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TOP STORIES

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National

Fewer pledge allegiance to the GOP
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shift23mar23,1,4233671.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Public allegiance to the Republican Party has plunged during George W. Bush's presidency, as attitudes have edged away from some of the conservative values that fueled GOP political victories, a major survey has found. The survey, by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, found a "dramatic shift" in political party identification since 2002, when Republicans and Democrats were at rough parity. Now, 50% of those surveyed identified with or leaned toward Democrats, whereas 35% aligned with Republicans. What's more, the survey found, public attitudes are drifting toward Democrats' values: Support for government aid to the disadvantaged has grown since the mid-1990s, skepticism about the use of military force has increased and support for traditional family values has decreased. The findings suggest that the challenges for the GOP reach beyond the unpopularity of the war in Iraq and Bush.

More 2008 election news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, COLORADO/ELECTION

Liberals Relent on Iraq War Funding
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200944.html
Liberal opposition to a $124 billion war spending bill broke last night, when leaders of the antiwar Out of Iraq Caucus pledged to Democratic leaders that they will not block the measure, which sets timelines for bringing U.S. troops home. The acquiescence of the liberals probably means that the House will pass a binding measure today that, for the first time, would establish tough readiness standards for the deployment of combat forces and an Aug. 31, 2008, deadline for their removal from Iraq.
RELATED: Democrats scramble for votes on war legislation
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230187mar23,1,6705318.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Democrats Shore Up Support for Iraq Votes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/washington/23cong.html?ref=washington

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

Senate Panel Approves Subpoenas for 3 Top Bush Aides
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200213.html
Escalating a potential legal showdown with President Bush, a Senate committee yesterday approved three subpoenas to top administration officials, including White House adviser Karl Rove, demanding sworn testimony about what they knew of plans to fire eight U.S. attorneys. The Senate Judiciary Committee, following similar action from a House Judiciary subcommittee Wednesday, issued subpoenas for the testimony of Rove, former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers and deputy White House counsel William Kelley. Each was mentioned in e-mails retrieved from the Justice Department regarding the planning to dismiss federal prosecutors. Democrats rejected Bush's offer this week to have Rove and other advisers testify behind closed doors, not under oath and with no transcript of the meeting -- an offer administration officials called "extraordinarily generous."
RELATED: E-Mails Show Machinations to Replace Prosecutor
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202266.html
RELATED: Fitzgerald faces friendly jeers on `mediocre' rating
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230164mar23,1,4608161.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: A history of replacing U.S. attorneys
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-talking23mar23,1,4755693.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: A look at the 8 dismissed U.S. attorneys
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-22-us-attorneys-profiles_N.htm
RELATED: U.S. Attorney in Michigan Disputes Reason for Removal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/washington/23chiara.html?ref=washington

More DOJ scandal news in NATIONAL/ELECTION

New to Job, Gates Argued for Closing Guantánamo
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/washington/23gitmo.html
In his first weeks as defense secretary, Robert M. Gates repeatedly argued that the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings at Guantánamo would be viewed as illegitimate, according to senior administration officials. He told President Bush and others that it should be shut down as quickly as possible. Mr. Gates’s appeal was an effort to turn Mr. Bush’s publicly stated desire to close Guantánamo into a specific plan for action, the officials said. In particular, Mr. Gates urged that trials of terrorism suspects be moved to the United States, both to make them more credible and because Guantánamo’s continued existence hampered the broader war effort, administration officials said. Mr. Gates’s arguments were rejected after Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and some other government lawyers expressed strong objections to moving detainees to the United States, a stance that was backed by the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, administration officials said.

More detainee policy news in NATIONAL/CIVIL LIBERTIES

Top

Colorado

Three Colo. Dems to vote for war-spending bill
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_5500633
At least three Democrats in Colorado's congressional delegation will vote for the House's war-spending bill, and one Republican is weighing the possibility of a yes vote. Democratic Rep. John Salazar will vote for the bill that includes a timeline for troop withdrawal, he said Thursday. "The policies and strategies pursued by this administration have not worked," said Salazar, of Manassa. "We cannot stay the course of a failed policy. We need a new direction." Salazar had not previously made his position known. Democratic Reps. Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs and Ed Perlmutter of Golden also will vote for it. Rep. Diana DeGette's office could not be reached for comment Thursday evening. Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave of Fort Morgan has not decided how to vote. The bill contains $4.3 billion in disaster-assistance money for farmers and ranchers, funding Musgrave has tried to get through other channels.
RELATED: Iraq bill includes money for DNC
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/iraq-bill-includes-money-for-dnc/
RELATED: Iraq budget contains relief for Western farmers
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_8a_Iraq_budget.html
RELATED: Senate attaches disaster relief to Iraq bill funding
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/5

Oil, gas commission changes get preliminary approval
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5436695,00.html
Democrats gave initial approval to Gov. Bill Ritter's overhaul of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Thursday, saying it would bring balance to an industry-dominated panel and better protect the public health and the environment. But Republicans warned the historic shake-up could hamstring Colorado's energy boom and the vital tax revenue it generates, as well as drive up consumers' home-heating and gas-pump prices. House Bill 1341 would expand the panel to nine members from seven. It would reduce members with industry experience to three from five while adding the directors of the state natural resources and public health and environment agencies.
RELATED: House OKs overhaul of oil, gas panel
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500441
RELATED: Overhaul of Oil, Gas Commission advances
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20462&template=article.html
RELATED: Bill to alter oil and gas group goes forward
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_1b_COGCC_fight.html
RELATED: House gives initial OK to oil and gas bill
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070323_5.htm

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

Workers comp choice measure advances
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5436668,00.html
The third time was the charm for Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, who won initial passage Thursday of a measure that would allow workers injured on the job to choose a physician from a list provided by employers. "I think it is a moral imperative that we give human beings some choice over what happens to their own bodies," said Carroll, who has failed with similar bills the past two years. Currently, Carroll said, insurance companies have complete control over the selection of the doctor for a patient who has been injured at work. She stressed that state law allows people to choose who treats their ailing pets, repairs their cars or fixes their homes.
RELATED: Workers' comp bill gives choice of docs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500225

Tougher school math, science requirements defeated
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5437456,00.html
A Republican lawmaker urged colleagues to adopt rigorous math and science high school graduation requirements Thursday - or watch Colorado youngsters lose a global race for high-paying tech jobs. "The world is rapidly shifting to a technology-based economy, and if we don't meet the challenge, our kids will be left behind," Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genessee, warned the House Education Committee. "If we fail, future generations will correctly say that we were on the wrong side of history." Witwer and co-sponsor Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, had attempted to gain support of skeptical Democrats by scaling back Senate Bill 131. Instead of requiring four years of math to graduate, they asked for three years of math and science. The bill also would have allowed sophomores who test well on those subjects to opt out of junior- and senior-year math and science courses. Colorado is one of only six states without statewide math and science graduation standards, Witwer said. But the committee killed the bill on a party-line 8-4 vote.
RELATED: Sponsor complains about lineup change on education bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5435464,00.html
RELATED: Dems kill math-science learning bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500326
RELATED: House committee fails graduation bill
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_3a_grad_requirements.html

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Interview: Elizabeth Edwards on politics and family
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5496901
In August 2004, Elizabeth Edwards took time off from the campaign trail to speak with The Denver Post about her dual role as outspoken political wife and mom to Cate, then 22, and Emma Claire and Jack, then 6 and 4. Here are excerpts from that interview, just three months before Edwards was first diagnosed with cancer.

Biden to speak at CWA
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/biden-to-speak-at-cwa/
U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden — a Delaware Democrat and presidential hopeful — will deliver a speech at next month's Conference on World Affairs. Organizers of the annual conference have been courting Biden for a few years because of his "expertise on foreign relations," said Maura Clare, director of public affairs for the event.

Tancredo passes $1 million in possible presidential run
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5436908,00.html
Rep. Tom Tancredo has raised more than $1 million for his exploratory presidential bid, saying that makes it more likely he will follow through with a full-fledged candidacy. Tancredo, R-Littleton, said he's aware of the daunting odds he faces going up against bigger-name Republican contenders who have millions more dollars in the bank. Still, he said he takes heart in the large number of average folks - backers of his hard-line stand against illegal immigration - who have made small contributions averaging $59 on the Team Tancredo Web site. "It's amazing to me," Tancredo said. "I know we're going to be a long way from the war chests that are out there. On the other hand, I feel like I've got more people that are committed to me and the ideas I represent than a lot of these other guys."
RELATED: Tancredo to decide on presidential run
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/tancredo-to-decide-on-presidential-run/

Coffman unveils new vote machine rules
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/22/local_news/2.txt
Manufacturers of electronic voting machines will be forced under a new rule to meet state certification standards. In response to a lawsuit last year, the Colorado Secretary of State developed new procedures and guidelines under Rule 45. Under these, his office must review all federal certification documentation, test machines and establish security procedures relating to the transfer of the chain of evidence. Each of Colorado’s four electronic voting equipment vendors — Hart InterCivic, Diebold, Sequoia and Election Systems and Software — must submit to recertification, or counties will not be allowed to use their machinery in elections. The rule took effect provisionally March 16 and is expected to become permanent May 20.

Scott Graham defends against conflict charges
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070323_4.htm
A prominent supporter of two of Scott Graham's opponents in the Durango City Council election has taken a swipe at Graham's consistency in a widely distributed letter. Bobby Lieb, until recently the executive director of the Durango Chamber of Commerce, said he wrote the letter describing two open-space properties purchased in 2001 and 2005 near Graham's home because the Open Space Advisory Board chairman "was creating a double standard." "Scott and other members of the community questioned Daryl Crites' conflict of interest," but Graham had not disclosed his own conflicts, Lieb said. Lieb has endorsed City Council candidates Sidny Zink and Tom Howley.

It's Kole for ... council
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103230072
Andrew Kole has made it official - he's running for elective office once again, this time for a seat on the [Aspen] City Council, he said Thursday.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Lawmakers allowed to juggle accounts
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5436909,00.html
State lawmakers were within their rights when they shifted $442 million among accounts to balance the budget during lean times beginning six years ago, the Colorado Court of Appeals said Thursday. A three-judge panel of the court ruled that a Denver District Court judge was right to dismiss most claims of a lawsuit challenging the transfers from 29 funds from 2001 to 2004. One of the three judges, Robert Hawthorne, dissented, saying the taxpayers who filed the lawsuit did not even have the legal right to sue. The lawsuit claimed the legislature violated the Colorado Constitution when they took fees intended for specific services and used them to offset declining revenue. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said lawmakers had no choice because they had to balance the budget at a time when revenues were plummeting.

Legislative update on tap Saturday
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/legislative-update-on-tap-saturday/
Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, plans to bring a taste of the state senate to Broomfield City Council Chambers Saturday. The senator and former House District 33 representative will continue a longtime tradition of hosting town hall-style meetings with city residents. The meetings are an opportunity for constituents to learn about hot topics at the Capitol, discuss their political concerns and find out more about Mitchell's legislation.

ALTRUISM HONORED (Roll Call, March 23)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5436760,00.html
A Greeley lawmaker was honored with an award from the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Colorado for his community service. Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, received the Joseph Award, presented annually to a "person of influence who selflessly works to feed the hungry and serve the poor."
RELATED: Riesberg receives award from Lutheran Church
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103220088

Down for the count (On the side, 3/23)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500230
Republicans were seemingly wishing for the good ol' days Thursday when Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, greeted his 26 GOP colleagues with: "This is a test of the emergency caucus system. If this had been a real caucus ..." "There would have been 33 of us," interrupted Rep. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, referring to the number it would have taken to win a majority in the 65-member House.

