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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/032007.htm

TOP STORIES

ProgressNow in the news

BLOG BRAGGING RIGHTS (Roll Call, March 20)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429554,00.html
Colorado's own liberal blog, ProgressNow.com [ProgressNowAction.org -- ed.], was a winner in this year's national Golden Dot awards, given to honor those who exhibit excellence in using the Internet as a political tool. The awards were presented over the weekend by the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet in Washington, D.C. ProgressNow was honored in three categories: Winner: Best online get-out-the-vote campaign. Finalist: Outstanding state online campaign for "Both Ways Bob," on GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez. Finalist: Best political Web video, featuring a disabled veteran opposing U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan. To view: www.ProgressNowAction.org

Top

National

Bush Implores Nation, Congress To Show 'Courage and Resolve'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900185.html
President Bush asked skeptical Americans for additional patience as the Iraq war entered its fifth year yesterday, saying that the United States can be victorious, but "only if we have the courage and resolve to see it through." In a brief address to the nation four years after he ordered U.S. forces to invade Iraq, Bush also warned the Democratic-led Congress not to pass a measure scheduled for a vote in the House this week that would require troops to withdraw from the conflict. "It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home," Bush said in an eight-minute speech from the Roosevelt Room in the White House. "That may be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American security would be devastating."
RELATED: Winning will not be easy, Bush says
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200134mar20,1,1069208.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Don’t ‘Pack Up,’ Bush Says After 4 Years of War
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20prexy.html

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

FBI Issues New Rules For Getting Phone Records
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901775.html
The FBI, which has been criticized for improperly gathering telephone records in terrorism cases, has told its agents they may still ask phone companies to voluntarily hand over toll records in emergencies by using a new set of procedures, officials said yesterday. In the most dire emergencies, requests can be submitted to the companies verbally, officials said. This month, the bureau sent field agents a new "emergency letter" template for seeking the records, shortly before the public release of a report by the Justice Department's inspector general that documented abuses of emergency phone-records collection by counterterrorism agents, officials said. That report created a furor on Capitol Hill and prompted FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to take personal responsibility.

Justice Job Considered For Ousted Prosecutor
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901726.html
With the Senate poised to rein in the attorney general's powers to appoint federal prosecutors, the Justice Department is engaged in discussions aimed at giving a new job to one of the seven U.S. attorneys dismissed without explanation on Dec. 7, according to a Capitol Hill Republican. Under fierce pressure from a Senate Republican, Justice Department officials are considering a new position for Daniel Bogden, the ousted U.S. attorney from Nevada who, agency officials explained to Congress, was dismissed in an effort to get "new energy" into the job.
RELATED: Pelosi: `I believe we need a new attorney general'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200146mar20,1,2314395.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Justice Dept. worked to contain U.S. attorney fallout
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-usattys20mar20,0,3082655.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RELATED: New E-Mail Gives Details on Attorney Dismissals
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20documents.html?ref=washington
RELATED: Changes Sought in Naming of Prosecutors
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20attorneys.html?ref=washington

More FBI scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT

Congressional hearing heats up over changes to climate reports
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate20mar20,1,1483477.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Government scientists, armed with copies of heavily edited reports, charged Monday that the Bush administration and its political appointees had soft-pedaled their findings on climate change. The accusations led Democrats and Republicans at the congressional hearing to accuse each other of censorship, smear tactics and McCarthyism. To underscore their charges of the administration's oil-friendly stance, Democrats grilled an oil lobbyist who was hired by the White House to review government climate change documents and who made hundreds of edits that the lawmakers said minimized the impact of global warming. "You were a spin doctor," Rep. John A. Yarmuth (D-Ky) told the lobbyist.
RELATED: Scientist accuses White House of 'Nazi' tactics
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-climate20mar20,1,1206407.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Material Shows Weakening of Climate Reports
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20climate.html?ref=washington

Top

Colorado

More Interest in Colorado Seat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901642.html
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers (R) said Sunday that he is considering a run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Wayne Allard (R) in 2008. "The attorney general hasn't made a decision," spokesman Nate Strauch said yesterday. He declined to offer a timeline for Suthers to make up his mind. Suthers was elected as the state's top cop in 2004 and served previously as a U.S. attorney. Were he to jump in, Suthers would join former congressman Scott McInnis (R) in the contest. Several other Republicans have been mentioned as possible candidates, including Bob Schaffer, a Senate candidate in 2004, and Bentley Rayburn, a 5th District candidate in 2006, as well as radio talk show host Dan Caplis.
RELATED: McInnis concerned about 2008 Suthers Senate run
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_9b_McInnis_Response.html

Center links partners in biofuel push
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5475269
Colorado's push to make motor fuel from crops and waste products got a boost Monday with the unveiling of the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels. The center, nicknamed C2B2, will bring public- and private-sector players together to accelerate renewable-fuel development. "These new energy technologies will impact all facets of our lives," said U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden. "Biorefining will strengthen our national security, help create jobs and save our environment." The center will operate as part of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, a recently created consortium of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. Chevron, one of the center's partners, said advancing renewable fuels will complement, but not replace, development of oil and natural gas.
RELATED: New tools for biofuels
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/19/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
RELATED: Renewable energy effort gets boost
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/CSUZONE01/703200351/1002/NEWS01

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

Ritter's proposal to manipulate property taxes for schools not new
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429359,00.html
A property tax manipulation proposed by Gov. Bill Ritter last week to stabilize school funding has been considered by lawmakers at least since 2004. But they rejected it as either illegal or unpopular, even as a crisis in funding education loomed larger with each budget year. "The property tax is never a popular tax and it never will be," said former House Majority Leader Keith King, R-Colorado Springs. King opposed a 2004 proposal similar to the one Ritter has put forward. "I think, frankly, Gov. Ritter is taking a huge political risk," King said. Colorado schools are funded by a combination of local property taxes and state aid.
RELATED: Ritter’s education proposal faces hurdles in Legislature
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20353&template=article.html
RELATED: Mill levy freeze proposal sidelined in Colorado Senate
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_1b_levy_freeze_frozen.html

'Predatory lending' targeted by measure
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429555,00.html
Linda Martin, who bought rental properties to build a retirement nest egg, considers herself a smart person. But the Lakewood resident choked back tears Monday as she told a Senate committee that she's on the verge of losing all three of her rental homes after becoming a victim of mortgage fraud. Martin said "a fly-by-night mortgage broker" persuaded her to refinance her property with so-called low-interest loans that in reality doubled her mortgage payments to $2,600 a month on each home. "I felt like I had a reasonable amount of education," Martin said. "There is no way in God's heaven I would have signed notes if I had known they doubled my payments. "I'm (here) today because something needs to be done. Most of us in my situation are professionals. We have been duped and tricked." Nearly a dozen witnesses testified on behalf of a measure meant to target "predatory lending practices," reduce a record number of foreclosures in Colorado and crack down on those who prey on homeowners who can barely afford their payments.
RELATED: Bill for mortgage broker license passes
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5475183

More foreclosure/mortgage crisis news in NATIONAL/HOUSING, COLORADO/HOUSING

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Boston tells how it did it
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5430159,00.html
Denver needs to make the 2008 Democratic National Convention a communitywide celebration that includes everyone from schoolchildren to artists, making the event a source of civic pride. That was the message from the organizers of the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston, who came to Denver on Monday to advise their counterparts on what makes for a successful event. "It's not like any other convention you'll ever have," said Stephen J. Kerrigan, former chief of staff for the Boston 2004 host committee. "The whole world will be watching."
RELATED: Five Questions for Stephen J. Kerrigan
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5430160,00.html
RELATED: Like 2004, labor woes dog '08 convention
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475522

My kind of contender (On the side, 3/20)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475185
State Rep. Terrance Carroll, shown at left, found a lot to admire in Sunday's visit from U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic presidential candidate. "He reminds me of myself," the Denver Democrat joked. Carroll didn't elaborate on whether he recognized his own good looks, his politics or both in the junior senator from Illinois.
RELATED: Obama visits Denver, McCain deflects age questions with humor
http://blogs.denverpost.com/washington/2007/03/19/obama-visits-denver-mccain-deflects-age-questions-with-humor/
RELATED: Barack attack
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/19/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt

Reminder on May elections
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5428238,00.html
The Denver Election Commission reminds Denver voters that the May 1 municipal election and possible June 5 runoff are all-mail ballot elections, so it is vital that voters notify the commission if they have recently moved or need their ballot sent to another address.

Brothers pull ads aiming to unseat officials
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20360&template=article.html
After current and former Colorado Springs officials pleaded for an end to negative campaigning, two brothers suspended their push to unseat two council members. “We pulled our ads,” said Jim Morley of Morley Family Developments LLP, which he owns with his brother, Mark. “I think the radio ones ran today (Monday), but that would be it,” he said. The Morleys, who have sparred with the council on land deals and water projects, launched a campaign about 10 days ago to unseat Vice Mayor Larry Small and Councilman Randy Purvis in the April 3 allmail election.

Black Forest election fight will continue
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20362&template=article.html
Black Forest residents fighting incorporation have won a first step in trying to block the April 24 incorporation election. District Court Judge Timothy Simmons on Thursday approved a “motion to intervene” filed last month by the Keep Black Forest Free antiincorporation group. The motion allows the group to contest the 400-signature incorporation petition filed in court in January by the Black Forest Incorporation Committee. Simmons validated the petition last month.

Two weeks until city election
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25791
Two weeks from today, voters have the opportunity to visit Centennial Mall to select their candidates for Craig City Council, and city clerk Shirley Seely is prepared for a good turnout.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

War Bill Includes Tempting Projects
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901615.html
House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year. So far, the projects -- which range from the reconstruction of New Orleans levees to the building of peanut storehouses in Georgia -- have had little impact on the tally. For a funding bill that establishes tough new readiness standards for deploying combat forces and sets an Aug. 31, 2008, deadline to bring the troops home, votes do not come cheap. But at least a few Republicans and conservative Democrats who otherwise would vote "no" remain undecided, as they ponder whether they can leave on the table millions of dollars for constituents by opposing the $124 billion war funding bill due for a vote on Thursday. "She hates the games the Democrats are playing," said Guy Short, chief of staff to Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), a staunch conservative who remains undecided, thanks to billions of dollars in the bill for drought relief and agriculture assistance. "But Representative Musgrave was just down in southeastern Colorado, talking to ranchers and farmers, and they desperately need this assistance."

Former Campbell aide to enter guilty plea
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5429440,00.html
Ginnie Kontnik, the one-time chief of staff for former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, faces a single misdemeanor charge in connection with a three-year investigation involving financial disclosure that began shortly before the senator's surprise retirement decision in 2004. Court records indicate she will enter a guilty plea and the government will not seek jail time in the case. Kontnik served as Campbell's chief of staff from shortly after his party switch from Democrat to Republican in 1995 until February 2004, when she resigned amid published reports that she asked an underling to give her $2,000 from an inflated bonus she had given him.
RELATED: Ex-senator's aide to plead guilty
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475204
RELATED: Former Campbell aide to plead guilty
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070320_2.htm

Citizen legislator: Dave Schultheis
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429641,00.html
Sen. Dave Schultheis has made a name as a hard-right social conservative whose latest cause is stopping illegal immigration. And so the Colorado Springs Republican gets a kick out of how many people tell him they're shocked to discover he's a nice guy.

Decisions by all
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25800
Of the 64 counties in Colorado, 16 choose to employ a full-time administrator/manager to oversee all operations, according to research compiled by the Moffat County commission. Moffat County isn't one of the 16 and, county commission chairman Saed Tayyara said, don't expect that to change this year. "Without bragging, the county is in good shape," Tayyara said. "If it's not broke, don't fix it." Instead of delegating county management to a singular figurehead, Moffat County utilizes a layered power structure to ensure operations run smoothly, Tayyara said.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Dems feud over flag proposal
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429236,00.html
A measure to allow public schools to permanently display foreign flags is on its way to the governor despite a flap between Senate Democrats. Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, lost a fight to amend the bill to make it a petty offense to display a foreign flag in manner that would disturb the peace. "We need to make sure that we are protecting our American flag," said Tochtrop. "We don't want to be allowing the display of any flag in a manner that it incites a riot." But fellow Democrats called the proposed penalty redundant, saying state law already makes it a petty offense to display the flag in a manner that would "breach the peace."

