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TOP STORIES

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National

Bush impeachment on the table, Hagel says
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-impeach26mar26,1,1876697.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Some lawmakers who complain that President Bush is flouting Congress and the public with his Iraq policies are considering impeachment an option, a Republican senator said Sunday. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of the war, stopped short of calling for Bush's impeachment. But he made clear that some lawmakers viewed that as an option should Bush choose to push ahead despite public sentiment against the war. "Any president who says 'I don't care' or 'I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else' or 'I don't care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed' — if a president really believes that, then there are … ways to deal with that," Hagel said on ABC's "This Week." The White House had no immediate reaction to Hagel's comments.
RELATED: Senator: Some see impeachment as option
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-25-hagel-iraq_N.htm

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

15 Britons Taken to Tehran As Iran Dispute Intensifies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400095.html
Fifteen British sailors and marines seized by Iranian naval forces have been taken to Tehran for questioning as a diplomatic dispute between Iran and the West intensified Saturday. The Iranian Fars news agency reported that the British personnel were being asked to explain what Iran calls their "aggressive" trespass into Iranian territorial waters on Friday. The agency quoted a senior Iranian military official, Alireza Afshar, as saying that the British service members had "confessed" and that if the United States and its allies invaded Iran, they would "not be able to control the dimensions and period of the war." British officials insist that the sailors and marines, on two small patrol boats, were in Iraqi waters in the Persian Gulf conducting a routine patrol under a U.N. mandate. British officials said the eight sailors and seven marines had just completed an inspection of a merchant ship when they were surrounded by Iranian vessels and captured near Shatt al Arab, a waterway between Iraq and Iran that has long been a source of territorial disputes.
RELATED: Iran may charge seamen as spies
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260163mar26,1,6377638.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

More Iran news in NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY

Ex-Prosecutor Says He Faced Partisan Questions Before Firing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401122.html
One of the eight former U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration said yesterday that White House officials questioned his performance in highly partisan political terms at a meeting in Washington in September, three months before his dismissal. John McKay of Washington state, who had decided two years earlier not to bring voter fraud charges that could have undermined a Democratic victory in a closely fought gubernatorial race, said White House counsel Harriet Miers and her deputy, William Kelley, "asked me why Republicans in the state of Washington would be angry with me."
RELATED: Bush Reaffirms Confidence in Gonzales Amid New Disclosures
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401196.html
RELATED: Focus on Gonzales' `credibility'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260070mar26,1,5132451.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Three fired U.S. attorneys balked at seeking death penalty
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-death26mar26,1,4373927.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Justice Department tugged to the right
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-usattys25mar25,1,6680289.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
RELATED: Domenici caught up in prosecutor scandal
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-25-domenici_N.htm
RELATED: Key GOP senators criticize Gonzales
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/26/key_gop_senators_criticize_gonzales/

More DOJ scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT

Edwardses Reject Sympathy Votes, Defend His Decision to Stay in Race
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501439.html
John Edwards says voters should not throw him their support just because his wife has cancer. "Do not vote for us because you feel some sympathy or compassion for us. That would be an enormous mistake," Edwards said on CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired last night. "The vote for the presidency is far too important for any of those things to influence it." Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, who has been diagnosed with a recurrence of breast cancer, defended his decision to continue pursuing the Democratic nomination. She said she could not live with denying him the chance to be president. "That would be my legacy, wouldn't it, Katie?" according to a transcript of the interview with Katie Couric, which was taped Saturday in Las Vegas; the transcript was released Sunday before broadcast. "That I'd taken out this fine man from -- from the possibility of -- of giving a great service. I mean, I don't want that to be my legacy," Elizabeth Edwards said.
RELATED: Democrats Speculate on Edwards
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301655.html
RELATED: In the Hospital, Mrs. Edwards Set Campaign’s Fate
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/us/politics/25edwards.html
RELATED: Edwards’s Cancer Has Spread Into One of Her Hips
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/us/politics/26edwards.html

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

Top

Colorado

Colorado delegation follows party lines in casting votes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5439742,00.html
Colorado's congressional delegation split strictly along party lines in Friday's vote approving a $124 billion emergency war spending plan that attempts to impose a timetable for U.S. troops to leave Iraq. All four Colorado Democrats - Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Denver; Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs; John Salazar, D-Manassa; and Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden - voted in favor of the resolution. All three Colorado Republicans - Reps. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan; Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs; and Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton - opposed it. DeGette, who is chief deputy whip for the Democratic caucus, said trying to forge party unity was the toughest assignment she has had in 10 years.
RELATED: Fund fight, and war itself, divide veterans
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5439776,00.html
RELATED: Musgrave shuns war spending bill
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/NEWS01/703240352/1002/NEWS17
RELATED: House OKs Iraq withdrawal bill in challenge to Bush
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/1

Senators give initial OK to Darfur-related measure
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5439331,00.html
Sen. Nancy Spence's eyes welled with tears when she recounted how the U.S. stood by while her adopted granddaughter's parents were among a half-million Rwandans slaughtered in that country's civil war in 1994. "She was 3 years old at the time," Spence said. "I have firsthand accounts from her relatives who survived and talked about visiting mass graves. They identified the bodies of her mother, who was pregnant." The Centennial Republican urged the Colorado Senate on Friday not to stand idly by and do nothing while similar genocide occurs in Sudan. She stood with a majority of the Senate and backed a bill that requires the state's pension fund to divest in companies financially involved with Sudan. House Bill 1184 is sponsored by Denver Democrats Sen. Peter Groff and House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
RELATED: Senior educates other teenagers about Darfur
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520388

More Sudan/Darfur news in NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY

National forest plan assailed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5442796,00.html
Industry officials and environmentalists are at odds over the new proposed management plan for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests. The Western Colorado Congress says the plan doesn't set aside enough land for wilderness or provide enough protection for other land. "We see some real issues here," said Bill Grant, WCC president. "We feel the erosion of these areas that support the wildlife and recreation are diminishing the forest for public uses." Greg Schaefer, spokesman for Arch Coal, says the plan will allow industry to operate for years.
RELATED: Enviros crying foul over forest plan
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/25/3_25_1b_GMUG_Plan.html

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

State Lawmakers back Pinon Canyon ranchers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5438322,00.html
The Colorado House gave initial passage [Friday] to a bill opposing the U.S. Army’s plan to expand its Pinon Canyon site by 418,000 acres for tank training. Supporters said House Bill 1069 sends a message to the federal government to halt the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site expansion from wiping out generations-old Southeast Colorado ranch families and irreplaceable dinosaur tracks. "We took an oath an oath, each of us, to protect life, liberty and property," declared sponsor Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, who represents ranchers in the sprawling grasslands where cows outnumber people eight-to-one. "Every citizen in Colorado should be guaranteed in their heart that their government is going to protect their right to what is actually theirs."
RELATED: House opposes Pinon Canyon land seizure
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/2

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Rep. Tancredo pushes border security
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-24-tancredo-iowa_N.htm
Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo on Saturday urged U.S. elected officials to do a better job securing the country's borders. "Most of my colleagues do not want to deal with this," said Tancredo, a potential Republican presidential candidate. "The borders are becoming meaningless, and that is their intent." Tancredo, who attracted a small crowd Saturday afternoon at a gun show, said he opposes granting amnesty to immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. He also criticized President Bush's immigration policies.

McInnis’ $1M war chest up for grabs
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/24/3_24_1b_McInnis_money.html
Scott McInnis, who abandoned his bid for the U.S. Senate this week, has nearly $1 million in his campaign war chest, but no immediate plans to liquidate it. McInnis, a six-term congressman who represented the 3rd Congressional District, criss-crossed the state in recent months, gauging interest in a bid for the Senate seat being left open by fellow Republican Wayne Allard. He opted out of the race on Wednesday. His exploratory committee raised no money, he said. “Existing funds will be used to support fellow Republicans,” he said in an e-mail about his plans for the money, which was raised when he was a member of the House of Representatives before he decided against seeking re-election in 2004. John Zakhem, a Denver attorney who represents the state Republican Party, said politicians with war chests but no immediate plans to run have several choices ranging from simply maintaining the account, giving the money to charity or parceling it out to state or national political party organizations according to state or federal contribution rules, respectively. One thing McInnis can’t do, though, is give money directly to another candidate, Zakhem said.

Democrats raise money, give awards at annual dinner
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103250089/-1/NEWS
Celebrating victory and planning for the future to retain a Democratic lead in Colorado were the focuses during the annual Roosevelt Dinner hosted by the Weld County Democratic Party Saturday in Milliken. Key speaker U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., also announced his intentions to run for U.S. Senate next year. "I am someone who's worked with all of the other Colorado delegations," Udall said. "I'm also an optimist. I think this country has some challenges, but we are going to meet them."
RELATED: School officials share ideas on school legislation with Congressman
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103250087/-1/NEWS

Anonymous flier attacks Colton
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/NEWS01/703240358/1002/NEWS17
In one week, Glen Colton has been painted as too far left and too far right for Fort Collins. First it was a series of political mailings claiming he'd been a Green Party member, which wasn't true. Then Friday, some voters in City Council District 4, the district Colton's running in against Wade Troxell and LeRoy Gomez, got fliers touting Colton as "too far right" for the city. Troxell's campaign and the Fort Collins Future Committee, the political committee that sent the Green Party fliers, denied sending the latest mailing. "They're misleading people from both ends," Colton said. It wasn't clear who sent out the latest mailer, which appeared targeted at registered Democrats. Unlike most states, Colorado doesn't require that election advertising disclose who paid for the communication.

City Council candidates look to Web
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070325_2.htm
Durango City Council candidates are demonstrating their Web savvy with campaign sites that provide biographies, give detailed positions about issues and urge supporters to volunteer and donate money.

City Charter changes in voter hands
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/NEWS01/703260326/1002
Fort Collins voters will decide April 3 whether to approve a pair of housecleaning amendments for the City Charter. Ballots for the mail-ballot municipal election went out last week to city voters and include four City Council races, a possible repeal of the Southwest Enclave Annexation and the two charter amendments.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Interior's No. 2 pleads in Abramoff scandal
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5505540
Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty today to one felony count of obstruction of justice for lying to a Senate committee about his ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Griles, a former oil and gas lobbyist, is now the highest Bush administration official convicted in the Abramoff scandal. From 2001-2005, he was the No.2 man at the Interior Department under former Secretary Gale Norton, and served as the department's chief liaison to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. Appearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., Griles, apologized for misleading the Senate Indian Affairs committee in October and November 2005 about the nature of his relationship with Abramoff. Griles told committee investigators then that Abramoff was "no different than any other lobbyist," when in fact Abramoff had direct access to Griles, according to the plea. "I am sorry for my wrongdoing. I fully accept the responsibility for my conduct and the consequences it may have," Griles said to District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. "When a Senate committee asks questions, they must be answered fully and completely and it is not my place to decide whether those questions are relevant or too personal. I apologize to my family, my friends, the committee and its staff." According to the Justice Department, Abramoff gained unique access to Griles through Italia Federici, a Republican environmental activist referred to as "person A" in the plea agreement. Federici -- who worked in Colorado as a campaign aide for Norton's unsuccessful 1996 U.S. Senate bid -- introduced the two men on March 1, 2001, when she was Griles' girlfriend.

Conservative Blue Dogs show bite in Congress
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510771
Most people outside the nation's capital have never heard of a politically powerful group called the Blue Dogs. But America is starting to feel its influence. When a controversial bill with a deadline for pulling out of Iraq passed the House by a thin margin, it did so in part because of the Blue Dogs. A caucus of conservative Democrats that includes Colorado Rep. John Salazar, the Blue Dogs agreed to support the bill only after forcing key changes. To further woo Blue Dog votes, Democratic leaders added $24 billion in financial incentives that could help many of the group members' home districts. It's the latest example of the 43-member Blue Dog group's increasing sway in the new Congress, where Democrats control the House by a 15-vote margin. "We're a force to be reckoned with," said Salazar, of Manassa.
RELATED: Colorado votes in Congress
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5510692

Campbell aide pleads guilty in finance case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440029,00.html
A former top aide to ex-Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of making a false statement in a 2002 financial disclosure report. As part of a plea agreement, Ginnie Kontnik, 51, admitted to the charge during a federal court appearance. Kontnik served as Campbell's chief of staff from shortly after his party switch in 1995 from Democratic to Republican until February 2004, when she resigned amid published reports that she asked a personal assistant to give her $2,000 from an inflated bonus she had given him. The employee cashed the check and gave Kontnik 20 $100 bills, prosecutors said.
RELATED: Former Campbell aide pleads guilty to fraud charge
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510247
RELATED: Former Campbell adviser pleads guilty
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070324_10.htm

Ritter's week in review
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5443125,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter, who took office in January, has only 44 days left in his first legislative session. Here's a look at last week.

5 questions for Todd Saliman
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5443124,00.html
The Senate today will take up the "long bill," the state budget for next year. Watching closely will be Gov. Bill Ritter's new budget chief, Todd Saliman. Saliman served on the Joint Budget Committee after being elected to the House in 1994. He was so influential that the Republican-controlled House in 2000 selected the Boulder Democrat as one of its top members. The term-limited legislator left the House in 2002.
RELATED: Long Bill makes for long days for state legislators
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070326/NEWS/103250137/-1/NEWS

Rainy day fund a ‘maybe’; bill would rename center
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174918682/9
The chairman of the powerful Joint Budget Committee said it probably won't happen; the vice chairman of the JBC says he hopes it will. Both men - Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, respectively - are talking about a proposal to create a rainy day fund to guard against future bad economic times. "When we balanced the budget, there didn't seem to be any room for the rainy-day fund," Tapia said Friday. "Don't get me wrong. I support the rainy-day fund. I think it should be done. But we couldn't fund capital development projects like we wanted, and this takes money away from that and transportation projects." Buescher's HB1302, which cleared the Colorado House earlier this month, would put $338 million more dollars over the next four years into the same reserve fund the Legislature already is required to maintain under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, the revenue and spending limiting measure voters approved in 1992.

Rural officials may get more aid
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5439334,00.html
Rural lawmakers struggling with rising gas and housing prices would get more expense money under a bill backed by the Senate on Friday. Senate Bill 139, by Sen. Jack Taylor, R-Steamboat Springs, raises their daily per diem from $99 to $149. The lone opposition came from Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, who said all lawmakers should get a bump. "We're all scraping by with the meager pay we get down here," he said.

Spot on ethics committee shaping up as thankless job
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5442797,00.html
Voters last fall approved the creation of an ethics committee when they passed Amendment 41, but some lawmakers wonder who would want to serve on it. Board members won't be compensated, even though the position could end up being full time because so many people are covered by the law, said Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins. "I don't know if you're going to find five people stupid enough to serve on this," he said. A bill creating the ethics commission is headed to the full Senate for debate after receiving approval Friday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Sister towns eyeing merger
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520302
Already operating a shared police department and teaming up other public services, Winter Park and Fraser are considering a bold new direction: a potential merger. As the towns try to determine the pros and cons of collaboration, experts say it is an unprecedented process in Colorado. A panel of officials from the two towns is wrestling with an array of complex issues, including how to resolve tax discrepancies and how to equalize benefits for employees.

