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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/041207.htm
TOP STORIES
National
White House E-Mail Lost in Private Accounts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102167.html
The White House acknowledged yesterday that e-mails dealing with official government business may have been lost because they were improperly sent through private accounts intended to be used for political activities. Democrats have been seeking such missives as part of an investigation into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Administration officials said they could offer no estimate of how many e-mails were lost but indicated that some may involve messages from White House senior adviser Karl Rove, whose role in the firings has been under scrutiny by congressional Democrats. Democrats have charged that Rove and other officials may have used the private accounts, set up through the Republican National Committee, in an effort to avoid normal review. Under federal law, the White House is required to maintain records, including e-mails, involving presidential decision-making and deliberations. White House aides' use of their political e-mail accounts to discuss the prosecutor firings has also fanned Democratic accusations that the actions were politically motivated.
RELATED: Officials' e-mail may be missing, White House says
RELATED: Bush Advisers’ Approach on E-Mail Draws Fire
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12emails.html?ref=washington
Explosion Hits Iraq Parliament Inside Green Zone
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html?ref=world
A bomb rocked Iraq's parliament building in the heavily fortified Green Zone Thursday, killing at least two lawmakers in a stunning security breach in the third month of a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown on violence in the capital, officials said. At least four other people were wounded in the blast, which shook a cafeteria while several lawmakers were eating lunch, initial media reports said. Mohammed Awad, a member of the Sunni National Dialogue Front, was killed in the blast, said Saleh al-Mutlaq, the leader of the party, which holds 11 seats in Iraq's legislature. Another female Sunni lawmaker from the same list was wounded, he said. A security official at the parliament building said a second lawmaker, a Shiite member, also was killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
RELATED: Blast rocks Iraq parliament, dozens wounded
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200380.html
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/MILITARY
Reaction to Ambush In Afghanistan Probed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101379.html
The U.S. military announced yesterday that it has opened a criminal investigation into whether an elite Marine Special Operations platoon used excessive force in reacting to a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last month, an incident that left at least eight Afghan civilians dead. Army Maj. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III, who commands U.S. Special Operations Forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, determined after an initial review of the March 4 incident that "the escalation of force might have been too high" and warranted an inquiry by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said Lt. Col. Lou Leto, a spokesman for Kearney's command. "We deeply regret the loss of life and casualties that resulted from the [suicide vehicle] attack and the actions that followed," Leto said. "General Kearney wanted to really stress that our goal is the safety and security of the Afghan people."
RELATED: Probe finds excess force in Afghanistan incident
In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html
Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews. Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year. Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show. Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules, a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show. In Miami, an assistant United States attorney said many cases there involved what were apparently mistakes by immigrants, not fraud.
Colorado
Ritter offers revisions to roadless protections
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479382,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter asked the federal government for an "insurance policy" Wednesday to protect 4.1 million acres of roadless areas in Colorado from development, modifying a petition submitted last year by former Gov. Bill Owens. Ritter told the Agriculture Department and the U.S. Forest Service that he wants interim protection for Colorado's roadless areas while the federal government reviews whether to keep wilderness-style protections for the lands. He also said he wanted the state Department of Natural Resources and Division of Wildlife to be able to work with federal land managers on any proposed activity within the roadless areas.
RELATED: Ritter seeks roadless area "insurance policy"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646418
RELATED: Ritter wants ‘insurance’ for roadless areas of state
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_1a_roadless.html
RELATED: Ritter sends roadless petition to Feds
Top labor, Democratic leaders in town to discuss convention
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5479197,00.html
Labor and political leaders will meet in Denver today to address ongoing disputes about the lack of unionized facilities in Denver, the site of the Democratic National Convention in 2008. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is scheduled to meet with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. A gathering of local labor leaders also is planned. "The union movement is committed to working together with elected leaders, the DNC and others to tackle economic anxiety and make sure the focus on the Democratic Convention helps lift workers' lives," Sweeney said. Dean also will be in town for planning meetings and a public event marking Denver's choice as the host city for the August 2008 convention. He invited Sweeney after the labor federation began making noise about getting the Democrats to move the convention to a unionized venue.
RELATED: Howard Dean in Denver today
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646129
Critic of GOP Web site questions 'partisan' call
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479641,00.html
A critic of the Senate Republican Web site is asking whether a state employee broke any rules by calling on state time Wednesday to grill the critic about her political bias. "What's alarming to me is clearly, he is in his official state role making partisan inquiries," said Chantell Taylor, head of the watchdog group, Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government. "That is not what state resources are supposed to be used for. This is not advancing the public interest." But Republicans fired back that they were just defending themselves against unfair attacks from Taylor's liberal group masquerading as a government watchdog. "I think we have a right to talk to people who attack us publicly," said Senate Minority Leader McElhany, R-Colorado Springs. "Especially when they're portrayed as some government watchdog group, when in reality, they're a left-leaning hit organization." But the GOP counterattack kept alive debate over the official Senate Republican Web site - ColoradoSenateNews.com.
Teen may have been beaten for being gay
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479654,00.html
A 15-year-old gay Centennial High School student allegedly was taunted and attacked by six classmates last week because of his sexual orientation. Anthony Hergesheimer, a recent transplant from California, underwent surgery to fix a broken nose Wednesday. Six classmates have been suspended from school and could face criminal charges. "They were throwing things at him - an oil can, a Comet can," said his mother, Theresa Ornelas, 32. The attack happened about 3:15 p.m. April 5 as Hergesheimer was walking home from school. Six students, whom Ornelas said were 16 and 17, began following him in their car and calling him names and throwing things.
RELATED: Students investigated for hate crime
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176388384/8
Election
Attacks flying on special interests
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646401
A tight race to replace Denver City Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie has candidates pointing fingers over who is beholden to special-interest groups. The candidates in the race for District 7 - one of three contested council seats in the mail-in May 1 city election - are mostly in agreement on a need to protect neighborhood character, guard against increasing graffiti and gang problems, and improve public education. But campaign contributions pouring in from labor and business interests have begun to define the race. Candidate Chris Nevitt raised more than $65,000 through March, much of it from union groups such as a Teamsters political- action committee and several local labor organizations. "I think that a lot of people are concerned about that in the business community," candidate Shelly Watters said. "I think a lot of people are concerned that he has somebody else's agenda."
Mayoral candidates get fired up
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120066
Three of Aspen's mayoral candidates got fired up Monday night, and not just about the hot-button topics like the Entrance to Aspen and preserving the community's character. "The hearth is a symbol of the kind of waste that we don't need to advertise," candidate Mick Ireland said in response to a question about Aspen's controversial downtown fire pit. "We can't have everything. ... We have to make choices."
RELATED: Council hopefuls address development issues
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120065
Effective and Ethical Government
Ritter 'un-vetoes' measures
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479446,00.html
If at first you don't succeed, just wait for a new governor. Some lawmakers whose legislation was vetoed by former Republican Gov. Bill Owens are having better luck under Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter. Their bills range from allowing communities to tax themselves to provide all-day kindergarten to giving information about emergency contraception to rape victims. Some bills are identical to measures Owens vetoed, while others have been weakened or altered. "What a difference an election makes," said Carrie Doyle, executive director of Colorado Conservation Voters. "Bill Ritter said he would be a 'stubborn steward' for the environment, and he is keeping his campaign promises."
Colo. first lady begins listening tour
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_1b_First_Lady.html
As Anita Reicks told the Mesa County Suicide Prevention Coalition how suicide claimed her father-in-law and one of her friends, a seemingly innocuous woman sat in the front row, transfixed by her story. As the woman intently listened to Reicks’ and feverishly jotted notes, Reicks said the woman’s undivided attention gave her hope that suicide and other mental health soon will become front-burner issues at the Capitol. Those notes, nods and discussions from Colorado first lady Jeannie Ritter, who attended the Wednesday morning meeting, kicked off her yearlong study of the state’s mental health services and problems. “We’re listening,” said Ritter, whose husband, Bill, was elected governor in November. “We’re looking to see where the services are and where are the gaps.”
RELATED: State’s first lady to visit Montrose
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/11/local_news/5.txt
Jeffco probe may be kept secret
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479384,00.html
A routine request for the appointment of a special prosecutor to decide whether charges should be filed in a case involving Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove apparently has led to a judge's order that could keep the results of the investigation from the public. For more than two months, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has been looking into whether any laws were broken when Jefferson County, at Congrove's urging, hired his friend to investigate people involved in a lawsuit against Congrove and other county officials and employees. Former Commissioner Dave Auburn has said that Congrove also had others investigated, including current and former county employees. Congrove has denied any knowledge of the county-funded investigations conducted by his friend, former Denver policeman Daril Cinquanta, and Cinquanta has denied investigating anyone other than those involved in the lawsuit filed by county critic Mike Zinna. Zinna's attorney, Chris Paulsen, reportedly also was put under surveillance by Cinquanta.
Boulder council OKs reprimand
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479383,00.html
The Boulder City Council reprimanded member Richard Polk but decided he should be able to keep his seat after his arrest last year on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana. Boulder's charter requires the City Council to eject any of its members convicted of a "crime or felony." Polk pleaded guilty in February to reckless driving, a misdemeanor. Last week, two lawyers hired by the city said the city council would be reasonable in concluding that reckless driving doesn't qualify as a "crime."
Eldridge's return unlikely: Cancer complications mean seat will be up in November
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/11/eldridges-return-unlikely-cancer-complications/
Tom Eldridge almost certainly won't return to the Boulder City Council, his colleagues said. Eldridge, 69, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2004, and his health has fluctuated since then. After undergoing a surgery that was thought to be a success, he was re-elected and returned to the City Council. City Councilman Jack Stoakes, who's been friends with Eldridge for three decades, offered a motion in January to excuse Eldridge from attending City Council meetings. At the time, Stoakes said, he thought Eldridge might be able to recover and come back to the council.
Kersey town administrator resigns
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104110128
Kersey town administrator Liesl Hargrave officially resigned this week. "I'm looking at spending more time with my family," said Hargrave. "I'm having a baby in July, and I thought it was time to move on and find new opportunities." Hargrave was hired as Kersey's town administrator at the beginning of November, bringing with her experience in graduate school at the University of Colorado at Denver's Center for New Directions in Politics and Public Policy, a master's degree in political science, and a two-year management internship in Central City working as deputy city manager. She replaced former four year town manager Trudy Peterson. But all her experience couldn't help her control some vocal residents.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Holocaust Awareness Week (On the side, 4/12)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646417
House Joint Resolution 1027 was introduced to declare April 15-22 as Holocaust Awareness Week in Colorado and to encourage Coloradans to use the week to teach awareness of genocide and remember the past. An interfaith service and candlelight vigil to commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, will be at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Evans Chapel on the University of Denver campus. The governor's 26th annual Holocaust Remembrance Program, with a candle-lighting ceremony memorializing those who died in the Holocaust and honoring Colorado's Holocaust survivors, will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Boettcher Concert Hall, 14th and Curtis streets.
