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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/041307.htm
TOP STORIES
National
Leading Democrat says party leaders must not yield on war
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-12-us-iraq_N.htm
A memo from a top House Democrat says party leaders must not yield to White House pressure on Iraq and should cast President Bush as increasingly detached from public opinion. Bush has said he will not negotiate with Democrats on legislation that would finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September if it sets an end date for the Iraq war. Holding only a narrow majority in Congress, Democrats do not have enough votes to override the president's veto. In a memo to party leaders, Rep. Rahm Emanuel says that so long as Democrats continue to ratchet up the pressure on Bush, the president loses ground. If Bush continues to refuse to negotiate, his "continued insistence on a blank check for the war will only further damage his standing with the American people," wrote Emanuel, D-Ill., a member of the House Democratic leadership. Emanuel said he believes Democrats should continue to push to negotiate with the president. Despite differences, "there are areas of agreement that should offer fertile ground for negotiation and compromise," he wrote.
RELATED: Action on Troops Reshapes Bush’s Debate With Congress
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/washington/13cong.html?ref=washington
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/CIVIL LIBERTIES, COLORADO/MILITARY
Rove E-Mail Sought by Congress May Be Missing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202408.html?hpid=topnews
A lawyer for the Republican National Committee told congressional staff members yesterday that the RNC is missing at least four years' worth of e-mail from White House senior adviser Karl Rove that is being sought as part of investigations into the Bush administration, according to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. GOP officials took issue with Rep. Henry Waxman's account of the briefing and said they still hope to find the e-mail as they conduct forensic work on their computer equipment. But they acknowledged that they took action to prevent Rove -- and Rove alone among the two dozen or so White House officials with RNC accounts -- from deleting his e-mails from the RNC server. Waxman (D-Calif.) said he was told the RNC made that move in 2005.
RELATED: Controversy escalates over missing e-mails
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-emails13apr13,0,6342131.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RELATED: Leahy says Bush aides lied about lost e-mails
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-12-fired-prosecutors_N.htm
RELATED: Subpoenas vowed over 'lost' e-mails
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/13/subpoenas_vowed_over_lost_e_mails/
FDA's Response to Tainted Pet Food Assailed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202372.html
A Senate panel took the Food and Drug Administration to task yesterday for its "inexcusable" response to pet food contamination and a month's worth of expanding recalls that have left Americans fearful about what to feed their cats and dogs. The Appropriations subcommittee, with a special appearance by the dean of the Senate, pressed the agency for better and faster reporting about tainted food and better and more-frequent inspections of pet food factories. "This is inexcusable," Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said after a two-hour hearing in which an FDA official said he couldn't be sure that all the adulterated pet food has been recalled and is off store shelves. "The FDA's response to this situation has been wholly inadequate."
RELATED: Durbin calls safety procedures 'broken'
RELATED: Tainted pet food could still be on store shelves
SEC Shift May Lead To Lower Penalties
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202188.html
The Securities and Exchange Commission is changing how it negotiates settlements with companies in a way that could reduce the number and size of financial penalties that businesses pay, current and former officials said yesterday. Under the change, which has not been made public, SEC enforcement lawyers must seek approval from the agency's five commissioners before they begin settlement talks that involve fining corporations, including seeking ranges for possible fines. Currently, staff members have the authority to negotiate with businesses and draft settlements in principle before they take the deals to the agency leaders for final approval. The shift marks the latest development in a heated debate over whether companies or individual wrongdoers should bear the brunt of blame for legal violations. Penalties reached record proportions after destructive scandals at Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia Communications, creating concern among some commissioners that enforcement staff members are overreaching.
Colorado
DNC organizers move closer to union solution
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482083,00.html
Organizers of the Democratic National Convention made progress Thursday in resolving labor disputes that threatened to overshadow the event. Labor officials were granted a seat on the Denver 2008 host committee that they had sought since last summer. The leader of one of the state's largest unions said it was time to "move on," and national AFL-CIO President John Sweeney flew into Denver to "tone down the rhetoric" that has surrounded the debate over labor issues in Colorado. Other issues - such as the unionization of more downtown hotels - remain on the table.
RELATED: Dean: Denver convention shows West is way to White House
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5481178,00.html
RELATED: Guess you really had to be there
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482073,00.html
RELATED: DNC to make strange bedfellows
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5481602,00.html
RELATED: Labor peace elusive
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655556
RELATED: Dean rallies his Western team
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655576
RELATED: Dean supporters pack hall
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5651383
RELATED: THEY SAID IT (EXTRA, April 13)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482074,00.html
Lawyers argue Bush can eject protesters
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5481779,00.html
The case involves two people ejected from a taxpayer-funded Bush speech two years ago. Leslie Weise and Alex Young were removed from a Bush address on Social Security after a staffer for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., pointed them out as suspicious because they had arrived in a car with an anti-war bumper sticker. Weise and Young sued, arguing that the ouster violated their First Amendment right to free speech. Attorneys for Michael Casper and Jay Klinkerman, who were involved in removing them, have filed an appeals brief saying the ouster was legal. "The president's right to control his own message includes the right to exclude people expressing discordant viewpoints from the audience," states the brief, filed by attorneys Sean Gallagher, Dugan Bliss and others representing Casper and Klinkerman. The White House declined comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit. Three White House staffers have also been sued in the case for ordering the ouster. Gallagher said the White House was not involved in developing the argument. The appeal centers on "whose speech is at issue - the president's or the plaintiffs'?" the brief says. Weise responded, "My read of the Constitution does not give the president free speech rights greater than the citizens he serves."
Drilling bill's life may be short
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5481342,00.html
Dee Hoffmeister broke down before state lawmakers last month recalling her ordeal with oil and gas drilling. Noxious fumes, bright lights and continuous hum from a drilling rig next to her property in Silt made her sick about two years ago. She ended up moving in with her daughter in Glenwood Springs for six months. Hoffmeister, 69, told her story to the House Agriculture, Livestock & Natural Resources Committee during debate of a bill that would require oil and gas regulators to work with health officials to minimize the impact of drilling on human health and the environment. The House committee approved the bill, but it could be short-lived. The oil and gas industry, which opposes the bill, is negotiating with the administration of Gov. Bill Ritter on another bill on how to best reform the state oil and gas commission that regulates the industry. That could result in killing off the House bill and including some of its stipulations in the commission reform bill. "That's a possible outcome," said Greg Schnacke of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, which represented industry in the discussions. A compromise on the commission reform bill is expected early next week.
RELATED: Senate approves oil, gas measure
REALTED: Oil and gas panel expansion survives
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/13/4_13_1b_COGCC_reform_update.html
More energy policy news in NATIONAL/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENVIRONMENT
Effort to stiffen seat-belt law dies again
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5480896,00.html
A bill that would have allowed police to stop and ticket motorists solely for not using seat belts narrowly died for the second straight year Thursday. Senate Bill 151 would have allowed drivers to be stopped and given a $25 ticket for being unbuckled or failing to have children secured in a properly sized booster seat. Currently, Colorado motorists can be ticketed for no seat belt only if they are stopped for another traffic violation. It was killed on a 33-31 vote; a similar measure failed by one vote last year in the House. House sponsor Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, argued it would save more than 30 lives each year, spare taxpayers $1.8 million in annual Medicaid costs for passenger injuries and earn the state $12 million in one-time federal transportation funding. But opponents countered that allowing police to pull folks over under the pretext that adults or children weren't properly buckled in would fuel traffic stops based on racial profiling. They also said that safety education — by parents and public awareness campaigns — is the best way to ensure seat-belt use.
RELATED: Seat-belt bill dies; could harm civil liberties
RELATED: House kills seat belt bill after fiery debate
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=21185&template=article.html
Election
5 Questions for U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/5-questions-for-us-sen-joseph-biden-d-delaware/
U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden — a Delaware Democrat and presidential hopeful — will deliver a speech at the Conference on World Affairs today. His address, "America's Interests, Iraq's Future," will begin at 1 p.m. in Macky Auditorium. The Camera caught up with the senator before the event.
Activist makes bid for 2nd CD
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15732
[Will] Shafroth, one of several Democrats expected to vie for the chance to succeed Udall in Congress, said he wasn’t intending to formally roll out his campaign until sometime next week. But when Shafroth showed up at the Boulder County Democratic Party’s monthly meeting on Wednesday night, county chairwoman Deb Gardner invited him to address the gathering at county party headquarters as a candidate — and he did so. The environment wasn’t the only topic Shafroth covered in his brief speech. He also said he’d be running on “economic security issues,” such as education and the federal budget deficit. Shafroth said there’s a need “to better align the priorities of the federal government with our local school districts,” and he expressed concerns about the problems that continuing budget deficits would pose for today’s kids and future generations. Said Shafroth to the Boulder County Democrats: “I have a lot to learn in this process,” adding that this is “my first week as a candidate.” Expected to join Shafroth in the 2nd Congressional District field of Democratic candidates are state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and Boulder entrepreneur Jared Polis. Fitz-Gerald, a Jefferson County resident whose Senate district extends into western Boulder County, hasn’t formally announced her candidacy for Congress but said in a Wednesday night interview that “I’m seriously considering the run” and has been making preparations for a possible race. “Let’s put it this way,” Fitz-Gerald said. “Will won’t be alone (for) long.”