Windsor manager candidate hopes to help town continue vision
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070326/NEWS/103240145/-1/NEWS
The idea of in-state tuition makes becoming the next Windsor Town Manager very inviting for Stewart Fairburn. But sinking his teeth into a community going through the growth spurt Windsor is facing is what actually drove the current Gardner, Kan., city administrator to apply. Although getting closer to his University of Colorado-enrolled son would be a positive aspect of the new job, Fairburn is focused more on what he could do for the town.
RELATED: Windsor's interim town manager credits town for making him love public adminstration again
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103250135/-1/NEWS
RELATED: Milliken town adminstrator wants to bring downtown back to life
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070326/NEWS/103250131/-1/NEWS
RELATED: No breaks for Fort Collins' 'CEO'
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250373/1002/NEWS17

City leader’s death a ‘big loss’ to Fruita
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/26/3_26_1a_Merling.html
Fruita City Councilwoman Darline Merling, who was known for her sense of fair play and love of children and animals, died Friday at St. Mary’s Hospital. She was 73.

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Longtime civil rights activist to speak at UNC Tuesday
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070326/NEWS/103250132/-1/NEWS
Well known civil rights activist Dolores Huerta -- recognized best for her work providing social justice to thousands of farm workers in the United States -- is scheduled to speak Tuesday at the University of Northern Colorado. Her speech, "Sharing 50 Years of Activism," is part of Women's Herstory Month and Cesar Chavez Week at UNC. During the civil rights movement that began in the '60s, Huerta worked alongside Cesar Chavez to create the United Farm Workers of America. This led to passing the Agricultural Labor Relations Act that gave farm workers the right to organize and negotiate better wages and safer working conditions by organizing a series of strikes and boycotts.

Latinos eye solutions to overcome barriers
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250359/1002/NEWS17
Edgar Sanchez knows the affect employers who take an active interest in the Latino work force can have. "Latino workers ... are starting to take advantage of those opportunities, and we do see them starting to work their way up the chains," said Sanchez, president of Spanish Communications, a language company based in Firestone. "They are starting to be promoted." Sanchez was one of the seven panel members who spoke about Latino issues Saturday during a community forum at Northside Aztlan Center hosted by State Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins. Several dozen people attended the event, the second held by Kefalas since he became a legislator.

Museum trip imprints horrors on students
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520299
The students walked slowly and silently, absorbing the individual faces of mass murder. There are the Jews, forced from their homes and into train cars and into concentration camps and into gas chambers. There are the disabled, killed because they were considered less than human. There are the gypsies and gays. There are shoes they wore, suitcases they carried, a train car that may have carried some to their deaths. For the 40 Colorado and Nebraska high school students visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the effect is jolting.

Top

Immigration

Citizen wants apology for ICE raids
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440547,00.html
Cristian Ramos, a U.S. citizen and Denver college student, wants an apology from immigration officials after they raided her neighborhood with guns drawn and searched her and her family members, all legal residents. Ramos said the officers went after her family simply because their skin is brown. She said she was outside her family's home in Aurora across from East Middle School, near East Colfax Avenue and Sable Street, about 7:30 a.m. on March 13 when she noticed the occupants of slow-moving vehicles staring intently at her. Ramos said she realized they were officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They leaped out of a white van, drew their guns, blocked Ramos' driveway with another vehicle and screamed at her and two other men not to move. Ramos, 20, raced into her home as the officials slammed one of the men to the ground. Ramos screamed for her father, who along with her mother, is a legal immigrant from El Salvador.

Marchers on a quest for justice
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5515409
Nearly 1,500 people prayed, marched and chanted Saturday in memory of César Chávez and in support of comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. "César Chávez was the one who helped speak up for our ancestors and those who were not able to experience justice, health care and all the things we deserve," said Lucia Guzman, a minister and a mayoral appointee who heads the human rights and community relations office. After a multidenominational service at St. Cajetan's Event Center on the Auraria campus, the group spilled onto Speer Boulevard. The march ended at West High School, where marchers pledged to support a week-long economic boycott for immigrant rights beginning today.
RELATED: Saying bye-buy for a week
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510590
RELATED: Immigrant support of boycott mixed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5442968,00.html
RELATED: Community set to celebrate Chavez
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250358/1002/NEWS17
RELATED: Economic boycott in works
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15377

African newcomers have filled Denver cab companies' ranks
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5443100,00.html
If you hail a cab at a downtown hotel or at the airport, odds are your driver will be an immigrant from Africa. There are now hundreds of Africans working in the Denver taxi industry. They started driving cabs in large numbers in the early 1990s, and their ranks have been bolstered by new arrivals. For the immigrants, driving a cab is an occupation that doesn't require perfect English or an education. "Some jobs want experience and a diploma, but you don't need that pushing metal," said Daniel Negash, a driver originally from Ethiopia.
RELATED: Hard life on the streets
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5443102,00.html

Passport requests create a backlog
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15378
Tina, her husband and her son are planning a family vacation to Cancun next week. They have their tickets, a place to stay and plans for a long weekend in the sun. What they don’t have is a passport for their 8-year-old son. They think it’s in Seattle. They’re just three of the millions of people caught in huge bureaucratic snafu at the U.S. State Department, which has fallen more than a month behind in issuing passports and is now struggling to even give people accurate information about their applications.

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Bill requires teens to complete driver's ed
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/NEWS01/703240357/1002/NEWS17
A law that would require all children younger than 18 to complete a driver's education course and have at least six hours of behind-the-wheel training before being issued a driver's permit is awaiting Gov. Bill Ritter's approval. Senate Bill 077, sponsored by Rep. Don Marostica, R-Loveland, and Sen. Stephanie Takis, D-Aurora, changes existing law which only requires children be enrolled in a driver's education course to receive the permit. "Some people were able to just enroll in a class, get their permit and then drop the class afterward," Takis said. "This bill will require them to complete the course."

Health care panelists hear of gaping needs
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20553&template=article.html
Kristina Sawyckyj has been waiting nine months for a wheelchair. A disabled Navy veteran and a Medicaid recipient, she spoke Saturday of years-long delays to see a specialist, difficulty finding doctors who take Medicaid and of falling down a lot for lack of a wheelchair. “We have Medicaid but that doesn’t necessarily mean we can get anywhere with it,” she said. It means she often relies on emergency room visits for her primary care. “Memorial Hospital urgent care; I live there,” she said. She was among 36 people who attended a public forum Saturday to address what many see as a broken and inadequate health care system in Colorado, where one in six people lack insurance.

Tribes promote health for Utes
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070324_4.htm
Ute tribal leaders visited the Capitol on Friday and heard the Senate take a stand against federal cuts for Indian health programs. The resolution urges Congress to support the Urban Indian Health Program and U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs police programs. The Bush administration wants to eliminate the health program, which serves Indians in the Denver area. "Thirty thousand urban Indians in this area would be having to go to our emergency rooms for care, and that doesn't make sense, does it?" said Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, who sponsored the resolution and is a voting member of the Cherokee nation.

Smoking-ban win about ‘choice’
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070325_3.htm
For Rob and Heidi Orio, the decision to fight Colorado's statewide smoking ban was made on one belief: freedom of choice.

Construction starts on osteopathic school
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/health_care/article/0,2808,DRMN_25396_5439218,00.html
Construction began on Friday for Colorado's second medical school, the Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. The $120 million school, located in Parker, is set to open in August 2008 with a class of 150 medical students. Rocky Vista intends to enroll 600 students by 2011 and eventually train nurses and other health care professionals as well, said Dr. Ron Martin, chief executive of the school.

Streamside ordinance makes waves
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/5
Changes to a 2002 ordinance designed to prevent development from encroaching on streams and flood plains in Colorado Springs are being reviewed, worrying some residents. The Council of Neighbors and Organizations claims proposed revisions in the ordinance would weaken streamside overlay protection by removing more than 4,000 acres from the area covered and shift oversight from city planning to the Regional Building Department.

Abo's and City lawyers differ
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/25/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
It's back to court for the City of Boulder and private attorney Richard Lopez, this time over a liquor license application from Lopez' client Abo's Pizza. The Abo's outlet on University Hill at 1110 13th Street applied for a liquor license in 2006, but the city's Beverage Licensing division returned the application because Abo's had not “complied with the zoning requirements” necessary for processing the application - in short, it did not obtain a new city use review approval that Lopez now does not believe should be necessary.

Area pet shelters busy since recall
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/24/area-pet-shelters-busy-since-recall/
The Boulder and Longmont humane societies have received dozens of phone calls and several animal visits since news broke last week of dogs and cats dying after eating certain types of pet food. Although neither organization has handled any reports of illness or kidney failure linked with the massive recall, staff members have had to sort through piles of canned food, reassure countless pet owners and even conduct blood work on some animals whose owners were especially concerned.

No signs of outbreak in Colorado
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5439191,00.html
Nothing indicates that H5N1 is anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, much less in the state. But if the virus shows up in Colorado, it could enter through wild waterfowl. The Division of Wildlife has been doing anal swabs on geese, ducks and shorebirds - primarily game birds taken by hunters.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Teens tackle gangs
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5439330,00.html
Hundreds of teens were in downtown Denver on Friday to share ideas on how to stop gang violence in their schools and neighborhoods. They gathered at a conference sponsored by Youth Crime Watch of America, which has 700 chapters around the country. Most of the groups sponsor school patrols and work to prevent fights and bullying. Many of the teens have seen the effects of violence firsthand. Seven came from Rochester, N.Y., where there have been several gang-related shootings.

Prison horrors haunt guards' private lives
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510659
Prisoners fling bodily waste and attack without warning. Psychotic outbursts fill halls with howls. A man who upset the wrong clique ended up with a pencil driven though his ear. Yet for correctional officers, getting mad isn't allowed. Now these men and women, who face growing numbers of inmates in some of the nation's toughest federal and state prisons, say they're increasingly overwhelmed. They harden themselves to survive inside prison, guards said in recent interviews. Then they find they can't snap out of it at the end of the day. Some seethe to themselves. Others commit suicide. Depression, alcoholism, domestic violence and heart attacks are common.

Aurora officer clings to life after crash
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5443064,00.html
An Aurora police officer was clinging to life late Sunday after he was ejected from his patrol car and severely injured when he tried to avoid a car that had stopped in front of him as he was responding to a call with his lights and siren activated. The crash happened near the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Norfolk Street in Aurora. Witnesses said the officer had to swerve suddenly to avoid the car that stopped in front of him in his lane of traffic. The patrol car rolled several times and the officer was ejected from the vehicle.
RELATED: Aurora cop ejected in wreck (Briefing, 3/26)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520386

Harrelson wrote of life at Supermax
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510710
In a chatty, six-page letter to a friend, convicted murderer Charles Harrelson - who died this month - gave a rare inmate's glimpse inside Supermax, the nation's most secure penitentiary, in Florence. Harrelson, 69, the father of "Cheers" actor Woody Harrelson, died in his cell March 15 of heart failure, the end of a life sentence he served for assassinating a federal judge in Texas in 1979. In a letter he wrote in June to Bob Tiernan, a Denver attorney and personal friend, Harrelson wrote eloquently about a peaceful, silent existence of reading and writing, of watching David Letterman's monologues and listening to National Public Radio and the BBC.

Deputy DA tried in vain to keep motorist in jail
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440548,00.html
A Park County prosecutor tried last month to keep in jail a driver who is now suspected in a high-speed crash that killed two college students. "I thought he was a clear and present danger to the motoring public," Deputy District Attorney Martin Kenney, of Fairplay, said Friday. On Thursday night, police say, Patrick Strawmatt killed two 19-year-old Mesa State College freshmen as he drove 120 mph from a pursuing Colorado State Patrol trooper.
RELATED: Ex-Lafayette cop held in fatal crash
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510591
RELATED: State Patrol must make split decisions during high-speed pursuits, follow policy
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/25/3_25_1a_high_speed_chases.html

Faxes snag social work: Social Services to change system for notification about abuse, neglect
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/25/faxes-snag-social-work/
Boulder County Social Services will switch to a system that turns incoming faxes into electronic data in the next couple of weeks, director Paula McKey said. The change comes after a fax-machine snag between Lafayette police and Social Services kept case workers in the dark about a now-slain mother's dysfunctional relationship with her teenage daughter, preventing the family from getting help.

A lot riding on memorial
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520383
In October at the Columbine to Canyon motorcycle ride, organizer Dan Patino asked Columbine High School principal Frank DeAngelis where the Columbine Memorial was. That's when Patino discovered that fundraising was slow and work had barely begun on the permanent memorial in Clement Park overlooking the school. The $1.5 million memorial still is about $167,000 short of completion, and Patino has come up with another motorcycle rally to help raise the remainder.

Top

Economy

Green light for gas discounts
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5439332,00.html
A bill to allow King Soopers and Safeway to sell discounted gasoline is on its way to the governor's desk just as pump prices are in the midst of another big climb. House Bill 1208 would allow supermarkets and big-box stores to sell gas and generic drugs at deep discounts. "It's a big victory for consumers all over the state," said the Senate sponsor, Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins. "They'll now be able to see large discounts on gas prices. . . . It couldn't come at a better time."
RELATED: Cheaper gas may be back
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15381
RELATED: Senate OKs gas bill (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174918682/12

Nacchio: Former execs await stand
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5519815
The Justice Department launched its illegal insider-trading case against Joe Nacchio last week by showing jurors that the former Qwest chief executive repeatedly told analysts and investors the company was on solid footing in late 2000 and early 2001. The government will probably try to prove this week that Nacchio was being told a different story behind closed doors by his top executives, if federal prosecutor James Hearty's opening statement is any indication. To do so, the government could call to the stand, perhaps as early as today, former Qwest executives who worked closely with Nacchio on company financial reports, such as chief financial officer Robin Szeliga and president Afshin Mohebbi.
RELATED: Colombo-like defense drops ticking time bomb
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5519818

$770 million for 5 office buildings
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5439667,00.html
A Chicago-based company this week is scheduled to pay $770 million for five downtown Denver office buildings - including the Tabor Center - in a record-shattering deal. The buyer, Callahan Capital Partners, also plans to start construction this year on the Tabor II office tower. "This is the largest deal ever done in Denver by a factor of three," said CB Richard Ellis broker Mary Sullivan, whose team sold the buildings on behalf of the Blackstone Group. The New York-based private equity firm acquired the properties in February when it paid $39 billion for Sam Zell's Equity Office Properties.

