption, by purchasing "carbon offsets" from a company that supports renewable energy projects.
RELATED: Can Edwards win with an 'us vs. them' pitch?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-13-edwards-cover_N.htm

Protecting candidates gets more expensive
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bodyguards14mar14,1,5698550.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
The Secret Service says the number of presidential hopefuls in 2008 will drive up the cost considerably.

The Senate's Meandering Paper Trail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301734.html
Could the antiquated process senators are using to file their campaign finance reports finally have become too outlandish to ignore? That's what Stephen Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute says he is hoping as a Senate committee holds a hearing today, after three years of waiting, on legislation to streamline the creaky system that requires Senate candidates to file their reports on paper.

Election workers sentenced in Ohio recount
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ohio14mar14,1,6744794.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Two county election workers were sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for rigging a recount of 2004 presidential election ballots so they could avoid a longer, more detailed review. Jacqueline Maiden, 60, a Cuyahoga County election coordinator who was the board's third-highest ranking employee, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer, 40, each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Corrigan allowed the women to remain free on bail pending appeal, but indicated he thought there was a more widespread conspiracy among election officials. "I can't help but feel there's more to this story," he said.

Bill to Give D.C. Full House Vote Advances
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031300760.html
A congressional committee approved a bill yesterday granting the District a full vote in the House of Representatives, giving the measure its first victory in what will probably be weeks of fierce wrangling as it moves through Congress. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted 24 to 5 for the bill, an endorsement its supporters expected. But in a likely sign of things to come, there was feisty sparring, with opponents calling the measure unconstitutional and marshaling amendments to derail it. One amendment, which was successfully attached to the bill, seeks to prevent the District from eventually getting voting representatives in the Senate. But Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said she expected that measure to be stripped because of its doubtful legality. She said she did not fight the amendment because she did not want to waste time on an unnecessary debate.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

White House Finds Trouble Harder to Shrug Off
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301839.html
As President Bush toured ancient Mayan ruins and exchanged toasts with the new Mexican president Tuesday, his aides furiously worked the telephones back to Washington. Another administration official was out, and the attorney general was deflecting calls for his own ouster as well. The cascade of controversies that followed Bush to Latin America has left a president familiar with weathering crises in uncharted territory. For the first time since taking office, Bush confronts political furors on multiple fronts and an opposition Congress armed with the subpoena power to investigate them.

Democrats work to smooth Iraq tension
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-13-dems-tension_N.htm
Tempers flared on Iraq among Democrats on Tuesday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fielded criticism from an anti-war congresswoman over liberals' concern that the party is not doing enough to end the war. Pelosi's behind-closed-doors exchange with Rep. Maxine Waters of California — described as heated by lawmakers and aides who asked not to be identified because of the session's private nature — came as House leaders made progress in their quest for votes on a war spending bill that would require U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by 2008. Several Democrats said they had been persuaded to support the measure — the party's first binding action to challenge President Bush's war policies — after last-minute changes and a weekend at home with constituents.
RELATED: Congress Gears Up for Debate on Getting U.S. Out of Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14cong.html

U.S. lets whistle-blowers lose jobs
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-13-whistle-blowers-lose-jobs_N.htm
The federal government is sanctioning agreements that cost whistle-blowers their jobs after they expose safety and security lapses at nuclear facilities and toxic waste sites, Labor Department records show. Federal law requires the department to safeguard whistle-blowers from reprisals and approve settlements of their retaliation claims against private or federal employers. Yet 45 of 73 settlements approved since 2000 involving whistle-blowers who complained of environmental and nuclear safety problems included permanent bans on working for the employer.

House to Consider New Rules for No-Bid Contracts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301695.html
The House is scheduled to take up legislation this week aimed at putting new curbs on no-bid contracts and cost overruns, the first of several congressional initiatives seeking to place new limits on government contractors. The legislation sponsored by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) would limit no-bid contracts issued in times of emergency to one year. It would require government agencies to report to Congress within 14 days to explain why a competition wasn't held for any sole-source contracts. The measure would also order any cost overrun of $10 million or more to be reported to Congress, and it encourages agencies to use fixed-price contracts in which companies are paid a set amount for their work, instead of other contract structures that allow companies to pass on rising costs.

Sen. Johnson issues statement of thanks
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-13-sen-johnson_N.htm
Sen. Tim Johnson issued his first public statement Tuesday since suffering a life-threatening brain hemorrhage three months ago, and his office released the first photos of the Democratic senator since he became ill. "I want to thank the people of South Dakota and all of our dear friends for their support and prayers," Johnson said in a statement released by his office. "This has been an unexpected journey and there is a long road in front of me. I am determined and focused on my recovery, and I look forward to returning to the Senate on behalf of South Dakota." Johnson's illness and ensuing absence from the Senate have highlighted his party's tenuous one-seat advantage in the chamber. He has been recovering at a private rehabilitation facility since leaving George Washington University Hospital last month. Johnson's office has said his recovery is expected to take several months, though he has been doing some work from his bed.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

AP: 1M archived pages removed post-9/11
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-13-archives_N.htm
More than 1 million pages of historical government documents — a stack taller than the U.S. Capitol — have been removed from public view since the September 2001 terror attacks, according to records obtained by the Associated Press. Some of the papers are more than a century old. In some cases, entire file boxes were removed without significant review because the government's central record-keeping agency, the National Archives and Records Administration, did not have time for a more thorough audit.

