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TOP STORIES

Top

National

For U.S. and Sadr, Wary Cooperation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502447.html
U.S. troops are conducting security sweeps in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City for the first time in three years, part of a revamped plan to pacify the capital. Yet the Mahdi Army militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has not risen up to fight them, despite U.S. raids on militia members' homes and growing Sunni attacks on Shiites. "Until now, our leader has ordered us to keep quiet," explained Ayad al-Khaby, a local official in Sadr's organization. "This is in order for the security plan to succeed." After four years of hostility, Sadr and the Americans are cooperating uneasily as the United States and Iraq attempt to tame Baghdad's sectarian violence. American officials, who in recent months described Sadr's Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability, now praise the Shiite cleric.
RELATED: Sadr City's mayor target of an attack
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq16mar16,1,2275681.story?coll=la-headlines-world
RELATED: Attack on Sadr City Mayor Hinders Antimilitia Effort
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/world/middleeast/16iraq.html

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

Two Senators Secretly Flew to Cuba for Alleged 9/11 Mastermind's Hearing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500865.html
Two key congressional leaders secretly flew to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday to observe the closed military hearing for al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed, according to Capitol Hill staff members and Pentagon officials. Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a committee member, watched the proceedings over closed-circuit television from an adjacent room, said Tara Andringa, a spokeswoman for Levin. They were joined by a representative from the CIA, according to one U.S. government official. Lawyers from the Justice Department did not attend the hearing, a spokesman for the department said.
RELATED: Was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed playing to the jury?
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ksm16mar16,1,2013538.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Confession at Guantánamo by 9/11 Mastermind May Aid Other Qaeda Defendants
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/16legal.html?ref=washington

Panel Authorizes Subpoenas for Justice Dept. Officials
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500213.html
The Senate Judiciary Committee today authorized the use of subpoenas to compel the testimony of five Justice Department officials as part of an investigation into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, but the panel put off a vote on subpoenas for top White House aides, including senior political adviser Karl Rove. Meeting in an executive session, the 19-member committee voted to authorize the issuing of 11 subpoenas -- five for Justice Department officials involved in the firings and six for U.S. attorneys who were dismissed last year in the controversial purge. The subpoena authority gives the panel a fall-back position in case any of the current and former officials refuse to testify voluntarily or Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales reconsiders his pledge to let his subordinates appear before the committee.
RELATED: Justice Dept. Would Have Kept 'Loyal' Prosecutors
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400519.html
RELATED: Cummins fears corruption investigation led to his firing
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cummins16mar16,1,7503626.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Second GOP senator suggests Gonzales should go
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-15-gonzales-prosecutors_N.htm
RELATED: President Turns to an Insider to Negotiate on Dismissals
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/washington/16fielding.html?ref=washington

With Earlier Primary, Calif. Reshapes Race
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501061.html
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed legislation yesterday moving the state's presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008, a change that could lead to the earliest and biggest single-day test of candidate strength ever. Half a dozen other large states, including New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey, are also considering moving their primaries to the first Tuesday in February, with the possibility that nearly two dozen contests will be held that day. Together, those states could account for more than half of the total number of delegates at stake.
RELATED: California now near head of the voting line
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-primary16mar16,0,6478077.story?coll=la-home-headlines

More 2008 presidential race news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, COLORADO/ELECTION

Top

Colorado

Emergency contraception measure becomes law
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421658,00.html
A bill requiring hospitals to give rape victims information about emergency contraception - a measure that's been killed four times since 2003 - became law Thursday. "A lot of people put a lot of effort and energy into this bill," Gov. Bill Ritter said as he signed it. "It says that if you're a health care provider in the state and you're confronted with a sexual assault victim, you must provide her with information about emergency contraception. We believe this is an important step." The measure was among four bills signed into law by Ritter.
RELATED: 5TH TIME'S THE CHARM (Roll Call, March 16)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421349,00.html
RELATED: Rape victims must now be told options
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447858
RELATED: Ritter signs rape contraception bill
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20219&template=article.html

More reproductive choice news in COLORADO/CHOICE

Musgrave opposes open government bills
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/NEWS01/70316002/1002
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave voted against legislation Thursday that would increase public scrutiny over government contractors, capping a week in which she voted against four of five open government bills. Musgrave was one of about 100 Republicans who voted against most of the bills that the news media and government watchdog groups are pushing. The legislation also is in response to Democrats’ claims that the Bush administration has operated under a cloak of secrecy and unfairly enriched favored contractors, like oil services company Halliburton. The Bush administration opposes the bills and has threatened to veto two of them. All the bills passed the House with two-thirds veto-proof majorities.

2 ousted from Bush event add name to lawsuit list
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421318,00.html
Two people ejected from a presidential appearance in Denver because of a bumper sticker have added a former White House deputy assistant to the list of individuals they are suing. Greg Jenkins is being sued because he managed appearances by President Bush as head of the White House office of advance, and the office had a policy of ejecting anyone with views perceived as different from the president's views, said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the Denver branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. Leslie Weise and Alex Young were removed from the taxpayer-funded Bush speech in Denver on March 21, 2005, though they had done nothing disruptive. They were told later by a Secret Service agent who investigated their removal that they were ousted because they arrived in a car with a bumper sticker that read, "No more blood for oil." Weise and Young, backed by the ACLU, are suing for violation of their rights to free speech, Silverstein said.
RELATED: ACLU sues Bush aides in ejection
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447399

Plan to freeze property tax "unresolved"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447480
The Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee on Thursday sidestepped a panel vote on her controversial plan to freeze property-tax rates statewide. Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, said the proposal to lock property-tax rates at current levels still needed work, so it was "put in the pile of unresolved issues." The plan - unveiled Tuesday by Windels and Gov. Bill Ritter at a Northglenn elementary school - was billed as a way to shore up the State Education Fund, a key source of money for public schools. But during testimony Wednesday, Windels said none of the extra $64 million that school districts would collect under a tax-rate freeze next year would go into the State Education Fund. Instead, she said the money would be steered toward funding for all-day kindergarten classes and other school programs. On Thursday, Windels said she didn't have enough time to "work for consensus" on the Colorado Children's Amendment of 2007, as it was billed by Ritter.
RELATED: Proposed freeze on property tax decreases delayed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5420109,00.html
RELATED: Legislator hopes to tie taxes to grad requirements
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_16_7a_School_finance.html

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Richardson OKs medical marijuana
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/richardson-oks-medical-marijuana/
Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said Thursday he realizes his action could become an issue in the presidential race. "So what if it's risky? It's the right thing to do," said Richardson, one of the candidates in the crowded 2008 field. "What we're talking about is 160 people in deep pain. It only affects them." The legislation would create a program under which some patients — with a doctor's recommendation — could use marijuana provided by the state health department. Lawmakers approved the bill Wednesday. The governor is expected to sign it in the next few weeks. Richardson has supported the proposal since he first ran in 2002. But he pushed especially hard for it this year, leaning on some Democrats to change their votes after the bill initially failed. "Give him credit. It's not something you do because you're going to garner great political support for it. It is a bit controversial," said Thomas Mann, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

DeGette seeks $50 million for Democratic convention security
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5420143,00.html
Rep. Diana DeGette has asked the House Appropriations Committee to set aside up to $50 million for security costs for the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. The request still must go through a lengthy approval process, and is being made in conjunction with an identical request for Minneapolis, host of the 2008 Republican National Convention. The $50 million per city figure is twice as much as congressional leaders originally requested for the convention host cities of Boston and New York City in 2004.
RELATED: Denver asks feds to ante $50 million for security
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447400

Coffman: Montrose can fix voting woes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421222,00.html
Mike Coffman gave Montrose an "atta county" Thursday, assuring election officials he is confident they can fix the problems that plagued their last election. Colorado's secretary of state said last week that he had the authority to place four counties - Montrose, Denver, Douglas and Pueblo - on election watch if they didn't clean up their act, meaning he could seek a court order to take over their elections. "Montrose County took a spill, but picked itself up and dusted itself off," Coffman said. "There was no fraud or criminal behavior, but mistakes were made and are being corrected."
RELATED: Montrose election ‘worst in state’
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_16_1a_Montrose_election.html

Secretary of state plans to rail against amended elections bill
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_16_7a_voting_bill.html
Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman said in the event a bill that could allow parolees to vote clears the Senate today, he will actively lobby against it. Coffman said Thursday that Senate Bill 83, which his office backed to address election problems in Montrose, Douglas, Denver and Pueblo Counties, had been changed so fundamentally that he could not support the bill. “If the bill survives — and I hope it doesn’t survive; I hope it just dies — I’m going to sit down with the county clerks and say, ‘Are there any things in the bill that are very critical that we must have?’ ” Coffman said. “Let’s break it down in tight bill titles and let’s do it in a late bill.” Senate Bill 83, backed by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, was amended during a two-day Senate debate last week to include provisions allowing parolees to vote.

Hickenlooper weathers storms
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421708,00.html
Voters gave former Denver Mayor Bill McNichols a cold shoulder at the polls over his handling of the Christmas blizzard of 1982. Five years later, a 15-inch dump led to a recall drive that briefly threatened Mayor Federico Peña months into his second term. But even though the city was paralyzed again this winter by a series of snowstorms at the height of the Christmas shopping season, most voters still feel warm and fuzzy about Mayor John Hickenlooper. A poll conducted by The Kenney Group, a political consulting firm managing his re-election campaign, found that most voters weren't too upset about the city's snow-removal efforts despite angry reactions at the time.

Dist. 8 hopeful pleaded guilty
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5448585
A Denver City Council candidate pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in 2003 after being accused of hitting a child, records show. Darrell Watson, who is running for the open District 8 council seat, received a deferred sentence for "wrongs to a minor," according to police and court records. Watson was taking care of the boy, and the child suffered bruises after Watson and the boy's father spanked him. Both men were charged. The boy's mother, Lisa Buchholtz, reported the bruises as an incident of child abuse, according to a Denver police report. Buchholtz could not be reached Thursday evening. The report referred to the child's father only as "Kevin."

Candidates trade ideas on hot topics
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/NEWS01/703160334/1002
City Council candidates debated the merits of roundabouts and steered clear of immigration at a candidate forum Thursday night. The two-hour forum, sponsored by the Coloradoan and radio station 1310 AM KFKA, included all 10 candidates for Council. Four seats, including mayor, are up for grabs with incumbents trying to hold onto two of those. Ballots for the mail-ballot election go out this week.
RELATED: Transit authority may hinge on council elections
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/NEWS01/703160336/1002

Council politics flare at meeting
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070315_3.htm
Open Space Advisory Board member Connie Imig called on City Council candidate Scott Graham to step down from the board's chairmanship at a Wednesday meeting at the Durango Community Recreation Center. Imig, whose husband is treasurer for Mayor Sidny Zink's campaign, alleged Graham had misrepresented the board actions at a candidates' forum.
RELATED: Candidates’ Forum: Jerry Swingle
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=opin&article_path=/opinion/opin070316_3.htm
RELATED: Candidates’ Forum: Tom Howley
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=opin&article_path=/opinion/opin070316_4.htm
RELATED: Canidates' Forum: Linda Geer
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=opin&article_path=/opinion/opin070315_2.htm
RELATED: Canidates' Forum: Leigh Meigs
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=opin&article_path=/opinion/opin070315_3.htm

Incorporation would boost sales tax rate
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20234&template=article.html
Most city budgets rely heavily on sales tax revenue, but in the dense pines of Black Forest, most businesses are of the “mom and pop” variety. That’s why residents favoring incorporation say the new city would be funded mostly by residential property taxes. But area businesses within city boundaries would still face a 2 percent sales tax increase — and some business owners aren’t happy about it. Calvin Lindt, owner of Black Forest Lumber at Burgess and Black Forest roads, said the county’s low sales tax rate — 4.9 percent versus 7.4 percent in Colorado Springs — entices customers. “That’s the reason we sell a lot more stuff,” Lindt said.