Snow had chilling effect on December retail sales
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5439219,00.html
December snowstorms chimed a less-than-merry final note to holiday shopping. Results varied widely among metro-area shopping centers though, with some going into December down and others seeing wild jumps after an autumn full of grand openings. Sales tax collections in the last two months of 2006 fell at Cherry Creek North and Cherry Creek Shopping Center, though the exact figures may be revised, the city's treasury office said Friday.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

From home to house of cards: Subprime bust hammers families
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-03-24-subprime_N.htm
THORNTON, Colo. — The lights are still on inside Foreclosure No. A200642668 — so while there's time, have a look around. Here's the living room, still covered in the worn blue shag Angela Sneary always intended to replace with the sheen of hardwood. And downstairs, through a curtain of plastic beads, is the basement where husband Tim was going to knock out a wall and put in a foosball table. Step this way and the Snearys point out the places where they never could find the cash to hang a ceiling fan, install a hot tub, replace the siding ... a long list of abandoned ambitions that seem almost too big to squeeze into the modest four-bedroom tri-level. Owning a home is all about finding humor in unfinished projects. But in the house set back from a bend at 11030 Eudora Circle, the Snearys never had the luxury. They ran out of money first. Then, they ran out of time. Soon, they'll almost certainly be out of a home.

Top

Education

Area school districts favor property tax "freeze" proposal
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103240148/-1/NEWS
Windsor would get an additional $140 per student, while Johnstown/Milliken would gain about $20. That's what a couple area school districts stand to gain under a legislative measure that -- by freezing current mill levies -- nudges up the share of school funding from local property taxes. It's not a permanent fix to school funding problems, local school officials say, but a move in the right direction. With four of the state's lowest-funded schools on a per-pupil basis located in northern Colorado, school officials are watching the measure, which quickly sparked opposition in the statehouse. The amendment to the school finance bill is sponsored by Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, and Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder.

Graduation standards eyed locally, statewide
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/25/graduation-standards-eyed-locally-statewide/
Raising high school graduation requirements so all students are better prepared is a hot topic that's getting both statewide and local attention. The Colorado Education Alignment Council, convened by former Gov. Bill Owens, recommended in December that the state impose graduation requirements — four years of English, four years of math and three years of science. State colleges also have set minimum admission requirements. In response, legislators wrote competing graduation requirement bills. A Republican-sponsored bill requiring four years of English and three years of science for high school graduation was defeated in committee this week in the state Legislature. But a less prescriptive bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, is still alive.

College to get $22.4M from state
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/24/3_24_1b_MSC_funding.html
Mesa State College likely will receive $22.4 million in state general funds next year, according to Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction. Buescher, who serves as the vice chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, said the college’s general fund appropriation marks an 8.4 percent increase over its fiscal year 2006-2007 appropriation of $20.6 million. Mesa State President Tim Foster said he was happy to hear the college would receive such a large increase in funding. “That was a long, hard fight for us,” Foster said, crediting Buescher with the increase.
RELATED: SJBTC board likes Mesa State merger
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070324_1.htm
RELATED: SJBTC removes Lewis from president’s seat
http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070324_2.htm

Why so few Latinos pursuing science?
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520663
Rosemary Townsend was a part-time nursery-school teacher in 2000, when her husband died. Today, the Latina from Pueblo is poised to start a biology Ph.D. program and hopes to become a wildlife biologist. "Soon as I had some experience, I realized lab work was fun," said Townsend, 44. "And now I know I can do this." When Townsend graduates from Colorado State University-Pueblo this spring, she'll be one of about 170 Latino students at the state's public universities who are earning degrees in science and technical fields. Latinos account for less than 4 percent of all degrees in those fields, according to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. But they are 20 percent of the state's population. "This is a major problem, this gap between Hispanic students and the rest of the population," said Dan Arvizu, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. "These are careers that have a great opportunity to contribute to society. We have to heal that gap."

Interest in Asia on the rise at CU
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/26/interest-in-asia-on-the-rise-at-cu/
The University of Colorado is using federal grants to hire new professors and increase the number of courses on Asia and the Middle East because of students' piqued interests in the regions' languages and cultures. Students began taking Hindi classes this academic year, said Laurel Rasplica Rodd, director of CU's Center for Asian Studies, and the school will offer Farsi and Indonesian classes beginning in the fall. Students petitioned to have Farsi classes added to the course list, Rodd said.

SIX DEGREES OF WARD CHURCHILL (Extra!, March 26)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5443200,00.html
Ward Churchill's claims of Indian ancestry were questioned in an extensive genealogy by the Rocky Mountain News in 2005, which identified 142 direct forebears of Churchill and found no evidence that any of them were American Indians. Now the controversial University of Colorado ethnic studies professor says he has black ancestry as well. Churchill made that claim while answering questions at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair in San Francisco on March 17. In a video clip available at tinyurl.com/yvlr9b, Churchill criticized as racist the vote this month by the Cherokee Nation to oust freedmen - descendants of slaves once owned by Cherokees - from tribal rolls. After repeating the debunked claims of his Indian ancestry and membership in an established Indian tribe, Churchill said: "Actually, I do have black ancestry." Contacted by the Rocky, Churchill declined to elaborate on his claim.

Greeks get the vote
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/24/greeks-get-the-vote/
Fraternity and sorority members make up about 10 percent of University of Colorado undergraduates — but hold half the seats on the student government's legislative council. The large Greek presence — which is top-heavy, with two of the three student-body presidents also belonging to chapters — gained attention this month after a bill backing fraternities threatened to shut down the university's health, student and recreation centers. That legislation has now been scaled back and directs student legislators and administrators to instead clarify a two-decades-old "autonomy agreement" that draws their lines of authority.
RELATED: UCSU passes diplomatic frat amendment correction
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/25/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt

Troops to Teachers addresses imbalance
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20575&template=article.html
Public school teachers are overwhelmingly female, research shows. The military, by contrast, is overwhelmingly male. Troops to Teachers, an organization that helps troops entering civilian life start careers as teachers, takes pride in pulling men from one group and giving to the other. The purpose of the organization, run by the U.S. Departments of Education and Defense, is to help troops interested in education getting certified and finding a job, said Bob Leonard, assistant director of the Colorado program. For the schools, the group helps fill vacancies in poor areas and in-demand subjects like math, science and special education by offering financial incentives to teachers. But because 80 percent of the group’s would-be teachers are male — reflecting similar percentages in the Armed Forces as a whole — the group also is address- ing a male/female imbalance. The National Education Association says the number of male teachers is at a 40-year low.

Parents have hard time securing alternative education for their children
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/25/3_25_1A_Alternative_education.html
With limited space fast disappearing in alternative schools, parents and education leaders say demand for different educational approaches in the Grand Valley is booming and will only grow in coming years. Already, parents who think they have a range of choices in where their child goes to school next year might need to think again. The chances of a student being accepted into most primary school grades beyond kindergarten are slim as enrollment periods for some of the area’s alternative elementary school programs come to a close this month.

TAPing into leadership
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103250060
Press your ears against the belly of Eagle County schools, and you'll hear a low, growling rumble. It's the sound of indigestion, of teachers still dealing with the tough changes of TAP, the Teacher Advancement Program. Since its conception, some teachers have been skeptical, even hostile toward the idea of frequent evaluations and tying their performance to pay. Other teachers love it, enjoy being paid more and believe it gives struggling teachers something to strive toward. Now though, after nearly five years of being in our schools, TAP is showing true signs of success- students in Eagle County are dramatically outperforming schools without TAP, administrators say. If that's the case, why aren't all teachers singing its praises?

Grant to aid writing program for teachers
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/12
The Southern Colorado Writing Project has received a $45,000 federal grant that will allow the program to continue to operate through the 2007-08 school year. The writing project, based out of Colorado State University-Pueblo, has been awarded the National Writing Project grant through the U.S. Department of Education. The grant, combined with matching funds from CSU-Pueblo, Pueblo City Schools and District 70, will help support a four-week summer institute for K-16 teachers as well as in-service and outreach community projects throughout the year.

Adams 50 to shutter five schools
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520301
Closing schools is the cure for a strained budget in one Adams County school district, while another is rejiggering start times for students and cutting back on hiring and staff development. The Adams 50 School District in Westminster plans to close five schools over the next two years. Staff members at Hodgkins Middle School already are planning the school's going- away party in May. They are inviting past parents, students and teachers to enjoy a day of remembrance for a school that has served the city since 1951. "We're making it a celebration for the kids, neighbors and everybody connected to the school," said Hodgkins principal Carol Peters, who has spent 17 years at the school. "But there is some sadness."

Top

Military

Salazar introduces legislation for new national cemetery
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/8
The campaign to establish a new national cemetery in the Pikes Peak region got an important boost Friday when Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., introduced his own legislation calling for a new national cemetery to serve Southern Colorado. Salazar, who serves on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said his legislation closely resembles similar bills from Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Doug Lamborn, both Colorado Republicans, as well as an earlier bill from Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo. The only significant change in Rep. Salazar's bill is it tells the Veterans Administration the cemetery would serve 29 counties across the southern portion of the state, including Pueblo and El Paso counties.

Learning from the Iraq war
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20521&template=article.html
U.S. Northern Command’s new boss said he’s learned tough lessons from the Iraq war that will help him better protect America from attack and aid civilian officials in responding to disasters. Air Force Gen. Victor E. “Gene” Renuart took over Friday in a ceremony led by the secretary of defense and attended by more than 20 generals and admirals. In 2003, Renuart was in charge of planning and executing the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the humanitarian effort that followed.
RELATED: New top brass for NORAD, North Command
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440059,00.html
RELATED: New leader takes NORAD reins
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510248

Bechtel plans programs for weapons destruction
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174918682/4
With funding for chemical weapons destruction here pretty much assured for the rest of the year, Bechtel plans a number of projects in the coming months. Valerie McCain, deputy program manager for the multi-national contractor, outlined plans for members of the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission at the group’s regular meeting last week. McCain said that as of the end of February, Bechtel had spent $55 million on the project and of that $22.4 million went to Pueblo County businesses. Another $15.9 million was spent with other Colorado firms and $16.7 million with suppliers outside the state.
RELATED: Weapons program names new manager
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/13

A place to heal
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174802400/1
The scandal over dilapidated housing and the neglect of some wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center rippled through the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this month when veterans groups urged Congress to review the conditions and care in VA facilities as well. Veterans Secretary Jim Nicholson responded with a memo to all VA care centers, asking them to review their operations and how well they serve the 43 million veterans in the nation. In Pueblo, veterans' medical care is based in the Community-Based Outreach Clinic at 4112 Outlook Blvd., and the busy clinic occupies two floors of the modern Centura Health building. With a caseload of more than 6,000 patients - some drive in from as far as Kansas - the clinic has grown over the past decade from being a mental-health program to a full-blown primary care facility, complete with a pharmacy, dental office, optometry office, laboratory and behavioral science clinic.

Teens eye academies
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5442966,00.html
At U.S. Service Academy Information Day, Colorado high school students and their parents got a reality check on the rigors - and sometimes misfortunes - of military school. "You'll be doing a lot of challenging things . . . like jumping out of airplanes. I've gotta say, I crapped my pants when I jumped out of an airplane," said the recruiter for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. A Naval Academy recruiter talked to prospective students about the strict discipline. "One thing you'll have to get used to is having all the structure - little things, like, what time you get up in the morning, what time you go to sleep, how you arrange your underwear," said the officer. The students seemed to take it all in stride. "I just want to serve my country," said Kacey Rohloff, a 16- year-old junior at Poudre High School in Fort Collins. "Entering the military is something I've wanted to do since the seventh grade." But for Cindy Cranstone, mother of 17-year-old Chris Cranstone, a junior at Rock Canyon High School in Highlands Ranch who wants to attend West Point in New York, her son's decision suddenly hit her.

Kin reconnect in Kuwait
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/26/kin-reconnect-in-kuwait/
Half a world away from home, a Broomfield soldier has found an unlikely opportunity to get in touch with his roots. At the start of the year, 23-year-old Army Pfc. Jarrod Feldman, stationed in Kuwait, was like most servicemen and women overseas — far from family with only the kinship of his military brethren. Miles away, it was the same for 56-year-old Air Force Reserve Maj. Janelle La Fara. All that changed with a passing comment. "My cousin, who's a real family lady, said, 'Well, you have a cousin in Kuwait, you know,'" La Fara said. "I was like, 'Well, this is pretty cool.'"

Top

Religion

Phillips told to end policy sales
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440030,00.html
The state of Colorado ordered the Rev. Acen Phillips and his American Church United on Friday to stop selling insurance. The Colorado Division of Insurance issued the 21-page cease and desist order because Phillips and ACU were not licensed to sell policies, according to insurance commissioner Marcy Morrison. "Keep me in your prayers," Phillips said Friday when asked for comment. He referred questions to his attorney, Gary Lozow. Lozow did not return a call for comment. Despite Friday's enforcement action, people such as Jade Bozmans, who filed a complaint with the insurance commissioner over a Phillips' policy, may be left with nothing but disputed claim papers. "(The insurance company) AIG will probably get their money back, but the little people, we lose out," Bozmans said. "It would be good if AIG would be a good citizen and still honor those claims."

Priest's fate rests with jurors as alleged abuse case wraps up
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5439598,00.html
Was it sexual assault or just hugging and horseplay? In their closing arguments, defense lawyers for former Catholic priest Timothy Evans tried to convince a Larimer County jury Friday that the "physically demonstrative" man did not fondle a 17-year- old boy, as alleged. Prosecutors countered that Evans was "a manipulative, scheming, deceptive man" who abused his ultimate position of trust to use the boy for his own sexual gratification. Evans is the first Colorado Catholic priest to be tried since sweeping allegations of clergy abuse surfaced nationwide in 2002, leading to broad reforms within the church.
RELATED: Ex-priest's abuse trial goes to jury on Monday
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510238
RELATED: Jury receives priest's case
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/NEWS01/703240353/1002/NEWS17

Church seeks Longmont OK
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/26/church-seeks-longmont-ok/
LifeBridge Christian Church has proposed building a 6,000-seat chapel, about 650,000 square feet of retail space and homes, and senior housing on 313 acres along Colorado 119 east of [Longmont]. The question remains whether it will become part of the city.
RELATED: Council looks at church campus
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15390

Top

Energy Policy

Official: Fight terror with green energy
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250375/1002/NEWS17
The United States should accelerate development of renewable energy sources because of increased risk from terrorist attacks that could cripple the economy, former national security adviser Robert McFarlane said Saturday. Speaking at a renewable energy summit organized by Sen. Ken Salazar, McFarlane, who was national security adviser for President Reagan, said an attack last year on a Saudi oil terminal was a warning of what could happen if terrorists carry out their threats to go after oil supplies. He said a truck filled with explosives came within 100 yards of the oil terminal before it was stopped. Had the attack succeeded, it would have knocked out a terminal that supplies 6 million barrels of oil a day for a year, tripling the cost of a barrel of oil to $150 a barrel overnight.