Muslim group stirs suspicion
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140149mar14,1,5525668.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
With violence across the Middle East putting Islam smack at the center of the U.S. political debate, an organization partly financed by donors closely identified with wealthy Persian Gulf governments has emerged as the most vocal advocate for American Muslims--and an object of wide suspicion. The group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, defines its mission as spreading the understanding of Islam and protecting civil liberties. Its members appear frequently on television and are quoted often in newspapers, and its director has met with President Bush. Yet a debate rages behind the scenes in Washington about the group, known as CAIR. A small band of critics has made a determined but unsuccessful effort to link it to Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been designated terrorist organizations by the State Department, and have gone so far as calling CAIR an American front for the two.

Black Caucus Seeks Federal Action on Cherokee Vote
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031302132.html
Black leaders in Congress asked the federal government yesterday to weigh in on the legality of a vote by the Cherokee Nation earlier this month to revoke citizenship from descendants of former tribal slaves. Saying they were "shocked and outraged," more than two dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus signed a letter to the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs questioning the "validity, legality, as well as the morality" of the March 3 vote. "The black descendant Cherokees can trace their Native American heritage back in many cases for more than a century," said Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.). "They are legally a part of the Cherokee Nation through history, precedent, blood and treaty obligations."

Top

Foreign Policy

Maliki, Petraeus Visit Insurgent Hotbed in Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301724.html
For months in this battered city, Sunni Muslim militants took over mosques and used their loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda. So a few weeks ago, U.S. soldiers went to the local market, bought speakers and placed them on a tall, white tower inside their base. Then they began trying to woo the population with messages from the mayor and local sheiks. The Americans spliced in verses from the Koran, the Iraqi national anthem and the news, and even threw in the latest European scores in soccer, a sport loved by most Iraqis. "This is good counterinsurgency stuff right here," said Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, standing near the tower on Tuesday.
RELATED: U.S. Expects Iraq Prison Growth
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301732.html

Suicide bombers strike market, Iraqi checkpoint in Baghdad
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-14-suicide-bomber_N.htm
Northern Iraq has seen a recent rise in violence that many blame on insurgents fleeing a security crackdown in the capital. The city, which has a mixed population of Kurds and Sunni and Shiite Arabs, is 88 miles south of oil-rich Kirkuk.
RELATED: Suicide Bombings in Iraq Leave 10 Dead
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html

Britain's Cameron Skeptical of 'Surge'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301723.html
Conservative Party leader David Cameron on Tuesday said he was "skeptical" of President Bush's "surge" of troops into Iraq, saying sectarian bloodshed could be curbed only through political negotiations among Iraq's rival ethnic and religious groups. "It is going to be very difficult to ask British and American troops to somehow disarm Sunni militias and Shia militias," Cameron, one of Britain's most popular politicians, said in an interview. "This is something we have to encourage the Iraqis to do themselves." Cameron's comments were in sharp contrast to those by Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who in a separate interview said that U.S.-led security operations in Baghdad were already starting to yield results.

Iraq Intensifies Efforts to Expel Iranian Group
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301782.html
For three years, thousands of members of a militant group dedicated to overthrowing Iran's theocracy have lived in a sprawling compound north of Baghdad under the protection of the U.S. military. American soldiers chauffeur top leaders of the group, known as the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, to and from their compound, where they have hosted dozens of visitors in an energetic campaign to persuade the State Department to stop designating the group as a terrorist organization. Now the Iraqi government is intensifying its efforts to evict the 3,800 or so members of the group who live in Iraq, although U.S. officials say they are in no hurry to change their policy toward the MEK, which has been a prime source of information about Iran's nuclear program.

EU envoy urges Syria to help on Lebanon, Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400403.html
The European Union's foreign policy chief urged Syria on Wednesday to do more to help ease tensions in Lebanon and Iraq during a visit that ended a two-year freeze on high-level EU contacts with Damascus. Before starting a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Javier Solana called on senior Syrian officials to crack down on alleged smuggling of arms across the border into Lebanon and contribute to stabilizing Iraq, EU diplomats said.

Iranian bank note stirs chain reaction
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-currency14mar14,1,2513696.story?coll=la-headlines-world
A new 50,000-rial note going into circulation this week was meant to showcase Iran's technological ambitions and boost national pride just before the Persian New Year next week. Instead, illustrated with the image of an atom surrounded by a field of electrons over the map of Iran, the bill has proved immensely controversial.