Lowe's election concerns remain
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/lowes-election-concerns-remain/
Officials say the city's special mail-ballot election is over, but several residents and one election watchdog are saying, "Not so fast." The group is seeking the help of Secretary of State Mike Coffman and considering a lawsuit to force a review of what it says was a "spoiled" election involving insider manipulation. At issue is Lafayette's Feb. 27 mail-ballot election in which 55 percent of voters approved the annexation of 32 acres for a future Lowe's home-improvement store. "We want to see the signatures; the city didn't verify the signatures," said Karen Norback, who led the opposition to Issue A. Thursday, Norback requested access to the city's poll books, as well as the ballot envelopes in an attempt to verify voters' signatures. "We're deciding whether to file a lawsuit," Norback said. Coffman's office said the secretary of state will not intervene. According to Jonathan Tee, Coffman's communications director, the secretary of state has no legal authority because Lafayette's election was a local one in a home-rule city. Boulder County Clerk Hillary Hall said she will not get involved in the matter, either.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Allard, Salazar back funding, but split on withdrawal in '08
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5420919,00.html
Colorado's U.S. senators split Thursday over whether to set a timetable for U.S. troops to leave Iraq, but they both rejected a nonbinding resolution to cut off funding for the war. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Denver, voted for the resolution to set a March 2008 deadline for removing most combat troops from Iraq. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, voted against the measure. Both voted "yes" for a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that "no funds should be cut off or reduced for American troops in the field which would result in undermining their safety or their ability to complete their assigned mission." Allard and Salazar also were united on a 96-2 vote in favor of a more general resolution, saying "no action should be taken to undermine the safety" of troops.
RELATED: Allard objects to Tupa's criticism
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/allard-objects-to-tupas-criticism/
RELATED: [Rep.] Salazar wants closer review of war funds
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174052617/11

Sen. Salazar discusses farm bill, Department of Justice
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/15/local_news/4.txt
Salazar said that although he is in favor of providing disaster relief through the bill, money would certainly have to be taken out of other programs to compensate for the emergency fund. He said the hearing was “very successful” and included discussions in favor of renewable energy developments such as solar and wind technology. In other news, Salazar answered questions regarding the call by several leading Democrats for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ resignation after he admitted that mistakes were made in firing eight federal prosecutors. “I believe strongly that what ought to happen is there should be a complete investigation of this matter. Hearings need to be held to find out what happened with the firings,” Salazar said. “The line between law enforcement and politics should never be blurred.” He said the Department of Justice using the attorney general’s office to create “particular political outcomes” would be a “gross error.”

Ethics law takes bite out of dinner
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421825,00.html
John Meeker could always count on a throng of state lawmakers and elected officials to show up for his nonprofit's annual awards dinner. But that was before Amendment 41, the new ethics law that is forcing cash-strapped lawmakers to stay home more. The law was designed to stop lobbyists from paying for access to legislators, but it is also causing elected officials to make hard decisions about what community events to attend. Only three elected officials plan to attend Developmental Pathway's awards dinner tonight, down from 13 public officials who attended in 2006. Nixed from the mix is the traditional mayors table. "There is no substitute for a public official to hear a family say I want to tell you my son's story," said Meeker, who runs Developmental Pathways. "The dinner creates an opportunity for our families to interact with the public officials they otherwise would not have." Developmental Pathways, which provides services for the developmentally disabled, is one of seven plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in February, charging that Amendment 41 violates free speech and due process. Government watchdog group Common Cause, a backer of Amendment 41, contends that lawmakers can freely attend nonprofits events. Common Cause Executive Director Jenny Flanagan says that the hysteria around the ethics law has made lawmakers extremely cautious for no good reason.

Denver taps former H-P exec Pumilia to usher in CFO role
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5421064,00.html
The city of Denver has hired a technology veteran as its first-ever chief financial officer. Claude Pumilia served as senior vice president for worldwide sales finance for CA Inc., formerly known as Computer Associates. Before joining the company in 2005, he served in a variety of roles at Hewlett- Packard and Compaq, before and after the two companies merged. He spent three years with H-P in Fort Collins as a divisional controller. He had a leading role on the integration team for H-P and Compaq, with his post-merger "Value Capture Team" generating more than $3 billion in savings, the city said. Pumilia will have integration on his Denver agenda. Voters approved the CFO position in November in a plan to pull all the city's financial functions - accounting, payroll, budget and treasury - into one office that reports to the mayor.
RELATED: Hickenlooper names city CFO
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5444323

Business leaders will pitch city to D.C.
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20225&template=article.html
A group of about 70 local business and civic leaders heads to Washington, D.C., this weekend to make Colorado Springs’ voice heard at the highest levels of government. It’s the ninth year for the Washington Legislative Action Mission, organized by the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. The group is not lobbying on any specific issue but simply advocating for the region, said Stephannie Finley, president of governmental affairs and public policy for the chamber. “If we don’t go to D.C. en masse with this kind of loud voice, then we stand the chance of being, I don’t want to say ignored, but we certainly won’t carry the leverage that we need to for our region,” she said. The mission, she said, also is about enrichment and education.

Urban renewal panel forgives city debt
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174052617/3
The Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority has agreed to forgive a $91,000 debt from the city that goes back to the original agreement between the two entities, which helped provide land for the Pueblo Convention Center and Marriott Hotel. The $91,000 was in tax increment financing revenue that was left over from when the city released care of the convention center finances to the Global Spectrum in 1998, according to URA board Chairman Gary Trujillo.

Rules and procedures
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25747
It was an honest mistake. That was the sentiment from City Councilman Joe Herod and his fellow councilors at Tuesday's meeting about Herod's role in not following the proper procedures in dealing with a resident. Craig City Manager Jim Ferree would not go into specifics on Thursday about the incident -- it is still under investigation -- but from what he said and from council minutes, the following is clear: Herod received a telephone call from a resident about a problem, went to the resident's house and said something he was not authorized to.

Silverton reacts to lawsuit
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070315_2.htm
Silverton town officials say they will "vigorously defend" themselves against a lawsuit filed last week in District Court accusing the town of financial disarray.

Love aide scored in politics, golf
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5447397
Bob Waggoner loved politics and golf and he managed to do a lot of both in his 88 years. Waggoner was an aide to the late Gov. John Love, worked as a congressional aide and helped Nelson Rockefeller in his failed bid for the presidential nomination. After retiring, he was the ramrod in getting an abandoned golf course restored. Waggoner died Feb. 17 at Aurora South Hospital after a long illness.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Lafayette may name park for Latina
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/lafayette-may-name-park-for-latina/
Lafayette might rename a city park in honor of an influential Latina. A proposal to change the name of Library Park to Ofelia Miramontes Park will come before the City Council on Tuesday. The idea was brought forward by City Councilwoman Chris Cameron, who said the city's "place names" should better reflect its diverse population.

Vets: Protest ‘Sending the wrong message'
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/70315023
Tom Kirk wishes we weren’t in Iraq either. But now that we are, it’s the U.S. government’s responsibility to make sure Iraq has as stable, functioning government before withdrawing the troops, Kirk said. Kirk, a Vail resident, spent 28 years as an Air Force fighter pilot. He saw combat in the Korean War and did two tours in the Vietnam War. He was prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. He sees a lot of similarities between the Iraq war and the Vietnam war. In both cases, the war became unpopular with Americans and became a focus of political debate between opposing parties. In both cases, Kirk said, he respected the right of war protesters to demonstrate. “I feel that this is the United States and we have a total right to assembly and to protest,” he said. But he feels that groups like the Eagle County for Justice and Peace are being short-sighted when they demand that American troops be withdrawn immediately. In fact, he thinks the Bush administration should put more troops in Iraq.
RELATED: War protesters rally in valley Monday
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/70315004

Top

Immigration

Federal law, housing clash in Olathe
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5420908,00.html
A federally funded building meant to house several dozen migrant farmworkers in Olathe sits almost empty and is in jeopardy of closing because of a law that restricts who can live there. Gov. Bill Ritter, speaking to business leaders in Denver on Thursday, pointed to the conflict as an example of why Congress should push for immigration changes. He also signed a letter Thursday urging Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to address the Olathe situation. "I hereby urgently request that you lift these restrictions," Ritter wrote to Johanns. "I understand you have the authority." But in Ritter's remarks, he also indicated he would press the issue with Colorado's congressional delegation, a move that could become necessary if the Agriculture Department reiterates its earlier contention that it can't do anything about the rules unless the law changes. A federal law allows only U.S. citizens or permanent residents to stay in the 72-bed Olathe facility. But demand for the dormitory-style housing comes mainly from workers with temporary visas.

Three months after ICE raid, families continue to struggle
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070316/NEWS/103160098
Three months after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley, many families of those arrested continue to piece their lives back together. It has been easier for some than others.
RELATED: Weld charities continue to help families affected by immigration raid
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070316/NEWS/103160099

Know your laws and docs
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/15/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
A law degree might not be necessary for employers who could hire employees not eligible to legally work in the U.S., knowingly or unknowingly, but a little legal advice couldn't hurt. And a group of business-minded locals got an overview Thursday from immigration law attorney Paul Buono, Manager of Immigration Services with the Mountain States Employers Council (MSEC), during an early-morning “Issues Over Easy” presentation at the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. MSEC is a Denver-based nonprofit that partners with employers to help maintain effective employer-employee relationships. The recent influx of undocumented workers has been a hot-button topic for State of Colorado and federal lawmakers, as well as citizens, in past and/or present legislative sessions. A certain part of the debate has focused on the role of the employer, who could supply one of the most important motivators that might make a foreign citizen consider relocating to the U.S. - a job that pays better than jobs available in another country.

Top

Reproductive Choice

Abortion protesters get ‘rambunctious’
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070316_2.htm
Abortion protesters resorted to new tactics this week outside the Planned Parenthood offices in Durango by exchanging words with clients, taking pictures and hitting a car with a sign. Durango police were called four times in less than one hour Wednesday during Lifeguard's regular weekly protest. The calls went like this:
• 1:17 p.m., protesters took pictures of clients.
• 1:25 p.m., protesters trespassed on private property.
• 1:54 p.m., protesters crossed property boundaries.
• 2:04 p.m., a protester hit a car with a sign and yelled.
No arrests were made and no citations were issued, said Durango police Sgt. Tony Archuleta, because no one wished to pursue charges. Instead, an officer sat nearby in a cruiser to make sure demonstrations remained civil. Lifeguard is a local nonprofit that is affiliated with American Life League, a national organization. Protesters have been holding a vigil outside Planned Parenthood in Bodo Industrial Park every Wednesday since March 1, 2006, said Michaela Dasteel, director of Lifeguard. Meetings occur on Wednesday, she said, because "that is the day they do an average of nine abortions, and we think that is killing human beings." Usually the gatherings are small and silent, she said, but this week's demonstration reached a new level.

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Disabled awaiting help
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421350,00.html
Dottie Kerr has been fighting for state-funded services for her autistic, 18-year-old son since Will was a toddler. But even after winning a legal battle with a regional agency that denied Will was developmentally disabled, she is still on an eight-year waiting list for services. "It is infuriating that you pay taxes and you have a handicapped child . . . and we get no benefits at all," said the Aurora single mother. The fiftysomething mom is among thousands of aging Colorado parents who live with the fear that they could die, leaving their vulnerable loved one with no support because of state service backlogs requiring them to wait 10 years or longer.