Mr. Gibbs goes to Washington
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103250090
A bill proposed by Rep. Dan Gibbs to minimize the impacts of oil and gas drilling on wildlife is taking the Silverthorne legislator from the state capital to the nation's capital. The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources invited the freshman Democrat to testify in a hearing Tuesday titled "Access Denied: The Growing Conflict Between Fishing, Hunting and Energy Development on Federal Lands." "It seems like just yesterday my role for Congressman Udall was simply to give tours of the capital. Here I am not too many years later testifying before Congress. I'm very, very excited," said Gibbs, who's been busy responding to e-mails from former colleagues Back East wondering if the Dan Gibbs scheduled to testify at a Congressional hearing is the same Dan Gibbs they used to work with. Gibbs' ticket was punched because of success he has seen with House Bill 1298, which would require more coooperation from state commissions and the state Division of Wildlife to protect wildlife from oil and gas development. It has garnered support from more than 50 sportsmen organizations, as well as the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Association. The House Appropriations Committee moved the bill to the House floor on Friday morning in a unanimous vote.

Club 20, chamber decry proposals on energy industry regulations
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/24/3_24_11B_Club_20_and_Chamber.html
Club 20 and the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce added their voices to the chorus of lawmakers and advocacy groups decrying the current legislative session’s moves to regulate the energy industry. Reeves Brown, Club 20 executive director, said he is concerned about the quantity of bills, more than a dozen, aimed at making “piecemeal” fixes to energy regulation. He said each bill, in and of itself, is “well-intentioned,” but en masse they could have numerous unintended consequences. “We really are in a snowstorm of legislation right now, all of it pointed at one industry,” Brown said. “It’s just difficult to have a discussion about all the cumulative effects of those bills in four to six weeks.”
RELATED: House approves plan to diversify oil and gas commission
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5438658,00.html
RELATED: Ritter promotes energy initiatives
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5514737

Oil, gas royalty fight rages across Colorado
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5439596,00.html
Royalty owners are feeling shortchanged by Colorado's multibillion-dollar energy industry. Years ago, landowners with mineral rights were grateful for any royalty fee they received from oil and gas drilling on their land. But as the energy giants cash in on the latest oil and gas boom and take bigger paychecks to the banks, royalty owners say they want a fairer portion of the windfall. "It's always been a kind of gray area," said Hazel Gardner, a royalty owner of nine natural gas wells on her 3,500-acre property 10 miles east of Yuma. "You just take what the oil and gas companies give you. You can't figure out all the charges they take out from the checks, and you begin to wonder."

Activists: Xcel moving too fast
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/24/activists-xcel-moving-too-fast/
Xcel Energy is getting ahead of itself in pursuing a next-generation coal-fired power plant, say two energy activists who this week filed a complaint with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The company responds that it’s simply gathering enough information to propose the world’s first power plant that buries — or sequesters — most of the greenhouse gases produced from burning coal. The plant, which could cost $1 billion, would start running in 2013. Commission spokesman Terry Bote said the commission will decide whether to formally consider the matter Wednesday. Xcel will have 20 days to file a response in that case, he said. Leslie Glustrom, of Boulder, and Nancy LaPlaca, a Denver attorney, filed the complaint Wednesday. Both have been vocal opponents of Xcel’s 750-megawatt Comanche 3 pulverized coal plant under construction in Pueblo.

Expert reviews Cotter mill
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/25/expert-reviews-cotter-mill/
Uranium is forever," and Superfund sites need to better protect residents from its potentially harmful health effects, said a scientist hired by a citizens group to review Cotter Corp. documents. "There is no such thing as an acceptable amount of radiation," said Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, based in Takoma Park, Md. "Every level of contamination is an area of concern." No legitimate scientific source can dispute the effects of uranium exposure, he said at a news conference Friday. "It's like global warming," Makhijani said. "This is a public health matter." Makhijani is one of two scientists hired by Concerned Citizens Against Toxic Waste to review Cotter documents from its uranium mill here. The other scientist, University of Colorado professor Charles Patterson, will present his findings in April.
RELATED: Radiation impact lasts forever, says scientist
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/6
RELATED: Cotter Concerns
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=6496

Energy savings come built-in
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/25/energy-savings-come-built-in/
After putting up solar panels and picking out a few efficient appliances, many home builders might call it a day and congratulate themselves for saving energy. That's part of the problem, says Dave Kreutzman, a Boulder County contractor who runs Next Generation Energy LLC and works for Sun Electric Systems, both in Lafayette. Kreutzman and his colleagues are building a solar-powered home at 812 La Farge Ave. in downtown Louisville. But the 4-kilowatt photovoltaic electric system is only part of a building designed to integrate numerous energy-saving features under one roof.

County commissioners to revisit plans for a biomass-fueled heating system
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070323/NEWS/103230108
County commissioners will revisit plans for a biomass-fueled heating system for the County Commons next week, and the outlook for the once highly-touted project is not nearly as bright as it was just a few months ago. The economics of a large-scale biomass retrofit at the Commons just don't add up the way the commissioners had initially hoped, said interim county manager Steve Hill, after working for several months with Johnson Controls International, the company slated to build and operate the plant under a proposed performance contract. Johnson Controls has prepared a preliminary report for the commissioners with the latest information, basically centered on the conclusion that the anticipated savings on energy costs won't materialize.

Residents still wary of landfill
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/NEWS01/703260325/1002
Concerns of Wellington residents hardly were eased after a meeting Sunday at which county officials responded to recent rumors of a new landfill. The panic spread among residents living near a 626-acre property owned by Larimer County Solid Waste Department when late-night oil exploration sent shock waves into the ground, waking those in close proximity. The exploration, although inconvenient, was unrelated to any plans to turn the land site into a landfill, said Stephen Gillette, director of the Solid Waste Department.

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Transportation and Infrastructure

GOP legislator urges local control of roads
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5442798,00.html
A legislator says the state should consider turning over many of its highways - and much of the money to maintain them - to local officials to return the process of planning and paying for roads to their level. Money and planning that goes through the Colorado Department of Transportation to solve regional traffic problems could better be handled locally, says Rep. Glenn Vaad, R-Mead, who used to be a CDOT engineer and official. Gov. Bill Ritter is planning today to name members to a panel that will recommend ways to get more money and resources into transportation projects. Vaad said the CDOT should concentrate on its primary mission - to build and maintain highways that connect cities across the state - and transfer the maintenance and improvement of current state highways to cities and regions.

Bill would force CDOT to rethink highways near schools
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5442969,00.html
Sherrie Swadburg wants answers. The Golden mom turned anti- highway-expansion activist has questions about the planned widening of Colorado 93, a move that would put a six-lane highway within a stone's throw of her children's school playground. Now, Swadburg, who has formed Mothers for Clean Air Colorado, is joining forces with Rep. Gwyn Green, D-Golden, who will introduce legislation in the House Education Committee today that would force the Colorado Department of Transportation to rethink projects close to schools.

Limo measure clears Senate hurdle
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5439329,00.html
The Senate responded to the maiming of Denver teenager Molly Bloom, who was dragged under a limousine on prom night last year, by giving initial approval to a bill requiring criminal-background checks on limo, taxi and other commercial drivers.

Planners hope to find reasons for traffic woes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5443202,00.html
It's a list that frustrated motorists may be all too familiar with: the most congested traffic hot spots in the metro area. But now, for the first time, regional traffic planners hope to zero in on what, specifically, makes the area's busiest intersections, highway ramps and freeway segments as troubled as they are. As you plod along today through First Avenue and University Boulevard, Interstate 25 from Thornton to Denver and C-470 across Highlands Ranch, or wait on the off-ramp at the Wadsworth Boulevard exit from Hampden Avenue, you can probably guess what locations made the first cut.

THEY SAID IT (EXTRA!, March 24)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440549,00.html
"We're going to be asking our riders to take that walk in all kinds of weather. But they (officials) decided it was too cold, too miserable, whatever, it just wasn't a good day to take a walk." Wally Pulliam, RTD board member, after colleagues decided not to take a walk behind Union Station recently to see the difficulties that FasTracks riders would experience
RELATED: Financial pinch turns FasTracks into sidetracks, RTD critics decry
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440016,00.html

RFTA chief is money - and knows it
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070326/NEWS/103260063
Dan Blankenship, chief executive officer of the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, is the only man in the valley with his own currency. Fashioned after a $1 bill, the "Blankenbuck" reads: "Redeemable for one ride to any destination in the RFTA system" on the front, and on the back "Un Viaje Gratis" - the Spanish translation. RFTA drivers nicknamed the coupon that agents give passengers in need - or just to say "sorry" - the Blankenbuck. When the bus fails to stop at a designated spot, when a passenger wants to buy a punch pass but misses the office hours, or when a rider washes up at the desk of Rubey Park without a wallet and needs to get home, RFTA staff can offer a Blankenbuck to smooth things out, Blankenship said.

Rail plans rattle neighbors
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520665
Along Weld County Road 4 1/4 - Lucky Zolman sputters in frustration when he thinks about Union Pacific Railroad putting a 640-acre switching yard and freight hub a few hundred yards from his home. "We don't need that here. We can't live with the noise," said Zolman, 62, who moved to the quiet dead-end lane 31 years ago. Union Pacific is studying the costs and impacts of relocating its intermodal freight operation, where containers are loaded onto trains from trucks, and its switching yard, where rail cars are switched among trains, from central Denver to a 2 3/4-mile-long and a third-of-a-mile-wide swath of land between Brighton and Fort Lupton.

City to consider funding rail study
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174918682/7
The Pueblo City Council will consider a resolution to fund a study into rail service along the Front Range. The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority is looking into the possibility of installing a high-speed rail line from Casper, Wyo., through Pueblo to Belen, N.M., south of Albuquerque. There is another proposal to install rail along the Interstate 70 corridor from Denver to Grand Junction. In order for the Colorado Department of Transportation to start the study, the rail authority must raise $311,500 as a a local match for the project.

Suspect, 24, arrested in rash of area SUV fires
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440051,00.html
In the past week, six fires have been reported in parked SUVs in the Cherry Creek and Lowry areas, Green said. Several of the fires were started by "incendiary devices," such as a bomb, according to fire investigators. Investigators said they do not believe that Barnes is an ecoterrorist. After one vehicle was burned, the letters ELF were found drawn in the soot, Green said. Investigators said they believe that the writing was put there after the fire. ELF is believed to stand for the ecoterrorist group Earth Liberation Front. "There does not appear to be connection to ELF," Green said. Investigators "are not yet 100 percent sure," she said, but it appears that if Barnes has any connection to ELF it's as "a wannabe."

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Environment and Conservation

Global warming likely to hurt poorest nations most, researchers say
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5440014,00.html
Everyone on the planet will be touched by global warming, but the poorest nations may be hardest hit because they lack the resources to adapt to the harmful changes ahead, Boulder climate researchers say. Consider Bangladesh, a country of 147 million people packed into a mostly flat delta region slightly smaller than Iowa. As the world warms, sea levels could rise 2 feet, or more, by 2100. "Even a rise of one foot will put a huge amount of that entire country under water permanently," said geographer Susi Moser. She is among National Center for Atmospheric Research scientists who contributed to an upcoming international report on the likely worldwide impacts of climate change.

House panel objects to EPA office staff cuts
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/24/house-panel-objects-to-epa-office-staff-cuts/
Asked by staffers if there would be work force reductions if funding increases instead, Roderick responded in a March 5 e-mail to all staffers: "It is unlikely we will know what is going to happen soon enough to not lose some of the staff." The EPA personnel office started sending early retirement and buyout forms to employees March 15. John Manibusan, spokesman for the inspector general's office, said Roderick would not comment because he hadn't received the letter. EPA spokesman Dave Ryan declined comment, saying the inspector general's office is a separate organization. It wasn't immediately known how many people are being offered buyouts or early retirement, how many are employed nationwide by the EPA's office of the inspector general, and how many offices, if any, would be closed under Roderick's initiative. Besides Dingell, Democrats Diana DeGette, Denver, Albert Wynn of Maryland, Hilda Solis, of California, and Republican John Shimkus of Illinois signed the letter.

Colorado parks chief nominated for Interior post
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5438462,00.html
President Bush plans to nominate Colorado's state parks director to take a top job in the Interior Department. The White House announced [Friday] that Bush plans to nominate R. Lyle Laverty, the director of Colorado State Parks, to become assistant secretary for fish and wildlife, and commissioner of the United States section of the Great Lakes Fishing Commission. The U.S. Senate would have to confirm the nomination.
RELATED: Parks chief going to Interior
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510592

Bureau: Aurora pact to have little impact
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/3
The Bureau of Reclamation issued a “finding of no significant impact” Friday in the final environmental assessment of a 40-year contract for Aurora to store and exchange water at Lake Pueblo. The finding means there will not be a full environmental impact assessment for the contract and the final contract will likely be signed. The decision was announced by Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Kara Lamb late Friday. She could not be reached for further comment. The action comes just days after U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., asked Reclamation to do a full environmental impact statement on the Aurora contract.

State lawmakers vote to extend banking law
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/18
A bill to continue water banking in Colorado has passed the Colorado Legislature, clearing the way for water bank operations planned next year in the Arkansas Valley. The bill, HB1305, passed unanimously and removes a provision to sunset the Arkansas Valley water bank pilot program, passed in 2002. The bill was later expanded to include the whole state, but was scheduled to sunset this year. A water bank was established by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, but abandoned in 2004 because of lack of participation. Since then, the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, which serves Custer, Chaffee and Western Fremont counties, has expressed an interest in operating the water bank.

Salvation for the Roaring Fork?
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103250074
The Roaring Fork River is finally in a better position to survive a drought like the one that reduced it to a trickle through Aspen in summer 2002. A bill signed this month by Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter makes it easier for water rights owners to "loan" water to boost flows in rivers and streams. Under the new law, an owner won't be penalized for abandoning water rights when a loan is made, said Linda Bassi of the stream and lake protection section of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Under the old law, loans were allowed but the water rights owners weren't credited with using that water. And in water law, water that isn't used is water that can be lost. "You were being a good Samaritan and you were being dinged for it," said Albert Slap, director of the Colorado River Project for The Nature Conservancy.

Six-legged scourge
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5439633,00.html
Colorado's mountain pine beetle epidemic, the state's largest on record, has exploded so far beyond human control that only wildfire, a deep freeze or starvation will stop the devastation, foresters say. The impact of the infestation - more than 1,000 square miles have been scarred by decaying trees - has been compared with what happened in the late 1800s, when miners ravaged the forests for wood and carelessly sparked countless fires.
RELATED: Gibbs continues with pine beetle, noxious weed bills
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070325/NEWS/103250091

Kiowa continues to study joining Lower Ark district
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174802400/6
Kiowa County still is not certain joining the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District would add one drop of water to its lakes, but it may be willing to take the chance. County Commissioners Rod Brown and Donald Oswald, as well as Eads Councilman Cardon Berry, a former commissioner, met with the Lower Ark board last week to discuss possible inclusion in the district. “It’s kind of a dream of the people of Kiowa County to keep water in the lakes,” Brown said. “It creates business in Eads, and people come from Kansas, and even Denver. It’s not crowded. You can camp and not have to rub elbows with a lot of other people.”
RELATED: Lake County weighs conservancy districts
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174802400/8
RELATED: Lower Ark to seek grant for ‘Super Ditch’
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174802400/14

Trout Unlimited to improve Rio Grande habitat
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/9
The San Luis Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited is preparing for a major habitat enhancement project on the Rio Grande this fall. To kick off the project planned for the Coller State Wildlife Area, the group will hold a fundraiser at 6 p.m. April 13 at the Inn of the Rio Grande. The event is open to the public. “This portion of the Rio Grande has excellent potential for increasing trout population by the strategic placement of modern boulder structures,” TU spokesman Kay Watkins said. Besides SLVTU, Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Conservation Service will participate in the project.

