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TOP STORIES

Top

National

4 Years After Start of War, Anger Reigns
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031700539.html
Thousands of demonstrators protesting the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq marched on the Pentagon yesterday, jeered along the way by large numbers of angry counter-protesters. Organizers billed the antiwar rally as marking the 40th anniversary of the 1967 march on the Pentagon. At times, verbal clashes during the cold and blustery day demonstrated that the bitter divisions of four decades ago sparked by Vietnam are very much alive in the debate over Iraq. The march, part of a weekend of protests that included smaller demonstrations in other U.S. cities and abroad, comes as the Bush administration sends more troops to Iraq in an attempt to regain control of Baghdad and Congress considers measures to bring U.S. troops home.
RELATED: War anniversary draws protesters to D.C.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-17-war-protest_N.htm
RELATED: In March, Protesters Recall War Anniversaries
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/us/18protest.html

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

Amid Concerns, FBI Lapses Went On
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701451.html
FBI counterterrorism officials continued to use flawed procedures to obtain thousands of U.S. telephone records during a two-year period when bureau lawyers and managers were expressing escalating concerns about the practice, according to senior FBI and Justice Department officials and documents. FBI lawyers raised the concerns beginning in late October 2004 but did not closely scrutinize the practice until last year, FBI officials acknowledged. They also did not understand the scope of the problem until the Justice Department launched an investigation, FBI officials said. Under pressure to provide a stronger legal footing, counterterrorism agents last year wrote new letters to phone companies demanding the information the bureau already possessed. At least one senior FBI headquarters official -- whom the bureau declined to name -- signed these "national security letters" without including the required proof that the letters were linked to FBI counterterrorism or espionage investigations, an FBI official said. The flawed procedures involved the use of emergency demands for records, called "exigent circumstance" letters, which contained false or undocumented claims. They also included national security letters that were issued without FBI rules being followed.
RELATED: Official Alerted F.B.I. to Rules Abuse 2 Years Ago, Lawyer Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/washington/19letter.html?ref=washington

Justice Dept. Recognized Prosecutor's Work on Election Fraud Before His Firing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801077.html
One of the U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration after Republican complaints that he neglected to prosecute voter fraud had been heralded for his expertise in that area by the Justice Department, which twice selected him to train other federal prosecutors to pursue election crimes. David C. Iglesias, who was dismissed as U.S. attorney for New Mexico in December, was one of two chief federal prosecutors invited to teach at a "voting integrity symposium" in October 2005. The symposium was sponsored by Justice's public integrity and civil rights sections and was attended by more than 100 prosecutors from around the country, according to an account by Iglesias that a department spokesman confirmed. Iglesias, a Republican, said in an interview that he and the U.S. attorney from Milwaukee, Steven M. Biskupic, were chosen as trainers because they were the only ones identified as having created task forces to examine allegations of voter fraud in the 2004 elections.
RELATED: Prosecutor's Firing Was Urged During Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801263.html
RELATED: Accounts of Prosecutors' Dismissals Keep Shifting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601046.html
RELATED: Gonzales apologizes to U.S. attorneys
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-18-gonzales-mea-culpa_N.htm
RELATED: Senator Insists Bush Aides Testify Publicly
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/washington/19attorneys.html

More FBI scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT

Plame Says Administration 'Recklessly' Revealed Her
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600276.html
Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer at the heart of a four-year political furor over the Bush administration's leak of her identity, lashed out at the White House yesterday, testifying in Congress that the president's aides destroyed a career she loved and slipped her name to reporters for "purely political motives." Plame, breaking her public silence about the case, contended that her name and job "were carelessly and recklessly abused" by the government. Although she and her colleagues knew that "we might be exposed and threatened by foreign enemies," she said, "it was a terrible irony that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover."
RELATED: Plame shows theatrical side of Congress
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-17-plame-drama_N.htm
RELATED: ‘Purely Political Motives’ in Outing, Ex-Agent Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17testify.html

Top

Colorado

Legislation doubles state's standard for renewable energy
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/12
A plan to double the state's renewable energy standard is on its way to the governor. Not long after the Colorado Senate approved a bill to increase to 20 percent the amount of electricity power companies must generate by 2020, the House gave its final nod to it, officially sending it off to Gov. Bill Ritter, who said he will sign it soon. Amendment 37, which voters approved in 2004, calls for a 10 percent standard by 2015. But because power companies are nearing or already exceeding that goal, they agreed to double it, said Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, who introduced HB1281 with Reps. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, and Rob Witwer, R-Evergreen. "We have an opportunity to invest in Colorado's new renewable energy - the wind, solar and biomass - which will only benefit the economy of our rural communities," Schwartz said.
RELATED: Energy bill goes to Ritter
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_3.htm

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

Colorado caucuses may move to Feb. 5
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462776
On Thursday, California - the most populous state - moved its primary to Feb. 5, and another 20 states may end up holding their caucuses and primaries on that day. Although Colorado Democrats are leaning toward moving up the presidential - as well as the local and state - caucuses, Republicans may want to conduct them separately. There is concern the earlier date may not give GOP candidates for local and state offices enough time to campaign. However, Madden said that lawmakers could possibly change the statute so each party could do what it wants. That was wholeheartedly supported by state GOP chairman Dick Wadhams. "I think giving both parties maximum flexibility is a good way to approach it," he said. "I applaud the Democratic leadership."
RELATED: Colorado caucus move gaining support
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/17/legislature-2007/

Leaders fret as mineral funds soar
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/19/3_19_1A_mineral_leases.html
When Gov. Bill Ritter announced last week he was not angling to divert federal mineral-lease revenues into education spending, Western Slope leaders let out a collective sigh of relief. Even as local officials celebrated the governor’s midstream policy shift, they unanimously agreed this will not be the last time the Western Slope will have to fight to retain its energy- impact funds. Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis said lawmakers every year inevitably set their sights on mineral revenues. Meis, who serves as chairman of the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, said because federal mineral-lease revenues are increasing so rapidly, lawmakers will try to tap them. “It’s a growing revenue stream, and most of the other streams into state government are not growing at that pace, so severance tax, mineral lease and the oil shale trust fund will always be a target for everyone’s pet projects,” Meis said. “That’s why I lay awake sleepless during the legislative session.”

More education funding news in COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/EDUCATION

Hope strong among followers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427861,00.html
Fifteen-year-old Andrew Craig waited for about half an hour to hear Barack Obama's speech and to shake his hand. Then he waited about 20 minutes more for the Illinois senator to autograph a paperback copy of his memoir, Dreams from My Father. "I was elated that I got to meet, hopefully, the person who might become president," the Denver teen said after a campaign aide handed back his autographed book. Now he just has to wait until the 2012 election to vote in a presidential campaign. "Hopefully, I can vote for him in his second term," Andrew said. Hope was a recurring theme among those interviewed following Sunday's rally.
RELATED: Obama rouses crowd
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5427859,00.html
RELATED: Obama: "The country calls us"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468740

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

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Tancredo invokes imprisoned agents
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5453452
Tom Tancredo is using the plight of two imprisoned Border Patrol agents to raise money for his potential presidential campaign. In his latest campaign mailing, the Republican congressman from Littleton asks those who are "angered and outraged by the unjust imprisonment," of agents Ignacio Compean and Jose Ramos to sign a petition to President Bush asking for their pardon, and mail it back "along with a special, emergency donation," payable to Tancredo's campaign. "Do not delay your response," Tancredo's letter urges. "I am counting on your contribution by March 31st and Agents Compean and Ramos are counting on us to help them get the justice they deserve." Ramos and Compean were convicted of assault with a deadly weapon for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks as he ran away. They were sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively.

Colorado AG courted for U.S. Senate run
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_AG_Senate_Run.html
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said he is being courted to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated in 2008 by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. “I’ve had conversations with people on several levels,” Suthers said. “The (National) Republican Senatorial Committee is obviously very interested in winning this race, making sure that the best possible candidate is in the race.” Suthers, who has served as Colorado’s attorney general since 2005 and as the state’s U.S. Attorney from 2001 to 2005, said while he is not actively pursuing the seat, he will consider stepping up. “It’s my impression that no one is gaining a great deal of momentum right now, and I’m keeping my powder dry, as they say in politics,” Suthers said. “So, I haven’t ruled it out, but I haven’t jumped in.” Asked on Friday if he thought he would make a good candidate, Suthers quickly replied, “Oh, yeah.” Citing his success in the 2006 election against Democrat Fern O’Brien, Suthers said he knows he could garner support from unaffiliated and Republican voters alike.

More young mothers are running for Congress, but the struggle is still there
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103180125
Nancy Pelosi, the first ever female speaker of the house, is a mother of five and a grandmother of six. So as she triumphantly pounds the gavel on the podium, she also jokes about using her "mom voice." The first female front-runner in a presidential campaign, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is also a mother. But like Pelosi, she waited. Her only daughter, Chelsea, now 27, had reached adulthood before Clinton even took office. Although Pelosi and Clinton reached the pinnacle of political success after their children were grown, women from a new generation are choosing a different path - they are raising their families while serving in Congress. Sen. Clinton and Rep. Pelosi (D-Calif.) are part of an older generation, who for the most part believed, as society did itself, that a mother could not handle politics and a young family at the same time. These women either waited until their children were grown to enter public service, or they forewent a family to enter the field early with no strings attached. Unlike their male colleagues, the perception was a third option was not available: a young family and a career in national politics. "I think women themselves feel that the job is too demanding if they also want to have a family," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), who entered national politics in 1996, under the age of 40 and with a young family. "I meet a lot of young women who take themselves out of consideration for federal-elected office until their children are grown."
RELATED: Musgrave says it's possible, but difficult, for women to have political careers and children
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103180126

Coffman, Ortiz oppose election bill provisions
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/9
Colorado's secretary of state and Pueblo County's clerk are from different political parties, but they have identified a common enemy in an election bill making its way through the Legislature. The bill, SB83, started out with the support of Secretary of State Mike Coffman and the county clerks' association, including Pueblo Clerk Gilbert Ortiz Jr. In its original form, it would have permitted voting centers at a ratio of one voting center for every 10,000 voters. But when legislators amended the bill to require one voting center for every 5,000 voters, Ortiz said, "You start losing cost-effectiveness." And when the bill was amended to attempt to allow felons on parole from prison to vote, Coffman said, "That raises serious constitutional issues. I'll ask the governor for a veto if that passes, and I believe the attorney general will, too."
RELATED: Penry pushes back parolee voting bill
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/17/3_17_10_B_parolee_voting.html

Morning after St. Paddy's Day poor timing for Capitol rally
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5427797,00.html
Note to those planning rallies involving young adults: Never pick the morning after St. Patrick's Day. Backers of a measure that would reduce the age required to run for state office from 25 to 18 learned that the hard way Sunday.

Three in fight for pivotal seat
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070317/NEWS01/703170334/1002/NEWS17
The recipe for a hot [Fort Collins] City Council race includes three recognizable faces, a couple of familiar topics and a city budget in need of a boost. Glen Colton, Wade Troxell and LeRoy Gomez are fighting for what could be the pivotal seat in this spring's Council election. Troxell and Colton seem to be fighting a little harder, having raised a combined $22,000 - $6,000 from Colton's own pocket - to Gomez' zero, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday.

Developers’ money adds to election buzz
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20324&template=article.html
A family of wealthy developers is pumping a river of money into the April 3 Colorado Springs election.

Chamber endorses 3 for council
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_1B_chamber_endorsements.html
The Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce avoided taking a strong political stand in its first foray into endorsing Grand Junction City Council candidates. The chamber chose to favor both Kent Baughman and Linda Romer Todd for the District B seat but neither incumbent Gregg Palmer nor challenger Joseph Gardner for the District C seat. John Hopkins, chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, was not specific in explaining how the board reached its decisions, other than to say Baughman and Todd “were candidates who the business community could support,” while “the board wasn’t in a position to endorse either” Palmer or Gardner.

Candidates share visions for downtown
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_2.htm
The eight candidates running for Durango City Council did little to separate themselves from the pack Friday, finding common ground in their support for the downtown business district and proposed improvements.

Jan Scott wants council recalled
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/19/jan-scott-wants-council-recalled/
Local television producer Jann Scott plans to start paperwork today to recall Boulder's entire City Council and to demand a special election for Councilman Tom Eldridge's seat. "I request a special election for Tom Eldridge since he has missed 15 meetings and the charter requires an election; I would like the forms to fill out to run for council during this election," Scott wrote in a news release distributed Sunday. Eldridge, 69, is battling cancer and has been excused by the City Council from attending the past few meetings. "I suppose the council will have to respond to Mr. Scott's challenge and request," said Frank Bruno, Boulder's city manager, Sunday evening.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Attorney firings poorly handled, Suthers says
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/17/local_news/4.txt
The firing of eight U.S. attorneys was poorly handled, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said. However, he was not convinced the terminations should necessarily lead to the resignation of United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. “This was not well handled,” Suthers said Friday. Suthers was in town to deliver the keynote address for the Montrose County Republicans’ annual Lincoln Day Dinner. He spoke to the Daily Press just before the dinner. U.S. attorneys are appointed and serve at the sitting president’s pleasure. But Congressional Democrats are alleging eight attorneys sacked last December were dismissed for political reasons, not their performance.

Lawmakers await revenue forecast
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5427818,00.html
Colorado lawmakers will have a clearer picture on Tuesday of how much money is available for road projects and building maintenance and construction. That's when the governor's budget director and legislative economists will release the state's quarterly revenue forecast. Lawmakers who sit on the Capitol Development Committee - which oversees everything from roof repairs for a human services office to the construction of a university building - are asking for $100 million for next fiscal year. "Whether or not we can do that depends on what we learn Tuesday," said Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, who sits on the Joint Budget Committee.

Records bill heads to Ritter
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070317/NEWS01/703170333/1002/NEWS17
A bill to reduce the cost of public records is heading to Gov. Bill Ritter after passing the House on Friday. Senate Bill 45, sponsored by Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, decreases the amount public entities can charge for copies of public records from $1.25 per page to 25 cents per page. The measure passed the House by a vote of 61-3 on third reading after passing the Senate unanimously. "I think it's an important bill for all Coloradans because it allows them access to their own government," McGihon said. "Now Coloradans can get open access to their open records at a reasonable fee that most folks can afford."

Hispanic Caucus forms to tackle varied issues
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174314819/5
The Colorado Legislature has long had its four major caucuses made up of the two separate chambers and the two major political parties. Though at times the caucuses are used for purely political purposes, they are generally helpful for party leaders to help like-minded people think alike. But in the last couple of years, lawmakers have started trying to build coalitions not only across party lines, but also the sometimes wide chasm between the two chambers. So with the large number of Latino lawmakers in the Legislature, it's no surprise a handful of them have created the Colorado General Assembly Hispanic Caucus this session. That bipartisan group of representatives and senators, which includes several from Southern Colorado, focuses on civil rights matters affecting Hispanics and Latinos living in the state.

MR. GIBBS GOES TO WASHINGTON (EXTRA!, March 19)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427864,00.html
State Rep. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, right, is doing all right for a freshman legislator, having been invited to the nation's Capitol to testify March 27 at a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing titled "Access Denied: The Growing Conflict Between Fishing, Hunting and Energy Development on Federal Lands." The reason for the invite: Gibbs' House Bill 1298, which aims to minimize adverse effects on wildlife resources stemming from oil and gas drilling operations. Congressman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, thinks Gibbs' bill could be a model for federal legislation. Let's just hope Gibbs doesn't have to hold the floor in Washington as long as Jimmy Stewart did back in 1939 while portraying Congress- man Jefferson Smith.

