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National

Justices Won't Hear Detainee Rights Cases -- for Now
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200470.html
A divided Supreme Court declined yesterday to consider fresh questions about the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, rejecting an appeal by inmates there who are seeking access to federal courts to challenge their imprisonment as "enemy combatants." The court decision was a significant victory for President Bush, who has asserted for nearly six years that the fate of hundreds of detainees, held without charges as alleged terrorists at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, should be determined by secret military tribunals. The decision leaves intact, at least for now, a measure passed at the administration's urging last year when Congress still was in Republican hands that denies Guantanamo Bay detainees the right to such habeas corpus petitions.
RELATED: Supreme Court Denies Guantánamo Appeal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/washington/03gitmo.html

Pair of Army units will return to Iraq sooner
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-troops3apr03,1,4484463.story?coll=la-headlines-world
The Pentagon said Monday that to sustain the current buildup of troops in Baghdad through the summer, two Army units have been ordered to return to Iraq without the normal yearlong stay at their home bases. The curtailed home stay for the two units, a combat brigade of about 3,500 soldiers and a division headquarters of 1,000, will mark the second time the Pentagon has been forced to send major Army units to Iraq without a yearlong respite as part of the troop increase ordered in January by President Bush. Earlier this year, an Army combat brigade was rushed into Iraq after only 10 1/2 months in the U.S., a fact not previously disclosed by the Pentagon. Until this year's troop increase, no Army brigade had ever had less than a year at home between deployments to Iraq, Pentagon officials say.
RELATED: Stretched army sends troops back to Iraq
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-02-stretched-army_N.htm

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

Pelosi stands her ground on Syria trip
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/04/03/pelosi_stands_her_ground_on_syria_trip/
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday shrugged off White House criticism of her impending visit to Damascus, saying she had "great hope" for reviving US relations with Syria and changing its behavior. Speaking hours after arriving in Lebanon, Pelosi indicated that the Bush administration was singling out her trip to Syria while ignoring recent visits by Republican members of Congress. "It's interesting because three of our colleagues, who are all Republicans, were in Syria yesterday and I didn't hear the White House speaking out about that," Pelosi said, referring to the meeting that Representatives Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, and Robert Aderholt had with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Sunday.

U.S. strategy on Iran may have backfired
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-backfire3apr03,1,5739897.story?coll=la-headlines-world
It seemed like a good idea at the time: Increase the military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran to get the country to bow to the international community on its nuclear enrichment program and curtail its alleged troublemaking in Iraq. But now, with 15 British sailors and marines held captive and Tehran threatening to withhold its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, that strategy has apparently backfired. Months of hard-nosed U.S. political and military pressure on Iran may have further radicalized and emboldened the regime, undermining Washington's stated aim of neutralizing the Iranian threat without resorting to war, analysts say.

More Iran news in NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, COLORADO/MILITARY

Top

Colorado

Skico's side prevails in climate case
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070403/NEWS/104030044
The Supreme Court ordered the federal government on Monday to take a fresh look at regulating carbon dioxide emissions from cars as part of a case that the Aspen Skiing Co. helped press against the Bush administration. "This is an enormous victory for the environmental community, and we played a part," said Auden Schendler, Skico executive director of community and environmental responsibility. In a 5-4 decision, the court said the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars. Greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the landmark environmental law, Justice John Paul Stevens said in his majority opinion. The court's four conservative justices - Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas - dissented. Many scientists believe greenhouse gases, flowing into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate, are leading to a warming of the Earth, rising sea levels and other marked ecological changes.

More Clean Air Act news in NATIONAL/ENVIRONMENT

Vehicle registration meltdown
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460823,00.html
Colorado pulled the plug Monday on its new computer for licensing motor vehicles - the fifth computer system dating to the Owens administration to have major problems. Gov. Bill Ritter's administration halted use of the CSTARS system after reports of four cases in which police officers checking license plates were informed, incorrectly, that the registration was for a different car. At least one person had his car unjustly impounded, said Maren Ruvino, operations director for titles and registration. Ruvino said she didn't know if any of the drivers were mistakenly arrested under the presumption they were driving stolen cars. "We have substantial problems with our computer infrastructure," said Evan Dreyer, Ritter's spokesman. "CSTARS is one of at least five troubled computer systems the Ritter administration inherited," Dreyer said. He cited four others, which failed to pay road workers and welfare recipients accurately and failed to track unemployment benefits and voter registration. Total value of the problem computer contracts: $317 million.

Amid debate on gays, Senate panel approves adoption bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5459902,00.html
An advocate of traditional family rights argued Monday that gays should not be allowed to adopt because they die sooner, they're criminals, they drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol and they frequently miss work. Democratic lawmakers denounced the remarks, made by Paul Cameron during a Senate committee hearing on a bill that would allow cohabitating couples, including gays, to adopt. "Given the . . . testimonies of children with a gay parent, the gay life span, a child is unfortunate with one homosexual parent," said Cameron,a member of the Family Research Institute, a Colorado Springs conservative think tank. "The state should not punish the child by allowing two." Cameron testified that according to studies conducted in Norway and Denmark, countries where same-sex marriages are legal, married lesbians live to an average age of 56 and married gay men to an average age of 52.
RELATED: Panel OKs same-sex adoption bill
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070403_4.htm
RELATED: Senators back adoption bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579680
RELATED: Party-line vote saves adoption bill
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20825&template=article.html

Tancredo Enters 2008 Presidential Race
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200693.html
Criticizing other GOP candidates as weak in their efforts to stop illegal immigration, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo announced Monday he would seek the Republican presidential nomination. "The political elite in Washington have chosen to ignore this phenomenon," he said. Tancredo, a congressman who has gained prominence in recent years for his staunch stance against illegal immigration, said immigration would be the primary focus of his campaign. He said he would not enter the race if he thought one of the leading candidates was sufficiently conservative on the issue. It's, "the field, the field," he said when asked why he was entering the race. "You look and you see no one is going to make this the primary issue of their campaign."
RELATED: GOP Rep. Tancredo announces White House run
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-02-tancredo-campaign_N.htm
RELATED: Taking his place at the table
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5460712,00.html
RELATED: Candidate Tancredo welcomed times 2
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579665
RELATED: Tancredo chases White House
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5575971

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

COLORADO NEWS

Top

Election

Salazar touted for ticket
http://blogs.denverpost.com/washington/2007/04/02/salazar-touted-for-ticket/
A political blog this weekend listed Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado as a potential vice-presidential candidate. The blog said Salazar’s positives are that he hails from a “key Western state,'’ that he “probably puts CO in D column,” and that he is Latino. The negatives, according to the blog: “no foreign policy experience, relatively new, bland persona.'’ Salazar has been mentioned as a possible V.P. candidate since he first ran for the Senate seat in 2003.

Labor issue could "blow up"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579663
Teamsters union leader James Hoffa Jr. joined the debate over Denver's selection as host for the Democratic National Convention by confronting Gov. Bill Ritter at a Washington dinner and promising the issue could "blow up" next summer if Colorado doesn't become more labor-friendly. "We're very upset about it," the International Brotherhood of Teamsters president said of the Democrats' decision to stage their convention at the nonunion Pepsi Center. In an interview Monday, Hoffa also mentioned Ritter's veto of a law that might have made it easier to organize unions in Colorado. "All of labor is upset," Hoffa said. Hoffa said it is "ironic" that the Republicans are planning their convention in heavily unionized Minneapolis-St. Paul. "Maybe we should flip it and let the Republicans come to Denver," he said. Hoffa expressed his displeasure personally to Ritter on Saturday night in Washington at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner, where politicians mingle with the media. He said he told Ritter that if he and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper didn't work out some key issues, the convention could be plagued with protests and picket lines. "It could blow up," Hoffa told Ritter. Hoffa said he agrees with the president of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney. Last month, the AFL-CIO said it would ask the Democratic Party to move its convention to another city if a law like the one Ritter vetoed wasn't enacted.

Clerk tweaks Salazar for backing election changes
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_1a_elections.html
Federal legislation that would revamp voting requirements across the United States for the 2008 election could set voting back decades, Mesa County Clerk Janice Rich said. Rich’s criticism of House Bill 811 puts her at odds with U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., a cosponsor of the measure. Salazar said through his Washington, D.C. office that his door is open to the clerks. “With all respect,” Rich wrote to Salazar, “this legislation is like asking the Dept. of Transportation to tear up the interstate system — nationwide — and then relay all of those roads with different material, do it in two years, and damn the cost. Oh, and don’t impact anyone along the way.”

Felon son's ballot stands in election
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579511
A Weld County grand jury investigation found no wrongdoing in the Dacono mayor's one-vote victory in the last election. The grand jury got involved in late December when election officials discovered that the mayor's son - a convicted felon - cast the deciding vote in the race. Under state law, convicted felons may not vote in elections. A recount showed that incumbent Wade Carlson defeated challenger Larry Johnston 368-367. Carlson's son, Jon Carlson, was convicted in 2006 for attempted marijuana cultivation.

Last chance to vote in city election
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20842&template=article.html
Colorado Springs will elect a mayor and several city council members today as thousands of mail-in ballots are counted.

Municipal election ballots due today
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/NEWS01/704030336/1002
There are just a few hours left to get your ballot to the Fort Collins City Clerk's office for today's municipal election. The deadline to deliver ballots to the clerk's office is 7 p.m. Ballots with a Tuesday postmark that don't make it to the office by then will not be counted.

Why this election matters
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25979
At every election in Craig, one resident finds himself at the front of the voting line, sometimes arriving an hour early to exercise his right to vote as an American. For Moffat County Commissioner Saed Tayyara, it is not a freedom he takes lightly. As a youngster living in Syria, Tayyara first went to the polls as an 18-year-old, but found himself at gunpoint being told how he needed to vote.

Council election concludes today
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070403_6.htm
Today is the last day to vote in Durango's City Council election, but according to the City Clerk's Office, 3,128 of the 6,932 ballots mailed already have been cast.

What will Vail spend $8.6 million on?
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070402/NEWS/70402025
Vail has lots of ideas for the $8.6 million it collected for the ill-fated conference center. The money could be used for affordable housing, the hot-button issue of the hour in Vail. Or road repairs. Or parks and trails. Voters would have to approve a new use for the funds, and that could happen this November.