House backs measure to curb LLC donations (Under the dome, 4/13)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655618
The House on Thursday endorsed a bill to crack down on campaign contributions by limited liability corporations. The measure would close a loophole exposed during last year's elections when a number of donors used LLCs to get around the state's contribution limits for individuals. House Bill 1323 would prohibit donations to candidates, small- donor committees and political parties if one or more of the members of the LLC is a corporation, a labor organization, a lobbyist or foreign citizen or government. Those LLCs contributing to campaigns would have to provide the names and addresses of its membership, confirmation of eligibility to make the donation, and information as to how the contribution is to be attributed among its members. "Clean elections require transparency. Any attempt to conceal contributions to candidates is an effort to hide the truth from the American people," said bill sponsor Rep. Gwyn Green, D-Golden.
Eagle County home-rule election is on
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070413/NEWS/104130077
Eagle County is asking voters for the second times in six months if they want to switch to a different style of government that allows more tailor-made rules. Mail ballots in the home-rule election arrived at the homes of registered voters this week. Ballots are due at the Eagle County clerk's office by 7 p.m. May 1. There is no precinct voting; the election is mail-in only. The biggest change proposed from switching from a statutory to a home-rule style of government would be an increase in the number of Eagle County commissioners from three to five. The Roaring Fork Valley portion of the county, which includes El Jebel and most of Basalt, would be guaranteed a seat at the table since it would constitute one of five districts.
Diversity shaping election
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5656510
Candidates in the race for Denver's District 8 City Council seat are battling to represent what all of them view as the most diverse district in the city. Four candidates are on the ballot and a fifth is campaigning as a write-in for one of the three open seats on the council. All five candidates said diversity has shaped the way they have campaigned to replace former City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth. "I think it is a critical point in the district's history," said Sharon Bailey, a former Denver Public Schools Board of Education member who works in the city auditor's office.
MV must answer for election spending
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/13/news/news01.txt
What began as a small but vocal opposition to the town-approved Monument Realty and rec-center project pelted the town square in the head. A recent complaint from a resident has forced a legal dialogue about whether public funds were improperly used to sway the electorate in an upcoming special election. Mountain Village resident Richard Child filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office on April 5 alleging campaign and political finance violations against the town “for utilizing public funds to distribute a letter signed by the mayor of the town supporting a specific position regarding a special election,” according to the filing.
RELATED: MVTC looks to fill seat
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/13/news/news03.txt
Effective and Ethical Government
Wilson: be 'engaged' in the politics
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/wilson-be-engaged-in-the-politics/
Before the United States went to war in Iraq — and 3,300 U.S. troops died — there should have been a broader societal conversation, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson told his Boulder audience Thursday. Nearly all of the 2,050 seats in the University of Colorado's Macky Auditorium were filled during Wilson's address at the Conference on World Affairs. He took some shots at the Bush administration and said it's been a "hell of a ride” since his wife, Valerie Plame, had to leave the CIA because her identity as an agent was published in the media. Wilson said members of the Bush administration revealed her identity because he spoke out against the push for the Iraq war. Wilson characterizes it as treason.
RELATED: Wilson: watch Washington
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/12/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Musgrave makes tracks to constituents
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS01/704130353/1002
Shaking hands and listening to concerns from residents, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave hit the streets of Fort Collins on Thursday, continuing her "Marilyn on Main Street" program in Northern Colorado. Walking the sidewalks of Old Town and visiting local small businesses along the way, the Republican congresswoman from Fort Morgan spent nearly two hours talking to residents about prescription drugs, health care and shopping.
Iraq war resolution (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/24
Another week has gone by, and the Senate still has not considered changes the House made to a Senate memorial resolution calling on President Bush to end the war in Iraq. Last week, the House rewrote a more strongly worded Senate Memorial 2 that condemned the war and called on the president to end any escalation of it. To date, the measure has passed entirely along party lines in the Democratic-controlled Legislature. That means Southern Colorado Democrats, Sens. Abel Tapia of Pueblo and Gail Schwartz of Snowmass Village voted for the measure when it initially passed the Senate in late March, and local Republican Sens. Ken Kester of Las Animas and Greg Brophy of Wray opposed it. Because the House altered the memorial, it must return to the Senate to approve or reject those changes, which could happen as early as next week.
Panel preps for review of ethics complaint
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5482075,00.html
Three lawmakers who will review an ethics complaint against a lobbyist who opposed a construction defects bill discussed Thursday which records to review and when to meet to discuss them. The meeting Thursday was not advertised, although legislative rules require that "all proceedings" of the ethics committee be open to the public. "Did we commit an ethics violation?" joked Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, who serves on the committee. He said Thursday's gathering was arranged by legislative staff so the committee could set up its first official meeting, which is scheduled for April 23.
Senate panel backs bill raising license, plate fees
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=21186&template=article.html
Coloradans may be forced to pay an additional $5.40 to renew their driver’s licenses, with the bulk of the revenues going to reopen offices in three counties. SB241 stems from a January proposal by Gov. Bill Ritter to relieve long lines at driver’s license offices by reopening offices in Adams and Jefferson counties that were among 25 shut down during the 2003 budget crunch. A Larimer County office was added by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins.
SNOW JOB (Roll Call, April 13)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5481876,00.html
"We are going to take the day off." House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, advising lawmakers Thursday there would be no session today because of the storm "Four more years!" Rep. Bill Cadman, a Colorado Springs Republican, jokingly cheering on Madden, who is term- limited
SPOTLIGHT ON CALHAN (On the side, 4/13)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655619
Republican state Rep. Marsha Looper, who represents District 19, lives in Calhan, an agricultural community of wheat farmers and ranchers, which is becoming more of a bedroom community to Colorado Springs.
Judge unseals documents in CBI Jeffco probe
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655658
A judge on Thursday unsealed documents approving a special prosecutor in a state investigation of whether Jefferson County officials misused taxpayer money to hire a private investigator. Since mid-March, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has been looking into allegations that a business operated by a friend of Commissioner Jim Congrove's was inappropriately paid $7,500 to do surveillance of a county critic and others. The watchdog group Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government asked Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey to probe what it called a potential embezzlement of public funds. Storey asked the CBI to step in because he wanted to avoid a potential conflict of interest since his office's budget is set by the commissioners.
Civil Liberties and Equality
DA mulls charges in attack on gay student
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/22
Prosecutors are reviewing a police investigation into an alleged hate crime against a gay student at Centennial High School for possible filing of criminal charges. District Attorney Bill Thiebaut said Thursday that his office had received the complete investigation from the police department into the alleged April 5 attack on 15-year-old Anthony Hergesheimer by six schoolmates from Centennial. Investigators are trying to determine whether the alleged attack was motivated by Hergesheimer's open homosexuality. Hergesheimer told police he was walking home from school when a carload of Centennial students targeted him with slurs about his sexual orientation. One of the car's occupants allegedly hurled an aerosol can that struck Hergesheimer in the nose. Hergesheimer underwent surgery Wednesday for a broken nose due to injuries sustained in the alleged attack. Hergesheimer also has reported that he received threatening e-mail messages in the aftermath of the attack.
Greeley push is on to preserve Latino history
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655547
In a city where a sign once hung that said "No Dogs or Mexicans," local Latinos will now get more of a say in how they are viewed through the prism of history. A group of Latinos has started working with the city in preserving the history and interpreting the lives of people who came here to work more than a century ago and now make up 30 percent of the local population. The city currently features Latinos in some of its exhibits, including an adobe home that houses a scale model of Latino workers' homes in the 1920s. But museum officials and members of the Latino Advisory Committee say there needs to be a broader understanding of Latinos' contributions.
Rifle teenager could face assault charge
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/12/4_13_3a_School_fight_charges.html
A 16-year-old girl was advised this week she could face a charge of second-degree assault for an attack on a 14-year-old girl in the hallways of Rifle High School in February. Nancy Estelle Hernandez appeared before Garfield County Juvenile Court Judge Paul Metzler and was informed Wednesday she could face up to two years in a Colorado Division of Youth Services facility. She is to appear in court again May 9. The attack spurred accusations of racial and gang violence in the school, but school and District Re-2 administrators have said that is not the case. Hernandez, who is Hispanic, allegedly attacked the victim, who is Caucasian, because the victim uttered a racial slur to a Hispanic boy who had made a sexual comment to her.
The anatomy of a war protest
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120082
If your vehicle passed the war protestors at the intersection of Summit Boulevard and Main Street on a recent Friday afternoon, you probably played a part in one of the following three scenarios.
Immigration
Senate moves to ease path to driver's license
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5481491,00.html
A bill to make it easier for lawful Colorado residents to get a driver's license won the Senate's final blessing Thursday, prompting charges by Republicans of a rollback on immigration reform. House Bill 1313 passed the Senate on a 20-15 party-line vote. It heads back to the House for consideration of a minor amendment. The measure, by Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, seeks to clear up the red tape involved in getting a driver's license or Colorado ID by allowing residents to present a broad range of valid documents to prove age, name and lawful presence in the U.S.
Income tax time brings identity theft problems
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/6
Tax time has revealed a handful of identity thefts targeting Puebloans, including one that may be linked to a raid focusing on illegal immigrants last year at a Greeley meat-packing plant. A Pueblo man who was in prison in Canon City from November 1999 through August 2004 told police on Tuesday that his Social Security number had been stolen and used for employment purposes at the Swift & Co. meat-packing plant in Greeley and other jobs he hadn't worked in the states of Kansas and Arizona. According to a Pueblo police report, the victim said Internal Revenue Service records reflected that he owed back taxes for income earned during and since his incarceration at jobs he never held.