3 Bombings Raise Fears of New Effort by Taliban
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/asia/14afghan.html
Three bombs, two of them carried by suicide bombers, exploded in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding at least 10, and raising fears that the Taliban was starting a new wave of violence, officials said.

Settled W. Bank lands private
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/03/14/settled_w_bank_lands_private/
An up-to-date Israeli government register shows that 32.4 percent of the property held by Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is private, according to the advocacy group that sued the government to obtain the data. The group, Peace Now, had prepared an earlier report in November, also provided to The New York Times, based on a 2004 version of the Israeli government database that had been provided by an official who wanted the information published. Those figures showed that 38.8 percent of the land on which Israeli settlements were built was listed as private Palestinian land. The data show a pattern of illegal seizure of private land that the Israeli government has been reluctant to acknowledge or to prosecute, according to the Peace Now report.

U.N. chief nuclear inspector unable to meet top N. Korea nuke negotiator
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-14-un-north-korea_N.htm
North Korea's top nuclear negotiator called off a meeting Wednesday with the chief U.N. nuclear inspector for talks on how Pyongyang will close its main atomic reactor, a U.N. spokeswoman said. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had been slated to meet with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the Vienna-based agency. But the North Koreans canceled the meeting, saying Kim was "busy" preparing for more international disarmament talks in Beijing, Fleming said by telephone from Pyongyang. Instead ElBaradei met with another vice foreign minister, Kim Hyong Jun.
RELATED: Treasury Reportedly Set to Act to Free North Korean Money
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14bank.html

Sudan Backs Away From U.N. Plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301837.html
Sudan's president has rejected the core elements of a plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur to help protect civilians from a government-backed campaign of violence. The move set the stage for a renewed push by the United States and Britain to impose U.N. sanctions on Sudan. Britain's U.N. ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, said Tuesday that he would introduce a draft resolution to the Security Council as early as next week. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir wrote in a 13-page letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that he wants to renegotiate the terms of a deal to bolster a force of about 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur with thousands of U.N. troops. The Sudanese leader claims that the plan violates key provisions of last May's Darfur Peace Agreement between his government and Darfur's main rebel group.
RELATED: USS Cole families tell Va. court Sudan aided al-Qaeda
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-13-usscole-sudan_N.htm

Somali president escapes shelling
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140185mar14,1,5787812.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Somalia's president came under mortar attack in his palace Tuesday, just hours after moving in, but he escaped unharmed in the assault, which killed a 12-year-old boy. Elsewhere in the increasingly violent capital, a remote-controlled roadside bomb struck a convoy carrying Mogadishu's deputy mayor, killing two aides and seriously wounding a bodyguard. Deputy Mayor Ibrahim Omar Sabriye was slightly wounded in the leg by the bomb that struck his four-vehicle convoy, said bodyguard Abdikadir Ahmed.

Arrests Energize Zimbabwe Opposition
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301730.html
Two harrowing days in police custody have left Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai with serious physical injuries but also renewed standing as head of an anti-government movement that is showing more energy than it has in years. Tsvangirai's failure to mount protests after several tainted elections had fueled criticism that he lacked the strategic savvy -- and perhaps even the physical courage -- to lead a final push against President Robert Mugabe. As recently as Friday, speaking before journalists in Johannesburg, Tsvangirai played down the need for demonstrations, saying: "Going in the streets is only one of the strategies. . . . A struggle has various stages."

Top

Immigration

Hope seen in White House-GOP immigration talks
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig14mar14,1,5417909.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
As President Bush uses his Latin American trip to call for an overhaul of U.S. immigration law, GOP lawmakers are working with his administration to draft a proposal that could win enough Republican support to settle the thorny issue. Republican lawmakers are looking at how to improve the way businesses verify that employees are legal residents, how to set up a guest worker program, and how to deal with illegal immigrants in the country. The discussions are taking place as Democrats shift gears on their immigration legislation to try to win more Republican support. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a conservative who will play an active role in immigration overhaul, says he sees progress.
RELATED: Supporters still committed; immigration bill still stalled
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-13-immigration-congress_N.htm

Guest workers' Gulf Coast dream unmet
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-workers14mar14,1,6052645.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Mexican and Indians say housing and pay for post-Katrina labor was not as billed, but employers cite a lack of skills.

Top

Marriage and Family Issues

Ex-N.J. gov. seeks custody of daughter
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gaygov14mar14,1,3446115.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Former Gov. James E. McGreevey, who resigned from office after revealing that he was gay and had an affair with a male staffer, is seeking custody of his 5-year-old daughter and child support from his estranged wife. The revised divorce lawsuit by McGreevey, who resigned in November 2004, does not mention the "matrimonial settlement agreement" that McGreevey originally said had resolved all custody and support issues concerning his daughter, Jacqueline. McGreevey's wife, Dina Matos, has 35 days to respond to the revised filing. The papers filed last month in Union County Superior Court asked the judge to assign McGreevey custody, to award visitation to the noncustodial parent and to award him "suitable support and maintenance."