'Speech we hate' should be allowed: Panelists argue for First Amendment
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/12/speech-we-hate-should-be-allowed/
"Shock jock" Don Imus should be free to speak his mind even if it means spreading racist and sexist sentiments like those he recently made about women basketball players for Rutgers University, experts said Wednesday during a Conference on World Affairs panel. Panelists at the discussion, titled "Defending Speech We Hate," said there's increasing censorship in public places.
RELATED: Panelists take on Borat today
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/12/panelists-take-on-borat-today/
RELATED: ‘Truthiness'
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/11/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
Council debates gays’ place at diversity fest
http://www.gazette.com/articles/city_21125___article.html/festival_gay.html
Should gays have a place in a festival celebrating cultural diversity? It’s a question at the heart of the latest city government controversy about sexual orientation, raising issues that have divided the community for years. The debate that began this week concerns whether gay participation in a downtown festival would improperly politicize the event. The festival is scheduled for Aug. 18 and is sponsored by the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum, a private group. The festival is supposed to include dance, music, cooking and booths where organizations will share information about their programs. The diversity forum came to the council Monday asking the city to waive fees for using city facilities, provide police for security and cover a few other costs.
Group for free speech rallies on CSU campus
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/CSUZONE01/704120362/1002/NEWS01
A group of Colorado State University students concerned about university infringements on their Constitutional rights to free speech had a rally Wednesday on the west lawn of the Lory Student Center. Libertarian Party of Colorado State University Chairman Seth Anthony, a CSU graduate student, organized the rally - in which media members outnumbered participants - in hope of clarifying rules the university uses to regulate assemblies and posting of fliers in dormitories.
Unity Fest breaks out at Mesa State
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_1b_Unity_Fest.html
About 600 people were expected to attend events on the first day of Unity Fest, the annual diversity festival developed by Mesa State College students and staff, on Wednesday, a Mesa State staff member said. The four days of events are intended to encourage community dialogue on diverse cultures. Most movies, art shows and performances are free and open to the public.
Modern-day knights defend Spain's role in history of Americas
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479495,00.html
Jack Martinez says children are getting a skewed view of the Spanish colonial expansion in the Americas. Most students learn only about the exploitation and the killing of American Indians by Spaniards, he said. When his nieces and nephews came home upset that Spaniards "are bashed in the classrooms," he decided to launch a campaign to spread the word about their contributions. On Wednesday, Martinez and his brother Scott Martinez told fifth-graders at Stevens Elementary School in Wheat Ridge about key Spanish figures such as Hernan Cortez and Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. Cortez was most noted for overthrowing the Aztec empire. Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from its eastern shore after crossing the Isthmus of Panama in 1514.
Immigration
Troopers target human smuggling
Two Cortez troopers with the Colorado State Patrol have been assigned to a special unit to deal with illegal immigration. The troopers, James Saunders and Wayne Jones, will be on the Immigration Enforcement Unit, a new unit formed by the CSP, and will serve Southwest Colorado. This is the first time Colorado has had a unit specifically geared toward stopping human smuggling and trafficking. The Immigration Enforcement Unit will be active statewide starting July 1, said Capt. Jon Barba with the CSP.
Marriage and Family Issues
Senate OKs adoption by same-sex couples
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479666,00.html
A measure to allow gay couples to adopt won initial Senate approval Wednesday, despite several lawmakers' objections that it advances the "homosexual agenda." The bill is expected to get final Senate OK within days and head to the governor, who has signaled he will sign it. "This is a remake of the homosexual agenda," said Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley. "It's not about protecting children. It is an attack on the traditional family. It undermines the traditional marriage structure that we need to keep strong and sacred." The Senate approved the bill on a party-line voice vote, with Democrats arguing the Second Parent Adoption Bill isn't about promoting the gay agenda, but about protecting children being raised in nontraditional families.
RELATED: Senate clears bill that would allow same-sex adoptions
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104110134
RELATED: Adoption bill still separating parties
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=21153&template=article.html
RELATED: State GOP warns of "homosexual agenda"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5643896
Health Care and Public Safety
Senate votes to lift stem cell ban
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_5646133
The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation tearing down restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research, likely setting up President Bush's second veto. Passage came on a 63-34 vote, one short of the two-thirds majority of voting senators needed to override a veto. The House lacks by a sizable number the votes to override a veto. "This will encourage taxpayer money to be spent on the destruction or endangerment of living human embryos - raising serious moral concerns for millions of Americans," Bush said after the vote. But his anticipated veto doesn't mean the issue is dead. Backers of the bill already are talking about sticking the legislation back in front of Bush before the end of the year, attaching it to another bill he'll have a harder time vetoing. Patient groups and other advocates are lobbying lawmakers but also looking to 2008. Activists say they'll campaign against a presidential nominee who does not support the research. "Sometimes these things take a long time and you have to keep pushing it time after time after time," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who authored the House version of the legislation.
RELATED: Stem Cell Bill Easily Clears Senate But Lacks Votes to Override a Veto
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101736.html
RELATED: Senate rejects Bush's curbs on stem-cell research
Sick ex-nuclear workers sue, claim feds withholding care
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479667,00.html
Six former nuclear weapons workers filed a class-action federal lawsuit Wednesday in Denver, saying their lives are at risk because the government is withholding payment of medical costs it promised to cover. The plaintiffs are Cold War veterans who became ill after working around radiactive or other toxic materials as they made bombs for the country's nuclear arsenal. Most of them are dying. The attorney who filed suit on their behalf says federal officials seem to have followed a pattern of trying to contain costs at the expense of ill workers.
RELATED: Rocky Flats whistle-blower dies at 82
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479497,00.html
Insurance rates targeted
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479450,00.html
Insurance companies will be prevented from raising rates on small employers when their workers have existing health conditions or have filed prior claims under a House bill given initial approval Wednesday. Supporters call it a crucial step toward reforming the Colorado health-care system, saying it would eliminate discriminatory practices that drive employers to hire only the young and healthy in hopes of keeping rates affordable. "This legislation is the first and most important step in meaningful health care reform," said sponsor Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver. "Without judging employees by their health history, we hope to ensure more equal access to quality, affordable health care plans for all working families."
RELATED: Lawmakers tackle health insurance for small businesses
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176388384/9
State on hook for $11.2 million bill from feds
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479640,00.html
Colorado must repay $11.2 million to the federal government because a flawed state computer system resulted in overpayments in the food stamp program. Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said the state learned Wednesday it had lost its federal appeal. The ruling is the latest headache with the Colorado Benefits Management System. The $223 million centralized network came under fire shortly after it went online in September 2004 during former Gov. Bill Owens' administration.
RELATED: Feds give Colorado a big bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646121
Judge's smoking ban snub
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479652,00.html
An Adams County District Court judge has declared the state's smoking ban unconstitutional, leaving some bar owners celebrating and the legislation's sponsor perplexed. Adams County District Attorney Don Quick says he plans to appeal the ruling issued last week by Judge Robert Doyle. The judge said the ban is unconstitutional because it provides an exemption for cigar bars, Quick said. It's unclear what the Adams County ruling, the third on the ban since it went into effect July 1, means in terms of enforcing the statewide ban, he said. A federal judge ruled last year that the legislature had every right to say where smoking could be banned and allowed. But a Durango judge last year ruled that a bar owner was exempt from the ban because he sold enough tobacco products to qualify for an exemption. The clashing rulings may force the Colorado Supreme Court to weigh in, Quick said.
RELATED: State lawmaker reignites cigar-bar bill
Death spurs meningitis alert
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5647245
University officials in northern Colorado are urging students who were at a popular concert hall last weekend to consider taking antibiotics following the death of a 20-year-old University of Northern Colorado student from meningococcal meningitis. The Loveland student may have contracted the disease on Friday while at the Mishawaka Inn, according to a statement. The Larimer County coroner's office said Sierra Krizman became ill Saturday and died Tuesday at McKee Medical Center in Loveland, 9News reported. Krizman was a commuter student at UNC and Front Range Community College.
RELATED: UNC student dies of meningitis
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120110
RELATED: Death linked to meningitis
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/NEWS01/704120372/1002
District 70 helping Holly tornado victims
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176388384/2
[Pueblo] District 70 students, staff and faculty have been busy the past two weeks hosting fundraisers and gathering needed items for residents of Holly who lost everything in the March 28 tornado. Students at North Mesa Elementary School paid to wear a hat to school with all the proceeds, $533, going to Holly residents. At Skyview Middle School, National Junior Honor Society students started a collection drive to gather school supplies, non-perishable food items and money to help Holly students in their recovery from the devastating storm. An employee at the district administration building donated eight formal dresses and matching shoes to high school students who lost the dresses they had purchased for the upcoming April 20 prom.
CSU engineers tissues to reduce use of animals in research
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104110137
Colorado State University engineers are creating tissue in a laboratory that can replace the use of animals in research. The new Tissue Engineering Laboratory creates tissue from a combination of cells, materials and biochemicals that model living biological systems. The model tissue replaces live animals in the initial phases of many biological studies, reducing the number of animals needed in research.
City's zookeepers hurt 45 times in past 5 years
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479653,00.html
Zookeepers at the Denver Zoo have sustained 45 animal-inflicted injuries in the past five years, according to records provided Wednesday to the Rocky Mountain News. The injuries range from cuts, bruises and scratches to bites on fingers, hands and legs, to cases where animals struck keepers with horns or elbows. And the injuries were delivered by an array of species, including an elephant, hogs, several types of birds, an otter, a bighorn sheep, a mongoose - even a small anteater.
RELATED: Zoo employee injuries/illnesses
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5478714,00.html
Lawsuit: Bad food killed cat
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479650,00.html
Grover the British shorthair cat is taking on the pet food industry and judicial system - from the grave. That, at least, is the hope of Grover's owner, Emily Tompkins, who alleged in a federal lawsuit Wednesday that the animal died because of tainted pet food. Tompkins' blue-gray cat was euthanized March 21 after suffering kidney failure, according to the lawsuit, which blames it on his consumption of Iams Select Bites in sauce and Iams Choice Cuts in gravy. An Iams representative could not be reached for comment after business hours Wednesday. Tompkins herself was recovering from surgery and did not attend a news conference Wednesday at her veterinarian's office, The Center for Animal Wellness in Denver. But her mother spoke for her.