Young take up signs against Iraq conflict
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5430242,00.html
Nina Fernandez, her younger sister, Mia, and their friend Emma Dayney got their homework done right after school Monday and headed to the state Capitol to perform what they believe is their civic duty. "We are the new generation (of war protesters)!" Mia Fernandez, 11, said. From the classroom to the Capitol, the youngsters joined about 300 other demonstrators to continue the weekend of protests across the country that marked the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Monday's event was organized by MoveOn.org, a nonprofit group with liberal leanings.
RELATED: Activists take protest to Udall
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/20/local-news/
RELATED: Vigil honors war's lost, injured
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/NEWS01/703200329/1002
RELATED: Vigil marks fourth anniversary of war in Iraq
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174398568/1
RELATED: ‘I don’t want more war’
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070319/NEWS/70319041

Police seek witnesses to parade arrests
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20361&template=article.html
Colorado Springs police say they want to hear from people who saw peace activists arrested last weekend at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. “If you have photographs or video, we would like to see them,” spokesman Lt. Rafael Cintron said. The seven arrested on suspicion of failing to disperse, a misdemeanor, were marching Saturday with about 40 other people with the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission. The group had a permit to march under the name The Bookman, a business owned by PPJPC Chairman Eric Verlo. When parade organizers saw the group’s anti-war signs about two blocks into the downtown parade, they asked police to make the activists leave. Most complied, but some sat in the road, police said. Activist Elizabeth Fineron, 65, was dragged across the street by police after she got into what she described as “a heated discussion” with officers. At least three others in the group were bruised after police grabbed them.

Pep talk for black students raises eyebrows
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475166
Before students at Morey Middle School took CSAP tests this year, school administrators pulled all the African-American students into two assemblies and told them that, as a whole, they were not performing as well as their peers at the school. The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders were told that the school's principal and assistant principal care about them and that they wanted to hear from them about what they could do to help. This has sparked controversy at the Denver middle school, where some parents say the achievement gap is so dramatic that drastic conversations such as this must take place. Others, though, decry the assemblies as inappropriate and insensitive because they unfairly single out students by their skin color. "The students were made to feel like they were worse than the white kids," said Stacey DeKraker, whose daughter was at the assembly.

Top

Immigration

Colorado to the feds: Show us the money
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5428677,00.html
The State House passed a unanimous resolution today telling the federal government to quit stiffing Colorado on millions of dollars in prison and jail costs for illegal immigrants. "We were promised these funds," fumed Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, who sponsored House Resolution 1008 with Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville. But while state prisons and county jails are bursting with prisoners, Weissmann said, the Bush administration failed to pay $5 million owed last year to the state and 22 Colorado counties. "All we’re asking is to be reimbursed 10 cents on the dollar for housing criminal aliens," McFadyen stressed, noting that the real cost of housing illegal immigrants who have been convicted of at least one felony or two misdemeanors is estimated at $43 million annually.
RELATED: Immigration resolution (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174398568/19

Student violence again before Re-2 school board
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_3a_Rifle_High.html
An attack of a 14-year-old white girl by an older Hispanic girl in a Rifle High School hallway could generate a large crowd of students, parents and others for the second straight School District Re-2 board of education meeting. An agenda item for tonight’s meeting will allow high school students to talk about the Feb. 23 incident and the misperception they feel it has led to about the school, Superintendent Gary Pack said. Others can comment during the public comment portion of the meeting, he said. Members of Rocky Mountain Minutemen, based in Grand Junction, will display recruitment banners in Rifle this afternoon, group founder Dana Isham said. He also plans to attend the meeting, to be held at Wamsley Elementary School in Rifle at 7 p.m., but does not plan to speak. “We’re there to try to learn all we can about what happened,” Isham said. The group works on immigration-related issues, especially those involving illegal immigrants, he said. “If the parents of the students involved were here illegally, we’d be very interested,” Isham said. “But right now there aren’t a lot of details, so we want to learn what we can.”

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Small-firm health care at issue
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475181
Lawmakers unveiled legislation Monday that aims to protect small businesses and their workers from drastic health insurance rate hikes. The proposal is one of several pending this session to increase health coverage in Colorado while a commission studying comprehensive reform completes its work. The newest bill, by Reps. Anne McGihon, a Denver Democrat, and Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, would prohibit health insurance companies from using the health history of workers in setting rates for businesses with 50 employees or fewer. "It's not often in the arena of health reform that we see a clear problem with a clear solution, but this is one of those rarities," said McGihon. "This proposal will prevent insurance companies from increasing that burden just because of an individual employee's health issues," Massey said.
RELATED: Bill would limit insurance reach
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20352&template=article.html
RELATED: New insurance legislation proposed
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174398568/10

House approves organ and tissue fund
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103190068
The House on Monday approved a measure that would encourage people to become organ donors by renewing a fund to promote donations. The measure (Senate Bill 37), would also be renamed after 16-year-old Emily Keyes, who was killed by a gunman last fall at Platte Canyon High School. She decided to become an organ donor four months before the shooting. Her corneas later helped a man regain his sight. The bill now goes back to the Senate for consideration of amendments.

Bridging the gap
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15279
Despite Boulder County being the fifth wealthiest in Colorado with a median income of $58,684, about 44,000 households still struggle to meet monthly living expenses. This PDF document suggests that while households might earn above the federal poverty rate, their incomes are still below what is required to meet basic needs. Often, food is the last expense addressed when households must cover other fixed costs such as housing, medicine and utilities. After food stamps, Community Food Share — the food bank of Boulder and Broomfield counties — is the second-largest contributor to those who need food assistance. According to CFS, the median income for people served by food banks is $800 per month, hardly enough to cover rent alone in Boulder County, which is why its Hunger Hurts the Whole Community food drive is so important. In 2006, the food bank distributed more than 3.4 million meals through its 86 partner agencies and direct distribution programs. The food drive runs Wednesday through March 30.
RELATED: CFPI: The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Boulder-Longmont, CO PMSA, 2004 Boulder County
http://www.longmontfyi.com/assets/pdf/Boulder-Longmont-CO-PMSA04.pdf

Difference maker
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25790
Carrie Godes, director of community care for the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, said the VNA's "niche is to serve the underserved." And with a newly awarded federal designation, the VNA could improve upon how -- and how often -- it delivers service to those demographics. The VNA announced Monday that Moffat, Jackson and Routt counties have been declared Medically Underserved Populations, a distinction that could help the organization receive state and federal money for health care programs and aid in physician recruitment.

County helps fund meth task force
http://postindependent.com/article/20070320/VALLEYNEWS/103200023
A regional study of methamphetamine use and related crimes is under way that will help quantify the problem in Garfield County. Results will also direct the efforts of a newly formed task force headed up by the District Attorney's Office. Students from Grand Junction's Mesa State College are combing through court records in Mesa, Delta, Garfield and Montrose counties to determine just how much the courts are impacted by meth. The data will be used by the task forces to determine the extent of the meth problem, said Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cheney. Data collected from court records and interviews with jail inmates will identify the frequency of meth-related crime in the counties.
RELATED: GarCo clears funds for meth task force
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_3a_GarCo_meth.html

Grant pays for life-saving devices at local ski area
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070320/NEWS/70320001
Keep the Beat, which is coordinated through Summit County Ambulance Service, recently outfitted the ski area with three automatic external defibrillators (AED) through its grant process. One AED replaced an older machine the in ski patrol headquarters and the other two are available for public use — one is at the Black Mountain Lodge at the top of the Exhibition Lift and another sits inside the A-Frame. The devices allow someone to deliver an electric shock to a patient’s chest and walks the user through the steps of giving CPR.

Group: Lower age for drinking
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15280
When John McCardell was president of Middlebury College in Vermont, he felt frustrated that younger students were binge drinking behind closed doors. McCardell thinks the laws that prohibit 18- to 20-year-olds from drinking contribute to such dangerous binge drinking. “They’re drinking irresponsibly and in ways impossible to supervise or manage,” he said. McCardell wants support for a controversial idea: lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, so 18- to 20-year-olds can drink openly under supervision. He believes younger adults will drink more responsibly if they’re educated about the issues and legally allowed to drink.

On the 'last drink' trail: Survey looks for place impaired drivers were last
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/20/on-the-last-drink-trail/
Boulder police have a new question for the people they pull over for driving under the influence: "Where did you have your last drink?" In a project that has the support of the city, a bar industry group and the University of Colorado, the officials who run the school's alcohol-education program have been collecting and analyzing those answers to find out where most drunken drivers were getting impaired. Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 10 of last year, Boulder police arrested 914 people for driving under the influence and got an answer to the "last drink" question from 647 of them. The data shows 50 percent of drunken drivers last imbibed at a bar, while 17 percent said they last drank at home and 14 percent at a friend's house.

Booze ban creates discontent
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200049
Dozens of people expressed displeasure Monday over this summer's BYOB ban at the Snowmass Free Concert Series.

Pet owners "frantic" over food recall
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475231
Deb Dempsey's pet boutique, Mouthfuls, is normally closed Mondays, but because of the pet-food recall, she decided to open. It was a good decision. In 90 minutes, she had at least 30 visits and received dozens of phone calls from anxious owners worried about whether their pets had eaten tainted food.
RELATED: Pet food recall prompts calls
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200088
RELATED: Recalled pet food may have killed dog, vet says
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_1a_et_food.html
RELATED: Pet owners stressed by massive national recall
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070319/NEWS/103190056

Mouse in chips still a mystery
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20350&template=article.html
A dead mouse found in a middle school student’s barbecue-flavored potato chips appears to have gnawed its way through the bag and was not a hoax or production-line mishap, Frito-Lay announced Monday. Employees at the Plano, Texasbased company found a chew hole in the bag through which the mouse likely entered, Frito-Lay said in a statement. But exactly when and where the mouse may have slipped into its flavorful, saltine grave remains a mystery.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Some crime reports just didn't add up
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5430215,00.html
Some fast-growing Denver neighborhoods have a significantly lower crime rate than reported last month in the city's annual crime report. Using revised population estimates, crime in Gateway/Green Valley Ranch in the northeast corner of the city ranked 48th among the city's 79 neighborhoods - not 14th, as reported last month. A similar drop was calculated for Lowry Field, where crime ranks 52nd among the city's neighborhoods, not 13th, according to a draft statement obtained by the Rocky Mountain News on Monday. The re-calculation of crime rates was prompted by City Council President Michael Hancock, who says he was disturbed that the city's annual report of neighborhood crime statistics showed crime spiking in Green Valley Ranch.
RELATED: Denver's crime rankings to change
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475517

Denver police sue to get paid
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5476001
Denver police officers accused the city in a federal lawsuit Monday of failing to pay them properly - part of a wave of suits challenging the way police are paid nationwide. Attorneys representing 16 Denver officers, with 287 signed on in support, contend that police ought to be paid from the moment they put on their gear to begin shifts. They cite a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving meat cutters that held time spent "donning and doffing" safety equipment counts as work. The Denver lawsuit, assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch, also accuses the city of delaying payment of overtime wages and of keeping frontline officers from taking compensatory time off after working long weeks.

Feds seek inmate's death
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5429232,00.html
He's been known to wrestle out of leather wrist restraints. Another time, federal inmate William Sablan threw steaming coffee on a guard's neck and threatened to kill him. Those are among the allegations federal jurors heard Monday as prosecutors began making a case that Sablan, convicted of first-degree murder for killing and gutting his cellmate, is simply too dangerous to let live - even behind bars.