Democrats go green at annual party
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/NEWS01/703180329/1002/NEWS17
In addition to the thousands of people who turned out to celebrate the "wearin' of the green" on St. Patrick's Day, the Democrats spread a little green of their own at their annual dinner. This year the Dems went with a "Go Green" theme, stressing their party's support of renewable energy. Gov. Bill Ritter was on hand to greet [Larimer] Democrats, brief though his visit was. The Governor spoke for about 10 minutes at the annual dinner before he was whisked away to another Democratic event in Colorado Springs. Ritter spoke on issues ranging from the environment to the need for more funding for higher education in Colorado. "Thank you for what you did in 2006 so we can govern in 2007," Ritter told the group, which included Sen. Bob Bacon, Rep. John Kefalas and Congressman Mark Udall.

Jeffco tallies bonus pay
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468374
Jefferson County officials have handed out more than $544,000 in bonuses to county workers since 2002. Of that amount, about $353,000 were "true bonuses" - pay for no defined reason - according to a Denver Post review of county documents. The county's generous bonuses - unusual among Colorado governments - have become controversial since former county treasurer Mark Paschall was indicted in January for allegedly offering a top aide a $25,000 bonus and then asking her to split the money with him. The aide refused the bonus, and the incident raised questions about the use of bonuses, because the county faces $12 million to $15 million in budget cuts in 2008.

Sheriff finds nothing in corruption claims
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427397,00.html
Two years ago, it seemed as if all anybody wanted to talk about at Northglenn City Hall were allegations of corruption. Some council-watchers complained about the city leasing a large SUV for the mayor. Others thought officials were playing fast and loose with their city-issued credit cards. And when it came to light that the then-city manager had fired his information technology director only to hand him a $48,000 contract job, critics said it looked like a severance package in disguise. "My concern was there were accusations flying all over the place and we needed some sort of investigation to either clear everyone or get someone indicted," former City Councilman Bill Gillespie said. So, in July 2005, Northglenn Police Chief Russ Van Houten asked Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr to investigate whether public officials were guilty of any crimes. And last month, Darr announced his decision.

Salazar to host office hours in Greeley
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103180132/-1/NEWS
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar's staff members announced last week that they will be holding office hours in Greeley for residents who have comments for the Senator. Betsy Markey and Zane Kessler will be available from 10 a.m. to noon March 28 at the Greeley City Hall, 1000 10th St.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Revived protests seek firm footing
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462108
Duke Austin cast quick, occasional glances across the parking lot of a Westminster office building at two uniformed cops who, in a matter of minutes, would take him into custody. Austin, a 32-year-old instructor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, planned to march into U.S. Rep. Mark Udall's office with four other protesters, demand a stop to funding for the Iraq war - and refuse to leave until police arrested him. "In November," said Austin, recalling the midterm elections, "it looked like there was a possibility for change. But I've seen our continued occupation of Iraq, and now (President) Bush is building a case against Iran. "I needed to up the ante."
RELATED: Peace rally planned [today]
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103180134
RELATED: Protesters mark four years of war
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/NEWS01/703180328/1002/NEWS17
RELATED: Rally attracts at least 200
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20315&template=article.html
RELATED: War protesters clash with police at Springs St. Patrick's Day parade
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20287&template=article.html
RELATED: Springs activist cites cuts, bruises
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462603
RELATED: Marching for peace
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070319_3.htm

Funding lacking for anti-bias hotline
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427418,00.html
Ten months ago, the [Boulder] City Council approved funding for an "anti-bias hotline." But there was a catch: Proponents first had to raise $8,700. Today, in the wake of two assaults in two weeks believed motivated by anti-gay bias, only a third of that is in the bank. Officials at the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center had hoped to have sufficient funds by the end of 2006. But raising money - and awareness - is tough, admitted Betty Ball of the justice center. So far, $2,900 has been collected, Ball said the recent attacks illustrate why the hotline is needed, even though callers wouldn't be required to identify themselves or those they accuse of bias. Rather, the hotline is envisioned as a safe place for victims to share experiences.
RELATED: Boulderites say tolerance will outlive crimes
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462109

Top

Immigration

Builders adjusting to new immigration laws
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070317/NEWS/103170088
Since stiffer state immigration laws went into effect earlier this year, the level of fear has risen among those in the local construction industry who worry they could be penalized for illegal immigrants on the jobsite, said Dave Koons, a custom home builder and president of the Summit Home Builders Association. "For me, as a builder who subcontracts a lot of work, I realize that certainly I'm more exposed to the danger of being criminally prosecuted for having unknowingly hired illegal immigrants through a subcontractor, and that would be terrible - but it's not going to strip me of my livelihood," Koons said, adding that some small local subcontractors could lose everything in a similar situation. A Senate bill passed in last year's special legislative session holds employers responsible for verifying the legal work status of a potential hire. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to $5,000 for the first offense and $25,000 for subsequent offenses.

Top

Reproductive Choice

Planned Parenthood funding ban sought
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5424138,00.html
Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter made a big splash in January when he promised to restore family planning funds to groups including Planned Parenthood. Democrats cheered Ritter's plan during his State of the State speech, but some Republicans were alarmed, fearing that state money would be used to fund abortions. "The governor wants to give money to groups that provide abortions, and I don't think he should," said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. "That's the issue." But Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, said the bulk of the money pays for contraception, family-planning services and general women's health services, not abortions. "It's true that Planned Parenthood provides abortions, but it's a very, very small portion of the services they provide," Boyd said. On Friday, Colorado Right to Life members delivered 600 signed forms to Ritter's office, asking him not to provide tax dollars to Planned Parenthood.

New abortion law ‘changes nothing’ at St. Mary's
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/17/3_17_1b_contraceptive_law.html
An emergency-contraception bill signed into law Thursday will have virtually no effect on St. Mary’s Hospital. Miranda Ellinwood, spokeswoman for St. Mary’s Hospital, said the hospital already informs rape victims of emergency-contraception drugs at their disposal. However, in an effort to maintain the hospital’s Catholic ethics, which includes not dispensing abortion medications, Ellinwood said victims are referred to doctors outside the hospital who can prescribe the day-after pill or other emergency contraceptives. “It’s just kind of a work-around for us to maintain our Catholic ethics while providing the patient with the care she needs,” Ellinwood said. She said the new law “changes nothing.”

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Amendment sidetracks casino smoking ban
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5423772,00.html
Lawmakers gutted a bill Friday that would have banned smoking in casinos, but sponsors are counting on lady luck to restore it next week. The Senate voted 18-17 to amend the bill to say that if casinos are required to ban smoking then cigar bars and the smoking lounge at Denver International Airport also must ban it. Those three locations are exempt under Colorado's no- smoking law. Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, won his bid to alter the bill, arguing that the statewide smoking ban should extend to every workplace and that lawmakers should not be allowed to carve out "winners or losers." "Perhaps what I've done will provide leverage to move for an across-the-board ban," he said. But the bill's backers vowed to strip the "poison pill" amendment from House Bill 1269.
RELATED: Senate guts smoking bill
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/17/senate-guts-smoking-bill/
RELATED: Casino smoking ban hits an obstacle
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20263&template=article.html

Senate rejects vaccine bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5452472
A Senate panel [Friday] morning rejected a watered-down proposal designed to encourage cervical cancer vaccinations for young girls, refusing to approve a version that would only require doctors to tell parents about the shots. The original bill would have required sixth-grade girls to get the vaccination unless their parents signed a refusal form. The sponsor, Democratic Sen. Suzanne Williams of Aurora, scaled it back Friday hoping to gain more support. But even the weaker version fell short, with the Senate Appropriations Committee deadlocking on a 5-5 vote, meaning the bill does not move on to the full Senate.

Lawmakers say proposed change in auto insurance necessary
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103180136
Lawmakers are considering a change to Colorado's auto insurance system that critics say could cost consumers money but proponents are hailing as necessary aid to medical providers. Senate Bill 193 would require all motorists to have coverage of $25,000 in health benefits and $25,000 in rehabilitation. Proponents say the bill, sponsored by Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, is necessary because trauma and other medical providers are losing money under the state's three-year-old tort insurance system. The state's old personal injury protection insurance covered drivers who were hurt in an accident, regardless of whose fault it was. Each insurance company took care of its own client's costs. But since that coverage became optional in 2003, drivers who don't have it have suffered huge bills. Meanwhile, trauma care providers are eating the costs as they wait for insurers to determine who was at fault, or they wait for payments from uninsured drivers.

Seat-belt law to get 2nd try
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5427777,00.html
Convinced that seat belts save lives, lawmakers will try again this week to pass a bill that would allow police to pull over drivers for not wearing them. Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, said his measure, Senate Bill 181, will save the state money as well as an estimated 30 to 50 lives a year in Colorado. The bill will be heard Tuesday in the House Transportation and Energy Committee. Rice said if the bill passes, the state would be able to spend $14.5 million a year from the federal government on transportation that it now must spend on highway safety projects. Rice said the law also would save the state an estimated $72 million over the next 10 years in medical costs. Police now can ticket motorists and passengers for not wearing seat belts only if they pull them over for another violation.

Nonprofit to help 'safety net' providers computerize records
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/health_care/article/0,2808,DRMN_25396_5427494,00.html
Moving medical information onto computerized systems is expected to dramatically improve health care, from reducing errors to allowing earlier detection of infectious disease outbreaks. The estimated cost of implementing electronic health records systems throughout the U.S. is $50 billion. While hospitals can finance the costs by selling bonds and private practices can take out loans, community health care clinics that serve uninsured patients have fewer resources. That's where the Colorado Health Foundation hopes to make a difference. The nonprofit set aside $2.5 million this year to help improve health information technology at the estimated 300 or more "safety net" providers in the state. An estimated 20 percent of Colorado's 4.7 million resident rely on the safety net for the health care.

Dispute puts surgical patients in bind
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_1.htm
A dispute between a Durango surgical group and an insurance provider for more than 1,000 local residents has left some with an unattractive choice: go to Cortez or Farmington for surgery or pay for procedures out of their own pockets.

Snowmass takes up controversial BYOB
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103190045
The decision to make the town the sole provider of alcohol at the popular Snowmass Free Concert Series has caused a public outcry and a split on Town Council.

On the move with Summit County's Latin ladies
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070318/NEWS/103180081
More people would uphold their New Year's workout resolutions if they were greeted with the same hospitality and friendliness that's found at Latinas en Movimiento (Latinas on the Move). The group, established by the Community Care Clinic and the Summit Prevention Alliance, promotes exercise and good nutrition for the Latina women.

Montrose shelter reduced to backup
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_1b_Women_shelter.html
The way Hilltop Community Resources is using Montrose’s shelter for battered women has upset some advocates of the Montrose safe house. According to Barbara Salogga, Hilltop’s director of marketing and development for Mesa, Montrose, Delta and Ouray counties, the Montrose shelter is not closed. Rather, Hilltop is experimenting with a new approach for delivering its services, shuttling Montrose victims to the Delta shelter.

RTD weighs parents' pleas to ban violent video game ads
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427819,00.html
The Regional Transportation District is considering a request from parents of teens to ban violent video game ads on buses and trains. "Our public-transportation network serves more than half the residents of Colorado and is doing them a disservice with its tacit approval for the dangerous content in the mature-rated video games that are advertised throughout the system," George Robison, chapter director of the Parents Television Council, told board members at their February meeting. The complaints began last fall when RTD vehicles carried ads for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, which glorifies gang life, the murder of police officers and violence against women.

An island of stability: Colorado Haiti Project helps bring haven of hope to poverty-stricken Caribbean nation
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/18/island-stability/
Haiti's problems are complex, tangled in a history of slavery and political instability. The lack of solid government has resulted in near anarchy. So most nonprofits take on one task, such as running a school or offering free medical care. But the Colorado Haiti Project is trying a comprehensive approach for this one village, near Petit Trou de Nippes, 80 miles south of Port-au-Prince, the capital. The Boulder group is the only nonprofit ever to attempt such a vast reincarnation for Haiti, even on a small scale. As they see it, all aspects of what they are working on — education, medicine and spirituality — weave together.

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Crime and Penal Reform

Judge to rule on error that left suspect off death penalty filing
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427814,00.html
An Arapahoe County judge may decide as soon as this week whether a clerical error should prevent prosecutors from seeking death for an inmate accused of killing a witness. Attorneys for Robert Keith Ray argued their case before District Judge Gerald J. Rafferty on Friday, at times criticizing District Attorney Carol Chambers, chief prosecutor for the 18th Judicial District, for naming the wrong man in a notice to seek the death penalty. "I can't believe that Carol Chambers would not put those notices right before her eyes," said Ray's attorney, Hollis Whitson. At issue is whether prosecutors failed to meet their filing deadline because of the error.

Attorney general to support DA’s appeal
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/17/3_17_1A_AG_supports_DA.html
Attorney General John Suthers said his office plans to file a “friend of the court” brief in support of the Mesa County District Attorney’s Office to overturn a recent court ruling that disqualified two local prosecutors from two high-profile, attempted-murder cases.

Social services did not know about troubled mother, teen
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5424530,00.html
Six times in 2006 Lafayette police officers encountered the same troubled family - an alcoholic Linda Damm and her out-of-control daughter, Tess - but apparently never forwarded the case to the county's department of social services. Tess Damm is one of four teenagers who have been implicated in the stabbing death of Linda Damm.
RELATED: Damm's problems not reported
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/18/damms-problems-not-reported/

Judge sides with jail officials in Chaffee County Taser drill
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174197600/19
A judge Wednesday issued a judgment against a Canon City man who alleged Chaffee and Park county officials violated his constitutional rights in a Taser incident while he was an inmate. U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham concluded most of Thomas Montoya's claims are barred by a two-year statute of limitations and he failed to present sufficient evidence to support his remaining claim. Montoya was subjected to a Taser in October 2003 in the Chaffee County jail and filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in December 2005. Chaffee jail authorities acknowledged that jailer Scott Glenn told Montoya to join him in being subjected to a Taser shock as part of a training session for jail staff in which the staff was subjected to a shock. Chaffee authorities said Glenn was suspended for three days without pay as a result of the incident.

Graffiti a growing headache for city
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5424531,00.html
Denver removed more than 3 million square feet of graffiti last year - a record, and a 23 percent increase over 2005. And this week's warm weather has brought a new surge in spray paint vandalism, with police making eight graffiti-related arrests, including a 35-year-old postal worker who begged investigators not to alert his employer. "I said, 'You know what, I'm sure they'd like to know what a fine, upstanding employee you are: 35 years old and you're tagging like a 2-year-old,' " Detective Ray Ruybal said. With Denver's graffiti woes showing no signs of letting up, city officials and other stakeholders are considering government's role in removing graffiti from private property.