RELATED: Briefs: Class-action suit filed over tainted pet food
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646400
Crime and Penal Reform
Bill targets number of death-penalty lawyers (Under the dome, 4/12)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646416
The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would reduce the number of prosecutors working on death- penalty cases and use the savings to investigate cold cases. Rep. Paul Weissmann, D- Louisville, said the state could save millions of dollars yearly on prosecuting and defending death- penalty cases. He said the money could be better spent catching criminals walking the streets. Weissmann originally tried to abolish the death penalty but agreed to an amendment that would reduce the number of prosecutors to two in the attorney general's office. House Bill 1094 would use the savings to help finance the forensics unit, chemistry lab and a cold-case unit in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The bill now goes to the full House. Attorney General John Suthers criticized the bill, saying it would cut his capital-crimes unit in half.
RELATED: Committee wants two death-penalty staff positions cut
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_1b_death_penalty.html
RELATED: Capital-crimes unit may be hit
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=21139&template=article.html
Union seeks appeal of cop suspension
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646455
A decision upholding a 10-month suspension for a Denver police officer in the 2003 shooting death of a disabled African-American teenager drew praise Wednesday from a black-community leader, but police-union officials called for the ruling to be appealed. The Denver Civil Service Commission decided Friday to reinstate the 10-month suspension of Officer James Turney. In 2003 he fatally shot 15-year-old Paul Childs, who was wielding a knife at the time. The ruling overturned a hearing officer's 2005 decision reducing Turney's punishment. Turney has already served the suspension.
Expanding Jeffco courts critical, says chief judge
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646404
Expansion of Jefferson County's courts is inevitable to ease a growing space crunch, according to the 1st Judicial District's chief judge. "There are no unoccupied courtrooms now," Brooke Jackson told a citizens panel working on how to wring $12 million from next year's county budget. Jackson said some efforts, such as reconfiguring judicial space in the county's main building, can help, but only in the short term. Also being considered is forming a drug court like Denver's, mediating criminal cases as El Paso County does, and moving programs off site. The problem is a skyrocketing caseload, Jackson said. Since Jackson was appointed to the bench in 1998, 1st Judicial District criminal cases have risen 67 percent, civil cases are up 80 percent, and dependency and neglect cases have increased more than 200 percent.
Cop gap in Rifle worries chief
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_1b_Rifle_police.html
A week ago, a Rifle police officer at the scene of a traffic accident received a call about a drunken person lying on the ground at a city park. “He had to juggle those two calls,” Police Chief Daryl Meisner said, because he was the only officer on duty. “It turned out OK, but a city the size of Rifle should never have just one officer on duty.” An increasing population, driven by the energy industry and immigration, and not enough officers could turn Rifle into “the next Rock Springs, Wyo.,” when it comes to lawlessness, Meisner recently warned City Council members.
Jail inmate was killed by heroin, sheriff says
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=21142&template=article.html
An El Paso County jail inmate found dead Sunday died of a heroin overdose, the Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday. Dustin Elbert, 34, was pronounced dead after deputies found him unresponsive in his cell during an evening welfare check, sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Clif Northam said. Elbert apparently had swallowed three drug-filled plastic bags, two of which ruptured inside his body, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Pot advocates squawking over continued busts
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5479681,00.html
Pro-pot activists are bird-dogging Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper during his re-election campaign, demanding an explanation for why cops continue to bust marijuana smokers. A person in a chicken suit is attending candidate forums at which the mayor appears, holding a sign calling Denver's leader "Chickenlooper." Shortly before a town hall meeting Wednesday at the Christ Community Church in the Hampden neighborhood, Kayvan "The Chicken" Khalatbari and six other demonstrators stood outside waiting for the mayor to arrive. "Hey Mayor Chickenlooper! What's so scary about Marijuana?" read a sign held by the chicken-suited Khalatbari.
Economy
Bill on frequent flier miles scrubbed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479445,00.html
Sen. Bob Hagedorn on Wednesday pulled the plug on his bill that would have banned airlines from revoking frequent flier miles that go unused for two years. The Aurora Democrat said he didn't have the votes to make the measure, Senate Bill 243, fly this year.
RELATED: Frequent-flier bill grounded in legislature
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5646048
Tourism office touts new campaign
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5642070
Most everyone knows of Colorado's world-class vacation options - Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs, Mesa Verde National Park, skiing like nowhere else on the planet, rafting, camping, hiking and sightseeing. They could use a visibility boost, and they might get it, thanks to a record $19 million tourism budget earmarked to spread the word, worldwide, that Colorado is the place to park the RV.
Attorneys call it a day; now it's up to the jury
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5479339,00.html
The jury hearing the case against former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio is expected to begin deliberating this morning on 42 counts of insider trading. Attorneys wrapped up their closing arguments Wednesday with defense attorney Herbert Stern telling jurors Nacchio was an optimistic executive - not a man out to defraud - when he sold stock in early 2001. "What matters in this room is what is in your heart, in your mind, in your character, and whether you're about the business of stealing and lying and cheating," Stern said. "And I respectfully submit to you that Mr. Nacchio didn't build this company on that basis and wasn't selling any stock on that basis."
RELATED: The case against Joe Nacchio
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5645781
RELATED: Both sides skirted issue of reasonable doubt
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5646142
RELATED: Parting shots for the jury
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5645780
RELATED: Joe Nacchio on trial
http://www.denverpost.com/nacchio
State's space economy booming
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5479200,00.html
Colorado's already healthy space economy appears to be in acceleration mode. Industry executives from aerospace companies big and small in Colorado report they are hiring more employees, particularly various types of engineers. Some also say they have stepped up their hiring, a fact that should help underpin the state's overall economy. Executives, here for the annual National Space Symposium, credit new business and a need to prep for additional contracts that will be up for grabs in the future.
RELATED: Colo. firms fire up to aid satellite race
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5645782
RELATED: Congressman floats idea of advertising in space
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070411/NEWS/104110070
Hosting firms on Qwest's menu?
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5645779
Qwest may be on the hunt for more data centers and hosting companies to capture and retain business customers moving away from traditional land- based phones and basic broadband services. Computer data-hosting companies, which offer network maintenance, management, data storage and disaster recovery services, are big business as companies look for off-site vendors to handle these activities. Revenues in the sector grew by 35 percent last year, according to Tier 1 Research, headquartered in Minneapolis. Data centers are attractive to private equity firms and companies such as Qwest because they offer predictable, sustainable cash flow, said Paul Stapleton, partner at DH Capital, an investment bank with dual headquarters in Boulder and New York.
RELATED: Qwest announces plans to expand services for growth on Western Slope
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_9c_Qwest.html
April proving to be the cruelest month for area fruit growers
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_1a_frozen_fruit.html
For some of the Grand Valley’s fruit growers, fighting Tuesday night’s below-freezing temperatures meant pulling another all-nighter.
Housing and Homelessness
Reisberg to host housing forum
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104110126
This weekend, Greeley residents can learn about ways in which the Colorado General Assembly is tackling housing. State Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, is hosting a community forum to present an overview of housing legislation and explore critical housing issues in Colorado on Saturday. Riesberg will have information on proposed legislation and recently passed bills, and several guest speakers have also been invited.
Homeowners fight back in mortgage fraud
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120112
Several homeowners' complaints about a Greeley homebuilder and his associates have sparked an investigation by the Greeley Police Department and the Weld District Attorney's Office. More than 20 homeowners claim that Mark Strodtman and his associates from JS Real Estate LLC conned them into buying homes out of their price range. Along with complaints of structural problems in the houses, the families also accuse Charles Brandt and Jessica Feliciano, from JC Distinguished Finance, of falsifying documentation to approve their loans.
The heists of Christmas cash live on
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646128
On Christmas Eve 2004, Jerry Mills gave away $50,000 in hundred-dollar bills at three Denver homeless shelters, then vanished without leaving his name. Giving felt good to Mills, even if the cash wasn't his. "They can't take that away from me," Mills would tell Detective Ronnie Chavez when he turned himself in at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office three weeks later. Mills' stunning generosity made headlines near and far, including USA Today and The Mirror of London. The mystery of the Christmas Eve Santa, however, is still unfolding in courtrooms from Castle Rock to California. Court records tell a story in which authorities charge that nobody has clean hands. Mills, the perpetually broke handyman from Parker, admits taking $1.1 million and giving much of it away, but he swears it was dirty money he had been ordered to pick up from a stranger in Las Vegas.
Housing plan ready for review
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/12/housing_plan_ready_review/?local_news
After months of meetings and debate, a revised ordinance to amend Steamboat Springs’ affordable housing policies is ready for public review. The Steamboat Springs Planning Commission tonight will take the first crack at the city’s revised inclusionary zoning and linkage ordinance, which will dictate affordable housing requirements for developers and regulate how the city provides workforce housing in the midst of booming local development and rapidly rising real estate prices.
Media
Protesters get what they want
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479645,00.html
In Denver, 15 people picketed outside television station KUSA on Wednesday and were elated when they learned from a reporter that MSNBC was dropping the simulcast of Don Imus' show. Alvertis Simmons said the protests by black and female activists throughout the nation worked. KUSA is an NBC affiliate. "That's a victory for us as a community in Colorado and across the country," said Simmons, founder of the Million Family March Denver chapter. Simmons said he and other black activists won't stop. They also want to press to have Imus removed from the radio airwaves and have him fined for his slurs.
Education
Grad requirements bill OK'd
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479448,00.html
A bill to allow local school districts to set their own high school graduation requirements sailed through the Senate Wednesday. Republicans abandoned their fight to impose more math and science courses. Both sides of the aisle reached a friendly compromise they say sets the stage for an across-the- board review of graduation standards in math, science, English and reading over the next year.
Rural lawmakers skeptical of Ritter property tax plan
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479492,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter's latest proposal to freeze property tax rates to raise money for schools was intended to woo rural lawmakers, but some are leery and others are outright hostile. "I don't know that we can sell it to voters," Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, said. "Some people's rates will go down and some will go up, but it still will be perceived as a tax increase. "I don't know if I'm sold on it entirely, but I haven't seen a lot of good alternatives either. Something definitely has to be done." That's because the State Education Fund is becoming insolvent. As property tax rates continue to go down in a number of districts and the districts are collecting less money, the state is required to pick up the slack.
CSAP testing date won't change
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070411/NEWS/104110071
Colorado students won't get more time to prepare for the state's standardized tests. A Senate committee on Wednesday killed a proposal to delay the start of the Colorado Student Assessment Program testing period by a month because the state education department said it would cost $2.3 million. Currently the tests must be administered between the second Monday in March and the third Monday in April. Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, wanted to administer the tests between April and May because she said some students are being tested on material they haven't yet studied.
Teacher-identifier system in works
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646123
Colorado took the first step Wednesday toward creating a system to track teachers, with the goal of one day matching the most experienced, effective educators with the students who need them most. Gov. Bill Ritter signed a law setting up a commission of teachers, parents and education experts to develop a statewide "teacher-identifier system." The system will keep track of teachers' college education, the number of years they stay at each job and possibly even how well their students do on statewide exams. The primary purpose is to shrink the so-called teacher gap - that the best educators in Colorado are more likely to teach in affluent, white school districts and less likely to work with minorities and poor children.