RELATED: ID theft: Shiny holograms and presidential portraits
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070412/NEWS/70412025
Marriage and Family Issues
Gay adoption clears Senate
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/13/4_13_1b_gay_adoption.html
Democratic senators pushed through a controversial measure Thursday that could allow gay couples to adopt children, despite a second round of fervent opposition from Republican lawmakers. For the second day in a row, Republican lawmakers railed against House Bill 1330, which would allow a second parent to adopt a child already adopted by a single parent. Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said lawmakers should not attempt back-door policy changes aimed at giving gay couples the rights of married couples. “You can believe in privacy and tolerance without changing the law around the family to equate homosexual families with heterosexual families,” Mitchell said.
RELATED: Senate OKs adoptions by same-sex couples
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/10
Health Care and Public Safety
Suit against Labor by ill nuclear employees gains notice
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655571
A class-action lawsuit on behalf of six Cold War-era nuclear workers in Colorado and New Mexico is drawing interest from other nuclear workers across the country, the attorney who filed it said Thursday. The lawsuit accuses Bush administration Labor officials of holding up health care the government owes to elderly workers who became ill after working with radioactive and other toxic materials at mines and other facilities in the nation's nuclear weapons complex. About 100 workers in Colorado and New Mexico, and unknown numbers nationwide, are affected by the bureaucratic hurdles that in many cases violate doctors' orders, said attorney Greg Piche of the Denver-based firm Holland and Hart.
Butcher pushes new health-care measure
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/12
While some state lawmakers are working on measures to help more small businesses to offer insurance to their workers, Pueblo Rep. Dorothy Butcher is hoping to find a way to cover everyone else. The Pueblo legislator has been working on a measure that would help rural Coloradans who can't afford health insurance to get coverage. While she can't get the Legislature to come up with money to pay for those plans, she is working on creating a pilot program in Pueblo County that she hopes will do the trick. Based on a similar program in Michigan, Butcher plans to alter her HB1022 that has been languishing in the House Appropriations Committee for more than two months to create a Local Access to Health Care Pilot Program.
Smoking ban smoldering after judge rejects it
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655621
Suddenly, the state's ban on smoking has lit up again. Adams County Judge Robert S. Doyle last week ruled that the smoking ban, which went into effect July 1, is unconstitutional because of an exemption for cigar bars. A cigar bar is one that derives a percentage of its business from selling tobacco products. Doyle said the ban violates the due-process rights of bar owners because it does not allow them the chance to establish their businesses as cigar bars. His ruling came in the case of the Oasis Cabaret in Adams County, which was cited in December for allowing smoking and fought the ticket. A bartender at the Oasis said Thursday that customers are now free to smoke inside. Michael Martin, attorney for the Oasis, said he wouldn't discuss his advice to the bar. "All I know is that an Adams County judge ruled that the law is unconstitutional in Adams County," Martin said. "That ruling may not be binding for other counties." A telephone survey of bars in Denver found they were still honoring the ban on smoking.
Proud to serve
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26129
Governor Bill Ritter appointed a long-time Craig family physician to the State Board of Health on Thursday. Dr. Larry Kipe, a physician at Moffat Family Clinic and The Memorial Hospital, will serve the board -- a regulatory committee responsible for overseeing public health policies -- as an at-large representative. Kipe is also the president of the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians.
Area emergency personnel map plans for disaster response
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5480719,00.html
Problems that mired the emergency response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 were addressed today when the people who would manage Denver-area catastrophes brainstormed their potential roles. "Where’s the government response? People want it now and they want it quick," said Robert Flowers, regional administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Part of what they will get here today is the ability to identify those problems like what do you need, where do you need it and how much do you need and let’s get it there." But new people leading what Flowers called "the new FEMA" has prompted re-evaluation of the bureaucratic obstacles that crippled the delivery of relief and aid to the victims of the devastating hurricanes two years ago.
CU, county watch for meningitis
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/health-cu-county-watch-for-meninxgitis/
Officials at the University of Colorado said Thursday they're working closely with the county health department after a 20-year-old Loveland woman died from meningococcal sepsis. The Larimer County coroner confirmed the death of Sierra Krizman, a student at the University of Northern Colorado and at the Larimer County campus of Front Range Community College. There have been no reported cases of meningococcal disease in Boulder County since Krizman's death Tuesday, said Heath Harmon, the county's epidemiologist.
RELATED: CSU opts for treatment instead of punishment in meningitis scare
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/CSUZONE01/704130355/1002/NEWS01
RELATED: UNC students shocked by death of student
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070413/NEWS/104130114
Breast cancer research finds Hispanic women fare worse
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482061,00.html
A new study by Colorado researchers has found that even when women share the same comprehensive health plan, Hispanic women tend to get breast cancer at an earlier age and have larger, harder-to-treat tumors. That's ironic because, overall, Hispanic women have a lower rate of breast cancer. Dr. Tim Byers of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and colleagues set up a study to find out why Hispanic women seem to fare worse at the time of breast cancer diagnosis. They turned to the Kaiser Permanente of Colorado database, half expecting that when access to health care was not an issue, the differences between ethnic groups mostly would disappear.
Reefer sadness at Snowmass
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070413/NEWS/104130073
On Snowmass, ski-town culture is undergoing a quiet battle that no one wants to fight - one fueled mostly by liability concerns. The controversy regards the fate of a dozen or so shacks that represent some of the coolest hangout spots on Snowmass Mountain. The smoke shacks - or "unapproved structures" as the Forest Service calls them - are basically little hideaways to take a break and spark a joint. Most are well-hidden, with found wood and some twine, though a few have taken it to the next level with seats, multiple levels, and even iPod speakers. "It's becoming an issue all over the place," said Jim Stark, winter sports administrator for the White River National Forest. "I was just down at Sunlight, and they're having the same issue popping up. I told [Snowmass] they need to start getting rid of them." Skico brass says there's no problem with the shacks and that it hasn't been asked to take down the structures, but Rich Burkley, Skico's vice president of mountain operations, said the Skico would comply with any Forest Service directive. The Forest Service said it has ordered the shacks down. No one wants to be the bad guy in this battle.
Crime and Penal Reform
Critics say cold-case bill a bid to kill death penalty
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5481875,00.html
Colorado would shift money from prosecuting death penalty cases to cracking unsolved murders under a bill that won initial House approval on Thursday. Critics, however, said House Bill 1094 is a backdoor attempt to obstruct - if not kill - capital punishment in Colorado by "strangling" funding for the state attorney general's capital crimes unit. Critics said the bill would shift the burden of costly death penalty cases onto local district attorneys, making it especially hard for cash-strapped rural districts to prosecute heinous crimes. But the sponsor, Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, said his bill gives Coloradans a better bang for their public-safety buck.
LINDH TO SUPERMAX (Briefing, April 13)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482090,00.html
John Walker Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence after fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, has been transferred to Supermax in Florence, the federal government's most secure prison, authorities said Thursday. Lindh was moved to the prison about 90 miles south of Denver in February for security reasons, said Isidro Garcia, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons. Garcia said he had no other information. He previously had been held at a medium-security federal prison in Victorville, Calif.
Tape of Taser assault on handcuffed prisoner released
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5481488,00.html
Denver police Thursday released a tape of an officer assaulting a handcuffed prisoner with a Taser in a jail cell. Kenneth Rodriguez, 47, of Tucson, was arrested in January 2006 during a disturbance at a north Denver bar. He was handcuffed and accompanied by three officers when one, officer Randall Krouse, pressed the stun gun to Rodriguez's neck and fired. Krouse said in his report that Rodriguez acted aggressively at the station and had to be stunned with a Taser gun. He also said that Rodriguez pushed a reserve officer into a wall. Denver's Independent Police Monitor Richard Rosenthal investigated the case and said it didn't happen that way. He concluded that Krouse was faced with a prisoner who "was not completely cooperative" and decided to use the high-voltage Taser gun. Under Denver police policy, an officer is not allowed to Taser someone in the neck except when "deadly force" is warranted.
Speeders: Beware of troopers' traps
http://postindependent.com/article/20070413/VALLEYNEWS/104130062
Matt Hessy used to drive his Lotus Esprit 100 miles per hour on Interstate 70 between Avon and Edwards on his way to martial arts class. "They don't patrol there," said Hessy, former Wildridge resident.
Economy
Deliberations enter 2nd day
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5481571,00.html
Jurors deciding the insider trading case against former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio are expected to return today for a second day of deliberations. The jury, which began deliberating around 10 a.m. Thursday, is made up of eight men and four women, and includes at least five people with college degrees or a background in accounting or finance. About half of the jurors are from metro Denver, while two live in Fort Collins. One is from Greeley, and another lives in Colorado Springs. The group sent several notes to U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham throughout the day, asking for items including a flip chart, tape, extra copies of the indictment and "several packs" of sticky notes - possible indications they were still organizing the nearly four weeks' worth of testimony and exhibits they must consider.
RELATED: Prosecution held to tough standards
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5481572,00.html
RELATED: Jury gets started with questions
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5655122
RELATED: 42 counts + 12 jurors = 1 mystery
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5655121
RELATED: Law could have aided Nacchio in '01
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5655247
RELATED: Special coverage: Nacchio on trial
http://cfapp2.rockymountainnews.com/business/nacchio/
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Working poor seek tax credit from state
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655555
Carolyn Birch is rooming with a friend and does phone surveys at night to supplement her income as a caregiver to the elderly. The $1,400 she makes every month is still not enough to make ends meet. Birch, 54, could have used the $80 she would have received if Colorado had joined 20 other states in giving a tax credit to the working poor. For six years Colorado has not issued an earned income tax credit, or EITC, to those who meet the federal threshold for the credit.