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Senate Budget Would Expand Health Care
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301763.html
Senate Democrats unveiled a spending blueprint yesterday that envisions a massive expansion of the nation's health-insurance program for children, as well as billions of additional dollars for other domestic priorities such as public education, veterans' health care and local police. Despite the additional spending, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the proposal would virtually erase the federal deficit within four years without raising taxes and produce a surplus of $132 billion by 2012.

Harvard economist proposes team approach on healthcare
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/14/harvard_economist_proposes_team_approach_on_healthcare/
A renowned Harvard economist unveiled a plan yesterday to revamp the US healthcare system by focusing on the value of care to patients, arguing that improving the quality of medical services can by itself save money and provide a road map to a national health plan.

Senate Passes Bill Containing Proposals of 9/11 Panel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301550.html
The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation yesterday to implement many of the remaining reforms suggested by the Sept. 11 commission, answering its three-year-old call for better emergency communications; more money for cities at high risk of terrorist attacks; and tighter security for air cargo, ports, chemical plants and rail systems. In a sign of how far the politics of homeland security have shifted since the Democrats seized Congress, senators voted 60 to 38 -- with 10 Republicans and no Democrats crossing ranks -- to force a fresh national security confrontation with President Bush, who has threatened to veto the bill over a provision to expand the labor rights of 45,000 airport screeners. In January, more than a third of GOP members supported a House version, which Democrats included in their "100 hours" agenda after campaigning successfully on the issue last fall. Differences in the bills, each of which would cost about $20 billion over five years, will be hammered out in conference.

Texas House Rejects Order by Governor on Vaccines
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/14vaccine.html?ref=us
Six weeks after Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order making Texas the first state to require that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, the State House of Representatives voted 119 to 21 yesterday to approve a bill that would nullify the order. If the Senate also approves the bill, the measure will go to Mr. Perry, a Republican, whose office declined to say whether he would veto it. But Mr. Perry’s spokeswoman said the efforts to overturn the order would create a dangerous situation in which far fewer women might receive the vaccine.

Bad medicine in New Orleans
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katrina14mar14,1,4559085.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina, the healthcare system in New Orleans remains in such disarray that patients with heart disease and cancer are getting inadequate care, local medical authorities told Congress on Tuesday. By one estimate, they said, the number of deaths may have increased by more than 40% from pre-Katrina figures. The federal government has pumped in millions of dollars in aid, but hospitals and clinics that care for the poor — already strained before the storm — have not recovered. Behind the failure to improve healthcare in New Orleans is a squabble between state and federal officials with competing visions.

Arrests stoke airport security
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140156mar14,1,4804770.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The Transportation Security Administration stepped up security at airports around Florida on Tuesday, days after baggage handlers in Orlando were accused of smuggling guns aboard an airliner. More than 160 security staffers were being dispatched to airports in Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

River parasite eats at children
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140248mar14,1,5656740.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Flowing through the shantytowns and yam fields of this dust-choked region, the River Uke glimmers like a mirage, tiny white diamonds of sunlight dancing on its surface. As the temperature rises to 100 degrees, wiry boys run to the river and leap into its waters. Ask the people of Nasarawa, and they say the river is the center of their lives. But the water hides a debilitating scourge: schistosomiasis, a disease spread by microscopic parasites that live in the river, burrow through skin and slowly infect organs, stunting children's growth and sometimes causing death. The solution, experts say, lies with just one dose, once a year, of about three white pills called praziquantel. Studies show that a single dose--at a cost of 20 cents--can reverse up to 90 percent of the damaging health effects of schistosomiasis within six months of treatment. But while Nigeria profits handsomely from its oil industry and giant pharmaceutical corporations donate millions every year to treat more prominent diseases in developing countries, no one has stepped forward to help mass-produce and distribute praziquantel, which costs 7 cents per pill to manufacture.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Costs soar to fight lawsuit by ex-prisoner
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/14/costs_soar_to_fight_lawsuit_by_ex_prisoner/
The city of Boston has spent nearly $600,000 on outside lawyers to fight a lawsuit filed by a man wrongly convicted and imprisoned after Boston police concluded he shot a 12-year-old girl to death. Shawn Drumgold spent 15 years in prison before the Suffolk district attorney's office acknowledged possible misconduct by police and prosecutors, and a Suffolk Superior Court judge overturned his conviction, saying "justice was not done" and the "system had failed." The city has paid $540,135 to outside lawyers in the case since January 2005, and an additional $45,920 in legal fees are pending, according to figures obtained yesterday by the Globe under a public records request. Drumgold was freed in 2003 after the Globe reported that police paid one witness and dropped charges against that witness, and that police didn't tell defense lawyers that a second witness had a fatal brain tumor, which could have affected her memory. A third witness said police coerced her testimony.