CSP II closer to breaking ground
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=6442
Groundbreaking is near for the long-awaited Colorado State Penitentiary II and the project is in the bid process, Rep. Buffie McFadyen told a handful of citizens Saturday. “We’re just waiting for the final piece of funding,” McFadyen said during the Cañon City Chamber of Commerce Legislative Hour. “It has gone out to bid, so it is in the process.” McFadyen, one of the six members of the Colorado General Assembly Capital Development Committee, said the CSP II is four years behind but is scheduled to be completed by late 2009 or early 2010.

Public protest stops new jail in Montrose
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_9b_Montrose_jail.html
A company that wanted to turn an old Region 10 office building into a jail has withdrawn its offer following community protests. Gregg Kildow, executive director of Intervention Community Corrections Services of Lakewood, said his company decided not to pursue plans to buy the Region 10 building at 300 North Cascade Ave. because the neighbors didn’t want it there. “That the community was not in favor of it at all being in that location weighed very heavily, and zoning was in question,” Kildow said. Kildow said his company is working with the county about its next step, which could include building the correctional facility on land near the Montrose County Criminal Justice Center.

Mom's slaying spurs change
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475165
Lafayette officers made at least one referral to county social workers about family problems in Linda Damm's home before her daughter was arrested and accused of participating in her killing, Police Chief Paul Schultz said Monday. Boulder County social workers insist they never received the referral - despite police paperwork showing a fax had been sent. They blame either a technical glitch in a fax machine or a "human glitch," such as someone inadvertently throwing away the report. To prevent similar problems in the future, the agencies agreed to change the system.
RELATED: Social services, police to work on cooperation
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/20/social-services-police-to-work-on-cooperation/

Former deputy charged in child porn case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5428724,00.html
A former Arapahoe County sheriff's deputy facing federal child pornography charges wrote an Internet message that it is God's will that kids be trained sexually at birth, according to logs taken from the suspect's computer. Douglas Morrill Peek, 53, of Centennial, is charged with one count each of transporting, possessing, distribution and receipt of child pornography. Magistrate Michael Hegarty was told of the logs during a detention hearing in federal court today. Hegarty ordered Peek to remain behind bars.

Police training center aims to be preeminent site in Northern Colo.
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200089
Greeley Police officers will soon have a new weapon at their disposal to combat crime in the city: an up-to-date training facility. And though it isn't much to look at now, come next year, the center will be state-of-the-art. The department is adding six buildings and a couple more firing ranges to its 9-acre property at the current training center at 3040 E. 8th St. The improvements to the facility will cost more than $1 million. Of that, $600,000 is coming from 2A bond money -- also known as the Quality of Life initiative -- voters approved in November 2004. That money also built the new police headquarters.

Top

Economy

Lists provide strategy hints
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5429911,00.html
Joe Nacchio's attorneys and federal prosecutors issued intriguing witness lists Monday that included Qwest founder Phil Anschutz as a potential defense witness and Anschutz official and former Qwest director Craig Slater as a possible prosecution witness. Former Qwest chief legal counsel Drake Tempest - who commuted with Nacchio, Qwest's former CEO, from the East Coast to the telco's Denver headquarters - was named as a possible witness for both the prosecution and the defense. Nacchio's team, based on the witness list, still seems intent on pursuing a national security defense, arguing Nacchio was optimistic about the telco's ability to land lucrative government contracts to offset any business weakness. The witness list also suggests his attorneys will argue he was advised by his stock brokers to diversify his holdings and he didn't possess nonpublic material information required to be disclosed.
RELATED: Jury selection continuing, but slowly
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5428339,00.html
RELATED: Protester alternates signs at Nacchio trial
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5428324,00.html
RELATED: Anschutz could testify for Nacchio
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5472356
RELATED: Selection of jurors moves fast
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5475203
RELATED: Colo. attorney to open the prosecution
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5474826

Benefit concert delivers blizzard of donations
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174398568/6
Fueled by Michael Martin Murphey and Friends concert Sunday, the Operation Blizzard Benefit has collected more than $680,000 in cash, hay and other in-kind services for farmers and ranchers affected by the devastating blizzards this winter. With donations still coming in, event organizers said that the benefit already has surpassed its original goal, but more is needed. "Our original goal was to raise $500,000 and we are proud to have surpassed that number," said Alan Fouts, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau. "But it's important to remember that this is an ongoing effort. It's not too late to donate and we certainly encourage residents to continue to support our agriculture folks across the state."

POWERBALL: UNMASKING THE COLORADO CURSE (EXTRA!, March 20)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5430243,00.html
The thought has crossed our quick-as-lightning minds at Extra! that we haven't seen many Powerball winners from Colorado. Good guess. Because, since the state joined Powerball on Aug. 2, 2001, there has NEVER been a winning ticket sold in our fair state. That's 584 drawings, and with 29 states, plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands participating in Powerball, we figure "our share" of winners should have amounted to at least a chubby handful. Not ZERO! It turns out, says Kristen Shew of the Colorado Lottery office, that Colorado is on a short list of eligible states and territories that have never won: Maine, North Dakota, Vermont and the Virgin Islands. Here's a tip: If you want to increase your chances of winning Powerball, move to . . . Indiana. Seems the Hoosier State has produced 33 winners. The hogs.

Aurora not out of race for NASCAR track
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5430236,00.html
If this were a poker game, it seems there would be only one player at the table. All of the noise around a possible NASCAR track in the Denver area has come from Commerce City, since International Speedway Corp. announced interest last month in building one there or in Aurora. ISC representatives insist that both cities are equally in the running. But with six weeks to go before the ISC reportedly says it will show its hand, negotiations in Aurora are proceeding extremely quietly and without any fanfare. One obstacle in Aurora's way is a charter amendment that requires the city to get voter approval for any financial incentives going to a racetrack.
RELATED: Denver expert takes wheel for speedway
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5475190

Colorado ski numbers strong
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/03/20/news/news02.txt
It’s been a great winter if you live in a Colorado ski town, and a cruddy one if you spend your weekends trying to get to one of them.

Carbondale staff steers away from Home Depot
http://postindependent.com/article/20070320/VALLEYNEWS/103200029
Town staff has recommended pursuing a "flex zone" development option for the controversial Crystal River Marketplace property, rather than one that would include a Home Depot or other large-format retailer. In a memo sent to town trustees Monday afternoon, Town Manager Tom Baker suggested that the Home Depot option, while potentially bringing in more revenues for the town, could further divide the community.

Books, beans seized
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200102
Northern Colorado farmers may be out $1 million owed them for pinto beans after the Colorado Department of Agriculture has seized records and commodities of a grain company that operates in Weld County. The department took the action Monday against Western International Grain Co. Inc. The company has facilities in Milliken, southwest of Greeley, and in Burlington in eastern Colorado. Items taken by the department include commodities -- mostly pinto beans -- books and records, said Steve Bornmann, section chief for the inspection and consumer services section of the ag department. A company spokeswoman said no one would comment about the situation. Christi Lightcap, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said the department is preventing Western from moving any more commodities from either of its Colorado locations until the investigation is completed, perhaps by later this week.

Low-income earners, seniors missing refund
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20337&template=article.html
Here’s an investment tip guaranteed to make you a lot of money — invest 39 cents in a first-class stamp and in a few weeks watch it turn into $30-$60. How can you get in on this hot tip? Well, first, it’s open to those seniors and low-income wage earners who usually don’t make enough to file income taxes with the Internal Revenue Service. If that’s you, get a copy of IRS form 1040EZ-T at www.irs.gov or request one by calling 1-800-829-3676. By sending the IRS that form, you will get back $30 if you are single, $40 if you are married, and $50-$60 if you are married with children. Hurry, offer ends April 17. For this tax-filing year only, the IRS is offering this refund as part of the telephone excise tax refund program. Congress repealed this tax and ordered Americans be refunded the tax they paid on their phone bills the past three years. The amount is an estimate of the average tax paid, so consumers also have the option of requesting the actual amount paid by adding up their tax on the past three years of their phone bills. Through the end of February, one out of three filers in Colorado has filed taxes without claiming this free money, leaving $5 million on the table, said Jean Carl, IRS spokeswoman in Denver.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

Foreclosure looms for many in Larimer County
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/NEWS01/703200353/1002
More than 1,250 Larimer County residents know exactly where Irey is coming from. They are the names and faces behind the soaring foreclosure rates in Larimer County. A new statewide study ranks Larimer County ninth in the state for foreclosure filings, with a reported 1,253 filings in 2006, up from 974 in 2005. Colorado, for months, has led the nation in the number of foreclosures, a statistic indicative of a sluggish housing market. "I want to stay in my home so badly," Irey said. "It isn't anything fancy, but I have wonderful neighbors and I'm just so happy here." Irey said she called several local agencies when she got into financial trouble, but none could help. "Everybody told me I can't afford to live in this house."

Top

Media

America's war, America's media
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/19/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
As the four-year anniversary for the Iraq War hit, many organizations and individuals spoke out in some way. CU gave students and the public the opportunity to hear a European perspective on the war Monday, as well as how it is covered in the continent's media, from three German broadcast journalists. “Regardless of what side of the fence you are on, we tend to forget that Europeans have a completely different view on the war,” said graduate student Richard Spiegel. “It (gave) students a broader perspective.” The talk, which was sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, was part of a larger four-week-long German-American journalist exchange program, Radio in the American Sector (RIAS). According to Spiegel, CU is part of the academic portion of the program in which the guests participate in forums and lectures.

National CineMedia posts $700,000 quarterly profit
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5429193,00.html
National CineMedia, which sells on-screen advertising in movie theaters, swung to a profit of $700,000 during its debut quarter as a publicly held company. The Centennial-based company's revenue soared 66 percent to $74.1 million during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 28 as it added more theater screens to its advertising network and converted founding member legacy contracts. National CineMedia, a venture of the nation's three largest theater chains, last month raised $798 million in an IPO that at the time was the richest for 2007. The company is using the proceeds to pay off its three founding members, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark Inc. and Phil Anschutz's Regal Entertainment Group. The company's shares are up about 29 percent since its Feb. 7 stock offering.

Top

Education

Online ed: Virtual debate
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475167
The rapid rise in cyberschool popularity - along with a damaging state audit criticizing some schools for poor management - has Colorado lawmakers considering sweeping legislation to more clearly define the role of virtual schools and how the state should fund them. All the attention has some families uneasy. Almost 300 parents and their children were at the Capitol recently, grabbing lawmakers in the hallways to tout online learning.

Teacher tracking system (Under the dome, 3/20)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475186
A measure that would set up a statewide teacher tracking system is headed for the governor's desk. Senate Bill 140, which creates a commission to avert future teacher shortages, passed the House.

CSU board rep bill sent for governor's signature
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174398568/3
A measure to revamp the Colorado State University governing board was sent to Gov. Bill Ritter on Monday. The Colorado Senate gave final approval to a measure that will ensure that at least one person from Southern Colorado serves on the nine-person board, with the potential for as many as three. Under SB52, introduced by Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, the CSU board would be made up of seven members from each of the state's congressional districts, two of whom work in the agricultural field. Of the remaining two members, one must reside in Southern Colorado or be a graduate of CSU-Pueblo, and the second must live in Larimer County or be an alum of CSU-Fort Collins.

CSU-Pueblo makes provost permanent
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174398568/2
Take the interim designation from the provost at Colorado State University-Pueblo. CSU-Pueblo President Joseph Garcia announced Monday that Russ Meyer was selected from three finalists to continue to serve as the university's chief academic officer. Meyer has been serving as the interim provost since Barbara Montgomery stepped down from the position in August. He also had served two months as interim president until Garcia arrived in August. Prior to his appointment as interim provost Meyer had been the dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU-Pueblo since 2000.