Vail Pass creek cleanup plans progress
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070324/NEWS/103240091
A rigorous plan is being developed to clean up Black Gore Creek, which has been filling with harmful traction sand ever since I-70 was built in the 1960s. The sand keeps icy and snow-packed roads safe, but when gravity eventually pulls it down to the water, it smothers the river bed and disrupts the entire ecosystem. Fish and insects are struggling to survive, and many stretches of Black Gore Creek just can't handle any more pollution, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Denver's past tree vigilance turns into nightmare on maple streets
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510593
A generation of one of Denver's most popular trees is reaching its twilight, and city officials said it could change the face of some neighborhoods. Thousands of silver maple trees line city streets and shade residents' yards - particularly in south-central Denver. The trouble, arborists say, is that most were planted at the same time and are nearing the end of their life span. About 70 years ago, a fungal outbreak known as Dutch elm disease devastated the elm populations in eastern cities such as New York. The disease did not make it to Denver until the 1970s, city arborist Pete Zoschg said, but tree-planters shifted to the silver maple in anticipation. "When you have a whole lot of trees planted at the same time, and the same type, they'll all be hitting maturity at the same time, and it is going to cause problems," Zoschg said. Silver maples in high altitudes generally live for between 80 and 100 years, arborists say.

County seeks to weed out noxious plants
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174716000/11
Pueblo County commissioners said Thursday they will reassign the county's noxious week management program to the planning department and appoint an advisory board to recommend an integrated management plan.

Bountiful elk herd's fate not out of the woods
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510243
Today most of the breeding-age cows in the park are pregnant, the work of the crazy-eyed bugling bulls last September. The cows will give birth in late spring - May and June. For many of the cows, those will be their last calves. And their last spring. Officially, park officials call the elk harvest plan the "preferred option." A final decision could be announced in June. Killing was chosen over a list of possibilities that included doing nothing to injecting female elk with a birth control drug. The park service also prefers to hire "sharpshooters" to kill the elk. Probably at night. With silencers. A month ago Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., proposed a bill that would change the 1929 law banning hunting in national parks, allowing licensed hunters to cull this park herd instead of using paid shooters. Last week Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., followed suit with a similar proposal. On a sometimes-warm, sometimes-snowing day last week, people in the national park and in the gateway town of Estes Park mulled the death of elk.

Tribe seeks return of hunting rights
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520664
The Southern Ute Tribe is close to re-establishing hunting rights for its 1,300 members on 3.7 million acres in western Colorado - in accordance with an 1874 federal treaty. The tribe and the Colorado Division of Wildlife are discussing an agreement that would determine when tribal members could hunt game in parts of nine counties and four national forests, an area defined under the 1874 Brunot Treaty. After the discovery of precious metals in the San Juan Mountains in the late 1800s, the U.S. government persuaded - some say coerced - the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes to surrender a fourth of their reservation lands to make room for mining camps in what are now La Plata, Archuleta, Montezuma, Dolores, San Miguel, San Juan, Ouray, Mineral and Hinsdale counties.

Crested Butte saves a little land for itself
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/25/3_25_1b_Land_trust.html
People in Crested Butte are serious about preserving open space. So much so that the town council just donated $750,000 to the Crested Butte Land Trust to help it buy 70 acres to preserve the Upper Slate River Valley. The land trust already has preserved about 950 acres in the valley through outright purchase or conservation easements, president Sandy Allen-Leinsdorf said, and the 70 acres is in a crucial area because it borders the edge of development by the town.

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Opinion

Schoettler: Nacchio trial a warning call
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5500533
The trial of Joe Nacchio, former CEO of Qwest Communications, is yet another warning call to directors and managers of corporate America. I don't know if Nacchio did anything wrong. But it almost doesn't matter to most Americans. The picture of a highly paid corporate CEO making $100 million from his stock options, when the average investor took a huge bath in his company's stock, simply underscores an unfortunate mistrust of business. It doesn't have to be this way. Most American corporations and most corporate managers and directors know what their jobs are. They are there to make their companies, not just themselves, successful. But, as a director of a number of public companies myself, I know that simply mouthing the words "increase shareholder value" is meaningless unless your actions match your words. This means taking very seriously your job, as a director or CEO, of putting shareholders' interests above your own.
RELATED: Kopel: Internet humming with Nacchio trial coverage
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5439178,00.html
RELATED: Lewis: Nacchio just missed great excuse
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5510197

Angst over U.S. Iraq mission
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5519865
News emerged last week that the U.S. Army had significantly undercounted the number of soldiers who went AWOL - absent without leave - in the last two years. Some in the military attribute that to the increasing burden exacted on an overstressed Army, where second and third tours in Iraq and Afghanistan are not uncommon. The military has struggled to recruit enough newcomers in recent years and has made extraordinary efforts to meet quotas, including signing up violent offenders and others previously considered unfit to serve. The troubling increase in deserters is one more indication of deteriorating support for the Iraq war.

Gonzales has bigger woes than prosecutor flap
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20577&template=article.html
On Friday we explained why Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should go, and our reasons had nothing to do with the brouhaha over fired prosecutors. In fact, we find that whole circus a distraction from the real problems at the Justice Department. The possibility of abuse of power or obstruction of justice is present in the fired prosecutors fiasco, if the purpose of the firings was to short-circuit investigations. If that turns out to be the case, it would be just another instance of this administration making up the rules as it goes along. And the attorney general is up to his neck in most of the problems. We’ve long been troubled by the Bush Justice Department’s take on civil liberties and apparent indifference to following the Constitution. Some will defend the administration by pointing out that our nation has a history of restricting civil liberties during wartime. They’re factually correct, but that doesn’t make such restrictions right. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t come with a footnote that allows suspension of our rights in time of war, as the Patriot Act allows. The Patriot Act end-runs many constitutional protections in the name of national security. We warned before it was passed, and several times leading up to its renewal, that it allowed government too much leeway to run roughshod over people’s rights. Proponents of the law poo-pooed such concerns, assuring us and other critics that federal law enforcement agents would not misuse the authority granted by the law. If only that had turned out to be true.

Quillen: The long-term plan
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5500511
Curious as to how long Alberto Gonzales would remain as U.S. attorney general, I called my favorite inside source: Ananias Ziegler, a retired lieutenant colonel who handles media relations for the Committee That Really Runs America.

Bill of Rights applies to students, too
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=opin&article_path=/opinion/opin070326_1.htm
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a case that centered on whether and to what extent schools can limit students' freedom of speech. It is an opportunity for the court to reaffirm the idea that the Bill of Rights applies to all Americans, including students.

Littwin: Who, oh, who can GOP possibly tap for Senate?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5440015,00.html
For you political junkies, I have a scenario you're going to love. I got it from one of my favorite people - sorry, can't give up the source - who sees a spectacular climax for the McInnis/Schaffer/Wadhams story. I won't give it away, without a subpoena anyway. You have to read to the end of the column.
RELATED: McInnis’ departure dims GOP prospects
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/03/23/3_23_07_McInnis_edit.html

Haley: If Tancredo jumps, who will run?
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5519869
For Republican politicians, Colorado's 6th Congressional District is a dream come true. Sweeping from the western suburbs down south to Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock and further east, the district is GOP-friendly. Republicans make up about 46 percent of the roughly half-million voters, Democrats only 24 percent. It's the kind of district that allows a politician to act like, say, Tom Tancredo - a firebrand who can say just about anything he pleases with no concerns about political repercussions. Yet the congressman, elected to his fifth term last fall, may be giving it all up for a longshot run for president.

Progress in deal on 41
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5439176,00.html
Lawmakers are hoping the Colorado Supreme Court will bail them out of the gift problems by giving liberal answers to some "interrogatories" regarding gift restrictions. They shouldn't count on that. Even if the court provides the answers they want, other issues in 41 will still need resolution. Also needing passage is Senate Bill 210, which puts the ethics commission together as 41 commanded. Some lawmakers hope the commission itself will "reinterpret" awkward constitutional language, making another trip to the ballot unnecessary, but we don't see that happening. Presumably the final amendment draft will have to satisfy former state school board member Jared Polis or he may a) work against the proposal or b) promote his own initiated revision. He financed 41, and presumably has enough money left to do it all over in 2008. We know that won't be easy. The battle over 41 has become tangled in the political contest between Polis and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald for the 2nd Congressional District next year.
RELATED: Anderson: To Colorado Senate: Pass H.B. 1304
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/speakout/2007/03/to_colorado_senate_pass_hb_130.html
RELATED: Clausing: Amend. 41 strategies
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510242

Denver's improving child welfare model
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5500514
Denver child-welfare workers have found you do need a village to raise a child in trouble, but it's even better when the family can help, too. For the past five years, the city's human services department has used an innovative program that tries to keep at-risk kids with their immediate families or with relatives, rather than sending them into foster-care, after problems such as abuse or neglect develop inside the home. The idea is to keep children safe but within familiar and supportive circles. So far, it's been a success. The rate of children who are re-abused or neglected has dropped to 2.5 percent - less than half the national acceptable rate.

Longseth: Tech firms get green by trimming big energy bills
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5439744,00.html
Colorado generates nearly 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, primarily from increased coal combustion. That's according to an analysis of government data released by the Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center last year. Additionally, fossil fuel power plants gulp 20 billion gallons of Colorado's limited water resources annually, and soaring gas prices are driving oil and gas companies to drill pristine lands. In all, global warming pollution has jumped 221 percent in Colorado in the past 40 years, according to the analysis, continually contributing to the deteriorating state of the environment and the effect that has on global economies. And the International Energy Agency says worldwide demand for oil will increase by more than 50 percent by 2030, as access to energy helps spur economic growth. But as gas, coal and oil prices remain volatile, it is time to reconsider how best to use energy resources in order to help sustain our economy and protect the environment. The business community has an important role to play in this transition, as companies today move far beyond purchasing recycled paper and using new energy-efficient lighting to adopting new technologies that lower power consumption. Information technology has become essential to most businesses but has its own environmental and energy costs - the power needed to run computer servers is rising 15 percent annually.

Carman: Oil, gas influence hits rock bottom
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5510594
I'm trying to imagine what would happen in the Colorado legislature if the Teamsters union insisted only truck drivers had the expertise to oversee the trucking industry and tattoo artists claimed they alone were qualified to regulate the burgeoning body artistry business. Just a guess, but I doubt Republicans from Highlands Ranch and Yuma would rise in passionate defense of such screwball suggestions. The reason is the Teamsters and the tattoo artists haven't had their lobbyists in the governor's office for the past eight years as well as inside the Department of Interior, the vice president's office and the White House. That distinction goes to the oil and gas industry.
RELATED: Case remains compelling for oil, gas panel revamp
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/03/25/oil_and_gas_edit_3_25_07.html

Forthofer: Plug the health care drain
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5439743,00.html
Although health care is the top domestic concern of Americans, neither the Bush administration nor congressional leaders are willing to provide the leadership necessary to solve the crises confronting uninsured and underinsured Americans and U.S. businesses. Leading politicians continue to put campaign contributions from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries ahead of the interests of other businesses and the American public. However, as U.S. businesses are faced with ever increasing health insurance premiums, more are willing to tackle the crisis and become a part of the solution.

Spencer: ABCs, 3 R's good, but "Why?" better
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5520341
His dad encouraged him to drop out of school after the second grade. So he obviously didn't get the four years of math and three years of science that many folks want Colorado high school students to take. With the state legislature voting down harder high school graduation requirements, it's time to remember the lesson Ben Franklin taught: Individual curiosity can be as powerful a tool as institutional edicts.

Gould: Change attitudes about homeless
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5506934
With the Democratic National Convention coming to Denver in August 2008, our city leaders are shifting into a higher gear. For some, that means makeovers for Denver's parks and people - as in Civic Center and the homeless. Of course, it's understandable that our city leaders would want to present a sparkling vision of Denver to the world. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that, near the beginning of their urge to give Denver a nice makeover, they'll ask - again - "How do we deal with the homeless?" It's already been asked, repeatedly, in terms of Civic Center.

Lomkin: We think the Greeley police had more options than to shoot, kill our nephew -- a quiet, considerate young man
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070325/READERS/103250110/-1/TRIBEDIT
My husband and I are outraged by the point-blank shooting of Brian Croissant by the Greeley Police Department. I have waited to voice my opinion publicly until I saw the report of the internal investigation. I read the report in the March 14 Tribune. It made me even angrier and left more questions unanswered than it answered. Is it now illegal for one to be drunk in one's hotel room in Greeley? I have not seen any reports that state the hotel called the police to report disorderly conduct or even a violation of Greeley's noise ordinance. Was it really necessary to shoot Brian 12 times?

School will focus on English
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070325/EDITS/70323034
Practically speaking, though, the Eagle County School District must educate teens who suffer the most academically in not speaking English. And speaking of politics, the schools are charged with improving these students’ test scores, just like the rest, even if they cannot read the questions to answer them. Never mind that native English-speaking students score as well as any anywhere, even the various “white-flight” programs. Our schools also are held to the production of students with one whale of a disadvantage. The good news for these students is that they perform a lot better as they learn our language. And so a New America charter school, which specializes in non-native English speakers aged 15 to 21, aims to start up in Eagle County next fall. Like the Vail Charter Academy and Stone Creek Elementary School, this charter school will be publicly funded. Given the much higher drop-out rate among immigrant students, this new school can only help with that, too. Kudos to the school district for aiming to deal with the influx of non-English-speaking immigrants in a most pragmatic way. Education really is the key for all of us.

Let DA use private funds
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5442754,00.html
Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey wants a lot more money - more than $400,000 over the next 18 months - to help prosecute a couple of prominent, dangerous gangs. Mayor John Hickenlooper believes he can find a private source to provide at least some of the funding, perhaps $150,000. Police would have more resources to crack down on predatory criminals, and taxpayers would not have to pick up the entire bill. What's not to love?

Wright: Tobacco still a burning issue
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/mar/26/teresa_wright_tobacco_still_burning_issue/?local_news
Kick Butts Day, on March 28, is the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ annual celebration of youth advocacy, leadership and activism. Now in its 11th year, the event promotes a day to stand out, speak up and seize control in the fight against tobacco. In Colorado, one out of every four teenagers is smoking cigarettes. An additional 5,800 Colorado youth become regular smokers each year. Ninety percent of active smokers admit to starting the habit before the age of 18.