Lafayette eyes bond issue
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/03/lafayette-eyes-bond-issue/
City officials are considering asking voters to approve a $9 million bond issue — without raising taxes — to pay for major street projects, a new park near Old Town and improvements at the recreation center. City Administrator Gary Klaphake recently completed a long-range economic forecast to determine how the city will pay for priorities in the coming decade. He said although sales-tax revenues will likely continue to go up, a bond may be necessary to get capital projects accomplished now.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Amendment 41 isn't law yet, AG argues
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5459900,00.html
Lobbyists can't buy legislators a cup of coffee - or anything else - and free breakfasts at the Capitol have been outlawed, all in the name of Amendment 41. But Attorney General John Suthers' office, in a court filing, now maintains that the ethics measure that voters approved last November isn't officially the law yet. That's news to Rep. Larry Liston. "We've all been afraid of our shadow ever since this thing was signed into law," the Colorado Springs Republican said Monday. Not that any lobbyist should come running forward with free Rockies tickets just yet. "You generally advise people to take the more cautious approach," said Maurice Knaizer, a deputy attorney general. The attorney general's opinion was included in a filing Friday in connection with a lawsuit over Amendment 41. Several parties have sued Gov. Bill Ritter over the ethics measure, saying it is unconstitutional. Suthers' office, which represents the governor, has asked that the lawsuit in Denver District Court be dismissed.
RELATED: Governor, AG ask court to toss suit
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579681

41 STRIKES AGAIN (Roll Call, April 3)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5459927,00.html
"I think it's a shame my father can't take his own grandson to America's pastime and share the stories about Jackie Robinson breaking into the major leagues." Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, saying the voter approved ethics measure Amendment prevents him and his son from using his father's Rockies season tickets

Bills bringing money into region move forward
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20832&template=article.html
Two bills that could bring $1.4 million back to the Pikes Peak region next year continued their march through the General Assembly Monday. Both still must clear significant hurdles before a dime returns to El Paso County, though. House Bill 1232 by Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, would create a second count day to record the number of children of soldiers relocating to Fort Carson who move in mid-year to surrounding school districts. Participating districts could apply to the Colorado Department of Education for a half year’s portion of the per-pupil funding and, if approved, could provide $1.27 million more for the area. Meanwhile, House Bill 1190 by Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, would stop the Department of Revenue from keeping anything more than incremental costs when processing the revenues of rural transportation authorities. The measure would generate $129,872 for the Pikes Peak RTA in the 2007-08 fiscal year and $260,522 the next year.

On the side, 4/3
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579682
"Members, I really, really, really need you to pay attention to the proceedings." - A frustrated Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, after having to take a third vote on a bill because members had voted wrong.

Citizen Legislator: Gail Schwartz
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5460042,00.html
Sen. Gail Schwartz biked through Colorado three times with Ride the Rockies, an incredible feat for awoman who was told she might never walk again after surviving a car accident that killed her 8-year-old daughter. Schwartz, 57, worked for Pitkin County's housing authority and served on the University of Colorado Board of Regents before being elected to the Senate last year. The Snowmass Village Democrat advocates for water, education and rural economic development. She and her husband, Alan Schwartz, have three daughters: Rachel, 18, Aime, 20, and Brendan Ash, 29. Their first child, a son, died when he was five days old because of medical problems.

Top

Marriage and Family Issues

Senate urges publicizing safe havens for newborns (Under the dome, 4/3)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579684
The Senate backed a resolution Monday encouraging high schools and colleges to promote a law that allows parents to leave their newborn babies at fire stations or hospitals. Since the law passed in 2000, 15 babies have been turned in to these safe havens. The latest one came in September when a newborn boy was left in a tackle box at a fire station in Greeley. The law only protects parents who give up their babies within three days of their birth. Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, said some teenage mothers are still leaving their babies to die in high school bathrooms or at home despite the law.
RELATED: Senator: Safe Haven publicity is sinister
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_1b_Safe_Haven.html

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

Don't count on federal funds, Ritter says
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460809,00.html
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter told the people of this tornado-ravaged town that the state would do all it could to help with the recovery - but urged hundreds of residents gathered in the high school gymnasium Monday night not to hold their breaths waiting for the federal government to provide money. Ritter, talking on a speaker phone to a community meeting attended by more than 300 people, said he hoped his declaration of Holly and surrounding farmland as a state disaster area would help free federal funds to rebuild in the wake of last week's deadly tornado. "But," he cautioned, "I don't want to raise any false expectations on that."
RELATED: Tornado's wicked path beyond logic
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460808,00.html
RELATED: Ritter declares Holly a disaster area
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5577591
RELATED: Governor declares Holly a disaster area
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/1
RELATED: HOLLY DONATIONS
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/16

Meeting to address uninsured kids
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/03/meeting_address_uninsured_kids/?local_news
Faced with deciding whether Congress should reauthorize a federal and state program to help uninsured children, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is seeking professional input. Representatives of Salazar’s Colorado and Washington staffs will be in Colorado this week to gather information on how the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is working before reauthorization is considered. Salazar has invited about 12 health care “stakeholders” in Northwest Colorado to provide feedback. Scott Remley, deputy communications director for Salazar, said Wednesday’s meeting is not open to the public.
RELATED: Child health plan chided
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070403_3.htm

Health chief says low funds, outbreaks stretch agency
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20822&template=article.html
Public health officials last year investigated 178 restaurant complaints — triple the number received in 2005 — and also responded to nearly a dozen outbreaks of illnesses in area nursing homes. Health workers also conducted a tuberculosis investigation that involved testing 222 people and have been battling an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. It’s just fortunate that the flu season has so far been mild, said Rosemary Bakes-Martin, the administrator of the Health Department. “If we had two of them (public health emergencies) occurring at the same time, I’m not sure what we would do,” Bakes-Martin said Monday before speaking at the department’s fifth annual community meeting, during which she highlighted the major challenges facing public health. The biggest, she told 150 people at the meeting that included elected officials from both the city and county, is funding. In a presentation that echoed one given to county commissioners in January, Bakes-Martin said the department is at a critical point as outbreaks rise and funding declines. “We don’t have anywhere near the infrastructure Denver (County) has to fight these,” Bakes-Martin said of staffing. “We are the lowest-funded of the 11 most populous counties, even though we have the highest population.” El Paso County’s net contribution to the Health Department’s $14 million budget is roughly $2.9 million. Most of the department’s budget comes from state and federal grants, which are designated for specific programs. County funding, which translates into $4.86 per person, however, goes toward areas that are of most concern: restaurant inspections and communicable diseases investigation and prevention. Bakes-Martin said the state per capita funding average is $11.03.

Escaped mental patient was being supervised, officials say
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460422,00.html
A mental patient declared insane 19 years ago after stabbing a fellow prison inmate remained loose Monday after fleeing the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo during a weekend walk on the grounds. Officials at the state mental hospital emphasized Monday that 44-year-old Tyrone Jones was neither alone nor unsupervised on the hospital grounds when he escaped at 9:56 a.m. Saturday. "He was with others on a group walk on the hospital campus, so there were staff and patients together," said hospital spokeswoman Eunice Wolther. "He was walking ahead of the staff and they told him to stop and wait, and he took off running."
RELATED: Hospital escapee still fugitive
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20817&template=article.html
RELATED: CMHIP inmate escaped while on supervised walk
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/8

[Pueblo] Immunization clinics scheduled for youths
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/15
The clinic will provide all immunizations required by law for school and college admission, along with baby shots. The free clinics, which are being funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, are meant for the uninsured and underinsured. However, no proof of income or identification will be required. There also will be Spanish-speaking workers on hand. Parents are asked to bring immunization records.

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Bill would close DNA testing loophole
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20804&template=article.html
Lawmakers will try this week to close a loophole in a new law requiring felons to give a sample of their DNA that has allowed 4,137 people in jail to escape the new rules. The bill also would require juveniles who commit serious crimes to give up some of their DNA. It will be heard Wednesday in the House Judiciary Committee.

Suspect in officer's killing pleads insanity
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579686
A man who is accused of killing an Aurora police detective pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Monday. Attorneys for Brian Allen Washington, 27, entered the plea in Adams County District Court in Brighton. Washington will be evaluated by the state mental hospital in Pueblo to determine whether he is competent to face the charges against him in the death of Aurora Detective Mike Thomas.

Officer under investigation
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460424,00.html
Denver police officer Joe Bini is under an internal investigation as well as a criminal probe for allegedly stealing an $88 carpet strip from a downtown shopping mall, according to mall executives and police sources. Bini, 38, was charged in 2000 with felony perjury for writing a faulty no-knock warrant that led to the Sept. 29, 1999, police raid and killing of 45-year-old Ismael Mena. Bini pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, served a three-month suspension, and got his police job back. Denver police launched the investigations after receiving a complaint from the Denver Pavilions retail center, 500 16th Street, on March 22. The managers reported that someone had stolen a 3-foot by 10-foot floor mat from a mall corridor. A surveillance camera in the hallway caught a man removing the mat. The police report said that man was known to mall security guards as "Joe."

Focus on gangs holds down assaults at party, officials say
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5459923,00.html
An increased focus on gang activity helped hold down assaults and problems in nearby neighborhoods during a weekend rave concert that drew thousands of young people to a south Jefferson County entertainment center, organizers and authorities said Monday. The rave at Fat City ended early Sunday with more than a dozen arrests, most of them suspected gang members with outstanding warrants, but no fights or other violence were reported, said Jim Shires, spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. "This year, we worked very closely with Fat City," Shires said. "They doubled the number of off-duty police and private security, and they asked us to take a more assertive role, especially about gangs."

Routt County to review request
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/25980
Officials with the Greater Routt and Moffat Narcotics Enforcement Team and the 14th Judicial District Attorney's Office are asking the county today to approve a request that would allow the DA's Office to contribute $10,800 to the regional drug task force's operating budget. Drug task force commander Garrett Wiggins said the DA's Office has historically contributed money to the task force. Last year, the DA's Office contribution was routed through the Routt County Sheriff's Office to consolidate the county's funding of the task force. Because Routt County Sheriff Gary Wall has decided that the Sheriff's Office will not fund GRAMNET, the organization would not receive the $10,800 without the county's permission.

Man held in Halliburton standoff
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460806,00.html
An employee of an oil and gas company took an assault rifle and a handgun into one of the company's buildings, leading to a standoff that ended with his arrest Monday. The man, tentatively identified as Jeremy Hale, was Tasered by police officers in Building C of Halliburton Energy Services Inc. after he pointed one of his weapons at himself, police spokeswoman Linda Bowman said. "There were 30 to 50 employees in the building but, as far as we know, he didn't threaten them," Bowman said. Initial reports that the man was intoxicated weren't immediately confirmed, she said. Apparently no one was injured, but police were searching to make sure there were no victims.
RELATED: Armed man subdued at Halliburton complex
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_1b_Halliburton_arrest.html

Weld deputy attacked on duty
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070403/NEWS/104020121
A Weld County sheriff's deputy was attacked late Sunday after he was called to help a Mead woman who was threatened by her ex-husband. Deputy Scott Holmen suffered bruises and swelling to his face after he responded to a house in Mead and became involved in a struggle while trying make an arrest. Accused of fighting with the officer and now in Weld County Jail is John Robert Edwards, 36, of Longmont. He was booked and charged with second-degree assault, second-degree burglary, criminal mischief, possession of burglary tools, first-degree criminal tampering, violation of a protection order, resisting arrest and harassment.

20-year seal put on Columbine depositions
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5580190
The depositions of the parents of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold will be kept under seal in the National Archives for 20 years, a federal judge ruled Monday. No one, including violence prevention experts, will be able to see them until they are unsealed, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock ruled. They will be kept permanently in the National Archives, where they are considered to be of historical value.