5 BVSD teachers earn national certification
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/20/5-bvsd-teachers-earn-national-certification/
Lynn Jackson wanted to rededicate herself to the teaching profession after 28 years in the classroom. So the Eldorado K-8 fourth-grade teacher spent about eight months fulfilling the requirements for national board certification, often considered the gold standard for teachers. "You're afraid you're going to become one of those teachers where everybody goes, 'When are you going to retire?'" Jackson said. "It provided me a focus. There was really a sense of pride in being the best you can be and doing it for the right reasons." Jackson is one of five Boulder Valley School District teachers who recently earned the certification, doubling the number of teachers in the district who've met national teaching standards.

PSD reconsiders open-enrollment policy
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/NEWS01/70320002/1002
The way Poudre School District factors school choice priority could change next year as Superintendent Jerry Wilson and his administration consider a revision to the district’s open-enrollment policy. The proposed revision was explained by district officials at the School Board work session Monday night.

Special prosecutor in CU case
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/20/special-prosecutor-in-cu-case/
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers has agreed to let a special prosecutor review the case of an Aurora woman who alleges she was raped by a University of Colorado football recruit in 2000. The woman's attorney, David Heckenbach, sent letters March 2 to Chambers and Gov. Bill Ritter requesting that the DA turn over the nearly 7-year-old case to an outside prosecutor. Ritter declined to intervene.

Fire to keep school closed through Wednesday
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5429724,00.html
Bear Creek High School students will miss class at least through Wednesday as crews continue to mop the damage and debris caused by a weekend fire. The interior of the campus remains smoky, and Jefferson County School District officials said they decided to close the school because of health concerns. Cleanup crews also are having to deal with a large amount of soot that has stained walls and furniture. About 1,880 students attend Bear Creek high. "We want to make sure it’s healthy for the kids to come back, and there’s a lot of cleanup work," Lynn Setzer, the school district spokeswoman, said.

Top

Military

Slain soldier saw the world before enlisting
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/20/slain-soldier-saw-the-world-before-enlisting/
Adventure was a way of life for Army Spc. Stephen M. Kowalczyk, who had already traveled the world by foot, bicycle, van — and occasionally surfboard — before he enlisted at age 29. So it always seemed that the former Boulder resident would come home from the war in Iraq with new stories to tell. "We knew Steve was going to the front lines," said his older brother, Michael Kowalczyk, of San Francisco. "He was basically in one of the most dangerous jobs in one of the most dangerous places. Just with Steve, I somehow never thought it would happen." Stephen Kowalczyk, 32, died Wednesday in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, when his unit came under enemy small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in Fort Hood, Texas.

Marines schedule memorial Sunday
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103190107
The Union Colony Marines will conduct a memorial for another of their fallen at 2 p.m. Sunday. The memorial, at the Weld County Veterans Memorial in Bittersweet Park, 16th Street and 35th Avenue, will be in honor of Staff Sgt. Dustin Gould of Longmont, who was killed in action March 2 in Iraq.

Army protects farmland buffer
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5471953
The Army Compatible Use Buffer, as the program is known, is part of the Defense Department's readiness and environmental protection initiative. For fiscal 2008, the Pentagon is seeking $30 million for the initiative, which also draws financial support from local and state governments and nonprofit groups interested in protecting habitats around military bases. The program is in its fourth year, and more than two dozen buffers have been completed. One of the most successful partnerships has been at Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne Division, in North Carolina. The military and the Nature Conservancy negotiated the purchase of a conservation easement on a tree farm, ending the threat of commercial development and allowing the Army to continue combat training programs. Creating the buffer zone at Fort Bragg has led to the recovery of the North Carolina Sandhills population of the red-cockaded woodpecker, the first for that species. In past decades, the armed forces have not always been seen as a steward of the environment, in part because of toxic wastes generated by installations and their weapons systems. But the military's attitude has changed as the U.S. population increases and once-remote forts and bases have been surrounded by metropolitan areas. In recent years, urban sprawl has threatened Marine training near San Diego and Army training near Colorado Springs. The Army is projected to add 30,000 troops and with base closures and realignments scheduled, the military is under pressure to maximize the use of its bases without alienating nearby communities.

Blood donors back troops at war
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5429235,00.html
A veteran of three wars - World War II, Korea and Vietnam - 73-year-old George Froemke said donating blood was the least he could do to support the troops in Iraq. So did 64-year-old Mary Esteve, who in a bright red sweater and with her trusty black guide dog by her side, stood out among the sea of blue smocks that swirled around inside the Arnold Hall ballroom at the Air Force Academy during its blood drive to support wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I came to donate because it's the least I can do to support the soldiers in Iraq," said Esteve, a blind Colorado Springs resident whose dog of eight years, Astrid, was recovering from cancer surgery the day before. "That, and say a prayer for them." With a ratio of one civilian to every uniformed donor, local residents said they came to support the soldiers at a time when support for President Bush and the war in Iraq is waning.

Second graders meet pen pal back from Iraq
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/19/local_news/1.txt
Often children have pen pals whom they write to learn more about the world. For Paula Welch’s second grade class at Colorado West Christian School, they had the chance to meet their globetrotting correspondent, Commander Don Bailey, Friday during a ceremony to welcome home the decorated veteran. “I just paid one year of my life,” Bailey said. “However we must remember all those soldiers who have given their lives in the line of service. I got to come home.”

Top

Religion

EBay says rule barred sale of escort's massage table
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5429234,00.html
The listing for the purple massage table "where it all happened" between gay escort Mike Jones and fallen evangelical leader Ted Haggard was taken off eBay because of a violation of its charity policy, not because of complaints from Christians, an official of the online auction company said. Jones put the table up for sale two weeks ago to benefit Project Angel Heart, a nonprofit that provides meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Jones believed the table had been taken down from the site because of pressure from Christian groups. One organization, an "ex-gay" ministry called Compassion without Compromise, called the auction "reprehensible" and urged people to contact eBay and ask it to remove the item.
RELATED: Ebay cancels online auction
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475415
RELATED: Massage table in Haggard scandal pulled by eBay
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20338&template=article.html

Top

Energy Policy

Governor hopes election on severance tax won't be this year
http://postindependent.com/article/20070320/VALLEYNEWS/103200028
A ballot measure may be forthcoming to seek an increase in the severance tax on the oil and gas industry, but Gov. Bill Ritter would prefer that any vote not take place this year. The tax is lower than in some other states in the region, which has led to increasing calls to boost it to help Colorado meet revenue needs. Ritter said Monday that people around the state have wanted to go to the ballot with a severance tax increase this fall. However, he hopes the election is delayed for strategic reasons. Ritter said a commission that will make recommendations on transportation improvements in the state is likely to propose a ballot measure for 2008. He hopes to see any state tax measures planned in a coordinated fashion. He fears the possibility of such measures being proposed in back-to-back years, even if one of them targets one industry rather than the public at large. He noted, however, that it's ultimately up to those initiating a measure to decide when they want to place it on the ballot.

Ritter: Energy bill is response to Garfield County concerns
http://postindependent.com/article/20070320/VALLEYNEWS/103200026
Gov. Bill Ritter said Monday that regulatory reforms he is proposing are a direct response to concerns he has heard in Garfield County about the effects of energy development on air and water quality. He also said those reforms and others under consideration by the state legislature should not prove too burdensome for producers of natural gas and other energy. "We're hopeful that we can keep this industry still an industry that thrives," Ritter said. Ritter spoke on energy and other issues in a phone interview with the Post Independent. His administration has proposed changing the makeup of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to reduce its level of industry-related representation and include members focused on interests such as wildlife, public health and the environment.

Clean air plan goes to county
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070320_5.htm
A local environmental group has asked Montezuma County commissioners to request a public hearing in Cortez on the Desert Rock Energy Project. Members of the San Juan Citizens Alliance told commissioners Monday that even if Sithe Global’s proposed 1,500-kilowatt, coal-fired power plant is not built, area emissions will increase.

Estimated 150 barrels of condensate spilled near Vega Reservoir
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_1a_Vega_Spill.html
An estimated 150 barrels of condensate spilled from a Delta Petroleum natural gas well pad and flowed partially into a dry irrigation ditch on March 15 near Vega Reservoir, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Two days later, about two gallons of motor oil spilled on a nearby Delta Petroleum well pad. Tricia Beaver, commission hearings manager, said Monday the condensate spill occurred when a well pad reserve pit overflowed. Cordilleran Compliance Services began containing the spill on Friday, she said. Condensate is a liquid that is pumped from the ground with natural gas and is similar to gasoline, she said. “We don’t make a distinction between crude oil and condensate; they’re sort of similar,” Beaver said, adding the composition of condensate varies from area to area.

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

FasTracks bill carrying a lot of freight
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475182
FasTracks proponents told a Senate committee Monday that freight railroads need immunity from liability in the event of a commuter-rail accident if RTD's $4.7 billion rail expansion is to move forward. Senate Bill 219, which limits the liability of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads if they allow passenger trains in their corridors, is "absolutely pivotal for the buildout of the FasTracks program," Regional Transportation District chief Cal Marsella told members of the Senate Judiciary committee. FasTracks rail lines to Arvada/Wheat Ridge, Boulder/Longmont, Denver International Airport and north Adams County were planned to run in BN and UP freight corridors when metro-Denver voters approved the FasTracks tax in November 2004. But in January 2005, a fatal accident near Los Angeles involving an sport utility vehicle, commuter-rail trains and a freight train led the Burlington Northern in particular to demand immunity from liability for accidents involving passenger rail, officials said.

Top

Environment and Conservation

Allard pitching elk-hunting plan
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200085
His bill would require the U.S. Department of Interior secretary to consult with the state division of wildlife on hunting guidelines, require a resident big-game hunting license and limit elk hunting in compliance with the Elk Management Plan. While hunting is typically prohibited in national parks, there are exceptions. White-tailed deer, black bear and ruffed grouse can be hunted in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, which is operated by the National Park Service, according to the release. U.S. Rep. Mark Udall introduced similar legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives in February.

Skico's Schendler has ear of Congress
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200050
The Aspen Skiing Co. gets a chance Tuesday to spread its message in the U.S. Congress about the potential effects of global warming on the ski industry. Auden Schendler, the Skico's executive director of community and environmental affairs, is scheduled to testify before the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. The subcommittee is holding a hearing to explore, in part, how climate change could affect management of public lands. Schendler said his opportunity to testify before Congress fits well with the Skico's strategy of using Aspen's high profile to draw attention to global warming.

Upgrades on horizon for Newmont
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5428994,00.html
Newmont Mining Corp., the world's second-biggest gold producer, will spend $1.8 billion to $2 billion this year to build new gold mines, improve older ones and cut mining costs. The move comes as the Denver-based gold company staves off declining production, skyrocketing costs and faltering stock prices amid takeover speculation by the world's biggest gold miner, Barrick Gold.
RELATED: Verdict may affect plans in Indonesia
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5428996,00.html

BLM plans for Gateway to become hub of recreation
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_1b_Gateway_BLM_plan.html
The Gateway area may not be the next Moab yet, but the Bureau of Land Management is preparing for swarms of new visitors to this former blank spot on the map, just in case. The BLM announced Monday it will soon create a management plan for 198,000 acres of public land around Gateway in anticipation of large crowds using the area in connection with Gateway Canyons Resort.

140,000 seedlings to be planted in Hayman burn area
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5428458,00.html
Nearly 140,000 ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir seedlings are slated to be planted on 121 acres of the Hayman burn area in early April. The U.S. Forest Service will again plant year-old evergreens in the area in which 137,000 acres burned in 2002, consuming 133 homes and causing $38 million in damages. Forest Service spokeswoman Barbara Timock said in a release that the project covers 121 acres in the Box Creek area. She said the purpose of the planting is to restore trees on lands stripped during the mining days of the 1800’s. The area is currently dominated by lodgepole pine, so these additional trees will add variety.

Universal Forest Products seeks teachers
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200090
Universal Forest Products is looking for northern Colorado teachers to attend a three-day Sustainable Forestry Tour in Idaho. The third annual trip will be June 20-23, and provides the teachers with a real look at how the forest industry company runs. "We want to present an unbiased view on what the industry really does," said Mike Mordell, executive vice president of purchasing for Universal's Western Division. "We run the people through the whole process and the biology involved." The teachers also will learn how to communicate to future generations about the lumber industry. "We don't try to slant it, we just present what goes on," said Mordell, who is based out of the Windsor plant.