Measure would protect domestic violence victims
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421221,00.html
Lawmakers said Thursday that they will introduce a bill that would allow victims of domestic violence to list a fake address to protect them from harassment. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said the bill will prevent assailants from tracking their victims. "I talked to victims who fear for their lives every day," Romanoff said. The bill would allow victims of actual or threatened domestic violence, sexual crimes and stalking to apply to the Secretary of State to keep their real addresses confidential in public records, including voting records.
RELATED: Fake addresses pushed for victims of violence
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447988

County official slams health cuts
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/county-official-slams-health-cuts/
Cutting programs at the University of Colorado's health center could have a dramatic effect on the entire community, Boulder County Public Health Director Chuck Stout said Thursday night at a meeting of student leaders. As CU's Legislative Council prepared to vote on a controversial budget proposal that would, in part, slash the Wardenburg Health Center community-health program's $600,000 budget, Stout told leaders that approving the lean budget would be "a slap in the face."

Valley-Wide sees last patients today
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070316_1.htm
The last day patients will be seen at the Valley-Wide Health Systems clinic in Durango is today - not March 30 - and the clinic will only take walk-ins. A staffing shortage is the reason for the early end to medical services, Connie Poole, a Valley-Wide clinic manager from the San Luis Valley, said Thursday. She is covering for former Durango clinic manager Gail Murphy, who has found other employment.

Match Day for med grads induces heart palpitations
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421316,00.html
Tense about NFL draft day? Your NCAA basketball tournament bracket? Piffle! A walk in the park. For sheer, gut-churning anxiety, nothing quite compares to the annual Match Day luncheon at the University of Colorado Health Science Center's School of Medicine. More than 100 fourth-year graduating medical students attended the luncheon Thursday at El Jebel Oasis Restaurant in Denver, where they listened to speeches for about 30 minutes while nervously eyeing a table covered with envelopes at the opposite end of the room. The envelopes contained letters detailing which hospital each student would be matched with and where they spend the next three to five years as resident physicians. Each had his or her own nerve-racking tale.

Students get to see how dogs rescue avalanche victims
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421225,00.html
Dixie is a golden field Labrador, and she's also a well-trained avalanche and rescue dog for Beaver Creek. The ski patrol was showing a group of 4-H students how it trains dogs for life-and-death situations. About 50 yards away, Finneran let Dixie loose. She moved across the hill with her nose close to the ground. She thought she has something - but no, she kept going. Less than a minute later, she picked up the scent and pounced on the snow above Atkinson. The pouncing turned into frenzied, overjoyed digging.
RELATED: Survivor triggered deadly avalanche
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070316/NEWS/103160063

Claim of mouse in chips credible
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5451039
A middle school student's claim of finding a mouse inside a bag of Frito-Lay barbecue potato chips purchased at a school lunch line appears credible, Lewis-Palmer School District 38 officials said Thursday. The eighth-grade boy opened the bag of chips during a lunch period at Lewis-Palmer Middle School Wednesday, district spokeswoman Donna Wood said. A vice principal and the principal of the school interviewed the student's parents and other children who were sitting at the table, and determined the incident did not appear to be a prank.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Sablan jury now decides on death penalty
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5444713
Jurors who had watched a video of a federal prison inmate gloating over the bloody corpse of his cellmate convicted the man of first-degree murder today in U.S. District Court. Now, the same jurors who returned guilty verdicts will decide whether William Sablan, 43, should be put to death for murdering Joey Estrella in 1999 at the high-security U.S. Penitentiary in Florence. Sablan did not react when the verdict was read this morning. "I think justice is done," U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said following the verdict. Defense attorneys in the case declined to comment. During the trial, they portrayed Sablan as mentally impaired. Prosecutors, however, said Sablan had boasted of faking mental illness in the past to evade punishment.

Lawsuit names drill worker's roomate as alleged killer
http://postindependent.com/article/20070316/VALLEYNEWS/103160056
The allegation comes despite the fact that criminal investigators have yet to charge anyone in the case, which District Attorney Martin Beeson says suffered from a poor investigation immediately after the 2005 beating. "I wish there had been a more thorough and comprehensive investigation done at the time," he said. The suit was filed in the name of victim Paul Graves' mother, Karen Brooks of Montrose, on the two-year anniversary of the attack. Graves was attacked in his trailer on the night of Feb. 22, 2005. He died from complications involving his injuries on April 15, 2006. The suit says Graves died "as a direct result of the negligence and willful and wanton conduct of the defendants." Those defendants include Nabors Drilling USA, LP, and two of its supervisors.

Top

Economy

Fix eyed for retail discount mix-up (On the side, 3/16)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447859
The lawmaker who fought to exempt rural areas from cut-rate gasoline promotions said Thursday that he didn't intend to ban other discounts as well - from free coffee to cheap Thanksgiving turkeys - as opponents warned his provision would do. At the request of Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, the Senate voted to exempt counties with fewer than 200,000 people in an effort to protect mom-and- pop operations in small towns. Opponents of Isgar's change, including Attorney General John Suthers, said his wording would prevent any promotion where things are sold below cost or given away. Isgar said his amendment was drafted quickly because the bill was moving rapidly toward approval. He said the problem can be fixed in a conference committee with members from both the House and Senate.
RELATED: Sen. Isgar modifies gasoline measure
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070316_6.htm

Economy, snow chilled retail in Dec.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5447432
Colorado retailers took a big hit in December as economic worries and a paralyzing pre-Christmas blizzard kept consumers from spending. Data released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Revenue showed that December retail sales barely budged from the previous year, inching up 0.08 percent. The tiny gain will likely be wiped out once inflation is factored in. Nationally, December retail sales were up 3.9 percent, according to the National Retail Federation.

Picking up the tab
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5421187,00.html
Qwest Communications has blown through more than $1 billion since 2002 defending itself and its former officers and directors from civil and criminal fraud allegations. Some of those expenses, including various settlements, have been reimbursed by insurance carriers. But even on that score, the Denver telco has taken a big hit and today could be forking over money from its coffers to defend former CEO Joe Nacchio and pay his expenses during his upcoming insider-trading trial. Insurance carriers moved to cancel coverage in late 2002, claiming Qwest had filed applications based on false or misleading financial statements. Qwest at the time was in the process of erasing revenue from its 2000 and 2001 books.

Stakes are high for government tech upgrade
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5447778
Carriers must win the right to bid on projects valued at more than $20 billion over 10 years, for work ranging from Internet- based telephone and video services to data-network security upgrades. As many as 135 agencies will pick providers from the list, limiting work for companies that are left out. "This is high-stakes procurement," said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president at FedSources, a McLean, Va.-based research group that tracks government contracts. "It could be quite a hurt for some of these teams if they were to not win." Teams led by Qwest, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, the four largest U.S. phone companies, are the entrants. The government says it may pick just two winners for the biggest part of the contract.

Town, Partners to discuss drop-dead VF date
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/03/16/news/news01.txt
Yesterday marked the date the Valley Floor Preservation Partners had set as its goal for raising $15 million for the purchase of the Valley Floor. And yet when the sun sank, the effort was still some $6.6 million short. But just a day earlier, District Court Judge Charles Greenacre had given the town until May 21 to pay the $50 million needed to purchase the 570-acre tract of land. This news offers some breathing room for a fund-raising effort that’s been running at a dead sprint since late February. Nevertheless, the Telluride Town Council wants to set concrete dates, crunch numbers and align its plans with the Preservation Partners in order to ensure an efficient and successful purchase of the Valley Floor.

Blizzards boost state’s skier counts
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_16_1B_Skier_visits.html
Colorado’s ski resorts are on a pace to match last year’s record number of 12.5 million skier visits and at the same time do something rarely done in the ski industry: hit that 12 million mark two years running.

Cripple Creek casino shuffle
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20226&template=article.html
The Colorado Gaming Commission gave its nod Thursday to the purchase of two Cripple Creek casinos by a Minneapolis-based company that already owns three gambling halls in the mountain town. The commission agreed to issue two new licenses to Southwest Casino Corp. so it can operate the Double Eagle Hotel and Casino and Gold Creek Casino, spokesman Don Burmania said. Because state law doesn’t allow a company to own more than three casinos, Southwest must surrender two other licenses — those of Gold Diggers and Uncle Sam’s casinos. It also owns the Gold Rush Hotel & Casino.

Top

Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability

State can now take fees from paycheck
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421823,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order Thursday that will allow the state to deduct dues from employees' paychecks and give the money directly to employee associations. State payroll deductions for union dues and some other purposes were discontinued under Ritter's predecessor, Republican Bill Owens, in 2001 after they were in existence for nearly 70 years. The governor's office said the state's 74,000 employees will be able to check off a payroll deduction box that allows organization dues to go to those organizations. Ritter said the convenience and efficiency of the checkoff program is important to the state's work force. But Republican leadership pounced on Ritter's order, calling it a "union payback."
RELATED: Workers may pay dues via payroll
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5447444

Top

Housing and Homelessness

AG assails mortgage-broker bill
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5447433
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said this week he opposes a push to license mortgage brokers, saying the legislation is poorly written. As of Jan. 1, mortgage brokers were required to register with the state, undergo a criminal- background check and post a bond, under legislation passed last year. About 5,000 mortgage brokers have registered under the state system. Senate Bill 203, sponsored by Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, would require mortgage brokers to obtain licenses and would give the Colorado Division of Real Estate greater powers to suspend or revoke those licenses, which can't be easily done under the registration system. The FBI recently ranked Colorado among the 16 states with the highest incidences of mortgage fraud last year. The move to regulate brokers is one attempt to stem fraudulent loans that may contribute to Colorado's high foreclosure rate. But at a luncheon gathering of the Colorado Association of Mortgage Brokers on Tuesday, Suthers said Groff's legislation doesn't define what would be required under a licensing regime.

Weld home sales probed
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5447430
A state civil-rights agency and the Weld County district attorney's office are investigating sales of new houses to Spanish-speaking buyers who are losing them in foreclosures. The homeowners have complained that their houses are worth much less than they paid for them and that their mortgage payments are higher than they expected. Some also say they discovered after obtaining home loans that their loan applications grossly overstated their income and listed bank-account savings that don't exist. Many of the residents say they read little or no English and did not understand the loan documents they signed. They contend the builder, Mark Strodtman, referred them to a mortgage broker who qualified them for high-interest loans that cannot be refinanced because they exceed the values of their homes.

Western Slope spared from rising tide of foreclosures
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/03/16/news/news03.txt
It is the dark side of the housing boom, a force upending lenders and shaking the stock market. More and more homeowners across the country simply can’t pay their mortgages, and they are defaulting on their loans and losing their homes. But somehow, San Miguel and Ouray counties have been insulated from this gathering storm.

Builder, homeless agencies may unite
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070316_8.htm
A Denver-based homeless-assistance group is looking to expand into La Plata County with the help of local builders and the La Plata County Regional Housing Authority. HomeAid Colorado facilitates agreements between builders and social-care providers to provide housing for the temporarily homeless. Volunteers of America and Housing Solutions of the Southwest are the proposed local service providers, with Emil Wanatka with Timberline Builders spearheading the efforts of local homebuilders. "This is a wonderful opportunity to have a public-private partnership," housing authority Executive Director Jennifer Lopez said in a news release. "I think having the support of a local homebuilder working with Housing Solutions to explore options for expanding transitional housing options is an exciting opportunity for the community."

S'thorne Council denies Smith Ranch annexation
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/103150076
The Silverthorne Town Council ended annexation talks with a potential developer of the Smith Ranch Wednesday evening, but the move doesn't mean the possibility of affordable housing on the land is completely gone.