Silverton sued over fiscal health
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5502139
The town of Silverton's financial records, including payroll documentation, have been mishandled for months, alleges a lawsuit by a couple who loaned the town more than $100,000 to help buy and install a chairlift at the municipal Kendall Mountain Recreation Area. Laura and William E. Alsup Jr. filed a complaint in district court in Silverton earlier this month, alleging the town has not produced required financial statements and business plans, including those that would enable the town to borrow money from the Region 9 Economic Development District to reimburse them for the chairlift.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

SPEAKING OUT (EXTRA!, March 23)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437532,00.html
"It's an imperialist war based on manifest destiny." Julio Tapia, a student at Emily Griffith Opportunity school, on the Iraq war. A couple hundred students skipped classes Thursday to gather at the state Capitol to protest the war.
RELATED: High school students march at state Capitol to protest war
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5436758,00.html
RELATED: Students' walkout forms army against war
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500714

Two face hate charges
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/2-face-hate-charges/
Two University of Colorado students accused of making derogatory statements to two gay men and instigating a fight with them have been formally charged with a hate crime, and one faces a mandatory sentence of at least five years in prison if convicted. Adam Michael Perez, 21, was charged Thursday with second-degree assault and participating in a bias-motivated crime — both felonies that could mean two to six years in prison. The assault charge, however, is a crime of violence, meaning it carries a mandatory five-year prison stay. He will be in court again April 9. Eric William Schorling, 21, was charged Wednesday with a bias-motivated crime and is expected back in court April 12. Police say the men made hateful comments early March 11 to Justin King, 23, and his friend as they walked along a sidewalk at 10th and Pearl streets in Boulder. King said he had playfully wrapped his arm around his friend for a moment and then heard a slur and hateful chatter from behind. When he turned around to ask the two men why they were saying such things, Perez replied, "Because I can," then pushed King, who fought back. Perez, of Colorado Springs, and Schorling, of Virginia, have been suspended from CU.

Top

Immigration

Immigrants push passage of Dream Act
http://postindependent.com/article/20070323/VALLEYNEWS/103230030
Eagle resident Amador Lopez would be pursuing a career in something like law enforcement in his ideal future. Instead, he works in an automotive tire shop, studies English and dreams of what might be if he could afford to get a college degree. Because Lopez is an undocumented resident from Mexico, he has to pay out-of-state tuition to go to college. It's more than he can afford. The same goes for his friend Francisco, a Gypsum resident and Mexican immigrant who declined to give his last name. He's working in carpentry but also dreaming of going on to get a degree. For now, Lopez said in an interview, "We're stuck between high school and college."

Chávez march spreading focus
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500327
For the first time, organizers of Denver's César Chávez annual memorial march are partnering with two other groups to honor the memory of Chávez by promoting immigrant rights and comprehensive reform and by supporting Chicano student activists. The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, or CIRC, and the student group M.E.Ch.A. approached the César Chávez Peace and Justice Committee of Denver and asked to participate in the sixth annual march Saturday. "Our mission is to promote the work of César Chávez in labor struggles, so there is a connection to other societies," said Ramon Del Castillo, a committee founder and professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. "The question of labor and wages is a universal human right that we all have, and he promoted that. In the end, César Chávez was a civil-rights activist and not just a union organizer." The march includes a multidenominational Mass. The march will begin at Auraria campus and end at West High School. The day culminates with an awards ceremony that honors leaders in the Latino community. Organizers hope for between 1,200 and 5,000 participants.
RELATED: Cesar Chavez day to be celebrated in Fort Collins
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103220085

Top

Marriage and Family Issues

Casino bill to get deadbeat cash fails
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5436904,00.html
A bill to force casinos to collect back child support from the gambling winnings of deadbeat parents died Thursday in a Senate committee. The Senate Agriculture, Natural Resource and Energy Committee voted 5-2 to kill House Bill 1071 by Rep. Joel Judd, D-Denver, and Sen. Stephanie Takis, D-Aurora. "I don't think we should cross the line to require private industry to collect our debts," said Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, one of two Democrats to vote against the bill. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, was the other. A similar bill died in a committee last year. The sponsors vowed to bring back the measure next year.

Mother of two had teenage lover before
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437480,00.html
The Louisville woman who has admitted to having a baby with a 13-year-old apparently has a soft spot for younger guys.

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Funds for CU med school
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5436910,00.html
University of Colorado Regent Michael Carrigan smiled Thursday as a bill that will help funding for the university's medical school was signed into law. "This helps stops the bleeding, but we still need to heal the wound," the Denver resident said. The medical school ranks 48th nationally in terms of state support. Senate Bill 97 restores nearly $25 million in funds for the school and key health care programs statewide. The money, from tobacco settlement funds, was slashed during Colorado's recession.
RELATED: Ritter signs $24.4 million bill for CU, health care
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070322/NEWS/70322013

Measure assumes cancer, fire link
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20469&template=article.html
Firefighters could more easily claim certain kinds of cancers are job-related and get workers’ compensation under a bill given preliminary approval Thursday by the state House. City and rural fire departments continue to battle the measure, however, saying it would send insurance costs soaring and, in turn, be more of a burden on local taxpayers. Currently, firefighters who contract cancer must prove the disease was caused by their jobs to receive workers’ compensation. House Bill 1008 by Rep. Mike Cerbo, D-Denver, would change the law to assume any firefighter suffering from cancer of the brain, skin, digestive system, hematological system or genitourinary system is job-related for firefighters.

Drug court called step for practicality
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437664,00.html
Denver's drug court is back from rehab. The $1.2 million program, which formally began March 9 after a five-year hiatus, is aimed at speeding up drug cases, freeing jail beds and providing treatment for drug offenders. "Drug court provides a humane and practical way to treat nonviolent drug offenses," said Denver District Court Chief Judge Larry Naves, who joined officials in kicking off the program Thursday. "We believe the earlier a defendant is in court, the greater chance of success."
RELATED: Drug court gives addicts 2nd chance
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5499758

Alcohol, pot are drugs of choice in metro area
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437479,00.html
Boulder's heroin surge, which detectives hope they quashed this week, apparently has not been repeated outside Boulder County. Across Colorado, heroin use has stabilized or even tapered off slightly in the last couple of years, state drug experts say. Perhaps more significantly, evidence suggests that methamphetamine use dropped statewide last year for the first time in a decade. "User-wise, it does seem like meth has gone down," said Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which keeps tabs on drug trends in a four- state region. But he and other experts cautioned that they will need to see the numbers drop for more than a year in order to believe it's anything more than a blip on the radar.
RELATED: Bust may stem Boulder heroin
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437481,00.html

Judge: Baby's drunkenness an 'accident'
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/judge-babys-drunkenness-an-accident/
Shortly after an Erie mother of four pleaded guilty to child abuse Thursday because her toddler got drunk on wine, a judge told her that what happened to her family could happen to anyone.

Class covers handling radioactive corpses
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/16
There's more than 10 things to do with a dead body contaminated with radioactive materials. That's what about 15 medical investigators and examiners, coroners, funeral directors, and crime scene investigators spent Thursday learning. "The objective is to start (the class) off on safe ways to handle human remains that have been contaminated with radioactive materials," said lecturer O.W. "Lynn" Eaton, of the U.S. Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Plant in New Mexico. "There's a fear and misunderstanding what it does to people." The daylong, free course, hosted by Pueblo County Coroner James Kramer and sponsored by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, was held at the Southeast Colorado Heritage Center.

More pet owners report deaths possibly related to food recall
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437457,00.html
More Colorado pet owners reported Thursday that their animals have died from symptoms that might be linked to recalled pet food products, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration in Denver said. The FDA also is looking into a small number of reports that pets have died after consuming food that was not included among the recalled products, said Devin Koontz, the administration's spokesman. "We're trying to figure it out," Koontz said. He emphasized that the number of reports concerning dry food consumed by pets that became sick was not alarming.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Mistrial in case of accused deputy
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5436852,00.html
A Jefferson County District Court judge Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of a Denver sheriff's deputy accused of fondling a neighbor girl more than a year ago. "The court finds the jurors can't reach a unanimous decision," Judge M.J. Menendez said after the jury had been deliberating about four hours. John Ray Luna, 47, was accused of a single felony count of sexual assault on a child under 15. Prosecutors say they plan to retry Luna.
RELATED: Sexual-assault trial of Denver deputy sheriff ends in hung jury
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500713

Weld County Jail lawsuit dismissed
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103230109
John Manuel Ovalle, Florida Inmate No. Y17797, is not a lawyer. But he has legal books. He doesn't have a printer in jail, but he has a pencil and a straight edge to draw borders and formal boxes. He couldn't pinpoint the exact date of his nephew's death, but he could cite U.S. civil rights law and Latin legal terms. He is not Daniel Solis' legal heir, but he claimed he had a right to sue the Weld County Jail for $4 million in connection with Solis' death.

Silt police chief job opening draws interest
http://postindependent.com/article/20070323/VALLEYNEWS/103230033
About 30 applications locally and from around the country have been received for the position of police chief in the town of Silt. The position became open late in February when Paul Taylor stepped down and took on duties as a detective/sergeant. Town officials have not given a reason for Taylor's resignation, citing privacy because it was a "personnel issue." Taylor has been with the town's police department since 1998 and was appointed chief in 2000. Taylor was unavailable for comment.

An extraordinary team
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/23/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
Which is more unlikely: A CU-Boulder fraternity raising money to support its local patrol officers, or the Greeks actually getting along with the city police? If you answered neither, guess again, because in Boulder you won't find any bad blood between the fraternities and the officers that patrol the Hill. Actually, they get along just fine thanks to a liaison project initiated spring of last year by Sergeant Lauri Wegscheider, the captain of the Boulder Police Department's Hill team.

Federal Judge Figa's family receives 'bad news' about fight with brain cancer
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437459,00.html
Denver federal Judge Phillip S. Figa is suffering from an aggressive brain tumor, his family and colleagues said Thursday. The U.S. district court judge is recuperating at Rose Medical Center from surgery performed March 16. Family members had said the operation was a success and that Figa, 55, had been moved out of intensive care. "The doctor shared some bad news with us (Tuesday) night," Figa's family said in a statement posted on a Web site. "Unfortunately, Phil has an aggressive brain tumor. He will need radiation and chemotherapy as soon as he has healed from his surgery. We will better know his prognosis at the conclusion of the treatment."