Strike zone expanding?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/18/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
On Tuesday, the [Boulder city] council will begin formal considerations of a proposal to make four changes to the existing abatement section of the Boulder Revised Code. One proposal - which would allow certain violations of state law to count as “strikes” that could trigger the abatement process - could also trigger the most debate. Currently, only municipal code violations would trigger the abatement process, but certain drug and alcohol violations, such as Minor in Possession of Alcohol (MIP) or using “date rape” drugs, are generally handled under the state's jurisdiction. The current city proposal would include the MIP/drug violations as a strike, but would not include traffic offenses or cases in which the property resident is the crime victim. Tuesday's agenda packet included a number of citizen comments on abatement proposals that were collected during a series of meetings held in 2006, and many citizens identified as “property managers” opposed expanding the code to include state law violations or opposed all of the changes being proposed at the time.
RELATED: Nuisance law could get stiffer
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/19/nuisance-law-could-get-stiffer/

Crime-plagued tribe looks for creative answer
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5467803
A tribal working group is exploring ways to strengthen law enforcement on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation in an effort to get a grip on the town of Towaoc's crime problem. The group is receiving help from Colorado's U.S. attorney, who's determined to restore strong public safety for the tribe's members. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement in Towaoc faces tough challenges with funding and staff levels, and the reservation - along with that of the Southern Ute Tribe in Ignacio - has a murder rate of 75 per 100,000 people, compared with 3.7 per 100,000 for the rest of Colorado, according to numbers from the U.S. attorney in Denver.

Mental patient held in tax scheme case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427798,00.html
A state mental hospital patient was jailed Saturday on suspicion that he profited from filing phony tax returns. Horacio Caraveo, 35, was one of several people indicted by a Pueblo County grand jury in the alleged scheme, District Attorney Bill Thiebaut told the Pueblo Chieftain. Caraveo and his accomplices were suspected of earning as much as $25,000 a month by filing fake tax returns claiming Earned Income Tax Credits for which they did not qualify, Thiebaut said.

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Economy

State AG throws support behind gas-pricing bill
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/17/local_news/3.txt
A bill driven in part by a Montrose-based lawsuit is necessary in order to reflect the reality of the modern marketplace, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said. Suthers addressed House Bill 1208, a reform of the Unfair Practices Act, prior to speaking to Montrose County Republicans Friday. "I object to any demographic discrimination," Suthers said. "People in Pueblo, people in Broomfield, in Mesa County, in Montrose County, should not be deprived of these benefits of a competitive market."
RELATED: Senator siphons gas law in rural locales
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_3.htm

Musicians pitch in for ranchers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427816,00.html
Tim Erickson lost 10 cattle during the late December blizzard that devastated so many farmers and ranchers in southern Colorado. He considers himself one of the lucky ones. Unlike some of his neighbors, the fourth-generation farmer was able to get to most of his cattle within days of the first storm that hit before Christmas. For those harder hit, country music singer Michael Martin Murphey is determined to get some help. Murphey and several other well-known country music acts gathered for Operation Blizzard Benefit, a concert Sunday night to raise money for Colorado's ranchers and farmers who suffered losses from the storms. By mid-afternoon Sunday, more than $650,000 had been raised from private and corporate donations and dinner and concert ticket sales.
RELATED: Benefit rounds up funds for ranchers
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5467751
RELATED: Blizzard benefit draws crowd
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174314819/1
RELATED: Drought making a tough calving season
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070318/NEWS/103170136/-1/NEWS

City's braggarts not so far off
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5423759,00.html
Growing is painful, but shrinking is worse. Denver expects a 2 percent economic growth rate for 2007. The economy will still be slow here, but we'll experience double the rate of the United States, of places like Kansas City, Omaha, New England and the Midwest.

Verdict hangs on jury picks
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5427487,00.html
Joe Nacchio is used to being the most important guy in a room. But as the former Qwest CEO goes on trial in Denver today, it will be 12 strangers - the yet-to-be-selected jury of Nacchio's peers - who will be the most influential people at the federal courthouse, legal experts say. Just who makes the cut in jury selection could be the major difference between a guilty or not guilty verdict. That's particularly true because Nacchio's case focuses on the somewhat gray area of insider trading - a less cut-and-dried crime than a murder, for example, where prosecutors might have a dead body and a trail of blood leading to their suspect.
RELATED: Nacchio trial begins today
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5470538
RELATED: Joe Sixpack jury may be U.S. goal
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5467280
RELATED: A continental divide on views of ex-CEO
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5467277
RELATED: Stern's approach in front of a jury: "Don't be brilliant. Just be right"
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5457849
RELATED: Nacchio trial: The defense
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5457847
RELATED: Nacchio trial: The prosecution
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5457848
RELATED: In Qwest exec case, secret deals key
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20274&template=article.html

Big-box battle brews in mountain town
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070318/NEWS/103160081
First it was a Target. Now it's a Home Depot. And there are rumblings that could herald a second electoral confrontation to decide whether a "big-box" retail chain store will ever be welcome in Carbondale. Despite a hotly contested 2003 election in which the town's voters decisively rejected a big-box development proposal by Crystal River Market Place property owner Brian Huster of California, many residents continue to feel that a big box is just what the local economy needs to remain vibrant and competitive.

Telluride extends deadline for fund
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5457975
Telluride has a new deadline in the attempt to raise $50 million to pay for the open meadows at the entrance to town. Town officials and those trying to raise private donations decided Friday to try to raise the remaining $6.4 million by March 30. The Valley Floor Preservation Partners had been attempting to raise $24.5 million by March 15 but were able to extend that self-imposed deadline after a judge gave the town until May 21 to pay the $50 million to the owner, the San Miguel Valley Corporation.
RELATED: New deadline for VF money: March 30
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/03/19/news/news01.txt

Ouray water bottler in receivership, for sale
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/19/3_19_3a_Biota_water.html
The Biota water bottling plant in Ouray was put into receivership by a district judge last month, but the city hopes another buyer steps in soon. Biota Brands of America, owned by David and Michael Zutler of Telluride, started bottling water from Weehawken Spring, Ouray’s main water supply, in 2004 after building a 20,000-square-foot bottling plant and a 15,000-square-foot warehouse. The plant is now closed, said Bellann Raile of Cortes & Company of Denver, appointed to oversee receivership of the property last month by Ouray District Court Judge James Schum.
RELATED: Has BIOTA run dry?
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/17/local_news/6.txt

Lottery board member rues problem gamblers
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174197600/15
A Colorado Lottery commissioner is questioning what the state-sponsored operator of Powerball, Lotto and other games of chance is doing to help problem gamblers. Commissioner Jerry McMahan, speaking during a commission meeting Wednesday in Denver, asked about the seeming contradiction of promoting the sale of scratch tickets and other games of chance when some people have severe problems with gambling. “It’s a two-edged sword,” McMahan said. “We are trying to entice people to buy tickets” when the people least able to afford them may be the majority of those purchasing tickets.

Weld ag world depends on Swift
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070318/NEWS/103170140/-1/NEWS
Greeley's Swift & Co. meatpacking plant is such an integral part of the livestock and feed industry in Weld County that few want to even imagine the thought of it shutting down. With a potential sale of the plant looming, some now wonder if their worst fear can come true -- and bring down a multi-million dollar industry in Weld. "The worst thing that could happen is a closure of the Monfort plant," said Stephen Koontz, an associate professor of agriculture economics at Colorado State University.
RELATED: Economic officials: Second shift at Swift would have 'significant' impact on community
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070318/NEWS/103170142/-1/NEWS

Builders: No slump in thefts
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20301&template=article.html
While the market for new homes in the Pikes Peak region has slowed, builders say the criminals who target construction sites aren’t taking a break. “As times get tougher, people get hungrier, and they stoop to things they don’t normally do,” said Peter Searle, a vice president of John Laing Homes of Colorado Springs. Thefts of appliances, computers and other items seem to have picked up in recent months at Laing construction sites around the region, Searle said. Police statistics also show the problem continues.

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Housing and Homelessness

DU to host homeless fair
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468121
Labeled as one of the nation's least-diverse college campuses - and dubbed the worst just two years ago - the University of Denver might shed some of that image when it hosts a day-long fair to connect hundreds of the homeless with needed services. As many as 1,000 homeless are expected to be bused from area shelters or directed to ride public transportation to the DU campus April 20 as part of the fourth annual Project Homeless Connect. The event is intended to create a one-stop location where the homeless can find resources, such as job interviews and housing applications, help in filing out paperwork to get public aid or just a place to get a haircut, toiletries and medical checkup. "This event will provide an opportunity for our students to get involved in creating real solutions to the homeless problem in Denver," provost Gregg Kvistad said.

Help for the homeless
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15254
Ewen told Mauck to kick back and kick off his shoes, but Mauck hesitated. “He was having trouble getting his shoe off, and I was like, ‘What are you not telling me?’” Ewen said. “He took his sock off, and his foot looked like hamburger meat.” Ewen called an ambulance to take Mauck to Longmont United Hospital. When Mauck arrived, nurses had to soak his foot to peel the sock away from his skin, he said. He was in the hospital for 12 days. Mauck says Longmont needs its own homeless shelter — instead of making people rely on the Boulder shelter — even if such a shelter is only temporary and is open only on an emergency basis. “The homeless people in this town need better support,” Mauck said. “We need a shelter, but (city officials) don’t want a homeless shelter here.” Homeless individuals have to follow certain procedures to find shelter during winter months. Those procedures — although necessary — are complicated.
RELATED: Churches and nonprofits begin to fill the gap in shelter services
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15256
RELATED: We, the homeless
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15239

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Media

Retired postmaster wins HGTV Colorado Dream Home
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427399,00.html
A retired postmaster from Johnson City, Tenn., beat 41 million-to-one odds Sunday night to win the 2007 HGTV Dream Home near Winter Park. Bob O’Neill Sr., was speechless when host Joan Steffend walked up to him in a Johnson City restaurant where he was dining with family and friends. As a camera crew taped the event live, Steffend gave him the good news at 7:55 p.m. Colorado time and offered him a giant check for $250,000.

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Education

Ritter signs higher ed bills
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/CSUZONE01/703180332/1002/NEWS17
Graduate students at Colorado State University will be required to buy health insurance under a bill signed last week by Gov. Bill Ritter. The bill was one of three signed by Ritter that have implications for CSU. One allows public higher education institutions to enter into an unlimited number of employment contracts of more than five years, while another lifts a cap on capital bonding limits for research institutions. House Bill 1026, co-sponsored by Rep. John Kefalas and Sen. Bob Bacon, both Fort Collins Democrats, requires graduate students at Colorado State University to purchase health insurance. The intent of the bill is to reduce health insurance premiums at CSU, the sponsors have said.

Lawmakers delay tax plan for schools
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_7.htm
Democrats in the state Legislature have delayed their idea to use more property taxes for schools, even as details of the plan emerged last week. Gov. Bill Ritter wants to raise about $65 million for public schools by freezing school mill levy rates. Doing so would raise taxes for most homeowners in Colorado because the same tax rate would apply when their homes increase in value. Without Ritter's proposed changes, schools would receive roughly the same amount of money from property taxes as last year. County assessors are preparing new figures about property values this year, which will cause mill levies to drop with the state's current tax laws.

Bill may change basis for funding charter schools
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20304&template=article.html
Charter school backers are fighting with legislators again, this time over a proposed change in a funding formula they say would treat charter schools differently from other schools. But Sen. Sue Windels, who wrote the bill, argued the proposal would do the opposite, making the method of funding charter schools fairer. At issue is the way schools receive allocations for at-risk students — poor children who get extra funding from the state.

Charter school chief addresses complaints
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/8
The head of two local charter schools took issue with complaints aired by Pueblo City School Superintendent John Covington about per-pupil funding and Board of Education member Stephanie Garcia’s remarks about state legislators during a grim budget session held by the board this week. Lawrence Hernandez, chief executive officer of the Cesar Chavez School Network, defended legislation that would strengthen his position and pointed out that the district also loses students during the year after getting its state funding for them.

A revolution: Futurist talks about change
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15260
One day in the 2020s, we will look back at 2007 and realize we were in the midst of a revolution, futurist Glen Hiemstra predicted Saturday during Longmont’s education summit.
RELATED: Turnout, energy high at local education summit
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15261

Students' stairway to college
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5427842,00.html
[Arrupe Jesuit High] school is one of only a handful nationwide that has a work-study program that requires students to spend one day a week at a job. Because the students lose out on that day of classroom instruction, the school has a longer day and a year to make up for it. Working with 68 corporate partners in the metro area, the school places students in a variety of career fields ranging from finance, law and medicine. The students usually start their freshman year as clerks and, if they get promoted during the school year, they can stay on the following year. Otherwise, they can try another field.

College push tugs at vocation classes
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468376
In 2003, 37 percent of Colorado high school students were enrolled in at least one technical program, said Dan Lucero, executive director of the Colorado Association for Career and Technical Administrators. Lucero believes this is an increase from the vocational-school era. The students are enrolling in courses for careers in carpentry, Web development, barbering, nail technology, electrician assistance, practical nursing, heating and air conditioning, cabinet-making, animal science and welding. Technical schools - once regarded as a lesser alternative for students ill- equipped for college - are now drawing students who are more deliberate and focused in their career goals, educators say.

UCSU begins setting budget
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/18/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
The CU student union (UCSU) on Thursday approved increasing student fees by $20,000 to fund cost increases at the University Memorial Center. UCSU also voted to decrease Program Council's budget from $157,000 to $132,000 in student fees, in spite of the UCSU Finance Board's recommendation the group receive a $30,000 inflationary increase. After several hours of red-eyed debate that lasted well into the wee hours of Friday morning, UCSU tabled a contentious debate on how much funding to give Wardenburg Health Center. All possible scenarios the group looked at involved cuts to Wardenburg's budget. The only question was: how much of a cut? Scenarios ranged from giving the clinic $3.65 million to $3.8 million.
RELATED: Center spared deep cuts
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/17/center-spared-deep-cuts/

Panelists rate superintendent finalists
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/19/panelists-rate-superintendent-finalists/
Parents, community members and educators who interviewed the three Boulder Valley superintendent finalists generally agree that the school board picked a solid group of candidates. But their favorites are as varied as the participants.

Grandview Elementary seeks approval for full-time kindergarten program
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103180129/-1/NEWS
Grandview Elementary School Principal David Grubbs said a full-time kindergarten program would bring exposure and consistency to students who are just beginning their educational journey. Grubbs is seeking approval from the Windsor Re-4 School Board tonight to begin a tuition-based full day Kindergarten pilot program this fall at Grandview.

Math class to help students graduate
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15258
The class of 2009 will need three years of math, up from the current two-year requirement, to graduate from a high school in the St. Vrain Valley School District. But district officials don’t want that third year of high school math — algebra, geometry or higher, not consumer or business math or accounting — to be the breaking point that prompts some students to drop out of school altogether. So they re-created the Math Connections class, changed the standards and renamed the class intermediate algebra.

College awarded for leadership
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174197600/9
Coping with the loss of a family member is never easy. When that family is Pueblo Community College, however, and the family member lost was its patriarch, the tough gets tougher on several levels. The untimely death of President Mike Davis, killed in a plane crash near Mosca in August, shocked PCC, the community and the Colorado Community College System. In the wake of that, faculty and administrators came together in difficult, emotional times to lead the school. It is for that leadership that Interim President/Vice President Marjorie Villani and the Crisis Management Team, composed of school cabinet members, were honored on the international level.
RELATED: PCC reports enrollment up after fall dip
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174197600/10

Students speak out at Colorado forensics competition
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/NEWS01/703180331/1002/NEWS17
Fort Collins high schools got to show off their debating and speaking smarts at the state forensics tournament Saturday at Rocky Mountain High School. The tournament, in Fort Collins for the first time in 10 years, gave students a chance to compete against and mingle with other forensics students from 76 high schools across the state.