Police defend shooting young bison
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475180
The decision to shoot instead of tranquilize a young bison that had thundered through Green Mountain area neighborhoods Saturday was not made hastily, Lakewood police said Monday. "Every attempt was made to come up with some other plan," said Lakewood police spokesman Steve Davis. "The buffalo was shot at the direction of the owner."

Mold attacking lawns
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25801
Many Front Range lawns are now being afflicted with gray snow mold, caused by a fungus called "Typhula incarnate." Snow mold most often occurs during periods of prolonged snow cover, but can also occur where leaves and other debris has accumulated on lawns during the fall and winter, said Tony Koski, a turf specialist with the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Agency. North-facing lawns, shaded lawns, and areas where snowplowing or drifting snow created especially deep snow will be the most commonly affected parts of the landscape. The fungus is most active in moist lawns at temperatures just above freezing. Circular patches (6 to 12 inches across) will have a moldy appearance if the fungus is actively growing -- usually just as the snow melts and the lawn is exposed.

Last of one-room school houses to be preserved
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070320/NEWS/103200097
A group of northeast Weld County residents are attempting to preserve the remnants of a long-ago time. The Prairie View School is the last of 13 one-room school houses that dotted the prairie between Ault and Grover-Hereford and hasn't been used for the past three years. The Drylanders Museum and High Plains Historical Society have started an effort to preserve the school, moving it to a new location next to the Drylanders Museum in Nunn. That effort will take about $20,000, but the Colorado Historical Society has been contacted to help with at least part of that funding, said Dave Barnes, who is president of the High Plains board. The school is about 15 miles east and slightly north of Nunn.

Top

Opinion

State should join the Feb. 5 delegate party
http://test.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5475425
The date is shaping up as the key one in 2008 for presidential primaries and caucuses. Colorado should follow suit if the state is to have any voice.

Nannyism
http://pueblochieftain.com/editorial/1174398568/2
COLORADO LAWMAKERS are attempting to pass legislation which would give police officers the right to pull drivers over for not wearing their seat belts. The bill is scheduled to be heard today in the House Transportation and Energy Committee. We agree that seat belts do save lives. And we agree that people should wear them. And we believe most people do these days. But this bill smacks of more nannyism. It would give police the right to stop just about anyone to check on their seat belt status, and officers could use this as a pretext to check for other violations. We don’t think Coloradans want to live in a police state. SB181 should be deep-sixed.

Campos: The Gonzales question
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5430286,00.html
A friend of mine, a senior partner at a high-powered and politically well-connected law firm based in Washington, D.C., speculates that Gonzales will survive the scandal, in large part because he is the highest-ranking Hispanic legal official in American history, and Democrats will be reluctant to risk alienating Hispanic voters by treating Gonzales harshly. I suppose this may be right, but it's the kind of argument that, as a Hispanic, annoys me a great deal. On the one hand, I understand the point of the black comedian Chris Rock's joke about how seeing a lead-in to a TV news story about some particularly gruesome crime always makes him think, "Please don't let it be a black guy." On the other, if the Senate investigation of the firings leads to the conclusion that Gonzales behaved unethically by caving in to demands from Republicans that U.S. attorneys be fired for either failing to bring weak cases against Democratic politicians, or for bringing strong cases against Republicans, then Gonzales himself will deserve to be fired.
RELATED: Casey: When will the lies ever end?
http://test.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5475432

Quillen: Fed up with being misled
http://test.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5475429
In 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, Gen. Eric Shinseki told a congressional committee that "something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably, you know, a figure that would be required. We're talking about post-hostilities control over a piece of geography that's fairly significant, with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems. And so it takes a significant ground force presence to maintain a safe and secure environment, to ensure that people are fed, that water is distributed, all the normal responsibilities that go along with administering a situation like this." His sanity wasn't questioned, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Shinseki's estimate was "far off the mark" and did not attend his retirement ceremony four months later. In February of 2003, Rumsfeld said the Iraq war "could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." The next month, Vice President Dick Cheney predicted the war "would go relatively quickly," in "weeks rather than months." On Monday, the president told us that "success will take months, not days or weeks," but he has opposed any timetable. Is it too much to ask the Bush administration why it deserves public support, when it's been so wrong for so long? Americans have fought long wars, short wars, defensive wars, invasive wars, just about any kind of war you can image. But there's got to be a limit on national tolerance for being misled.

There they go again...
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/20/there-they-go-again/
Environmentalists cheered when the most ardent Congressional opponent of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, of California, was defeated in November. In the years leading up to his electoral demise, Pombo had tried just about every trick in the book to undermine the act, one of the most important tools for environmental protection ever adopted by Congress (and signed, remarkably, by then-President Richard Nixon). We Americans — left, right, Republican, Democrat — tend to identify political bogeymen and pretend that if we can just cleanse the Earth of one enemy — Bill Clinton, Osama bin Laden, Donald Rumsfeld, or whomever — then all will be well. But that's both simplistic and almost always wrong. Pombo and former Interior Secretary Gale Norton may be gone, but the Endangered Species Act remains in the cross hairs, as evidenced by the latest attempt at an end-run by the Bush administration.

Carman: Global-warming deniers feeling the heat
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5475168
The drumbeat of skepticism over global warming has been oddly muted in the weeks since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its summary report in February. For some who found peculiar solace in believing that the world's leading scientists were all idiots, it's been a rough spell.

Another fox in the henhouse
http://test.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5475424
The Bush administration's efforts to dismantle regulatory protections continue unabated with the nomination of Michael Baroody to head the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This small but influential body, created by Congress in 1972, regulates more than 15,000 products in an effort to protect the public from death or injury. When you hear of a recall of a dangerous toy or a faulty home appliance, chances are that's the commission at work. President Bush's nomination of Baroody to head this important agency has consumer advocates up in arms, and for good reason. Baroody has spent much of his professional life as a Republican functionary and a manufacturing industry lobbyist who has tried to limit product safety regulations.

Lewis: Up a creek - but with a battle
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5475271
A river runs through it. And Wal-Mart wants to build a supercenter next to it. The South Platte Park is a natural flood plain downstream from the Chatfield Reservoir. It is 672 acres of woodlands, grasslands and wetlands in the heart of suburbia. It is home to more than "300 species of vertebrates ... and hundreds more native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs," says the park's website. The Wal-Mart Supercenter would be an adjacent plain of concrete and asphalt that would never close. Its brightly lit parking lot would be home to petroleum-seeping cars, trucks, SUVs and mini vans, lured from busy Santa Fe Drive, just north of even busier C-470. "The city needs the money," Littleton Mayor Jim Taylor said. "It's that simple."

Speech could take a hit
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5429022,00.html
If Joseph Frederick had been in his Juneau, Alaska, school that day in 2002 when he unfurled a 14-foot banner that read "Bong hits 4 Jesus," we'd say that then-principal Deborah Morse would have been within her rights to make him take it down. It could plausibly be interpreted as a message promoting the use of an illegal drug, although it could just as plausibly be interpreted as what it apparently was - a publicity stunt. But Frederick was across the street from school, with a group of students watching the Winter Olympics torch relay pass by. Frederick was suspended from school for 10 days and he sued, saying his free speech rights had been violated. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the student, and the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the appeal on Monday. In a public setting, Frederick should be free to say anything he likes - and the fact that the message may go against school policy shouldn't make any difference.

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

Clinton, Obama Camps Spar on War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031902165.html
A brewing argument over Iraq between the presidential campaigns of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama broke into public view here Monday night when Clinton's chief strategist challenged Obama's credentials as a consistent opponent of the war. Mark Penn and Obama strategist David Axelrod engaged in a pointed and occasionally heated exchange during a public forum at Harvard University over the issue that has become the central point of dispute between the two leading candidates for the 2008 Democratic nomination. Clinton (N.Y.) voted for the October 2002 resolution authorizing the Iraq war, while Obama (Ill.), then a state senator, publicly opposed the war. The exchange marked the most substantive clash to date between the Obama and Clinton campaigns and reflected frustration among Clinton advisers over the Illinois senator's use of the issue to distinguish his candidacy.
RELATED: Obama's record shows caution, nuance on Iraq
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/20/obamas_record_shows_caution_nuance_on_iraq/

G.O.P. Candidates Confront Immigration Politics
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/politics/20immig.html?ref=washington
Immigration, an issue that has divided Republicans in Washington, is reverberating across the party’s presidential campaign field, causing particular complications for Senator John McCain of Arizona. The topic came up repeatedly in recent campaign swings through Iowa by Mr. McCain and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, another Republican who, like Mr. McCain, supports giving some illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, a position that puts them at odds with many other conservatives. Both candidates faced intensive questioning from voters on the issue, which has become more prominent in the state as immigrants are playing a larger and increasingly visible role in the economy and society. “Immigration is probably a more powerful issue here than almost anyplace that I’ve been,” Mr. McCain said after a stop in Cedar Falls. As he left Iowa, Mr. McCain said he was reconsidering his views on how the immigration law might be changed. He said he was open to legislation that would require people who came to the United States illegally to return home before applying for citizenship, a measure proposed by Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana. Mr. McCain has previously favored legislation that would allow most illegal immigrants to become citizens without leaving the country.

Sen. Specter Plans to Seek 6th Term
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900842.html
Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate who has often clashed with the Bush administration and his fellow GOP lawmakers, said Monday he plans to seek a sixth term in 2010. "There are a lot of important things to be done and finally after being here to acquire some seniority, I'm in a position to do that," said Specter, 77. "I'm full of energy and my wife doesn't want me home for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

G.O.P. Criticizes Schumer’s Dual Roles in Investigation
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20schumer.html
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, has long been seen as one of the best political performers in Washington, a master of spotting hot issues and wringing the most out of them. Now Republicans are using that reputation to raise questions about Mr. Schumer’s credibility, as he mounts a fierce assault against the White House over the ouster of eight United States attorneys in what critics call a political purge. Over the last few weeks, Mr. Schumer has been using his position on the Judiciary Committee to push a Senate inquiry, feeding a political furor that has erupted over the dismissals. He maintains that there is “overwhelming” evidence that some prosecutors were removed because they either pursued cases that the White House deemed contrary to its interests or refused to prosecute cases that it viewed as politically expedient. Mr. Schumer argues that the reputation of the United States Attorney’s Office, as well as that of the Justice Department, is at stake. But Republicans are questioning his motives. They say that as chairman of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee, Mr. Schumer has been more interested in exploiting the issue for political gain than he has been in conducting an impartial investigation.

Fitzgerald Ranked During Leak Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031902036.html
U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald was ranked among prosecutors who had "not distinguished themselves" on a Justice Department chart sent to the White House in March 2005, when he was in the midst of leading the CIA leak investigation that resulted in the perjury conviction of a vice presidential aide, administration officials said yesterday. The ranking placed Fitzgerald below "strong U.S. Attorneys . . . who exhibited loyalty" to the administration but above "weak U.S. Attorneys who . . . chafed against Administration initiatives, etc.," according to Justice documents. The chart was the first step in an effort to identify U.S. attorneys who should be removed. Two prosecutors who received the same ranking as Fitzgerald were later fired, documents show.

Lawmakers Seek Clarity on Earmarks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901797.html
Guidance should come today on a new House rule that bans lawmakers from having a stake in their pork. According to a new anti-corruption measure, House members who tack special spending requests, or earmarks, onto legislation must fully identify the recipient and certify in writing that neither they nor their spouses have a "financial interest" in the earmark. Last week, some members blew the Friday deadline for submitting their earmarks, amid head-scratching over what "financial interest" means. Some wondered, for example: If Congressman X owns the company that gets the highway contract under the earmark, the forbidden path from pork to pocketbook is clear. But what if the highway merely increases the value of the congressman's house? Does that count?