CSU gets OK to raise tuition for nonresidents
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/CSUZONE01/704120373/1002/NEWS01
Lawmakers have given an initial green light to Colorado State University's plan to increase tuition next year for the school's 4,640 out-of-state students. In-state students will not see any further tuition increases next fall beyond the 7 percent already recommended by the Joint Budget Committee in the state's proposed budget.
Parents ditching DPS over academics, survey says
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5479685,00.html
Academic quality is the main reason parents cited for pulling their children out of Denver Public Schools, according to a survey released Wednesday. But parents also said reducing class sizes is the single most important thing the district can do to lure students back or to get them to stay. "We keep losing students to other school districts," said John Huggins, co-chair of the Finance and Facilities subcommittee for the A+ Denver group. "We have a lot fewer students but a lot more space than we need," he said. "If we can consolidate and close schools and use that space more efficiently, we can try to get more students to come back to the district."
RELATED: Survey says quality key to parents' DPS choice
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646423
Higher education requirements vary
Students in Southwest Colorado have a wide variety of higher-education needs.
School Board meets today
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/12/getting_back_track/?local_news
The Steamboat Springs School Board will hold its first meeting today since angry e-mails sent by John DeVincentis became public. The board meets at 8:30 a.m. today with Jim Weigel, a consultant with the Colorado Association of School Boards, to work on communication and governance. The board also will hold a special meeting at 2 p.m. to accept Pat Gleason’s resignation from the board, discuss the process for replacing him and launch an internal investigation into how the DeVincentis e-mails were released to the Pilot & Today.
Student heading to Washington
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/12/student_heading_washington/?local_news
Sydney Finkbohner can’t wait to see the White House, but she’s also excited to see the Capitol. And she is looking forward to getting on an airplane by herself for the first time in her young life. A sixth-grader at Steamboat Springs Middle School, Sydney has been nominated and accepted to participate in the People to People World Leadership Forum from April 16 to 22 in Washington, D.C.
Student rally backs Churchill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5479387,00.html
Ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill should be reinstated because his ouster
was all about politics, not scholarship, two dozen University of Colorado students shouted at a rally Wednesday. After two faculty panels recommended that
Churchill be fired or suspended for several years, his case is now before CU's
Tenure and Privilege Committee. Any day now, that committee is expected to
issue a report that it has been working on since August. CU and Churchill will
have 10 days to file legal responses, then the report will be delivered to
President Hank Brown.
RELATED: Students rally for prof: Group organizes talk about disputed professor
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/11/re-examining-the-churchill-case-students-rally/
RELATED: Don't dismiss him
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/11/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
School violence prompts teachers to become pupils in defense classes
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/11/teaching-self-defense/
Teachers Kelli Frykholm and Cynthia Kolanowski giggled as they took turns pretending to choke each other on a dusty mat in Summit Middle School's gym. Joined by other teachers and the school's principal this week, they practiced how to use hips and legs to knock off an attacker before following up with slow-motion, fake eye jabs and kicks to the groin and head.
Military
Order covers Fort Carson units
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479498,00.html
Defense Secretary Robert Gates' order adding three months to combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan will affect more than 3,500 Fort Carson troops immediately, and another 3,500 next year. The 3,500 soldiers of Fort Carson's 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who deployed to Iraq in October will be required to remain there until January 2008 rather than returning home this fall. Another 180 soldiers from the 43rd Area Support Group who deployed to Afghanistan in January will stay there an additional three months in 2008 under the order.
RELATED: Deployments extended
http://www.gazette.com/articles/iraq_21143___article.html/fort_units.html
RELATED: Longer tours could cost area $60 million
http://www.gazette.com/articles/economy_21128___article.html/it?soldiers_won?deployments.html
Money to aid Colo. Guard veterans scarce
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479451,00.html
Lawmakers can't find money to help pay for college and life insurance for Colorado National Guard troops who had to leave their families and jobs to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. Legislators acknowledged Wednesday that as the session winds down, they are having trouble finding the money without cutting other programs or violating the state's spending restrictions. Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, wants National Guard members and their families made eligible for in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities and for the $2,670 stipends in-state students will get next year. That's expected to help 34 members and their relatives at a cost of $90,780.
Mustard vapor detected inside igloo at depot
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176388384/7
Officials at the Pueblo Chemical Depot said this week that a “low level” of mustard agent vapor was detected inside an igloo, one of the earth-covered bunkers used to house the stockpile of 780,000 weapons stored there. Chemical workers scheduled to conduct maintenance inside the storage structure found the vapor when they monitored the air inside the structure prior to entry and did not open the doors. When they detected the vapor, they placed a charcoal filter on the rear vent of the igloo and will continue to monitor it.
An MBA from Iraq U.
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646130
Between coordinating air and ground attacks on enemy insurgents in Iraq, Army Capt. Joel Parker sets aside time for rest. And homework. On May 5, his father, Leedell, will don his son's graduation cap and gown at Regis University's commencement, where he will accept Joel's master of business administration degree. Joel, who is stationed in Baghdad with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Stryker Brigade Combat Team, earned his degree through online courses and hopes to be able to watch the ceremony through an online link-up.
Against the odds: Tuskegee Airmen tell stories of triumph to students
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479668,00.html
The first time that Ret. Col. Fitzroy "Buck" Newsum saw an airplane sputtering overhead, it was 1929. "I didn't know what it was, but from that day on, all I could think of was when sometime in the future I would get into the cockpit," the 88-year-old said Wednesday. Because of his skin color, that dream was as out of reach as that first alluring plane in the sky. Then in 1940, President Roosevelt bowed to pressure from the black press and formed an Army Air Corps training base for black pilots at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Although racism would dog the experiment, Newsum and pilots James Harvey and John Mosley all achieved careers in the air. The three men received standing ovations at the Tivoli Student Union as they told their stories to an audience of about 200. The three-hour event was organized by Metropolitan State College's Black Student Alliance and History Club.
RELATED: Tuskegee airmen continue to inspire
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646124
Bill Harding: Reward offered for missing VFW flags
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26115
VFW Post 4265 is offering a reward for any information that leads to the return of its flags or results in a conviction for the vandalism incidents that occured on its property.
Energy Policy
BLM seeks public input on public lands
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120062
The Glenwood Springs field office manages a 567,000-acre swath of public land - generally at lower elevation than the national forest - that stretches along the Interstate 70 corridor from Debeque almost to Vail, encompassing the Roaring Fork Valley from Glenwood to Aspen, and stretching north to Toponas. Oil and gas development is a predominant interest in the western part of the district; recreation interests reign across the rest. But even in Rifle, in the heart of energy development country, residents pressed for protection of their recreational uses at a scoping meeting on Tuesday, Hopkins said. Maps outlining everything from greater sage grouse habitat and elk winter range to grazing allotments, recreational uses and gas leases lined the room at Carbondale Town Hall.
Ethanol fuels mixed feelings
Lawmakers working on the "New Energy Economy" heard protest Wednesday from one of Colorado's oldest economies - agriculture. A national boom in ethanol has lifted the spirits of corn farmers, but ranchers and pork producers are hurting because they need corn to feed their animals. "Corn is basically our only option," said Erin Daley with the Denver-based U.S. Meat Export Foundation. "We don't really have a substitute for corn." Ethanol producers don't have a substitute at the moment, either. While the fuel can be made from a variety of crops, almost all American ethanol is made out of corn.
Report says Xcel is top provider of wind power
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_12_9c_Xcel_Wind.html
Xcel Energy Inc., which provides natural gas and electric service to most of Mesa County, was ranked the No. 1 provider of wind power in the country, a report showed Wednesday. At the end of 2006, Xcel had 1,323 megawatts of wind power on its system, the American Wind Energy Association reported. The wind power is either bought or generated by Xcel. Southern California Edison of Rosemead, Calif. ranked second with 1,026 megawatts, followed by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. of Iowa at 861 megawatts.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Railroad immunity measure chugs through committee
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5479449,00.html
They felt they were railroaded. But in the end, the House Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 on Wednesday to approve a bill that most of them said they didn't really like. It would give railroads what amounts to legal immunity from damages in accidents that involve future commuter rail lines. "I will hold my nose and vote," said committee Chairman Terrance Carroll, D-Denver. He said he supported the bill so that RTD's FasTracks program wouldn't be held up. SB 219, approved earlier without dissent in the Senate, now moves to the full House for a vote.
RELATED: Bill railed against but OK'd
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646415
Which train works in the mountains?
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070411/NEWS/70411027
When the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority first pitched their plan to bring heavy trains through Eagle County, and asked the board of commissioners to join the campaign for rail transportation, they were skeptical. But a recent decision by the rail authority about what type of train to build along Interstate 70 has made the county commissioners re-think their decision. The authority also got rid of a $10,000 membership fee, County Commissioner Peter Runyon said. Using bigger, heavier passenger cars that require heavy steel tracks similar to the ones cargo trains run on is not a viable solution to transport people through the mountains, Runyon said. He believes light rail — or possibly a monorail — is what the mountain counties need.
Online renewal expanded in state
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479381,00.html
Residents of Jefferson, Boulder, El Paso and Pueblo counties can now renew their vehicle registrations online. The service was introduced in Denver and Douglas counties in December. Owners enter their license plate number. The system then verifies that the vehicle meets minimum eligibility requirements and that the owner has up-to-date insurance and emissions information on file with the county.
Yikes - foot-deep snow could begin tonight
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479354,00.html
Friday the 13th could be bad luck for commuters if forecasts of up to a foot of snow in metro Denver prove accurate. "(The snowfall) starts sometime Thursday night and continues to Friday afternoon. We are looking for 6 to 12 inches of snow," said Jim Kalina, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Boulder. "It is fairly typical, not too unusual to get a big spring storm." Outlying areas south and west of Denver are expected to get hit the hardest, with up to a foot of snow forecast. Denver is likely to see from 6 to 8 inches, Kalina said. Southeastern Colorado, which was paralyzed by blizzards in December and January, also could see heavy snow, said Kalina. Unless you enjoy navigating snowy roads, you should probably plan to stay home and watch the snowfall from inside your living room, he said. "I think it could be a problem for traveling," Kalina said.
RELATED: Heavy snow due by Friday
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5649952
Railroad work begins on Wadsworth Boulevard
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5477920,00.html
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad today will be conducting work on the railroad tracks at Wadsworth Boulevard and Grandview Avenue starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 7 p.m. The work will require intermittent closures of Wadsworth Boulevard for 15-20 minutes each time. The BNSF will be constructing a railroad detour that will allow the Colorado Department of Transportation to build the new railroad bridge at the intersection.