Only way to spell it is c-h-a-m-p-i-o-n
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427839,00.html
The sigh was a year in the making. When 12-year-old Jake Smith heard the last word he'd have to spell Saturday to become 2007 Colorado State Spelling Bee champion, he exhaled a breath that was audible throughout the auditorium. Then he grabbed the microphone. He knew this word and he was eager to let everyone know that a year of studying had paid off. "U-l-t-i-m-o-g-e-n-i-t-u-r-e," said Smith, with an exterior composure that belied the excitement within.

Teacher to climb into kids' lives
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5424140,00.html
When you're heading waaaaay out into nature, the question on a lot of people's minds is apparently what you will do about heeding the call of nature. The question has cropped up a lot at Kepner Middle School in Denver, where Mike Haugen's pupils have been asking about it as their science teacher takes off to climb Mount Everest.

District moves forward with fingerprint policy
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103190050
Regular volunteers in the Roaring Fork School District Re-1 likely will have to undergo fingerprinting for background checks in the future. The RFSD Board of Education approved the first reading of a new volunteer policy Wednesday despite some concerns about how effective it would be at increasing safety. There are three readings for each policy, so it has not yet been finalized. "I do not believe fingerprinting will increase the safety of our kids at all - only the appearance of safety," board member Bruce Wampler said.

School drug policies differ
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/18/under_influence/?local_news
Czar’s bark commands attention. His keen sense of smell has failed him only once as a state-certified, drug-sniffing dog, and it has secured him a job uncovering narcotics for the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office.

Teens, booze, "problem"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462754
Underage drinking is "prevalent" among students of Lakewood's Green Mountain High School, the school's principal says in the wake of Tuesday's fatal crash involving a Green Mountain student suspected of driving drunk.

Bear Creek High School shut for cleanup after fire
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468130
Bear Creek High School will be closed to staff and students today while crews clean up classrooms that were damaged by a fire Saturday night. A fire alarm alerted authorities to the blaze shortly after 11 p.m. When firefighters arrived, they found a hallway filling with smoke and they called for more crews when the smoke became thicker and heavier, said Cindy Matthews, spokeswoman for West Metro Fire. About 45 minutes into the blaze, firefighters were able to put it out. The arts and ceramics room and a kiln burned, along with an adjoining classroom, Matthews said.

Top

Military

Colorado's gateway to war
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5424161,00.html
In Colorado Springs, the metro area of 550,000 holds its breath each time a Fort Carson unit is sent to Iraq. Since fighting began, 190 Fort Carson GIs have been killed. It's a city that embraces soldiers with respect - and prays they come home safe.
RELATED: Emissary of grief
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468375

Soldier, 32, who had lived in Boulder killed in Iraq
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427875,00.html
When Gerry Kowalczyk awoke in her Boulder home early Thursday to two military officials knocking at her door, she knew immediately that something had happened to her youngest son. "I asked them to come in," the 75-year-old woman said Saturday from her home in Gunbarrel. "I knew they had a message for me." Her son, Army Spc. Stephen M. Kowalczyk, 32, was killed Wednesday in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, by small-arms fire. The U.S. Department of Defense said he died after his unit came into contact with enemy forces. Kowalczyk moved to Boulder and worked for a construction company after graduating from high school in Albuquerque, his mother said.

Pueblo soldier, 22, saluted one last time by his father
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5424162,00.html
John Harris tried to talk his only child out of following his path into the Army. But from the time Blake Harris was 7 years old, he wanted to hear about his dad's time in the military. By age 16, Blake had made up his mind.
RELATED: Hundreds turn out for Harris funeral
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/1
RELATED: 'Grateful nation' says goodbye'
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/4
RELATED: Patriot Guard Riders form avenue of flags to honor soldier
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/5
RELATED: Army delivers Harris' medals in quiet ceremony
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/6

Fort Carson-based soldier killed in Baghdad explosion
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5424821,00.html
Chris Wortman wears a silver dog tag that holds a picture of her two sons. "I have a dog tag by my heart," Wortman said. "Now I have another inside my heart." Her son, Army Sgt. Robert M. Carr, 22, died Tuesday when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq, the military announced Friday. Carr, of Warren, Ohio, was stationed at Fort Carson. "He was so full of life," Wortman said. "He was probably one of the proudest persons to put on the uniform."
RELATED: Post soldier killed before his wedding anniversary
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20261&template=article.html

GI didn't ask for 'all this,' but it made him speak up
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5424191,00.html
Spc. Jeremy Duncan still jokes around like he always has - only now, one of his replacement teeth sometimes pops out of place when he smiles. His left ear is missing and the prosthetic is in the shop. Part of his jaw is made out of titanium. And the good-luck dragon tattooed on his left bicep was nearly wiped away by shrapnel and surgeries. That hasn't stopped him from staying in the military, and these days he still acts like the same West Virginia smart aleck who kept his battle buddies in stitches before "all this." To Duncan, "all this" means the war in Iraq, where he survived his first roadside bomb attack in October 2003 and barely survived the next one in February 2006. "All this" means his torturous recovery from a broken neck, shattered jaw, arm surgeries, leg injuries, vertigo and a host of other problems. And lately, "all this" means suddenly becoming one of the most famous wounded warriors in the country after he helped sound an alarm about shoddy living conditions at transitional housing units at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

3rd HBCT, headed back to war, gets new leaders
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20325&template=article.html
Fort Carson’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team got new leaders last week who will take its 3,600 soldiers to war in Iraq next September. Col. Brian Jones, who led the brigade during its last yearlong deployment to Iraq, stepped down Thursday and was replaced by Col. John Hort, who most recently led a team of advisers helping build the new Iraqi army. The brigade is training for its third tour in Iraq and is scheduled to return to war 10 months after it came home.

Boulder man apologizes for role in goose chase
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070317/NEWS/103170084
A Boulder man has apologized for sending hundreds of volunteers on an expensive and dangerous search in Eldorado Canyon State park for a friend who had run away to avoid returning to his Marine unit. The search last August and September for Lance Hering, 21, took five days and cost $33,000. Steve Powers, 21, his friend, was convicted of misdemeanor false reporting and ordered to write an apology. A deferred sentence for a prior felony attempted-burglary charge was revoked because of the new violation, meaning he will be a convicted felon for life. He was also ordered to serve 200 hours of community service and pay the entire restitution bill to the Sheriff's Office. "At the time, my No. 1 goal was that Lance not get killed, and from there I really don't know what to say," he said.

Soldier to enjoy first vacation with family
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20070318/VALLEYNEWS/103180046
Operation Vacation is a program that brings to the Roaring Fork Valley military personnel who have fought overseas. Bob Johnson, a Realtor for Vicki Lee Green Realtors, in Glenwood Springs, coordinated with the Army to create the program that hosts soldiers in Glenwood every month. Local businesses have donated dinners, entertainment, outdoor activities, lodging and transportation for Operation Vacation participants. For more information about the program, visit www.operationvacation.org.

Top

Religion

Battle with church not likely this year
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462777
Lawmakers have introduced several bills this year to crack down on sexual predators. Missing, however, are the controversial proposals that sparked last year's ugly showdown with the Catholic Church. "It's pretty sad that we want to toughen up the laws on chaining up big trucks but we don't want to toughen the laws on child abuse," said Matt Cortez, a 46-year-old Denver man who says he was abused by a Pueblo priest when he was a boy. Cortez is among the victims who last year publicly backed bills by Rep. Gwyn Green and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald that would have made it easier for adults who were molested as children to sue the institutions that harbored their abusers. The Catholic church responded with an intense, expensive and successful lobbying campaign.

3 faiths come to table for panel discussion
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20278&template=article.html
Want some honest answers to your questions about Islam, Christianity and Judaism? Local leaders from the three major monotheistic religions will talk about faith and theology at two events this month. Jewish-Christian dialogues have been a fixture in Colorado Springs for more than a decade, and two of the panelists — Bishop Richard Hanifen and Rabbi Howard Hirsch — have spoken together so much that they’re the town’s religious version of Penn and Teller. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, many faith communities have shown new interest in the world’s youngest major faith, Islam. Some churches now teach courses on Islam — though local Muslims say the courses are more geared toward evangelism than learning.

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Energy Policy

NREL gets big bump in funding
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5453542
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden will receive another $99 million in funding this year, a 47 percent bump, the Energy Department announced Friday. The NREL money is part of a new operating plan the Department of Energy gave Congress, detailing how it will spend the additional money.

Power bill undergoes work
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174314819/6
Two regional lawmakers are very close to reaching a compromise with a Denver lawmaker over their measure to help rural Colorado build new power lines. Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, and Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said they have been in negotiations with Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, over their bill to create a renewable energy authority that would help small companies get financing to build high-voltage transmission lines. Those lines are needed to help remote counties, such as Baca, attract renewable energy development.

Power player
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25781
When Marianna Raftopoulos looks toward Moffat County's future, the former Moffat County commissioner cites several goals. She wants to see the oil and gas industry to provide energy to America, from heating homes to providing national security by having the resource provided here. She wants oil and gas to be able to develop. She wants to keep multiple uses for public land. She wants people to work together to protect the environment. And personally important, Raftopoulos wants to make sure the land stays open so her sons can keep the family ranch going into the future. For Raftopoulos, it's a balance of the social-economic advantages that oil and gas industry companies can bring to a community, and the land used today and the status of land in the future. Those visions are reasons why one week after her two terms as commissioner ended in January 2005 she began working as a consultant for Denver-based Northwest Colorado Oil and Gas Association.

Preparing a plan
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25782
Input from the public was exactly what the bureau was looking for on the recently completed draft of the RMP that will guide the use of 1.3 million acres administered by the Craig office. A Wednesday meeting in Steamboat Springs drew about 50 people, and a handful of Maybell residents attended the first meeting Tuesday, expressing opinions on everything from Off-Highway Vehicles to oil and gas development.
RELATED: BLM land on the line
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/18/land_line/?local_news

Garfield County remains hot spot for drilling activity
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20070317/VALLEYNEWS/103170055
Garfield County continues to grow as one of the prime hot spots for natural gas development in the state. Currently, the county has about a a third of all new drilling permits issued in the state, said Brian Macke, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Macke presented an update on natural gas drilling and production to the quarterly meeting of the Northwest Oil and Gas Forum in DeBeque Thursday. While Weld County has most of the active wells, Garfield is seeing the most development. There are 3,600 active wells in Garfield County and almost 12,000 in Weld. However, activity in 2007 is expected to be about the same as last year because of soft gas prices, Macke said.

Conserve energy at home first, local solar-power expert says
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_4.htm
Solar panels on the roof might be an outside sign of environmental consciousness, but most people can do a lot more good in humble ways, a solar-power expert says. "Where homeowners will do the most good is in investing in energy efficiency," said Diane Mee of Hesperus, who helps her husband, Art Evans, run Sunland Renewable Energy Systems.

Springs energy bills 4th-lowest in nation
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20265&template=article.html
Colorado Springs Utilities came out looking good on two recent surveys involving bills and rates. The Council for Community and Economic Research, formerly known as ACCRA, issued a report that showed Colorado Springs residential customers paid the fourth-lowest energy bills in the nation in the last quarter of 2006. Cities with lower bills were Dothan and Huntsville, Ala., and Plattsburgh, N.Y. A typical residential customer in Colorado Springs paid $112 a month in 2006’s last quarter for electricity and natural gas/fuel oils. The national average was $159. Springs bills were lower than the other seven Colorado cities included in the 250-city report. Utilities spokesman Dave Grossman said customers can thank Mother Nature for their low bills.

Xcel seeks decrease in electricity, gas rates
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5424061,00.html
Xcel Energy on Friday filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for an electricity rate decrease of $13.6 million in view of lower costs of generation fuel, such as natural gas, and purchased electricity during the second quarter of 2007. Typical residential electricity bills would decrease by $1.41 a month, to $56.62, while the bills for typical small businesses would decrease by $2.31 a month, to $90.45. If approved by the PUC, the new rates would take effect April 1 and continue through June 30. The filing, called an Electric Commodity Adjustment, will be updated each quarter instead of once a year.
RELATED: Briefs: Cheaper fuel means lower Xcel payments
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5458087
RELATED: Xcel drops its rates on natural gas bills
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/17/3_17_1A_Gas_Rates.html

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

5 questions for Russ George
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5427775,00.html
Russ George has a unique perspective on state government. The 60-year-old Rifle Republican served in the House for eight years, including the last two as the powerful speaker. Former Republican Gov. Bill Owens tapped George to run the Division of Wildlife, then the Department of Natural Resources. Owens' successor, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, appointed George in January to oversee the Colorado Department of Transportation. Ritter also appointed a blue-ribbon panel to look for new ways to fund roads. One of the biggest battles under way at the legislature is how to pay for roads.

RTD park-n-Ride fee for some gets initial Senate OK
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5423773,00.html
A measure that would let RTD charge a parking fee to drivers who live outside the transit district sent sparks flying in the Senate on Friday. Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, railed against the bill. He argued that it paves the way for the Regional Transportation District eventually to seek similar legislation to charge drivers who live in the district to park at park-n-Ride lots that taxpayers already have spent millions to build. The Senate, on a voice vote, gave Senate Bill 88 initial approval.

Inside the Eisenhower Tunnel
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070318/NEWS/70317003
The Eisenhower Tunnel is a landmark for many people in Colorado and this month it turns 34 years old. We talked with the tunnel supervisor, John Wilosn, and got some of the history as well as a tour of the control room.

County road budget getting rocky
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/19/3_19_3a_Gravel_roads.html
A tight budget is forcing Montrose County to turn some paved roads back to gravel, but complaints by residents along 5400 Road in the Pea Green area led to a meeting with county leaders that may be part of a solution.

‘Discovering the bus'
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25774
Steamboat Springs Transit officials said the city's offering of a low-cost regional bus service has three purposes -- lowering traffic volumes, lessening pollution and bringing in out-of-town workers. Transit passengers said their reasons for taking the bus to and from work in Steamboat are more basic -- the service is cheap and the ride convenient.

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Environment and Conservation

State legislators are thinking green
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070318/NEWS/103170137/-1/NEWS
Lawmakers have tackled a host of environmental issues this session, from renewable energy to water to bark beetles. On Friday, lawmakers passed House Bill 1281, a point of pride for Gov. Bill Ritter, who made renewable energy one of his top priorities. The measure piggybacks on Amendment 37, a voter initiative from 2004 that required large utilities to get 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources. Ritter's bill requires them to double that by 2020. Ritter said the bill will stimulate rural economies in the San Luis Valley and the eastern plains, including Weld County, where wind, sun and agricultural resources are abundant. "By expanding our renewable energy production and consumption, we'll reduce our reliance on foreign oil, which is good for our environment and our national security," he said in a press release. Ritter hopes to make Colorado a leader in the field. He even challenged the governor of Massachusetts to an arm-wrestling match over jobs in the industry. Renewable energy isn't the only Earth-friendly topic on the minds of state lawmakers.

Residents hunt for elk herd solution
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15262
Everybody cared about the elk, and everybody cared about the park. But, beyond that, there was little everybody could agree on. U.S. Rep. Mark Udall held an open forum Saturday at the Estes Park Town Hall to gather feedback on his proposal to allow hunters to help curb the elk population in Rocky Mountain National Park. For more than an hour, local residents, wildlife officials and Udall discussed the proposal. The bill does not open up the park to general hunting, and hunting could only be used by the park to help manage the size of the elk herd. About 250 to 300 local residents packed the room, filled every seat and lined up against the walls, all armed with their opinions. The politician at the front spoke infrequently, directing the microphone around, asking for clarification or directing questions to park and wildlife officials. How will you manage a hunt? Will visitors see hunters making the kill?