Top

Education

Ritter here to sign bill (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174052617/15
Gov. Bill Ritter will return to town today to sign yet another measure introduced by a local lawmaker. This time, Ritter will travel to Spann Elementary School, 2300 E. 10th Ave., to sign a measure introduced by Pueblo Democrats Sen. Abel Tapia and Rep. Dorothy Butcher to lower the mandatory school age. Under SB16, children will be required to attend school after turning age 6 instead of 7, though the measure includes several exemptions, including for parents who home-school their children. Later today, Ritter will attend a dinner with the Pueblo County Democratic Party at the Pueblo Union Depot.

Ritter will not intervene in CU sex assault case
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/ritter-will-not-intervene-in-cu-sex-assault-case/
Gov. Bill Ritter will not ask for a special prosecutor or any other kind of review in prosecutors' decisions not to file sexual assault charges against University of Colorado football players and recruits, Ritter's spokesman said Thursday. Attorney David Heckenbach told Ritter that prosecutors "mishandled" an assault complaint his client filed in 2000 against a CU football recruit who went on to join the team. In a letter, Heckenbach asked Ritter to review the case.
RELATED: Ritter won't reopen CU rape case
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/15/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt

DPS board yanks school's charter before it can open
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5421827,00.html
The Denver Public Schools board revoked the charter of the Denver Collegiate Academy on Thursday night. The board voted 5-2 in favor of a resolution that not only denied the charter school's request to defer its opening until fall 2008, but also revoked its charter. "We were frankly quite surprised," said Heather Lamm, chairwoman of the academy's board. "We're devastated for everyone involved, especially those kids in Montbello. We had provided a good alternative, and the board has taken that away," she said.

Chews wisely — school hopes gum boosts test results
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20215&template=article.html
Results won’t be known until summer, but middle and high school students at the Academy School District 20 charter school broke age-old no gum-in-school rules this month when students took the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests. It started when a par- ent’s comment led Leesa Waliszewski, dean of instructional philosophy, to do a bit of research. Studies in Japan and Britain have shown that chewing gum a few minutes before taking a test increases oxygen levels to the brain, she said. Some studies say chewing increases the heart rate slightly, delivering fuel — such as oxygen — to the brain.

East’s fate up in air as D-11 sets vote
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20241&template=article.html
East Middle School students will find out next week if they’ll attend classes at East or elsewhere next school year. The Colorado Springs School District 11 board said Wednesday night that it will decide at its March 21 board meeting whether East Middle School will remain open for the 2007-08 school year. Board members also discussed forming a committee to look at what happens to East Middle School beyond the next school year.

Applicants sought for new Diversity Council
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070316/NEWS/103150117
Greeley-Evans School District 6 seeks applicants for a new Diversity Council advisory committee being formed to help improve student achievement and strengthen communication. The council will be made up of district department leaders along with three teachers, three parents, three residents, two students, two principals, two support staff employees, two school board members, and one representative each from the University of Northern Colorado and Aims Community College. Diversity council members will serve two-year terms and will be representative of the diversity in the district. The council will work as an advisory group to district leadership in the development of a culturally proficient organization.

C-dale Community School adopts new enrollment policy
http://postindependent.com/article/20070316/VALLEYNEWS/103160054
Carbondale Community School (CCS) has changed its enrollment policy in hopes to more closely mirror the demographics of its community. The policy gives a 40 percent preference to low-income students, makes it easier for siblings of current students to get into the school and clarifies the application process. Previously, there was no preference for low-income students, COMPASS Executive Director Skye Skinner said. COMPASS is the nonprofit organization that operates CCS. "We know that this will result in more Hispanic enrollment, and that is desirable," Skinner said. "We're really trying to be a part of balancing student population between our schools."

D70 to keep parents apprised on four-day week decisions
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174052617/6
[Pueblo] District 70 officials assured parents Wednesday night that they would be made aware of any decisions concerning a possible change to a four-day school week. "We would have meetings and surveys to talk about it," Superintendent Dan Lere told the approximately 60 people gathered for a public forum in the Rye High School library. "You will definitely know if and when a change will be made." Lere spoke about his plan to possibly start a pilot program in one area of the district by fall 2008.
RELATED: Schools look at ways to split similar costs
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174052617/7

9-R to appoint replacement for Matheson by May 11
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070315_4.htm
The Durango school board has until May 11 to appoint a replacement for board member Mike Matheson, who resigned last week. The board formally accepted Matheson's resignation on Monday. It declared a vacancy in his District E on Tuesday. The board has by law 60 days to appoint someone to fill the vacancy. Durango School District 9-R will advertise the opening and accept letters of interest from candidates.

District rejects bus fees
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15200
Overwhelming public opposition and student-safety concerns led the St. Vrain Valley School District to indefinitely put on hold a proposal to charge students to ride the bus to school. “I would not have been in favor of charging a fee,” except during a financial crisis, board President Sandi Searls said during a meeting Wednesday. Because the school board was giving direction to the staff, board members did not have to vote on the matter.

Canon City school director faces 9 misdemeanor charges
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174052617/13
Nine misdemeanor charges were filed Wednesday against a school director accused of false imprisonment and assault involving seven different students at a private school for troubled youth. Randall Hinton, 32, was arrested by Canon City Police in January for investigation of allegations that stemmed from a Dec. 29 incident during which a 17-year-old female student at the campus reported she was forced to lie face down on the floor with her arms at her side and palms facing up for 12 hours. She also said Hinton twice grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back injuring her hand and wrist. The incident was reported to police by an adult employee working at the academy.

100 rally for Rogers school
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20230&template=article.html
About 100 adults and children held a rally Thursday for Will Rogers Elementary School, which came under fire this week for its treatment of some special-needs students. A report from The Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People, a nonprofit advocacy group for the disabled, alleges special-needs students at Rogers were improperly restrained and forced into “time-out” seclusion in the school’s Learning Lab. It cites 45 incidents involving five students, mostly in the 2005-06 school year. Thursday, some of the parents who gathered outside the school said the allegations were hard to believe.

DPS middle school seeks to beef up security
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421856,00.html
A top Denver police officer and the school district's security chief vowed to try to provide more officers to Bruce Randolph Middle School after listening Thursday to testimony from students about the fear they sometimes bring with them to class. More than 200 parents and students met with school administrators, District 2 Cmdr. Rhonda Jones and Edward Ray, Denver Public Schools chief of safety and security, to discuss strategies to increase safety at the Clayton neighborhood campus.

Kids won't face charges for nude pix
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421826,00.html
Prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against Castle Rock Middle School students who took nude photos of themselves and each other using cell phones and distributed the images - some online - to their classmates this month. "For one juvenile to take a picture of another juvenile is not a crime," 18th Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers said Thursday, explaining her decision. Chambers said that even if the pictures were posted on the Internet, in most cases it would be illegal only if there was intent to use the images for child pornography, which was not the case in this instance.
RELATED: Teens spared in cell photos
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447478

Top

Military

NAACP decries veteran's treatment
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447401
Whenever mentally ill veteran Chris Hughes didn't get his court- ordered medications, he invariably walked away from Denver halfway houses and ended up on the streets, his attorney said. But instead of getting the drugs he needed, each time he got progressively tougher sentences for escape, until on Thursday a Denver judge sent him to prison, attorney Anne Sulton said. "This is a tragedy," Sulton said Thursday during an NAACP news conference at the Denver City and County Building. Sulton and Denver NAACP president Menola Upshaw on Thursday offered 10 suggestions for Denver to improve its treatment of mentally ill veterans who get arrested - including that they get the medications they need. "It's reprehensible when we're talking about our veterans," Sulton said. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People recommends that Denver require all community corrections agencies to review court orders to ensure veterans are getting the medications they need.

Pueblo soldier to be buried today
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174052617/1
Today's funeral service for Army Sgt. Blake Harris won't be the first time the Pueblo soldier has been honored since his death March 5 in Iraq. Harris' fellow soldiers in the 1st Cavalry Division gathered at Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqubah, Iraq, just four days after his death by a roadside bomb, to remember Harris and the two soldiers who were killed with him in the same explosion - Pvt. Barry Mayo, 21, of Ecru, Miss., and Spc. Ryan Russell, 20, of Elm City, N.C.

Veterans are back on the mic
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070316/NEWS/103160066
Thanks to a recent $5,000 grant from The Thrift Shop in Aspen, area war veterans are recording their stories for the Library of Congress this weekend at GrassRoots TV. Because veterans of World War II and the Korean War are aging and many of their stories are being lost, Congress created the Veterans History Project in 2000 to catalogue the experiences of men and women who've served. Volunteers from across the U.S. conduct interviews for collection in the Library of Congress as a resource for future generations.

Marines reject St. Patrick's parade deal
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421798,00.html
The Denver St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee offered a compromise Thursday to a group of Marines miffed that its unit had been bumped backward. But a few members of the group who heard the offer say they've rejected it. It does not appear that the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the First Marine Division Association will be among the nearly 200 groups taking part in the parade when it kicks off near Coors Field at 10 a.m. Saturday.

GI guilty in child-porn case
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20207&template=article.html
A Fort Carson Green Beret was convicted of charges that he possessed child pornography, the Army said Thursday. The military jury that convicted Sgt. 1st Class Alan Eslinger late Wednesday spent Thursday hearing arguments from prosecutors and the medic’s civilian attorney over sentencing. Eslinger’s court-martial began Monday with prosecutors presenting evidence that he had obtained child pornography from the Internet on three occasions, including while deployed to Baghdad with Fort Carson’s 10th Special Forces Group.

Top

Energy Policy

New funds re-energize Golden lab
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5421189,00.html
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory will receive more than $100 million in additional money from Washington this year. The U.S. Department of Energy, which owns the lab in Golden, will tell Congress today it is allocating the money in keeping with President Bush's promise to encourage research and development in renewable energy technologies. It's a 50 percent jump in NREL's annual budget this year. The midyear cash infusion is the largest in NREL's history and will help pay for scientific research and development programs that have suffered budget cuts and layoffs. An Energy Department official said the money will help meet the president's goals to reduce the country's reliance on oil.

Energy bill looks a sure bet
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421223,00.html
A bill to boost sun, wind and other alternative energy sources is steamrolling to the governor's desk despite efforts Thursday to add water-storage projects to the legislation. "I'm concerned that we are hastily jumping on a runaway train, simply because this issue polls well," Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, said. "If the marketplace supports more expensive energy sources, it should get there without government mandates." The bill would double the renewable energy standard required under Amendment 37, which was passed by voters in 2004. It would require large utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020. It also would establish a standard for rural utilities serving fewer than 40,000 customers. They would be required to get 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Gas well permits to slow over last year, group predicts
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_15_1b_gas_drilling.html
The torrid pace of natural-gas development in Colorado may cool off some this year, according to Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director Brian Macke. His quarterly projection for the Northwest Colorado Oil and Gas Forum in De Beque on Thursday showed the pace of applications for drilling permits to be close to last year. A record number of slightly more than 5,900 permits were issued in 2006, Macke said, a 35 percent increase over 2004. “From what the industry has told us and what we’re seeing, it’s looking like this year’s projection will be right around 5,900 permits,” he said. “That could change as the year goes on, but right now it looks like things could be flat or maybe just slightly increase this year.”