Top

Economy

Small business owners to gather at state Capitol
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070322/NEWS/70322001
Small business owners will meet at the state Capitol Monday, March 26, for an exchange with legislators about ways to improve entrepreneurial activity. “The biggest part of my job is educating policy makers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses but instead have unique difficulties in remaining solvent and increasing employment opportunities,” said Tony Gagliardi, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

Buying on Nacchio's say-so
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5436961,00.html
Sally Anderson was excited about the e-mail she received from Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio on Sept. 7, 2000. In it, Nacchio shared some good news: Qwest, newly merged with U S West, was raising revenue projections for 2000 and 2001. It was hiring someone to ensure a better customer experience, cutting costs and launching exciting new products, such as digital media. Anderson, a regional training manager with 28 years' experience at Qwest, U S West and Northwest Bell, had been putting money into a company savings plan every two weeks for years. Half of it she put into company stock. But Nacchio's enthusiasm that day was so contagious, Anderson promptly began putting 100 percent into Qwest, the former employee told jurors during Nacchio's insider-trading trial Thursday.
RELATED: Anschutz seeing a lot of court action of late
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5436911,00.html
RELATED: Tough day at the defense table
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5436905,00.html
RELATED: Nacchio wasn't forced to sell stocks
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5496154
RELATED: Ex-workers are among spectators
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5500014
RELATED: Thursday's Nacchio trial highlights
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5500124
RELATED: Special coverage: Nacchio on trial
http://cfapp2.rockymountainnews.com/business/nacchio/

Federal agencies add $6.6 billion to area
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5436463,00.html
Federal agencies pump $6.6 billion into Denver's economy annually in a variety of ways, including wages and spending and construction and contract work, according to a study released Thursday. In addition, federal agencies also provide benefits such as employment stability, the study says. "We've always known the area's federal agencies were significant members of the community and had a real impact on the area," Larry Grandison, executive director of the Denver Federal Executive Board, which funded the study, said in a news release. "Now we can actually quantify that impact in economic terms."
RELATED: Fed payback: $6.6 billion
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5500013

VoIP commands business
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5500016
Voice over Internet Protocol phone service, whose bells and whistles include lower prices and flexibility over traditional land lines, is attracting more attention from small and medium-sized businesses.

Town attorneys jump into VF fray
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/03/23/news/news01.txt
And you thought the Valley Floor saga couldn’t get any more tangled. Two local lawyers upset with the town council yesterday filed last-minute legal papers seeking a new trial in the eminent-domain case. They say the trial to value the 570-acre property was fatally flawed and must be thrown out. “There’s going to be a storm,” said John Steel, one of the lawyers. “A storm.” Steel and attorney Robert Korn filed the papers late yesterday in San Miguel County Court, on the last day possible to file post-trial motions. They argue the trial should not have been moved to Delta County and accuse the jury of prejudice and misconduct.

U.S. Census: GarCo's population clears 50K
http://postindependent.com/article/20070323/VALLEYNEWS/103230028
Garfield County made a big jump in population last year, surpassing the 50,000 mark. According to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, Garfield County now has a grand total of 51,908 people. "That doesn't surprise me at all," said Fred Jarman, director of the county building and planning department. "It's generally comparable with what the state's saying." Those numbers are important to county government because federal and state grant programs are based on population estimates. They are also used to apportion congressional and state legislative districts. States and counties are often at odds with the federal Census Bureau over population figures, and Garfield County is no exception. "We think we're closer to 60,000," said Dale Hancock, county operations director. "We think we probably got underestimated (in the last census count in 2000)," he said.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

Federal money will help get housing efforts off ground
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/federal-money-will-help-get-housing-efforts-off/
A more than $1 million federal payout to area housing authorities this summer will lay the foundation for Broomfield's fledgling housing assistance program. The money comes as a result of a collaboration between Broomfield, Boulder County and the cities of Longmont and Boulder and their three-year vision plan addressing housing needs throughout the region. The completed plan will help secure $1.1 million to $1.4 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HOME money.

Affordable housing ‘not cost effective’
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070322/NEWS/70321026
It’s been said that no good deed goes unpunished. A cynical view, perhaps, but local resident Evelyn Pinney said she is beginning to see the truth in the statement. Pinney and her husband, Rob LeVine, have partnered with Habitat For Humanity to build affordable homes in Edwards. The couple donated one-and-a-half acres of land to the nonprofit to build eight duplexes on, but numerous delays and hefty fees have Pinney feeling as though the project, known as Fox Hollow, may never materialize. “We think Fox Hollow is a great project and want to see it through to the end,” Pinney said. “We don’t want to let Habitat For Humanity down, but from where we stand today something’s gotta give.”

Size counts, but worker housing is key
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103230073
Midvalley residents generally urged Basalt officials Thursday night to go with a slow pace of growth, although some claimed the lack of affordable housing poses a greater threat to the town's character than size.

What now? Homeless shelter closing soon
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103230075
Eight to 10 people who sought refuge at St. Mary Catholic Church will be homeless once again March 31, when the shelter pilot project ends. Twenty-two representatives of the Aspen Homeless Coalition - ranging from a jail supervisor to members of the housing authority, health and human services, nonprofits and the faith community - gathered Thursday to discuss the next step, including a planned day room and a possible year-round shelter. Input ranged from kudos for the winter shelter project to accusations of "enabling" Aspen's homeless to live unsustainable lives.

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Media

Starz sues Disney over film licensing
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5436464,00.html
Liberty Media's Starz Entertainment on Thursday sued Walt Disney Co. for letting other movie downloading services sell Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and other films exclusively licensed to Starz. Starz has paid more than a billion dollars since the contract began in 1993 for exclusive rights to Disney's films for set periods after the movies leave theaters. Starz offers 16 premium movie channels under the Starz and Encore brands, and it launched its Vongo Internet movie service last year.
RELATED: Starz sues Disney over film downloads on Web
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5500125

TV weather and traffic for I-70 corridor drivers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5435989,00.html
The new Summit County TV on Comcast Channel 22 will be entirely dedicated to road, traffic and weather conditions along Interstate 70 from Vail to Denver. Tomorrow is the launch date for SCTV-22. SCTV is Summit County's government-operated television station.

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Education

Controlling online schools
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5437530,00.html
Fast-growing online schools would see greater state and local control under a bill approved Thursday in the Senate Education Committee. SB 215, by Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, would establish a division of online learning in the Colorado Department of Education. It also would require online programs to get permission from local districts to open "learning centers," where students would follow an online curriculum under adult supervision. But the bill would not shutter the 79 learning centers operated by the Hope Coop Online Learning Academy in 16 school districts, mostly along the Front Range. Windels' bill was approved 5-2 in the Education Committee. It goes to the Appropriations Committee before receiving full Senate debate.

Senate spars over rural school repairs
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5436757,00.html
Republicans accused Democrats of "stealing" lottery proceeds by floating a bill that would use millions of dollars to study the repair needs of rural schools instead of fixing them. A bill that passed the Senate on a party-line voice vote Thursday calls for spending up to $6 million to study construction needs of schools over three years. Democrats said the state has a responsibility to help poorer rural districts get a handle on what's needed to bring crumbling buildings up to the quality of buildings in larger, richer school systems.
RELATED: Senate backs bill to study school districts' needs (Under the dome, 3/23)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500229
RELATED: Senate Dems push study of subpar school buildings
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/10

Berndt Hall clears critical budget hurdle
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070323_6.htm
Fort Lewis College's request for Berndt Hall construction money is sitting pretty, despite disappointing economic news delivered to the Legislature this week. The $1.5 million request is one of 18 construction projects statewide that the Joint Budget Committee decided to fund Wednesday. The college barely made it, coming in at 15th on the list that will be in the yearly budget bill, known as the Long Bill. "These are the projects that will be put in the Long Bill and funded," said Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, Joint Budget's vice chairman. The week brought disappointing news to many colleges and state departments that need new buildings. Economists for the Legislature and governor turned in their reports Tuesday. Both showed flat revenues when legislators were hoping for a big increase.

Regents approve faster prof firing
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5436851,00.html
University of Colorado regents unanimously adopted rules Thursday that sharply reduce the time it takes to fire a tenured professor. The new rules come as the case of ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill drags through the appeals process, more than nine months after a committee recommended that he be terminated for violations that included plagiarism, inventing facts and publishing essays under pseudonyms, which he then quoted as scholarly sources. He continues to draw his $96,000-a-year salary during the appeal. The new rules limit the appeals process to 100 days, barring extraordinary circumstances, although the regents themselves have no deadline to render a final decision on dismissals. The current rules have no time limit.
RELATED: CU regents speed dismissal timeline
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500442

Jane Goodall to lecture at CSU
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/CSUZONE01/703230336/1002/NEWS01
Goodall's lecture is the last part of the Monfort Lecture Series, sponsored by the Monfort Family Foundation, which provides up to $200,000 annually for a guest speaker for five years. Past speakers include former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

D-11 to offer free, full school days for kindergarten
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20461&template=article.html
Every kindergarten student in Colorado Springs School District 11 will have the chance to spend all day at school at no cost to parents, thanks to a unanimous board decision Wednesday. About $1 million will be spent on providing free, fullday kindergarten in all D-11 schools, the school board decided Wednesday night.

Sheridan school district sues to keep state funds
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5499759
The Sheridan School District on Thursday sued the state, arguing a program that allowed Sheridan High School students to take college courses and have their tuition paid with state K-12 education dollars is legal. The 21st Century Diploma Program began in 1998 and offered students an alternative to the standard Sheridan High School diploma, said Superintendent Michael Poore. While a standard diploma requires 220 credit hours, the 21st Century program requires 320 credits, which students can earn at the high school, in a vocational program or at Arapahoe Community College or vocational school.

CSAP flap: Parents complain of having trouble opting their kids out of test
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103220095
Two Greeley parents claim they've been caught in a bureaucratic snag, at best, and harassed, at worst, after their children declined to take the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests this spring. The problems started in the lead-up to the tests when a principal at a Greeley middle school allegedly told one child she wouldn't be able to go to college if he didn't take the CSAP tests. Parent Tammy Hohnstein-Swanstrom said she didn't blame the principal for his remarks, instead she believes he was passing down a message from District 6 administrators. Neither of her two daughters took the CSAP tests. Carole Weishahn, who also has two daughters who did not take the test echoed Hohnstein-Swanstrom's remarks. "I believe with the administration and the school board we should be able to question (taking CSAP tests) without being treated rudely. We shouldn't have to hear that our kids won't go to college." In two incidents in the past year, both at the school and administration level, the parents say they were told that refusing the test would result in them being ticketed. District officials deny making the remarks. Principals aren't told to talk of possible college consequences related to CSAP tests, said Jeff Miller, assistant superintendent of instructional support. As for telling anyone they will be ticketed, "I can assure you those comments were never made," he said.

D70 parents unhappy with school cuts
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/7
Concerns about staff cuts recently approved by the District 70 school board were expressed at a public forum Wednesday night at Pueblo County High School. The forum was the last in a series that district officials held to gather ideas and hear concerns from constituents. Residents and teachers at schools on the St. Charles Mesa questioned district officials about why the bulk of the proposed staff cuts are occurring at their schools, particularly Pleasant View Middle School.
RELATED: Teachers, parents note music program cuts
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/8

Students advise SVVSD trustees
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15338
Wouldn’t it be nice if one high school offered classes that began at 3 p.m. instead of 7:30 a.m.? the president of the St. Vrain Valley school board asked Wednesday. The five teenagers sitting at her table answered Sandi Searls’ questions with questions of their own: What about lighting costs? Who’s going to teach that late? How would a night schedule interfere with other school activities and affect attendance and busing? “Those are all important points to investigate,” Searls said as she took notes.

Fraternity measure OK'd
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/23/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
The CU Student Union (UCSU) approved a highly controversial budget bill that cuts funding from most programs on campus and also requires those programs to treat fraternities like official student groups in order to receive any money. Legislative Council Vice President Chris Kline cast the tiebreaking vote, 9-8, in favor of the Greek Organizations and Autonomy Amendment, which stipulates CU's student, health and recreation centers can only receive millions of dollars in student money if they rent rooms to fraternities at in-house prices. “I was surprised that it came to me,” Kline said. “You know it's 50/50 and - it's awkward, to say the least.”