Feds seek public’s vision for national parks
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_7B_National_Park_meetings.html
What do you want Colorado’s national parks to look like in a decade? The National Park Service wants to know as it kicks off its $3 billion Centennial Challenge initiative. U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced the Centennial Challenge last year as a way to revitalize national parks by the agency’s 2016 centennial. The Park Service will hold more than 19 “listening sessions” nationwide to hear what the public has to say about the future of the parks. The closest of those sessions will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Double Tree Hotel in Grand Junction. Others will take place in Denver and Durango at the same time.
RELATED: Parks put Bush plan to public
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_7.htm

Opponents of Red Lady molybdenum mine at Crested Butte to appeal to U.S. high court
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427817,00.html
Environmentalists are making a last- ditch effort to stop a giant mining company from taking the Red Lady to the dance. At issue are plans by Phelps Dodge Corp., a company with annual revenues of $11.9 billion, to begin mining molybdenum on 12,392-foot Mount Emmons, which is adjacent to a ski area known for the strong environmental views of its residents. For years the city of Crested Butte, Gunnison County and the nonprofit High Country Citizens Alliance have tried to stop mining companies from developing the area. Now, opponents of the potential mine - known as the Red Lady because of the color of the soil - are taking their case to the United States Supreme Court. A spokesman for Phelps Dodge did not return a call asking for comment.
RELATED: ‘Red Lady’ fight taken to Supreme Court
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_Red_Lady_lawsuit.html

5 quetions for Tony Jensen, Royal Gold CEO
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5424058,00.html
Jensen says the company's cash flow benefits from a low-cost structure. The firm, with more than $700 million in stock value, employs only 14 people, and the CEO, CFO and treasurer share a secretary. Its simple business style - collecting royalties from gold-producing companies without having to deal with actual mining and production issues - makes it an ideal company to manage, Jensen says.

Merger rumor lifts Newmont shares
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5424313,00.html
Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara said the company's "policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation about what other companies may or may not do." Barrick was more clear on the story. "That story is totally unsubstantiated," Barrick spokesman Vincent Borg said. Some Wall Street analysts welcomed the possibility of a merger between the world's two biggest gold miners because Newmont's rising costs and declining production are poking holes in its profit despite skyrocketing gold price.
RELATED: Takeover "speculation" lifts Newmont shares
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5458084

Roundtable strives to define role for state
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174314819/2
The Arkansas Basin Roundtable approved three more applications for state funding from mineral severance taxes last week, but like each of the other eight roundtables in the state, it is still learning what the state expects in the process. The roundtable’s first three applications, totalling $320,000 and sent to the state in January, were approved last Tuesday by the Colorado Water Conservation Board at its meeting in Canon City. There were, however, some holes in all the applications as CWCB staffer Rick Brown said none of the applications received during the first round of funding clearly met all criteria. Alan Hamel, chairman of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable, said roundtable members chewed over the suggestion, but still need more guidance from the state.

River basin roundtables are making progress
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_7B_water_needs.html
River basin roundtables statewide will soon begin studying what their water needs are, and some on the Western Slope are trying to figure out what new water storage projects may be needed to meet water demands. Colorado Interbasin Compact Negotiations Office Manager Eric Hecox issued an update Friday on how each river basin roundtable in Colorado is studying its water needs and availability. The Colorado River Basin Roundtable is expected to develop a work plan that will address the basin’s nonconsumptive water needs, possible future water storage projects, and the water needs of the energy industry in northwest Colorado. A draft plan for the basin’s nonconsumptive needs should be ready by April 30, according to Hecox’s report. A plan that will address the basin’s consumptive water needs will be developed after June 30.

‘Super Ditch’ gives control to farmers
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/11
A plan to create a “Super Ditch” that would lease agricultural Arkansas Valley water to cities while leaving the water rights in the hands of farmers could provide an attractive alternative to municipal lease-back programs in the South Platte basin. Peter Nichols, water attorney for the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, earlier this week told the Colorado Water Conservation Board a water management corporation managed by valley ditch companies could begin operating on a small scale by 2008, with some small transfers, and reach its full potential as soon as 2009.

Ag water storage creates dip in return flows
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174197600/12
A decision to hold back some irrigation water in the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project last year resulted in a shortfall of return flows contracted to augment wells. Colorado’s obligation to deliver water to Kansas under the Arkansas Compact was met in other ways, but the action by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District forced well-user associations to use more expensive assets, said Water Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte. “I think some restitution needs to be made back to the associations,” Witte said.
RELATED: SE district close to unraveling new plan
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174197600/13

Anti-tamarisk effort calls for $7 million
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174197600/6
The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District is applying for a $7 million federal grant to help battle invasive species like salt cedar in the Arkansas Valley. This week, the district applied for the grant though the Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Demonstration Act, which Congress passed last year, through Sen. Wayne Allard’s office. The district received the Colorado Water Conservation Board's approval earlier in the week for $50,000 toward a project to finish mapping infestations of tamarisk, also called salt cedar, in the Arkansas Valley. The project also will improve communications through the Internet and develop a management plan for tamarisk, Russian olives and Chinese elms.

Vail Pass creek cleanup plans taking shape
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070317/NEWS/70317001
A rigorous plan is being developed to clean up Black Gore Creek, which has been filling with harmful traction sand ever since I-70 was built in the 1960s. The sand keeps icy and snow-packed roads safe, but when gravity eventually pulls it down to the water, it smothers the river bed and disrupts the entire ecosystem. Fish and insects are struggling to survive, and many stretches of Black Gore Creek just can’t handle any more pollution, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Cleanup clears way for spring water flow
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462770
Josh Boudar, 13, listened to his PlayStation Portable as he scooped up trash from the High Line Canal. Techno music from his earphones provided the soundtrack to Boudar's last three hours of community service to qualify for his Life Badge for Boy Scout Troop 3. Josh earned his hours with about 450 other volunteers Saturday picking up debris along the High Line Canal as part of the Great High Line Canal Clean Up. "We found a dead coyote," Josh said. "That was weird." The Aurora Water Department sponsors the event every March to clean the area before April water releases from Denver raise canal water levels and drag litter through the area, said Rory Franklin, Aurora Water spokeswoman.

Lottery restricts entry into Red Rock Canyon
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_1B_Red_Rock_quota.html
If you don’t have a permit already, you’ll have to wait until 2008 to hike into Red Rock Canyon in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Wilderness Area. The National Park Service this month issued only 33 permits for Red Rock Canyon for the entire year after receiving 118 permit requests as part of the park’s new lottery system, according to the Black Canyon Web site. The park asked for permit applications between Jan. 2 and March 7.

Area controlled burns proving problematic
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070319_5.htm
The Durango Fire & Rescue Authority asks La Plata County residents who are burning fields and slash this spring to call fire officials before setting fires. Area fire departments already have been sent to controlled burns that have not been called in to dispatch, or have gotten out of hand. Fuels are reportedly extremely dry, and a controlled burn can easily get out of control. In fact, control was lost on at least three burns Sunday afternoon alone, as the dry conditions were met by breezy weather.

"Bullets to bison" at wildlife refuge
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462493
The truck trailer doors opened, as a crowd of about 100 waited, crouched behind a fence, but the 16 bison hauled from Montana failed to emerge Saturday. Veterinarian Thomas Roffe tapped the trailer's side, stirring the sound of scuffling hooves and forcing a female bison to saunter from the trailer to gasps and claps from the onlookers. "It's a homecoming," said Matt Kales of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wild bison have not roamed Colorado's prairie for more than a century. Their release Saturday at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge marked both a beginning and an end.

7 emaciated horses seized from facility
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5424603,00.html
Seven emaciated Arabian mares at a horse boarding facility were impounded this week by the Boulder County Sheriff's Office. "They're in pretty bad shape," said Rachel Tanguy, executive director of Colorado Horse Rescue, which is caring for the undernourished horses. "You can see all of their ribs, their hip bones and their backbones very clearly on all of them." Marcy Trescott Helmick, 57, of Niwot and the owner of Dry Creek Arabians, is facing charges of animal cruelty. She commented briefly when contacted Friday about the seized horses but did not return later calls.

Police kill baby bison in Lakewood
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5425333,00.html
Lakewood police shot and killed a baby bison Saturday afternoon that somehow got loose and eluded officers for several hours.
RELATED: Bison escapee shot, killed
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462774

Top

Opinion

Qwest ex-CEO's trial means a lot to many
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5467274
It is a poignant point in the arc of Nacchio's career. He arrived in Denver a decade ago, fresh from his post as the No. 3 executive at communications giant AT&T. Phil Anschutz, a Denver railroad and real estate magnate, had hired him to head tiny Qwest Communications, a private startup. Nacchio presided over a $297 million initial public offering that was to help finance a $1.4 billion, coast-to-coast fiber-optic network. In 2000, Nacchio engineered Qwest's $48 billion merger with phone company U S West, a move that ultimately angered many of U S West's retirees who suffered financial losses. He had big ambitions, telling The Post that Qwest would become global in scale. And he managed to propel Qwest into a major player before the company suffered huge financial losses, its stock value plunged and he was pushed out in 2002. The federal trial may not assuage the ill feelings left behind by Nacchio, but fairly conducted proceedings are an opportunity for some measure of closure for those who believe they suffered financially at his hands.

Key issues left for legislature
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5467273
With just over 50 days remaining in the legislative session, several high-profile items remain to be settled. Lawmakers need to work together to tackle the issues critical to Colorado.

Ewegen: Alternate proposal for Piñon Canyon
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5454848
Last week, Salazar further changed the terms of this debate by unveiling his own vision of a "win- win" solution that would "protect the agricultural, natural, cultural and environmental heritage of the region." Salazar's proposal includes these points: Allowing grazing to continue in the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. Leasing land from private landowners so ranchers can continue to own and graze their lands. Allowing public access to cultural and historic sites in the area. Using goods and services from southeastern Colorado communities. If these objectives really could be met, most ranchers and environmentalists would drop their opposition to the expansion plan. But can grazing cattle and throngs of tourists eager to view dinosaur tracks really coexist with speeding armored vehicles - not to mention live artillery fire - in the same general landscape, even one encompassing 1,000 square miles? That's a tall order. But if the Army can't meet it, it should weigh Salazar's final point: Consider alternate acquisition sites and smaller acreage levels for expansion.

Gagner: Protect outdoor economy
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5447367
To call Colorado a haven for outdoor recreation is an understatement. That's why it's not an overstatement to say that Gov. Bill Ritter weakening protection for some of our best outdoor places would be a big mistake.

A new kind of forest plan
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/03/18/3_18_GMUG_edit.html
After years of effort, and months of bureaucratic delay, the draft of a new management plan for the 3 million acres of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests was finally released last week. It updates the forests’ 1983 management plan. But it is far different than previous forest plans. For instance, the draft plan for the three forests comes in at just under 1 inch thick. Compared to the 8 inches of plan and associated documents that constituted the White River National Forest’s draft management plan in 1999, the GMUG plan is considerably more tree-friendly. But critics say that, under new rules from the Bush administration, the plan is too vague, setting general guidelines but few specific management prescriptions.

Johnson: Bashing education a blood sport
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5447339
Since the 1980s, assaulting public education has been a blood sport of politicians and journalists, fueled by disinformation and political ideology. The 1983 publication of "A Nation at Risk," which tried to tie trends in college aptitude tests to declining U.S. international economic competitiveness, incited the assault on the nation's schools. Villification of public education by politicians and the press accelerated in the 1990s, even though the nation's economy blossomed. If teachers were the reason for economic problems in 1980s, they should have received some credit for the nation's economic recovery in the 1990s. Actually, criticism of public education is an effort by some to erode the public's trust in its teachers in order to leverage education privatization by charter schools, for-profit businesses and vouchers. Clearly, our public education system is only broken in the eyes of thinkers who do not understand the complexities of trying to educate an extreme culturally and racially diverse population.

Give them two parents: Unmarried adoption really is about the children
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/18/give-them-two-parents/
Advocates of a wide variety of social and political issues rarely pass up a chance to play the "do it for the children" card, no matter how remote the connection to their particular issue may be. And the expression, "the children are our future" wore out its welcome long ago. But occasionally, an issue comes along that really is about children — and their future. Despite opponents' efforts to turn it into an issue about voter intent, feed off latent public biases against gay and lesbian citizens of Colorado or use it as a bludgeon for the 2008 elections, state House Bill 1330 is really about kids' welfare.

Kemmis, Brown: West can have influence
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5461336
After months of quiet, there's been a burst of activity around the idea of a coordinated Western presidential primary. Just in the last few weeks, one of the season's first presidential candidate debates was held in Carson City, Nev., a prelude to that state's Jan. 19, 2008, Democratic caucus; Nevada Democrats dropped plans for a presidential debate on Fox News but may sponsor a candidate forum; Idaho Democrats moved their caucus to Feb. 5 to align with primaries in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah; Nevada Republicans moved their caucus to Feb. 7; Utah's legislature appropriated an additional $2.5 million to keep their primary on Feb. 5; California will have its primary on that day, and both the Colorado and Montana legislatures are considering moving their delegate selection to Feb. 5. Let's start with the two states where decisions are still to be made. Should Montana and Colorado move their primaries or caucuses?

Salzman: Coverage of Boulder woes is often condescending
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5423704,00.html
The news media should stop picking on Boulder. When something happens in Boulder that doesn't square with the city's peace-and-love stereotype, bingo, it's big news in Denver - while comparable news is ignored or downplayed elsewhere. The latest example is Tuesday's front-page article in the Rocky Mountain News about three hate crimes in Boulder, described as an "outbreak of violence bruising this town's tolerant image." The major headline, "Black eye for Boulder," made me think the Rocky considered the beatings newsworthy not because gay people were attacked but because it happened in Boulder. (The Denver Post placed this story on Page 4B.) Reporters should cover hate crimes, even minor ones, but you can bet the Boulder attacks wouldn't have been considered very newsworthy if they occurred in Denver.

Martinez: Don't call on Carroll - she'll call you
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5467272
The new little basket on Rep. Morgan Carroll's desk is rubbing lobbyists the wrong way. It's where their business cards await her attention. Carroll, a Democrat and lawyer from Arapahoe County, angered lobbyists soon after arriving at the Capitol in 2005 because she refused to leave the House during floor debate to chat with them. That was a break with legislative tradition that put some noses out of joint.

Fixing the vote: Putting problem counties on short leash sensible
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/19/fixing-the-vote/
Following election balloting horrors last November in four Colorado counties, it makes perfect sense that Secretary of State Mike Coffman has created an Election Watch List to single out "significant problems" with voting. At this point only those four are on the list — Montrose, Pueblo and Douglas counties, and the City and County of Denver. The point is not to create a hall of shame, but to put in place a process so the Secretary of State can work with those counties to make sure they correct problems.

Carman: Damm case fits pattern
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462496
"These cases are very easy to prosecute," said the Portland, Ore., attorney who specializes in defending children charged with parricide (killing a parent). Children are not sophisticated about hiding evidence. They talk about what they did. They usually act out after the crime and they rarely request a lawyer before they spill their guts to the cops. Prosecutors can send the kids away for life without even breaking a sweat. While Mones is unfamiliar with the Damm case, he described common patterns in parricide that offer a glimpse into the world of severely dysfunctional families, troubled children and woefully incompetent child-protection agencies. Neighbors, relatives and communities usually are shocked by children who murder their parents. Not Mones.