Environment and Conservation
Water flow appears adequate, but officials warn of dry spell
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120109
Strong flows on the South Platte River and close-to-average snowpack in the mountains bodes adequate water supplies for the spring growing season. That is unless dry weather grips the region, and there are signs it could. Water officials announced a mostly optimistic outlook at the spring water users meeting of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District at The Ranch on Wednesday morning. While Colorado's overall snowpack was 76 percent of average on April 1, snow levels were at 95 percent and 102 percent, respectively, in the Upper Colorado River and South Platte River tributaries -- key water supplies for the region.
Roundtable taking a harder look at grant requests
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176388384/6
The Arkansas Basin Roundtable is taking a step back in order to move ahead. For the next three months, roundtable members are going to re-evaluate their expectations for the group and tighten up procedures for submitting grant requests to the Colorado Water Conservation Board. “By July, we need to set some priorities for the basin, and we’ll kick off the process today to formalize our procedures,” said Alan Hamel, president. “It would be valuable for us as a basin to move forward.”
Developer pledges wetlands protection
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/11/local_news/2.txt
The wetlands near a retail development will be protected, Matt Miles assured the public Tuesday. “People think we’re felling wetlands for Target and J.C. Penney’s. That’s not the case,” he said. “We have done no construction in the wetlands. We haven’t touched the wetlands.” Miles, with representatives from Walsh Engineering and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, hosted an informal public meeting at the Holiday Inn Express. There, informational tables laid out the intended management practices for 2.39 acres of wetlands along the Uncompahgre River, which lie on property where Miles is constructing the River Landing retail center.
A GREEN OUTLOOK (EXTRA, April 12)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5479647,00.html
9th Denver's position on the 2006 Sustainable Cities Ranking, a benchmark of the nation's 50 largest cities created by SustainLane, an Internet and media company. The cities are featured in How Green Is Your City?, a new book about environmental sustainability that focuses on things such as public transit ridership, air and water quality, urban planning and agriculture.
Poaching reward increased to $10,000 in Boulder County
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5477933,00.html
Citizen funding is aiding the Colorado Division of Wildlife's efforts to find the person who illegally killed a large bull elk on the Caribou Ranch and took only the head and a small portion of the meat. The poaching took place sometime on Sept. 12 or 13 west of Colorado 72 near County Road 126 in Boulder County. Anyone with information should call Operation Game Thief at 877-COLO-OGT (877-265-2648). Verizon cell phone users can dial #OGT, or e-mail at game.thief@state.co.us. Alternately a license and/or preference points might also be rewarded under certain circumstances via the Turn in Poachers (TIPS) program.
Beware of bears this spring
http://montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/11/local_news/4.txt
Residents should obey local trash ordinances, local bear ordinances and, in areas without specific bear ordinances, should store trash cans in a garage or shed and not place trash out for curbside pick up until the morning trash is collected. Additionally, trash and recycling containers should be cleaned often with ammonia to eliminate strong food odors.
Opinion
Voting panel fails early test
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5645282
Colorado's own Donetta Davidson, chairwoman of the commission, explained that the report was revised after EAC staffers decided the original was thin on data. They presented the revision to commissioners for approval in December. Davidson said the commission "had always stuck to being bipartisan." That's certainly not the implication in an e-mail one of the authors of the report sent to an EAC staffer. Job Serebrov, a Republican elections lawyer from Arkansas hired by the commission, defended the original work. He wrote in the message, obtained by The Times, that he and a liberal-leaning co-author strove to produce a truthful report. "I could care less that the results are not what the more conservative members of my party wanted," the e-mail said.
Where's a good war czar when you need one?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5479611,00.html
Yet another leak out of the White House: President Bush has quietly been searching for what could be called, for lack of a better term, a "war czar" to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That official would have the title "assistant to the president," report directly to Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and have the authority to issue instructions to the departments of Defense and State and other agencies. Bush had hoped to have somebody already lined up so he could, as he likes to do, spring a surprise announcement. But, according to The Washington Post, which broke the story, after a search of some weeks the White House has yet to find someone willing to take the job and has been turned down by at least three generals. Only one of the three, retired Marine Gen. Jack Sheehan, was willing to speak to the Post about why he turned down the job and his reasons for doing so are profoundly troubling.
Try looking to the Constitution for answers
The Bush administration, as have several before it, has essentially claimed exclusive authority over all aspects of the war. Beyond the initial resolution authorizing the use of force, which has been assumed to be open-ended and eternal, Congress has been looked to only for funding. The administration has some basis for that view. The Constitution (Article II, Section 2) says, "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States when called into the actual Service of the United States." Clearly, the military reports to the president. Congress cannot micromanage a war. But Congress does have war powers of its own, and they extend beyond signing the check. The Constitution is clear on that as well.
Gonzales must clear the air
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5645281
The simmering controversy over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys has raised troubling questions about just how politicized the Justice Department has become. The subject will be explored in a Senate hearing next week with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Episodes in Wisconsin and Minnesota have raised eyebrows. In recent days, a panel of federal appeals judges threw out what appears like a politically motivated prosecution of a Wisconsin state employee working under a Democratic administration. Though Georgia Thompson was a civil servant originally hired during a Republican administration, her conviction last June repeatedly was cited in attack ads by Republicans looking to oust Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
Foster: 'Gay agenda' is struggle for equality
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/OPINION04/704120345/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
It amazes me when bigots, under the guise of religion, quote the Bible to justify intolerance of homosexuals. Diatribes laden with such quotes seek to bolster the argument that homosexuality is a behavior or lifestyle, rather than an inherent trait. They're ill-informed, hateful and unproductive; their very use nullifies the argument. If being gay was a choice, few would choose a life of ostracism and exclusion. In six biblical scriptures, certain sexual acts are addressed, but not homosexuality.
Carman: Grizzlies' champion says delisting is sound conservation
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646422
Chris Servheen makes an improbable eco-villain. While conservation groups prepare the lawsuit they have vowed to file to prevent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from removing Yellowstone's grizzly bears from the endangered species list, the 56-year-old wildlife biologist finds himself called upon again and again to defend the federal government. And all he ever wanted to do was save the bears.
Harsanyi: Smoke it out amongst yourselves
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5646122
Often I hear teachers and parents tell kids to "work it out amongst themselves." Wouldn't it be nice if the citizens of Colorado were extended the same courtesy by their legislators? Instead, these babysitters continue the yeomen's work of denying our choices in the name of health and safety. Smoking is Job No. 1 for the babysitters. And, yes, the majority of Americans are repulsed by smoking, smokers or anything to do with the devil's weed. Certainly, no one is suggesting we allow patrons to puff unfiltered Camels at Applebee's while our salubrious kiddies chomp down on chicken fingers. Yet, now that the state wants to deny all smokers in Colorado the right to assemble peacefully to smoke in any establishment, we can safely say we're on our way to prohibition. And we all know how well that works out. Ron Granidri is disturbed by these sorts of intrusions. When Granidri, manager of an Adams County nightclub, was cited for allowing smoking in his establishment and fined $200 - he called it a "shakedown" - he found a lawyer.
Thornton: Metro counties unite
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5644986
Battling unfunded mandates at the legislature. Planning for the coming "senior tsunami." Struggling with overflowing jails. And implementing policies over which they have no control. All of these are realities for the Metro Area County Commissioners, an organization formed in March 2003 that brings together commissioners from Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties.
Warding off the facts: Churchill fans distort truth
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/11/warding-off-the-facts/
Wednesday on campus, about two-dozen protesters rallied for the ethnic-studies professor. They said his firing was political, the Rocky Mountain News reported. "The only complaints are politically motivated," said Aaron Smith, a CU senior ethnic studies major. "We're not going to stand idly by and let them fire one of CU's most distinguished professors." Let us again consider the little big man on campus. While the smoke of Sept. 11, 2001, was not yet cleared, he wrote that those who perished at the hands of terrorists were "little Eichmanns," likening the innocent to the Nazi war criminal. The comment, which didn't get widely noticed for three years, was despicable and idiotic. Some argued that he should have been fired for expressing it. To its credit, CU declared that Churchill was free to say such things, that he would not be punished for using the First Amendment. But the furor did highlight some long-standing complaints about Churchill's integrity. These complaints were neither new nor tied to Churchill's asinine metaphor. Many had been brought to CU's attention previously, but the university for whatever reason never investigated seriously.
Littwin: Despite apologies to all, Imus still not tuned in
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5479610,00.html
Don Imus says he's a good person who did a bad thing. It's a theory. But I'm not convinced of the science behind it. Ask yourself this: Of all the good people you know, how many have you ever heard call players on a women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos"? Imus is definitely a funny person, though. I don't say that because I listen to his show. I don't. If I'm in the market for sophomoric humor, I go to Jon Stewart - or I write my own. But what's funny about Imus, for starters, is that he picked Al Sharpton to apologize to for insulting the Rutgers women. Either he thinks Sharpton represents black America - not to mention black American women, or, for that matter, all American women - or he thinks the rest of us won't (wink) get the joke.
Election
Clinton: Attacks won't scare me off
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-11-hillary_N.htm
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says the pain and turmoil of her White House years don't discourage her in the least as she wages a campaign she hopes will bring her back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "I've decided this country is worth fighting for," she said, adding she is "distraught" about the last six years under President Bush. In a half-hour interview this week at the home of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, Clinton discussed her revised approach to health care reform and her daughter's view of her presidential aspirations. She also talked of why, after eight tumultuous years as first lady, she wants to return to the White House. Contemplating possible slings and arrows on the campaign trail, she said, "So what, people are going to say something bad about me?" She burst out laughing. "I mean really. I mean look. I understand how contentious American politics is. And why? Because there are big things at stake."
Biden Says Bush's Iraq Policy Doomed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101633.html
Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D) said today that the Bush Administration's surge strategy in Iraq is doomed to fail and criticized Army General David Petraeus for offering what he called an overly optimistic assessment of the situation on the ground. Biden, in an attempt to distinguish himself from the crowded Democratic presidential field, also asserted that none of his principal rivals for the nomination has offered a viable plan for success in Iraq.
McCain Calls War 'Necessary and Just'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041100203.html?hpid=topnews
Sinking in polls and struggling to reinvigorate his foundering presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered a robust defense of the war in Iraq on Wednesday, declaring that President Bush and the conflict's supporters are on the right side of history in the struggle against terrorism and extremism. Dismissing public opinion polls as offering nothing but "temporary favor" to the war's opponents, McCain directly confronted the biggest obstacle to his White House ambitions: his unyielding support of a war that more than two-thirds of the country has turned against.
RELATED: McCain firm on Iraq war
RELATED: Poll: McCain falling behind with GOP voters
Obama belatedly suggests firing host
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/12/obama_belatedly_suggests_firing_host/
Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who some political observers noted was slow to criticize racially offensive remarks by influential radio host Don Imus, strongly suggested yesterday that Imus should lose his job. Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, compared his two young daughters to the African-American women on the Rutgers University basketball team, whom Imus disparaged on his nationally syndicated radio show last week.