Former IG Says Small Asked Her To Drop Audit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901839.html
The former Smithsonian inspector general who launched an audit of high-ranking officials and their business practices said yesterday that Secretary Lawrence M. Small tried to pressure her to drop the inquiry shortly after she announced it last year. Debra S. Ritt said Small called her before the audit was widened to include his own compensation, but she still found it highly inappropriate. Ritt reported to Small at the time. Ritt resigned in June about a week after broadening the audit -- originally a review of Smithsonian Business Ventures accounting and executive compensation -- to include Small's compensation, which is $915,698 this year.

Watergate plotter may have a last tale
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hunt20mar20,1,6543595.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Two of E. Howard Hunt's sons say he knew of rogue CIA agents' plan to kill President Kennedy in 1963.

Oops! Computer tech accidentally wipes out info on Alaska's $38 billion fund
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-03-20-alaska-data_N.htm
Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroy hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disc drive containing an account worth $38 billion. That may be how a computer technician at the Alaska Department of Revenue feels after deleting applicant information for an oil-funded sales account — one of state residents' biggest perks. While reformatting the disk drive during a routine maintenance check, the technician mistakenly reformatted the back up drive as well and, suddenly, all the data disappeared. But the dread didn't really set in until the department turned to its third line of defense, back up tapes that are updated nightly, only to find those tapes were unreadable.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Justices Consider Rights Issues
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901648.html
In two uniquely American fights pitting individuals against their government, the justices spent the morning considering a high school student from Alaska who argues that his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner was well within his First Amendment rights, and a rancher from Wyoming who says that government harassment threatens his livelihood. And despite the very specific and unusual facts of the individual cases, the court's decisions could provide lasting and far-reaching consequences.
RELATED: Justices weigh free speech vs. school control
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200127mar20,1,1790106.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Justices debate 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-19-student-free-speech_N.htm

Fake dead, blood make argument against war
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200147mar20,1,2707612.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Shortly after the third and final protester against the Iraq war fell to the floor at Rep. Rahm Emanuel's storefront office Monday afternoon, a group of schoolchildren walked by. The protesters, portraying dead bodies, were covered in white sheets smeared with fake blood. The students opened their eyes wide, craned their necks and traded confused grimaces. "I sort of don't get it," said Victoria Ochoa, 8. "I get it," said her friend, Evelyn Diaz, 9. "War is dangerous." On the fourth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, there were modest anti-war demonstrations in cities from coast to coast. Statements large and small were made across the Chicago area.
RELATED: Area marks anniversary with quiet protests, tearful tributes
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/20/area_marks_anniversary_with_quiet_protests_tearful_tributes/
RELATED: On 4th Anniversary of War, a Day of Vigils and Protests
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/20vigils.html

Perdue, Cagle split on slavery apology
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/legis07/stories/2007/03/20/0320slavery.html
[Georgia] Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle on Monday put himself behind a biracial, bipartisan effort to acknowledge the state's role in slavery and seek reconciliation. Cagle made a public declaration of his role only a few hours after his fellow Republican, Gov. Sonny Perdue, gave a more measured response on the issue, after days of silence. "The NAACP is very adamant about a resolution regarding slavery," Cagle said. "The reality is we pass a lot of resolutions that pass on sympathy and regret, and I think it makes sense. If this is something that's important to them and their constituency group, then I think it's the right thing for us to do." Perdue, by contrast, said at an early morning news conference that he wasn't sure the Legislature should get involved in the issue of an apology for slavery. "Repentance comes from the heart," the governor said. "I'm not sure about public apologies on behalf of other people."

Detainee Says He Was Abused While in U.S. Custody
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/world/europe/20hicks.html?ref=world
David Hicks, the first detainee to be formally charged under the new military tribunal rules at Guantánamo Bay, has alleged in a court document filed here that during more than five years in American custody he was beaten several times during interrogations and witnessed the abuse of other prisoners. In an affidavit supporting his request for British citizenship, Mr. Hicks contends that before he arrived at Guantánamo, his American captors threw him and other detainees on the ground, walked on them, stripped him naked, shaved all his body hair and inserted a plastic object in his rectum.

Al-Qaeda Suspect Says He Planned Cole Attack
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900653.html
Walid Muhammad bin Attash, also known as Tawfiq bin Attash, became the second high-value detainee in recent days to stand before U.S. military officers and take responsibility for major attacks against U.S. interests, barely challenging allegations against him. In a brief hearing on March 12 that was closed to the public, bin Attash also was said to have claimed responsibility for an al-Qaeda operation that led to the nearly simultaneous detonation of two truck bombs at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands. Joining the extensive claims of al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed -- who told a tribunal at Guantanamo Bay on March 10 that he was the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- bin Attash linked himself to major attacks that came at the behest of bin Laden. U.S. intelligence officials also believe that bin Attash, who lost his right leg during a battlefield accident in 1997, helped select about two dozen operatives for special training in 1999, training that ultimately led some to participate in the suicide bombing of the Cole, the Sept. 11 attacks and other events.

Top

Foreign Policy

Egyptian cleric: I can't identify Italy abductors
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200136mar20,1,1855642.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The Egyptian cleric whose alleged kidnapping by CIA agents led Italy to indict 26 Americans said he would not be able to identify his abductors if he saw them again, according to an interview released Monday. Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, allegedly was snatched from a Milan, Italy, street in 2003 as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program targeting terrorism suspects. A Milan judge indicted the Americans--all but one are believed to be current or former CIA operatives--in February, but Abu Omar told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine's online edition that he could give few details about them. "I wouldn't be able to identify any of them," the magazine quoted him as saying. "That was a well-planned secret service operation."

Top U.S. Official at Unesco Resigns Before Audit’s Release
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/world/20unesco.html
The highest-ranking American official at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has resigned, just days before an official audit made public on Monday reported that he had violated Unesco’s rules by granting seven contracts to an American consulting firm without an open bidding procedure. The official, Peter Smith, had served for 21 months as assistant director general for education at Unesco’s Paris headquarters. He said in a resignation letter dated March 12 that he was resigning because of a “threat against my life, the inadequate support and follow-up to that threat, and a negative climate in the workplace.”

Poll Shows Dramatic Decline in How Iraqis View Lives, Future
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900421.html
More than six in 10 Iraqis now say that their lives are going badly -- double the percentage who said so in late 2005 -- and about half say that increasing U.S. forces in the country will make the security situation worse, according to a poll of more than 2,200 Iraqis conducted for ABC News and other media organizations. The survey, released Monday, shows that Iraqis' assessments of the quality of their lives and the future of the country have plunged in comparison with similar polling done in November 2005 and February 2004.

Police Yield to Sunni Insurgents' Ultimatum
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901083.html
Dozens of insurgents wielding machine guns surrounded the police station before dawn Monday in Duluiyah, a majority Sunni town about 45 miles north of Baghdad. The five officers on duty walked out, hands to the dark sky, and waited to be executed. But instead of firing, the insurgents' leader spoke: Repent, he commanded, or die. "So we swore to quit the police and support the Islamic State of Iraq," recalled Mohammad Hashmawi, one of the police officers, referring to a militant Sunni organization active in many parts of the country. Apparently content, the insurgents stole the officers' decrepit weapons and the station's communications equipment, blew up the building and released the officers. A similar scene played out simultaneously at another police station in the town, said police Capt. Hussein al-Jaburi. It was the fifth police station in the town to be destroyed by Sunni extremists in two weeks, he said, leaving just three standing.
RELATED: Major joint operation reported in Baghdad
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-19-hurriyah_N.htm

Source: Hussein deputy executed for '82 killings
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200140mar20,1,7955086.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Saddam Hussein's former deputy was hanged before dawn Tuesday for the killings of 148 Shiites, an official with the prime minister's office said. Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Hussein's vice president when the regime was ousted four years ago, was the fourth man to be executed in the killings after a 1982 assassination attempt against Hussein in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad.

Russia sends Iran nuclear ultimatum
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200145mar20,1,1921178.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Russia has informed Iran that it will withhold nuclear fuel for Iran's nearly completed Bushehr power plant unless Iran suspends its uranium enrichment as demanded by the UN Security Council, according to European, American and Iranian officials. The ultimatum was delivered last week in Moscow by Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian National Security Council, to Ali Hosseini Tash, Iran's deputy chief nuclear negotiator, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a confidential diplomatic exchange between two governments was involved.
RELATED: Iranian leader gets visa to address U.N.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran20mar20,1,6540109.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Afghan suicide bomber kills 1
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan20mar20,1,7327632.story?coll=la-headlines-world
A suicide attacker exploded his car Monday next to a U.S. Embassy convoy here, killing an Afghan teenager and wounding five embassy security personnel. The suicide blast, the first in Kabul since December, propelled one of the armored SUVs in the convoy across Jalalabad Road, which sees more bombings and rocket attacks than any other place in the capital.

Seven Pakistani judges quit over chief justice's suspension
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan20mar20,1,5734140.story?coll=la-headlines-world
At least seven judges resigned in protest Monday over the suspension of Pakistan's chief justice, aggravating a political crisis that has become a serious challenge to President Pervez Musharraf. At the same time, hundreds of lawyers in Sindh and Punjab provinces kept up the demonstrations that have roiled the country since Musharraf removed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry from his post March 9 on unspecified charges of official misconduct. Critics call the judge's suspension a blatant interference with the judiciary for political purposes. Musharraf has denied the allegation, but the ensuing outcry has spiraled into one of the most serious political challenges to face the Pakistani leader since he took power in a coup in 1999.

Hamas Fighters Wound Israeli Worker, Breaking 4-Month Truce in Gaza
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901948.html
Hamas gunmen shot and wounded an Israeli electrical worker just outside the Gaza Strip on Monday in the first such attack by the Islamic movement since it agreed four months ago to stop rocket fire and other military strikes from the strip. Hamas fighters later fired two mortar rounds at Israeli soldiers near Gaza's main cargo crossing with Israel.
RELATED: Hamas' military wing breaks Gaza truce
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-hamas20mar20,1,7863493.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Japan and N. Korea Clash as 6-Party Nuclear Talks Resume
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901721.html
Delegates to the latest round of six-party talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear program completed their first day of official discussions in Beijing on Monday, with an important money dispute apparently settled but another disagreement involving Japan and North Korea raising its head. China's top negotiator, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, warned at the talks' opening ceremony that difficulties and obstacles remained.
RELATED: Envoy: N. Korea refuses to join nuke talks
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-20-north-korea-envoys_N.htm

U.S., Germany downplay missile issue
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-19-missile-defense_N.htm
Germany's foreign minister said a U.S. plan to build a missile defense system in Europe was not damaging relations with the United States, as both countries sought to play down their differences. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the system should have a stabilizing effect in Europe as the U.S. continued consultations with European allies and Russia, which has strenuously objected to the plans. She said the U.S. has expressed its willingness to cooperate with Russia on the missile defense system, but she did not elaborate. Standing next to Rice, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has previously backed Russia's claims that it was not properly consulted on the plan, said he believed that the U.S. understands the German call for open discussions.

Fringe Parties Could Swing France's Race For President
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901702.html
Many countries talk about political opportunity, but France delivers, allowing 12 candidates, including four women, a 32-year-old postman and an anti-globalization sheep farmer, onto April's presidential ballot. Eight fringe candidates, ranging from the extreme left to the extreme right of French politics, were included on the candidate list announced Monday by France's Constitutional Council. Between them, they could claim enough votes to seriously wound the mainstream front-runners and swing the results of the April 22 voting.

Bombs Intended as Duds, London Suspect Testifies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901946.html
A man accused of conspiring to bomb London's public transport system in July 2005 told a court Monday that he deliberately made fake devices that were not meant to explode but would spread fear and panic as a protest against the invasion of Iraq. Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, said he learned how to make the devices on the Internet, downloading a Web video on which an Arabic-speaking man in a ski mask described how to make explosives from hydrogen peroxide, an easily obtained household chemical. "When I saw how easy it is to make the stuff, the idea came to my head that I could use it to make fake explosives," Ibrahim told jurors at London's Woolwich Crown Court. "Basically, if you know how to make it work, you can make it to not work."