Housing and Homelessness
FEMA trailers headed for Holly next week
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/2
Homeless families in the tornado-ravaged town of Holly will be getting temporary homes next week after Colorado state officials reached an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide 50 mobile homes and trailers to the town. FEMA will send the trailers from Hope, Ark., and state officials expect them to arrive in the next 10 days. Polly White, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Division of Emergency Management, said the state is spending $155,000 to transport the trailers to Holly and once they are delivered, they essentially belong to the state. The agreement calls for FEMA to send 20 mobile homes, 20 travel trailers with a "pop out" extension and an additional 20 travel trailers to the town.
YVHA to hold homeowner education
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/13/yvha_hold_homeowner_education/?local_news
Yampa Valley Housing Authority Executive Director Elizabeth Black knows the hardships of being a first-time homebuyer. Dealing with payments, budgeting, creditors, mortgages and the dense lingo can be overwhelming. That’s why, with the help of the YVHA, Black’s holding a Homebuyer Education Class on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Room 200 of Bogue Hall at Colorado Mountain College. Black, who has been holding the classes for about a year, said the feedback she gets from those who attend the class has been positive.
Media
Director hoped to turn 'Sahara' into a franchise
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5481485,00.html
Despite hearing whispers around Hollywood there were troubles making the film adaptation of Sahara, Breck Eisner said Wednesday he decided to direct the movie because he thought it could lead to a lucrative franchise. Eisner was the latest witness to testify in a trial involving dueling lawsuits over the 2005 film that starred Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz. In the past 2 1/2 months, jurors have seen a steady stream of screenwriters, executives and lawyers who have testified about the struggles to put Sahara on the big screen.
Education
English effort is written off
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655617
A proposal to make English competency a high school graduation requirement was defeated Thursday by lawmakers who refused to pre-empt a statewide conversation on creating curriculum standards. "What does the Colorado high school diploma mean? That's the big question mark that's out there right now for us," said Rep. Debbie Benefield, D-Arvada, arguing against a piecemeal approach to ramping up high school rigor. The House Education Committee killed the proposal - which had passed the Senate with only one dissenting vote - on an 8-4 party-line vote. The Democrat-controlled committee previously struck down a measure that would have required four years of math and three years of science to graduate from high school. Democrats on the panel said a governor-appointed council that will study major education reform in Colorado should take up the issue of statewide graduation requirements. Colorado is one of six states that does not have comprehensive graduation requirements. "The intent of this bill is honorable," said Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton. But "it's a much broader issue than the face value of this bill."
RELATED: Lawmakers say no to English standard
Indian-history expert backs Churchill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5656476
A nationally recognized expert in American Indian history and law Thursday night defended the work of Ward Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado facing dismissal because of charges of research misconduct. Cornell University American studies professor Eric Cheyfitz said at a campus colloquium that he has re-examined the academic case against Churchill and has found "the charges are fundamentally baseless." He said that Churchill has been a leader in genocide studies and his contributions have been significant. Churchill, who identifies himself as a Native American, has been the subject of two years of investigation and review triggered by his infamous essay calling some victims of Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks "little Eichmanns," a reference to Nazi bureaucrat Adolf Eichmann. A CU investigation into charges that Churchill had been a poor scholar lasted 15 months and yielded a 124-page report with a finding that he had committed serious academic misconduct, including plagiarism, falsification and fabrication. Then-interim chancellor Phil DiStefano notified Churchill in June that he intended to fire him based on the work of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct. Its investigation is still under review by another CU faculty committee, which is expected soon to ask CU president Hank Brown and regents to terminate or reinstate Churchill. Meanwhile, Churchill has been relieved of duties but remains on the payroll.
Education for all
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/12/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
Do you believe every child has the right to go to school? This was one question posed by 12-year-old Miguel Jimenez, a Boulder seventh-grader who spoke during Thursday's Join Up! event held at CU-Boulder's Norlin Quad. Coordinated in part by Mothers Acting Up (MAU), Join Up! is the first event of its kind to raise awareness for one of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), drafted in 2000 by 191 United Nations member states. Together, the goals delineate important steps necessary for improving the development of the world's poorest nations, and range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. While each of the eight MDGs - set to be completed by 2015 - are geared towards improving the world's poorest nations, Thursday's event focused on MDG 2, to achieve universal primary education, said MAU Executive Director Joellen Raderstorf.
FLC students borrow more than $10M a year
Fort Lewis College has avoided the student-loan scandal sweeping through some college financial aid offices, but even the small state liberal-arts college must deal with the complex industry. Fort Lewis oversees more than $10 million in student loans annually. Most students borrow to cover the cost of attending Fort Lewis, which budget estimates project at from $12,250 to $28,384 in 2007-08, depending on residence. But, said Director of Financial Aid Elaine Redwine, "There are no employees in our office who are financially vested in any student-loan company."
Ute Creek strapped for cash
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15727
Ute Creek Secondary Academy teachers are deferring their salaries and its landlord is accepting reduced rent payments so the school can meet the $30,000 cash reserve required by its contract. But the school’s leaders said Wednesday they plan to increase their fundraising and obtain additional grants to fill their financial needs. In addition, the school’s co-administrators took a voluntary pay cut, and the school cut one teaching position for the spring semester, as well as two office positions, said Eric Huber, president of the Ute Creek Secondary Academy’s board of directors. Ute Creek needs $40,000 cash to meet the terms of its contract, which expires June 30. Ute Creek is a charter school, which means it is operated by parents and community members instead of the St. Vrain Valley School District Board of Education. However, the charter school operates under a contract with each charter school’s governing board.
School board continues mill levy discussion
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120083
As Summit School District continues to explore school security and capital needs projects, a focus at the Board of Education meetings has been the upcoming election. The mill levy issue will likely show up on every school board agenda until November, Superintendent Millie Hamner told the board at the meeting Wednesday at Dillon Valley Elementary School.
Youth leaders discuss how they can create lasting social change
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/community-service-youth-leaders-discuss-how-they/
Dennis Donovan says he's passionate about renewing democracy through the work of ordinary people, and he wants Boulder County to be part of it. Donovan is the national organizer for Public Achievement, a youth initiative out of the University of Minnesota. He gathered Thursday with four dozen students, academics, youth leaders and teachers from Colorado and Minnesota for the regional Public Achievement Conference at the YMCA in Lafayette. The mission for the two-day event: to teach youth leaders how to empower young people to create lasting social change. "This thing is not just a project or a program, it's a movement," Donovan said. "We're really excited to see what you're doing here and plug it into our national network." In Boulder County, Naropa University has partnered with Centaurus High School to create a Public Achievement class. Giving their classrooms makeovers, working to extend the local youth curfew and fighting against genocide in Sudan, students in the class are organizing around issues that interest them.
High school makeover: Centaurus students hope color boost will stimulate minds
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/high-school-makeover/
When Centaurus High School junior Cassie Phillips opens up a textbook in class, the glare from the stark, white walls affects her concentration. Phillips and a dozen other students in the school's Public Achievement program have received the administrative OK to paint nearly every classroom in the school a fresh, bright color. Their plan: Paint at least one of the plain-vanilla walls in each room an inspiring shade to boost learning and keep students awake during lessons. "Right now we have two classrooms in the whole school that are painted something other than white," said Phillips, a junior and one of the students leading the project. "I like being in those rooms better. When you're studying, it's better to be somewhere comfortable, and I think bright colors do that for you."Their reasons for painting the classrooms go beyond aesthetics. They've conducted research and found that certain colors have positive impacts on mood and, ultimately, learning.
‘We’re moving forward’
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/13/were_moving_forward/?local_news
Steamboat Springs School Board member John DeVincentis will not resign, but he will hold three sessions next week to take input from residents about e-mails he sent during his final year as principal at Strawberry Park Elementary School.
Police complete probe of City Schools employees
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/3
Pueblo police on Thursday completed their investigation of three Pueblo City Schools employees and several of their associates accused of providing alcohol to approximately 70 local high school students during a series of parties at a South High School teacher's home. Sgt. Brett Wilson of the police department's special victims unit confirmed that the investigation has been completed and passed on to the district attorney's office for possible filing of criminal charges. Police declined to comment on whether they recommended that charges should be filed against the six adult suspects.
Military
Voters could be asked to shore up veterans fund
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120080
After running into problems finding more funding for veterans at the state Capitol, two state lawmakers are considering going to the voters with a funding plan. Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, and Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, are working on a proposal that would put $40 million in the state veterans trust fund. Neither would discuss where that money is going to come from. "The majority of us talk as if there's nothing more important than our troops but when it comes to spending money on them everyone runs for cover," Romer said. He said they are considering asking lawmakers to refer a constitutional proposal to voters to shore up the fund. That would require a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate. If that fails, he said veterans groups could collect signatures to place the issue on the ballot. Penry said it would be better to have more money set aside to help veterans rather than having them compete with other programs in the state budget.
Carson soldier dies in explosion in Iraq
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482076,00.html
Kyle G. Bohrnsen loved to go bow hunting for elk and snowmobiling in his home state of Montana. "He was a very athletic, outgoing individual," said Lt. John Bleile, an Army casualty assistance officer at Bohrn-sen's home Thursday. Bohrnsen, 22, of Philipsburg, Mont., died Tuesday of wounds he suffered when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Baghdad. The private first class was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Carson.