Immigration reform is getting a fresh look
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20269&template=article.html
President Bush hasn’t done or said much we agree with lately. However, when he said during a press conference in Mexico City on Wednesday that U.S. immigration policies need to be changed, and that doing so would be in the best interests of both Mexico and the United States, he has us nodding in agreement. This is one issue on which we think the president has been on the right track for some time. Unfortunately, he has periodically been derailed or co-opted by border security hardliners in his own party, while it was still in control of Congress. Now, with the Democrats — who have tended to favor more holistic solutions that would make it easier for people to come to this country legally and become citizens — there is a chance something positive will happen.

U.S. House stands up for open records
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5454849
The U.S. House took a welcome stand for open government this week, passing four bills designed to lower barriers between citizens and government information. We urge the Senate to follow the House's example - and President Bush to back down from veto threats.
RELATED: Our View: Let the sun shine in
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/18/our_view_let_sun_shine/?our_view

Partisanship at Justice
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5423705,00.html
Let us stipulate that U.S. attorneys are political appointees. They are expected to implement the policy objectives of their ultimate boss, the president. And while most attorneys expect to serve for no more than four years, they can also be replaced any time at the president's choosing - for any reason or none at all. That said, fairness in law enforcement is jeopardized if Justice Department decisions are made for crassly partisan motives. And the way Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the White House handled the firing of eight U.S. attorneys in December sure smells like a partisan job in which the true agenda had little to do with "underperforming" officials.

Littwin: Obama seems 'warm' to snowy N.H.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5424820,00.html
We're waiting for Barack Obama to show up. It's starting to snow outside, and it's going to get worse. It's bad enough that Obama's campaign has had to cancel the night event, which would have drawn several thousand to a high school gym in Keene. I drove the roads that night. Let's just say the weatherpeople here know what they're talking about.

Johnson: Mistakes of 2003 still haunting Iraq today
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5423911,00.html
Has it really been only four years? Maybe it just seems longer. I still see the faces of the soldiers I met in my two trips to the war, some who died, some who were horribly disfigured. I still feel the ever-present sorrow of their mothers, wives and siblings who sometimes write, even now. Almost four years later, I remember the tent from our first trip to Iraq in 2003. Mostly I do because the other day I pulled my notebooks from that time from a cabinet in the garage. Looking back, what happened there in the desert seems a sure-fire, canary-in-the- coal-mine predictor of how things would play out to this day.
RELATED: Woodliff-Stanley: Summit County's cost of the war? Millions ...
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070318/COLUMNS/103170071
RELATED: Mayfield: Four years later, the war goes on ...
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070316/COLUMNS/103160085
RELATED: Zalaznick: What American means
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070318/EDITS/70316029

Sacrifice needed on warming
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5454850
European leaders made a big commitment to fighting climate change last week by agreeing to renewable-energy mandates and goals for cutting carbon emissions. The goals will require citizen sacrifice and political finesse. It's time for the United States to play follow the leader. The action by the European Union stands in sharp contrast to the anything-goes-approach from the Bush administration.

Roberts: Sending the wrong messages
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5447340
In study after study, we found ample evidence for a widespread cultural contribution, through media and merchandizing, to the sexual portrayal and treatment of girls. In some cases, we see girls sexualized through thong underwear or T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as "Eye Candy" and marketed to 7- to 10-year-olds. We also are presented with adult women or celebrity partiers "dressed down" as young girls, in pigtails, with their cleavage busting out of pink ruffles. With the proliferation of media, such images saturate the culture - and the message to girls and young women is clear: Being female has become nearly synonymous with being a sexual object. And perhaps the most disturbing feature of the bill of goods sold to our daughters is the equating of sexual objectification with power and popularity.

Quillen: Coloradan or Coloradoan?
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5447358
One problem with our state government is that it has rules that are not enforced, specifically Article II, Section 30a, of our state constitution: "The English language is the official language of the State of Colorado." Just what that means is rather vague. Since it says "English," rather than "American English," do our cars have bonnets, boots and windscreens instead of hoods, trunks and windshields? No court has ruled, so it falls on vigilantes like me to enforce Official English. One frequent question is what to call a resident: Are you a "Coloradoan" or a "Coloradan?"

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

McCain Ties His Prospects to the War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031700962.html
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) refuses to hide from what he calls "the elephant in the room," despite knowing full well that the issue he talks most about these days is one that could sink his campaign for the White House. Two-thirds of the American people disagree with McCain's support for the Iraq war and the president's decision to send additional troops to the conflict. As McCain seeks the presidency, it would make sense for him to change the subject -- to health care, to the economy, to social issues, or just about anything else.
RELATED: McCain loses some of his rebel edge
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccain17mar17,1,2150162.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
RELATED: McCain says he regrets 'tar baby' remark
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-remark17mar17,1,2927415.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

'Swift Boat' Figure Joins Romney
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601987.html
The primary funder of an independent group that raised questions about the résumé of Sen. John F. Kerry during the 2004 presidential election has signed on to raise money for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's GOP presidential campaign. Bob Perry, a Houston home builder, is named as a member of Romney's Texas Leadership Team in an invite for a fundraising event in Dallas on March 26. Perry has earned a reputation for his willingness to finance "527" groups. He gained notoriety for the $4.5 million he donated to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of Vietnam War veterans who questioned Kerry's military credentials. He funded similar pro-GOP groups in 2006, including the Economic Freedom Fund, which ran ads attacking Democrats in Georgia, Iowa and West Virginia, and A Stronger America, which financed ads attacking Democrat Mike Hatch in his Minnesota gubernatorial bid last year.

Thompson would be candidate from conservative central casting
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson17mar17,1,288826.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
Activists court the actor and GOP ex-senator for a White House bid. They consider other hopefuls too moderate on key social issues.

Sharpened Edwards ahead in Iowa
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-edwards18mar18,1,1914518.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
The toothy grin is still there, the pile of brown hair, the talk of rich and poor, and that molasses drawl that splits words like brain — bray-un — in two. But this John Edwards is more seasoned and substantive than the one who placed second in the 2004 Democratic presidential race, and less sunny. He assails Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for her early support of the war in Iraq — Edwards renounced his war vote and apologized — and portrays Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as just another pandering politician. He won't say whether he considers President Bush, at the least, a decent man. "I don't think he's been honest with the country about where we are now in Iraq," Edwards said in a recent interview as he skimmed across the Iowa countryside. Asked whether others running for president were decent people, he replied, "I'm just not going to get into evaluating everybody. I think that's what voters should do." He may be running third behind Clinton and Obama nationally, but that's better than four years ago, when Edwards was a speck in polls and "10 people at a Best Western" was a good turnout, as Ed Turlington, a veteran of that effort, recalled. Surveys show Edwards ahead in Iowa, which holds the first vote and is a crucial momentum-builder for the rapid series of contests that follow.

Clinton, Obama Slow to Respond to Questions on Homosexuality
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031800484.html
Do the two leading Democrats running for president think homosexuality is immoral? That question arose this week after Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) seemed slow to criticize remarks by Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that "homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral." Clinton was asked by ABC News about the morality of homosexuality on Wednesday morning. She responded, "I am going to leave that to others to conclude." Obama didn't respond to repeated questions about his position on Wednesday after an appearance in Washington. With a torrent of complaints from the gay community coming in, both candidates soon released statements saying they don't think it's immoral to be gay.
RELATED: Obama highlights antiwar stance in Oakland
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obama18mar18,1,799163.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
RELATED: A Search for Self in Obama’s Hawaii Childhood
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/us/politics/17hawaii.html

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Bush adviser slams Democrats' Iraq plans
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-18-hadley-iraq_N.htm
President Bush's national security adviser said Sunday that House Democrats will assure failure in Iraq and waste the sacrifice of U.S. soldiers with legislation to remove troops. Lawmakers know the president will veto the measure, Stephen Hadley said, making the exercise a "charade." "If we do a premature withdrawal, then what we have is a situation where the Iraqi forces cannot handle the situation, which is the case now," Hadley said. "We have Iraq as a safe haven for terrorists who will destabilize the neighbors and attack us." The House this week plans to vote on a war spending bill that includes a troop withdrawal deadline of Sept. 1, 2008. That timeline would speed up if the Iraqi government cannot meet its own benchmarks for providing security, allocating oil revenues and other essential steps.
RELATED: Democrats manipulate military policy for political gain, Bush says
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-17-president-address_N.htm

Democrats in Congress kick oversight into overdrive
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/la-na-probes19mar19,0,4276207.story?coll=la-home-headlines
One day last week, the entire Federal Communications Commission was summoned for the first time in three years before a House committee, where its members were grilled for five hours and told to expect to be "frequent guests." On another day, Congress authorized subpoenas for Justice Department officials in its escalating investigation into the murky reasons offered by the Bush administration for its decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys. And on yet another day, former covert CIA operative Valerie Plame was the star witness at a hearing where she accused White House officials of "recklessly" blowing her cover and destroying her career. Less than three months since they took control of Capitol Hill, Democrats in both chambers have cranked the powerful congressional oversight machinery into overdrive. In addition to the headline-hogging investigations, Democrats have launched probes into a wide range of less glamorous subjects, including the FDA's efforts to protect the food supply, the way federal agencies monitor energy markets and whether the White House sought to muzzle federal climate scientists who uncovered evidence of global warming.

Smithsonian Documents Detail Chief's Expenses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801369.html
Internal Smithsonian documents offer a glimpse into what one senator called the "Dom Perignon" lifestyle of the taxpayer-supported institution's chief official, who turned in a $15,000 receipt for the replacement of French doors at his home and spent $48,000 for two chairs, a conference table and upholstery for his office suite. Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small's spending has been the subject of intense public scrutiny after The Washington Post published details last month from a confidential inspector general's report delving into his $2 million in housing and office expenses over the past six years.

Bright Star of Mass. Tarnished by Lapses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701005.html
Only a few months ago, Deval Patrick was being hailed by his party as a savior, becoming Massachusetts's first Democratic governor in 16 years and only the second African American to lead a state since Reconstruction. But circumstances have changed quickly for Patrick, as they have often in a life that saw him plucked from the South Side of Chicago at 14 and awarded a scholarship to a prestigious prep school in the Boston suburbs. He was recently forced to plead, "Don't give up on me," to state residents, and at a news conference Friday he found himself repeatedly sidestepping questions about a staff shake-up that included the resignation of a controversial aide.

DeLay Sees the Reason for His Party’s Loss (and, No, It Was Not Him)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/washington/18delay.html
Tom DeLay, the fiery former House majority leader, knows why his party lost control of Congress last year. And he is not to blame. In his new book, Mr. DeLay, a polarizing figure whom Democrats sought to make a symbol of Republican corruption, attributes the Republican defeat in November to frustration with President Bush, the war and “a general perception of Republican incompetence and lack of principles.”

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Probe of Al-Qaeda Leader's Handling Sought
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602033.html
Two senators who observed last week's closed military proceedings against al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed called for an investigation into allegations that the accused planner of the Sept. 11 attacks was physically abused while in CIA custody. Mohammed told the tribunal last Saturday that he had been mistreated during three years in CIA custody before his transfer to Guantanamo Bay, and he submitted a written description of the alleged abuse. The military panel immediately classified the submission and redacted from transcripts details of Mohammed's treatment in the CIA's secret prison program. According to one portion of the transcript made public earlier this week, however, Mohammed told the panel of three unnamed military officers that his children had been held for four months and abused during his incarceration.

Saudi Arabia Routinely Frees Detainees
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701378.html
In official documents, Detainee No. 266 was an accused al-Qaeda member who refused to speak to his captors, much less admit or deny terrorism links. His Saudi countryman, Detainee No. 264, was a relief worker and self-described admirer of Americans who was handed over to U.S. forces by Pakistani policemen seeking to collect a bounty. On June 24, both men were released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the custody of Saudi Arabia. Which promptly freed them. The two are among scores of Guantanamo detainees who have been quietly repatriated in the past three years amid growing pressure from their home countries and international human rights advocates. Now, a new analysis by lawyers who have represented detainees says U.S. decisions undermine the government's own claims about the threat posed by many of the prison camp's residents, some of whom are approaching their fifth year of detention without formal charges or trials.

Free-Speech Case Divides Bush and Religious Right
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/washington/18scotus.html
A Supreme Court case about the free-speech rights of high school students, to be argued on Monday, has opened an unexpected fissure between the Bush administration and its usual allies on the religious right. As a result, an appeal that asks the justices to decide whether school officials can squelch or punish student advocacy of illegal drugs has taken on an added dimension as a window on an active front in the culture wars, one that has escaped the notice of most people outside the fray. And as the stakes have grown higher, a case that once looked like an easy victory for the government side may prove to be a much closer call.

Slavery apologies debated across U.S.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-apology19mar19,1,6586127.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
As the movement to express regret grows, some say the measures would be cathartic, others call them useless.

Nagin Suspects a Plot To Keep Blacks Away
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601951.html
New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has suggested that the slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina -- which has prevented many black former residents from returning -- is part of a plan to change the racial makeup and political leadership of his and other cities. "Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere," Nagin said at a dinner sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for newspapers that target black readers. "They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community."

Top

Foreign Policy

War outcry hits U.S. base in Italy
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703190124mar19,1,6246567.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
By 2011, the number of U.S. forces in Italy will jump by 2,000 to 4,400 military personnel, with much of the increase in Vicenza, according to the U.S. European Command. That change, aimed at uniting all support and combat units of the 173rd Airborne, initially riled Italians who said they were kept in the dark about the planned expansion. Then it grew into something much more. Vicenza has become ground zero for all who want to argue about the U.S.-driven war on terror and Italy's support for it. It's another illustration of how people across Europe--in Britain, Spain and other countries that are U.S. allies--are questioning America's military action. Tens of thousands of people marched in Madrid on Saturday to protest the war in Iraq. Rallies to mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war were held elsewhere in Spain, as well as in Istanbul and in Athens. Last month, tens of thousands of protesters descended on Vicenza, a city of gleaming granite pillars and villas located between Verona and Venice, to protest the U.S. military growth at home. Some argued the environmental and aesthetic costs of putting more troops in Vicenza. Many others, including left-wing activists who poured into town, said the base known as Camp Ederle should not be enhanced to help what are increasingly unpopular wars.