Top

Economy

Ex-COO says goals were 'huge stretch'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5460199,00.html
Former Qwest President and Chief Operating Officer Afshin Mohebbi testified Monday that he wrote memo after memo to then- CEO Joe Nacchio, expressing concerns about the company's ability to meet financial targets in 2001. In one memo, Mohebbi called the earnings goals a "huge stretch." In another, he described Qwest's number-shuffling to make its targets as "constantly robbing from Peter to pay Paul." Testifying at Nacchio's insider trading trial under an immunity deal with prosecutors, Mohebbi said he preferred to put such concerns in writing because face-to- face discussions sometimes turned into a "heated debate," with the person confronting Nacchio backing down. "I had a number of concerns," he said.
REL:ATED: Mohebbi testifies in Qwest trial
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5576017
RELATED: Special coverage: Nacchio on trial
http://cfapp2.rockymountainnews.com/business/nacchio/

Big money for First Data Corp.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5460641,00.html
First Data Corp., the world's largest processor of credit-card payments and Colorado's most valuable public company, agreed to a $29 billion buyout from private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. KKR will pay $34 a share in cash for Greenwood Village-based First Data, 26 percent more than Friday's closing price and 34 percent over the average closing price for the last 30 trading days. That makes it the second-biggest leveraged buyout after the $31.8 billion takeover that KKR and TPG Inc. proposed in February for utility TXU Corp.
RELATED: 5 questions on the KKR buyout of First Data Corp.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5460115,00.html
RELATED: HQ, most workers likely to stay
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5579495
RELATED: FirstData employees feel effects
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5580149

VFPP still short, but town coffers are flush
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/03/news/news01.txt
As the effort to pay for the Valley Floor comes down to the wire, town officials and private fundraisers are scrambling to find the money. The Valley Floor Preservation Partners are still $2.9 million short of their goal, and are hoping that donors will step forward. If they don’t, where could the money come from? An analysis of the town’s overall 2007 budget shows that there are still large pools of cash in reserve that could be drained to buy the Valley Floor, as much as $1.28 million from one account alone.

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Housing and Homelessness

Cities offer help getting mortgage
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/03/cities-offer-help-getting-mortgage/
Sixteen Front Range communities joined Monday to help first-time home buyers find affordable mortgages without resorting to risky lending practices blamed for a rise in foreclosures. Now in its second year, the Metro Mortgage Assistance program provides 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages at 5.95 percent interest and down-payment grants of 4 percent of the loan amount to qualifying buyers. Participating cities include Broomfield, Louisville and Erie. The program, led by the Metro Mayors Caucus and the city and county of Denver, draws on $32.5 million in tax-exempt bonds to provide below-market rates with solid financial backing. The idea, officials said, is to offer low- and moderate-income buyers a stable alternative to adjustable, interest-only and other higher-risk loans.

Housing in the basement
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20808&template=article.html
Colorado Springs’ homebuilding industry remained in a funk last month. Single-family home building permits in El Paso County, which measure the pace of home construction, fell nearly 37 percent in March from the same month last year, according to a report issued Monday by the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department. For the first quarter of 2007, single-family permits tumbled almost 45 percent when compared with the same period last year. Some home builders and economists reiterated Monday what they’ve been saying for months: that the area is poised for a turnaround.

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Media

Boulder blogger a target for violent threats
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/03/boulder-blogger-a-target-for-violent-threats/
Kathy Sierra's skin has gotten a bit tougher from being in the public eye as an author, speaker and blogger. Over the years, the Boulder resident who blogs about software development on her Creating Passionate Users blog at headrush.typepad.com, has gotten her fair share of negative — and sometimes outright mean — comments. She took the blows that were said to come with the territory, until recently. "About four weeks ago is when it really started to take turns for the worse," she said. That's when she became the target of anonymous violent and sexual postings — including a comment that said, among other vulgar things, "... I hope someone slits your throat." The situation propelled her to the center of a firestorm within the blogosphere that soon became national news, prompting discussion about whether there should be some limits on blog speech. Why she was targeted is the "million-dollar question," she said, adding that she doesn't blog about controversial topics or post negative comments about people. The only motivation she can think of, she said, is that a year ago she posted to a blog asking that negative comments about the author be removed.

Newspapers report steep decline in net income
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5459739,00.html
The Denver Newspaper Agency has been suffering from a revenue decline and steep drop in profits that has reduced the amount of cash its partners are taking out, a new document shows. MediaNews Group, the parent of The Denver Post and a partner in the agency with Rocky Mountain News owner E.W. Scripps Co., filed the agency's financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
RELATED: Profits plunge at Denver newspapers
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5579169

Post wins 4 national writing awards
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5579497
The Denver Post has won four national awards for outstanding business coverage from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. The Post won in the group's "Best in Business" competition in four categories - project reporting, breaking-news coverage, business column writing and enterprise reporting.

EchoStar, Google team up to target pay-TV ads
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5459973,00.html
EchoStar Communications and Google were scheduled to announce today a venture to create an automated system for buying, selling and measuring TV advertising on Dish Network's 125 national satellite programming networks. Google has similar programs for radio and newspaper advertising, but this is the first of its kind for a national pay-TV provider. The venture combines Google's success in targeted online ads with EchoStar's 13 million subscriber set-top boxes, which can measure such data as which commercials viewers watch and which they skip through with their digital video recorders.
RELATED: Google, EchoStar team on TV ads
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5579168

Malone's '06 compensation at Liberty valued at $3.3 million
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5577577
Media investor John C. Malone received compensation valued at $3.36 million as chairman of Liberty Media Corp. last year, including an annual salary of $2,600, according to a regulatory filing Monday. President and CEO Gregory B. Maffei earned compensation valued at $5.7 million, including a $1 million base salary and $1.6 million in bonuses, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He received stock and option awards valued at $2.6 million.

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Education

What price higher ed?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/02/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Colorado's state Legislature is currently wrangling with its 2007-08 budget bill, and early numbers suggest the Department of Higher Education will see measurable funding increases compared to 2006-07. But the state budget bill, or Senate Bill 07-239, is called the “long bill” for a reason - the current long bill “narrative” that offers statistics and snapshot explanations of proposed allocations is roughly 300 pages long, and legislators will almost certainly propose and debate many amendments before Gov. Bill Ritter signs the bill. Former U.S. Rep. David Skaggs, now the director of the Department of Higher Education (DHE), said in January 2007 that DHE would need to compete with many entities for a slice of the state's limited discretionary budget “pie” - and told the Daily last Friday that he was generally “very happy” with the increases found in the 2007-08 long bill.

Senator seeks CSU funding talks
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/CSUZONE01/704030334/1002/NEWS01
The debate over how to best fund Colorado State University remained a hot topic Monday with an influential lawmaker calling for all sides to come to the table and keep the funding discussion going. The call for cooperation followed a failed legislative amendment to the state’s budget last week that many said equated to a “hidden” tuition increase pushed by CSU President Larry Penley. Sen. Abel Tapia, D–Pueblo, the chairman of the powerful Joint Budget Committee, said Monday he would like to see Penley, Gov. Bill Ritter and the Colorado Department of Higher Education sit down at the same table to continue talks that turned sour late last week.

School bill moves through Senate
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/19
State Sen. Gail Schwartz tried to be as accommodating as she could with Senate Republicans, but in the end, she said, the GOP just never understood what she was trying to do. That's why the Senate approved on a straight 20-15 party-line vote Monday the Snowmass Village Democrat's bill to establish minimum facility and safety standards for school buildings, and do a "needs assessment" for the state's smallest, poorest schools. Schwartz said the study is needed to help those school districts obtain construction money to repair their buildings. Republicans, however, say the whole thing will result in the state being sued to require it to actually meet those standards. "We have such a disparity in school buildings, and it's time we address it," Schwartz said. "Senate Republicans, they just don't want to understand. They're saying it's OK to have that kind of disparity, and it's not. They don't want to see us spend our money wisely."

Panel boss urged to quit over e-mail
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5459903,00.html
The push for Arvada Democrat Sen. Sue Windels to resign her position comes just days after Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, stepped aside as chairman of the House Education Committee, citing his health and controversy over the e-mail. He came under fire last week from members of both parties for sending an e-mail to Windels at her office that said "there must be a special place in Hell" for supporters of charter schools, vouchers and privatization. Critics say the e-mail shows the two have conspired to gut charter schools, but Windels and the Senate majority leader said she has no reason to resign. "What for?" Windels said. Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, said Windels "has definitely shown her stripes." "I think the e-mail shows there is no denying the chairman of education committee in both the House and the Senate wanted to deny children the opportunity to become everything God has destined them to be," he said. Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, said talk of punishing an e-mail recipient is ridiculous. "You can't punish someone for something they didn't do," he said. "It shows some lack of clear thinking . . . and it shows a lack of a sense of justice."
RELATED: O’Brien tries to calm charter school flap
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20835&template=article.html

Magazine ranks CU programs
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/03/magazine-ranks-cu-programs/
U.S. News & World Report recognized seven University of Colorado programs in its newly released top 25 graduate-school rankings. The Boulder campus programs that fared the best were: environmental law, which ranked fourth in the country this year, up five spots from last year; and physical chemistry, which ranked 10th in the nation.

Town's students need new school supplies
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/2
Children whose lives were turned upside down by last week’s deadly tornado sorely need new school supplies, officials said Monday. In addition to a roof over their heads, many students lost backpacks, pencils, books and other educational supplies when the tornado skipped through town last Wednesday, destroying at least 29 homes and damaging another 135 homes. Rosemary Rosales, 29, died in the violent storm. Holly School Superintendent Carlyn Yokum said Monday that some students are homeless and their personal belongings reduced to piles of rubble and debris.

Online school offers information meeting
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070403/NEWS/104020119
Colorado Connections Academy Schools, a K-9 online school based in Denver, will hold an information session Tuesday in Greeley for parents who want to learn more about the free, full-time public school program.

School Board, charter school contract close
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/03/school_board_charter_school_contract_close/?local_news
The Steamboat Springs School Board and the North Routt Community Charter School appear close to a new operating agreement for the school in North Routt County. “If you’re happy, I’m happy,” Steamboat School Board member Pat Gleason said during a board study session Monday. “We are close to being happy,” said Bob White, North Routt Community Charter School board member.

District looks for proof on algebra
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15540
Will adding intermediate algebra to the school district’s math curriculum equal success for struggling students? The St. Vrain Valley School District Board of Education wants to be sure the class — available only to students who aren’t yet ready for algebra II — provides more than “seat time,” as board president Sandi Searls put it during last week’s meeting.

District 70 board to vote on pay hikes
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/14
The classified salary increases are a result of a deal made last year with the Association of Classified Employees to postpone the raise until after the district's audit was completed in January. As a result of the audit showing that the district had approximately $7.8 million in reserves, the district and employees union has agreed to the 1.5 percent raise. Two weeks ago, the school board approved a 1.5 percent salary increase for the teachers as part of a similar agreement.

Intervention urged in alleged abuse
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579685
A legal advocate for disabled students said the state needs to intervene in a Colorado Springs case involving the alleged mistreatment of special-needs kids. The Colorado Department of Education does not have a procedure that allows people to file complaints of abuse with the state against districts, said Heidi Van Huysen, an attorney for the nonprofit Legal Center for People With Disabilities and Older People. But Ed Steinberg, an assistant commissioner with the Colorado Department of Education, said existing laws don't give the state any power to intervene when accusations are made. And Education Commissioner William Moloney said local control laws mean each district deals with such cases locally.