Thompson Says Lymphoma Is in Remission
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041100795.html
Former senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee, who is actively weighing a campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, revealed yesterday that he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma 2 1/2 years ago but said the cancer is in remission. Thompson, who is perhaps best known as the tough prosecutor on NBC's "Law & Order," said that he has had no ill effects from the cancer and that it should have no impact on his life expectancy. His doctor said Thompson had been treated with medication but, because the cancer is in remission, is no longer receiving treatment.
Giuliani off on cost of milk, closer on bread, gas
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-11-giuliani-groceries_N.htm
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani hasn't done a lot of grocery shopping lately — at least based on his answers about the cost of milk and bread. Campaigning in Alabama on Tuesday, the former New York City mayor portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative and an aggressive fighter of terrorism who has a lot in common with the Deep South state. But when asked about more mundane matters — like the price of some basic staples — Giuliani had trouble with a reporter's question. "A gallon of milk is probably about a $1.50, a loaf of bread about a $1.25, $1.30," he said.
Politics could play in Super Bowl
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-12-superbowl-campaigning_N.htm
Drink beer, eat candy, buy a car. Now add a new pitch to next year's lineup of Super Bowl television ads: Vote for me. Politics? On Super Bowl Sunday? As states line up to hold presidential primaries on the first Tuesday in February, the Feb. 3 Super Bowl could look super inviting and super expensive to presidential campaigns eager to deliver a knockout punch.
Effective and Ethical Government
Hill Leaders to Meet With Bush on War Funding Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102120.html
The White House and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to meet next Wednesday to discuss the stalemated war funding bill -- but only after a day of dueling statements that left prospects for bipartisan cooperation remote. At one point, officials at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue could not even agree on whether they had agreed to have a meeting. The dance started Tuesday, when President Bush invited congressional leaders to the White House to discuss the stalemate over a war funding measure. Even in reaching out to Democrats, Bush made clear he was not budging from his demand for a "clean" spending bill without timetables for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq that the Senate and House are proposing.
RELATED: Bush to Dems on Iraq: Agree with me
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-11-bush-dems-iraq_N.htm
RELATED: 4 Years On, the Gap Between Iraq Policy and Practice Is Wide
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/world/middleeast/12policy.html?ref=washington
Joining Gonzales in 'Challenging Times'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102231.html
This week U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor of Connecticut was named Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's third chief of staff in as many months, meaning few can congratulate him on the promotion without a sympathetic laugh. "Certainly everyone is aware that these are challenging times," he said. But when the attorney general makes an offer, "you certainly have to consider it."
Bush withdraws 2 nominees
President Bush withdrew two nominees for top environmental posts Wednesday, the week before a planned Senate hearing on their confirmation. The White House said William Wehrum and Alex Beehler recognized that they would not be confirmed and asked to be removed from consideration. Wehrum, acting head of the air office at the Environmental Protection Agency, had been nominated to take the position permanently. Beehler, a Pentagon environmental official, had been put forward as EPA's inspector general.
House Hesitates on Ethics Changes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102064.html
Democratic-led efforts to overhaul the House's oft-criticized ethics enforcement system have stumbled over a familiar obstacle: lawmakers afraid of outside scrutiny. The promise to end the "culture of corruption" they said developed in Washington under Republican rule helped propel Democrats into the majority in November elections. But after a promising start, lawmakers appear to be backing off a proposal for an independent entity to investigate ethics charges.
Senate Panel Admonishes a Beleaguered Smithsonian
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/us/12smithsonian.html
Adopting the tone of a stern parent with a wayward child, senators warned the Smithsonian Institution on Wednesday that it must create a new, more accountable management structure or risk jeopardizing support from lawmakers and the public. At a hearing of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees the Smithsonian, officials of the institution fielded questions about the dire condition of its buildings and the disclosures of extravagant spending that led to the resignation of its top official, Lawrence M. Small, last month.
Senator's office prepares for return
Sen. Tim Johnson's Washington office is being made wheelchair-accessible in preparation for his return from rehabilitation for a brain hemorrhage. When Johnson will come back to the Senate is not clear. The South Dakota Democrat has been in a rehabilitation facility since February, when he was released from George Washington University Hospital. He is not able to walk and has limited use of his right side.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Librarian Who Resisted FBI Says Patriot Act Invades Privacy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102041.html
A librarian who fended off an FBI demand for computer records on patrons said Wednesday that secret anti-terrorism investigations strip away personal freedoms. "Terrorists win when the fear of them induces us to destroy the rights that make us free," said George Christian, executive director of Library Connection, a consortium of 27 libraries in the Hartford, Conn., area.
Intelligence Community to Reshape Personnel Practices
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102110.html
Two years after the nation's intelligence community was ordered to fix problems that contributed to the failures of Sept. 11, 2001, its chief announced major changes yesterday in the way spies will be hired, assigned, evaluated and paid. In a series of initiatives set for completion in the next 100 days, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell also outlined a "radical transformation" of collaboration on intelligence gathering and analysis and community-wide standards for clarity in intelligence reports and assessment of source reliability. He revealed plans for an outside audit of the $42 billion intelligence budget and pledged newly aggressive efforts to recruit and vet native Arabic speakers.
RELATED: Overhaul of U.S. spy agencies unveiled
Jewish refugee families press for equity
A little-noticed U.S. Supreme Court decision has reopened a forgotten chapter in Middle East history with far-reaching implications for the torturous, often violent politics of the region. The court recently declined Coca-Cola Co.'s request to review a lower court's decision allowing a Canadian Jewish family to sue the soft-drink giant for trespass. The case was brought by the heirs of Joshias Bigio, a businessman in Egypt until its government expropriated his enterprises in the 1960s. Thirty years later, Bigio's son, Refael, discovered that Coke was using one of his father's factories as part of its Egyptian bottling operations and asked for compensation. When that was not forthcoming, he filed a lawsuit -- Bigio vs. The Coca-Cola Co. -- in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Bigios, who eventually settled in Canada, are Sephardim -- Jews whose ancestors lived in Muslim countries for centuries before fleeing a wave of anti-Semitic violence and intimidation that began at the founding of Israel in 1948.
N.C. House Apologizes for Slavery in State
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102058.html
The North Carolina House formally apologized Wednesday "for the injustice, cruelty and brutality of slavery," following up on the apology the Senate issued last week for the state's historic racism. In another emotional and frank debate on race unusual for the Legislative Building, House members approved both their resolution 117 to 0 and a broader Senate resolution that also apologized for the state's Jim Crow laws and other legalized segregation.
Foreign Policy
Iran Giving Arms To Iraq's Sunnis, U.S. Military Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102121.html
The chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq asserted Wednesday that Iranian-made arms, manufactured as recently as last year, have reached Sunni insurgents here, which if true would mark a new development in the four-year-old conflict. Citing testimony from detainees in U.S. custody, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said Iranian intelligence operatives were backing the Sunni militants inside Iraq while at the same time training Shiite extremists in Iran.
RELATED: Freed envoy shows alleged torture wounds
Two Soldiers Killed in Baghdad
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101100.html
Two American soldiers were killed and three others wounded in the Baghdad area during the past two days, the U.S. military announced today. One soldier died and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near their patrol in eastern Baghdad today, a military statement said. Another soldier died and another was wounded when their unit was attacked in southern Baghdad yesterday, a separate military statement said. The names of the deceased soldiers will be released after their relatives are notified, the statements said.
Civilian Claims on U.S. Suggest the Toll of War
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/world/middleeast/12abuse.html?ref=world
The claims provide a rare window into the daily chaos and violence faced by civilians and troops in the two war zones. Recently, the Army disclosed roughly 500 claims to the American Civil Liberties Union in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. They are the first to be made public. They represent only a small fraction of the claims filed. In all, the military has paid more than $32 million to Iraqi and Afghan civilians for noncombat-related killings, injuries and property damage, an Army spokeswoman said. That figure does not include condolence payments made at a unit commander’s discretion.
RELATED: Life in Iraq Worsening, Red Cross Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/world/middleeast/12redcross.html
Al-Qaeda Branch Claims Algeria Blasts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041100371.html
Al-Qaeda's new affiliate in North Africa asserted responsibility Wednesday for the deadliest attacks in Algeria's capital in a decade as 24 people were reported killed and 222 injured in bombings that shattered the prime minister's headquarters and a police base. The Algerian strikes came one day after four suicide bombers died in confrontations with police in Casablanca in neighboring Morocco. Counterterrorism officials and analysts said the plots were the latest signs that local terrorist groups have escalated operations under al-Qaeda's banner and warned that the North African networks are expanding their reach to Europe and Iraq.
RELATED: Police Step Up Patrols in Algerian Capital After Deadly Bombings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200479.html
US accedes to UN request, delays new sanctions against Sudan
The United States has delayed for several weeks the imposing of new sanctions against Sudan over its handling of Darfur to give the United Nations more time to negotiate with Khartoum, the US special envoy to Sudan said yesterday.
N.Korean premier sacking may signal more opening
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200309.html
North Korea's appointment of a new premier suggests the impoverished and isolated state wants to open up more and bring in real economic reform, analysts in the South said on Thursday. A brief mention at the end of a state news agency report on Wednesday's meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly said Pak Pong-ju had been removed and replaced by Land and Transport Minister Kim Yong-il. No reason was given.
RELATED: How U.S. Turned North Korean Funds Into a Bargaining Chip
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/world/asia/12bank.html?ref=world
China, Japan seek to expand 'common interests'
Strengthening a fragile detente, Japanese and Chinese leaders meeting in Tokyo pledged Wednesday to work jointly on North Korea, energy and the environment, while defusing thorny disputes over history and territory. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is on the first visit to Japan by a Chinese leader in nearly seven years, building on a trip by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Beijing last year to salvage damaged ties.
RELATED: China warns Japan to stand by its apologies
Bangladesh Charges Dozens, Including an Ex-Premier, With Murder
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/world/asia/12bangladesh.html
Murder charges were filed Wednesday against a former prime minister, Sheik Hasina Wazed, and more than 50 others as the country’s army-backed interim government entered its fourth month in power. Matiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a religious party, and nine other leaders of the group were among those charged with killing activists during street campaigning on Oct. 28.
In French Campaign, A Flurry of Faux Pas
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102245.html
Although the French presidential campaign sometimes seems like an election in search of an issue, more often it appears to be candidates groping for gaffes. In particular, two candidates recently stumbled over the subjects of pedophilia and masturbation. Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal had a lock on verbal contretemps early in the campaign with a series of questionable statements on international issues. But this being France, where egalitarianism is so important, she is now sharing the stage with other leading candidates, including front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy from the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party and Jean-Marie Le Pen from the anti-immigrant National Front. In the interest of full disclosure, none of the candidates admits to committing a gaffe.