BLM to consider applications for evaporation ponds
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_16_3a_evaporation_ponds.html
The Bureau of Land Management would consider applications for commercial-scale evaporation ponds for natural-gas waste water, an official said Thursday, after a De Beque resident proposed the action to help prevent two such proposed ponds near the town. Glenwood Springs Resource Area Associate Field Manager Steve Bennett said the Bureau of Land Management would consider such an application under its land-use lease regulations. “The concern with that would be that it would handle hazardous materials, so it would have to be very tightly managed,” he said. “You’d have to be sure to prevent illegal midnight dumping.”
RELATED: Expansion planned for oil and gas waste water disposal site
http://postindependent.com/article/20070316/VALLEYNEWS/103160055

Solar makes sense and cents, experts say
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=earth&article_path=/earth/earth070315_1.htm
A solar-energy system that produces electricity has many benefits - it's reliable, long-lasting, nonpolluting and forestalls global warming, Tom Munson, the renewable-energy program coordinator at San Juan College in Farmington, said Wednesday in Durango. "Solar energy isn't new," Munson told a near-record crowd at the Green Business Roundtable lunch at the Strater Hotel. "Photovoltaic cells were used in space by NASA in the 1950s and they began to show up on Earth in the 1970s and 1980s."

Western firms to weigh building transmission lines
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5447445
Seven Western utilities and transmission companies are proposing to collaborate on new high-voltage power lines that could open the door to more renewable-energy projects. The High Plains Express Transmission Project initially will conduct a feasibility study to identify needed power lines, then determine if it makes sense for the companies to jointly plan and build them. Analysts say the project will serve two purposes: help provide needed electric transmission for the West's growing population, and spur development of wind and solar-energy projects that are stalled because of power-line constraints. "This study is unique in that we will develop a proactive plan to create the robust infrastructure needed to support renewable expansion and other generation necessary for Colorado and the surrounding region," said Doug Jaeger, Xcel Energy's vice president for transmission.

Spilled oil, fire contained
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25744
A fire Thursday morning consumed more than 14,000 gallons of crude oil on the surface of a well site east of Hayden. West Routt Fire Protection District Chief Bryan Rickman said the fire was reported at about 7:30 a.m. by Hayden resident Randy Booco, owner of Booco Contracting. Booco Contracting employees had been replacing a tank Wednesday on the well site owned by Infinity Oil Co. Booco could not be reached for comment Thursday. Smoke from the fire plumed miles into the morning sky and was visible as far away as Oak Creek. Flames from the fire reached 100 feet into the air at one point, Rickman said.
RELATED: Fire at Routt County oil well to shut down well for a month
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/103150073

Turning wind into a work of art
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/103150097
The exhibit, which will be up until Earth Day, April 22, is part of Vail's Art in Public Places program and features 2,700 8-foot-tall windmills. Best viewing for the exhibit, which is about a half mile from I-70 is at night - come darkness, Marold's windmills will sculpt wind into light, he said. Upon arrival at the site, Marold's wife, Audrey, gave the students a quick tutorial on the windmills. "Vail is using this project to promote renewable energy, but it's strictly an art exhibit," she said.

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

House committee backs trucker chain-up measure
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5421317,00.html
Skier and other mountain traffic on Interstate 70 would run smoother under a revised bill that increases financial penalties for truckers who ignore chain laws, according to its sponsor. At the same time, the Colorado Transportation Commission pledged $2.5 million Thursday to build and expand new I-70 chain-up spots. "When the highway shuts down, it's not a good situation for the truckers, it's not a good situation for the cars," Rep. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, told the House Transportation and Energy Committee Thursday.
RELATED: Truck chain bill gets moving again
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447857
RELATED: State Rep. Gibbs' chain law bill welcomed second time around
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/103150077

Street racer gets 12 years in killing of highway flagger
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421797,00.html
An unlicensed motorist who killed a highway flagger during a street race and then ran from the scene was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison. Adams County District Judge C. Vincent Phelps gave Javier Vigil, who turned 27 this week, six years for his conviction of criminally negligent homicide and tacked on another six years for his conviction of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death. A jury convicted Vigil Jan. 16. Daniel Salmeron, 51, a contract flagger who was working for the Colorado Department of Transportation, died from the injuries he suffered the night of July 19, 2005, on Federal Boulevard in unincorporated Adams County. Salmeron was one of five state road workers who were killed between 2004 and the end of 2006.

Getting them on the bus: County to push EcoPass program beyond Boulder
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/getting-them-on-the-bus/
Boulder County wants to spend $300,000 to aggressively promote and expand the Regional Transportation District's EcoPass program — which has proven itself highly popular in the city of Boulder — to the rest of the county. In doing so, it hopes to double the annual increase in ridership on the Jump, Dash, Bolt and seven other popular bus routes that criss-cross the county.

HOT LANES ARE H-O-T! (EXTRA!, March 16)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421695,00.html
The pay-your-way escape from I-25's notorious rush hour congestion is paying off for CDOT. The concept, High Occupancy Toll lanes, allows solo drivers to pay for access to car pool lanes. Since opening in June, the I-25 Express Lanes have been more popular than even CDOT, the biggest toll cheerleader in metro Denver, projected.

Top

Environment and Conservation

Arctic could have iceless summers by 2100
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-arctic16mar16,1,163572.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
A review of existing computer climate models suggests that global warming could transform the North Pole into an ice-free expanse of ocean at the end of each summer by 2100, scientists reported today. The researchers said that out of the 15 models they looked at, about half forecast that the sea-ice cover — a continent-sized expanse that shrinks and grows with the seasons — would seasonally vanish by the turn of the century. "That may be conservative," said lead author Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.
RELATED: Ice melt may spell drought
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5421659,00.html

Chance to speak up on $3 billion parks initiative
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5420129,00.html
Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett will host a "listening session" in Lakewood Wednesday seeking suggestions and ideas on President Bush’s National Park Centennial Initiative. Scarlett will be available from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Sheraton Denver West Hotel, Bergen Park Conference Room on the second floor at 360 Union Boulevard. The session is one in a series being held around the country to discuss the proposal that would provide up to $3 billion in new public and private investment during the next ten years to reinvigorate and strengthen national parks by the National Park Service’s 100th birthday in 2016.

Forest proposal recommends new wilderness
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_16_1a_GMUG_forest_plan.html
The long-delayed proposed new management plan for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, released to the public during a news conference Thursday, overhauls how the forests’ 2.9 million acres will be managed for the next 15 years.
RELATED: GMUG trying to sell Grand Mesa plot
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/16/3_16_3a_GMUG_sale.html

Famous climber backs wilderness push
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/103140057
Local mountaineer Aron Ralston will head to the nation's capital next week to convey his passion for the canyons of southern Utah, including the one that nearly took his life. But first, Ralston took his message to what will likely be an amenable audience, with a presentation Wednesday night on the slot canyons of the Colorado Plateau in Utah at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. He showed slides and told stories from experiences in Utah's canyon lands - a favorite destination for many locals. Ralston, who has become a wilderness advocate since his harrowing and now-legendary experience in Utah's remote Blue John Canyon in 2003 - he severed his hand after it was pinned beneath a boulder in order to escape almost certain death - has, of late, been working with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Minimum flows eyed for Colorado River
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070315/NEWS/70315012
A new study considered by stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin would look at the minimum amount of water needed to be left in rivers and streams. While most water questions have been examined from nearly every imaginable angle, stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin may be headed down a new path as they focus on the main stem of the Colorado River. Trout Unlimited’s Ken Neubecker outlined the scope of the project at the Colorado River Headwaters Forum Thursday morning in Frisco.

Keeping a clean river
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/16/keeping_clean_river/?local_news
Local officials are working to implement a comprehensive plan for monitoring water quality in the Yampa Valley. More than 10 agencies currently conduct various levels of water monitoring in the region, and Routt County Environmental Health Director Mike Zopf said that large number of agencies is at the root of the problem.

Snowpack melting quickly
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5422018,00.html
A balmy March across Colorado is quickly melting the state's snowpack, but brimming reservoirs and heavy snow earlier in the winter should keep the Front Range out of water trouble, forecasters said Thursday. If the dry spell continues through March and April, however, it could bolster the fire danger and create problems for agriculture, they said.
RELATED: Aspen's snowpack dips below average
http://aspentimes.com/article/20070316/NEWS/103160064

Home on range to home in refuge
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447477
A wild bison bound for Colorado didn't see the point of being driven from an open field into a 5-foot holding pen Thursday before boarding a truck for a ride to Commerce City. The reluctant 1,500-pound bull pawed the ground, snorted, bucked its head and cocked a back leg before slamming its hoof against the metal chute. The bison is one of 16 being driven from the National Bison Range in western Montana to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, where they will be released into a 1,400-acre fenced area.

Top

Opinion

K-12 funding plan reflects voter intent
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5446818
Those who oppose a plan to expand preschool and kindergarten by "freezing" school property taxes forget that voters have already spoken.

Energizing the future
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/16/energizing-the-future/
There's little doubt now that higher renewable-energy standards will become law in Colorado. That heartening news illustrates how much the political landscape has changed in three years.

Johnson: Report by police monitor shows job taken seriously
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5421282,00.html
I guess I'm just a glass half-full type of fool, which is probably every reason I am not flat ripping the Denver Police Department. It is a laborious task, reading Denver Independent Police Monitor Richard Rosenthal's annual report that was released Wednesday, but it does give a cop critic such as me a smidgen of hope. That there is an Office of the Independent Monitor at all still amazes, even now, two years after Rosenthal was first hired into the job. Better yet, he actually appears to be doing it.

DeLay, Ferland, Hefty: Challenges for schools' new chief
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5446833
Since the elections in November of a new governor and many new state legislators, much has been said about the nearly unprecedented opportunities for change in Colorado. But for Colorado's students, a more recent development may mark a change with even more potential impact: the resignation of the state education commissioner and the resulting opportunity for new leadership in Colorado's education system.

Spencer: Retired sergeant masters school drill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5447481
Scott spent seven years of his military career providing telecommunications support for Green Berets at Fort Carson. He served four months in Iraq. He had a top-secret clearance long before he had a teaching certificate. He embodies the promise to public education of America's "Troops to Teachers" movement.

You CAN make a difference
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/15/opinion/our_take/ourtake1.txt
The news out of Boulder lately has been downright shocking, especially for those still laboring under the assumption that this is a peaceful, bucolic city, an oasis of calm and caring in a wasteland of hate. Unfortunately, it's starting to look like WE are the wasteland.

Littwin: Hillary's ways winning - so far
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5421710,00.html
We live in a celebrity age. So, we get celebrity candidates. We have no one to blame but ourselves - and, of course, cable TV. Obama is a Rock Star. Giuliani is America's Mayor. McCain is Jon Stewart's favorite ex-Maverick, who's desperately trying to reclaim his maverick inner self. (Chris Matthews is also there to help. And Letterman is on McCain's speed dial. The McCain Straight Talk Express has started up in Iowa, and it's coming to New Hampshire this weekend. I've already got my ticket.) I went to a house party with Mike Huckabee in nearby Bedford the other night that drew 78 people. Mike Huckabee. He's the other former Arkansas governor from Hope, a Republican who went on The Daily Show and made a joke about passing gas - "I thought my wife was going to kill me," he told me - who's not a rock star yet, but he is a former pastor who plays bass guitar in a rock band and is doing Bill Maher next. Imagine what candidates you may have actually heard of are drawing. Everything is magnified this go-round. Hillary Clinton drew 1,000 people here for a New Hampshire Democratic dinner. She drew 1,000 because that's all the place would hold.

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

Brownback throws support behind Pace
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pacereact16mar16,1,2515991.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback is backing the Pentagon's top general over his remarks that homosexual acts are immoral. The Kansas senator said Thursday that he planned to send a letter to President Bush supporting Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who this week in an interview with the Chicago Tribune likened homosexuality to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gay personnel to serve openly. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs also said he believed that "homosexual acts between individuals are immoral …. I do not believe the United States is well-served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way." Lawmakers of both parties criticized the remarks, but Brownback's letter called the criticism "unfair and unfortunate." "We should not expect someone as qualified, accomplished and articulate as Gen. Pace to lack personal views on important moral issues," Brownback said.