Sentence cut for coach in sex case
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579484
A Denver judge has ordered a former Machebeuf High School athletic director and coach released from prison after serving 16 months of a 15-to-life term for sexually assaulting a girl he coached. Craig DeBiase's victim said the ex-coach - who at one time faced six other counts of sexual assault on a child - deserved more jail time.

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Military

Reports outline problems with state-run vets homes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460438,00.html
State-run nursing homes for veterans in Colorado had serious problems last year, including a patient who fell and died at one facility and 42 residents who came down with bed sores at another, according to reports filed with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. State officials said the veterans home in Homelake, about 160 miles south of Denver, is so old and rundown that bathrooms in half the home's duplex cottages are inaccessible to people with handicaps. The facility has 25 cottages housing 46 veterans. Others get a more intensive level of care in a separate center.
RELATED: VA nursing homes in sorry shape
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579666

Fort Carson soldier dies of wounds suffered in Baghdad
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CO_SOLDIER_KILLED_COOL-?SITE=COMON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
A Fort Carson-based soldier has died of wounds suffered in an attack in Baghdad, Iraq, the Defense Department reported Tuesday. The military said Sgt. Joe Polo, 24, of Opa-locka, Fla., died Thursday following an attack with an improvised bomb and small-arms fire. Polo was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. The post near Colorado Springs has reported at least 190 deaths in Iraq.

Iraq vet to tell 'Montel Show' of experiences
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_1a_Keli_Frasier.html
Keli Frasier remains haunted by her time in Iraq, where she was fired on and fired back. Frasier’s demons, though, seem to be fading as time has passed since she and her unit returned to Colorado, she said. Frasier, 24, tells of her experiences today on “The Montel Williams Show” at 3 p.m. on KJCT Television Channel 8, on an episode entitled “American Dreams ... Shattered?” She dropped out of college, where she was studying massage therapy, and has lost four jobs since returning home.

Chem Depot seeks to lease more unused railroad track
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/11
The local board subletting space at the Pueblo Chemical Depot voted Monday to ask the Army to add another 3,600 feet of empty railroad track to its lease. It appears that the Reuse Authority doesn't have as much track as the group thought it had, Chuck Finley told his board members. The authority is subleasing space to South Plains Lamesa Railroad, a Texas company that stores rail cars on unused track. Based on the depot’s maps, it always had appeared that there were 51 miles of track, but those maps date back to World War II when the depot was built.

USS Pueblo crew members to Britain: Go get your sailors
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/6
Ask the crew of the USS Pueblo what Britain should do to make Iran release 15 captured sailors and the answer is blunt - go get 'em. "No one wants to be the guy who has to die for his country, but when you're in the military, it's part of the job," said retired Marine Sgt. Bob Chicca, who was aboard the captured U.S. spy ship in 1968. "I can tell you that as a crew, we would have preferred to have been killed in a rescue attempt that went badly, rather than go through the humiliation of not having our country do anything to get us back. It took me about six months in prison to get it through my thick skull that no one was coming to get us," Chicca said Monday.

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Religion

2nd sex-assault trial begins for former Catholic pastor
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070402/NEWS/104020075
A jury was selected Monday for the second sexual assault trial of a former Roman Catholic pastor convicted last week on separate charges of sexually assaulting a young parishioner in Fort Collins. Timothy Joseph Evans, 44, is charged with sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust for allegedly fondling a 16-year-old boy between 1995 and 1997 while assigned to the Spirit of Christ Parish in Arvada. Opening statements were set for Tuesday. Evans was convicted last week in Larimer County District Court of two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and one count of sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse. He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced May 30.

Seder feast marks the beginning of Passover
http://postindependent.com/article/20070403/VALLEYNEWS/104030034
With pillows in tow, more than 50 men, women and children entered the Glenwood Springs Community Center Monday night. They weren't gearing up for a grueling game of volleyball or a brave jaunt up the climbing wall. On the first evening of the Jewish holiday of Passover, community Passover Seder attendees convened for an evening of relaxation and a meal shared with friends and family.

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Energy Policy

Key legislator skittish about gas reforms
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_1a_Oil_and_Gas_Bill.html
A controversial bill to recompose the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission could be heading for the graveyard after a key lawmaker expressed misgivings about a series of energy-reform bills. Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, who sits on the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, where House Bill 1341 will be heard this month, has admitted qualms about the number and magnitude of energy-reform bills moving through the Legislature this year. Romer, one of the committee’s three-seat Democratic majority, signed a March 20 letter to Gov. Bill Ritter expressing his “great anxiety” about the various oil and gas industry regulations working their way through the Legislature.

Verdict Backing Oil-Royalty Whistle-Blower Is Overturned
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/business/03royalty.html
A federal judge in Denver has overturned a jury’s verdict in favor of a whistle-blower at the Interior Department who charged that the Kerr-McGee Corporation cheated the government out of millions of dollars for oil and gas it pumped in publicly owned coastal waters. In a ruling that could have big implications for whistle-blowers, as well as for the oil and gas industry, the judge ruled that the former Interior Department auditor was not eligible to sue Kerr-McGee as a private citizen because he had gathered most of his evidence while on the job.
RELATED: Kerr-McGee royalty verdict overturned
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5459737,00.html
RELATED: Oil whistle-blower's suit dismissed
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5580824

County finds some takers for unclaimed mineral royalties
http://postindependent.com/article/20070403/VALLEYNEWS/104030033
Since Garfield County put the word out it had $235,572 in unclaimed mineral royalty payments to give away, a bunch of folks have come forward claiming a piece of the pie. The payments are from oil and gas companies leasing county mineral rights. Because some of those lands have changed hands over time, it's unclear whether the rights were transferred with the land or stayed with the original owners. County Treasurer Georgia Chamberlain said mineral rights are so hard to track the county has stopped accepting royalties altogether.

Estimated utility bills settled
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/NEWS01/704030330/1002
As the snow melts and the meters can once again be accessed by utility workers, the discrepancies in the estimates are being settled. "What that's going to look like is if we underestimated, the next bill is going to be high, and if we overestimated, it is going to be a little bit lower to get things caught up," Bigner said. "Catch-up" bills are sent out to households for which bills were miscalculated.

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Transportation and Infrastructure

House OKs stiffer chain-law fines
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5459924,00.html
The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Monday to boost fines for chain law-flouting truckers and prevent big-rig spin-outs that torment mountain-bound skiers and other motorists. By a 56-9 vote, lawmakers passed House Bill 1229. It raises fines for truckers who ignore chain laws fivefold to $500. If the violator blocks traffic, the fine doubles to $1,000. Transportation and Energy Committee Chairwoman Rep. Buffie McFadyen praised bill sponsor, Rep. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, for bringing together the trucking industry, mountain communities, ski resorts and State Patrol and highway officials to reach a compromise.
RELATED: Gibbs’ chain law bill moves to the Senate
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070402/NEWS/70402009

High-speed train through Summit by 2015?
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070402/NEWS/70402002
Hopping a train and taking in the scenery on the way to Denver or Grand Junction could soon be an option for motorists who are weary from traveling along the long and winding roads of Interstate 70. The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, based out of Westminster, wants to establish high-speed commuter rail from Denver International Airport along the I-70 corridor to Grand Junction. “Our goal is to have a train that can travel at 125 miles per hour and will make stops at all the ski resorts along Interstate 70,” said Bob Briggs, executive director of Rocky Mountain Rail Authority. “It is exciting to think about, and it’s something we think is really needed.” The rail authority also is working on building rail from Casper, Wyo., to Albuquerque, N.M.

Fired plow driver worried about safety
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070402/NEWS/70402004
Poorly maintained equipment and a shortage of trained plow drivers may be contributing to unsafe travel conditions and Interstate 70 congestion, said a former Colorado Department of Transportation snowplow operator. Copper Mountain resident Kim Fenske, who was fired by the agency last year, claims his termination was arbitrary and related to his complaints about unsafe equipment and conditions during the time he worked on the stretch of interstate between Silverthorne and Vail. Fenske has appealed his termination to the state personnel board. An administrative law judge decided late last month that the department of transportation, also known as CDOT, must respond to Fenske’s allegations.

Study for final FasTracks corridor to begin
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5461057,00.html
RTD is about to get started with the environmental study for its final FasTracks corridor, 2 1/2 years behind schedule, but the agency says it can catch up. This month, RTD will solicit proposals from consultants to conduct the study for the proposed 10.5-mile light-rail line along Interstate 225 in Aurora. If all goes according to a stepped-up hiring schedule, the work could begin in August. It is expected to take 27 months and be done by fall 2009. Under the original FasTracks plan, the I-225 study was supposed to begin in late 2005. Much of the holdup was the result of an impasse with the Colorado Department of Transportation over the scope of the study. CDOT had planned to expand I-225 with toll lanes, a proposal that Aurora opposes.

Committee members seek public input on transportation authority
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070403/NEWS/104020118
North Front Range Transportation Authority Citizens' Steering Committee members are seeking input from the public on proposed plans for a regional transportation authority at several area meetings in the coming days.

RTD bashes detour of path to mall
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579598
RTD directors on Monday evening criticized a plan to steer light-rail riders to Park Meadows shopping center via a long, circuitous walkway rather than a shorter route directly into the mall. The Regional Transportation District plans to spend up to $4.5 million to build a pedestrian bridge and elevator/stair tower to bring rail riders from the County Line station platform to the mall's parking lot. The closest entrance to the mall from the base of the bridge tower would be into the Nordstrom department store. But because Nordstrom does not want all rail passengers entering the mall through the store, the city of Lone Tree plans to construct a less direct walkway, partly along the mall's ring road, to one of the shopping center's main public entrances, RTD officials said.

City's new street maintenance chief, Kelly Duffy, faces long and winding road
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5460423,00.html
Denver's streets took a beating this winter. What are you doing about it?

Top

Environment and Conservation

House approves measure to promote recycling
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070402/NEWS/70402003
The House on Monday approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would invest more than $3 million per year in business incentives for job creation through recycling. Lawmakers said each Coloradan generates an average of 1.7 tons of trash a year, giving the state the 12th-worst recycling rate in the country. The bill creates the Sustainable Resource Economic Opportunity Commission to promote recycling and economic development. “The potential for economic growth in recycling is being ignored,” said state Rep. Judy Solano, D-Thornton. “Were going to couple the economy with the environment to provide new jobs for Colorado that help keep our state clean.”