Spencer: Obama needs inspiration to get his optimism across
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468675
If his Denver appearance Sunday is any indication, Barack Obama cannot match Bill Clinton as a motivational speaker. No one cried during Obama's half-hour speech, as I have seen people do at every Clinton speech I've ever witnessed. A few among a crowd of roughly 1,500 left before Obama finished talking at the 1770 Sherman Street Event Complex. Fortunately, the Illinois senator doesn't have to best silver-tongued Bill C. to be president. He must outtalk the considerably less oratorically gifted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to win the Democratic nomination. The real question for Obama is: Can he continue to inspire?

GOP field slow to take shape
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5500513
For many conservatives, the doctored photo on the cover of last week's Time magazine, with a tear running down Ronald Reagan's face, spoke volumes. Twenty-five years ago, the conservative movement in America was in full bloom. Today, it doesn't even have a major candidate for president. Yet.

A wealth of cheapskates
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/25/a-wealth-of-cheapskates/
There are hundreds of people in the United States with so much money that they will never be able to spend their net worth, no matter how many Picassos or mansions or personal jets they buy. Last year, for the first time, everyone in the Forbes 400 index of the super-wealthy was a billionaire. Sales of 200-foot-plus yachts and other indulgences of extreme wealth are at record highs. Income for the top 1 percent of Americans has more than doubled in the past quarter of a century, while that of the bottom fifth barely budged. The rich, in short, are getting steadily richer, in absolute terms and compared with the rest of society. Yet with the sainted exception of Warren Buffett and maybe Bill Gates, virtually all of them refuse to give any meaningful fraction of their wealth to the less fortunate — or even to give a decent fraction to such endeavors as art or medical research, which they would benefit from.

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

'08 hopefuls dash for cash
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260095mar26,1,16049.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
It may be the start of spring break here, but it is more like finals week for Sen. Barack Obama and other presidential candidates. The Illinois Democrat on Sunday started his week with a series of fundraising events in South Florida, including a lower-dollar one that he allowed the news media to attend, something he typically does not do at events with higher prices. The $100-per-person appearance was sandwiched between pricier gatherings inside private homes in the communities of Hallandale Beach, Coral Gables and Palm Beach, where Netscape co-founder Jim Clark hosted a $2,300-per-ticket reception. With Saturday's deadline for first-quarter contributions approaching, Obama and other presidential hopefuls are sprinting to maximize their totals with multiple fundraising events and hours pleading for money by phone.

For Clinton and Obama, a Common Ideological Touchstone
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401152.html
The job offer to "Miss Hillary Rodham, Wellesley College" was dated Oct. 25, 1968, and signed by Saul D. Alinsky, the charismatic community organizer who believed that the urban poor could become their own best advocates in a world that largely ignored them. Alinsky thought highly of 21-year-old Rodham, a student government president who grew up in the Chicago suburbs. She was in the midst of a year-long analysis of Alinsky's aggressive mobilizing tactics, and he was searching for "competent political literates" to move to Chicago to build grass-roots organizations.

McCain says late start on fundraising will hurt
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260092mar26,1,6836391.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain is lowering fundraising expectations just before the March 31 first-quarter reporting deadline. "We started late, our money-raising, and we're going to pay a price for it because we got off to a late start," McCain said Saturday between campaign stops. McCain's admission is surprising for a top-tier GOP candidate.

Activists remember a different Romney
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-romney25mar25,1,2656091.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
Advocates for gay and abortion rights and the environment say the GOP candidate misled them on his positions.
RELATED: Romney works through checklist
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-25-romney_N.htm

Former Wis. governor talks health care, Iraq in Iowa
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-24-thompson-iowa_N.htm
When former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson's daughter Tommi discovered at the age of 31 that she had breast cancer, she salvaged one egg before getting a mastectomy. That egg stayed frozen for two and one-half years and was thawed out early last year. On Jan. 5, big sister and surrogate mother Kelli gave birth to Tommi's daughter and Thompson's fifth grandchild. "What a miracle baby," said Thompson, one of a dozen Republican hopefuls for president, at breakfast Saturday with about 30 Boone County Republicans. "I thought maybe there would be some icicles on it, but there weren't. ...It cemented my views on why I'm pro-life." Thompson brought humor and stories of his family's extensive experience with cancer Saturday during his latest trip to Iowa. Thompson's personal story came the same week John Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who is vying for the Democratic nomination for president, announced his wife Elizabeth's cancer had returned.

Huckabee tests waters in Iowa
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-24-huckabee-iowa_N.htm
Mike Huckabee campaigned across western Iowa Saturday in an attempt to change his status from a little-known Republican presidential hopeful to a major player among voters whose state's caucuses next year will influence which GOP candidate enters the race for the White House.

At Forum, Democrats Differ on Health Care
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401079.html
Democratic presidential candidates were united here Saturday in pledging to provide universal health care to all Americans but differed over how quickly the changes could be achieved and, more important, whether they would have to raise taxes to pay for it. The candidates addressed what has become perhaps the nation's most intractable domestic issue and all said that, because of rising costs of care and the lack of insurance for about 45 million Americans, incremental steps are no longer adequate. "What we need is big, bold, dramatic change," former North Carolina senator John Edwards said. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was part of the last significant effort to overhaul the system during her husband's administration. That attempt failed, but the Democratic candidates said Saturday that the conditions exist to push for dramatic change. But Clinton warned that getting there would still be difficult.
RELATED: Healthcare forum sees Edwards back on campaign trail
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-demforum25mar25,1,7909379.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

After '06 successes, labor gets ready for presidential race
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2007-03-24-unions-politics_N.htm
After a taste of victory in the last national elections, union leaders are hungry for the chance to elect a pro-labor president. "We're charged up, and anxious to lay the groundwork for the 2008 elections," said Karen Ackerman, political director of the AFL-CIO.

N.Y. Mayor Is Eyeing '08, Observers Say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501334.html
New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a self-made billionaire, has told friends more than once that his definition of good financial planning is making sure the check to the undertaker bounces when it's finally time to go. So how does a billionaire spend all his money before he dies? In Bloomberg's case, he just might drop a cool half-billion on a long-shot bid to become the nation's first modern president from outside the two major political parties. As fellow New Yorkers Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) campaign vigorously across the country to become their parties' nominees and prepare for what would be an electric general-election clash, Bloomberg is governing the "ungovernable city" -- and patiently waiting in the wings.

My Fellow Americans: Pls Post a Comment!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400945.html
On his MySpace page, Joe, 64, says he's a Scorpio from Wilmington, Del., and that he went to the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School. His profile indicates that he's looking for "friends" on MySpace. At the moment, he has 1,199 of them on his page, including "Maya," "Honey" and "Parts Boy." Bill, 59, from Santa Fe, N.M., says on his MySpace page that he's 6 feet 2, "Latino/Hispanic" and "straight. " He also says he's on the site for "networking [and] friends." And he's a Scorpio, too! Oh, and one more thing: Both Joe and Bill seem very interested in becoming the next president of the United States. In fact, Joe (a.k.a. Sen. Joe Biden, Democrat from Delaware) and Bill (a.k.a. Bill Richardson, New Mexico's Democratic governor) wouldn't mind if you supported them while you check them out on MySpace.
RELATED: Running for president? Quick, build an online network
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-myspace26mar26,1,486665.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

G.O.P. Senators Lug Weight of War Toward ’08
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/washington/26warvote.html
Senator John E. Sununu knows that his political future could hinge on the war in Iraq, try as he might to change the subject. For weeks, Mr. Sununu and Republican colleagues who face re-election next year have trudged through an on-again, off-again Iraq debate in Congress. So the annual Lincoln Day Dinner that he attended here Saturday evening, with its friendly audience, might have been expected to offer a respite from the realities of Washington. But even among the ladies and gentlemen of the Carroll County Republican Committee, more than a few of whom wore elephant neckties and broaches to celebrate the symbol of their party, the vexing issue of Iraq was the real elephant in the room.

Schwarzenegger Aims to Lift California's Clout
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301606.html
Barred by the Constitution from running for president himself, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is trying to do the next best thing: make sure his adoptive state plays a critical role in picking the next occupant of the White House. The movie star-turned-governor was the dominant force behind California's decision to shift its presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008, a date that puts the nation's most populous and diverse state near the front of the nominating calendar. Schwarzenegger believes that the move will help restore California's power to play kingmaker in the Republican and Democratic nominating contests.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Some Democrats Torn Over Measure
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301635.html
On the lighted board over the House floor, the final 30 seconds of the House vote to end the Iraq war ticked down, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed herself a glance. Members milled and chatted; a few had brought their children into the chamber to witness history. On the board, glowing red, the yeas stood at 210, 211, and in the final seconds, spun up to 218. A vote, Democrats hope, to start the countdown on a war that Pelosi moments before called a "grotesque mistake." Turning toward Republicans during her remarks, the California Democrat told them: "The American people do not support a war without end. And neither should this Congress." Still, within her party there was ambivalence and some outright opposition from those who most disapprove of the war and wanted more direct confrontation with President Bush. Liberals pledged to deliver the votes needed to pass the supplemental measure, and they did. Four California Democrats -- Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Diane Watson and Lynn Woolsey -- said they "could not stand in the way" of the bill but were voting no.

Senate Passes Budget Plan, Extending Bush Tax Breaks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032300757.html
The Senate yesterday approved a $2.9 trillion budget blueprint that calls for raising the federal cigarette tax to pay for a massive expansion of the nation's health insurance program for children. It also authorizes big boosts in spending next year for public education and veterans' services. The Democratic spending plan would extend some of President Bush's signature tax breaks for middle-class families past their 2010 expiration date, a modification pushed by moderate Democrats. It also promises to erase the federal deficit within five years, though Democratic leaders acknowledge that difficult decisions about tax policy still stand in the way of that goal. "I don't assert that this is a perfect budget. If I had a totally free hand, I am certain it would be different," said the plan's chief author, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) "But at the end of the day . . . it is our obligation and our responsibility to put a budget in place to begin the difficult task of balancing the books while meeting the priority needs of our nation."

Glare of Publicity Finds an Inspector General
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/washington/26inspector.html?ref=washington
Mr. Fine’s report this month on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s mishandling of national security letters, which the bureau uses to obtain telephone and financial records, has contributed to calls for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. On Friday, Mr. Fine’s office, along with the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, began to examine the role of Mr. Gonzales and other officials in the dismissal of eight United States attorneys. Mr. Gonzales and the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, accepted the report on national security letters released on March 9 with the gritted-teeth public gratitude that routinely greets such official exposés in Washington. “An excellent report,” Mr. Mueller said, “and I appreciate the work of the inspector general in conducting this review.”

A Fresh Face Vows to Revive the G.O.P.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/washington/26putnam.html?ref=washington
Amid the sea of square jaws and swept-back gray hair in Congress, Representative Adam H. Putnam, a tousled redhead whose cherubic appearance still causes Capitol police to stop him occasionally, appears a bit out of place. But Mr. Putnam, 32, a Florida Republican, has become the unlikely mouthpiece for the beleaguered minority in the House, taking over as chairman of the Republican Conference, the third-ranking post behind the minority leader and whip, as his party struggles to right itself.

GSA Chief Is Accused of Playing Politics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501048.html
Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates. With GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan and up to 40 regional administrators on hand, J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan. 26 of polling data about the 2006 elections. When Jennings concluded his presentation to the GSA political appointees, Doan allegedly asked them how they could "help 'our candidates' in the next elections," according to a March 6 letter to Doan from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Waxman said in the letter that one method suggested was using "targeted public events, such as the opening of federal facilities around the country."

Top

Civil Liberties and Equality

Guantanamo Prison Likely to Stay Open Through Bush Term
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301755.html
The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is likely to remain open for the remainder of the Bush presidency despite Bush's stated desire to close it, the administration said yesterday. "It's highly unlikely that you can dispense with all those cases between now and the end of the administration," White House spokesman Tony Snow said of about 385 prisoners currently at the Guantanamo facility. Asked directly whether the prison would close before Bush leaves office in January 2009, Snow said, "I doubt it, no."
RELATED: Guantanamo Bay tribunals to begin again
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo26mar26,1,5609935.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Detainee’s Lawyers Seek Removal of Prosecutor
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/world/26gitmo.html?ref=washington
RELATED: Detainee Says He Didn't Know About Bombing Plot
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301660.html

C.I.A. Awaits Rules on Terrorism Interrogations
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/washington/25interrogate.html
A sharp debate within the Bush administration over the future of the Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation program has left the agency without the authority to use harsh interrogation techniques that the White House said last fall were necessary in questioning terrorism suspects, according to administration and Congressional officials.

Terror Database Has Quadrupled In Four Years
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400944.html
Each day, thousands of pieces of intelligence information from around the world -- field reports, captured documents, news from foreign allies and sometimes idle gossip -- arrive in a computer-filled office in McLean, where analysts feed them into the nation's central list of terrorists and terrorism suspects. Called TIDE, for Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, the list is a storehouse for data about individuals that the intelligence community believes might harm the United States. It is the wellspring for watch lists distributed to airlines, law enforcement, border posts and U.S. consulates, created to close one of the key intelligence gaps revealed after Sept. 11, 2001: the failure of federal agencies to share what they knew about al-Qaeda operatives. But in addressing one problem, TIDE has spawned others. Ballooning from fewer than 100,000 files in 2003 to about 435,000, the growing database threatens to overwhelm the people who manage it.

Judge Refuses To Dismiss Padilla's Charges
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301673.html
Accused al-Qaeda operative Jose Padilla was held in military detention without charges as an enemy combatant for 3 1/2 years, but his constitutional right to a speedy trial has not been violated, a federal judge ruled Friday.

NYC wants police surveillance files kept secret
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260170mar26,1,5656740.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Lawyers for the city, responding to a request to unseal records of police surveillance leading up to the 2004 Republican convention in New York, say that the documents should remain secret because the news media will "fixate upon and sensationalize them," hurting the city's ability to defend itself in lawsuits over mass arrests. In court papers filed in federal court last week, the city's lawyers also say that the documents could be "misinterpreted" because they were not intended for the public. The documents show that the Police Department's Intelligence Division sent undercover detectives around the city, the country and the world to collect information on political activists and others planning to demonstrate at the 2004 convention, according to a sampling of records reviewed by The New York Times. The records showed that some of the surveillance was conducted on groups that planned to disrupt the convention, but also on groups and people who expressed no apparent intention to break the law.