2 Democrats Clarify Beliefs About Gays
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/politics/16clinton.html
Under pressure from gay rights groups, two rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, issued statements yesterday saying they believed homosexuality was not immoral. Mrs. Clinton, who has particularly cultivated gay voters and donors, found herself under the most intense fire yesterday after she said on Wednesday that the morality of homosexuality was for “others to conclude.” Later that day, after complaints from gay rights groups, she put out a statement indicating she thought homosexuality was not immoral, though she did not use those words. Her remarks left some gay donors and advocates angry; several said yesterday that they believed she was afraid to say the words “moral” or “immoral” because Republicans might use them against her. The issue arose this week after Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in published remarks that he believed homosexuality was immoral.

Far From Inevitable, McCain Retunes ’08 Engine
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/politics/16mccain.html
Senator John McCain of Arizona worked hard for years to make himself the all-but-inevitable 2008 Republican presidential nominee, assembling a formidable machine of advisers and contributors, repairing his relationship with the Bush White House and reaching out to conservatives long wary of his views. As he began what was supposed to be a triumphant day with his first bus trip across Iowa on Thursday, he was instead faced with a sense among some Republicans that his campaign had faltered in the early going and that his political identity had been blurred rather than enhanced by his efforts to position himself as first in line for the nomination.

Romney's words grow hard on immigration
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/16/romneys_words_grow_hard_on_immigration/
When Mitt Romney swooped into the heart of John McCain country this week, he brought a pointed message on illegal immigration: McCain's approach is the wrong one. Proudly touting the endorsement of Joe Arpaio, a sheriff in the state who is known nationally for rounding up immigrants in desert tents, Romney boasted of cracking down on illegal immigrants as governor and denounced an immigration bill that the Arizona senator introduced with Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 2005. It is a theme Romney has hit hard in recent weeks in his appeals to conservatives, many of whom attack McCain's immigration bill for proposing an eventual path to citizenship for immigrants living illegally in the United States and a guest-worker program to help fill American jobs. "McCain-Kennedy isn't the answer," Romney said in a well-received speech to conservatives in Washington this month, describing it as an amnesty plan that would reward people for breaking the law and cost taxpayers millions to provide them benefits. But that is markedly different from how Romney once characterized McCain's bill, elements of which are receiving new attention in Congress and from President Bush.
RELATED: Romney Candidacy Puts Massachusetts Economy in Spotlight
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/politics/16romney.html

Pataki Drifts Toward The Sidelines
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501828.html
Former New York governor George E. Pataki, a moderate Republican long thought to be considering a White House bid, is sending clear signals that he is backing away from a campaign.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Bush prods Congress to prove support for troops
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-15-bush-iraq_N.htm
President Bush on Thursday challenged lawmakers to prove their support for troops in Iraq by agreeing to more war spending without attaching a timeline for withdrawal or any other conditions.

House Panel Approves Bill To Fund War, Set Timeline
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500239.html
Democratic legislation to set timelines for the removal of troops from Iraq headed for a showdown on the House floor next week after the Appropriations Committee approved a $124 billion war funding bill yesterday that would end the U.S. role in the conflict by next year. The committee's vote kept the controversial legislation moving forward, even as the Senate scuttled its own legislation to bring troops home. After weeks of parliamentary wrangling, Senate Democratic leaders fell three votes short on a resolution that would have restricted the use of troops in Iraq and set March 31, 2008, as a target date for removing U.S. forces from combat.
RELATED: Senate GOP Turns Back Iraq Pullout Plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501212.html
RELATED: Senate Rejects Democrats’ Call to Pull Troops
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/washington/16cong.html

Alaska senator among Republicans feeling antiwar heat
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-murkowski16mar16,1,3270284.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
A few weeks ago, Sen. Lisa Murkowski walked into the most difficult meeting she's ever had. The constituents waiting for the Alaska Republican put down their crayons, set aside letters to their absent parents, and talked about their moms and dads at war. The meeting with 18 children at Ft. Richardson, a U.S. Army base that houses the Alaska National Guard, was just one of Murkowski's recent visits with military families. Alaska's junior senator also met with wives who talked about the stress of not being able to tell their children when Dad will come home. On Thursday, Murkowski voted to defeat a resolution that would have answered that question, bringing the troops home within a year. For some Republicans like Murkowski, deciding how to vote on the war is increasingly challenging as it enters its fifth year next week.

Valerie Plame, the Spy Who's Ready to Speak for Herself
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502448.html
She has been silent nearly four years. Today, the CIA officer whose unmasking fueled a political uproar and criminal probe that reached into the White House is poised to finally tell her own story -- before Congress. Valerie Plame's testimony will have all the trappings of a "Garbo speaks" moment on Capitol Hill, with cameras and microphones arrayed to capture the voice of Plame, the glamorous but mute star of a compelling political intrigue. But while she hopes to clear up her status as an agency operative when her name first hit newspapers in July 2003, America's most publicized spy is unlikely to betray any details in open session about her mysterious career.
RELATED: CIA officer at center of career-ending leak to tell Congress her story
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-15-plame_N.htm

Earmark Lives, but Dares Not Speak Its Name
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/washington/16earmarks.html?ref=washington
Members of Congress used to know an earmark when they saw one. They used the term to describe any of the favored, parochial expenditures that lawmakers might tuck into a complicated spending bill — $35 million for a Mississippi space center, for example, $25 million for spinach growers or $74 million for peanut farms. But then, vowing to reform after a spate of scandals, the House adopted new rules in January requiring the disclosure of all earmarks and the names of their sponsors. It also set a narrower definition of the term in the process.

Democrats Fundraise For Sidelined Senator
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501841.html
Even as he convalesces after a severe brain hemorrhage in December, Democrats are holding campaign fundraisers for Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and his spokeswoman said his staff and other senators are working hard to make sure his agenda is fulfilled. If Johnson is not back by fall, when spending bills are considered, his priorities still will be "pushed through" the Appropriations Committee, Julianne Fisher said, "for the state of South Dakota." As a committee member, Johnson sends millions of dollars to his state. "He's expressing his wishes on what he wants," Fisher said.

Patrick moves to shore up his staff
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/16/patrick_moves_to_shore_up_his_staff/
After two months of escalating political setbacks, [Massachusetts] Governor Deval Patrick brought in two State House veterans yesterday to help stabilize his new administration and announced the resignation of his wife's $72,000 chief of staff, whose position will be abolished.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Ship leaves for Iraq in wake of protests
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-16-port-tacoma_N.htm
A ship carrying 300 Stryker vehicles and other military equipment has left the Port of Tacoma bound for Iraq after more than a week of anti-war demonstrations. Port operations are back to normal after the ship left Wednesday, Tacoma police detective Brad Graham said. The eight-wheeled Strykers, along with 700 other vehicles and equipment, are being shipped to Iraq in advance of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a Fort Lewis-based Stryker Combat Team heading to the country next month. War foes protested while the equipment was loaded onto the USNS Soderman, resulting in the arrest of 37 people since March 5, including 23 arrested Sunday for crossing a barricade or bringing backpacks into a security area.

[Spanish] Lawmakers OK gender-equality measure
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160120mar16,1,2511005.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Parliament passed a gender-equality bill Thursday aimed at getting more women into elected office and corporate boardrooms--and more men heating baby bottles and changing diapers.

Top

Foreign Policy

Roadside Bomb Kills 4 U.S. Troops in Baghdad
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501924.html
Four American soldiers were killed and two others were wounded Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicles in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The soldiers were returning from search operations when one roadside bomb detonated, then another. The second bomb caused the casualties, the military said.

U.S. attack on British forces in Iraq called criminal
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-16-britain-friendly-fire_N.htm
A coroner conducting an inquest into a U.S. friendly fire attack that killed a British soldier during the Iraq war said Friday that it was unlawful and criminal. Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker also criticized the U.S. military for failing to cooperate with his investigation into the incident. "I believe that the full facts have not yet come to light," said Walker, who has complained that he did not get all the evidence he needed about the U.S. A-10 "Tank-buster" plane that killed Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, 25, in an attack on his armored vehicle convoy. Four other British soldiers were wounded in the March 28, 2003 attack in southern Iraq. "The attack on the convoy amounted to an assault," Walker said. "It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it, and in that respect it was criminal."

6 Powers Agree on Sanctions For Iran
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500248.html
The U.N. Security Council's five major powers and Germany have agreed in principle to ban all Iranian arms exports and freeze the financial assets of 28 Iranian officials and institutions, including several commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The pact was struck as Iran informed the United States that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intends to lead a delegation to the United Nations to address the 15-nation council when the resolution is formally adopted, according to Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations. The accord requires Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium and reprocessing of nuclear fuel within 60 days or face additional penalties.
RELATED: U.N. weighs ban on Iranian arms exports
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran16mar16,1,702814.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Unity Cabinet Offered By Palestinian Premier
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501978.html
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas presented a unity government Thursday that for the first time since the Islamic movement took power almost a year ago includes rival political parties and a pledge to honor previous agreements that recognize Israel. But the new political program, which Palestinian leaders hope will end a year-long international aid embargo that has crippled the Hamas-led government, does not renounce violence or accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. Israel and international donors have insisted that the new government meet those conditions before direct financial aid can be restored.
RELATED: Move Seen Complicating Rice's Middle East Effort
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502033.html
RELATED: Russia hails new Palestinian coalition
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-15-russia-palestinians_N.htm

A New Face of Jihad Vows Attacks on U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/world/middleeast/16jihad.html?ref=world
Deep in a violent and lawless slum just north of this coastal city, 12 men whose faces were shrouded by scarves drilled with Kalashnikovs. In unison, they lunged in one direction, turned and lunged in another. “Allah-u akbar,” the men shouted in praise to God as they fired their machine guns into a wall. The men belong to a new militant Islamic organization called Fatah al Islam, whose leader, a fugitive Palestinian named Shakir al-Abssi, has set up operations in a refugee camp here where he trains fighters and spreads the ideology of Al Qaeda. He has solid terrorist credentials.

Rebels kill 54 at Indian outpost
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-maoists16mar16,1,1012101.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Communist rebels besieged a police outpost in eastern India on Thursday, killing 54 people and wounding nearly a dozen more before fleeing into the surrounding jungle under cover of darkness. The early morning raid was one of the bloodiest attacks in years by the so-called Naxalites, Maoist insurgents who have waged an armed campaign against the Indian government for four decades. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the group the nation's No. 1 threat to public security.
RELATED: India Maoists Kill 49 in Raid on Police Post
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/world/asia/16india.html?ref=world

Bomb Blast Kills 7 Near Somali Capital
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600493.html
Seven people, including four children, were killed when a bomb blast destroyed two houses near Somalia's violent capital, police said Friday.

Mugabe tells the West to 'go hang'
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mugabe16mar16,1,6794164.story?coll=la-headlines-world
President Robert Mugabe on Thursday told Western countries to "go hang" after a barrage of international criticism over charges that an opposition leader was assaulted in police custody. Opposition officials say police tortured Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and several other opposition and civic group leaders Sunday after they tried to attend a prayer vigil in a Harare township. But the government has suggested that Tsvangirai and his group resisted arrest and on Thursday accused opposition supporters of waging a militia-style campaign of violence to topple Mugabe.

In test of Nigeria's democracy, opposition figure kept off ballot
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160118mar16,1,5197988.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
A leading opposition candidate in Nigeria's presidential election has been omitted from the official list of candidates, which was released Thursday by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the current vice president, was deemed unfit to run because he had been indicted on corruption charges.