Leaving pa prints for school security
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500325
As the first lunch period begins at Rocky Heights Middle School, hundreds of sixth-graders pour into the cafeteria, lured by the smell of seasoned curly fries, cheese pizza and foil- wrapped burgers. Jay Schein, father of two Rocky Heights students, stands eagerly in position in a T-shirt that reads: "Watch D.O.G.S. Dads of Great Students." As the kids stream in, he greets them with high- fives, cracks corny jokes and, when they're not looking, hides their bottles of chocolate milk -anything to get a laugh. "I enjoy seeing the smile on children's faces when a parent is around to share some time with them," said Schein, a chaplain and author.

Top

Military

Carson grieves for 3 fallen
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20470&template=article.html
Outside Soldiers Memorial Chapel, Joshua Hager’s mom stood wiping her swollen eyes as television reporters pinned their microphones to her black blazer. “Is there any makeup left on me?” Lois Knight wondered aloud. Just shy of one month ago, her gregarious, smirking son was killed in Ramadi, Iraq, in an attack that left two other soldiers dead. The three members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team were honored Thursday at Fort Carson: Hager, a 29-year-old staff sergeant and Broomfield native who inspired many nicknames and anecdotes, such as one about mooning a busload of senior citizens. Pfc. Travis W. Buford, 23, a Texas native, remembered by his captain as cheerful and selfless. Pfc. Rowan D. Walter, a 25-year-old medic regarded as one of his unit’s “best docs.” “I’m terribly sorry I couldn’t bring them home to you,” Lt. Col. Charles Ferry wrote from Iraq in a letter read aloud Thursday.
RELATED: Carson praises fallen trio
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437662,00.html
RELATED: Fort Carson honors three fallen comrades
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/2

Pentagon looking at other options on Pinon Canyon
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/1
Pentagon officials have assured Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., they are looking at leasing land and other options short of condemning property in their plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, Philip Crone, a deputy undersecretary of defense, told Allard the Army is looking at leasing agreements and easements as options to expand PCMS by 418,000 acres without having to purchase or condemn land. While Fort Carson officials have said they want to discuss many options with landowners around PCMS, Crone's testimony was the first time that Pentagon officials have made such an offer.

Weapons destruction program names new manager
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/14
Kevin Flamm, who has been overseeing chemical weapons destruction programs for the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency, has been named interim program manager for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Program. ACWA is a separate Defense Department in charge of programs at the Pueblo Chemical Depot and the Blue Grass Army Depot where water neutralization will be used to break down chemical weapons.

Admiral: Successor backs Cheyenne Mountain plan
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20464&template=article.html
The admiral who sank Cheyenne Mountain said the government’s audit agency and his successor agree with a plan to mothball the underground command center. Adm. Timothy Keating, who will hand over the reins of U.S. Northern Command today to an Air Force general, said a Government Accountability Office review of his plan to place the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center on “warm stand-by” supports pulling most workers from the mountain. “They found it is beneficial to improved combat readiness and effectiveness,” Keating said of the report, which has not been made public. Built at the height of the Cold War, the underground facility was designed to withstand a nuclear attack.

Top

Religion

Pray-for-pay plan raises counseling funds
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5436756,00.html
A couple of bucks is as good as $100 as far as the sisters of the Mount Saint Francis parish are concerned. They will pray just as fervently for you. Last summer the sisters started the prayer-for-pay service to raise money for their order's nonsectarian counseling ministry, which primarily serves the poor, The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported. "It's what we do," said Sister Stephanie McReynolds, head of the "Adopt-a-Sister" program. It helps keep them in practice. Forty sisters are praying for about 130 donors, who don't have to be Roman Catholic. "You don't have to be any religion," said McReynolds. The suggested gift is at least $100, but the amount doesn't matter.

Top

Energy Policy

Congress looks at wildlife
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/congress-looks-at-wildlife/
Congress is asking Westerners to talk about their efforts to protect wildlife and the interests of hunters and anglers in the face of the energy boom cascading through the Rockies from Montana to New Mexico. Dan Gibbs, a Democratic state representative from Colorado, plans to be there. He's sponsoring legislation to minimize drilling's impact on state and private land and hopes Congress will do the same for federally owned land. "It's a big part of our heritage and culture," Gibbs said of the hunting and fishing industries. "If we continue to develop the way we're developing, we're going to lose much of our heritage." Gibbs, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, is among seven people, including an energy company official, invited to speak Tuesday before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources. The topic: Conflicts between sportsmen and energy developers on federal lands.

Report to feds on oil shale development due this month
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_12b_unconventional_fuels.html
A federal task force mandated to recommend to Congress and President George W. Bush how the government can accelerate the development of oil shale and tar sands may have its report ready by the end of the month, a U.S. Department of Energy official said this week.

Fight looms on oil, gas rules
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5436667,00.html
Environmental groups have proposed two ballot measures on oil and gas drilling that are sending shivers through the industry. One bans anyone employed by the oil and gas industry from serving on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The other gives county and city governments the authority to regulate oil and gas operations within their boundaries. "I think they're playing with fire with the state's economy," said Greg Schnacke, executive vice president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. "Colorado is getting a reputation nationwide as not being friendly to oil and gas," he said, adding that such a perception influences investment in the state. The initiatives were filed with the state on Thursday by Matt Garrington of Environment Colorado and T.J. Brown of the Colorado Environmental Coalition.

Governor: Weld helps Colorado lead the way in natural energy
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103230103
Northern Colorado has a bright -- and maybe blustery -- economic future if the region continues to embrace the changing energy economy, Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday. He wants Colorado to lead the country in developing energy from renewable resources, and if the week's announcement of a new wind turbine plant is any indication, Weld County is on the way to leading the state. Ritter was the keynote speaker at the annual dinner for Upstate Colorado Economic Development, a night filled with positive prospects for Greeley and Weld County.

Ex-Reagan aide to speak at green-energy summit
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5500015
With the U.S. at risk for petroleum-import disruptions, former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane has a four-part plan to reduce reliance on imports. He will present that plan Saturday at a Denver energy conference. "My foremost concern is the vulnerability that the U.S. faces in oil flowing from the Persian Gulf," McFarlane said Thursday. "The threat is very real, and it's something we need to plan for." McFarlane, a chief adviser to former President Reagan and currently a national energy consultant, will be the keynote speaker at the Colorado New Energy Summit.

Feds settle suit against former trader of natural gas
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5500070
A federal agency said Thursday it has settled a lawsuit filed against a former Colorado natural-gas trader, alleging false reporting and market manipulation. Under the settlement between trader Andrew Richmond and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Richmond will pay a $60,000 fine and be permanently barred from trading. In the suit filed in 2005, the commission had alleged Richmond pressured his subordinates at Denver-based Western Gas Resources to report false information from Western's natural-gas transactions to Gas Daily, a compiler of price indices, in a bid to manipulate prices.

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

Super Slab bill (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/24
As expected, a Senate committee killed a bill Thursday designed to address concerns over the so-called Super Slab project. HB1068, introduced by Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, tried to help address the most immediate concerns of landowners in the proposed 210-mile-long, 3-mile-wide private toll road that they said was hurting their property values. But the landowners along the proposed Pueblo-to-Fort Collins roadway said the bill was so radically altered from what was introduced, they asked for it to be killed. The landowners vowed to return next year to more directly address their concerns.
RELATED: Toll road bill dead; opponents vow to keep fighting
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070322/NEWS/103220070

Weight limits stay on Rio Blanco roads
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_8b_Rio_Blanco_roads.html
Weight restrictions on a heavily used Rio Blanco County road will remain in place for the time being, county Road and Bridge District Superintendent Scott Nielsen said Thursday. The county imposed its first-ever voluntary weight restriction on County Road 5, known as the Piceance Creek Road, in early March because of the spring thaw cycle that often leads to road damage. The road is heavily used by natural-gas and other energy-related companies.

Top

Environment and Conservation

Refuges losing funds battle
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500328
National wildlife refuges - after years of budget belt-tightening - have lost so many employees that refuges in Colorado and around the nation have been left unstaffed, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In the eight-state Mountain-Prairie Region, which includes Colorado, 44 positions have been lost since 2004. An additional 29 are slated to be cut by 2009, the service said. The impact can be seen in fewer programs for visitors and an increasing problem of invasive plants in the refuges, said Ron Shupe, deputy assistant regional director for the National Wildlife Refuge System. Keeping out invasive plants is a critical issue for refuges that are trying to maintain wildlife habitats, he said.

Court of Appeals overturns gold mining decision
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5435654,00.html
The Colorado Court of Appeals has reinstated Summit County's ban on new open pit cyanide leach gold mines by reversing a ruling by the Summit County District Court. The 2-1 ruling states that the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act "specifically requires that mining operators comply with zoning and land use regulations adopted by political subdivisions, such as those adopted by the county here." Environmentalists hailed the decision.
RELATED: Appeal affirms Summit cyanide mining ban
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070322/NEWS/103220079

Morgan County calls for action on water
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437483,00.html
Morgan County officials told Gov. Bill Ritter on Thursday the county is facing "economic catastrophe" unless they get emergency help by April 15 for farmers whose water wells were shut down by the state in a water rights dispute. They asked Ritter to issue an emergency executive order for a moratorium on shutdowns for two years so they can find a solution to a problem that has idled thousands of acres of farmland.

Fountain planners brace for flood of growth along waterway
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/3
While the current problems on Fountain Creek - periodic flooding, contamination and occasional sewer spills - are vexing enough, planners are preparing for a massive influx of new residents in the watershed in the years to come. Fort Carson expansion, coupled with growth in both Pueblo and El Paso counties, could push the combined population of the two counties to more than 1 million - an increase of more than 275,000 people - in the next 25 years. While growth opportunities in the Pueblo County portion of Fountain Creek are limited, there appear to be more than 100,000 potential home sites on the drawing board in El Paso County.
RELATED: Growth increases Fountain runoff
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/11

Valley drought over, Rio Grande group told
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174657663/18
Last year’s summer monsoons broke the drought in the San Luis Valley and provided the Rio Grande with much-needed water, Rio Grande Compact Commission members heard Thursday. Colorado State Engineer Hal Simpson told more than 100 people in Alamosa that Colorado over-delivered more than 11,000 acre-feet on the 1938 compact that sets deliveries based upon the amount of water flowing down the Rio Grande. An acre-foot of water is 325,000 gallons. However, despite the rains, the aquifer in the San Luis Valley is not being replenished, Simpson said. As of Wednesday, the snowpack in the mountains around the valley was at 74 percent and continuing to decline, Simpson said.

Boulder County's top polluters
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/boulder-countys-top-polluters/
Boulder County’s top polluter for the seventh year in a row, Xcel Energy’s Valmont Station, was the 17th worst in the state in 2005, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual “Toxics Release Inventory.” The rankings, released Thursday, changed little from the 2004 list. Valmont Station’s emissions rose 6.9 percent, to 303,905 pounds. Roche Colorado in Boulder, second on the county list, saw its emissions fall 11.8 percent from 2004, to 42,400 pounds, primarily in the form of air emissions. Roche’s emissions also fell 19.2 percent from 2003 to 2004. Cemex Inc.’s Lyons cement plant saw the largest percentage increase among the top 10, with the lead it deposits in landfills climbing from 486 pounds in 2004 to 3,867 in 2005, a factor of eight.