Heart of Charlie Co.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5481605,00.html
Sgt. Robert Carr was looking forward to coming home on leave this month to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife, Nina. It would have been his last leave as a soldier because he was planning to leave the Army and become a professional fighter when his enlistment was up later this year. Before he could do either, the 22-year-old soldier from Fort Carson's 2nd Brigade Combat Team was killed in Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle on March 13.
RELATED: Fallen Fort Carson soldier remembered as a teacher
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=21182&template=article.html
Religion
Parish meeting starts healing dialogue
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS01/704130352/1002
Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke to parishioners at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish on Thursday to open a dialogue about a former parish priest convicted of child sexual abuse. More than 200 people gathered in a meeting hall at the church to hear from representatives of the Archdiocese of Denver and voice their feelings and concerns. Jeanette DeMelo, director of communications for the archdiocese, asked a reporter to leave the meeting shortly after it began, saying it was a closed meeting. "We were really here to visit with the people," the archbishop said as he left the church. On March 26, Timothy Evans, a former priest at the parish, was convicted in Larimer County District Court of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse.
Energy Policy
Senate OKs renewable energy power line bill
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/9
After more than two months of debate, compromise, rewriting and more rewriting, a measure to help erect power transmission lines in rural Colorado from renewable energy plants won preliminary approval in the Senate on Thursday. The measure, which cleared the Colorado House 65-0 in early February, would create a special authority with the ability to issue bonds to help utilities get the financing they need to build high-voltage electric transmission lines in parts of Colorado that are too remote to easily access the state's power grid. Though there are other measures designed to help utilities pay for new transmission lines, this authority is intended to help such rural counties as Baca get lines built so they can attract wind farms to Southeast Colorado.
City will buy 100% renewable electricity
The city of Durango, which started buying renewable-source electricity in 1998 when La Plata Electric Association offered wind-generated power, now is going all green. City officials announced Thursday that 100 percent of the power it buys will be generated from renewable sources. Green power currently constitutes about 10 percent of city power purchases. "This is the right thing to do," City Manager Bob Ledger said in a statement. "We're pleased to be playing a leadership role." The extra the city pays for green energy will add about $120,000 a year to its electrical bill, Ledger said. But the extra cost will be offset by an LPEA energy audit aimed at showing the city how to be more efficient and cut energy use.
BLM: Oil shale energy use a ‘difficult question’
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/13/4_13_1B_Energy_and_watersheds.html
When it comes to the future energy consumption of potential commercial oil shale production in the Piceance Basin, the Bureau of Land Management must rely on the industry’s best estimate for oil shale projects that haven’t even been proposed. And that’s the big challenge for the government in trying to figure out the environmental impact of widespread commercial oil shale leasing in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, according to Lynn Rust, BLM Colorado Deputy State Director for Energy, Lands and Minerals. Rust was one of two speakers Thursday at an environment and energy symposium at Western State College. The BLM, with Argonne National Laboratories, is preparing a draft environmental impact statement due out this summer for the much-anticipated commercial oil shale leasing program for the three states as mandated by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Oil producer: settlement sizable in drilling dispute suit
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/14
A large oil and gas producer says it received "a substantial settlement amount" from a Las Animas County land owner in a lawsuit about a drilling dispute involving an armed confrontation. Pioneer Natural Resources Co. made its comment in a statement issued last week about the company's lawsuit against the Gatza family, which owns land Pioneer intended to drill on in 2005. Pioneer, headquartered in Irving, Tex., alleged in a 2005 U.S. District Court lawsuit that Todd Gatza, son of Donald and Margie Gatza, scared away a drilling crew by displaying a rifle "in an intimidating fashion." A Trinidad attorney who represented the family at that time said Todd Gatza never pointed the rifle or threatened the crew, but kept the rifle on his shoulder.
Air Force eyes biofuels
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/CSUZONE01/704130322/1002/NEWS01
One of the nation's top military leaders told researchers Thursday at Colorado State University the Air Force is testing alternative energy sources, including biofuels, for use in aviation. Ronald M. Sega, undersecretary of the Air Force, said the service already has experimented with synthetic fuels on a B-52 bomber and hopes to expand alternative fuel testing to include bio-fuels, for use by various aircraft. The tests are of particular interest to CSU, where a large number of researchers are studying biofuels.
Transportation and Infrastructure
RTD board gives initial OK to bill on hiring drivers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5482063,00.html
A union-backed bill to give RTD more leeway in hiring private bus drivers got tentative backing Thursday from the transit agency board. Board members were at first alarmed by a briefing from general manager Cal Marsella. He said the bill could cost RTD tens of millions of dollars if the union, through future binding arbitrations, won routes now operated by private companies. Current state law requires RTD to hire private contractors to run at least half of its bus service.
RELATED: RTD raises alarm over new Senate bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655620
CDOT will be busy this summer
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5481780,00.html
CDOT will have at least 29 construction projects underway this summer in the metro area and 13 more just outside the metro area. The cost of the 42 projects totals approximately $325 million. Here are the details.
FasTracks to take first steps amid uncertainty
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5481492,00.html
The first construction work on FasTracks begins next month in an atmosphere of concern over the finances and schedule for the $4.7 billion transit program. RTD officials have set May 16 as the tentative date to start removing old railroad tracks from the section of the West Corridor route that once was part of the Associated Railroad freight line and, before that, the Denver-to- Golden passenger railway. Construction managers said some of the remaining track dates to the 1920s. Following the removal of the rails, utility companies will go to work. Xcel Energy is expected to be the first to reroute its lines from the project area.
Group takes another step toward RTA proposal
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070413/NEWS/104130119
After a year of hearing dire transportation forecasts, a group charged with asking regional residents and elected officials about road and transit priorities is nearing the finish line. Now comes the sticky part. The group on Saturday will try to figure out where to set a proposed sales tax increase to form a regional transportation authority and how to split those funds into three areas: regional road projects, mass transit and local communities in Weld and Larimer counties.
RELATED: Funding for RTA center of meeting
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS01/704130321/1002/NEWS01
Snow crews prepare for the worst
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482092,00.html
Denver officials were revving up Thursday night for the next big one. "We have crews all mounted and ready to deploy," said Ann Williams, spokeswoman for Denver Public Works. "Our motto is: Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best." Sixty-eight plows are scheduled for 12-hour snow shifts to deal with a storm coming out of the Four Corners area that is expected to bring 5 to 10 inches of snow to the metro area.
RELATED: Town of Holly hunkers down for another stormy round
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5482091,00.html
RELATED: Lucky break on the weather
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5658919
RELATED: Winter storm a bust
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/winter-storm-bust/
RELATED: Storm arrives early in Southern Colorado
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/1
RFTA backpedals on banning events on trail
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070413/NEWS/104130076
More than 2,000 bicyclists pedaling in the Ride the Rockies tour in June will get a warm welcome from the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority after all.
Environment and Conservation
National Climate Service on federal wish list
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655659
Federal officials want to establish a National Climate Service - akin to the National Weather Service - to focus on things such as long- term weather patterns, seasonal drought forecasts and future warming trends. The goal would be to provide the same kind of public information on climate that the Weather Service provides for snow and rain, said Conrad Lautenbacher, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It's about time," said Pieter Tans, a NOAA climate scientist in Boulder who has long called for a greater national commitment to climate-change issues. Lautenbacher discussed the Climate Service concept Wednesday during the 23rd annual National Space Symposium, an industry and government conference organized by the National Space Foundation in Colorado Springs.
Wirth to address climate-change action
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/wirth-to-address-climate-change-action/
"Policy relevant, but policy neutral" is the mantra of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has issued two alarming climate-change reports so far this year. The panel's meaty discourses — the work of hundreds of scientists — make statements about global average temperatures, expected sea-level rise, as well as human and ecological impacts. But they have been largely silent about what people should do about it. Timothy Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, has a different mantra, and he will talk plenty about what people should be doing about climate change at noon today at the University of Colorado's Macky auditorium.
Ritter, lawmakers form panel to study well shutoffs
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120075
The group will be part of the General Assembly's interim Water Resources Review Committee, which will begin meeting after the 2007 legislative session ends. Morgan County officials told Ritter last month the county faces "economic catastrophe" unless they get emergency help by April 15 for farmers whose water wells were shut down by the state in a water rights dispute. They asked for an emergency executive order for a moratorium on shutdowns for two years, but Ritter said he did not know if he could do that. Ritter said Friday the task force will bring together all the parties to study the problem.
Even after water win, Kansas drying up farms
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/20
Even after winning a U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit to limit well irrigation on Colorado farms, Kansas has embarked on an aggressive program to curb its own groundwater use and plans to take 100,000 acres of farmland out of production. That information was shared Thursday at the Arkansas River Basin Water Forum by Kansas State Engineer David Pope, who has held the post since 1983. Colorado State Engineer Hal Simpson, who will retire in May after 15 years as the state’s top water official, shared the stage with Pope at the annual forum as about 150 people listened.
Pair renew bid for conservation agency
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/13/4_13_12B_Ballot_measure.html
For the second time this year, two Colorado water experts have submitted a ballot measure aimed at creating a new state agency entrusted with overseeing state regulation of water, wildlife, parks and other natural resources. Phil Doe of Littleton and Richard Hamilton of Fairplay submitted language to the Colorado Legislative Council this week that could, if passed, create the Department of Environmental Conservation. The agency, headed by an elected commission, would absorb commissions, boards and other oversight bodies and responsibilities from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Department of Natural Resources.