U.S. ally fears price for loyalty
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missile16mar16,1,7570292.story?coll=la-headlines-world
A U.S. proposal to build an antimissile shield in Poland has forced a close ally to reassess Bush administration policies that many officials here say could make their country a target for Russian rockets and Islamic terrorists. Poland has been a steadfast friend to the United States, sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and emerging as one of the few pro-American voices in Europe. But interviews with Polish officials suggest that Warsaw is skeptical about the idea of playing host to a missile defense shield to protect the U.S. from possible strikes by Iran and North Korea. The plan would include 10 interceptor missiles based in Poland and a radar center in the Czech Republic.
RELATED: New Law in Poland Aims to Oust Officials Who Aided Secret Police
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/world/europe/16poland.html

Report: Garcia Marquez visits 'same old Fidel'
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-15-castro-gabo_N.htm
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, sidelined from politics for months with intestinal problems, has staged a strong comeback, his longtime friend Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, according to a Spanish newspaper. Garcia Marquez visited Castro in Havana on Monday and said they took a long walk together. "Kilometers, I would say," El Pais quoted the Colombian as saying in a Havana-datelined story that was published Thursday.

Arrests to be sought in '94 Argentina bombing
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bombing16mar16,1,3843918.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Interpol said Thursday that it would seek the arrest of five Iranians and a Lebanese wanted in Argentina's worst terrorist attack: the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people were killed and 200 were wounded when a van pulled up outside the seven-story building and exploded.

Top

Immigration

U.S. Warns of Long Delays For Passports
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501827.html
Overwhelmed by unprecedented demand, the State Department is warning would-be travelers to brace for lengthy delays in getting U.S. passports, even when they pay a hefty fee to speed their applications. The department has hired hundreds of employees to process passport requests over the past two years as tougher immigration rules have taken effect. Even so, the department says a crush of new applicants -- more than 1 million a month -- has inundated its staff and caused delays of up to 1 1/2 months amid the peak January-to-April season when many people are preparing to travel over the spring and summer. In addition, a regulation that took effect this year requiring Americans to have passports when traveling by air anywhere outside the country, including Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, "has increased passport demand and production to record levels," the department said in a statement this week.

Top

Marriage and Family Issues

U.S. warns against Guatemala adoptions
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160139mar16,1,6508711.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
In its strongest language yet, the State Department is warning Americans not to adopt children from Guatemala, a Central American nation that has become the second-largest provider of babies for adoption into the U.S. "We cannot recommend adoption from Guatemala at this time," the agency said. "There are serious problems with the adoption process in Guatemala, which does not protect all children, birth mothers or prospective adoptive parents."

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

CPR study: Nix the mouth-to-mouth
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-cpr16mar16,1,7985387.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Heart attack victims fare twice as well with chest compressions only than with mouth-to-mouth too.

Experts condemn many cities' fire codes
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-16-us-fire-codes_N.htm
Fire fatalities have steadily declined in the U.S. since the late 1970s, thanks partly to improved building codes requiring safety measures such as sprinkler systems, multiple fire exits and fire-resistant construction materials. But a deadly blaze in the Bronx served as a ghastly reminder that many of the country's big cities are packed with homes that have none of these safety features.

HPV common, but knowledge of it still is not
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160140mar16,1,3428511.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Nearly every working day, Dr. Elizabeth Poynor encounters anxious young women who come to her New York office with an HPV diagnosis. The human papillomavirus is the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease--so common that researchers estimate most people will have some form of it in their lifetime. Young adults are especially at risk because they tend to be the most sexually active group. Yet Poynor finds that most of her young patients, even if they have heard of a new vaccine aimed at preventing the worst kinds of HPV, know little about the virus and the harm it can do.

Gonorrhea cases up in the West, down nationally
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-gonorrhea16mar16,1,5033993.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Gonorrhea cases are rising at an alarming pace across the western United States, even while declining in the rest of the country, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. The number of cases in California and seven other western states increased 42% from 2000 to 2005 while declining 10% nationally, according to the report. An increase in gonorrhea is typically associated with a rise in other sexually transmitted diseases — most importantly HIV infection.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Jury weighs NYPD shooting of groom
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-15-groom-police-shooting_N.htm
A possible last-minute witness emerged as the city anxiously watched a grand jury weighing the case of five police officers who unleashed a 50-bullet barrage that killed an unarmed man on his wedding day, authorities said. The grand jurors were to reconvene Thursday after going home late Wednesday without having decided whether any officers should be indicted. The Queens district attorney's office knows of a person who came forward Wednesday to say he witnessed the shooting and had information about it, office spokesman Kevin Ryan said. It was unclear whether the grand jury would seek information from the person. The killing of Sean Bell, 23, and the wounding of his bachelor party guests Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield on Nov. 25 raised questions about police tactics and prompted vigils and protests by civil rights activists.

Texan freed 17 years after failing drug test
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160141mar16,1,3821728.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Tyrone Brown walked out of prison Thursday morning, 17 years after a single positive marijuana test while on probation led a Dallas judge to hit him with a life sentence. Brown, who won a conditional pardon last week from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, broke into a wide smile and then cried as he saw the crowd that awaited him: half a church busload of relatives, plus journalists from as far away as New York. "I didn't believe this day was going to come," he said. His mother, Nora Brown, rushed across the street to embrace her son and nearly collapsed, speechless. She then led the crowd in waving goodbye to the high red-brick walls and razor wire of the Huntsville unit, where Brown had been processed out of the prison system. She screamed "new life" as she later led the group in prayer. Brown's punishment has become symbolic of perceived problems in the Texas criminal justice system.

Panel OKs new 'no-knock' standards
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/legis07/stories/2007/03/15/0316metlegnoknock.html
Law enforcement officials would have a slightly higher standard for seeking so-called "no-knock" search warrants in Georgia, under a bill that passed a Senate committee Thursday. The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed an amended version of Senate Bill 259, sponsored by Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta. Fort sought the bill following the fatal shooting by Atlanta police in November of Kathryn Johnston. Plain-clothes narcotics officers were searching for drugs at the elderly woman's home using a no-knock warrant, and she was killed in an exchange of gunfire. Fort's bill sought to raise the bar for law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant allowing them to break down a door before announcing themselves.

Top

Economy

Labor Rights in Guatemala Aided Little by Trade Deal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502452.html
Day and night, workers at the port of Quetzal on Guatemala's Pacific coast load fruit from surrounding plantations and clothing stitched in local factories onto freighters bound for Long Beach, Calif., a flow of goods that has swelled since a Central American trade agreement with the United States took force last year. Under a provision that was crucial to getting the deal through Congress, working conditions for the longshoremen, along with laborers throughout Central America, were supposed to improve. Governments promised to strengthen labor laws, and the Bush administration pledged money to help. But on the evening of Jan. 15, the head of the port workers union became a symbol of the risks that still confront workers who press their rights in Guatemala. Pedro Zamora, then in the midst of contentious negotiations with management, was driving on the dusty road through his village, his two sons at his side, when gunmen shot him at least 20 times, killing him, said prosecutors in Guatemala City.

Stocks rise moderately in erratic session, nervousness over mortgages remains
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-03-15-stocks-thurs_N.htm
Stocks managed a moderate advance Thursday, staying afloat as signs of strength in corporate takeover activity, jobs and overseas markets allowed investors to stomach a sharp rise in wholesale inflation. Wall Street still displayed nervousness, however, selling off briefly after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan rekindled investors' woes about subprime mortgages. The knee-jerk dip was illustrative of how jittery the markets are now, recoiling when reminded that no one yet knows the extent to which weak areas of economy, notably the struggling housing market and hemorrhaging subprime lenders, will hurt overall growth in the months ahead.

Wholesale Prices Up 1.3 Percent in Feb.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500469.html
Inflation at the wholesale level soared in February, pushed higher by gasoline and other energy prices and the largest increase in food costs in more than three years. The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices surged 1.3 percent last month. That was the biggest increase since November and more than double the 0.5 percent gain analysts expected. Cost pressures also showed up in higher prices for cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, appliances and children's toys and games, which rose at the fastest clip in more than two decades. The core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy, climbed by 0.4 percent, more than forecast and double the January gain.
RELATED: Sharp Rise in Producer Prices Shows Inflation Still Hangs Over Economy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/business/16econ.html

To subsidize actual food
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160127mar16,1,5263524.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
It might seem strange to most Americans, but the building congressional debate over the Bush administration's proposed 2007 farm bill involves something unusual: actual food. This bill puts new emphasis on what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls specialty crops: fruits, vegetables and nuts from trees. They make up a third of the nation's cash crop receipts--50 percent of receipts if floriculture and greenhouse plant sales are counted--and, until now, they haven't drawn much federal money or attention. Expanded competition from overseas, as well as a change in the government's nutrition pyramid in 2005, new concerns about nutrition in the federally funded school meals program and the growing organic foods market have all helped to elevate specialty crops in the agriculture funding debate.

A $10 billion surprise
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160138mar16,1,6115494.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The historic merger agreement between Chicago's two leading futures exchanges, the Merc and the Board of Trade, went up for grabs Thursday after a surprise $9.9 billion bid from an out-of-town rival who says the city would be better off keeping its crosstown competition alive. Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc. on Thursday proposed combining with the Chicago Board of Trade in an all-stock transaction said to provide a 10 percent premium over the offer on the table from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Board of Trade shareholders would retain majority control, and the merged company would remain headquartered in Chicago. IntercontinentalExchange, or ICE, is a far smaller player in the futures market and an upstart--it's about 7 years old. With its last-minute offer, made three weeks before the Board of Trade's scheduled vote to approve the Merc merger, ICE threatens to shake up one of Chicago's most storied industries just as it was reinventing itself.
RELATED: New Suitor for Exchange in Chicago
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/business/16cbot.html?ref=business

G.M. Says It Has Found Serious Flaws in Accounting
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/automobiles/16auto.html?ref=business
General Motors, a company once known as the model of corporate accounting, warned investors on Thursday that its performance was threatened by “ineffective” controls over financial reporting, including inadequately trained personnel and failure to obtain management’s approval for some transactions. The disclosure, made in G.M.’s annual report filed with federal regulators after a six-week delay, was the latest indication that the automaker is on shakier footing than first thought.

$3.2B deal to buy WebEx gets Cisco into video conferencing
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2007-03-15-cisco-webex_N.htm
Cisco Systems (CSCO) on Thursday announced plans to acquire online conferencing service WebEx (WEBX) for $3.2 billion in cash. WebEx's subscription service allows customers to share presentations and host video conferences online. Cisco will pay $57 for each WebEx share. The deal is worth about $2.9 billion, after WebEx's cash reserves are subtracted. The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies but still must get the OK from regulators. It is expected to close in early summer.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

Fannie, Freddie Wary of Controls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502138.html
Executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac invoked the upheaval in the mortgage market yesterday as a reason for lawmakers to be cautious about subjecting them to stricter regulation. The recent meltdown in unconventional home loans provided political ammunition for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just as House members are poised to move ahead on long-delayed legislation aimed at tightening controls on the federally chartered mortgage-funding companies. Freddie Mac chief executive Richard F. Syron testified yesterday that the legislation could not only hurt the two companies but also damage the already weakened housing market.

Top

Education

Lenders Pay Universities to Influence Loan Choice
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/education/16loans.html?ref=us
Dozens of colleges and universities across the country have accepted a variety of financial incentives from student loan companies to steer student business their way, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced yesterday. The deals include cash payments based on loan volume, donations of computers, expense-paid trips to resorts for financial aid officers and even running call centers on behalf of colleges to field students’ questions about financial aid. “We have found that these school-lender relationships are often highly tainted with conflicts of interest,” Mr. Cuomo said. “These school-lender relationships are often for the benefit of the schools at the expense of the student, with financial incentives to the schools that are often undisclosed.”