Top

Economy

Wall Street, Washington Huddle on U.S. Markets
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301740.html
The bulls of Wall Street converged on Washington yesterday, clogging narrow Georgetown streets with black-windowed Town Cars as they met to discuss the worrisome state of the U.S. markets. But at the same time Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and such financial luminaries as the leaders of J.P. Morgan Chase, Charles Schwab and the New York Stock Exchange fretted about losing ground to international rivals, one of the nation's largest investment banks reported a record first-quarter profit. The irony was not lost on Warren E. Buffett, described yesterday by Paulson as "the world's best known and most successful investor" and a man who has "forgotten more about capital markets than any one of us has known to begin with."
RELATED: Paulson, at Talks on Regulation, Suggests Pendulum Has Swung Too Far
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/business/14regulate.html

Retail sales inch a bit higher in February after flat January
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-03-13-retail-sales_N.htm
Sales at the nation's retailers edged up by 0.1% in February as bad weather in many parts of the country kept shoppers at home. The tiny increase reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday followed flat retail sales in January as shoppers took a breather after buying briskly during the holidays. "Households hit the deep freeze when it came to spending," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.

Earnings at Goldman Were Up 29% in Quarter
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/business/14wall.html?ref=business
Goldman Sachs reported a 29 percent increase in profit yesterday for its first quarter of 2007, setting a record amid growing concern on Wall Street over falling stock prices and an imploding subprime mortgage market. The firm reported profit of $3.2 billion, or $6.67 a share, for the three months that ended Feb. 23, before the recent slump in the stock market and the wave of problems involving subprime lenders. That topped the $2.48 billion, or $5.08 a share, it reported in the period a year ago. Goldman said its net revenue was $12.7 billion for the quarter.

Telecoms Wait Nervously On $20 Billion Contract
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301739.html
Over the past 3 1/2 years, AT&T has spent several million dollars putting together two 5,000-page proposals detailing how it can upgrade phone lines, wireless networks and fire walls for the federal government. At one point, about 100 people toiled through the night in a Northern Virginia basement to put the final touches on a bid that would guarantee the company's survival in federal market for the next decade. Executives from AT&T and other companies are anxiously awaiting the General Services Administration's announcement of the largest telecommunications contract ever awarded. The winner of the biggest and most lucrative piece of the project, known as Networx Universal, could be named as early as this week.

Top

Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability

New York Mayor Warns Against Growing Inequality in U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/nyregion/14mayor.html
Flanked by national leaders in government and business, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg warned on Tuesday that widening financial inequality in the United States was “not morally right” and expressed concern about the surging economic growth of China. With the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., sitting to his right, and Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, to his left, the mayor seemed to be in his element on Tuesday morning, referring several times to the financial information company he founded, Bloomberg L.P. Mayor Bloomberg was the only current elected official among the 11 speakers invited to take part in a Treasury Department conference at Georgetown University on the competitiveness of United States capital markets, a fact that invited some light-hearted speculation among the participants about his political aspirations.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

Cash sources dry up for subprime mortgage lenders
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-03-13-subprime-tue_N.htm
It was a black Tuesday for investors in subprime mortgage companies. Stock prices of the sector's major players were hammered as investors fled en masse, and one of the biggest success stories in the industry last year — New Century Financial (NEWC)— was forced off the New York Stock Exchange. The subprime mortgage sector's meltdown, which only a few weeks ago seemed manageable, appears to be morphing into a contagion that threatens the health of the housing industry and the stability of the stock market, some analysts say. "Contagion is clearly a worry," says Bose George at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. "It's still unclear whether it's going to happen."

U.S. mortgage applications rose last week: MBA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400425.html
U.S. mortgage applications rose last week, with both new purchases and refinancings driven up by the lowest long-term home loan rates since early December, an industry trade group said on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted mortgage application activity index rose 2.8 percent in the week ended March 9 to 690.5, the highest reading since 721.2 in the week ended December 8.