Flame-plagued summers in forecast
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579510
Fiery summers will likely become common in Colorado as the planet warms, according to researchers preparing the latest chapter of an international climate change assessment. The chapter - detailing the observed and forecast effects of climate change worldwide - is scheduled to be released by the United Nations on Friday. Blazing Western wildfires, a consequence of warming drying the region, could be one of the costliest impacts here, climate experts said in a telephone press conference Monday. "The U.S. Forest Service last year spent $1 billion on fire, on fire response," said Anthony Janetos, director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute, at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland. "Even for the federal government, chunks of a billion dollars don't grow on trees," said Jan etos, author of a forest report that is part of the U.N. assessment. "The resources devoted to responding to this one kind of stress are extraordinary," Jan etos said. In 2002, Colorado's worst wildfire season on record, more than 600,000 acres here burned, compared with about 20,000 acres in an average season.
RELATED: Precipitation outlook: dry for the summer
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070402/NEWS/104020061

Colorado State forecaster predicts 'very active' hurricane season
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CO_HURRICANE_FORECAST_COOL-?SITE=COMON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season should be "very active," with nine hurricanes, including five intense or major hurricanes, a top researcher said Tuesday. Colorado State University researcher William Gray's forecast says there is a 74 percent probability of a major hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coastline this year, compared with the average of 52 percent over the past century. The forecast calls for a total of 17 named storms. The five intense or major hurricanes are expected to have sustained winds of 111 mph or greater.

Forest Service still accepting comments on plan
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_7b_GMUG_Plan.html
Keep the letters coming. The Forest Service is asking people who plan to comment on the current incarnation of the proposed management plan for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests to send in their comments and objections after last week’s federal court ruling that could make the Forest Service redraft the plan once again.

Aurora pact ‘purpose’ challenged
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1175606103/3
A long-term federal water storage and exchange contract with Aurora fails to mention protection of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project or the needs of the Arkansas Valley as a purpose or need. The Bureau of Reclamation says the environmental assessment sufficiently covers protection of the Fry-Ark Project in the details of the study. The chairman of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District disagrees, however, and says a full environmental impact statement is needed.

State, feds given deadline to cut deal on canyon water
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_1a_Black_Canyon.html
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park water rights dispute must be resolved by June 29 or the case will go to trial. Attorneys for both the state and the federal government will meet twice this month to try to settle the issue to prevent the dispute from going to trial, Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District attorney John McClow told the Gunnison River Basin Roundtable Monday in Montrose. A 2003 agreement between the National Park Service and the state of Colorado was to have reduced the Gunnison River’s flow through Black Canyon to a minimum of 300 cubic feet per second. The agreement relinquished the national park’s 1933 water right to peak and shoulder flows during the spring.

Habitat encroachment begets more oversight
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20830&template=article.html
Procedures for environmental review and managing construction will be revised after an RV parking lot was built on habitat of the federally protected Prebles meadow jumping mouse. The lot was built on the Air Force Academy’s south side near a creek channel where Fish and Wildlife Service officials think the mouse lives. The academy violated an agreement with Fish and Wildlife by failing to notify the agency before encroaching on the habitat. The violation carries no fine. The lot intruded on less than half an acre of the academy’s 3,500 acres reserved for the mouse, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act.

City fined for mining dirt
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_1b_illegal_mining.html
The city of Grand Junction has been fined $1,500 for mining dirt for the Riverside Parkway project without obtaining a permit from the state. Contractors spent more than two months excavating roughly 300,000 cubic yards of dirt from a 15-acre city-owned site west of Orchard Mesa Cemetery before the city obtained a permit for the work, according to Carl Mount, senior environmental protection specialist for the state Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, and Jim Shanks, program manager for Riverside Parkway.

Commissioners approve gravel pit near Silt
http://postindependent.com/article/20070403/VALLEYNEWS/104030031
In a landmark decision, the Garfield County commissioners approved a special use permit for a large gravel pit southwest of Silt Monday. The approval came with a host of strings attached, however, chiefly surrounding the timing and extent of reclamation, traffic management, hours of operation and spot inspections. The decision comes after local mayors pressed the county for wide-ranging regulations to cover a proliferation of gravel permit applications for new pits along the Colorado River.

Stumping for trees in Denver
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579485
Denver residents would not be allowed to cut down healthy trees in their front yards under an ordinance the city will consider today. The move is actually an attempt to close a loophole in a current regulation aimed at protecting Denver's tree canopy. That rule was tied to construction projects: Those applying for demolition or construction permits are not allowed to cut down healthy trees. But developers have skirted the restriction by simply cutting down the trees before applying for the permit.

"Night-shining" clouds bring mystery
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579483
Since their discovery 120 years ago, strangely luminescent clouds called noctilucent clouds have been creeping slowly toward the equator. Once confined to Earth's poles, the bizarre clouds have now been spotted above central Colorado, and they appear to be getting brighter and more numerous, too, said David Rusch, a University of Colorado atmospheric scientist. This month, NASA plans to launch the $110 million AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) mission to measure noctilucent clouds and the circumstances in which they form - which may be linked to climate change. The satellite will measure air temperature and pressure, moisture content and cloud dimensions. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder will control the satellite, process data and try to understand what some call the planet's most mysterious clouds.

Top

Opinion

Littwin: Tancredo makes his pitch to play with the big boys
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5459835,00.html
Tom Tancredo came home Monday to make official his run for the presidency. He didn't go to Littleton or someplace in the 6th District. Let's be serious. As is often the case, he's nowhere near Colorado. Tancredo went to his psychic home, where his people live, where he knows he can always find a friendly ear and an angry voice and a why-America- has-gone-to-hell constituency. Tancredo's real home, of course, is a talk radio studio - virtually any studio will do, so long as it's located somewhere in Conservative Talk Radio Nation.
RELATED: Johnson: 'Second tier' hopeful touts support
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5460437,00.html
RELATED: Carman: Tancredo's bid built on tired tune
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5579482
RELATED: Tancredo bid shirks legislation
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5578797

Court restores the EP in EPA
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5578795
The federal government received a well-deserved rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, as justices decided that Washington has authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new cars. The Environmental Protection Agency has been backpedaling from such responsibility since 1999, and the 5-4 decision took the agency to task for its abdication. Clean air interests won another, unrelated case when the justices unanimously supported stricter Clinton-era air pollution regulations on aging coal-fired power plants.
RELATED: EPA is rightly obliged to regulate greenhouse gases
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/03/court-clears-the-air/

Bush land policy akin to being lost in a forest
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/04/03/4_3_07_forest_edit.html
It’s not exactly astonishing that yet another initiative by President George W. Bush to substantially change public lands management has been rejected by a federal court. After all, other major initiatives by the Bush administration regarding public lands have already been derailed. Among the more notable were the decision by the Bush White House to overturn by executive fiat the roadlesss rule for national forests, the administration’s fast-tracking of oil and gas development in parts of the West and its attempt to rewrite the mission of the National Park Service.

Health bills simmer, should boil
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5578796
With the Colorado legislature due to adjourn May 9, a pair of well- meaning health care bills seem unlikely to suvive the traffic jam that develops in the session's final weeks. One measure, House Bill 1355 by Reps. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, and Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, would ban insurers from using the health history of workers to raise rates in businesses with 50 or fewer employees. The bill is awaiting action. Another proposal, Senate Bill 193 by Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, would have required all automobile insurance policies sold in Colorado to have included at least $25,000 in medical benefits. Tochtrop withdrew her bill last week but may re-introduce it later in the session.

Campos: The witch hunt continues
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5459629,00.html
Six years ago, a doctor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine - an expert on the treatment of AIDS - told Branson he ought to smoke marijuana if that would allow him to take his medicine regularly (each time Branson stopped taking the medicine his body became more resistant to its effects). The Colorado medical marijuana law doesn't require a doctor's recommendation to be in writing, and Branson began to grow a few marijuana plants in his backyard, Eventually he had 14 plants, which, given the relatively short Colorado growing season, was only enough to supply him with enough medical marijuana to get him through two thirds of the year. In October of 2004, the North Metro Drug Task Force, a local law enforcement consortium that gets considerable funding from the federal government, showed up at Branson's house. They didn't have a warrant, but according to Branson they told him they would do serious damage to his house if he forced them to come back with one. Branson had every reason to believe he had done nothing illegal (he in fact has no criminal record of any kind), and he consented to the warrantless search. He was then charged with felony cultivation of a controlled substance, and possession with intent to distribute. Branson shows me the approximately 10-foot-by-4-foot plot of earth where he had grown his plants. "This is the east side and this is the west side of the plot," he tells me. "I labeled the bags in which I kept the marijuana East and West, depending on which side of the plot the plants came from. The drug task force's theory is that I intended to distribute the stuff on the East and West coasts."

On Point: No stone unturned
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5459630,00.html
The shocker here is not that Morrissey advocates following compelling clues, but that it's actually controversial.

The American spirit
http://pueblochieftain.com/editorial/1175606103/1
We hope that public help from the state and federal agencies can be expedited. The good folks of Holly are meeting the challenge, but they have needs that only public agencies can provide.

NATIONAL NEWS

Top

Election

Romney Outpaces GOP Pack in Fundraising
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200140.html
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney provided a jolt to the Republican presidential contest yesterday, reporting a haul of $21 million in the first three months of the year, as Sen. John McCain of Arizona posted a lackluster third-place finish that even his campaign manager called a disappointment. As campaigns release their first meaningful fundraising figures in what appears certain to become the most expensive presidential campaign in history, McCain's $12.5 million total also put him behind former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who leads the Republican field in public polls and reported taking in $15 million in the first quarter.
RELATED: Romney is top GOP fundraiser
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gopmoney3apr03,1,4536163.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Romney takes hits in 'Doonesbury,' but may draw attention
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/03/romney_takes_hits_in_doonesbury_but_may_draw_attention/

Iraq market was tightly secured for McCain, merchants say
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/04/03/iraq_market_was_tightly_secured_for_mccain_merchants_say/
A day after members of an American congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain of Arizona pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad's central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans' conclusions. "What are they talking about?" Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said yesterday. "The security procedures were abnormal!" The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees -- the equivalent of an entire company -- and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the rooftops. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit. "They paralyzed the market when they came," Faiyad said during an interview in his shop yesterday. "This was only for the media."
RELATED: Many Lawmakers Go to Iraq, but Few Change Their Minds
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/middleeast/03visit.html

Obama Built Donor Network From Roots Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/politics/03obama.html
When Barack Obama announced to friends over brunch in 2002 that he planned to run for the United States Senate, one of their first questions was how he could possibly raise the necessary millions. After all, two and a half years after he had taken quite a “spanking,” as he put it, in his bid to unseat an incumbent congressman, he was still struggling to pay off a $20,000 debt, eking out donations of $1,000 here, $2,000 there. Improbably, Mr. Obama, running as something of an outsider, wound up raising $15 million and winning that 2004 Senate race. Now that he is running for president, his fund-raising prowess has helped make him the chief rival to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. [Aides said Monday that he had collected more than $20 million in donations in the first three months of the campaign, enough to ratchet up the anxiety in the Clinton camp, which announced it had raised $26 million. Mr. Obama’s campaign has yet to release precise information on its total donations or contributors.] A look at his 2004 Senate race shows how he laid the foundation for his current fund-raising drive. Even as he cultivated an image as an unconventional candidate devoted to the people, not the establishment, he systematically built a sophisticated, and in many ways quite conventional, money machine.