Md. Moves To Tie Teens' Truancy to Licenses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502112.html
Maryland lawmakers issued a tough warning to teenagers yesterday: no school, no car keys. The House of Delegates approved a bill that would deny driver's licenses to students with 10 or more unexcused absences in the previous calendar year. A similar measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee late yesterday, and it appears to have wide support in the full chamber.

Report Says Public Schools in California Are ‘Broken’
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/education/16schools.html
A scathing 18-month evaluation of California’s public schools has concluded that the state’s educational system is “broken,” crippled by a complex bureaucracy, flawed teacher policies and misspent school money, leaving it in need of sweeping reforms that could cost billions of dollars. The report, a compilation of 22 university studies titled “Getting Down to Facts,” was released in two parts on Wednesday and Thursday. The long-awaited report, requested by a bipartisan group of state educators and legislators in 2005, cost $3 million and evaluated why California’s 6.8 million school-age students have lagged behind children in almost all other states.

Top

Science and Technology

NASA Chief Says China May Make It To the Moon
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501830.html
The next humans to walk on the moon may well be Chinese, NASA's administrator told Congress yesterday. He said that the combination of budget cuts and restraints in the NASA lunar program and a determined and well-funded effort by the Chinese made that once-unthinkable possibility a real one. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the House Committee on Science and Technology that, based on the status of the Chinese space program and its projected growth, China could land a man on the moon within a decade. Under current projections, a U.S. lunar return would not take place until 2019 at the earliest.

Spacecraft scans vast ice deposits on south pole of Mars
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/16/spacecraft_scans_vast_ice_deposits_on_south_pole_of_mars/
A spacecraft orbiting Mars has scanned huge deposits of water ice at its south pole so plentiful they would submerge the planet in 36 feet of water if they were liquid, scientists said yesterday. The scientists used a joint NASA-Italian Space Agency radar instrument on the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft to gauge the thickness and volume of ice deposits at the Martian south pole covering an area larger than Texas.

Top

Military

General seeks another brigade in Iraq
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/16/general_seeks_another_brigade_in_iraq/
The top US commander in Iraq has requested another Army brigade, in addition to five already on the way, as part of the controversial "surge" of American troops designed to clamp down on sectarian violence and insurgent groups, senior Pentagon officials said yesterday. The appeal -- not yet made public -- by General David Petraeus for a combat aviation unit would involve between 2,500 and 3,000 more soldiers and dozens of transport helicopters and powerful gunships, said the Pentagon sources. That would bring the planned expansion of US forces to close to 30,000 troops.

Appropriators Vote to Keep Walter Reed Open
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501968.html
The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a measure yesterday that bars the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an action supporters say will reverse plans to shut the hospital in 2011. The provision, attached to a bill with additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, blocks the use of any federal money to close Walter Reed. Keeping open a base that has been chosen for closure by the Defense Department's Base Realignment and Closure Commission would be unprecedented. The system creating an independent commission to make such decisions was adopted by Congress to prevent political interference with base closures. But recent disclosures of serious problems with the long-term care of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed have sparked calls in Congress and elsewhere to reverse the decision. Senior Army officials also suggested that the decision be reconsidered.
RELATED: VIP ward at Walter Reed gets scrutiny
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-15-walter-reed-vip_N.htm

Sergeant denies ordering 3 Iraqis killed
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-soldier16mar16,1,3964672.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Speaking rapidly and gesturing forcefully, Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard told a military court Thursday that he was shocked when two of his soldiers killed three Iraqi detainees in May, then decided on the spot to help them cover up their crime. Girouard contradicted testimony by two squad members who said he told them during a hastily called meeting to kill the detainees. He could face life without parole if convicted of ordering the killings. Asked by his attorney, Anita Gorecki, whether he ordered the men killed, Girouard replied: "No, ma'am. No ma'am."

Charged in slayings in Iraq, Marine calls shooting justified
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160145mar16,1,5394596.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
A Marine staff sergeant charged with unpremeditated murder in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha admitted firing at five unarmed men but said it was justified. In an interview with "60 Minutes" to air Sunday, Frank Wuterich said he was justified in firing at the men on Nov. 19, 2005, because he had identified them as military-age males in a car close to where a roadside bomb had just detonated, killing one of Wuterich's squad. Wuterich was charged in December with 13 counts of murder.

Top

Energy Policy

Green Energy Enthusiasts Are Also Betting on Fossil Fuels
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/technology/16venture.html?ref=business
Silicon Valley’s technology investors have taken to the ramparts, threatening to tear down the oil and gas industries’ dominance with innovations that use ethanol, solar and wind. A chief champion of the cause has been Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the marquee venture capital firms. Its principals, John Doerr in particular, have passionately advocated development of alternative energies as a way to create energy independence and clean up the carbon-saturated atmosphere. But Kleiner has also poured millions of dollars into Terralliance, a company that makes technology to enable more efficient drilling of oil and gas.

OPEC Says It Won’t Increase Output
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/business/16opec.html?ref=business
Ignoring concerns over slowing economic growth, slightly volatile stock markets and a softening housing market in the United States, OPEC ministers said on Thursday that they would keep oil production at current levels. Their decision came despite calls to pump more supplies into a market that is becoming increasingly tight.

Union blames deadly blast in coal mine on roof friction
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160146mar16,1,5787813.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The miners union on Thursday blamed last year's deadly Sago mine explosion on friction between rocks and a metal roof-support system, rather than lightning. The United Mine Workers report said the chance lightning caused the methane gas blast is "so remote as to be practically impossible."
RELATED: Mine Union’s Report on the Sago Disaster Contradicts Earlier Findings
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/16sago.html?ref=us

Top

Environment and Conservation

Antarctic Glaciers' Sloughing Of Ice Has Scientists at a Loss
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501063.html
Some of the largest glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland are moving in unusual ways and are losing increased amounts of ice to the sea, researchers said yesterday. Although the changes in Greenland appear to be related to global warming, it remains unclear what is causing the glaciers of frigid Antarctica and their "ice streams" to lose ice to the ocean in recent years, the researchers said. "In Greenland we know there is melting associated with the ice loss, but in Antarctica we don't really know why it's happening," said Duncan Wingham, an author of the review released today in Science magazine. "With so much of the world's ice captured in Antarctica, just the fact that we don't know why this is happening is a cause of some concern."

Researcher casts doubt on woodpecker sighting
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703160152mar16,1,4673698.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
A Scottish scientist says American bird experts may have been wrong when they concluded that the ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to be extinct, might have survived. In an article published Wednesday in the journal BMC Biology, University of Aberdeen geneticist Martin Collinson disputed whether a video shot by an Arkansas scientist showed the ivory-billed woodpecker.

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.

Phony Fraud Charges
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/16fri1.html
In its fumbling attempts to explain the purge of United States attorneys, the Bush administration has argued that the fired prosecutors were not aggressive enough about addressing voter fraud. It is a phony argument; there is no evidence that any of them ignored real instances of voter fraud. But more than that, it is a window on what may be a major reason for some of the firings. In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of voter fraud is code for suppressing the votes of minorities and poor people. By resisting pressure to crack down on “fraud,” the fired United States attorneys actually appear to have been standing up for the integrity of the election system. John McKay, one of the fired attorneys, says he was pressured by Republicans to bring voter fraud charges after the 2004 Washington governor’s race, which a Democrat, Christine Gregoire, won after two recounts. Republicans were trying to overturn an election result they did not like, but Mr. McKay refused to go along. “There was no evidence,” he said, “and I am not going to drag innocent people in front of a grand jury.”

Robinson: Memo to Gonzales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501877.html
Was it arrogance or ignorance that led the Bush administration to think it could pull off what looks, walks and quacks like a transparently political decision to fire those eight U.S. attorneys? A good deal of both, I'm guessing. Actually, I take that back. No guesswork is needed. Arrogance has been the most consistent hallmark of George W. Bush's presidency. His administration's simple philosophy of government has been consistent: We can do any damn thing we want. We can invade Iraq. We can blow off the Geneva Conventions. We can listen to your private phone calls, Mr. and Ms. America, and we can read your private e-mails, too. We can arrest anybody we want and hold them as long as we want, and we don't even have to tell them why, much less file formal charges or hold a trial. We can even defy the laws of science -- or at least ignore the ones that annoy us, such as that whole "greenhouse effect" thing. We can use the troops for photo ops when they come back from war grievously wounded and then basically forget about them.
RELATED: 'The Real Problem'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501825.html
RELATED: Alberto Gonzales should go
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/16/alberto_gonzales_should_go/

Maher: Us to George -- sure, whatever
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-maher16mar16,0,5068123.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
In previous wars, we sacrificed our underwear. Now it's just our civil rights.

Brooks: What impeccable timing, KSM!
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks16mar16,0,3666636.column?coll=la-opinion-center
WHAT TIMING! Just when the attorney general and the president were coming under fire for the politicized dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys, the Pentagon released a transcript of a March 10 hearing in which Guantanamo detainee Khalid Shaikh Mohammed confessed to masterminding the 9/11 attacks. Now we can get back to the Bush administration's preferred topic: What a heck of a job it's doing in the war on terror.
RELATED: From the terrorist's mouth
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-ksm16mar16,0,4843922.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
RELATED: Elevating a terrorist killer
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/16/elevating_a_terrorist_killer/

Relighting Snuffed Candles
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/16fri2.html
The Bush administration’s mania for secrecy has been dealt an overdue blow by the House. Significant numbers of Republicans voted with Democrats to reverse the erosion of the public’s right to know how its government operates. A package of strong open-government measures would repair some of the damage inflicted in the past six years on laws governing taxpayers’ access to federal records and presidential archives, while bolstering the standing of whistle-blowers to report abuses in agencies without fear of retaliation.

Stein: End the presidential pardon
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein16mar16,0,5779839.column?coll=la-opinion-center
IT'S NOT THAT I care if "Scooter" Libby gets pardoned. Sure, he obstructed justice, but putting someone named Scooter in jail seems a little harsh. Putting someone named Scooter in elementary school seems a little harsh. I object to the idea of the pardon itself. I may have dropped my political science major, but I know that giving one person the right to let people out of jail without any reason might lead to abuse of power. This is why we don't give one person the right to put people in jail without any reason.

Brownstein: Fox hounded
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-brownstein16mar16,0,6326229.story?coll=la-opinion-center
In the history of capitalism has any company had more success with just a wink and a nod than the Fox News Channel? And can Democrats be successful in the 2008 campaign by refusing to wink or nod back? Last week's decision by Nevada Democrats, under pressure from liberal activists, to drop Fox as the co-sponsor of a party presidential debate has the virtue of crystallizing the questions about the network's nature and its unique role in the modern media ecosystem.

Dionne: Christians Who Won't Toe the Line
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501868.html
Evangelical Protestantism in the United States is going through a New Reformation that is disentangling a great religious movement from a partisan political machine. This historic change will require liberals and conservatives alike to abandon their sometimes narrow views of who evangelicals are. The reformers won an important victory this month when the board of the National Association of Evangelicals faced down right-wing partisans and reaffirmed its view that solving global warming was an important moral cause. In so doing, it also expressed confidence in the Rev. Rich Cizik, the NAE's vice president for governmental affairs.

Goodman: Uncomfortable truth for Japan
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/16/uncomfortable_truth_for_japan/
THE NAME is what first grabbed my attention. Comfort women? What a moniker for the sexual slaves who were coerced, confined, and raped in the Japanese military brothels strung across Asia during World War II. The very name reduces the women to the sum of their service. What kind of comfort did they supply? The label is only marginally more humane than the other words for the women listed on the procurement rolls: "items" and "logs."

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