Top

Media

Copyright war flares with suit vs. YouTube
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/03/14/copyright_war_flares_with_suit_vs_youtube/
A lawsuit filed by entertainment giant Viacom Inc., seeking more than $1 billion in damages against video-sharing website YouTube and its parent company Google Inc., raises the volume on one of the hottest debates in the technology business: Can Internet sites post snippets of content produced by others without paying them? In the suit filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York yesterday, Viacom claimed that YouTube has displayed more than 160,000 unauthorized video clips from Viacom's stable of cable-television networks, including MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon, and that the clips -- some of which run for several minutes -- have been viewed over 1.5 billion times by YouTube visitors.
RELATED: Viacom sues Google's YouTube in $1B copyright suit
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/2007-03-13-viacom-youtube-suit_N.htm

Top

Education

'No Child' Target Is Called Out of Reach
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301781.html
No Child Left Behind, the landmark federal education law, sets a lofty standard: that all students tested in reading and math will reach grade level by 2014. Even when the law was enacted five years ago, almost no one believed that standard was realistic. But now, as Congress begins to debate renewing the law, lawmakers and education officials are confronting the reality of the approaching deadline and the difficult political choice between sticking with the vision of universal proficiency or backing away from it. "There is a zero percent chance that we will ever reach a 100 percent target," said Robert L. Linn, co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA. "But because the title of the law is so rhetorically brilliant, politicians are afraid to change this completely unrealistic standard. They don't want to be accused of leaving some children behind."

Top

Science and Technology

Seas Yield Surprising Catch of Unknown Genes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301738.html
It took some mighty fine nets, but scientists who spent two years trawling the world's oceans for bacteria and viruses have completed the most thorough census ever of marine microbial life, revealing an astonishingly diverse and bizarre microscopic menagerie. Countering a long-held assumption that ocean waters are not rich with microbial life, the new report, released yesterday, reveals an otherworldly world of organismal ferment, including thousands of novel life forms that could help speed the development of new antibiotics and alternative energy sources and clarify the ocean's role in climate change.

Top

Military

VA Straining to Keep Up With Claims, Study Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301561.html
The Department of Veterans Affairs' system for handling disability claims is strained to its limit, and the Bush administration's efforts to relieve backlogs will not be enough to serve veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, investigators told a House committee yesterday. Government Accountability Office authorities and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes testified before a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee about their study into the VA claims system.

Soldiers Detail Walter Reed Problems
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301702.html
A Pentagon review board investigating conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center heard testimony yesterday from injured soldiers and their families describing continued bureaucratic missteps and problems with patient treatment more than three weeks after such problems were disclosed in the news media. During three hours of often emotional and personal testimony in an auditorium at the hospital in Northwest Washington, a steady stream of speakers spoke of their frustrations, fears and anger as they navigate treatment at Walter Reed. "The dropping of the ball on patients is still going on to this day," said Sgt. Jack Betancur, an Army reservist being treated at the hospital, adding that "a lot of soldiers are afraid to speak out, because they're afraid there will be retribution."

101st Airborne soldier's murder trial opens
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-soldier14mar14,1,3047164.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
The central fact in the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard is undisputed: Three unarmed Iraqi men detained during an operation northwest of Baghdad on May 9 were shot and killed. Precisely how and why those three Iraqis ended up dead formed the core of opening arguments Tuesday in a complex case that has pitted members of a 101st Airborne Division squad against one another. A military prosecutor told a seven-member Army jury that Girouard, the squad leader, ordered his men to cut loose the detainees and shoot them as they fled. The prosecutor, Capt. Joseph Mackey, said Girouard then conspired to stage the murder scene to make it appear that the detainees had attacked soldiers guarding them.

Sharp Drop in Gays Discharged From Military Tied to War Need
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301174.html
The number of homosexuals discharged from the U.S. military under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy dropped significantly in 2006, according to Pentagon figures released yesterday -- continuing a sharp decline since the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts began and leading critics to charge that the military is retaining gay men and lesbians because it needs them in a time of war. According to preliminary Pentagon data, 612 homosexuals were discharged in fiscal 2006, fewer than half the 1,227 discharged in 2001. On average, more than 1,000 service members were discharged each year from 1997 to 2001 -- but in the past five years the average has fallen below 730. The data were provided to The Washington Post in response to a request. "It is hypocritical that the Pentagon seems to retain gay and lesbian service members when they need them most, and fires them when it believes they are expendable," said Steve E. Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonprofit that opposes the policy.
RELATED: Pace takes fire on gays remark
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140183mar14,1,5001378.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: General's comments boost debate on gays in military
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/14/generals_comments_boost_debate_on_gays_in_military/

Top

Religion

Evangelical Group Rebuffs Critics on Right
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/14evangelical.html
The board of the National Association of Evangelicals has rebuffed leaders of the Christian right who had called for the association to silence or dismiss its Washington policy director because of his involvement in the campaign against global warming. Prominent Christian conservatives like James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, had sent a letter to the association’s leaders this month accusing the policy director, the Rev. Richard Cizik, of “using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time,” which they defined as abortion, homosexuality and teaching children sexual morality and abstinence. Board members say that the notion of censoring Mr. Cizik never arose last week at their meeting in Minnesota, and that he had delivered the keynote address at their banquet. In addition, the board voted 38 to 1 to endorse a declaration, which Mr. Cizik helped to write, that denounces the American government’s treatment of detainees in the fight against terrorism.