Few Iraqis trust U.S. forces four years on
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900340.html
Only 18 percent of Iraqis have confidence in U.S.-led forces, a new poll showed on Monday, as President Bush faced anti-war protests at home four years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. With Iraq bogged down in sectarian violence that threatens to tip the country into civil war, Bush announced a strategy shift earlier this year and has started sending some 26,000 reinforcements for a security crackdown focused on Baghdad.
RELATED: Assessing Iraq war as 4th anniversary nears
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usiraq19mar19,1,7697907.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Iraqi Army Post Destroyed By Bombs in Anbar Province
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031800613.html
Insurgents disguised as mechanics slipped into car repair shops on the ground floor of a hotel used as an Iraqi army post in Anbar province, a hub of the Sunni insurgency, then furtively planted bombs before fleeing and blowing up the building on Sunday, police said. Iraqi army and police forces also discovered the beheaded bodies of nine police officers in an abandoned post office east of Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, police Col. Tareq Aduleimi said. The bodies, found as the forces raided suspected hideouts of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, showed signs of torture, he said.
RELATED: Suicide Bombers Using Chlorine Gas Kill 2 and Sicken Hundreds in Western Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html

Five blasts in Iraq's Kirkuk kill 18, wound 37
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900427.html
Three car bombs and two roadside devices killed 18 people and wounded 37 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Monday, police said. The blasts happened in different parts of the city but exploded within a few minutes. One car bomb targeted the local offices of the secular political party of former prime minister Iyad Allawi, another one targeted a government building and the third exploded in a commercial street, Brigadier Sarhat Qader said.
RELATED: Sunni Militants Disrupt Plan to Calm Baghdad
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/world/middleeast/18insurgents.html

1987 chemical attack still haunts Iran
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-sardasht19mar19,1,7896843.story?coll=la-headlines-world
The roots of Iran's nuclear ambitions wind through this mountaintop town of pine trees and streams along the Iraqi border. Here, on a crystal-clear afternoon 20 years ago, Saddam Hussein's warplanes unleashed a poisonous rain of chemical weapons, killing as many as 113 civilians and injuring thousands more. The victims gasped and vomited on rusting buses as they were rushed to hospitals. They dropped dead on the cobbled streets of the town center. They cried out as their eyes burned and skin bubbled. At the United Nations, Iran protested vehemently, to little avail, about the use of the weapons, which were banned under international treaties. The world's superpowers had little patience for complaints from the Islamic Republic, which supported attacks on U.S. Marines in Lebanon as well as on Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Once the war ended, an indignant Iran stockpiled chemical weapons and embarked on a crash nuclear program that is now at the center of a global dispute.

A New Sorrow for Afghanistan: AIDS Joins List
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/world/asia/19afghan.html?ref=world
Cloistered by two decades of war and then the strict Islamic rule of the Taliban, Afghanistan was long shielded from the ravages of the AIDS pandemic. Not anymore. H.I.V. and AIDS have quietly arrived in this land of a thousand calamities. They remain almost completely underground, shrouded in ignorance and stigma as the government struggles with the help of American and NATO forces to rebuild the country in the face of a new offensive by Taliban insurgents.

Israel Rebuffs Palestinian Unity Government
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031800197.html
The Israeli cabinet voted Sunday to limit future talks with even moderate Palestinian officials to shared security and humanitarian concerns, ruling out a formal peace process until the new Palestinian government recognizes Israel and renounces violence. In officially rejecting the Palestinian unity government that was sworn in over the weekend, the cabinet also stated that "Israel expects the international community to maintain the policy it has taken over the past year of isolating the Palestinian government."
RELATED: Olmert rules out peace talks
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703190114mar19,1,5787814.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: US to continue ban on Palestinian aid
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/03/19/us_to_continue_ban_on_palestinian_aid/
RELATED: U.S. and Israel Disagree on Palestinian Contacts
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/world/middleeast/19mideast.html?ref=world

Egypt Shuts Door on Dissent As U.S. Officials Back Away
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801196.html
The language was black-and-white, but America's relationship with Egypt -- with President Hosni Mubarak and with the reform movement -- never is. Nearly two years later, the legacy of Rice's words is intimately tied to the fate of Egypt's democracy movement, divided and withering under unrelenting repression by a government that remains one of America's key allies in the region. What began as a test of American mettle ended in failure to bring about far-reaching change in a country that has received more per capita U.S. aid than Europe did under the post-World War II Marshall Plan. In the eyes of activists and, at times, the government itself, that failure stands as a narrative of misperception about the people Americans sought to court, and of naivete about those the Americans wanted to reform.

Deal on Funds Removes Hurdle To N. Korea Talks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801736.html
The United States has agreed to release $25 million in North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank, removing an obstacle that had threatened to again stall disarmament negotiations with North Korea that began Monday. "North Korea has pledged within the framework of the six-party talks that these funds will be used solely for the betterment of the North Korean people, including for humanitarian and education purposes," U.S. Treasury official Daniel Glaser told reporters in Beijing.
RELATED: Frozen funds to be released to North Korea
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-norkor19mar19,1,1270784.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Zimbabwe Opposition Spokesman Beaten at Airport
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801202.html
The spokesman for Zimbabwe's main opposition leader was assaulted by security forces as he tried to leave the country Sunday, a party official said. The latest assault came as President Robert Mugabe's government faces increasing international criticism for cracking down on the country's opposition, disrupting its gatherings and beating and detaining its leaders. The attack on Nelson Chamisa follows the rearrests at the airport Saturday of three opposition activists who were allegedly assaulted when police broke up a March 11 protest meeting.

Royal Finds Female Voters Resistant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701140.html
Like many French women, 44-year-old Annie Gros has watched the campaign of Socialist Segolene Royal with the heady prospect of seeing a triumvirate of women lead three pivotal Western powers: Royal in France, Hillary Rodham Clinton in the United States and Angela Merkel in Germany. Now, barely five weeks before the French presidential election, the voters who should be among Royal's strongest constituencies -- Gros and other French women tired of male dominance in every political and professional sphere in France -- are among her toughest critics. Their disenchantment is helping drive Royal toward third place in opinion polls. "When I started hearing about her a few months ago, she seemed to be different and new," said Gros, a Paris teacher, clutching a bag of groceries on her way to pick up her daughter from school. "In a few months, she lost all her credibility. It's a shame, but I'd rather abstain than vote for her now. . . . She's not a strong woman like Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton."

Brazil arrests fugitive crime novelist
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703190102mar19,1,4542627.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Accused of killings in his native Italy, militant 1970s leftist Cesare Battisti reinvented himself in France as a celebrated writer of police thrillers. But Paris got tougher on suspected terrorists, and Battisti went on the run again in 2004, disappearing, apparently with the help of a French "support committee." Disappearing, that is, until Sunday, when police tracking a woman bringing money to Battisti found the fugitive novelist near Brazil's famed Copacabana Beach.

Venezuela to Give Currency New Name and Numbers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/world/americas/18venezuela.html
Of all the startling measures announced by President Hugo Chávez this year, from the nationalization of major utilities to threats of imprisonment for violators of price controls, none have baffled economists quite like his venture into monetary reform. First, Mr. Chávez said the authorities would remove three zeroes from the denomination of the currency, the bolívar. Then he said the new bolívar, worth 1,000 old bolívars, would be renamed the “bolívar fuerte,” or strong bolívar.

Mexican President Criticizes 'Absurd' U.S. Border Policies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602753.html
Mexican President Felipe Calderón said Friday that U.S. border policies are marred by many "absurd" paradoxes that hurt the Mexican economy and force more Mexicans to migrate illegally to the United States. In an interview en route from Mexicali, Mexico, to Mexico City on his presidential jet, Calderón criticized construction of more border fencing and accused U.S. border agents of slowing the flow of commerce between the countries by sometimes failing to staff enough crossing booths. He also argued against plans to line with concrete the massive All-American Canal, which connects the Colorado River to farms in California. Calderón said the project would cut off groundwater that flows into Mexico and possibly hurt the businesses of Mexican farmers enough that they would need to migrate illegally to make a living.

Top

Immigration

Immigration Raid Rips Families
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701113.html
Immigration officials said they made provisions for the children so none would be left alone. But in the days right after the raid -- as a 7-year-old called a hotline and asked for her mother, and a breastfeeding baby refused a bottle and was hospitalized for dehydration -- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) began to categorize the raid's aftermath as a "humanitarian crisis."

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Proposals for Mental Health Parity Pit a Father’s Pragmatism Against a Son’s Passion
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/washington/19mental.html?ref=washington
It’s Kennedy versus Kennedy as two members of Congress from the same family face off over competing versions of legislation that would require many health insurance companies and employers to provide more generous benefits to people with mental illness. Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island and chief sponsor of the House bill, has criticized as inadequate the Senate bill introduced by his father, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts. Representative Kennedy is trying to mobilize mental health advocates to lobby for what he describes as “the stronger of the two bills, the House bill.” Both bills seek to end discrimination against people with mental disorders by requiring insurers and employers to provide equivalent coverage, or parity, for mental and physical illnesses. That would be a huge change.

Advocates Praise FDA's Choice to Fund Office of Women's Health
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031700907.html
Last month, agency insiders leaked information indicating that FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach had devised plans to reduce the office's fiscal 2007 budget by about 25 percent -- a cut that advocates said would have effectively suspended the office's activities for the rest of the year. During the past week, activists and several members of Congress repeatedly pressed von Eschenbach about the pending move -- and until Friday the commissioner said he had not made up his mind. But late that day the agency released its long-awaited 2007 operating plan, which funds the office at the same $4 million level it has had for several years.

U.S. food imports outrun FDA resources
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-03-18-food-safety-usat_N.htm
The FDA inspects about 1% of the imported foods it regulates, down from 8% in 1992 when imports were far less common. In contrast, the United States Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for meat and poultry, inspected almost 16% of those imported foods in fiscal 2006. The FDA covers most other foods, about 80% of the nation's food supply. The FDA also doesn't require that exporting countries have safety systems equivalent to those in the USA. The USDA does that for countries that export meat and poultry, and the Government Accountability Office — the investigative arm of Congress — has said for at least a decade that the FDA should, too. "The FDA has so few resources, all it can do is target high-risk things, give a pass to everything else and hope it is OK," says William Hubbard,a former FDA associate commissioner who retired in 2005."The public probably has the perception … that they're more protected than they really are."

Pet Food Is Recalled After Link to Animal Deaths
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/business/19pet.html?ref=business
More than 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat food sold under dozens of brand names were recalled on Saturday after being linked to the deaths of 10 animals. The food was manufactured by Menu Foods, of Streetsville, Ontario, which makes wet food sold as store brands for companies like Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

As issues evolve, Supreme Court holds to tradition
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-19-court-rituals_N.htm
At a recent Senate hearing, when Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was arguing against cameras in the courtroom, he referred to the court's peculiar customs. It was a little-noticed remark that spoke volumes about the institution. "We have a language," Kennedy said, "and ethic and etiquette, a formality, a tradition that's different than the political branches; not better, not worse, but different." Is it ever. In many ways, the justices, who return to the bench today after a two-week recess, live in a bygone era: one of elevator operators, ceramic spittoons, white quill pens and government lawyers in elegant gray morning coats.

In Rust Belt town, inmates are valued guests
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703190121mar19,1,5066916.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The red carpet isn't out, the Welcome Wagon is nowhere to be seen and city leaders haven't given a thought to hoisting signs to greet the 100 or so valued guests who will be arriving every week for the next couple of months. Apparently, good taste and smart politics dictate against hanging big red banners that read, "WELCOME CONVICTS! WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE!" But the people of New Castle, in a discreet sort of way, are clearly delighted about the scheduled arrival of 1,260 inmates from Arizona, which will fill the half-empty prison on the edge of town and create jobs --230 of them--in a rust-bucket region of Indiana that is all too accustomed to watching jobs flee. "All that I've heard is joy at the fact of additional jobs," said Mayor Tom Nipp. "There is no end to the positives that will come from this." By Memorial Day, New Castle's medium-security prison, barely 5 years old with beige brick and baby-blue trim, will, for the first time, be filled to the 2,416-inmate capacity. The state built the facility in 2002 with the expectation that it would quickly fill. In 2005, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a contract with a private operator so the state could save money.

Top

Economy

U.S. economy still in good shape: Treasury's Kimmitt
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900310.html
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said on Monday America's economy remained in good shape and the housing market appeared to be stabilizing. "Right now the U.S. economy remains strong, the outlook is positive," Kimmitt told reporters during a visit to Berlin. "Right now some of the softness that we saw in the U.S. housing market, which I might say appears to be stabilizing, has not spread into other sectors, especially into the consumer sector," he added. Kimmitt said the state of America's subprime mortgage market, which deals in loans to people with poor credit histories, was something the Treasury and other regulators in the U.S. were "watching closely."

Antitrust law losing its teeth
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-antitrust19mar19,1,5437581.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
With a push from the Bush administration, the Supreme Court is in the midst of steady, if little noticed, retreat from enforcing the antitrust laws that for decades have guarded against monopolies and price fixing. In the last year, the court has relaxed or repealed several rules designed to prevent anti-competitive schemes, and later this month will hear another widely followed case that could dramatically change the rules of the retailing business. "The court is on a path to reshape the law to conform to the Chicago school of law and economics," said Albert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, referring to the free-market theories associated with the University of Chicago. "The theory now is that markets rarely fail, and regulation of business is nearly always bad."

Wal-Mart will pull bank application; 'wise choice,' says FDIC chief
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2007-03-16-walmart-bank_N.htm
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) will withdraw an application to open a specialty bank. "Wal-Mart made a wise choice," FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair said in a statement. "This decision will remove the controversy surrounding their intentions." The FDIC was considering Wal-Mart's application to establish an industrial loan corporation, which is a limited-purpose bank for processing credit card and other payments. The news came a day after details came to light of leases that Wal-Mart recently signed with banks that operate branches in hundreds of its stores, reserving the company's right to offer an array of future financial services in its stores. According to the lease terms, Wal-Mart can offer future services including mortgages, consumer loans, home equity loans, investment and insurance products and any other type of service or product that the company might develop.

Easing That Mid-April Angst
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031700106.html
As of mid-February, 10 million taxpayers, or about 30 percent of those who had filed, did not request a one-time refund of a telephone excise tax that ranges from $30 to $60 and that nearly everyone can claim. And while most folks know the peril of filing late if they owe the government money -- penalties, interest charges, scary letters and potential visits from IRS agents -- many may not know that filing too early can also have drawbacks. The 1099 form summarizing dividends and interest payments that banks, brokerages and other financial firms send clients in January often is revised in February or March, requiring taxpayers to amend returns.

Data Security Breaches Spur New Products At Trade Show
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801072.html
There was the stolen laptop that put the identities of millions of veterans and soldiers at risk. Then flooding shut down part of the IRS building, prompting a scramble for electronic files and equipment. In the wake of such publicized mishaps, security and privacy issues are taking center stage at this year's FOSE trade show, Washington's largest convention for federal, state and local government information technology contractors, as a host of companies peddle new products and services aimed at sealing and protecting the government's data and networks.

Top

Media

Candidates Try Web Video, And the Reviews Are Mixed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602373.html
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) posts regular "HillCasts" to talk about her positions on equal pay, health care and Iraq. Rudolph W. Giuliani treats YouTube as if it were C-SPAN -- a place for his 58-minute speech to the Churchill Club. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) put up a casual backstage interview before his appearance on "The Daily Show." And though Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was the last of the presidential front-runners to jump on the online video bandwagon, he now has more than 25 videos circulating on the Web. One after another, presidential campaigns are adding videos to their Web sites as well as to video-sharing sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Veoh. The reviews, however, are mixed.

News media and politics: an uneasy union
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-prezmedia19mar19,1,7941707.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Some of America's most prominent political journalists are, quite literally, wedded to the 2008 presidential race: Their spouses work for one of the candidates. Relationships that cross the media-political divide raise ethical questions for the journalists and their employers. Should the potential conflict of interest merely be disclosed to readers or viewers? Or should the journalists be shifted to new assignments to lessen the appearance their motives might be divided?

Radio Deal Could Face Technical Difficulties
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801147.html
To hear officials of XM and Sirius satellite radio tell it, a merger of their companies would make almost everything bigger and better. "The merger will allow XM to provide more programming choices for our subscribers," said Nate Davis, president and chief operating officer of District-based XM Satellite Radio Holdings. "We will be able to add popular content from Sirius to the XM lineup." Instead of offering a one-price, all-or-nothing lineup for $12.95 a month -- as both companies do now -- they would offer smaller packages at a lower price and bigger packages at a higher price, company executives said. And shareholders would benefit, they said, because a merger would result in savings by eliminating duplications in programming, marketing and other operations. But an examination of the companies' structures suggests that these benefits will not be easily attained, even if they persuade the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department to allow the merger. Both XM and New York-based Sirius Satellite Radio have huge fixed costs, mainly in multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts for big-name talent and sports events.