White River Forest planning timber sale
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_3a_Timber_harvest.html
The White River National Forest is planning a timber sale of up to 5 million board-feet of trees in an area about 16 miles south of New Castle. Forester Matthew Rathbone in the Rifle Ranger District said the Camp Creek sale would involve Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir and aspen trees over a 492-acre area near Flagpole and Uncle Bob mountains. “That’s a pretty typical timber sale for us,” he said. “This one is adjacent to part of the Baylor Park blowdown area. So this would treat some of the stands next to that area.”

BLM seeks limits on campers multiplying in Rabbit Valley
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_1b_McInnis_Canyons.html
The effect of large numbers of people camping in Rabbit Valley with recreational vehicles and large pickup trucks is becoming a problem for the Bureau of Land Management because there just aren’t enough places for them to park and camp. The BLM is seeing the number of unofficial, or dispersed, campsites in Rabbit Valley grow exponentially, said Matt McGrath, BLM outdoor recreation planner for McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. Places where people have parked for years are growing and become campsites, McGrath said at a meeting of the area’s advisory board Thursday in Grand Junction.

Panel backs expansion of wildlife sanctuary
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15337
The Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary got conditional County Planning Commission approval Wednesday for its plan to expand its facility at 5761 Ute Highway between Longmont and Lyons. If Boulder County’s Board of Commissioners also signs off on Greenwood’s proposal, the nonprofit organization would add about 1.5 acres to the existing 1.3-acre site, where it provides medical treatment to sick and injured wildlife, and would replace the temporary modular structures it’s now using with permanent buildings.

DOW: ‘A fed bear is a dead bear’
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/23/dow_fed_bear_dead_bear/?local_news
No. Your eyes aren’t fooling you. Routt County’s black bears are emerging from hibernation one month earlier than last year, Colorado Division of Wildlife District Wildlife Manager Justin Pollock said. “We didn’t get sightings until about mid-April last year,” he said. “But it’s been so much nicer.” And, not surprisingly, the bears are emerging hungry.

Residents voice concern over cougar tactics
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/residents-voice-concern-over-cougar-tactics/
Residents voiced concerns Thursday evening over some of the tactics that the Colorado Division of Wildlife has proposed for deterring mountain lions from coming into contact with people — such as shooting nuisance cats with beanbags and letting hounds chase them.

Vanished mountain lion baffles troopers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5437458,00.html
The case of the disappearing mountain lion has state troopers perplexed. A northbound Jeep hit the mountain lion about 6:20 a.m. Thursday on U.S. 285 at Parmalee Gulch Road in Jefferson County. The woman driving the Jeep pulled over a short distance down the road to report the mishap, said Master Trooper Ron Watkins. A trooper found the cat on the highway and pulled it to the side of the road, then went to talk to the motorist. But when the trooper returned to where he left the cat, it was gone, Watkins said.

Mountain lion found dead
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/23/mountain_lion_found_dead/?local_news
Carol Baily lived in Routt County for 25 years and never saw a mountain lion, but she isn’t necessarily upset that her first encounter was with a dead one.

Top

Opinion

No agency is above the law
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_5499423
The FBI's flagrant abuse of secret national security letters is a disgraceful episode that clearly calls for additional oversight. But more importantly, the FBI has to change the ethos within the agency that allowed such vigorous misuse of authority. There should be no question: The FBI must act within the law. The issue came into focus as a result of an internal investigation with shocking results. The Justice Department's inspector general released a report showing the FBI routinely abused its authority to obtain private records. The only reason the problems came to light is because Congress required a national security letter audit before it would reauthorize the Patriot Act.
RELATED: Dumping Gonzales for the right reasons (2nd ed.)
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20472&template=article.html
RELATED: Rein in spy powers
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/03/22/opinion/op1.txt

Spencer: Cooperation on Amend. 41 a gift to voters
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5500329
People voted for Amendment 41 to stop lobbyists from buying meals and giving free tickets to legislators, other elected and appointed officials and government workers. Voters also wanted to limit public servants from taking stuff from anybody that is designed to make them put private gain ahead of public service. A nine-page rough draft of a new ethics amendment that Senate President pro tem Peter Groff and Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany offered Thursday says public officials can't take gifts "intended to influence a Public Official ... or is intended as a reward for any official action." There are plenty of exclusions in the draft. But it is a work in progress that the sponsors expect to be amended. If it is needed at all. Feeley claims the new amendment will be unnecessary if the Supreme Court offers the ethics commission sufficient guidance. E-mails between 41's originators and the House leadership do not specify a new amendment, only discussions about whether one is necessary. A radio attack ad accusing Fitz-Gerald of blocking ethics reform ran Tuesday. The five-figure ad was paid for by a coalition that put Amendment 41 on the ballot. The coalition includes Jared Polis, who likely will be Fitz-Gerald's opponent in a 2008 Democratic congressional primary. Fitz-Gerald vs. Polis is just part of the back story that threatened to turn Amendment 41 from ethics reform to political circus. The other part is the claim by lobbyists and other opponents of 41 that the amendment might keep scholarships from cops' kids or prohibit fundraisers for injured firefighters.
RELATED: Legislature faces up to Amendment 41 duty
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_5499421

Roll up your sleeves and support the troops
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20472&template=article.html
Virtually everyone says they support the troops, even if they question the mission in Iraq. But Gazette reader Lisa Rubey, in an e-mail we received Thursday, challenged those who express support for soldiers to do so in a more-than-rhetorical way, by participating in the Colorado Springs Military Blood Drive, which wraps up today at Fort Carson.

Carroll: As green as money will buy
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070322/COLUMNS/103220064
Trees and grass aren't the only things turning green this spring. The notion of living a green life for the sake of staving off the effects global warming seems to be getting hotter by the minute. Especially among those who can afford the steep price tags for the ever-expanding list of environmentally responsible products and services. Here on the Western Slope, climate change is an especially fiery topic. Ski industry groups issue press releases (via e-mail, obviously, not fax) almost daily, trumpeting their respective efforts to put figurative green stamps on their business practices. Clearly, all have wisely recognized that their largest revenue sources - tourism and skiing - will likely be depleted in a matter of decades if the warming trend continues. But the eco-buzz is no longer limited to ritzy mountain resort towns. The green concept has now spread to large metropolitan areas like New York and Seattle.

Johnson: Nothing racist about two school assemblies
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5436827,00.html
I would have wanted my kids in one of those assemblies, no matter if they were the smartest ones in the school. Once again, of course, I find myself in the minority on what the principal at Denver's Morey Middle School did a few weeks ago. People now are painting Dori Claunch as some sort of unseeing, backwoods segregationist nitwit, without a clue about the 1950s struggle against separate- but-equal or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dori Claunch, I get it.

Ditmer: Stakes are high in roadless rule
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_5499431
"Efforts to save roadless areas in the national forests have been going on for 30 years, with little progress. We're losing lands all the time. It's time for the federal government to make a decision," says John Swartout, executive director of Great Outdoors Colorado and one of the 13 members of the Colorado Roadless Task Force.

Needed: best science
http://pueblochieftain.com/editorial/1174657663/1
U.S. REP. Mark Udall is asking the Bureau of Reclamation to prepare a full environmental impact statement on a proposal by Aurora for a long-term lease to store and exchange water in Lake Pueblo. The bureau has been preparing a less vigorous environmental assessment on Aurora’s proposal to lease 10,000 acre-feet of excess capacity space in Lake Pueblo and to exchange up to 10,000 acre-feet annually to Twin Lakes in a paper trade. The contract would last 40 years. Rep. Udall says the EIS is needed because of the controversies involved to assure those who have concerns about the proposal. Additionally, he said some members of the Colorado congressional delegation have raised concerns that, without specific new legislation, Reclamation lacks the authority to contract with Aurora.

Foot to the PR pedal
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070322/EDITS/70322011
County officials turning toward high-gas-mileage hybrid cars qualifies as a good thing. Last week they made quite a show of buying 20 Priuses at once, for half a million dollars and maximum PR splash. That the Daily had the temerity to report that some employees expressed minor quibbles with the car — small size for folks with lots of gear, and the location of the battery — appeared to be deemed disloyal to the message. (The concern about the battery was attributed incorrectly to the wrong employee in the story, but the comment was indeed made by another.) Apparently the Prius is to be hailed as something approaching perfection, which is not quite the truth. The car gets great mileage, which is a huge plus. But the aforementioned battery that helps power the car is expensive and does not appear to be particularly friendly for the environment, for example. The Daily is also looking at reports of a rare problem with the car accelerating on its own, including one incident near Idaho Springs with a local family’s car that resulted in a harrowing ride and crash. The criticism of a “negative” story about the purchase perplexed us. A reporter does not care about “positive” or “negative.” A reporter aims to report what is. That includes what people say. If a county employee or two somehow “fail” to toe the company line, well, kudos for their frank honesty.

A needless tragedy?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5436473,00.html
Might Linda Damm still be alive if she and her daughter Tess had lived in Denver? We'll never know. But had police and social service agencies in Boulder County had the same model of early and comprehensive interventions that Denver now uses whenever possible, Linda Damm might not have suffered such a tragic fate.

The shrinking library
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/23/the-shrinking-library/
With the routine appearance of climate change in recent headlines, public discourse routinely touches on peer-reviewed research. What is not often dwelled upon, however, is that such research is published in costly journals that university libraries are obliged to carry. At the University of Colorado, the library system has been hammered with budget cuts and inflation. In 1994, CU's Boulder campus libraries maintained 46,000 journal subscriptions. A decade later, the number of subscriptions had been chopped by about 23 percent, to 35,000. In the last year, CU canceled another 1,270 subscriptions.

Edwards' courageous battle
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_5499422
Elizabeth Edwards set a heroic example for the country Thursday when, with her characteristic smile, she announced that she has incurable cancer but will continue to help her husband campaign for president.

Littwin: McCain 2008 not McCain 2000
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5435073,00.html
John McCain starts with the jokes. Always. Just before he segues into the decidedly unfunny issue of Iraq. In fact, McCain begins his stump speech as if he's delivering a Johnny Carson monologue - that's the right era for a presidential candidate who's 70 years old. If you're timing it, McCain usually gets to Iraq about eight or nine minutes into the speech. That's when I start paying attention. Iraq isn't simply the issue that defines this presidential campaign. It's the issue that defines McCain. It's his experience in dealing with issues like Iraq, he insists, that qualifies him to be the next president. It's his signature support for the war and the surge, though, that may be the chief reason he's not.