Russia Objects to U.N. Plan for Kosovo as ‘One-Sided’
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/world/europe/20nations.html?ref=world
Russia on Monday signaled its opposition to the United Nations proposal to settle the status of Kosovo, Serbia’s breakaway province, and said a new negotiator should be appointed and fresh talks started. Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian ambassador, made the comments in accusing a United Nations official who briefed a closed session of the Security Council of “preaching for independence” of Kosovo.

Colombian Unravels Government-Paramilitary Ties
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901973.html
Sitting in a dreary 7-by-5-foot cell, Rafael Garcia predicts that he'll soon be murdered. It's a common threat in one of Colombia's toughest prisons, but it's made all the more real for the uncommon prisoner. Garcia is a star witness for prosecutors, revealing secret links between Colombian officials and right-wing paramilitary groups. His testimony has helped trigger the biggest political scandal faced yet by the government of President Alvaro Uribe, the Bush administration's closest ally in Latin America and recipient of more than $4 billion in American aid.
RELATED: Chiquita extraditions weighed
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200109mar20,1,1659034.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Top

Immigration

As immigration raids rise, human toll decried
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/20/as_immigration_raids_rise_human_toll_decried/
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a meatpacking plant in Marshalltown, Iowa, on Dec. 16, arresting 99 workers who could not prove they were in the country legally, then-governor Tom Vilsack was livid. Immigration officials "chose to pursue a solitary path that limited the operation's effectiveness, created undue hardship for many not at fault, and led to resentment and further mistrust of government," Vilsack wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The ICE raid was part of the agency's largest-ever enforcement operation, hitting Swift & Co. slaughterhouses in six states and resulting in the arrests of 1,297 workers. As of March 1, 649 of those workers had been deported. Like the March 6 raid on the Michael Bianco Inc. leather goods factory in New Bedford, in which more than 300 workers were arrested, the Swift operation left some children stranded for hours, and many others in the care of friends and relatives. ICE flew many detainees to an out-of-state federal detention facility before immigrants' advocates had a chance to speak with them about their children. Some detainees were not initially honest with ICE investigators about whether they had children, fearing they, too, would be taken into custody even though some of those children were US citizens.

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Health Care and Public Safety

Embryonic stem cell research gets surprise support
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-stemcell20mar20,1,6121617.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
In a high-profile dissent from Bush administration policy, the nation's top medical research official told senators Monday that he backs an end to restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. "From my standpoint, it is clear today that American science will be better-served, and the nation will be better-served, if we let our scientists have access to more stem cell lines," Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, told the Senate health appropriations subcommittee, which oversees the agency's nearly $29-billion budget. "We cannot, I would think, be second-best in this area," Zerhouni said. "I think it is important for us not to fight with one hand tied behind our back here, and NIH is key to that."
RELATED: NIH chief: Stem cell ban hobbles science
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-19-stem-cell_N.htm

Senate panel urged to maintain funding for cancer research
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/20/senate_panel_urged_to_maintain_funding_for_cancer_research/
It's dangerous to limit funds for basic research into new cancer therapies just as a tsunami of baby boomers in their cancer-prone years is about to hit, Harvard scientist Joan Brugge told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee yesterday. Brugge spoke as part of a consortium of nine academic institutions fighting for more funding. "There's going to be a huge impact in terms of human suffering," she said in an interview. "It's taken a while to understand this complex disease, but now we have a blueprint for how to develop therapies. Now is not the time to retreat." Every basic science department at Harvard Medical School had at least two or three faculty members whose grants were not funded during the current funding squeeze, she said. Three of her NIH grants from 2002 and 2003 will be up for renewal this year.

Medicare Contractors Owe Taxes, GAO Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901635.html
The federal government has failed to collect more than $1 billion in back taxes owed by Medicare doctors and suppliers, nearly half of it payroll taxes deducted by health-care providers who spent the money on luxury cars and other personal expenses rather than sending it to the IRS, a congressional report says. The money has not been collected because the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare, has failed to connect its computers to the Internal Revenue Service and other Treasury Department divisions, the Government Accountability Office report says. Such a connection would allow the agencies to quickly identify who owes taxes and begin deducting that money from checks the federal contractors receive from Medicare.
RELATED: Medicare Still Pays Doctors Who Owe Back Taxes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/20medicare.html?ref=washington

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Crime and Penal Reform

Felony Charges for 2 in Groom's Killing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900450.html
Three police detectives learned Monday of the criminal charges in their indictment, including manslaughter for two of them, in the fatal shooting of an unarmed groom on his wedding day, a case that stoked public outrage and brought fresh accusations of excessive force against the New York Police Department. The three officers -- Michael Oliver, Gerard Isnora and Marc Cooper -- surrendered Monday morning at the Queens County Courthouse. The indictments were coolly received by African American leaders in New York, some of whom have called the killing further evidence of institutional racism at the NYPD.
RELATED: NYPD officers face manslaughter charges in groom's death
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nypd20mar20,1,6281447.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

House votes $1.2 million for wrongly imprisoned man
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/legis07/stories/2007/03/20/0320clark.html
Robert Clark watched from the balcony Monday as the Georgia House voted to pay him $1.2 million for the 24 years he spent in prison for a rape he did not commit. "I feel great," Clark said after the vote. "I'm adjusting. It's slow, but I'm adjusting." The money will be welcome, but life on the outside has been tough for Clark, 46, who was released from prison in 2005 after DNA evidence proved he did not commit the brutal rape of a woman in Cobb County in 1981. Clark has said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia as a result of his incarceration. The Georgia Innocence Project, which helped Clark prove his case and is helping him adjust to freedom, also confirmed Monday he contracted hepatitis C while getting a tattoo while he was incarcerated.

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Economy

Investors Defeated In Enron Decision
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901725.html
A federal appeals court yesterday thwarted attempts by a group of Enron investors to sue investment banks over their role in the Houston energy trader's collapse, giving Wall Street a powerful weapon to defend itself against future claims. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit postpones a $40 billion class-action case that was expected to go to trial within weeks and frustrates the efforts of shareholders to win payment from Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston and Barclays. To be held liable for the claims, the banks must have taken part in deception and must have violated a duty to investors. But the appeals court panel rejected the notion that in the absence of clear lies or omissions from bankers, the banks had an obligation to investors.
RELATED: Court Rejects Suit Against Enron Banks
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/business/20enron.html?ref=business

No rate change expected from Fed this week
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-03-19-fedoutlook_N.htm
This may prove to be one of the most boring years for the Federal Reserve in a long time. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged after their meeting this week, according to a market in which investors bet on future Fed moves. It would be the sixth-consecutive meeting in which the Fed has stayed on hold. Several economists, including those at Moody's Economy.com, Argus Research and Lehman Bros., expect the Fed will keep rates on hold during 2007. "The Fed's not doing anything all year long," says Richard Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research.

Wall St. Bounces Back After Losing Week
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/business/20stox.html
Wall Street joined overseas markets in riding a wave of merger news yesterday to bounce back from a losing week. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 115 points. Buyouts, particularly the possibility of an enormous deal that would unite the Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding with the British bank Barclays, propelled stocks higher as investors theorized that companies must be upbeat about the economy if they were willing to cut new deals. The advance opened an important week for economic data. The first reading, a report yesterday from the Chicago Federal Reserve, said regional manufacturing slowed in January. Today, the Federal Reserve will begin a two-day meeting on interest rates. While few expect the Fed to adjust short-term rates, investors will be looking for any change in posture that could hint at where rates are headed in the coming months.

When Alan Greenspan talks, people still listen
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-03-19-greenspan-speaks-usat_N.htm
Retirement for Alan Greenspan is anything but. The 81-year-old former chairman of the Federal Reserve has spent the last year making millions of dollars as he speaks to thousands of people around the globe and writes a book that is expected to be a top seller when it's released this fall. He has taken little vacation time, and his golf clubs are gathering dust. Instead, he's spending long days at his Washington-based consulting firm, which he started days after leaving the Fed in January 2006. Investors are still hanging onto his every word, as they did in his 18½ years as Fed chief. The fact that, during an appearance in February, he wouldn't completely rule out a recession later this year was partly blamed for a stock market plunge around the globe, including the sharpest U.S. stock sell-off since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

I.R.S. Agents Feel Pressed to End Cases
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/business/20tax.html
The head of the Internal Revenue Service faces questions in Congress today about auditors’ complaints that they are being forced to close corporate cases prematurely, allowing billions in tax dollars to go unpaid.

Satan rumors costly to ex-Amway figures
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200119mar20,1,2117787.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Procter & Gamble Co. has won a $19.25 million jury award in a suit filed against four former Amway distributors accused of spreading false rumors linking the company to Satanism. A U.S. District Court jury in Salt Lake City sided with the Cincinnati-based company Friday in a suit filed by P&G in 1995. Rumors had begun circulating as early as 1981 that the company's logo--a bearded, crescent man-in-moon looking over a field of 13 stars--was a symbol of Satanism. The company alleged that Amway Corp. distributors revived those rumors in 1995, using a voice mail system to tell thousands of customers that part of P&G profits went to satanic cults.

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Housing and Homelessness

Subprime mortgage woes keep home builders glum in March
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-03-19-homebuilder-index_N.htm
Deepening problems in the subprime mortgage sector, which makes the riskiest home loans, chipped away at U.S. home builder confidence in March, the National Association of Home Builders said Monday. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index fell three points in March to 36 from a downwardly revised 39 a month earlier, the group said. "Builders are uncertain about the consequences of tightening mortgage lending standards for their home sales down the line, and some are already seeing effects of the subprime shakeout on current sales activity," said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders.

Bought with easy credit, homes lost in foreclosure
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200160mar20,1,872599.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Today Cleveland, with a rapidly growing stable of vacant and boarded-up homes, is known for mortgage foreclosures. Between 1,200 and 1,300 foreclosure filings land every month on the desk of Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis --including a recent one for his childhood home, which his family sold years ago and was auctioned off last week for $19,000.

State Farm To Review '05 Claims For Katrina
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901605.html
State Farm Fire & Casualty plans to reexamine more than 35,000 policyholder claims filed after Hurricane Katrina and make millions of dollars available for additional payments, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale said Monday. Dale said the agreement between his office and State Farm, of Bloomington, Ill., covers homeowners, renters and commercial claims in Mississippi's three coastal counties. The agreement with the insurer includes claims that are in mediation, those that are the subject of pending lawsuits and those that have been settled.

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Education

Lawsuit Says Education Dept. Overcharged on Student Loans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901798.html
The U.S. Department of Education has overcharged millions of Americans with student loans during the past decade despite repeated warnings that it was breaking the law, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday. A computer glitch apparently caused more than 3 million student loan borrowers to be billed hundreds of millions of dollars more than they owed, said lawyers who brought the class-action suit. It's unclear how much individuals were overcharged. "That's a large amount of money taken from students who trust that this program is run accurately and appropriately," said Brenda K. Pfeiffer, a 41-year-old Minnesota chiropractor who discovered the problem and is the lead plaintiff. The Education Department's student loan programs have been buffeted by a series of controversies and have come under increased scrutiny by Congress. Lawmakers are investigating potential mismanagement and conflicts of interest. Legislation has been proposed to revamp the way the two major federal student loan programs are run.

Charter School Effort Gets $65 Million Lift
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031902027.html
The charter school movement, begun 16 years ago as an alternative to struggling public schools, will today make its strongest claim on mainstream American education when a national group announces the most successful fundraising campaign in the movement's history -- $65 million to create 42 schools in Houston. The money, which comes from some of the nation's foremost donors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, would make the Knowledge Is Power Program the largest charter school organization in the country. KIPP, which runs three schools in Washington, has produced some of the highest test scores among publicly funded schools in the District and has made significant gains in the math and reading achievement of low-income students in most of its 52 schools across the country.