Pope: Church stands are `non-negotiable'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140182mar14,1,4608161.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the church's opposition to abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage, saying Tuesday that Catholic politicians were "especially" obligated to defend the church's beliefs in their public duties. "These values are non-negotiable," the pope wrote in a 130-page "apostolic exhortation," a distillation of opinion from a worldwide meeting of bishops at the Vatican in 2005. "Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators ... must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce laws inspired by values grounded in human nature."

Vatican to punish priest, sources say
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-sobrino14mar14,1,1601917.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Liberation theologian Father Jon Sobrino worked with the poor of El Salvador amid violence targeting clerics.

Top

Energy Policy

Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon Valley
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/technology/14valley.html?ref=business
Silicon Valley’s dot-com era may be giving way to the watt-com era. Out of the ashes of the Internet bust, many technology veterans have regrouped and found a new mission in alternative energy: developing wind power, solar panels, ethanol plants and hydrogen-powered cars. It is no secret that venture capitalists have begun pouring billions into energy-related start-ups with names like SunPower, Nanosolar and Lilliputian Systems. But that interest is now spilling over to many others in Silicon Valley — lawyers, accountants, recruiters and publicists, all developing energy-oriented practices to cater to the cause.

A U.S. Alliance to Update the Light Bulb
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/business/14light.html?ref=business
A coalition of industrialists, environmentalists and energy specialists is banding together to try to eliminate the incandescent light bulb in about 10 years. In an agreement to be announced Wednesday, the coalition members, including Philips Lighting, the largest manufacturer; the Natural Resources Defense Council; and two efficiency organizations, are pledging to press for efficiency standards at the local, state and federal levels. The standards would phase out the ordinary screw-in bulb, technology that arose around the time of the telegraph and the steam locomotive, and replace it with compact fluorescents, light-emitting diodes, halogen devices and other technologies that may emerge.

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

Foreign, U.S. carmakers join labor in fighting fuel economy rules
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-03-13-car-hearings-usat_N.htm
Domestic and foreign, management and labor, the U.S. auto industry will present a rare united front to Congress today in its battle against sharply higher fuel efficiency rules for cars and trucks. In what appears to be a first, the leaders of General Motors (GM), Ford Motor (F), Chrysler Group (DCX), the U.S. arm of Toyota (TM) and the United Auto Workers will testify before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. Automakers have said they consider President Bush's goal of 4% annual increases in efficiency standards too high. While Ford, Chrysler and Toyota will say they could abide unspecified increases set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration instead of Congress, GM will contend the whole system is flawed and will call for new approaches. But those arguments have few backers on Capitol Hill. Concerns about global warming and energy independence have made raising fuel economy standards a top priority for many lawmakers.

Top

Environment and Conservation

Judges Say E.P.A. Ignored Order in Setting Emission Standards
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14epa.html
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rebuked the Environmental Protection Agency in a decision Tuesday, indicating that the regulators had flouted Congress and the courts in setting the standards governing hazardous air pollution emissions from plants making bricks and ceramics. The panel concurred in a single opinion that the agency had ignored a federal appeals court opinion directing it to follow the Clean Air Act’s instructions in setting emission standards for kilns making bricks and ceramics. These kilns collectively emit more than 6,440 tons of toxic acids and small soot, which can cause breathing difficulties, organ damage and cancer.

Renewing a Call to Act Against Climate Change
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/science/14mckibben.html?ref=us
Some are born earnest, some achieve earnestness, and some have earnestness thrust upon them. Bill McKibben qualifies for inclusion in at least two of these wedges of humanity. In 1989, at the age of 28, he achieved earnestness of a dour, frowning sort as one of the first laymen to warn of global warming in his book “The End of Nature.” In the ensuing 18 years, he said recently while cross-country skiing in the woods near his home, he felt caught in a bad dream, forever warning heedless people of a monster in their midst.

Government seeks carbon caps
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703140173mar14,1,4542625.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The British government proposed bold new environmental legislation Tuesday that would set legally binding, long-term limits on carbon emissions, a move it hopes will prompt the United States, China and India to follow suit. The climate change bill would be the first legislation in an industrialized country to spell out such long-range goals, including a carbon budget set every five years that would cap CO2 levels and create an independent body to report on progress. The legislation also calls for binding targets as far ahead as 2050 for reducing carbon emissions.
RELATED: British plan would go beyond EU on carbon emissions
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-climate14mar14,1,3319627.story?coll=la-headlines-world

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.