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

Cancer Worsening, Edwards's Wife Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200155.html
Standing in the same courtyard that hosted their wedding reception three decades earlier, former senator John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, announced Thursday that her breast cancer has recurred and has severely worsened. But they pledged, jointly, to carry on with his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. "You can go cower in the corner and hide, or you can be tough and go out there," John Edwards said. "The campaign goes on. The campaign goes on strongly." As if to prove the point, he flew to New York for a fundraiser Thursday night and his wife traveled to Boston with their two youngest children to see their older daughter at Harvard Law School. They are scheduled to fly together to Los Angeles for more fundraising Friday.
RELATED: Edwards Says Wife’s Cancer Has Returned
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/us/politics/23edwards.html?ref=washington

Giuliani: Let Gonzales explain
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rudy23mar23,1,3852029.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney in New York, said Thursday that Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales should get "the benefit of the doubt" in the uproar over the firings of federal prosecutors. "The president has addressed it," Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, said. "The attorney general's an honorable man. He's a decent man. He should be given a chance to explain and everybody should sort of give him the benefit of the doubt and allow him to explain."
RELATED: As ’08 Candidate, Giuliani Strikes a New Tone on Guns
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/us/politics/23rudy.html

A Brave New World of Political Skulduggery?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201995.html
The instant popularity of an attack video that mocked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) prompted plenty of talk this week about how an ordinary citizen can influence political discourse by tapping into the power of the YouTube culture. But the unmasking of the filmmaker as an employee of a company on the payroll of Clinton's Democratic presidential rival, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), raises questions about whether the more old-fashioned art of political chicanery was at play. Phil de Vellis, who worked for the firm that designed Obama's Web site, Blue State Digital, says no one at the company or in Obama's camp knew he had made the video depicting Clinton as the droning voice of a totalitarian establishment. Obama and his aides say they had no idea who was behind the 74-second ad, which has been viewed online more than 2 million times, and which closes by flashing Obama's Web address. Blue State yesterday provided a Feb. 10 e-mail in which de Vellis boasted of his role in the Obama effort: "Check out Barack's new website. . . . One shameless look at me plug, I designed the MyBarackObama toolbox that is on the front page and all the sidebar pages."
RELATED: Ad creator claimed role in Obama campaign
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hillary23mar23,1,7835896.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

FEC Democrats Say Bush Violated Limits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201861.html
The three Democrats on the Federal Election Commission revealed yesterday that they strongly believe President Bush exceeded legal spending limits during the 2004 presidential contest and that his campaign owes the government $40 million. Their concerns spilled out during a vote to approve an audit of the Bush campaign's finances, which is conducted to make sure the campaign adhered to spending rules after accepting $74.6 million in public money for the 2004 general election. Republican commissioners defended the way the Bush campaign billed the cost of more than $80 million in television ads, which were the source of the dispute.

Stricter Immigration Law Dominates Smith Resume
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202042.html
Rep. Lamar S. Smith may boast an A-plus voting record rating from the National Rifle Association, and he may be hailed in Republican circles for trying to inject firearms into a D.C. voting rights bill. But his crowning legislative achievement to date is a sweeping immigration reform bill that not only targeted illegal immigrants, but also foreigners living in the United States legally. The Texas Republican, whose district encompasses part of San Antonio and several counties in central Texas Hill Country, authored the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 -- a law so far-reaching that analysts have compared it to "totally rewriting the tax code of the United States," according to the Texas Observer.
RELATED: Measure to give D.C. vote stalls
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dcvote23mar23,1,7710548.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Ex-Daley aide indicted
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230170mar23,1,3494046.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
A former top aide to Mayor Richard Daley was charged Thursday with rigging city hiring for members of a pro-Daley political group, becoming the highest-ranking mayoral ally indicted in the federal investigation of City Hall. Former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez was accused of playing a prominent role in a scheme to reward loyal campaign workers for the Hispanic Democratic Organization from 1994 until 2005, when he quit Daley's Cabinet.
RELATED: Workers without clout want their piece of pie
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230182mar23,1,4739233.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Iraq war protesters zero in on Pelosi
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-codepink23mar23,1,686724.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Chanting antiwar slogans and holding up newspaper photos of dead soldiers, members of the activist group Code Pink protested outside the Capitol Hill office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, urging the San Francisco Democrat to oppose legislation that would provide an additional $124 billion to fund the Iraq war. About 15 protesters — wearing foam Statue of Liberty crowns and pink scarves, ties or shoes — were met by a similar number of Capitol Police officers in the hallway of the Cannon House Office Building. After 20 minutes, four were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct because they were "loud and boisterous," according to a police statement. The protest, more subdued, then continued outside Pelosi's office for an additional 25 minutes. The House vote on the legislation, which also would require President Bush to begin withdrawal of U.S. forces by next March, is scheduled for today.

CIA agent may testify in disguise on Padilla
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230062mar23,1,3297438.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The U.S. government wants a covert CIA operative to wear a wig, eyeglasses and facial hair to disguise his identity when he testifies about a critical piece of evidence--an alleged Al Qaeda application--against terrorist defendant Jose Padilla at his trial in Miami. That condition was sought by prosecutors in court papers filed Thursday as a way to protect the CIA officer who received from the U.S. Army a binder with Padilla's alleged mujahedeen training form.

Judge Rejects Law Aimed at Internet Porn
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200616.html
A federal judge in Philadelphia yesterday ruled against a 1998 U.S. law that makes it a crime for operators of Internet sites to let anyone under 17 have access to sexual material, rebuffing the government's argument that software filters are ineffective and upholding earlier rulings that the law infringed on free-speech rights. In a detailed decision, Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. found that the Child Online Protection Act would not be effective in protecting children from online pornography, and that parents could shield their children by using software filters and other, less restrictive means that do not curtail adults' rights to free speech.
RELATED: Court Rejects Law Limiting Online Pornography
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/us/23porn.html

Top

Foreign Policy

On Mideast Trip, Rice To Try a New Formula
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202142.html
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's new math for the Middle East may include the following: Four plus two plus four. The unknown, as Rice heads to the region today, is whether this will add up to the beginnings of peace -- or to more stalemates and disappointment. Rice has staked her final years as secretary on trying to make progress on the creation of a Palestinian state. But her goals have been thwarted by the changing realities on the ground. Her effort to promote a regular dialogue between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, for instance, on the contours of a Palestinian state ran afoul of Olmert's precarious political position (including a 3 percent approval rating) and of Abbas's decision to strike a unity accord with the militant group Hamas -- a move that angered Israelis.

GAO Faults U.S. Military Over Munitions in Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202017.html
The U.S. military's faulty war plans and insufficient troops in Iraq left thousands and possibly millions of tons of conventional munitions unsecured or in the hands of insurgent groups after the 2003 invasion -- allowing widespread looting of weapons and explosives used to make roadside bombs that cause the bulk of U.S. casualties, according to a government report released yesterday. Some weapons sites remained vulnerable as recently as October 2006, according to the Government Accountability Office report, which said the unguarded sites "will likely continue to support terrorist attacks throughout the region." For example, it said hundreds of tons of explosives at the Al Qa Qaa facility in Iraq that had been documented by the International Atomic Energy Agency were lost to theft and looting after April 9, 2003.
RELATED: GAO looks at gaps in Iraq arms security
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ied23mar23,1,5483452.story?coll=la-headlines-world
RELATED: Hussein-era arms linked to fatalities
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/03/23/hussein_era_arms_linked_to_fatalities/

Ex-Sadr Aide Held in American Deaths
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200261.html
U.S. forces have detained a former spokesman for Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in connection with a bold attack that killed five American soldiers in Karbala this year. The military said Thursday that former Sadr spokesman Qais Khazali was arrested along with his brother, Laith Khazali, and several members of what a military statement called the "Khazali network." Suhail al-Janabi, a Sadr media representative, said the cleric dismissed Khazali in 2004 after he began giving unauthorized orders to Sadr followers during a battle in Najaf between U.S. forces and Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Janabi said Khazali then returned with several fighters to Sadr City, a vast Shiite district in Baghdad, and has not been associated with Sadr since.

Shiite clash in Basra injures 9
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-shiites23mar23,1,6783859.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Two days after British forces began withdrawing from the center of the southern city of Basra, a bloody gunfight broke out Thursday between rival Shiite Muslim parties, a sign of the potential for increased bloodshed as foreign troops leave Iraq and various factions compete to fill the power vacuum. A citywide curfew was imposed after the incident, in which nine people were wounded. It was the latest in a series of skirmishes between followers of radical cleric Muqtada Sadr and those of other Shiite political parties in central and southern Iraq. The fighting comes amid the sectarian violence that has raged between Shiites and minority Sunni Arabs who dominated the country before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
RELATED: As U.N. Chief Meets Premier of Iraq, the Zone Is Shelled
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/world/middleeast/23iraq.html?ref=world

Gates troubled by Taliban prisoner swap
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-22-prisoner-swap_N.htm
Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern Thursday over the Afghan government's decision to free five Taliban prisoners in exchange for the freedom of an Italian journalist. Asked at a Pentagon news conference whether he was troubled by the deal, given that it implies the Afghan government has let Taliban militants resume their fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Gates replied, "Yes." "This was between the Afghan government and the Italians," he added. "We are not the sovereign government of Afghanistan, so I think we have influence but we don't have the authority or the ability to dictate decisions to that government." Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who writes for Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, was freed Monday after two weeks in captivity with the Taliban. His Afghan driver, who was also seized, was beheaded, and the fate of his translator is not known. The Afghan government called the swap "an exceptional case."

Pakistan Officials Applaud Fighting in Tribal Region
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201471.html
An intense clash between local tribesmen and foreign al-Qaeda fighters that has left approximately 130 people dead this week is prompting hope among Pakistani officials that resentment toward the outsiders is growing. The battle, in the semiautonomous region of South Waziristan, has involved thousands of fighters. Local Pashtun tribe members -- including many Taliban supporters -- have squared off against Uzbek, Chechen and Arab militants, who since 2001 have massed near the border to plan attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials say. Most of those killed have been foreigners. About 10 civilian bystanders have also been killed this week, and many more have fled.

Israeli Soldiers Stand Firm, but Duty Wears on the Soul
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/world/middleeast/23jerusalem.html?ref=world
Mr. Manekin is the director of Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli combat soldiers and some current reservists, shocked at their own misconduct and that of others, who have gathered to collect their stories and bear witness. Since 2004, the group has collected testimonies from nearly 400 soldiers (available in English at www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp). He spoke of how some soldiers humiliate or beat Palestinians to keep crowds in line and how soldiers are taught to be aggressive, but how most behave within decent moral limits — and of how the fear that hundreds of people could erupt in anger wears on the soul and turns young men callous. “I don’t think this is a problem of the military,” he said. “It’s a problem of the society. We’re sending these kids in our name. And there has to be a space to talk of bad things. It’s not enough to say, ‘But there’s Palestinian terrorism,’ which there is, but that’s too easy.”

Six-Party Talks Break Down As N. Korea Balks on Funds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200160.html
The six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program broke down in Beijing on Thursday as top envoys from Russia and North Korea flew home and the Chinese hosts called a recess. Delegates from Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, had been refusing since Tuesday to take part in joint sessions until $25 million in frozen North Korean funds was transferred. Their departure followed repeated public assurances by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator, that the funds issue would not derail the talks.
RELATED: North Korea steps away from nuclear talks issue
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-norkor23mar23,1,7108079.story?coll=la-headlines-world

In a Changing China, News Show Thrives With Timeworn Ways
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202301.html
Wei Yi, a Beijing-based reporter for China Central Television's main news program, stood with his microphone in front of a little stone monument at the entrance to Xialu village. Against a backdrop of orange trees, he told millions of Chinese viewers how a government initiative had recently improved farmers' lives here with construction of new roads. "Convenient transportation was made possible by this stretch of road that was just finished this year in the village," he intoned. "Outside merchants can now quickly ship out freshly harvested fruit." Later, viewers were presented with images of several dozen peasants, shovels in hand, working in unison on a new road.

Mugabe Foes to Join Talks in S. Africa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201907.html
Zimbabwean opposition leaders plan to travel to South Africa on Friday for urgent talks as regional governments increase pressure on President Robert Mugabe following recent assaults on anti-government activists. The March 11 police beatings that hospitalized opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of others have provoked growing unease among African leaders who for years refrained from criticizing Mugabe, even as Zimbabwe descended into political and economic chaos.