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Science and Technology

Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/science/20moral.html?ref=science
Some animals are surprisingly sensitive to the plight of others. Chimpanzees, who cannot swim, have drowned in zoo moats trying to save others. Given the chance to get food by pulling a chain that would also deliver an electric shock to a companion, rhesus monkeys will starve themselves for several days. Biologists argue that these and other social behaviors are the precursors of human morality. They further believe that if morality grew out of behavioral rules shaped by evolution, it is for biologists, not philosophers or theologians, to say what these rules are. Moral philosophers do not take very seriously the biologists’ bid to annex their subject, but they find much of interest in what the biologists say and have started an academic conversation with them.

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Military

Army Brigade Finds Itself Stretched Thin
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/20army.html?ref=us
For decades, the Army has kept a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division on round-the-clock alert, poised to respond to a crisis anywhere in 18 to 72 hours. Today, the so-called ready brigade is no longer so ready. Its soldiers are not fully trained, much of its equipment is elsewhere, and for the past two weeks the unit has been far from the cargo aircraft it would need in an emergency.

Jury endorses 10-year term for Iraq soldier
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-soldiers20mar20,1,3954340.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
A soldier accused of ordering subordinates to kill three Iraqi detainees should be sentenced to 10 years in prison, a military jury decided Monday. Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, who was convicted Friday of negligent homicide in his court-martial, could have received up to 21 years in prison. He avoided a life sentence when he was acquitted of premeditated murder. Girouard was also convicted of obstruction of justice for lying to investigators, of conspiracy for trying to conceal the crime and of failure to obey a general order.
RELATED: G.I. Is Jailed for Killing Iraqi Detainees
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/20abuse.html

Top

Religion

Christian right at crossroads
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-19-christian-right_N.htm
Just this month, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and 24 other top Christian conservatives pressured the National Association of Evangelicals to silence its Washington director, the Rev. Rich Cizik. The reason: Cizik tried to convince evangelicals that global warming is real. The board of the association not only stood by Cizik, it then moved on to endorse a critique of U.S. policy toward terror detainees called "An Evangelical Declaration Against Torture: Protecting Human Rights in an Age of Terror." Evangelicals, who mostly have a conservative world view to match their theology, rarely speak out against the policies of a Republican president — especially one at war.

Money Looms in Episcopalian Rift With Anglicans
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/20episcopal.html?ref=us
As leaders of the Anglican Communion hold meeting after meeting to debate severing ties with the Episcopal Church in the United States for consecrating an openly gay bishop, one of the unspoken complications is just who has been paying the bills. The truth is, the Episcopal Church bankrolls much of the Communion’s operations. And a cutoff of that money, while unlikely at this time, could deal the Communion a devastating blow. The Episcopal Church’s 2.3 million members make up a small fraction of the 77 million members in the Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largest affiliation of Christian churches. Nevertheless, the Episcopal Church finances at least a third of the Communion’s annual operations.

Mahony accounts of abuse case tape differ
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mahony20mar20,0,4058586.story?coll=la-home-headlines
At least six months after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony told his superiors at the Vatican that a videotape provided proof of a priest's criminal misconduct with high school boys, the head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese told the public that the tape showed no sexual activity between Father Lynn Caffoe and the boys, according to court records. Documents newly filed in the Caffoe civil case provide the first glimpse into confidential priest files that Mahony sought for four years to keep sealed in the midst of a sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the archdiocese. He eventually took the secrecy fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Energy Policy

Russia Blast Kills 78 Miners
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900369.html
A methane explosion killed 78 people in a Siberian coal mine on Monday in the deadliest accident in Russia's mining industry in at least a decade, rescuers said. More than 40 miners were still underground about 10 hours after the blast and the death toll could rise further. Rescue work was hampered by thick smoke and roof collapses in horizontal shafts that stretched for up to 5 km (3 miles). "Seventy-eight people have perished," a spokesman for the Kemerovo region -- the heartland of the coal industry where the pit is located -- told the Vesti-24 television news channel. "The rescue operation is continuing but it is being made difficult by thick smoke and the continued presence of gas in the mine," the spokesman said. President Vladimir Putin ordered his emergencies minister to fly to the Ulyanovskaya mine to oversee the rescue effort.
RELATED: Toll Rises to 104 in Siberia Mine Blast
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/world/europe/20cnd-russia.html?ref=world

Electric Utility, Sierra Club End Dispute
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901606.html
The Sierra Club and Kansas City Power & Light Co. have signed an unusual accord in which the utility agreed to offset all the greenhouse gas emissions from a new coal-fired plant by adding wind power and taking steps to conserve energy on a large scale. The Kansas City utility, which serves half a million customers in western Missouri and eastern Kansas, also pledged to cooperate with the Sierra Club on legislative and regulatory changes that would reduce the company's overall emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 percent by the year 2020.
RELATED: Utility and Sierra Club Deal Aims to Cut Carbon Dioxide
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/business/20energy.html

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Transportation and Infrastructure

Airbus Superjumbo Takes a Lap Around America
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/business/20plane.html?ref=business
For all its troubles, the double-decker superjumbo Airbus A380 is enjoying a star turn in the aviation world spotlight. The largest passenger plane in the world began its United States tour this week, arriving yesterday at Kennedy International Airport. After touching down gently, the pilot opened a cockpit window to wave an American flag to a crowd of reporters and photographers, including those aboard three helicopters hovering nearby. Tomorrow, the plane will take a celebratory “flight to nowhere” and circle over Manhattan. Stops are also planned at Dulles International outside Washington and O’Hare in Chicago. On the West Coast, another A380 flew into Los Angeles International Airport yesterday morning, where it was greeted by the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio R. Villaraigosa.

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.

Dionne: Morning in America
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901636.html
To understand how much the Iraq war has transformed the way most Americans think about foreign policy, consider what passed for shrewd analysis four years ago. The words on the "in" list included "unilateral," "bold," "robust," "transformative" and "sole remaining superpower." The words on the "out" list included "multilateral," "nuance," "patience," "diplomacy," "allies," "history" and "prudence." Today, the "in" and "out" lists would be almost exactly reversed. The new "out" list includes such additions as "reckless," "arrogant" and "incompetent." With so many establishmentarians now running away from the war, many would prefer to forget the political mood at 10:15 p.m. on March 19, 2003, when President Bush announced that "at this hour American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger." Politics did not stop at the water's edge. The edition of The Post in which Bush's speech was reported also included this headline: "GOP to Hammer Democratic War Critics." The report began: "Congressional Republicans are implicitly challenging the patriotism of some Democrats who have criticized President Bush's war plans, a sign that the divisive politics marking the 108th Congress are unlikely to cease during wartime."
RELATED: Froomkin: They Won't Follow Us Home
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/19/BL2007031900966.html

Cohen: Wasted Lives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901634.html
It is painfully hard to say -- and even harder to write -- that the lives lost in Iraq were wasted. It sounds like a judgment on the dead when it is meant, of course, as an indictment of the living: America's political leadership. But some sort of finger has to be pointed at the president and some sort of reminder offered that it is not just a policy that has failed but that people have been killed or wounded. This is the real cost of a war that need not have been fought. What infuriates some war critics is the sense that what is now supposed to matter most -- the lives of American soldiers -- at first did not matter much at all. They were subordinate to the political-ideological agenda that dismissed concerns about the loss of life as sentimentality a great power could ill afford. Besides, the war would be brief and casualties few. Now, though, the loss of life has become so much greater and the war has gone on longer than anyone expected. Amazingly, it is the soldiers who have been taken rhetorically hostage, pushed out in front while the politicians hide behind them. In the mouths of Bush, Cheney and even Rice, the war is being fought on behalf of the troops. That's a better rationalization, I suppose, than Iraqi democracy, but still nowhere near the truth.

Applebaum: Tortured Credibility
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901637.html
It is true that the administration has now stated clearly that torture, at least by the administration's definition, was not used in Mohammed's interrogation. ("We don't do torture" is how the White House press secretary cavalierly put it.) But even if we were to give the administration the benefit of the doubt, which hardly anyone will, the circumstances of Mohammed's detention have been unacceptable by American standards. Even if he was not tortured, he was held in secret, extralegal and completely unregulated conditions, possibly in Eastern Europe or the Middle East, certainly under nothing resembling what we in the United States normally consider the rule of law, either international or domestic. The mystery surrounding his interrogation -- when it was carried out, how and by whom -- renders any confession he makes completely null, either in a court of law or in the court of international public opinion.
RELATED: Top-Secret Torture
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901659.html

Stop placating Pakistan
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-pakistan20mar20,0,2782530.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
SUPPOSE THAT a supreme court justice in an unstable but pro-American country becomes unwilling to take his cues from the authoritarian government. He orders its intelligence services to answer charges that they are holding 100 citizens who have disappeared. He is widely believed to oppose a presidential scheme to get around a constitutional ban on running for reelection. The government suspends the justice and places him under house arrest. Street protests erupt, and government riot police using tear gas quell demonstrators, haul away opposition leaders and smash their way into a TV station that covers the controversy.

Uncovering the truth
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703200293mar20,0,4663170.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed
In the controversy over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the Bush administration has made several serious mistakes. Even if you assume the eight were fired for the purest of reasons, the administration has done everything possible to convey the opposite impression. The Justice Department erred in not explaining upfront, to the prosecutors and to Congress, why they were relieved. It erred again in claiming all were dismissed for unsatisfactory performance--when some of them had gotten good ratings from Justice. It erred when it claimed the White House had nothing to do with the dismissals, only to be forced to admit that then-White House counsel Harriet Miers and political adviser Karl Rove were involved in early discussions of the matter. Now congressional committees want public testimony from Miers and Rove. It would be another blunder for the president to refuse.
RELATED: Pitts: Loyalty trumps competence
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703200303mar20,0,1058682.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed
RELATED: Gonzales should quit
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/03/19/0320edattorneys.html

Statements and Restatements
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/opinion/20tue2.html
The Bush administration — with the vocal support of business interests — is arguing that the time is right to loosen some of the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law, passed after the scandals at Enron and WorldCom. But if anyone doubts that these reforms, designed to increase accuracy and accountability, are necessary, consider this: According to the research firm Glass Lewis, nearly 10 percent of companies listed on exchanges in the United States refiled their financial statements last year after finding mistakes. In those cases investors were making decisions based on incorrect information, and some executives were being paid for results they didn’t achieve. These are often more than small bookkeeping errors. Last week, General Motors restated five years of financial results. In its annual report, the company warned that the lack of effective internal controls “could adversely affect our financial condition and ability to carry out our strategic business plan.”

Real ID, unrealistic law
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/20/real_id_unrealistic_law/
IN 2005, Representative James Sensenbrenner was pushing his Real ID bill that called for all states to issue a super driver's license with security features that would deter terrorists and illegal immigrants. A Republican from Wisconsin, Sensenbrenner seemed to be offering a wallet-sized security blanket. But creating these super licenses could cost more than $11 billion, according to the Department of Homeland Security, a price the federal government hasn't yet offered to pay, making this an expensive investment with a limited payoff. Real ID became law in 2005 because it was tacked on to a military appropriations bill. Early this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff released proposed regulations for implementing the law. "It's very simple, and it's really a matter of common sense," Chertoff said with a folksy confidence at a press event. To get a license, people would have to present documents to prove five things: their identity, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and that they reside in this country legally. Then states would have to scan and verify these documents and keep them safe from hackers. Only, this isn't "very simple."

Kramer: Why do straights hate gays?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-kramer20mar20,0,1705133.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.

'Bong hits' is free speech
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-jesus20mar20,0,1852266.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
ALMOST FOUR DECADES after ruining the day of public school administrators nationwide by proclaiming that children do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," the Supreme Court was asked Monday to change course. It should decline the invitation.
RELATED: Students’ Right to Free Speech
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/opinion/20tue1.html

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