Edwards: 'This is what I wanted to do'
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-02-edwards-campaign_N.htm
Elizabeth Edwards wants to be clear: She made the choice to stick with her husband's campaign for president after learning her cancer had returned. "I think that people who are critical like to think that John dragged me kicking and fighting the whole way, that I'm somehow disappointed in this. I'm not disappointed in this," she said Monday. It was the couple's first campaign trip to New Hampshire, a key early-voting state, since announcing last month that Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer, diagnosed at the end of the 2004 campaign, had returned in her bones. Democrat John Edwards stayed in the race, drawing both praise from fellow cancer survivors and questions about whether that was the right choice. Speaking to reporters after her husband's town hall meeting, Elizabeth Edwards, 57, said at decision time, she went first.

Florida Governor Is Hoping to Restore Felon Voting Rights
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03voting.html
Hinting that a remarkable turnaround in state policy was near, Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday that he hoped to persuade members of the Florida cabinet this week to end the practice of stripping convicted felons of their right to vote. Florida is the most populous of three states whose constitutions require withdrawal of voting rights from all convicted felons, and it has the nation’s largest number of disenfranchised former offenders. The other two states are Kentucky and Virginia.

Top

Effective and Ethical Government

Reid Backs Iraq War-Funds Cutoff
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201465.html
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid yesterday endorsed the Senate's toughest antiwar bill yet, a bid to cut off funding within a year, sending a clear signal to President Bush that the Iraq debate will continue in Congress regardless of whether he carries through on his veto threats. Reid (Nev.) announced that he had teamed up with Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.), one of the Democrats' strongest war critics, on legislation to set a deadline of March 31, 2008, for completing the withdrawal of combat forces and ending most military spending in Iraq.
RELATED: Reid opens new war front
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warvote3apr03,1,4078544.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Cheney Presses Attack on Democrats’ Timeline
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/washington/03cong.html?ref=washington
Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that it was pointless for Democrats to pursue Iraq spending measures that set a timeline for leaving Iraq that President Bush would veto. Meanwhile, the top Senate Democrat signed on to a measure that would cut off money for the war next March if the president exercised his veto. Speaking at a fund-raiser in Birmingham, Ala., for Senator Jeff Sessions, Mr. Cheney said the president was determined to reject any legislation establishing such a timeline. He warned that the Pentagon would begin feeling the financial pinch this month if new financing was not approved. “It’s time the self-appointed strategists on Capitol Hill understood a very simple concept: You cannot win a war if you tell the enemy when you’re going to quit,” Mr. Cheney said.

How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201777.html
It was 3 a.m. in Italy on Jan. 29, 2003, when President Bush in Washington began reading his State of the Union address that included the now famous -- later retracted -- 16 words: "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Like most Europeans, Elisabetta Burba, an investigative reporter for the Italian newsweekly Panorama, waited until the next day to read the newspaper accounts of Bush's remarks. But when she came to the 16 words, she recalled, she got a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. She wondered: How could the American president have mentioned a uranium sale from Africa? Burba felt uneasy because more than three months earlier, she had turned over to the U.S. Embassy in Rome documents about an alleged uranium sale by the central African nation of Niger. And she knew now that the documents were fraudulent and the 16 words wrong.

Gonzales preps for showdown with Senate
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-02-gonzales-schedule_N.htm
His job on the line, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales shelved plans for a family vacation and began prepping Monday for a showdown with senators over the firings of federal prosecutors. An appearance next week in front of a Senate panel that oversees Justice Department spending is shaping up as a trial run for Gonzales' scheduled April 17 testimony to a separate Senate committee investigating the eight dismissals. The White House said Monday that Gonzales' testimony cannot come too fast for the besieged attorney general to explain his explanations about the firings that Democrats contend were politically motivated. "Look, the attorney general thinks it's in everyone's best interest — and we agree with him — that he be able to get up and talk to Congress sooner than later," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Lawmakers Urge Bush To Fire NASA Official
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201458.html
Cobb spent 15 months as an adviser on ethics and conflicts of interest to then-White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales before being appointed inspector general in 2002. He quickly became a target of criticism from NASA whistle-blowers and members of his own staff who complained that he had stifled investigations of serious safety concerns and that his temperamental behavior drove experienced auditors and investigators from the office. Cobb declined to comment yesterday. He has said previously that he is proud of the work his office has done and that he would let the investigative process continue before publicly discussing the complaints. It is unclear whether the full report will be made public.
RELATED: Lawmakers Call for Ouster of Top Inspector at Space Agency
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03nasa.html?ref=washington

Top

Foreign Policy

Iran, Britain Tone Down Rhetoric
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200343.html
Iranian officials said Monday that all 15 British sailors and marines arrested March 23 have admitted to illegally entering Iranian waters, but the officials said they would not broadcast any further "confessions" on Iranian television due to positive "changes" in British attitude. It was unclear what changes Iranian officials were referring to, but after a flurry of behind-the-scenes diplomatic discussions and an official exchange of letters, British officials noticeably toned down their rhetoric Monday over the seizure of the crew. Western diplomats working on resolving the dispute have been focusing on getting Britain to publicly state that it will review its patrols of waters between Iran and Iraq and never breach Iranian boundaries in the future, several diplomats said. British officials say they will not apologize and insist that their marines and sailors were in Iraqi waters under a U.N. mandate and were seized in violation of international law.
RELATED: Iran, U.K. tone down rhetoric over sailors
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-02-iran-uk-standoff_N.htm
RELATED: British Captives Admit Illegal Entry, Iran Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/middleeast/03iran.html

U.S. Sends Query to Iran About Ex-FBI Agent's Disappearance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200653.html
The United States sent a formal message to Iran yesterday inquiring into the fate of a former FBI agent who was visiting Iran and has not been heard from since March 8, according to U.S. officials. The unnamed former agent was on private business, but the United States is now sufficiently concerned that the State Department sent a formal query through Swiss intermediaries asking for information about him, the sources said. The Swiss Embassy in Tehran has represented U.S. interests in Iran since relations were cut off in 1980. "He is an American private citizen who is in Iran on private business, and we are now pursuing information about his welfare and whereabouts. We don't know where he is. We have no reliable information on him," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "I would not characterize him as a hostage."
RELATED: Missing American sought
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missing3apr03,1,1916978.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Iran: Diplomat seized in Iraq released
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-03-iran-diplomat_N.htm
An Iranian diplomat kidnapped two months ago in Iraq has been released, Iran's official news agency reported Tuesday, citing informed sources in the capital Tehran. Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, will return to Tehran later Tuesday, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The report gave no indication of why or how Sharafi had been freed.

Truck Bomber Kills Schoolgirls in Kirkuk
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200228.html
A suicide truck bomber rammed into a police station compound near an elementary school in the northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, killing 15 people, including schoolgirls, and wounding scores of others, witnesses and police reported. At the main hospital in the city, the courtyard was filled with injured children in bloodstained blue uniforms, a Washington Post special correspondent reported from the scene. Many had their heads and arms wrapped in bandages. Some clutched bloodstained books. A baby girl lay dead in the emergency room from shrapnel that had torn through her body. Doctors and nurses broke into tears because they couldn't save her.
RELATED: Truck bomb explodes near Iraqi school
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq3apr03,1,217641.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Cracks in Sadr's army
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-militia3apr03,0,3393320.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Seven weeks into the U.S.-led security crackdown in Baghdad, leaders of the Al Mahdi militia of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr acknowledge that their fighters are chafing under orders to freeze operations, and worry they could lose control of the sprawling organization. Some members have defected to armed groups that have no intention of calling a cease-fire. Commanders have gone underground, leaving a leadership void as U.S. forces arrest members in raids. Some commanders have fled to Iran and others to southern Iraq. Rumors abound about the location of Sadr. Senior leaders of Sadr's movement also worry openly that Iran has started to recruit Al Mahdi fighters to possibly confront U.S. forces in Iraq.
RELATED: Shiite Cleric Opposes U.S. Plan to Permit Former Baath Party Members to Join Government
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html?ref=world

Iraq Adviser Departs Optimistic
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201745.html
Meghan O'Sullivan, the president's deputy national security adviser who has overseen the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through a particularly tumultuous period, has decided to leave the White House after helping reformulate policies in both countries to deal with rising violence. O'Sullivan confirmed her resignation in an interview yesterday and said she will move on this spring to pursue other opportunities, probably outside government. After four years working nonstop on Iraq, she said she departs not out of frustration but with optimism that the plan she helped President Bush develop in January will restore stability.
RELATED: Pentagon is asked for report on Iraqi readiness
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/03/pentagon_is_asked_for_report_on_iraqi_readiness/

Israel should pull out of Arab territory, Saudi official says
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/04/03/israel_should_pull_out_of_arab_territory_saudi_official_says/
Israel should withdraw from Arab territory and allow the creation of a Palestinian state before Arabs recognize it, a Saudi official said yesterday in the kingdom's first comment since Israel's prime minister invited Arab leaders to discuss their ideas for peace with him. On Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on Saudi Arabia to take the lead, the first time Israel has made such a request of the Saudis, who maintain a state of war with Israel but are pushing for a peace deal.

Tech Export Case Suspect to Testify
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201473.html
The chief executive of an electronics supply company is due in federal court today in the District to answer charges of shipping closely guarded U.S. computer technology to India for use in missiles and other weapons systems. Working with Indian government officials, Cirrus Electronics founder Parthasarathy Sudarshan ordered computer equipment from U.S. manufacturers using falsified documents about their destination, federal prosecutors said. The parts were allegedly shipped to India through Cirrus offices in South Carolina and Singapore. A federal indictment describes coordination between Cirrus and the Indian government. Prosecutors identified but did not name "Coconspirator A," an Indian government official in Washington.
RELATED: U.S. Cites Indian Government Agencies in Weapons Conspiracy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/asia/03india.html

Somalis Flee Capital As Official Warns Of a New Offensive
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201569.html
A Somali government official warned exhausted Mogadishu residents Monday that another military offensive against insurgents was on the way, as more people joined the exodus from the capital. In a local radio interview, Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told civilians to get out while there was still time, and hundreds if not thousands did, streaming out of the oceanside city in cars and battered buses, on foot, on donkeys, even by wheelchair. Abdullahi Ahmed, 75 and infirm, planned to pay a man to push him out of the capital. He lost his wife, his daughter and four relatives in fighting that has consumed this city since a popular Islamic movement was ousted in December.

Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Ready for Talks With Mugabe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201442.html
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Monday he is ready to negotiate with President Robert Mugabe without any preconditions, despite ongoing abductions and beatings of anti-government activists there. Tsvangirai, speaking at a news conference in Johannesburg, praised the decision by regional leaders last week to appoint South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate negotiations. Tsvangirai has criticized Mbeki in the past for not pressuring Mugabe aggressively enough, but in Monday's remarks he voiced no discontent with Mbeki's selection.

Deadly cave-in embarrasses Beijing
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tunnel3apr03,1,4423511.story?coll=la-headlines-world
The accident happened in China's information capital, on a new subway line being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But it took rescue workers at least eight hours last week to arrive on the scene where six migrant workers were trapped in a tunnel collapse. There were no survivors. The cave-in and delayed rescue Wednesday have the potential to seriously embarrass the Chinese government. Ten people overseeing the project have been arrested in connection with the accident, which is still under investigation. Construction- and industrial-related accidents, particularly in mines, are legion in China. But they tend to happen in remote provinces and rarely receive widespread attention. This one played out publicly under the eyes of the highest officials in the land, who have vowed to crack down on negligence.