U.S. Presses for Release of American Held in Ethiopia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202128.html
A U.S. citizen who was arrested in East Africa in January and has been held successively by Kenyan, Somali and now Ethiopian authorities without charges should be returned to his family in the United States, U.S. officials said yesterday. Amir Meshal, 24, of Tinton Falls, N.J., was among dozens of people picked up by the Kenyan military on Jan. 12 as they fled a U.S-backed Ethiopian invasion into neighboring Somalia. According to officials in the State Department, the FBI and Meshal's congressional office, Meshal was transferred from the border to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, where he was held and questioned.

In Italy, scandal doesn't mean the boot
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-paparazzi23mar23,1,3163323.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales could learn a thing or two from the Italians when it comes to surviving political scandal. How often is it that a government's top spokesman, a close ally of the prime minister, can be shown talking to a "presumed" transvestite prostitute — and still hold on to his job? Silvio Sircana, the spokesman, said he had no intention of resigning after newspapers this week published paparazzi photographs showing him in his car, apparently leaning over to address a person in hot pants and stilettos posed rather provocatively on the sidewalk.

Linked Killings Undercut Trust In Guatemala
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201903.html
The victims had been kidnapped, investigators concluded, and two of them burned alive. The men who were found that day in February on a ranch outside Guatemala City turned out to be three Salvadoran politicians and their chauffeur. Among them was Eduardo D'Aubuisson, son of Roberto D'Aubuisson, the late founder of El Salvador's ruling party and the alleged architect of death squads in the Salvadoran civil war. Three days later, four Guatemalan policemen were accused of the killings and arrested. Three days after that, with international attention trained on this country, the officers' throats were slashed and they were shot in their cells. The prison murders have not been solved.

Mexican Envoy Highly Critical of U.S. Role in Anti-Drug Effort
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201853.html
The United States has contributed "zilch" to Mexico's efforts to combat the nations' joint problem with criminal narcotics gangs, Mexico's new ambassador to Washington said yesterday. "We are going to need significantly more in cooperation from the United States," Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan said, including increased aid and intelligence and stepped-up U.S. efforts to stop the southward flow of weapons, laundered money and chemicals for the production of methamphetamines. Sarukhan's comments, in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors, echoed recent criticism by Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Since his inauguration in December, Calder?n has asserted that the United States is not doing enough to lower U.S. drug consumption or to help Mexico combat traffickers. He has also criticized U.S. border and trade policies as hindering the legal entry of Mexican citizens and goods.

Top

Immigration

Immigration Reform Revisited
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201840.html
A bipartisan proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to participate in a guest-worker program and possibly gain citizenship was introduced in the House yesterday, the first to be submitted since Democrats took control of Congress this year. The proposal from Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is a far cry from a measure passed by the Republican-controlled House in 2005 that focused on tough enforcement actions to reduce illegal immigration. The House bill died in a conference committee along with a competing Senate bill that was similar to the Flake-Gutierrez proposal.

Kids removed from Texas immigrant shelter
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abuse23mar23,1,1420210.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Federal officials have moved everyone out of a Texas shelter for children caught crossing the U.S. border on their own amid allegations that youngsters were being sexually abused. The decision to transfer 72 children from the Texas Sheltered Care facility this week came after an investigation launched last month by the FBI and local authorities into allegations that the staff had abused numerous children.

Lawyer blasts city's immigrant crackdown
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230169mar23,1,6574246.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The city of Hazleton tried to "scapegoat and demonize illegal immigrants," blaming them for crime, overburdened schools and other problems, an ACLU lawyer said Thursday at the close of a federal trial over the town's illegal-immigration crackdown. "To lay the problems at the feet of undocumented immigrants is unfair," said Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
RELATED: Pennsylvania city immigration law is in judge's hands
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hazleton23mar23,1,2447018.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Top

Reproductive Choice

Birth Control Prices Soar on Campuses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032300238.html
Millions of college students are suddenly facing sharply higher prices for birth control, prompting concerns among health officials that some will shift to less preferred contraceptives or stop using them altogether. Prices for oral contraceptives, or birth control pills, are doubling and tripling at student health centers, the result of a complex change in the Medicaid rebate law that essentially ends an incentive for drug companies to provide deep discounts to colleges. "It's a tremendous problem for our students because not every student has a platinum card," said Hugh Jessop, executive director of the health center at Indiana University.

Senegal makes progress against female genital excision
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-girls23mar23,1,7985392.story?coll=la-headlines-world
When Oureye Sall walked through her village in years past, young girls would flee in silent panic at the sight of her face. She was the cutter. She inherited the trade from her mother and made a tidy profit: a dollar per operation for the practice known locally as "cleaning," and in much of the rest of the world as female genital circumcision, or mutilation. Sall broke each razor blade in two for economy's sake and used each half until it was too blunt to cut properly. Sometimes she did 15 or 20 operations a day, other times two or three. She has no idea how many girls she cut in her decades-long career. "Of course the girls would fight," she said of the procedure, in which she sliced off the external sexual organs. "Of course they would hit you. They would cry, they would kick. "But you'd have three good strong women to help you. Someone had to actually sit on each leg and someone had to control the arms and upper body. We would cover their mouths. You don't want the neighbors to hear."

Top

Marriage and Family Issues

South Carolina officially bans gay marriage; New Hampshire takes step toward civil unions
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/22/america/NA-GEN-US-Gay-Marriage.php
South Carolina officially banned gay marriage Thursday as legislative leaders ratified a constitutional amendment approved by voters in November. New Hampshire, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction, with a state House of Representatives panel endorsing the creation of civil unions for same-sex couples. South Carolina was among eight states with gay marriage bans on the election ballot last year. The measures passed everywhere except Arizona. Nearly four out of five South Carolina voters approved the amendment, which reads, "A marriage between one man and one woman is the only lawful domestic union that shall be valid or recognized in this state." The state already had a law against same-sex marriages, but proponents said the amendment was needed to prevent judges from opening the door to civil unions, which offer gay couples the legal benefits of marriage but not the title.

Murray vows vote on gay marriage
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/23/murray_vows_vote_on_gay_marriage/
[Massachusetts] Senate President Therese Murray, who supported an effort last fall to kill a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage without a vote, said yesterday that she will use her power as the new leader of the Senate and of the Constitutional Convention to ensure that lawmakers take an up-or-down vote on the amendment. Murray, a strong supporter of same-sex unions, said she will continue to help round up votes to defeat the marriage ban but will oppose any move to bury the proposed amendment with parliamentary tactics. "My vote is going to be just what it was the last time, but I am not going to move to adjourn," Murray said, speaking with reporters on her way into a Senate session a day after she was elected to succeed Robert E. Travaglini as Senate leader. "I will call for a vote, and I will try to help the advocates get the votes that they need. . . . I think it's important that we vote." Murray's statement stands in sharp contrast to the vote she took at a Constitutional Convention in November, when she backed a recess motion designed to kill the proposal by keeping it from moving to the 2007-2008 legislative session for a final vote.

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Feds unveil strict new transplant rules
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-transplant23mar23,0,4504880.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Under pressure to tighten oversight of the nation's transplant centers, federal health officials unveiled strict new standards Thursday that could force dozens of organ programs to give up precious federal funding or have it pulled from them. The rules come after a series of scandals in California in the last 18 months have embarrassed regulators and exposed serious gaps in the monitoring of the nation's transplant system. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hopes the regulations, which took more than two years to finalize, will prevent "poor or marginal performers" from continuing to receive federal funding, according to a report accompanying the new rules.

Blue Cross cancellations called illegal
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-health23mar23,0,2604173.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Blue Cross of California "routinely" violated state law when it canceled individual health insurance coverage after policyholders got pregnant or sick, making no attempt to determine whether they did anything to merit such "harsh" treatment, according to a state investigation of practices that appear to be industrywide.
State regulators plan similar investigations of other health plans in California, and the findings against Blue Cross ratchet up the risk of liability for other insurers, many of whom face lawsuits from consumers who claim they were illegally dumped and subjected to substantial hardships.

In Some States, Maker Oversees Use of Its Drug
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/business/23lilly.html?ref=business
Many states, looking to rein in the cost of expensive antipsychotic drugs like Zyprexa, have turned to an unusual ally for help — the very company that sells the drug. At more than $300 for a monthly prescription, Zyprexa, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, is the single biggest drug cost for state Medicaid budgets. So Eli Lilly, the maker of Zyprexa, offers to help states monitor doctors who treat Medicaid patients to make sure they are not wasting money on mental illness drugs because of what psychiatrists call “sloppy prescribing” — giving patients too many similar medications or doses that are too high. Twenty states use Lilly’s free service. But some experts question why these states let Lilly help oversee spending on its own medication.

Top

Economy

Stocks wobble after Wednesday's big rally
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-03-22-stocks-thurs_N.htm
Wall Street finished mixed Thursday, nudging the Dow Jones industrials higher for a fourth straight session but moving cautiously as investors awaited new data to assess whether their hopes for an interest rate cut are justified. A surprise warning that cellphone maker Motorola will post a loss for the first quarter also made the market uneasy as it looked ahead to earnings reports that begin next month. Investors seemed uncertain about where to take stocks a day after the Federal Reserve issued an economic assessment interpreted as opening up the possibility of a reduction in short-term rates.
RELATED: As Cellphone Industry Shifts, Motorola Needs a Quick Fix and a Long-Term Plan
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/technology/23motorola.html?ref=business

Amex Censured for Not Enforcing Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202082.html
The Securities and Exchange Commission censured the American Stock Exchange and its former chairman and chief executive yesterday for failing to enforce securities laws and maintain records. The SEC issued a cease-and-desist order against the exchange, saying it failed to properly watch for violations of order-handling rules by its members and also to keep and provide surveillance and other records from at least 1999 through June 2004.

Oracle Says Rival Stole Its Software
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/technology/23oracle.html?ref=business
Oracle sued its rival SAP yesterday, accusing the big German software maker of intruding into its computer systems to carry out “corporate theft on a grand scale.” The companies are fierce competitors in the lucrative market for the business software that corporations use to manage their finances, human resources, sales and customer relations.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

Fed Faulted For Inaction On Mortgages
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201973.html
Senators yesterday accused the Federal Reserve and its former chairman, Alan Greenspan, of a "pattern of neglect" that fostered a crisis in the mortgage industry that is putting more than 2 million families at risk of losing their homes. Members of the Senate Banking Committee said the Fed had power to regulate risky lending practices but did not choose to use it even as exotic mortgages given to buyers with checkered credit helped drive up housing prices across the country. The mortgage mess has rattled markets in recent weeks and spurred a broad reassessment of lending practices.
RELATED: Regulators: Oversight of subprime mortgages is lax
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-03-22-subprime-hearings_N.htm
RELATED: The Subprime Loan Machine
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/business/23speed.html?ref=business

KB Home's Profit Drops, Highlighting Slowdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202083.html
KB Home, one of the nation's largest home builders, said Thursday that fiscal first-quarter profit plunged as KB felt pressure from a slowing housing market and the rise in defaults by holders of high-risk subprime mortgages. KB warned that it expected the sector's problems, most notably a glut of homes on the market and intense price competition, to continue at least through the end of the year, resulting in lower sales and profits.

Judge Denies Class Action Against Insurer Over Katrina
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202462.html
A federal judge yesterday refused to allow a class action against State Farm Insurance over the insurer's denial of claims on Mississippi's Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. State Farm policyholder Judy Guice had asked U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. to permit her to join in a class action against the insurer with other policyholders whose homes were reduced to slabs by the August 2005 storm.