Wildlife director to resign in May
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/13/4_12_3a_DOW_director.html
In an announcement that caught even his closest associates by surprise, Division of Wildlife Director Bruce McCloskey said Thursday he will retire effective May 31. “I’ve reached the point in my life and my wife’s life that we’re ready for a new adventure,” McCloskey, 54, said at a workshop in Alamosa for the Colorado Wildlife Commission. “I’m very confident that the Division of Wildlife is in good hands, and I’ve decided it was time to go.” There was no formal advance notice, although some DOW insiders were aware something was going to happen. McCloskey kept his secret right up to the minute he told the commission.
RELATED: McCloskey retiring after 33 years with division of wildlife
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070412/NEWS/104120079
Residents lean toward incentives, not mandates
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15733
County government should offer incentives rather than impose new mandates if it wants to promote sustainability in land-use policies, several people told Boulder County’s commissioners this week. For example, rather than requiring “green” building techniques and materials, Boulder County should consider property-tax adjustments or sales-tax rebates, said Pam McElwain, president of the Land Use Coalition. Jo Wiedemann, a real estate broker who lives in Pine Brook Hills, argued that if the county encourages voluntary adoption of energy-conservation measures — and lets people decide for themselves what they can afford — “you’d be amazed at what they’d do for themselves.”
Hydrologist honored at water forum
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176474365/11
A state water expert was recognized Thursday by the Arkansas River Basin Water Forum for years of work on projects up and down the river. Paul Flack, hydrologist for Colorado State Parks, was presented the “Bob Appel - Friend of the Arkansas” award at the opening day of the forum. “I’m speechless,” Flack said. “For those of us who worked with Bob Appel, this leaves me awed and humbled.” The award is named for longtime Southeast Colorado Resource, Conservation and Development District coordinator Bob Appel, who was instrumental in organizing the forum from its inception 13 years ago until his death in 2003.
Study stormwater so you’re not up the creek
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=21184&template=article.html
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment requires some Pikes Peak region school districts to educate their students and staff about stormwater drainage, said Nathan Moore, environmental protection specialist with the department. Large high schools and some middle schools must apply for state permits that require them to raise public awareness that storm-water systems aren’t the same as sewage systems. The state began requiring schools to get the permits in 2003. Five high schools in Colorado Springs School District 11, the region’s largest district, and eight middle and high schools in Academy School District 20 have state permits, said facilities planners at the two schools. Those schools have posters in hallways reminding people that things poured down storm drains go straight into Fountain Creek, not a sewage plant.
Land offer prompts discussions of park system
http://postindependent.com/article/20070413/VALLEYNEWS/104130047
A developer's offer to give away almost 1,000 acres for public recreational use is spurring consideration of whether Garfield County should have a parks and recreation district. The company proposing the Reserve at Elk Meadows housing development up Four Mile Road wants to give away an upper parcel under the conditions that it remain undeveloped and be opened to nonmotorized public use.
Mountain lion snared in Boulder
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/mountain-lion-snared-in-boulder/
Wildlife officers tranquilized a female mountain lion caught feasting on a deer in a north Boulder backyard Thursday morning and released her later in the day at a remote mountain location northwest of the city. The cat, which weighed about 90 pounds and was between 2 and 3 years old, was spotted just before 9 a.m. in the 500 block of Kalmia Avenue by Ken Furie.
Santuary for l'ill critters
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655548
Nestled in a cottonwood grove along Colorado 66 between Longmont and Lyons, the sanctuary is a place where mundane creatures that populate neighborhoods and back alleys can find refuge. When a pigeon is hurt, a raccoon sick or a baby squirrel abandoned, the folks at Greenwood take it in, nurse it back to health and return it to the wild, even if "the wild" happens to be someone's backyard. Run almost entirely on donations, Greenwood is the largest wildlife- rehabilitation sanctuary of its kind in Colorado.
Opinion
Kerry, Heinz: West's new environmentalists
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5654325
Enough talk already. We have spent the past decade debating a scientific consensus on global warming instead of taking action to fix a looming catastrophe and the degradation of our environment. It's time to act. For too long, we have allowed our national dialogue on this looming crisis to be distorted by a small group naysayers funded by special interests. They have stalled as the evidence mounted along with worldwide temperatures and the toxicity of our rivers and streams. Powerful interests have deployed an unending cascade of hollow arguments and manipulations to enable a flood of toxins into our rivers, farmland, neighborhoods and communities - often with the support and sympathy of the Bush administration. But Americans have had enough. Westerners have had enough. Janine Fitzgerald of Bayfield has lived and worked on her family farm in the shadow of the mountains for 42 years, and she is fighting to roll back the drilling frenzy that threatens to tear apart her beloved San Juan Basin and HD Mountains.
Menezes: Are Denver radio hosts accountable?
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5654326
A talk radio host calls a sitting member of Congress a "scum-sucking pig wench" on air. During another broadcast, the host labels a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "a lying sack of crap." A second talk radio personality supports a guest who calls the nation of Mexico "one of the most despicable countries on Earth," and days later praises another guest who says an illegal immigrant seeking sanctuary in a church should be dragged out by her hair. The preceding remarks were delivered on Denver talk radio shows, hosted by personalities such as "Gunny" Bob Newman and Peter Boyles. But the vitriol is not much different from that of Don Imus, the national talk radio personality fired this week for making racially charged and bigoted comments - the latest in a career marked by such statements. Imus' firing for going - by his own admission - "over the line" raises the question of whether local talk radio hosts also sometimes go too far to foster dialogue with their listeners. Boyles, Newman and their colleagues such as Dan Caplis and Jon Caldara use the public airwaves to promote their positions on important issues such as immigration reform, ethnic tensions and politics. However, they frequently resort to inflammatory remarks and factual misinformation - that is, statements that can be proved untrue - to make their points.
Unequal costs of warming
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5654013
The most recent U.N. report on climate change predicts water shortages in Africa, plant species extinction in Europe and permanent drought for the southwestern United States. The document was produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's most authoritative voice on global warming, and it says the phenomenon will change life around the world. But it will be worse for some than others, and the report underscores a central injustice of climate change: The countries that grew prosperous as they filled the atmosphere with greenhouse gases have the means to mitigate its effects. Meanwhile, those benefiting little from industrialization will not be able to afford to offset the worst effects.
Conquering disease
http://pueblochieftain.com/editorial/1176474365/1
THE U.S. Senate voted this week to ease restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush has signaled a veto if the bill reaches his desk. We respectfully ask that he reconsider.
Seek two-way dialogue on Iraq
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5654012
When President Bush and Democratic congressional leaders meet next week to discuss Iraq war funding, it needs to be a two-way dialogue that doesn't end in a political or budgetary stalemate. The United States owes that to Iraqis, and to its own troops who remain at risk. Unlike the docile Congress from the first six years of the Bush presidency, Democratic leaders have begun to exercise the legislative body's proper role with this war, providing oversight and reasoned budget authority. Bush, at least for the moment, is stubbornly refusing to negotiate.
Zalaznick: Can’t train Americans
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070412/EDITS/70412019
All those cars on Interstate 70 and inside each one a patriotic American wishing he or she was on a train.
Re-de-Bruce the schools
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/13/re-de-bruce-schools/
Most Colorado voters have agreed to “de-Bruce” their school districts — allowing the schools to keep revenue that exceeds an arbitrary cap. A state law shouldn’t force them to “re-Bruce” — refunding property-tax revenue even as state finances suffer. If you’re confused, take heart. Confusion is a natural byproduct of the labyrinthine Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, brought to you by the anti-government activist Douglas Bruce. But the bottom line in the latest budget brouhaha is simple: Most Colorado voters have de-Bruced their school districts, and Colorado’s governor only seeks to have the law recognize the voters’ intent — by re-Brucing. It’s lucky, if such a word fits in this context, that the last state budget calamity is so fresh in the state’s memory. That might help Coloradans understand this latest unintended consequence of the state’s bizarre budget system, and it might prod them to avert the next looming crisis. Gov. Bill Ritter is pushing a plan to freeze (and in some cases cut) property-tax rates across the state, in the hope of keeping the state education fund from tanking.
Spencer: Film on police killing a must-see
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5655549
If Denver Police Monitor Richard Rosenthal doesn't have plans tonight - or maybe even if he does - he should make sure he shows up at the Tivoli theaters at 9 p.m. That's when "The Holes in the Door" premieres. The movie is a documentary by Denver filmmakers Alan and David Dominguez. It examines the 1999 police killing of Ismael Mena in a no-knock drug raid at the wrong address. The film, which hints at police corruption and a coverup, should help Rosenthal understand why some people still have trouble trusting the city's police.
Duggan: Vonnegut made sense for his time
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/COLUMNISTS05/704130325/1002/NEWS01
So it goes. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. died Wednesday in Manhattan of complications from a head injury he suffered in a fall. He was 84. The news hit me hard in that strange way you can be affected by the death of someone you've never met but feel you know well. It felt like losing a friend I hadn't heard from in years.