Tsunami Inundates Solomons Communities
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200132.html
Bodies floated out to sea and thousands of residents camped overnight Tuesday on a hillside above a devastated town in the western Solomon Islands after a tsunami struck without warning, washing away coastal villages and killing at least 20 people. Officials said the death toll was likely to rise. A wall of water reportedly 30 feet high hit the island of Choiseul and swept a third of a mile inland, while smaller but still destructive waves surged ashore elsewhere in the western part of the impoverished archipelago, causing widespread damage and leaving thousands homeless.

Parliament refuses order to shut down
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020576apr03,1,6377639.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved Ukraine's parliament and called early elections Monday, but parliament refused to acknowledge the order and vowed to continue meeting as the country slipped further into political turmoil.
RELATED: Ukrainian Leader Disbands Parliament
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/europe/03ukraine.html?ref=world

On Anniversary, Argentina Presses Claim to Falklands
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201474.html
Argentina on Monday marked the 25th anniversary of its failed attempt to regain the Falkland Islands, reasserting its claim to the South Atlantic archipelago. "Neither war nor the passage of time changes reality: The Malvinas are Argentine," said Vice President Daniel Scioli, using the islands' Argentine name, as 5,000 people, many of them veterans of the 1982 war with Britain, applauded. "We call upon the United Kingdom to heed international calls and resume negotiations," Scioli said during the ceremony in Argentina's southernmost city of Ushuaia, about 400 miles southwest of the islands. Scioli said Argentina hopes to regain the islands through peaceful, diplomatic channels.

Top

Immigration

U.S. Companies Race to Fill Quota of Coveted Technology Worker Visas
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201538.html
The race opened yesterday for U.S. companies scrambling to get visas for foreign professionals, many from India and China, to fill engineering, computer programming and other technology jobs. Immigration lawyers predicted that the quota of 65,000 professional visas, known as H-1B, would be claimed in just one day, reflecting increased demand. That would be the fastest the visas have ever been depleted. Last year, the supply lasted two months. The requests are filled on a first-come, first-served basis until the quota is nearly reached. The final applications are then chosen randomly.

Oklahoma may target illegal immigrants and their employers
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oklahoma3apr03,1,1858355.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Frustrated with the federal government's response to illegal immigration, Oklahoma is poised to become the next state to pass a tough law targeting illegal immigrants and the businesses that employ them. A sweeping measure moving through the Legislature would deny welfare benefits, in-state college tuition rates and numerous state subsidies to those in the country illegally. It would also empower police to detain illegal immigrants and require businesses that do work for the state to prove that their employees are legally in the country. The legislation, written with help from a Washington, D.C., legal organization that opposes illegal immigration, comes after passage of similar laws last year in Colorado and Georgia. Like legislators in those states, the leader of the Oklahoma effort said he was tired of waiting for Washington politicians to fix a problem that costs his state millions of dollars a year.

Passports being churned out in record numbers
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020560apr03,1,3559584.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The State Department says it is cranking out U.S. passports in historically high numbers to meet an unprecedented surge in demand caused by tough new immigration rules.

Top

Marriage and Family Issues

Massachusetts Will Register ’04 Marriages
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03marriage.html?ref=us
Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts has ordered the state Department of Public Health to register the marriages of 26 out-of-state same-sex couples whose licenses were kept from state records by the former governor. The move is mostly symbolic, and means the certificates will be included in a bound index of marriage licenses issued in 2004. It does not change the marriages' legal status.

Top

Health Care and Public Safety

U.S. Announces New Chemical Plant Security Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201456.html
The Bush administration announced new security requirements for the nation's high-risk chemical plants yesterday, capping years of internal debate over industrial regulations following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Homeland security officials said the new rules mark the first "across-the-board" attempt to require companies to head off potential catastrophic terrorist attacks involving the theft or explosive release of toxic chemicals stored in densely populated urban areas. "We are going to be more comprehensive than we have ever been in making sure we have a full picture of all the chemical-based risks out there, and making sure we are systematically driving down the risk of the most dangerous chemicals," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told reporters.

Drug makers set lobbying record
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lobby3apr03,1,6665511.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Drug makers spent $155 million lobbying the federal government from 2005 to mid-2006, setting a record that they could top this year as Congress considers high stakes legislation for the industry and consumers, a public interest group said in a report Monday. Researchers at the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity said that the drug industry spent nearly $111 million on lobbying in 2005, a record for the sector in any one year. The record pace appeared to be sustained in the first half of 2006, the report said. Pharmaceutical industry officials said the report distorted the industry's role in Washington, which they say is primarily educational and scientific. They said industry spending was designed to ensure that new drugs for intractable illnesses get government approval to be marketed.

Criteria for Depression Are Too Broad, Researchers Say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201693.html
Up to 25 percent of people in whom psychiatrists would currently diagnose depression may only be reacting normally to stressful events such as a divorce or losing a job, according to a new analysis that reexamined how the standard diagnostic criteria are used. The finding could have far-reaching consequences for the diagnosis of depression, the growing use of symptom checklists to identify those who may be depressed, and the $12 billion-a-year U.S. market for antidepressant drugs.

U.S. invalidates three human stem cell patents
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-stemcell3apr03,1,3411705.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated three broad patents for human embryonic stem cells that have been blamed for slowing research in the highly visible field of regenerative medicine. The office ruled the discovery of embryonic stem cells from primates — including humans — was not worthy of patent protection because scientists had used similar methods to isolate embryonic stem cells from mice and other mammals, and described the cells' potential for producing medical therapies.

As land-line customers go wireless, 911 loses funding
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-02-911-loses-funding_N.htm
Some 911 systems are facing budget crunches as more Americans unplug land lines and switch to cellphones, shrinking the revenue from phone surcharges that helps fund 911. Many counties charge a fee to land-line users to fund 911 services. Cellphone users often pay smaller fees or nothing at all to local governments. Most cellphone users pay state fees that help subsidize local 911 centers, but some officials say it's not enough.

Benefits of Mammograms For Women in 40s Challenged
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201022.html
The nation's largest medical specialty group is challenging the widely accepted recommendation that women routinely undergo mammograms in their 40s, saying the risks of the breast exams may outweigh the benefits for many women. Reopening a long-running debate, the American College of Physicians, which represents 120,000 internists, issued new guidelines today that instead urge women in their 40s to consult with their doctors about whether to have the breast X-rays.

FDA bans China firm's gluten
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020478apr03,1,6639784.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The U.S. is blocking imports of wheat gluten from a company in China after an investigation implicated the contaminated ingredient in the recent pet-food deaths of cats and dogs. The Food and Drug Administration took action against wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. in Wangdian, China, after the U.S. recall of nearly 100 brands of pet food made with the chemically contaminated ingredient. The pet food, tainted with the chemical melamine, apparently has resulted in kidney failure in an unknown number of animals across the country.
RELATED: Recall of pet food could expand
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/2007-04-03-pet-food-usat_N.htm
RELATED: China denies role in pet food recall
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-02-china-pet-food_N.htm

Top

Crime and Penal Reform

Amid furor, Cline resigns 'Time for change,' Daley says of move
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020592apr03,1,5722277.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
The video images of police brutality reverberating across the Internet and cable television could not have come at a worse time for a city marketing itself to the world as an overlooked metropolis of elegance and sophistication. After a week in which [Chicago Police] Supt. Philip Cline announced new policies and made a slew of media appearances, he committed his last act of damage control Monday. He resigned. Mayor Richard Daley accepted Cline's resignation, acknowledging that the beleaguered superintendent accepted responsibility for "incidents that tarnish the entire department." And there may be more to come: Police also are investigating another alleged beating caught on videotape, this one of officers attacking four businessmen at the Jefferson Tap and Grille downtown. Sources say more charges are expected in an ongoing corruption probe that has snared six members of the department's special operations section. And a 2005 fatal police shooting in which the victim was shot 16 times remains under investigation by prosecutors. Although he announced his retirement Monday, Cline, 57, will remain in the job until a replacement is found, which could be midsummer.
RELATED: Head of embattled Chicago police department to retire early
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/03/head_of_embattled_chicago_police_department_to_retire_early/

Texas: Young Offenders to Be Freed
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03brfs-YOUNGOFFENDE_BRF.html
The new conservator of the troubled Texas Youth Commission, Jay Kimbrough, has identified 552 juveniles due or overdue for release from custody and will begin freeing them tomorrow, said Jim Hurley, a spokesman for the revamped commission. Most will be supervised on parole. The group does not include additional hundreds of the more than 4,000 other confined youths whose cases will be reviewed by a special panel to see why their minimum sentences have been extended. Investigators are reviewing at least 1,200 complaints of sexual abuse and other mistreatment of juveniles in state custody.

Top

Economy

U.S. Puts Tariffs on Chinese Paper
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201496.html
Chinese industry and trade groups accused the Bush administration on Monday of a misguided and hypocritical approach to trade for its decision last week to slap steep tariffs on certain Chinese-made paper. The United States contends the glossy paper is subsidized by the Chinese state. But China's Ministry of Commerce called the economic sanctions "unacceptable." Hua Min, head of the World Economy Research Institute at Fudan University in Shanghai, called the American stance "absurd," noting that the United States just a few years ago was found to be giving illegal tax rebates to companies such as Boeing and Microsoft.

Stocks & Bonds: Takeover Deals Give Shares a Modest Lift
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/business/03stox.html
Wall Street managed a moderate advance yesterday as a spate of takeover deals outweighed a report showing that manufacturing activity was more sluggish than expected in March. Big acquisitions announced before trading began included deals to take private First Data, the credit card transaction processor, and the Tribune Company, the media conglomerate. But gains were limited by a report from the Institute for Supply Management, which showed its manufacturing index falling to 50.9 last month, from 52.3; the expected reading was 51.0.

Top

Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability

Employee Owners Don’t Necessarily Have a Say in Management
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/business/03esop.html
More than 10 million workers have stakes in their companies through employee stock ownership plans, and many have benefited. But the owners of the companies that set up such plans are usually the biggest winners — and that appears to be the case in Samuel Zell’s acquisition of the Tribune Company. ESOPs, which were authorized by a 1974 pension law, grant generous tax breaks to the owners for setting them up. Then, if the companies are successful, employees build retirement wealth as their shares increase in value. As the debt is paid down, the stock in the ESOP is parceled out in the employees’ names and, after a vesting period, workers are eligible to cash in their stakes upon leaving or retiring. They have in effect accumulated retirement wealth without, in most cases, investing any money — unless the stock plummets, wiping out their paper wealth.