Reproductive Choice
Abortion foes work to expand informed-consent laws
One of the most intense battlegrounds in the abortion debate these days revolves around a simple question: What do women need to know before they terminate a pregnancy? South Dakota lawmakers want to compel doctors — under penalty of a month in jail — to tell women that the abortion they seek will kill a "whole, separate, unique, living human being." South Carolina is on the verge of requiring that a woman review ultrasound images of her fetus with a physician before consenting to end a pregnancy. In Mississippi, a woman must be given a chance to listen in as the abortion doctor checks the fetal heartbeat. To antiabortion activist Leslee Unruh, such laws represent protection. Unruh had an abortion decades ago and has mourned that decision ever since; she believes she can save other women similar anguish by making sure that they know precisely what they'll be losing if they end a pregnancy.
Health Care and Public Safety
Senate Bill Seeks Power for Medicare on Drug Costs
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12medicare.html
Senate Democratic leaders pushed Wednesday for legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for millions of older Americans. Their bill does not go as far as one passed by the House, which requires such negotiations. In 2003, Congress added a drug benefit to Medicare, but prohibited Medicare officials from negotiating prices with drug manufacturers. The benefit is delivered by private insurers and their agents, pharmacy benefit managers, which negotiate with drug makers and have obtained substantial discounts in return for steering patients to particular products.
FDA targets drink's 'tongue-in-cheek' pitch
The Food and Drug Administration says the energy drink Cocaine is being illegally marketed by Redux Beverages LLC as both a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement. The agency stated its opinion in a warning letter dated April 4 but made public Wednesday. The FDA cites as evidence the drink's own labeling and Web site, which included the statements "Speed in a Can," "Liquid Cocaine" and "Cocaine -- Instant Rush," according to the letter. The drink contains no cocaine.
FDA conflict policy won't apply in Arcoxia review
Less than a month after proposing a stricter conflict-of-interest policy for outside experts, the Food and Drug Administration has included three doctors with financial ties to the drug industry on a panel that will evaluate the first successor to the pain reliever Vioxx.
Massachusetts Offers Details on Health Coverage
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/us/12mass.html?ref=us
Massachusetts is poised to become the first state to make it possible for 99 percent of its adults to be covered by health insurance, with an ambitious plan that sets limits for the premiums people would be expected to pay. State officials said that under the plan, they expected that all but about 65,000 of the 328,000 adults who are currently uninsured would be able to get affordable coverage.
States told to prep for gray driver boom
The number of elderly drivers will explode in America over the next two decades. And that could pose problems for states concerned about highway safety. A little more than half the states have taken steps to deal with safety problems posed by older drivers, but there is growing concern that as the Baby Boom population retires, states might have to do more to prevent additional age-related accidents.
Some Suspect Chemical Mix in Pet Food
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/worldbusiness/12gluten.html
Behind an unmarked gate in this booming city well north of Shanghai lies a large building at the heart of an investigation over tainted pet food that has killed at least 16 cats and dogs in the United States, sickened 12,000 and prompted a nationwide recall. This is the property of the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, a small agricultural products business that investigators have identified as the source of contaminated wheat gluten that was shipped to a major pet food supplier in the United States. Some American regulators suspect there was deliberate mixing of substances. They are looking into the possibility that melamine, the chemical linked to the pets’ deaths, was mixed into the wheat gluten in China as a way to bolster the protein content, according to a person who was briefed on the investigation.
Economy
For Wolfowitz, Slings and Arrows
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102202.html
Growing hostility within the World Bank toward its president, Paul D. Wolfowitz, is raising questions about his ability to lead the big lending institution and raise money for a fund that assists the developing world. Wolfowitz's tenure, contentious from the start because of his earlier role as an architect of U.S. policy in Iraq, has been marred in recent months by a series of controversies. World Bank staffers disclosed that a woman with whom Wolfowitz is romantically involved received big pay raises from the bank. Sensitive board minutes regarding China have been leaked to the press, and blistering criticism has been leveled at Wolfowitz on an internal electronic bulletin board.
Fed Chief Backs Current Hedge Fund Rules
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/12hedge.html?ref=business
Light regulation of hedge funds has worked well so far and seems appropriate given the benefits the funds provide to the financial system, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said yesterday. Speaking at New York University Law School, Mr. Bernanke stressed that the purpose of hedge funds — investment pools aimed primarily at wealthy investors and institutions — was to take risks. “Market discipline does not prevent hedge funds from taking risks, suffering losses or even failing — nor should it,” Mr. Bernanke said. “If hedge funds did not take risks, their social benefits — the provision of market liquidity, improved risk-sharing and support for financial and economic innovation, among others — would largely disappear.”
SEC Uses Patriot Act To Accuse Brokerage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102193.html
The Securities and Exchange Commission, in its first case against a brokerage under an anti-money-laundering clause of the USA Patriot Act, accused a Florida firm of abetting suspicious stock trades. Park Financial Group and its principal, Gordon Cantley, aided a plan to inflate the share price of toolmaker Spear & Jackson in 2002 and 2003 because the firm didn't file so-called suspicious activity reports, the SEC said yesterday. It is the first case against a broker for not filing the reports, the SEC said. The USA Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, requires that banks and other financial institutions keep tabs on customer accounts and alert regulators about suspicious financial transactions. The SEC has "highlighted the importance of anti-money-laundering procedures" for several years, the agency's enforcement director, Linda Chatman Thomsen, said in the statement. "A broker-dealer should not be surprised" that not filing the required reports "would lead to an enforcement action."
IRS Focus On Audits At Firms Criticized
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102229.html
IRS agents are devoting more time to corporate audits that fail to find additional tax dollars, an analysis of federal records released yesterday shows. As a result, an increasing share of underreported taxes identified by the government comes from individuals, according to the analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research group at Syracuse University. TRAC said the results raise concerns that the IRS isn't using its limited resources to collect taxes in the fairest and most efficient manner. The analysis comes as Congress and the president grapple with how to close the $350 billion tax gap -- the government's estimate of unreported or uncollected federal taxes -- in the face of rising expenses, particularly from the war in Iraq.
Citi Regroups, Cutting Thousands of Jobs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041100450.html
Citigroup, the financial services giant ailing after overseas scandals and lagging profit growth, said yesterday that it would slash 17,000 jobs and transfer 9,500 to cheaper locations around the world to cut the cost of its operations. The layoffs are a small part of Citigroup's sprawling, 327,000-person payroll but a centerpiece of chief executive Charles Prince's effort to control a conglomerate criticized for becoming too big to manage. The reorganization aims to strip out levels of middle management; force different parts of Citigroup's operation to share legal, human resources and other services; and consolidate some offices. The company operates in more than 100 countries.
RELATED: Citigroup to Eliminate 17,000 Jobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/12citi.html?ref=business
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Corporate Pensions Had Strong Year, Study Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102125.html
The nation's corporate pension funds had a healthy 2006, buoyed by stronger-than-anticipated returns from the stock market and slower-than-anticipated growth in expected payments to retirees. That's the conclusion of the Milliman consulting firm after reviewing the 100 biggest companies that offer pension plans. The companies manage $1.3 trillion in pension benefits, about 75 percent of traditional-pension money in the U.S. private sector.
Housing and Homelessness
Realtors Expect Home Prices to Show First Annual Decline
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/12realtors.html
The problems in the subprime loan market will make it more difficult for borrowers to get mortgages and will cause home prices to fall this year for the first time on record, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. The 2007 median price for an existing home probably will decline 0.7 percent, to $220,300, the first drop since the real estate trade group began keeping records in 1968 and probably the first decline since the Great Depression, said Lawrence Yun, an economist with the association, which is based in Chicago. The median price for new homes is projected to increase 0.4 percent, to $246,200 this year, the smallest gain since prices fell in 1991.
$1 Billion Pledged to Help Fend Off Foreclosures
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102200.html
Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, an 18-year-old housing advocacy group, yesterday announced it would commit $1 billion to refinancing the loans of lower-income people at risk of losing their homes. The financing will come from CitiGroup and Bank of America, which have been lending money for years to borrowers screened by the nonprofit group. NACA, of Boston, said it had helped put 50,000 people in homes since its creation.
As Subprime Market Implodes, a Contrarian Prospers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/12lend.html?ref=business
In a clubby market where securities based on risky mortgages, credit card debt and other financial assets are traded, John Devaney is known for making brash pronouncements — and for often being proved right. “I personally hate subprime,” Mr. Devaney declared at an American Securitization Forum conference in late January, “and I’m kind of hoping the whole thing explodes.” He certainly got his wish. Within a month of his remarks, several big lenders to people with weak credit — specialists in what is known as the subprime market — began collapsing. Now, as investors and policy makers ponder the wreckage, it is clear that asset-backed securities, or bonds, played an important role in subprime’s rapid rise and its messy fall. And as a number of big players swoop in, hoping to make a killing while cleaning up the mess, Mr. Devaney is counting on his contrarian instincts to serve him well in the uncertain atmosphere.
Media
Kurt Vonnegut Dies at 84
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200062.html
Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," died Wednesday. He was 84. Vonnegut, who often marveled that he had lived so long despite his lifelong smoking habit, had suffered brain injuries after a fall at his Manhattan home weeks ago, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.
RELATED: Author's dark humor captivated generations
MSNBC Drops Imus's Show
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101767.html
MSNBC said late yesterday it is dropping host Don Imus's morning program after a succession of advertisers suspended sponsorship of his cable TV show and outrage increased over his racially and sexually insensitive remarks. Imus's four-decade career as a radio host also appeared to be in jeopardy after a board member at CBS Radio said he hoped the shock jock would be fired. CBS, which syndicates Imus's show to 70 radio stations across the country, continued to stand by Imus, saying it would "continue to speak with all concerned parties and monitor the situation closely."
Films From the Weinsteins Falter, but the Brothers Stay Focused
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/movies/12movie.html?ref=business
As last weekend’s box-office take for the heavily promoted “Grindhouse” tumbled in at just $11.6 million, a chilly realization came with the numbers: Not all is well with the Weinstein Company. Indeed, the namesake entertainment boutique founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein as they acrimoniously left Miramax and the Walt Disney Company two years ago has seen its highly visible movie operation suffer humiliations that might have sunk a less tenacious start-up.
Education
Student Loan Giant Sallie Mae Settles in N.Y. Conflict-of-Interest Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101326.html
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student loan provider, agreed yesterday to limit its frequently close relationships with university financial aid officials and pay $2 million to remove itself as a target of a widening national investigation into the industry. In a settlement with the New York state attorney general, the Reston-based lending behemoth said it would no longer pay travel and entertainment fees for university officials, send its staff to work for free in financial aid offices or operate call centers where company employees provide financial advice but identify themselves only as university advisers.