RELATED: Kurt Vonnegut: So it goes
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070412/EDITS/70412018
Election
Romney Plays Down Role in Health Law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202418.html
As Mitt Romney aggressively courts conservatives in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, landmark health-care legislation that the former Massachusetts governor signed into law about a year ago has been largely left out of his pitch. Buoyed by leading the GOP pack in fundraising for the first three months of this year, Romney's campaign recently launched a series of ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, but they featured another aspect of his tenure as governor: vetoes of spending bills from the Democratic state legislature. Romney said little publicly as Massachusetts officials yesterday announced key details of a law that would expand health insurance to 99 percent of the state's residents. When he does speak about the measure, which many on the right abhor as a classic example of big government, his comments are measured, even though when he signed it on April 12, 2006, he described the legislation by saying, "an achievement like this comes around once in a generation." His current lack of emphasis has surprised some of the people who worked on the legislation, who say it was not only Romney's most significant accomplishment as governor but a major public policy triumph.
RELATED: Fundraising in Chicago, Romney also plays defense
Building a money machine
Sen. Barack Obama tapped everyone from small Internet donors to Hollywood stars and industry titans to raise a towering $25 million in the first three months of this year. The eye-catching total is a far cry from his first bid for elected office a dozen years ago, when Obama's earliest seed money came from a streetwise South Side political insider, a longtime friend and patron who has since become something of an embarrassment. Back in July 1995, Obama's state Senate campaign received $2,000 from companies controlled by Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the politically influential Chicago businessman indicted last year on state government kickback charges. The Democratic presidential candidate reported two other financial backers that first month: A Chicago lawyer gave $300, and Cadillac dealer Al Johnson made a $5,000 loan. But the dollars from Rezko, who has pleaded not guilty in two pending federal cases that do not involve Obama, were the first substantial contributions itemized in disclosure reports. And Rezko's additional fundraising helped the rookie candidate set up shop.
RELATED: Obama supporters set stage for Saturday rally at Georgia Tech
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/04/12/0413natobama.html
Warner's Fundraising Prompts Speculation on Reelection Plans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202122.html
U.S. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) reported Thursday that he has raised only $500 in campaign contributions during the first three months of the year, fueling speculation that he may not seek a sixth term next year. If Warner retires, Virginia could again become a key battleground in the fight to control the Senate as Republicans would be forced to hold on to a Senate seat they've had since 1979. Democrats control the Senate 51 to 49.
Effective and Ethical Government
Early Verdict on Whitehouse Favorable
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202003.html
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) was getting needled by his peers from the moment he walked into his first meeting of Judiciary Committee Democrats in early January. "Hey, Sheldon," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) barked at the newcomer, a member of one of his state's oldest families. "Normally, you've got to be a Jew or a Catholic to get on this committee. You're the first WASP." "Hey, Chuck," Whitehouse shot back, looking over a room filled with four Catholics, five Jews and himself. "This is the first time in my life I've brought diversity to a group." Three months later, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the committee chairman, invoked the story to demonstrate that the former federal prosecutor and Ocean State attorney general has, indeed, brought a new aspect to the Democratic side of the panel. "Here's a man who knows what it's like to be in the courtroom," Leahy said.
N.J. Governor Breaks Bones in Highway Crash
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202669.html
Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) was critically injured Thursday when his motorcade crashed en route to a meeting between radio personality Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team, a doctor said. Corzine, 60, suffered numerous broken bones, including his sternum and several ribs, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, officials said. He was recuperating early Friday in critical but stable condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden after two hours of surgery to repair a seriously damaged leg and other injuries.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Nephew of 9/11 Mastermind Denies Involvement in the Attacks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202149.html
An alleged high-level al-Qaeda operative who is the nephew of the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States told a military tribunal that he had no ties to the plot and is being held because of his family connection, according to a transcript released yesterday. Ammar al-Baluchi, nephew of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, told a Combatant Status Review Tribunal last month at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that he was a businessman who helped his uncle's affiliates but said he did not know they were part of a terror network. In an unusual witness statement entered at the March 30 tribunal, Mohammed said that Baluchi "has never had association with al-Qaeda, Taliban or associated organizations" and that his nephew "had no knowledge of al-Qaeda links."
RELATED: 2 'high-value' Guantanamo detainees deny terrorism
NAACP to Hold Summit On Racism In Colleges
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202272.html
NAACP plans a summit Saturday to address racism on college campuses months after white students at Clemson University held a party mocking black stereotypes and after the founder of a white supremacist group spoke there earlier this week. A student organization invited Jared Taylor, founder of the Oakton-based New Century Foundation, to speak at the campus Monday, Taylor's group said. His speech came just a few months after a party at which white students mocked black stereotypes by drinking malt liquor and at least one student dressed in black face. "We have a lot of work to do," said Dwight James, executive director of the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP. "A lot of people have to wake up to what's going on, on campuses."
Foreign Policy
Turkish push urged against Kurdish rebels in Iraq
The Turkish military's powerful chief declared Thursday that his army should be given the go-ahead for a cross-border offensive into northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels using the territory as a staging ground for attacks. The United States has strongly warned Turkey against such an incursion, saying it could destabilize the entire region. Any strike across the border could leave the American military in a difficult position if this fellow member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ended up battling Iraqi Kurds, who are key U.S. allies. But several Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they feared that in this election year, the Turkish government would succumb to popular sentiment and authorize some kind of military push.
RELATED: Turkish Military Leader Prepared to Lead Attacks in Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/world/europe/13turkey.html
Blast Kills 8 at Iraqi Parliament Building
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200265.html?hpid=topnews
A suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives inside Iraq's parliament building Thursday, killing at least eight people in the worst-ever breach of security in the heavily guarded Green Zone. Elsewhere in the capital, a truck bomb destroyed a bridge over the Tigris River, killing at least one person and severing a link between the now Shiite-dominant eastern side of Baghdad with the Sunni-dominant west. Three months after President Bush pledged more troops to stabilize Baghdad and two months after a new security plan was launched, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the operation was still only "at the beginning" and would continue to involve "good days and bad days."
RELATED: Attack deep inside Green Zone reveals gap in security
Club Democracy Says Iraq Isn't Worthy of Invite
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201974.html
Four years after Iraq's Saddam Hussein was deposed by U.S.-led troops, an international panel charged with recommending invitations for an exclusive meeting of the world's democracies has rendered its verdict on Iraq's fledging democracy. Not good enough. The announcement by the advisory committee of the Community of Democracies marked a step back for Iraq. Two years ago, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended the group's biannual meeting in Santiago, Chile, and lauded Iraq's recent elections, Iraq was granted observer status. Under the committee's plan, it would now have the same status as when Hussein ruled Iraq: "not invited."
Italy Proposes Rules for Handling Abductions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/world/europe/13kidnaps.html
Italy’s fragile government, under fire for making a deal to free an Italian journalist in Afghanistan, on Thursday proposed international standards for confronting the rising number of high-profile kidnappings in war zones.
Pakistan says 300 extremists have been slain
Tribal fighters near the border with Afghanistan have killed 300 foreign militants allegedly linked to Al Qaeda over the last few weeks, President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday. Speaking at a counterterrorism conference here in the capital, Musharraf acknowledged for the first time that Pakistan's military had been assisting the tribesmen in their battle against mostly Uzbek militants who have found a haven in the remote, lawless region of South Waziristan. "The people of South Waziristan now have risen against the foreigners," Musharraf said. "They have killed about 300 of them, and they got support from the Pakistan army. They asked for support."
ElBaradei disputes Tehran's claim of 3,000 centrifuges
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday that Iran was operating only several hundred centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, despite its claims to have activated 3,000. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran's nuclear program was a concern but discounted its claims of a major advance in uranium enrichment, a process the U.N. demands Iran suspend or face increasing sanctions. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that the Natanz facility had begun "industrial-scale" production of nuclear fuel. The country's top nuclear negotiator said workers had begun injecting uranium gas into a new array of 3,000 centrifuges, many more than the 328 centrifuges known to be operating at Natanz.
Israelis hear peace pitch from Syrian
A Syrian-American businessman with ties to the Damascus government made an unprecedented appearance before an Israeli parliamentary panel Thursday, telling lawmakers that Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to make peace with the Jewish state. The lawmakers reacted positively, peppering him with questions about secret talks he held with a former senior Israeli diplomat. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, however, gave no indication it was ready to restart peace talks with Syria, which were broken off in 2000.
Olmert and Abbas Plan Sunday Discussion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041300403.html
A meeting Sunday between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will include a general discussion of a future Palestinian state, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Friday, but is not expected to yield dramatic results. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the two leaders would discuss the "political horizon" at the Sunday meeting, the first in a series of biweekly meetings that Olmert and Abbas agreed to hold at the prodding of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Suicide Attacks Mark Turn in Algeria
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200450.html
In the context of Algeria's long-running civil war and insurgency, Wednesday's bombings added just a blip to the death toll: 33 people reported killed, on top of an estimated 200,000 who had lost their lives since 1992. But the new violence stood out for another reason. In a country where assassinations, car bombs, throat-slittings and hijackings have long been used to terrorize the population, these were the first known suicide attacks.
RELATED: Toll rises to 33 in Algeria blasts
Three killed in Uganda protest violence
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2007/04/13/three_killed_in_uganda_protest_violence/
A mob stoned to death an Asian man in Uganda yesterday and two other people were killed during a protest over a plan to cut down nearly a third of a rainforest reserve to grow sugarcane, police and witnesses said. Troops in armored cars were deployed in central Kampala after police fired tear gas and bullets to stop rioters attacking Asian businesses and a Hindu temple. The rioters were angered by moves to expand an Indian-owned company's sugar plantations.