Top

Housing and Homelessness

Huge Mortgage Lender Files for Bankruptcy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200591.html
New Century Financial, a lender that came to symbolize the fast-and-loose mortgage practices of recent years, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday and said it would lay off 3,200 employees, more than half its workforce. The filing by the Irvine, Calif., company was widely expected, but it is nonetheless a milestone in the mortgage industry's ongoing contraction. While nearly 50 lenders have filed for bankruptcy protection or shut their doors since the end of last year, none was as large or as respected by Wall Street as New Century. These companies specialized in "subprime" loans, generally offered to people with blemished credit or insufficient cash for a down payment. Subprime mortgages, which accounted for $600 billion, or about 20 percent, of all new home loans last year, were the main reason millions of working-class Americans were able to buy homes they otherwise could not afford.
RELATED: Home Lender Is Seeking Bankruptcy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/business/03lend.html?ref=business

Fannie Mae Plans To Cut Workforce
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201455.html
The job cuts are part of an effort to save $200 million this year in operating expenses; administrative expenses alone totaled $3.1 billion last year. The company said in a recent financial report that additional cost reductions are planned for next year. Faith would not say how much of the savings will come from layoffs, or what types of jobs will be eliminated. Details are still being worked out, he said. Fannie Mae, headquartered in a red-brick colonial-style complex on Wisconsin Avenue NW, is one of the largest companies in the Washington area. The Washington Examiner reported on Fannie Mae's plans for job cuts last week. The layoffs are another in a series of upheavals since regulators accused the company of accounting transgressions in 2004.

Top

Media

Chicago Magnate To Control Tribune
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200385.html
Chicago real estate magnate Samuel Zell outbid a pair of other billionaires for control of Tribune Co. yesterday, a move that would put the storied media empire in private hands and install a powerful personality at the helm of the industry's third-largest newspaper chain. Zell withstood an 11th-hour surge by Southern California businessmen Eli Broad and Ronald Burkle, winning a bidding war taken as an encouraging sign by some in the struggling newspaper industry.
RELATED: Zell lands Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704030166apr03,1,4477091.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Music Label EMI To Sell Its Songs Online Without Anti-Piracy Limits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200401.html
Music label EMI Group said yesterday that it would make thousands of songs widely available for sale in the restriction-free MP3 format this spring, giving music fans more control over how they buy and listen to song files purchased online. The announcement, made in London with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, signaled a new direction for an industry that has usually sought tighter control over digital song files as a means of fighting piracy.
RELATED: A barrier falls in digital music
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/04/03/a_barrier_falls_in_digital_music/

Top

Education

Millions to Be Repaid After College Loan Inquiry
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03loans.html
Citibank, one of the largest providers of student loans, as well as five universities have agreed to pay $5.2 million to students and the New York State attorney general to resolve an investigation into student loan practices, Andrew M. Cuomo, the attorney general, announced yesterday. Citibank, which at year’s end had $33.7 billion in student loans outstanding, agreed to pay $2 million into a fund to educate students and parents about student loans. New York University, Syracuse, St. John’s and Fordham — all in New York — and the University of Pennsylvania will make payments of more than $3.2 million to student borrowers who received loans from companies that paid money to the institutions to steer students their way.

Disinvite Cheney, BYU activists urge
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020557apr03,1,5853350.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Some students and faculty on one of the nation's most conservative campuses want Brigham Young University to withdraw an invitation for Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at commencement later this month. Critics at the Mormon school question whether Cheney sets a good example, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal.

Top

Science and Technology

Time in the Animal Mind
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/science/03time.html?ref=science
Humans are born time travelers. We may not be able to send our bodies into the past or the future, at least not yet, but we can send our minds. We can relive events that happened long ago or envision ourselves in the future. New studies suggest that the two directions of temporal travel are intimately entwined in the human brain. A number of psychologists argue that re-experiencing the past evolved in our ancestors as a way to plan for the future and that the rise of mental time travel was crucial to our species’ success. But some experts on animal behavior do not think we are unique in this respect. They point to several recent experiments suggesting that animals can visit the past and future as well.

Top

Military

5 Deaths at a V.A. Complex Draw Lawmakers’ Concern
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03vets.html?ref=washington
Five deaths in recent months at the nation’s largest Veterans Affairs medical complex are troubling and could be a further sign of a system badly in need of closer oversight, two members of Congress said here Monday. The deaths occurred in residential rehabilitation or emergency housing programs at the West Los Angeles Healthcare Center from November to February. “What is going on here?” Representative Jane Harman, a Democrat whose district includes neighborhoods adjacent to the complex, said at a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee meeting on veterans’ health care in the Los Angeles area.

Dolls, posters keep U.S. soldiers close
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-03-soldier-doll_N.htm
For 2-year-old Anna Pribyla, it can be difficult to understand what it means for her dad to be in Iraq. Every soldier looks like him. Even the neighbor's car looks like her father's. But like thousands of other military children, Anna has something to cling to. She has her Daddy Doll, a small pillow, shaped like a person, with a digital picture of her dad, Capt. Eric Pribyla, printed on the front. "She gets to sleep with him at night and still kiss him good night," said mom Chrissy Pribyla. "He goes everywhere with her because it keeps him fresh in her mind." As the four-year Iraq war drags on, more families are keeping memories alive with the dolls or life-size posters called Flat Daddies.

Top

Environment and Conservation

High Court Faults EPA Inaction on Emissions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040200487.html
The Supreme Court rebuked the Bush administration yesterday for refusing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, siding with environmentalists in the court's first examination of the phenomenon of global warming. The court ruled 5 to 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by improperly declining to regulate new-vehicle emissions standards to control the pollutants that scientists say contribute to global warming. "EPA has offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority. The agency "identifies nothing suggesting that Congress meant to curtail EPA's power to treat greenhouse gases as air pollutants," the opinion continued.
RELATED: EPA must regulate greenhouse gases
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704030047apr03,1,3428513.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: High court tells EPA to rethink policy on emissions
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/03/high_court_tells_epa_to_rethink_policy_on_emissions/

Legislation to curb emissions crowds agendas
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020503apr03,1,1986717.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
In some ways the debate over greenhouse gases has moved beyond the case the Supreme Court just decided. Since Democrats took control of Congress, committees in the House and Senate have begun to shape legislation that would regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. Illinois recently became the latest state to announce plans to adopt its own limits, mirroring California's pledge to reduce emissions by 25 percent by 2020. California also wants to require cars and trucks to reduce greenhouse gases by burning fuel more efficiently. The effect could be dramatic because the state is such a large automobile market and the Clean Air Act allows other states to adopt standards set by California. Virtually every global warming bill in Congress relies on capping emissions and allowing companies to trade the right to release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
RELATED: [CA] Emissions law could still face hurdles
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-greencalif3apr03,0,340435.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Reports From Four Fronts in the War on Warming
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/science/earth/03clim.html?ref=science
Over the last few decades, as scientists have intensified their study of the human effects on climate and of the effects of climate change on humans, a common theme has emerged: in both respects, the world is a very unequal place.

Upper Peninsula Looks Ahead, And Back, as Mine Interests Call
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201406.html
Like much of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Marquette was built on mining. Thousands of Irish, German, Polish, Italian and other immigrants arrived here in the late 1800s and early 1900s to forge new lives in the copper and iron mines. As mines closed during the mid-1900s and many residents fled to the auto industry in Detroit, the town and the region struggled. Now, thanks to rapidly rising metal prices, international mining companies are again interested in the Upper Peninsula. A subsidiary of industry giant Rio Tinto wants to open the country's largest nickel mine about 25 miles from Marquette, and various companies are prospecting for copper, nickel, uranium and other materials. One would think they would be welcomed with open arms. Think again.

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.

Robinson: Orwell at Guantanamo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201260.html
Here's what the Bush administration has done to the values, traditions and honor of the United States of America: An accused terrorist claims he confessed to heinous crimes so that agents of the U.S. government would stop torturing him, and no one is shocked or even surprised. There's reason to believe, in fact, that what the suspect says about torture is probably true. There's also reason to doubt that the suspect -- Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, held in U.S. custody without charges for more than four years -- is the Zelig-like innocent bystander he claims to be. But we can't be sure, because George W. Bush disgraced himself and his country by ordering extrajudicial kidnappings of suspects in the war on terror, indefinite secret detention and interrogation by "alternative" methods that the civilized world calls torture.

Cohen: Gonzales the Cipher
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201265.html
The first 57 of the 152 death penalty cases Bush presided over occurred when Gonzales was general counsel. It was his job to prepare a document summarizing the facts of the case. Those memos were examined by Alan Berlow of the Atlantic magazine, who reported on them back in 2003. What he found was that of the 57, there was hardly a case that gave Gonzales pause -- not the mental retardation of the condemned, not the stunning negligence of some lawyers and not the occasional use of questionable police methods. Gonzales was always the imperturbable cog in Texas's killing machine.

RELATED: Safer: Prosecutors without politics
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020386apr03,1,5787814.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Many people have breathlessly ridiculed the rating by Alberto Gonzales' office of Patrick Fitzgerald, Chicago's U.S. attorney, as a "mediocre" prosecutor. Those people are not wrong -- more on that later. But what is lost in the stampede to praise Fitzgerald is the recognition of why the stories concerning the firing of eight U.S. attorneys merits continued front-page coverage. It has to do with power and politics.

Supreme Court clears the air
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-greenhouse03apr03,0,2984971.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
THE STAKES WERE much higher — about as high as the Earth's atmosphere — but California won a gratifying victory Monday in the Supreme Court. In a case that could easily have been called Science vs. Bush, the court ruled 5 to 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming — and that states can go to court to demand that the EPA do its duty. The decision puts pressure on the EPA to revisit the question of regulating greenhouse gases, and it adds momentum to an effort in Congress to legislate tighter controls. It also should make it easier for California to enforce its own strict controls on greenhouse gases. Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed California's landmark global warming law, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020.
RELATED: Court tells Bush to cool it
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/04/03/court_tells_bush_to_cool_it/
RELATED: The Court Rules on Warming
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/opinion/03tues1.html

Circuit City's harsh layoffs give glimpse of a new world
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/04/post_3.html
Like many companies, Circuit City has a set of company values, which it conveniently lists on its website. First among them: "Our associates are our greatest assets." Last week some 3,400 of them learned what that means. Their jobs were eliminated solely because the company decided they were getting paid too much. Clearly, the company doesn't value them as "great assets." If it did, it would realize that firing employees because they've performed well enough to earn raises demoralizes everyone else. What kind of inducement is it for employees to work hard and excel if their reward might be a pink slip? And why would people want to shop at a store where the low premium on service is so loudly trumpeted? Regrettably, this race-to-the-bottom approach is hardly limited to Circuit City.

EMI, Apple unlock the music
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-emi03apr03,0,1309558.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
IN THE STANDOFF between the music industry and Apple Inc., someone blinked Monday. Apple would like you to think it was EMI Group, the fourth-largest seller of CDs in the U.S., which agreed to sell its digital music without electronic locks. Yet EMI accomplished something the music industry has long been trying to do: It persuaded Apple to pay a higher price for downloadable singles.

PAPERS REVIEWED TODAY

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Rocky Mountain News

Denver Post

Boulder Daily Camera

Colorado Daily

Greeley Tribune

Fort Collins Coloradoan

Colorado Springs Gazette

Pueblo Chieftain

Grand Junction Sentinel

Craig Daily Press

Aspen Times

Glenwood Springs Post-Independent

Vail Daily

Steamboat Pilot

Montrose Press

Durango Herald

Cortez Journal

Telluride Daily Planet

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