RELATED: [Chicago] college's links to lender revealed
RELATED: WIU admits having a deal with lender
All Charges Dropped Against 3 at Duke
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041100288.html
Rather than simply drop the remaining charges against three former Duke University lacrosse players, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper turned the tables on the prosecutor Wednesday and, after castigating him as a "rogue" who acted out of "bravado," said he could face a criminal investigation for his pursuit of the sexual assault case. "We believe that these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations," Cooper said. "There were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado." A criminal investigation of Durham District Attorney Michael B. Nifong is a "possibility," he said, noting that the North Carolina bar is already investigating an ethics complaint against him. Nifong did not return calls to his office, but his lawyer, David Freedman, told ABC News that "he pushed the case as long as he did because at that point he believed in this case."
RELATED: All Charges Dropped in Duke Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/us/12duke.html?ref=us
Suddenly, many colleges are elite
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/04/12/suddenly_many_colleges_are_elite/
Many Massachusetts colleges that had long accepted students unlikely to make the cut for an Ivy League school are sending record numbers of rejection letters this year. The Bay State schools are becoming more selective because their applicant pools, like those at the elite colleges, are swelling from a population boom of high school students. And the caliber of the applicants for schools like Boston College, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst is rising as Ivy League schools become ever more competitive.
Science and Technology
How Did the Universe Survive the Big Bang? In This Experiment, Clues Remain Elusive
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/science/12neutrino.html?ref=science
An experiment that some hoped would reveal a new class of subatomic particles, and perhaps even point to clues about why the universe exists at all, has instead produced a first round of results that are mysteriously inconclusive.
Private Space of The Future
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102168.html
Private space exploration took a potentially significant step forward this week as Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace announced plans to send a series of inflatable space stations into orbit over the next decade. The spacecraft, initially designed by NASA for use with the International Space Station, would be available to train astronauts from nations not currently active in space, as well as companies that could manufacture unique products in weightlessness. "We think the time will come when orbiting space complexes won't be considered a novelty, but a necessity," said Bigelow's president, Robert Bigelow, who made a fortune as founder of Budget Suites hotel chain.
Military
Strained Army Extends Tours To 15 Months
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041100615.html
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced yesterday that all active-duty soldiers currently deployed or going to Iraq and Afghanistan will see their one-year tours extended to 15 months, acknowledging that such a strain on the war-weary Army is necessary should the ongoing troop increase be prolonged well into next year. The decision -- coming three months after President Bush put forth his new security plan for Iraq, including the deployment of at least 28,000 additional troops there -- reflects the reality that the new strategy is unfeasible without introducing longer Army tours.
RELATED: Troops' reaction: Stoicism, anxiety
RELATED: Army lengthens tours by 3 months
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/12/army_lengthens_tours_by_3_months/
Panel Calls for Closing Walter Reed Sooner
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041101234.html
A top-level Pentagon review panel has concluded that Walter Reed Army Medical Center should be closed as soon as possible, following revelations of poor care that the panel blamed on a "perfect storm" of failed leadership, flawed policies and overwhelming casualties. In a preliminary report released yesterday, the panel appointed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recommended accelerating the closure of the Northwest Washington hospital but improving conditions there in the meantime. Under defense realignment decisions made two years ago, the hospital's facilities were scheduled to move to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda by 2011.
RELATED: Panel puts hospital on the ropes
Religion
Judge Orders Outside Expert to Assess Diocese Accounts
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/us/12church.html
In a move filled with admonishments and anger, a federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings of the Roman Catholic Diocese [in San Diego] on Wednesday ordered an outside accounting expert to sort through what she called “the most Byzantine accounting system I have ever seen,” and to report directly to her. The order was issued in a contempt hearing in which diocese lawyers and priests were ordered to explain why they should not be sanctioned for trying to move church money without court authorization.
Oil Prices Climb Above $62 a Barrel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200382.html
Oil prices rose Thursday after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected decline in domestic gasoline stockpiles. Tensions over Iran's defiance of a U.N. Security Council demand that it cease uranium enrichment also supported prices, along with warning from the International Energy Agency that OPEC production was at its lowest in over two years.
Shell Settles With Europe on Overstated Oil Reserves
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/12shell.html?ref=business
Royal Dutch Shell agreed Wednesday to pay European and other non-American shareholders about $450 million in a settlement to help resolve legal disputes stemming from its overstatement of oil reserves. The money will compensate shareholders for losses incurred when the company’s stock dropped after it disclosed in early 2004 that it had greatly overstated its reserves, a closely watched indicator of an energy company’s health. “For us it is an important step in closing the legal proceedings,” Beat Hess, the head of Shell’s legal department, said at the company’s headquarters in The Hague. He said Shell did not admit any wrongdoing.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Senate panel opens hearings on airline passengers' rights
The way Kate Hanni tells it, an ill-fated holiday trip that left her family stuck inside a grounded airliner for nine hours without food, running water or working toilets amounted to "cruel and inhumane" treatment that no passenger should have to endure. Infuriated about the ordeal in December, she and her husband started a coalition of fed-up fliers to press for an industrywide passenger bill of rights. Earlier this year, after JetBlue's cancellations of hundreds of flights stranded thousands of passengers across the country, their cause caught the attention of legislators on Capitol Hill.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Levin: Cheney lied. Again.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-levin12apr12,0,6767470.story?coll=la-opinion-center
TO PARAPHRASE President Reagan, there he goes again. On Rush Limbaugh's radio program last week, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke about Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and stated: "He went to Baghdad. He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the Al Qaeda operations inside Iraq…. This is Al Qaeda operating in Iraq and, as I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq." It is incredible that more than four years after the invasion, the vice president is still trying to convince the public that Saddam Hussein's regime was connected to Al Qaeda and that Zarqawi's presence in Iraq was evidence of a connection. While the vice president doesn't say directly that there was a tie between the two, his clear purpose is to blur the line between Al Qaeda — the perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks — and the Iraqi dictator in order to justify the war in Iraq.
Biden: The Real Surge Story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102119.html
Sen. John McCain [" The War You're Not Reading About," op-ed, April 8] is right to warn about the consequences of failure in Iraq. But he is fundamentally wrong when he argues that those potential consequences require us to stick with a failing strategy. It is precisely because the stakes are so great that we must change course in Iraq, now.
RELATED: Four Years Later in Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/opinion/12thu1.html
Bookman: A fighter for U.S., environment
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/bookman/stories/2007/04/12/0412edbookman.html
Almost 60 years earlier, he had done his part. On D-Day, he had sloshed ashore at Normandy. Later, he spent days and nights trapped alone behind enemy lines, where he had parachuted as a forward spotter. After fighting all the way into Germany, he was awaiting orders for the Pacific when word came of Japan's surrender. He had seen a lot, in other words, and now, on a cool Georgia night in October 2001, it was coming back to him, touched off by news of another generation of Americans going to their own war. As we talked — as I listened and he talked, to be exact — he raged about the necessity of killing every sonofabitch who dared oppose us. "It's the only way to do it — if it moves, shoot it," he said in the deep Georgia drawl you don't hear much anymore. Then, in the very next moment, he would weep at the memory of it all, at the cruelty and violence. Yes, a little bit of whiskey may have been at work that night, but it did not create the confusion; it merely let that confusion express itself. By then, I had known Ogden Doremus for years, and we had talked about a lot of things, but this — this was new to me. For the first time he talked of calling in air support to bomb Nazi-held towns, and watching as the bombs fell on buildings that he knew were filled with children and women and old people. As the American army marched through Germany, he said, the destruction was so complete that "we didn't leave one brick piled atop another brick. We didn't leave so much as a chicken alive." One side of Ogden harbored no second thoughts, because he had done what needed to be done. Another side hated himself for what he done. But what really tore him up that night, and a few other nights that followed, was knowing that others would now be burdened with similar knowledge.
Frank: In the Real World of Work and Wages, Trickle-Down Theories Don’t Hold Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/12scene.html?ref=business
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” The same logic explains the call by John Edwards, the Democratic presidential candidate, for higher taxes on top earners to underwrite his proposal for universal health coverage. Providing universal coverage will be expensive. With the median wage, adjusted for inflation, lower now than in 1980, most middle-class families cannot afford additional taxes. In contrast, the top tenth of 1 percent of earners today make about four times as much as in 1980, while those higher up have enjoyed even larger gains. Chief executives of large American companies, for example, earn more than 10 times what they did in 1980. In short, top earners are where the money is. Universal health coverage cannot happen unless they pay higher taxes. Trickle-down theorists are quick to object that higher taxes would cause top earners to work less and take fewer risks, thereby stifling economic growth. In their familiar rhetorical flourish, they insist that a more progressive tax system would kill the geese that lay the golden eggs. On close examination, however, this claim is supported neither by economic theory nor by empirical evidence.
The stem cell do-over
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-stemcell12apr12,0,5600581.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
IN MOVING to lift senseless restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, the Senate is trying to effectively override President Bush's veto of a similar bill last summer. Once the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 is reconciled with a House version passed in January, Bush will have the opportunity to make amends. Granted, this president isn't known for reexamining previous positions. But he ought to make the effort — not just for the benefit of seriously ill Americans who might benefit from stem cell therapies, but to get out from under an incoherent, impractical and unpopular policy.
A Bad Choice, a Quick Exit
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/opinion/12thu4.html
The story of Eric Keroack’s brief stint as director of family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services brings together three familiar Bush administration themes: a disdain for women’s reproductive health and rights, the sacrifice of science to ideology and incompetence.
Bush's border politics
President Bush's prescription for immigration reform has always included four points: border security, workplace enforcement, a guest worker system to address this nation's labor shortages and a plan to bring the 12 million immigrants living here illegally into the open. U.S. Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) nailed all four points in the 700-page bill they tossed onto the table two weeks ago. The bill drew predictable scowls from recalcitrants who think the solution is to wall off the border, period. But it has much in common with the comprehensive bill passed last year by the Senate and favored by Bush. With a little muscle from the president, it seemed, the Flake-Gutierrez bill could pass. And work. But Monday, the president poured cold water on that plan. He doesn't think it's restrictive enough to get through Congress. Determined to sign an immigration law before he leaves the White House, Bush has been meeting with Senate leaders to draft a measure that he hopes will appease enough hard-liners to ensure passage. The plan he sketched out Monday is less welcoming than the Flake-Gutierrez bill, or last year's Senate legislation.
Magubane: Why 'nappy' is offensive
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/04/12/why_nappy_is_offensive/
WHEN DON IMUS called the Rutgers University basketball team a bunch of "nappy-headed ho ' s" he brought to the fore the degree to which black women's hair has served as a visible marker of our political and social marginalization.
Mr. Giuliani Goes South
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/opinion/12thu3.html
Rudolph Giuliani cannot truly believe that the issues surrounding the Confederate flag are just a matter of local taste.
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