Billionaire Opens Mansions to Homeless
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032300240.html
Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion Thursday, courtesy of a Japanese real estate mogul who is handing over eight of his multimillion-dollar homes to low-income Native Hawaiian families.

Top

Media

NBC, News Corp. Join to Take More Control of Web Video
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200753.html
Industry giants in media and entertainment are joining forces to build a network for showing movies and television shows on the Web, creating an Internet alliance of unprecedented reach to protect copyrighted content while feeding demand for online versions of popular programs. NBC Universal, owned by General Electric, and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. will begin offering most of their TV content -- hit shows such as "Heroes" and "24" -- for free on AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and News Corp.'s MySpace, as well as a new site, this summer, the companies said yesterday. The venture could lower the temperature in the high-stakes dispute between content owners, such as movie and TV companies, and online distributors, such as Google's YouTube, that often use copyrighted material without paying for it. The online-content boom has brought the two sides into conflict, calling into question whether the nine-year-old law meant to govern copyright in the digital age already is outdated.
RELATED: For YouTube, This Is a Test
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202058.html

CNBC's Cramer boasts of manipulating markets
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-03-23-cramer-usat_N.htm
CNBC TV host Jim Cramer has made a name for himself telling viewers how to make money in the stock market. Here's one time he might wish he'd kept quiet. In a video originally broadcast on trading website TheStreet.com on Dec. 22, 2006, that resurfaced this week on YouTube, Cramer discusses at length ways he and other hedge fund managers have been able to manipulate security prices for quick gains. "A lot of times when I was short (stocks) at my hedge fund … meaning I needed it (the stock) down …I would create a level of activity beforehand that would drive the futures," the Mad Money host said in a broadcast that was removed from YouTube Thursday but was available on TheStreet.com as of Thursday night. "It's a fun game, and it's a lucrative game."

Top

Education

GAO: Reading program improperly managed
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-03-23-gao-reading-program_N.htm
Education Department officials and their contractors appear to have improperly backed certain types of instruction in administering a $1 billion-a-year reading program, congressional investigators found. The Government Accountability Office report supports assertions by the inspector general of the Education Department, who has released several reports in recent months into the Reading First program. The program is a key part of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law. It offers intensive reading help for low-income and struggling schools. The GAO, Congress' investigative and auditing arm, surveyed states to get their views on the program. In a report due out Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, the GAO states that some states said they received suggestions from federal officials or contractors to adopt or eliminate certain programs or tests.

State strips St. Louis of control over schools
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230181mar23,1,4346016.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The state school board voted Thursday to strip the accreditation from the St. Louis school district and take control of its struggling schools. The 5-1 vote came after angry students chanting "No takeovers" temporarily shut down the meeting. A transitional, three-person board, formed by state and district officials, will take over the St. Louis schools on June 15. The locally elected board will remain in place but have no power. The 32,000-student district has struggled academically and financially for years. Its operating budget has shown a negative balance for each of the past four years, and a special state panel recommended that an unelected board run the district.

Top

Science and Technology

Mice See New Hue With Added Gene
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201841.html
Providing a kaleidoscopic upgrade to creatures that are largely colorblind, scientists have endowed mice with a human gene that allows the rodents to see the world in full Technicolor splendor. The advance, which relied on imaginative tests to confirm that the mice can perceive all the hues that people see, helps resolve a long-standing debate about how color vision arose in human ancestors tens of millions of years ago. That seminal event brought a host of practical advantages, such as the ability to spot ripe fruit, and unveiled new aesthetic pleasures -- autumn foliage, magenta sunsets and the blush of a potential mate, among them.

French Get a Look at Nation's UFO Files
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202132.html
On an August day in 1967, two children tending a herd of cows outside a village in central France reported seeing "four small black beings" fly from the ground and slip headfirst into a sphere that shot skyward in a flash of light and trail of sulfuric odors. The alleged extraterrestrial sighting, described by the French government as "one of the most astonishing observed in France," is among 1,600 UFO case files spanning the last half-century that the country's space agency opened to the public for the first time Thursday. The voluntary decision by France's National Center for Space Studies to dump more than 100,000 pages of witness testimony, photographs, film footage and audiotapes from its secret UFO archives onto its Internet site, http://www.cnes.fr, for worldwide viewing is an unprecedented move among Western countries. Most of them, the United States included, consider such records classified matters of national security.

Top

Military

Gates pushes back on eve of war vote
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warvote23mar23,1,2579232.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
As House Democrats edged closer Thursday to securing the votes to pass a war funding bill that would compel the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned that the current troop buildup would be jeopardized by any delays in enacting such funding. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and her lieutenants appeared to make more progress in their drive to reach a majority as more of the war's staunchest opponents lined up behind the measure. A Pelosi spokesman said President Bush would be to blame for any effect that delays in passing a bill would have on the military, saying the president had failed to adequately fund the war.

Army says desertions were underreported
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230059mar23,1,5591204.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
A total of 3,196 active-duty soldiers deserted the Army last year, or 853 more than previously reported, according to revised figures from the Army. The new calculations significantly alter the annual desertion totals since fiscal year 2000. In 2005, for example, the Army now says that 2,543 soldiers deserted, not the 2,011 it had reported. National Public Radio first reported Tuesday that the Army had been inaccurately reporting desertion figures.

Top

Energy Policy

Congress Asks Purdue for Fusion Claim Findings
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/washington/23purdue.html
A Congressional committee has asked Purdue University for copies of its findings in an investigation of a Purdue scientist who claims to have generated nuclear fusion in a desktop experiment. In a series of scientific papers beginning in 2002, the scientist, Rusi P. Taleyarkhan, said that by using sound waves he could generate temperatures hot enough for hydrogen atoms to meld and release energy, a process called fusion, similar to how the Sun makes heat and light. Purdue investigated Dr. Taleyarkhan’s work and released a statement last month saying that the inquiry had cleared the scientist of charges of research misconduct. A lack of details in the statement, including what charges were examined, led the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee to send a letter yesterday to Purdue’s president, Martin C. Jischke, asking for copies of the findings.

Some rethinking nuke opposition
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-22-nuclear-power_N.htm
"No Nukes" was once a familiar rallying cry for environmentalists opposed to nuclear power and all its scary risks. With global warming a rising concern, some environmentalists are rethinking nuclear power because it emits zero greenhouse gases. "You can't just write nuclear off," says Judi Greenwald, director of innovative solutions with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, an environmental research and advocacy group. "I think everybody feels you have to at least look again" at nuclear power. That attitude is markedly different from the revulsion that environmental groups have directed toward nukes for most of the past three decades.

OSHA to Train More Workers for Refinery Inspections
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201904.html
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said yesterday that it would nearly double the number of workers trained to perform advanced inspections of oil refineries called for in a government report released this week. The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's report criticized the agency's oversight of BP's Texas City, Tex., refinery before the 2005 explosion that killed 15 people and injured more than 170.

Top

Transportation and Infrastructure

E.U., U.S. Agree to Ease Barriers to Flights
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032200408.html
The European Union agreed Thursday to liberalize air traffic between Europe and the United States with major deregulation steps that airline analysts said should increase the number of transatlantic flights and lower fares. The new "open skies" agreement, unanimously approved by transportation ministers from the European Union's 27 countries during a meeting in Brussels, would permit European airlines to fly from any European country to any city in the United States, and vice versa. Current regulations allow for European airlines to fly to the United States only from their home countries.

Top

Environment and Conservation

The Window Box Gets Some Tough Competition
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/us/23greenroof.html?ref=washington
It is the green season, when the rains give way to a landscape of renewal, and gardeners clutching copies of Sunset magazine’s Western Garden Book emerge exultantly from their winter dens. In this place where the political climate, too, is green, it is perhaps not surprising to encounter a hardy new perennial in the world of horticulture — the green roof gardener.

Yellowstone's grizzlies off protected list
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703230168mar23,1,6181029.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park no longer need Endangered Species Act protection, the federal government said Thursday. The area had an estimated 136 to 312 grizzlies when the species was listed as threatened in 1975, but has more than 500 of the bears now, the government said.

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.

Ignatius: An Inside-the-Bushies Mentality
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201799.html
If you read the obituary pages of The Post each morning, you encounter the kinds of people who are being trashed by the Bush administration's contempt for public servants. On a typical day, perhaps a third of the obits feature such people -- career lawyers at the Justice Department; intelligence analysts at the CIA; researchers in government agencies. These weren't fancy Beltway insiders. They weren't famous enough to be asked their opinions on "Hardball" or "The McLaughlin Group." They were civil servants who came to Washington in the 1940s, '50 and '60s with their university degrees and a touch of idealism because they wanted to make a difference. They were the mainstays of the churches and synagogues and volunteer organizations of this region, the people who stayed late to clean up after everybody else had gone home.

Anonymous: My National Security Letter Gag Order
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201882.html
The Justice Department's inspector general revealed on March 9 that the FBI has been systematically abusing one of the most controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act: the expanded power to issue "national security letters." It no doubt surprised most Americans to learn that between 2003 and 2005 the FBI issued more than 140,000 specific demands under this provision -- demands issued without a showing of probable cause or prior judicial approval -- to obtain potentially sensitive information about U.S. citizens and residents. It did not, however, come as any surprise to me.

Nolan: Executive Overreach
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201768.html
The Framers of our Constitution envisioned that in the exercise of their authorities, the two political branches would assert their prerogatives against each other. A process of negotiation and accommodation between the branches is what one would expect. That process isn't elegant, but a push-pull between the branches doesn't necessarily mean that anything is wrong. What is going wrong today, however, is the take-it-or-leave-it position of the White House.
RELATED: Froomkin: The Public's Right to Know
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/22/BL2007032200917.html
RELATED: Moore: Don't expect the truth from Karl Rove
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-moore23mar23,0,3813754.story?coll=la-opinion-center

A Cleaner Food and Drug Agency
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/opinion/23fri1.html
In our highly medicated, high-technology society, it is essential that the Food and Drug Administration regulates drugs, medical devices and other products with complete objectivity — free from the taint of industry influence. So it is encouraging that the agency has proposed new rules to exclude experts who have significant financial ties to regulated industries from serving on committees that recommend whether a product should be approved.

Foiled by the Gun Lobby
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/opinion/23fri3.html
In a sleazy political stroke, Republicans played the gun lobby’s card yesterday as the House was on the verge of redressing one of the longest-running injustices of American democracy: the denial of a Congressional vote to the taxpayers of the District of Columbia. The historic proposal for full representation in the House was derailed by a G.O.P. motion to attach a ban on Washington’s legitimate attempts to outlaw firearms in the city limits. Democratic leaders had to retract the bill and promise to prevail later without such a poison pill.

Brooks: Don't sell Barack 'Obambi' short
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks23mar23,0,2880200.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
The Clinton campaign desperately seizes on Obama's politeness over his correct position on the Iraq war.

Robinson: Choosing to Live
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201803.html
It was riveting to watch John and Elizabeth Edwards tell the world that even though her cancer has returned and is now deemed incurable, the Edwards campaign for the presidency will go on. No hiatus. No break from fundraising or travel. Just "keep your head up and keep moving and be strong," the candidate said. How could they possibly go on? I think there are better questions to ask. How could they not go on? What choice did they have but to continue with the mission they have set for themselves, and how else could they do it but together, as a partnership?
RELATED: An Unwelcome Comeback
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201875.html
RELATED: `I am absolutely ready for this'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703230302mar23,0,2828159.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed

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