U.S. Seeks Rehiring of Reporters Fired in Newspaper Labor Fight
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/business/media/19barbara.html?ref=business
The National Labor Relations Board will prosecute the conflict-ridden Santa Barbara News-Press newspaper for unfairly firing eight reporters from its newsroom, the agency announced last week. The paper has been in a tense standoff with its current and former reporters, who overwhelmingly voted to unionize last fall.

Top

Military

Iraq War's Statistics Prove Fleeting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801587.html
The U.S. war in Iraq enters its fifth year today. That, and 3,197 U.S. military deaths reported by the Pentagon as of 10 a.m. Friday, are among the few numerical certainties in a conflict characterized from the start by confusion and misuse of key data. In the fog of modern counterinsurgency warfare, statistics have replaced conquered territory as measures of success. Then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld once dismissed questions about the level of combat-ready Iraqi troops by saying that numbers are only numbers and "misleading" as to the truth, but the Bush administration has supplied a steady stream of them.

Additional Support Troops Join Buildup in Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602239.html
Thousands of additional U.S. military support troops are flowing into Iraq to bolster the increase of 21,500 combat troops ordered by President Bush in January, bringing the total to about 28,700. The Army announced yesterday that it will accelerate by 45 days the deployment to Iraq of an aviation brigade with more than 2,600 troops. The unit will provide attack aircraft, as well as medical-evacuation and transport helicopters, to assist ground troops.

Military Is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801534.html
Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight a major ground conflict elsewhere, senior U.S. military and government officials acknowledge. More troubling, the officials say, is that it will take years for the Army and Marine Corps to recover from what some officials privately have called a "death spiral," in which the ever more rapid pace of war-zone rotations has consumed 40 percent of their total gear, wearied troops and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies now at hand.

Pentagon acts to crack down on recruiter misconduct
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/19/pentagon_acts_to_crack_down_on_recruiter_misconduct/
The military is considering installing surveillance cameras in recruiting stations across the country, the most dramatic of several new steps to address a rise in misconduct allegations against military recruiters -- including sexual assaults of female prospects and bending the rules to meet quotas.

Survey: More reserve officers saying no to deploying
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-18-military-ready-reserve_N.htm
Only about one-fifth of 10,000 veteran officers in the Army's Individual Ready Reserve say they're willing to be deployed overseas, an Army survey shows. It suggests souring attitudes within the military toward U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The rest of the officers are either quitting, retiring or being let go for failing to respond to Army questions about their readiness to deploy. The Army provided the survey results to USA TODAY. The Individual Ready Reserve is one of the last resources the Army taps for manpower. It consists of former active-duty, National Guard and reserve soldiers who have moved into the Ready Reserve and lead virtually civilian lives. They neither drill nor train, although they remain part of the Army.

Coming Under Fire
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801284.html
Operating under a $1.75 billion contract -- the largest the State Department has ever managed -- DynCorp trains more police officers than any other private U.S. company in these countries. The firm says it has 700 trainers in Iraq, where it helped train 198,000 Iraqis, and more than 500 in Afghanistan, where it helped train 93,000 Afghans. But large regions of both countries face widespread and continuing violence. "If you look at the results, in neither country is the police functional," said Robert M. Perito, a senior program officer at the U.S. Institute for Peace and a consultant to the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. In Afghanistan, a November 2006 U.S. government report said the police force was plagued by pervasive corruption.

Bush Urged to Develop Overall Nuclear Arms Policy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701372.html
A prestigious scientific committee made up of retired nuclear weapons lab directors and former Defense and Energy department officials is recommending that, before the United States moves ahead on the development of new nuclear warheads, the Bush administration should develop a bipartisan policy regarding the size of the future stockpile, testing and nonproliferation. The committee's report, which is due out next month, comes at a time when the Bush administration is asking Congress to approve $88 million for cost and engineering plans that could lead to a decision next year for production of a new Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) for the nation's current submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile.

Gates declines to say whether Pace should apologize for anti-gay remark
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-18-gates_N.htm
Defense Secretary Robert Gates declined to say Sunday whether the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should apologize for his remark that homosexual acts were immoral or whether it was a slur on gay members of the armed forces. Marine Gen. Peter Pace made the remark last Monday in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. The next day, following criticism from several lawmakers and gay-rights groups, Pace said that he regretted having stated a personal opinion but did not apologize. "I think General Pace has made pretty clear that he wished he had avoided his personal opinion," Gates said on Face the Nation on CBS. The secretary said he did not plan to ask Pace to do anything more in regard to the remark.

Top

Religion

Episcopal Church Rejects S.C. Bishop
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601950.html
For the first time in 72 years, the Episcopal Church has rejected the election of a bishop, vetoing the Diocese of South Carolina's choice of a conservative leader and heightening the bitter divisions in the church. The rejection of the Rev. Mark Lawrence infuriated conservative Episcopalians in South Carolina and across the country who have been seething since the church approved the election of a gay bishop four years ago. Conservatives said that when the church's General Convention voted in 2003 to accept the New Hampshire diocese's choice of Gene Robinson as bishop, one of the principal arguments in his favor was that the church should respect the will of its 111 individual dioceses.

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

Deicing Delays Trap Airline Passengers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701056.html
Hundreds of passengers were stranded for hours overnight on airliners that couldn't take off from John F. Kennedy International Airport because of the ice and snow storm that pummeled the Northeast. The exact number of planes stuck on the tarmac was unclear, but irate passengers reported that the problems seemed to affect several airlines and may have been linked to shortages of deicing fluid at the airport.
RELATED: US Airways tries to rebound after storm
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703190133mar19,1,6312103.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Top

Environment and Conservation

In New Hampshire, Towns Put Climate on the Agenda
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/us/19climate.html?ref=us
Of the 234 incorporated cities and towns in New Hampshire, 180 are voting on whether to support a resolution asking the federal government to address climate change and to develop research initiatives to create “innovative energy technologies.” The measure also calls for state residents to approve local solutions for combating climate change and for town selectmen to consider forming energy committees.

U.S. objects to key points on climate
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703190130mar19,1,5132452.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The United States objected to key parts of a discussion on climate change at a meeting between G-8 environmental officials and representatives from five influential developing nations, Germany's environment minister said. The conference ended with consensus on several points, including a general acceptance of the scientific explanation for the causes of global warming and that industrialized nations need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions more than mandated by current agreements, said German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who hosted the weekend meeting. But the U.S. spoke out against a global carbon emissions trading plan and recognizing reforestation programs in developing nations as part of the fight against global warming, he said.

Early critic of warming steps up activist role
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/19/early_critic_of_warming_steps_up_activist_role/
The Dartmouth College crowd filled one auditorium on a cold afternoon this month, and spilled into a second with a big screen. The draw was Bill McKibben, one of the country's leading environmental writers and activists, who was talking about the perils of global warming. But after the audience applauded his call to build a climate-change movement, one supporter challenged him. "We're preaching to the converted here," said Kevin Peterson , 46, a program officer at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. "How do you get to the other 95 percent of the folks who drive SUVs and couldn't care less?" The question framed one of the most difficult issues for McKibben and other environmentalists now rallying to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are gradually warming the earth. Global warming remains an orphan cause, not yet attracting the swell of protesters who have gathered to protest wars in the past.

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.

Vedantam: What the Bard and Lear Can Tell a Leader About Yes Men
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801236.html
In Shakespeare's "King Lear," a powerful man comes to a tragic end because he surrounds himself with flatterers and banishes the friends who will not varnish the truth to please him. Several controversies in the past six years of the Bush administration -- including two in the news last week -- bring Lear to mind.
RELATED: Blunder after blunder
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-bush18mar18,0,6062624.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail

Nuri: Casualty of the War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801057.html
The war has united Iraqis in their disappointment. If Bush had changed his mind about the war, things might be better now.

Democracy Under Arrest
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602114.html
Why is the Bush administration 'proud' to support Pakistan's military ruler?

Ferguson: The enemy and us are starting to look alike
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-ferguson18mar18,0,7723267.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed claims Washington as a hero, and the U.S. tortures -- such is the 'osmosis of war.'

Kelley: Why aren't the Bush daughters in Iraq?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-kelley19mar19,0,5964993.story?coll=la-opinion-center
My suggestion comes after the White House announcement earlier this month that Jenna Bush, one of the president's twin daughters, is writing a book on her all-expenses-paid trip to Panama, where she worked for a few weeks as an intern for UNICEF. Jenna Bush is quoted as saying she will donate her earnings from her book to UNICEF, a commendable gesture, considering her father's net worth of $20 million. But while the 25-year-old makes the rounds of TV talk shows this fall in a White House limousine, dozens of her contemporaries will be arriving home from Iraq in wooden boxes. In Britain, Prince Harry is insisting on going off to Iraq — even as his country is reducing its troop commitment. Franklin Delano Roosevelt showed how the power of good example could also be powerfully good politics. When he led the country to sacrifice in World War II, his children enlisted and his wife traveled to military bases to counsel and comfort the families of soldiers. Newsreels showed the president's four sons fighting with the Marines in the Pacific, flying with the Army Air Forces in North Africa and landing with the Navy at Normandy. Soon other public figures followed suit — movie stars (James Stewart and Clark Gable) enlisted and sports heroes (Joe DiMaggio and Hank Greenberg) went off to war.

Broder: Congress's Oversight Offensive
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601989.html
For the first six years of the Bush administration, these aides were allowed free rein to carry out whatever policy or political assignments they wished -- or supposed that the president wanted done. A Congress under firm Republican control was somnolent when it came to oversight of the executive branch. No Republican committee chairman wanted to turn over rocks in a Republican administration. You have to feel a twinge of sympathy now for the Bush appointees who suddenly find unsympathetic Democratic chairmen such as Henry Waxman, John Conyers, Patrick Leahy and Carl Levin investigating their cases. Even if those appointees are scrupulously careful about their actions now, who knows what subpoenaed memos and e-mails in their files will reveal about the past? They will pay the price for the temporary breakdown in the system of checks and balances that occurred between 2001 and this year -- when the Republican Congress forgot its responsibility to hold the executive branch accountable. It was a fundamental dereliction of duty by Congress, and it probably did more to encourage bad decisions and harmful actions by executive-branch political appointees than the much-touted lobbying influence.

Dry: Put Out to Scapegoat Pasture
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602676.html
Many who have walked the halls of government have lied about paying for sex or taking fur coats under the table and have been forced out of office because of their own misdeeds. But the fall guy -- a term of art, not a precise category -- is a different breed. He is not the CEO, to use the term Gonzales applied to his own stewardship at Justice, but he has enough power -- and guilt -- to claim a whiff of culpability, or have it claimed for him.
RELATED: Froomkin: The Politics of Distraction
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/16/BL2007031601087.html
RELATED: Help Wanted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801018.html
RELATED: Feinstein: Why Democrats are raising a stink
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-feinstein17mar17,0,7993457.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
RELATED: Bookman: Gonzales' lies give justice a dirty name
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/bookman/stories/2007/03/18/0319edbookman.html
RELATED: Cohen: It Wasn’t Just a Bad Idea. It May Have Been Against the Law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/opinion/19mon4.html

Hypocrisy on Immigration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602119.html
THE HYPOCRISY of U.S. immigration law was on lurid display last week in a raid on a defense contractor in New England. Accompanied by dogs and a helicopter swooping overhead, hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents charged into Michael Bianco Inc., a leather-goods factory in New Bedford, Mass., that makes backpacks, ammunition pouches and other gear for GIs. When the dust settled, the agents had arrested some 360 illegal immigrant employees at the plant, many of them women from Guatemala and other Central American nations. The workers had toiled in sweatshop conditions that allegedly included draconian restrictions on bathroom breaks, toilet paper supply, and snacking and talking at their workstations. They were seized, handcuffed, questioned and, in about 200 cases, whisked away to detention centers in New Mexico and Texas without regard to their roots in the community, their spouses or their children, including American-born children who are U.S. citizens.

The Medicaid Documentation Mess
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/opinion/19mon1.html
Exaggerated fears that illegal immigrants are fraudulently receiving Medicaid health benefits have led to a crackdown that is preventing tens of thousands of American citizens from obtaining legitimate coverage. Congress, whose mindless actions led to this travesty, needs to fix this injustice.

Kuttner: The dangers of deregulation
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/17/the_dangers_of_deregulation/
THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION and the US Chamber of Commerce picked an awkward moment for their latest assault on financial and consumer-protection regulation. At the very moment that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was meeting with Wall Street bigwigs in a high-profile confab this week to call for weakening of the post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other investor and consumer protections, the stock market was tanking.

Mallaby: The Pros, Getting Conned
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801054.html
The Great Mortgage Meltdown of 2007 recalls the beginning of the dot-com implosion in 2000. Once again, paper wealth is going up in smoke; once again, Wall Street banks that created the dud securities turn out to have been imperfect guides as to their value. But the current financial meltdown also differs importantly from the tech bust. The danger is that Congress will see only part of this distinction.
RELATED: Grant: Borrowers, Beware
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602696.html

Off the Hook
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031700948.html
A new movement gains strength: Republicans for school failure.

Digital millennium shakedown
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/17/digital_millennium_shakedown/
COMPANIES THAT own the rights to recorded music or video are understandably anxious to make money from the use of their products on the Internet. But they are going too far in two cases, and they ought to temper their concern for profit with an awareness that not everyone who runs a website can afford to pay what the companies would like to charge.

Tucker: Immorality: U.S. abuse of gays in military
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2007/03/16/0318edtuck.html
Last month, U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) reintroduced a bill to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," a compromise adopted in 1993 to appease military officials who were up in arms about President Bill Clinton's campaign pledge to end the ban against gays in the military. Under the policy, gays and lesbians may serve only if they keep their sexual orientation private and don't engage in homosexual acts. Meehan's bill would allow gays to serve openly. Since "don't ask, don't tell" was adopted, the gay-rights movement has gained support; younger Americans, including many serving in the armed forces, don't have the knee-jerk disapproval of their older counterparts. A February Harris poll found that 55 percent of people now favor allowing gays to serve openly; a 2003 Gallup poll found that 91 percent of Americans between 18 and 29 favor that change.

Page: Black immigrants collect most degrees
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703180344mar18,0,202132.column?coll=chi-ed_opinion_columnists-utl
Do African immigrants make the smartest Americans? The question may sound outlandish, but if you were judging by statistics alone, you could find plenty of evidence to back it up. In a side-by-side comparison of 2000 census data by sociologists including John R. Logan at the Mumford Center, State University of New York at Albany, black immigrants from Africa averaged the highest educational attainment of any population group in the country, including whites and Asians. For example, 43.8 percent of African immigrants had achieved a college degree, compared with 42.5 of Asian-Americans, 28.9 percent for immigrants from Europe, Russia and Canada and 23.1 percent of the U.S. population as a whole. That defies the usual stereotypes of Asian-Americans as the only "model minority." Yet the traditional American narrative has rendered the high academic achievements of black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean invisible, as if that were a taboo topic.

Britt-Gibson: What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602691.html
Race Isn't a Factor When My Generation Chooses Friends.

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