Top

Foreign Policy

Rice Plans to Conduct 'Parallel' Mideast Talks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500243.html
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shuttled between Palestinian and Israeli officials Sunday, seeking to lay the groundwork for a diplomatic initiative in which she will conduct "parallel" discussions with both parties on the contours of a Palestinian state. The new plan, which Rice is expected to formally announce Monday in Jerusalem, represents a step back from her earlier ambition of bringing the Palestinian and Israeli leaders together to sketch what she called the "political horizon." That approach fell apart after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas struck an accord with the militant group Hamas in February to form a unity government.
RELATED: Rice Presses Arab States on Peace Plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400699.html

5 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq In Two Roadside Bombings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500500.html
Five American soldiers were killed in two separate roadside bombings Sunday in Iraq, the U.S. military reported. Four of the soldiers were killed during patrols in Diyala province, a Sunni region north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Two soldiers were wounded in the attack. The fifth was killed while clearing roads in northwest Baghdad. The soldiers' names were withheld pending notification of their families, officials said. Also Sunday, three Sunni mosques were attacked south of Baghdad, one day after 11 people were killed and 45 were wounded in a truck bombing outside a nearby Shiite mosque, police said.
RELATED: Clashes break out in central Baghdad; 5 U.S. soldiers killed in bombings
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-032507iraq,1,2182407.story?coll=la-headlines-world

US envoy says he held talks with rebels
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/03/26/us_envoy_says_he_held_talks_with_rebels/
The senior American envoy in Iraq, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, held talks last year with men he believed represented major insurgent groups in a drive to bring militant Sunni Arabs into politics.
RELATED: Sunni Baghdad Becomes Land of Silent Ruins
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/world/middleeast/26sunni.html?ref=world

Saudi suggests Arabs open to change
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-26-saudi-arab-summit_N.htm
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister suggested Monday that Arab leaders would be willing to consider changes in their 2002 peace offer to Israel to make it "compatible" with new developments. The statement from Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal came as Arab League foreign ministers convened Monday to prepare for a leaders summit later this week, expected to focus on how to revive Middle East peace efforts. Arab leaders have, until now, publicly rejected Israeli calls for them to make changes to the 2002 Arab peace offer. But al-Faisal, in his opening remarks, suggested change was likely.

Iran Partly Suspends Nuclear Pledges
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500305.html
The Iranian government announced Sunday that it was partially suspending cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, citing the "illegal" sanctions the Security Council imposed on the country Saturday for its refusal to stop enriching uranium. Gholam Hossein Elham, a government spokesman, said on state television that the suspension would "continue until Iran's nuclear case is referred back" to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
RELATED: Iran Feels Pinch As Major Banks Curtail Business
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501084.html
RELATED: Security Council Votes to Tighten Iran Sanctions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/world/middleeast/25sanctions.html

Opposition decries pre-protest arrests
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260181mar26,1,6508710.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Police detained hundreds of political opposition members in an attempt to thwart nationwide protests planned for Monday to denounce President Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the chief justice, opposition leaders said Sunday. The government acknowledged some arrests but said the opposition's claims were exaggerated.

For Many Palestinians, ‘Return’ Is Not a Goal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/world/middleeast/26palestinians.html?ref=world
A resident of a sprawling Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, Mr. Abu Ghneim, like most Arabs, says there can be no peace with Israel until he and 700,000 other Palestinians are permitted back to the homes they left in the 1948 fighting that led to Israel’s creation. But with the Arab League expected to focus later this week on the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, there is another, albeit quieter, approach being voiced, especially by younger and wealthier Palestinians: it may be neither possible nor desirable to go back.

Liberties at stake in Egypt vote
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260085mar26,1,7557289.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Two years after President Hosni Mubarak stunned the world by announcing he would open the door to multiparty elections, Egyptians will go to the polls Monday to vote on a package of amendments to their constitution that critics say will significantly roll back the few advances made toward democratic freedoms in the Arab world's most populous country.
RELATED: Rice cites U.S. concern over Egyptian democratic reform
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-25-rice_N.htm

South Korea still warm to a thaw with North
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-koreas26mar26,1,2263000.story?coll=la-headlines-world
South Koreans watched with irritation as the North Korean delegation stormed out of nuclear talks last week. They listened patiently Sunday as the government in Pyongyang denounced annual U.S.-South Korea military exercises as a "war of aggression." But none of the North's characteristic volatility seems about to throw South Korea off stride from a renewed push for reconciliation with its neighbor.

Tsang Re-Elected as Hong Kong's Leader
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500339.html
Donald Tsang easily won re-election to another five-year term as Hong Kong's chief executive Sunday in voting restricted to a Chinese-approved electoral body. Tsang defeated his challenger, Alan Leong, with 649 out of the 772 valid votes cast by the business and professional leaders who make up what Leong and his supporters denounced as a "closed circle" of electors during several weeks of electioneering. The campaign, although its outcome was a foregone conclusion, provided a platform for Leong to push his campaign for direct elections for Hong Kong's 7 million residents in 2012, when a new chief executive and 30-member Legislative Council will be chosen simultaneously.

Europeans Urge New Sanctions On Sudan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501210.html
European leaders called Sunday for new international sanctions against Sudan over its treatment of civilians in Darfur, where the new U.N. humanitarian chief warned that efforts to help refugees were at risk of collapse. Speaking at a refugee camp on his first tour of Darfur since becoming the United Nations' top humanitarian official, John Holmes said such efforts could fail if the situation deteriorates and aid workers are prevented from doing their work. Some 45,000 people have taken refuge in the camp from the region's spiraling violence.

On Its 50th, E.U. Faces an Identity Crisis
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400522.html
The European Union will celebrate its 50th birthday here Sunday in grand style, with all-night street parties and cakes from all over the continent. But its members are squabbling, as usual, over what to wish for when the time comes to blow out the candles. For months, diplomats have labored to draft a formal birthday message that would highlight the historic accomplishments of the union, such as the creation of the euro currency and the elimination of many border controls. The 27 countries that belong to the bloc are struggling mightily to agree on the wording of the platitudes, however, not to mention their goals.

Thousands Rally for Change in Belarus
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501006.html
As many as 10,000 protesters took to the streets of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on Sunday in one of the largest demonstrations ever staged against the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko. The demonstrators marched in three groups to a meeting away from the city center after riot police prevented them from entering a central square. No injuries were reported, but several activists were arrested, organizers said.

Negotiations On N. Ireland Government In Jeopardy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500952.html
Northern Ireland's rival Catholic and Protestant political parties engaged in a flurry of behind-the-scenes negotiations Sunday, racing against a deadline to agree to terms for a new power-sharing government or have London retain full control of the province's affairs. The British government has given the parties until Monday to form a local government, which is seen as a critical step toward cementing peace following the more than three decades of sectarian war that ended with a cease-fire in 1997. But as of late Sunday, any chance of meeting the deadline appeared in serious jeopardy because the province's largest Protestant party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), insisted that the deadline be extended until May.
RELATED: Old enemies face partnership in Northern Ireland
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-irish26mar26,1,1885947.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Colombia rejects Times report
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colombia26mar26,1,3903724.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Colombia on Sunday rejected a Los Angeles Times report that the CIA had intelligence alleging that the country's army chief collaborated with right-wing militias accused of atrocities, drug trafficking and massacres. The report, published Sunday, cited a CIA document about Colombia's army commander, Gen. Mario Montoya, and a paramilitary group jointly planning and conducting an operation in 2002 to wipe out Marxist guerrillas from poor areas around Medellin. The report came as the White House is asking Congress to approve extending approximately $700 million a year in mostly military aid to help Colombia's government fight rebels and the illicit drug trade.
RELATED: Colombia Rejects Paramilitary Report
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/world/americas/26colombia.html

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Immigration

Foreclosure Wave Bears Down on Immigrants
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501323.html
Immigrants are emerging as among the first victims of a growing wave of home foreclosures in the Washington area as mortgage lending problems multiply locally and across the country. Nationally, 375,000 high-interest-rate loans were made to Hispanics in 2005, and nearly 73,000 of them are likely to go into foreclosure, said Aracely Paname?o, director of Latino affairs for the Center for Responsible Lending. About 1.1 million homes in the United States are expected to go into foreclosure in the next six years, and many native-born Americans are likely to be stuck with burdensome loans. But immigrants are getting hit first in part because their incomes tend to be lower and many have lost construction jobs. Homeownership rates among immigrants surged in the first half of the decade, making their prosperity an economic success story. Now it is becoming apparent that many people managed to buy homes in an inflated real estate market by turning to unusual new mortgages only now receiving scrutiny from regulators and legislators. Many of these loans start with attractive low "teaser" rates but feature payments that can suddenly increase.

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Health Care and Public Safety

Insuring children may squeeze seniors
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-kids26mar26,1,5171932.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
The Democratic Congress, eager to do something that would be popular with voters, is moving to provide healthcare coverage to millions of uninsured children this year, but there's a catch: Senior citizens enrolled in a popular Medicare program may have to help pay the bill. That could turn what started as a feel-good plan to help the children of the working poor into a tricky exercise in shifting generational burdens. Such trade-offs may soon become a central theme of American politics, experts say, because the federal deficit is large and the bills for supporting baby boomers in retirement are about to start coming due. "The budget squeeze is on, and in some ways this is the first salvo," said Adam Carasso, an analyst at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research group in Washington. "It's getting to the point where you are going to have to ask the dreaded question: Is it children or the elderly?"

AARP launches ad campaign urging drug-price negotiations
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-25-aarp_N.htm
The nation's most powerful network of seniors today will join the nation's most powerful network of drugmakers in combat over rising drug prices. The nearly 38-million-member AARP is launching newspaper and radio advertisements in 10 states urging the Senate to pass legislation that would give the federal government the power to negotiate for lower prices in Medicare's prescription-drug program. Ads will run in the Washington, D.C., area and in states from New Hampshire to Alaska, strategically chosen in an effort to influence senators whose votes could make the difference. They will clash on the airwaves with the drug industry's ads opposing the legislation, which have run on television since before the House approved similar legislation in January.

Insurers for long-term care criticized
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/26/insurers_for_long_term_care_criticized/
Mary Rose Derks was a 65-year-old widow in 1990 when she began preparing for the day she could no longer care for herself. Every month, out of her grocery fund, she scrimped together about $100 for an insurance policy that promised to pay eventually for a room in an assisted living home. On a May afternoon in 2002, after bouts of diabetes had hospitalized her dozens of times, Derks reluctantly agreed that it was time. She shed a few tears, watched her family pack her favorite blankets and rode to Beehive Homes, five blocks from her daughter's farm equipment dealership, content that she would not be a financial burden on her family. But when she filed a claim with her insurer, Conseco, it said she had waited too long. Then it said Beehive Homes was not an approved facility, despite its state license. Eventually, Conseco argued that Derks was not sufficiently infirm, despite her early-stage dementia and the 37 pills she takes each day. After more than four years, Derks, now 81, has yet to receive a penny from Conseco, while her family has paid about $70,000. Her daughter has sent Conseco dozens of bulky envelopes and spent hours on the phone. Each time the answer is the same: Denied. Tens of thousands of elderly Americans have received life-prolonging care as a result of their long-term-care policies.

Emergent Tries Add-On For Its Anthrax Vaccine
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500859.html
Emergent BioSolutions is in a predicament. The Gaithersburg company makes the only federally licensed anthrax vaccine. It sells the vaccine to the Defense Department to inoculate soldiers, and in the past two years the government has purchased 10 million doses for the strategic national stockpile in case of another attack. The problem is that federal health officials want 75 million doses for the stockpile, but they want those doses to be made using a newer generation of vaccine technology that requires just a few shots to produce immunity. That has left Emergent's vaccine, which currently requires up to six doses, mostly on the sidelines.

DEA: Flavored meth use on the rise
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-25-flavored-meth_N.htm
Reports of candy-flavored methamphetamine are emerging around the nation, stirring concern among police and abuse prevention experts that drug dealers are marketing the drug to younger people. The flavored crystals are available in California, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri and Minnesota, according to intelligence gathered by Drug Enforcement Administration agents from informants, users, local police and drug counselors, DEA spokesman Steve Robertson says. "Drug traffickers are trying to lure in new customers, no matter what their age, by making the meth seem less dangerous," Robertson says.

Pet food may have sickened and killed scores more
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-25-pet-food-scare_N.htm
The Food and Drug Administration has received more than 4,400 calls from pet owners about the recalled, contaminated dog and cat food that has reportedly sickened and injured animals across the USA. But the agency has yet to follow up on the calls, so it doesn't know how many represent sick animals or simply concerned owners, says Stephen Sundlof, director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. Many pet owners are questioning the reported number of animals that have died from consuming contaminated pet food found in some of the more than 60 million recalled cans and pouches.

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Crime and Penal Reform

Justices Are of an Opinion, but Not Often
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500932.html
Justices decide cases soon after oral arguments, but the process of drafting and circulating opinions can take months. Justices aim to have everything completed by the end of June, and often the court's most controversial cases are not released until then. But the court's work is done when it's done, and for that reason, even mentioning the slow pace can be dicey. The court could unleash a blizzard of opinions this week. After legal analysts and reporters noted earlier in the term that the justices were on a path to take far fewer cases than in recent years, the court accepted a raft of new ones in January. That decision means a busy close for the court.

Local DNA labs avoid state and U.S. limits
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-25-dna-databases_N.htm
A growing number of police crime labs are adding DNA from suspects to databases that operate outside of state and federal law by matching those suspects to unrelated crimes. Proponents say the databases, which have solved more than 50 crimes, are legitimate because no laws forbid them. Defense lawyers and privacy advocates counter that the federal government and all 50 states require individuals to be convicted or in some cases indicted for a serious crime before their DNA can be added to the FBI's national criminal database. Searching a suspect's DNA, they argue, violates privacy rights.

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Economy

Justices to Review Limits on Retail Prices
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400947.html
Bargain hunters everywhere have an unwitting patron saint they've probably never heard of. His name is Dr. Miles. His days may be numbered. It is because of Dr. Miles that anyone who has ever watched "The Price Is Right" knows that the manufacturer's retail price is only suggested. It is his unintended legacy that shoppers have developed the unshakable belief that if they only look hard enough, they can find the same product somewhere else for less money. But tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments that it should do away with its nearly century-old opinion in Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., a decision that has meant retailers are free to price products at less than what the manufacturer thinks they should. Dr. Miles, whose company later changed its name to Miles Laboratories, wanted to set a minimum price for his elixirs. Some economists argue that the Dr. Miles rule has outlived its usefulness and is unnecessary as an antitrust weapon in a modern economy. Consumer groups counter that the restriction has saved shoppers hundreds of billions of dollars.

Chinese Shares Set Record High
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032600304.html
Chinese stocks rose to a fresh record Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index topping 3,100 for the first time on lively demand from securities funds and strong 2006 corporate earnings results. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.6 percent to 3,122.81, its fourth straight record close. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 2 percent to 833.58, its fifth record high in a row.

Citigroup Plans to Shed Thousands of Jobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/business/26cnd-citi.html?ref=business
Under pressure from shareholders, Citigroup is planning to shed thousands of jobs and sharpen its focus on its operations outside North America. The colossal bank will get most of its growth in the future from its international operations, chief executive Charles O. Prince told thousands of employees in India today, as he wrapped up a tour of Asia.