Marcus: Time to Go, Mr. Gonzales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301509.html
"I believe in accountability," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales proclaimed yesterday at a news conference that was a self-serving masterpiece of passive voice and unpersuasive platitudes. "Like every CEO of a major organization, I am responsible for what happens at the Department of Justice. I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility. And my pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here, to access accountability and to make improvements so that the mistakes that occurred in this instance do not occur again in the future." Is there anyone left -- seriously, is there a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- who has confidence in Gonzales's capacity to fix this mess? Is there anyone who accepts Gonzales's CEO analogy -- and thinks that a sentient board of directors wouldn't have fired him long ago?
RELATED: Froomkin: Why Prosecutors Shouldn't Act Like Partisans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/13/BL2007031300755.html
RELATED: A Story Unravels
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301527.html
RELATED: Gonzales on the griddle
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703140327mar14,0,5580678.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed
RELATED: Litman: Guilty of politics
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-litman14mar14,0,5964982.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
RELATED: Politics, Pure and Cynical
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed1.html
RELATED: Blame Bush, not Gonzales
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-gonzales14mar14,0,2712407.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail

Meyerson: The (Necessarily Messy) Way Out
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301505.html
The antiwar bona fides of Obey and Pelosi are not only in good order, they're a lot more impressive than those of just about any Democrat running for president. In October 2002, breaking with then-House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt, Pelosi led the opposition to the bill authorizing the president to go to war in Iraq. Obey voted with Pelosi and spoke forcefully against U.S. involvement. What Pelosi and Obey understand that their critics on the left seem to ignore is that it will take numerous congressional votes and multiple confrontations with Bush to build the support required to end U.S. involvement. Thanks to the Constitution's division of powers, Congress and the White House seem bound for months of fighting over the conditions attached to any approval of funds for continuing our operations in Iraq. Over time, as the war drags on, either enough Republicans will join their Democratic colleagues to put an end to U.S. intervention, or they will stick with Bush, thereby ensuring there will be a sufficient number of Democrats in the next Congress to end the war.
RELATED: Brownstein: Bush doesn't hear subtlety so well
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brownstein14mar14,0,7750729.column?coll=la-opinion-center

Ignatius: A Manifesto For the Next President
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301504.html
Zbigniew Brzezinski has written a new book that might be a foreign policy manifesto for Barack Obama. Its message is that America can recover from what Brzezinski calls the "catastrophic" mistakes of the Bush administration, but only if the next president makes a clean break from those policies and aligns the country with a world in transformation.

When Warriors Come Limping Home
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed3.html
Shameful details continue to emerge on the neglectful care extended to soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army’s inspector general reports that more than nine out of 10 disabled veterans have been kept waiting for benefit evaluations beyond the 40-day limit set by the Pentagon. Some have waited up to a year and a half for benefits.

Alan Simpson: Bigotry That Hurts Our Military
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301507.html
As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe it is critical that we review -- and overturn -- the ban on gay service in the military. I voted for "don't ask, don't tell." But much has changed since 1993. My thinking shifted when I read that the military was firing translators because they are gay.
RELATED: The Right to Serve
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301526.html
RELATED: Morality and the military
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703140328mar14,0,5973895.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed

Chemerinsky: A Well-Regulated Right to Bear Arms
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301508.html
In striking down the District of Columbia's handgun ban last week, a federal appeals court raised the crucial constitutional question: What should be the degree of judicial deference to government regulation of firearms? The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit interpreted the Second Amendment as bestowing on individuals a right to have guns. But even if this reasoning is accepted, and it is very much disputed, the Court of Appeals still should have upheld the law as being a reasonable way of achieving the government's legitimate goal of decreasing gun violence.
RELATED: The Right to Ban Arms
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed2.html

Page: Dueling stories define today's politics
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0703140342mar14,0,4616154.column?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed
Conservative icon Newt Gingrich has wiped away whatever doubts I had that he might be planning to run for president. The former House speaker recently revealed on national television that he had an affair with a young staffer, who is now his wife, while seeking President Bill Clinton's impeachment in connection with, of all things, Clinton's affair with a young intern. Gingrich admitted that he had "fallen short of my own standards" in an interview with James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family. "There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards," Gingrich added. I leaped to one conclusion: Oh, yeah, Gingrich's running.

PAPERS REVIEWED TODAY

COLORADO

Rocky Mountain News

Denver Post

Boulder Daily Camera

Colorado Daily

Greeley Tribune

Fort Collins Coloradoan

Colorado Springs Gazette

Pueblo Chieftain

Grand Junction Sentinel

Craig Daily Press

Aspen Times

Glenwood Springs Post-Independent

Vail Daily

Steamboat Pilot

Montrose Press

Durango Herald

Cortez Journal

Telluride Daily Planet

Canon City Daily Record

Top

NATIONAL

New York Times

USA Today

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Boston Globe

Washington Post

Los Angeles Times

Chicago Tribune

ProgressNow.org
1536 Wynkoop St. #200
Denver, CO 80202

You received this mailing because you subscribed to the ProgressNow.org daily news digest list, which is strictly opt-in. We hope you have enjoyed this mailing; but if you have received it in error, or if you prefer not to receive any future news digest mailings, please visit http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/unsubscribe and your address will be removed from the list within 24-48 hours.