Top

Education

To Be AP, Courses Must Pass Muster
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401028.html
The College Board, publisher of college-preparatory exams, is auditing every Advanced Placement course in the nation, asking teachers of an estimated 130,000 AP courses to furnish written proof by June 1 that the courses they teach are worthy of the brand.

Study ties child care, behavior patterns
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-03-26-care-behavior_N.htm
Children who got quality child care before entering kindergarten had better vocabulary scores in the fifth grade than did youngsters who received lower quality care. Also, the more time that children spent in child care, the more likely their sixth grade teachers were to report problem behavior. The findings come from the largest study of child care and development conducted in the United States. The 1,364 children in the analysis had been tracked since birth as part of a study by the National Institutes of Health.

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Science and Technology

If New Mexico Builds It, Will Space Travelers Come?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501385.html
Come April 3, the voters of this sun-baked area near the Mexican border will have an unusual question to answer: Are they happy enough as home to some hardy cotton and chile farmers, a branch of the state university and a growing population of retirees from up north? Or do they want quite literally to blast into a very different future? In a referendum, the people of Las Cruces and surrounding Do?a Ana County will be voting on a proposal to slightly raise their county sales tax, a highly unpopular idea these days. But in return, southern New Mexico, one of the poorest regions in the nation, would jump on a fast track to hosting the world's first all-commercial spaceport.

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Military

Report Faults Officers in Tillman Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301995.html
The Defense Department's inspector general has concluded that as many as nine officers are responsible for mistakes and irregularities during the investigation into the "friendly fire" death of former NFL player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan in 2004, problems that led to major delays and errors in explaining the facts to his family and the public, defense officials said yesterday. The report is scheduled for public release on Monday, when Tillman's family also expects to receive a briefing in California. Members of Tillman's immediate family have been fighting for nearly three years to learn the truth about the case, amid a series of investigations into why his death was initially reported as occurring during a heroic attack on enemy fighters when instead the soldiers in his unit knew immediately that he died when they mistakenly shot him in a dusty canyon pass.

America's hidden war dead
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260081mar26,1,5984421.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Like thousands of other Americans who have served in Iraq since the U.S. intervention began four years ago, Walter Zbryski came home in a coffin. Only his coffin was not draped in an American flag or accompanied by a military honor guard. Instead, the mangled body of the 56-year-old retired firefighter from New York City was shipped back to his family in June 2004 in the bloodied clothes in which he died, with half of his head blown away, according to Zbryski's brother Richard. "I viewed the body," Richard Zbryski said. "What really upset me was that he was laying there floating in at least 6 inches of his own body fluids. They didn't even clean him up for us." Zbryski's death was not counted among the official tally of more than 3,200 American military personnel who have been killed in Iraq, nor was it noted by the Defense Department in a news release. That's because Zbryski was not a soldier--he was a truck driver working in the private army of hundreds of thousands of contractors hired by the Pentagon to support the logistical side of the massive American war effort in Iraq. More than 770 civilian contractors working for American companies have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began on March 20, 2003, according to an obscure office inside the U.S. Department of Labor, which loosely tracks the figures. If those deaths--of truck drivers and cooks, laundry workers and security guards--are added to the military toll, the human cost of the U.S. war effort in Iraq is nearly 25 percent higher.

VA finds problems at N.E. hospitals
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2007/03/26/va_finds_problems_at_ne_hospitals/
A review by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the wake of the scandal at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has cited scores of substandard conditions in its New England hospitals and clinics, including the presence of rodents and bugs, chronic leaks, and dilapidated furniture. The nationwide review, ordered by Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, reported mice at the VA Medical Center in Providence, recurring reports of flies at an outpatient clinic in Hyannis, and mismatched, stained, and broken furniture in Manchester, N.H.

Coast Guard's Purchasing Raises Conflict-of-Interest Flags
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400946.html
Four of the seven top U.S. Coast Guard officers who retired since 1998 took positions with private firms involved in the Coast Guard's troubled $24 billion fleet replacement program, an effort that government investigators have criticized for putting contractors' interests ahead of taxpayers'. They weren't the only officials to oversee one of the federal government's most complex experiments at privatization, known as Deepwater, who had past or subsequent business ties to the contract consortium led by industry giants Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. The secretary of transportation, Norman Y. Mineta, whose department included the Coast Guard when the contract was awarded in 2002, was a former Lockheed executive. Two deputy secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security, which the Coast Guard became part of in 2003, were former Lockheed executives, and a third later served on its board.

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Energy Policy

Oil Trades Above $62 on Iran Tension
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032600294.html
Oil prices rose Monday, trading above $62 a barrel, on continued tensions between Iran and the West following Iran's detention of British naval personnel. Recent declines in U.S. oil stocks also supported the market. Vienna's PVM Oil Associates cited the "deteriorating relationship between Iran (OPEC's second largest producer) and the West and last week's further falls in U.S. commercial oil inventories" as driving prices upward. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday called the Iranian seizure of the 15 sailors and marines "unjustified and wrong," saying that London saw their situation as "very serious." Iran suggested that the group may be tried for illegally entering Iranian waters.

China's Hu to seek energy deals in Russia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032600281.html
Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Russia on Monday on his third visit as national leader, seeking energy deals but also offering Moscow business opportunities and international cooperation as they expand ties. "I am certain this visit will give new momentum to the deepening of Russian-Chinese relations and to our practical cooperation in all spheres," Hu said in a statement handed to reporters after his jet touched down in Moscow.

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Transportation and Infrastructure

Airline missteps prompt call for new DOT powers and fines for service breakdowns
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-03-25-airline-missteps-regulation_N.htm
The chairman of the House Transportation Committee wants to give the federal government more power to fine airlines that mistreat passengers with poor customer service. In the wake of repeated airline service meltdowns recently, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said in an interview last week that a code of conduct that airlines voluntarily agreed to seven years ago should be updated. But he also said the Department of Transportation should be given more power to investigate abuses and levy heavy fines against airlines, if necessary. "We need to work out a new voluntary code of conduct, but that should be backed up by enforcement powers at the Department of Transportation," said Oberstar, a committee member since 1975.

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Environment and Conservation

States work to reduce global warming
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-25-states-greenhouse_N.htm
As more and more states band together to fight global warming, their efforts are moving beyond mere symbolism and becoming big enough to make a real dent in the problem, analysts and environmental groups say. More than half of the nation's 50 states — including populous California, Texas and New York — have joined together in regional coalitions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, boosting the use of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency. Five states in the West and 10 in the Northeast that have banded together to fight climate change account for 22% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Their efforts have the potential to cut America's global warming emissions significantly, according to data from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

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.

Robert Novak: A President All Alone
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500912.html
Republicans in Congress do not trust their president to protect them. That alone is sufficient reason to withhold statements of support for Gonzales, because such a gesture could be quickly followed by his resignation under pressure. Rep. Adam Putnam (Fla.), the highly regarded young chairman of the House Republican Conference, praised Donald Rumsfeld in November only to see him sacked shortly thereafter. But not many Republican lawmakers would speak up for Gonzales even if they were sure Bush would stick with him. He is the least popular Cabinet member on Capitol Hill, even more disliked than Rumsfeld was. The word most often used by Republicans to describe the management of the Justice Department under Gonzales is "incompetent."
RELATED: Charles Krauthammer: Gonzales must pack his bags
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703260173mar26,0,7546763.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed
RELATED: They've Testified Before
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301616.html
RELATED: The Cloud Over Mr. Gonzales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500882.html
RELATED: Dionne: Inserting Politics Into Justice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301450.html
RELATED: Kuttner: Gonzales should be impeached
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/24/gonzales_should_be_impeached/

Froomkin: The Rovian Theory
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/23/BL2007032301067.html
Why are President Bush's Democratic critics so focused on getting White House political guru Karl Rove's testimony regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys? Because based on Rove's history, the whole thing may well have been his idea -- and may be even more complicated than it initially appeared.

Revise the Patriot Act
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-security26mar26,0,7819641.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
ATTY. GEN. Alberto R. Gonzales has been the cheerleader-in-chief for the USA Patriot Act, the post-9/11 legislation that has made it easier for government investigators to obtain electronic records detailing the habits of ordinary Americans. So when even Gonzales complains that the FBI has been cutting corners in obtaining such sensitive information, Congress needs to take another look at the Patriot Act. In particular, Congress needs to rein in the use of "national security letters" — subpoenas that don't require judicial approval and can now be issued by agents in the field as well as at FBI headquarters. According to the Justice Department, 22% of documents examined at four FBI field offices turned up procedural violations that hadn't been reported to FBI headquarters as required. This prompted a mea culpa from Gonzales even more memorable than his suggestion that he was essentially out of the loop as eight U.S. attorneys were fired. "During the discussion of the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, I believed that the FBI was acting responsibly in using national security letters," Gonzales said, adding, "I've come to learn that I was wrong."

Broder: An Opening for Democrats
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301585.html
Six years of Republican control in Washington have taken a toll on the country -- and the GOP is paying the price politically. Instead of the Bush administration ushering in a new era of GOP dominance, as Karl Rove hoped, it has set the stage for a Democratic resurgence.

Carroll: Americans face a moral reckoning
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/26/americans_face_a_moral_reckoning/
YOU HAVE been reading "The Sorrow of War" by Bao Ninh, the classic account of what in Vietnam is called the American war. The title of Bao Ninh's novel captures the feeling of grief and loss that always comes in the wake of violent conflict. Allowing room for fear, grief, and loss must define the dominant experience in Iraq today, where the suffering caused by this American war mounts inexorably.

Hamilton: A Partnership on Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301591.html
The American people have soured on the war. They clearly are looking for a responsible transition for U.S. forces out of Iraq. The House supplemental spending plan outlines a transition, as do proposals pending in the Senate. Moving forward, the president and Congress must become partners, and not antagonists, toward this end. A strategy of sustained pressure on the Iraqi government to advance national reconciliation, provide security and improve the lives of the Iraqi people offers the best chance of advancing stability. U.S. military forces have performed valiantly, but they cannot by themselves accomplish these goals -- only Iraqis can. As President Bush told the nation on Jan. 10, "only the Iraqis can end the sectarian violence and secure their people." To that end, the House bill lays out the steps that the Iraqi government must take.

The President’s Prison
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/opinion/25sun1.html
George Bush does not want to be rescued. The president has been told countless times, by a secretary of state, by members of Congress, by heads of friendly governments — and by the American public — that the Guantánamo Bay detention camp has profoundly damaged this nation’s credibility as a champion of justice and human rights. But Mr. Bush ignored those voices — and now it seems he has done the same to his new defense secretary, Robert Gates, the man Mr. Bush brought in to clean up Donald Rumsfeld’s mess.

Constitutional Autocracy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400753.html
Egypt's Hosni Mubarak enshrines his authority to steal elections. The Bush administration applauds.

Abolish the death penalty
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703250314mar25,0,5515142.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed
We have learned much, particularly with advances in DNA technology, about the criminal justice system's capacity to make terrible mistakes. These revelations--many stemming from investigations by this newspaper--shake the foundation of support for capital punishment. Who gets a sentence of life and who gets death is often a matter of random luck, of politics, of geography, even a matter of racism. Mistakes can occur at every level of the process.

Hope for Illegal Immigrants
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500883.html
THE BATTLE over immigration reform was joined in Congress last week with the introduction of sweeping legislation that would toughen enforcement, tighten border controls and provide eventual citizenship for millions who entered the country illegally. That the opening legislative salvo came in the House, where real reform went nowhere in the last Congress, and that the bill has bipartisan sponsors generated fresh optimism that the broken-down immigration system may be replaced by a workable one. The optimism will be justified, though, only if the White House, which has been trying to coax a consensus on immigration from divided Republican lawmakers, sticks to its guns and fashions a blueprint for action that is both practical and comprehensive.
RELATED: Ambivalent immigration anniversary
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-immig25mar25,0,7825231.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail

Jackson: Science starts to fight back
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/24/science_starts_to_fight_back/
PRESIDENT BUSH'S war on science continues to disintegrate into unstable elements.

Kennedy: No Retreat on School Reform
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032500910.html
The No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization. Some in Congress feel the challenge is too great and want to turn back the clock on reform. One Republican proposal would even let states avoid accountability requirements and still receive federal funds. Most of us in Congress know that a retreat to mediocrity is wrong. To meet the demands of the 21st century, we have to expand opportunity for all and keep our commitment to leaving no child behind. We know the law has flaws, but we also know that with common-sense changes and adequate resources, we can improve it by building on what we've learned. We owe it to America's children, parents and teachers to reinforce our commitment, not abandon it.

Of Senate Snails and Scriveners
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/opinion/26mon2.html
Campaign finance reform has progressed in Washington thanks, in part, to fast public posting of candidates’ megamillions on the Internet. House members must file electronically and so must party committees and lobbyist-donors. But not that ultimate redoubt of Capitol clubbiness, the Senate. No, the Senate still clings to its slo-mo evasion of the law’s prompt disclosure duties by burying information for weeks upon weeks in the paperwork era. Voters and watchdogs searching for the silken underbelly of special-interest money often are left waiting well after Election Day for the full picture.

Hypocrisy on the Hill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301657.html
WASHINGTONIANS probably could live with Republicans' sabotaging their latest chance at congressional representation; that's nothing new. More galling are those Republicans too gutless to admit their true position.

Tilman, Hill: Corn Can't Solve Our Problem
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301625.html
Biofuels, if used properly, can help us balance our need for food, energy and a habitable and sustainable environment. To help this happen, though, we need a national biofuels policy that favors our best options. We must determine the carbon impacts of each method of making these fuels, then mandate fuel blending that achieves a prescribed greenhouse gas reduction. We have the knowledge and technology to start solving these problems.

Chait: Why the right goes nuclear over global warming
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-chait25mar25,0,3294057.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
LAST YEAR, the National Journal asked a group of Republican senators and House members: "Do you think it's been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is warming because of man-made problems?" Of the respondents, 23% said yes, 77% said no. In the year since that poll, of course, global warming has seized a massive amount of public attention. The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a study, with input from 2,000 scientists worldwide, finding that the certainty on man-made global warming had risen to 90%. So, the magazine asked the question again last month. The results? Only 13% of Republicans agreed that global warming has been proved. As the evidence for global warming gets stronger, Republicans are actually getting more skeptical. Al Gore's recent congressional testimony on the subject, and the chilly reception he received from GOP members, suggest the discouraging conclusion that skepticism on global warming is hardening into party dogma. Like the notion that tax cuts are always good or that President Bush is a brave war leader, it's something you almost have to believe if you're an elected Republican.
RELATED: Warming Up on Capitol Hill
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/opinion/25sun2.html

Brownstein: Obama and blue collars: Do they fit?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-brownstein25mar25,0,6496358.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
History says he must reach working-class voters -- Hillary Clinton's stronghold.

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