China's Wen Urges Japanese To Heed History
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202301.html
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged Japanese lawmakers on Thursday not to forget their country's World War II aggression as the two powers work to mend strained ties and bolster thriving business relations. "To reflect on history is not to dwell on hard feelings, but to remember and learn from the past in order to open a better future," Wen said in an address to parliament, the first by a Chinese leader in 22 years. Wen is on a three-day visit that he has described as "ice-melting." But as he struck a conciliatory note in his address, a new dispute over undersea gas and oil deposits threatened to sour the fragile detente.
RELATED: Darfur Collides With Olympics, and China Yields
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/washington/13diplo.html?ref=washington
With free health care, U.S. seeks to help poor and burnish its image in Latin America
Vogt was part of a 350-strong U.S. military task force called New Horizons that last month spent two weeks bivouacked in the remote jungle of Bocas del Toro province, helping the poor and buffing the image of the United States. During their deployment, the dozen or so medical reservists converted a school building into a clinic where they diagnosed ailments, dispensed medicine and handed out eyeglasses to 6,000 residents, most of whom had never seen a doctor's office or hospital. Other reservists built roads, schools and clinics. Two Army Reserve veterinarians spent five days tramping through the rain forest in the mountains above Norteno looking for farmers with livestock problems. They were all part of the U.S. medical diplomacy effort in Panama, which this year could see a 50 percent increase in the 2005 total of 30,000 patients treated by reservists. The boost will come in the form of three deployments of reservist task forces this year instead of the customary two and with the stop of the Navy hospital ship Comfort in June off Panama's Caribbean port of Colon.
Army to deploy for oil takeover
President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that soldiers will accompany government officials when they take over oil projects in the Orinoco River basin next month. Chavez has decreed that Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, will take a minimum 60 percent stake in four heavy-oil projects in the Orinoco River region and invited the six private companies operating there to stay on as minority partners.
Mexican traffickers defy crackdown with gory public challenges
Drug traffickers are waging a highly effective publicity campaign in Mexico that began with a chilling show of brutality in Acapulco: two police officers' heads, streaming with blood, were stuck on metal spikes outside a downtown building with a fluorescent cardboard sign. "So that you learn to respect," it read in thick black letters. The spectacle a year ago in the Pacific resort set off a ghoulish trend among the drug lords battling for billion-dollar smuggling routes into the United States. They have since left a trail of bodies and bloodstained notes across Mexico, with a goal of spreading fear -- a sense of dread so deep that rivals, police, witnesses and even President Felipe Calderon won't dare cross them.
Immigration
Immigrant issue fuels nasty race in suburb
The ferocious argument over illegal immigration in a northwest suburb that is 40 percent Hispanic moves to the ballot box next week, providing the climax to an increasingly nasty dispute that has pushed traditional electoral issues to the side. Six candidates chasing three seats on the Carpentersville Village Board have settled into opposing camps on a proposed ordinance meant to crack down on undocumented residents. Some want to revive discussion of the measure, which was postponed indefinitely last year, while others want to keep it frozen.
Health Care and Public Safety
Tons of Food Spoiled As FEMA Ran Out Of Storage Space
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202411.html?hpid=topnews
As many as 6 million prepared meals stockpiled near potential victims of the 2006 hurricane season spoiled in the Gulf Coast heat last summer when the Federal Emergency Management Agency ran short of warehouse and refrigeration space, according to agency officials. In all, hundreds of truckloads of food worth more than $40 million are being thrown away or scavenged for unspoiled contents to be offered to domestic hunger-relief groups, FEMA officials said. Most of the meals were commercial versions of the military's Meals Ready to Eat, which were ruined despite being engineered to withstand the demands of desert and jungle climates.
Drugs Losing Efficacy Against Gonorrhea
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201497.html
Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea is spreading rapidly across the United States, federal health officials reported yesterday, raising alarm about doctors' ability to treat the common sexually transmitted infection. New data from 26 U.S. cities show the number of resistant gonorrhea cases is rising dramatically, jumping from less than 1 percent of all gonorrhea cases to more than 13 percent in less than five years, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
RELATED: Rate of drug-resistant gonorrhea explodes
F.D.A. Rejects Merck’s New Pain Medication
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/us/13vioxx.html
A panel of federal drug advisers voted 20 to 1 Thursday to reject an application by Merck to sell its pain pill Arcoxia because of concerns that the drug could cause as many as 30,000 heart attacks annually if widely used. Food and Drug Administration officials were unusually harsh in their criticism of the medicine. “What you’re talking about is a potential public health disaster” if Arcoxia is approved for sale, Dr. David Graham, an F.D.A. safety officer, told the panel. Arcoxia is a sister to Vioxx, which Merck withdrew in 2004 after a study showed that it also increased the risks of heart attacks and strokes. Merck sells Arcoxia in 63 countries, and the company underwrote an extensive safety testing program that involved 34,000 arthritis patients. The studies showed that Arcoxia caused nearly three times as many heart attacks, strokes and deaths as naproxen, a popular pain pill sold as Aleve, but was no more effective in curing pain. Patients taking Arcoxia suffered worrisome increases in blood pressure.
Smugglers Filling Gap in Meth Lab Crackdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201180.html
Several of the nation's top law enforcement officials said Thursday that an influx of methamphetamine from Mexico is overshadowing their recent success in curtailing homegrown meth labs and is fueling a crime wave caused by addicts who can stay awake for days. At a daylong conference devoted to the topic, attorneys general from Virginia, Maryland and six other states met to learn about the problem and share strategies for combating methamphetamine use and trafficking.
Crime and Penal Reform
Jury Indicts Ohio Man for Conspiring With Al-Qaeda
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200689.html
An Ohio man is being held without bond on charges that he provided explosives training to al-Qaeda operatives in Germany and once plotted to bomb European resorts and U.S. government offices overseas. Federal grand jurors in Columbus, Ohio, contend Christopher Paul studied terrorist tactics in Afghanistan in the early 1990s as al-Qaeda was getting its start. He allegedly recruited others in Germany and trained U.S. colleagues to "fight violent jihad outside the United States."
How best to police the police?
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/04/12/0413metoversight.html
The cases grabbed headlines: Ten police officers indicted on charges ranging from drugs to aggravated assault to child molestation. An off-duty officer shot to death — apparently while trying to rob a convicted felon. The year was 1996, and elected officials in Tucson debated the same question that is now being asked in DeKalb County and Atlanta: Who should watch the police? Ultimately, Tucson adopted a civilian review board and a professional auditor. As Atlanta and DeKalb County contemplate forming civilian review boards, Tucson's board provides a glimpse of how this process might — or might not — work here. In Tucson, even those providing the oversight seem divided on their effectiveness.
Economy
Wolfowitz Apologizes For 'Mistake'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201188.html?hpid=topnews
World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz publicly apologized yesterday for the "mistake" of personally orchestrating a high-paying job and guaranteed promotions for a bank employee with whom he is romantically involved, as new details of his role in the arrangement emerged and staff members angrily demanded his resignation. Wolfowitz attempted to address about 200 staffers gathered in the bank's central atrium but left after some began hissing, booing, and chanting "Resign. . . . Resign." He had approached the gathering after holding a news conference in which he said, "I made a mistake for which I am sorry." Bank insiders confirmed reports from the bank's staff association that Wolfowitz directed personnel officials to give Shaha Riza, his longtime companion, an automatic "outstanding" rating and the highest possible pay raises during an indefinite posting at the State Department, as well as a promotion upon her return to the bank. The Financial Times reported portions of the agreement yesterday.
RELATED: Wolfowitz apologizes over girlfriend's job
Dow Fires 2 It Says Held Talks to Sell Firm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202186.html
Dow Chemical said it fired two executives yesterday for conducting unauthorized negotiations to sell the company. J. Pedro Reinhard, who retired as chief financial officer in 2005 after 10 years but remained on staff as a senior adviser, and Romeo Kreinberg, executive vice president of performance businesses, "were engaged in business activity that was highly inappropriate," Dow said yesterday in a written statement. Kreinberg called the claims "unsubstantiated and unfounded."
Convict tells Congress defrauding IRS was easy
A man serving prison time for fraud told Congress yesterday that using stolen identities to apply for tax refunds was "an easy way to make money quickly." "The system in my eyes is inviting criminals like myself to steal from the IRS, banks, et cetera," Evangelos Dimitros Soukas said in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee. Soukas, 28, who is serving nearly eight years in prison for defrauding the government, banks, and individuals of $1.1 million, said he was puzzled why the Internal Revenue Service doesn't require personal identification numbers or use of a mother's maiden name when filing electronically or seeking information from IRS call centers. The head of the IRS told the panel that stopping identity theft isn't simple, but the senators weren't mollified.
Housing and Homelessness
Fraud Seen Possible In Bush Loan Plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202294.html
A Bush administration plan to offer low- and middle-income home buyers an alternative to subprime loans may be susceptible to fraud, the inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development said. The proposal, incorporated in legislation introduced last month, would make it easier for borrowers to get mortgage insurance from the Federal Housing Administration but would do little to assure adequate oversight of lenders, appraisers and lawyers, the inspector general, Kenneth Donohue, said in a telephone interview. "The FHA has to go back and make sure the same thing that has happened with subprime loans doesn't happen with its program," said Donohue, who conducts internal audits and criminal investigations of HUD programs. "The FHA has to make sure it doesn't get taken by the lenders, and it has to make better reviews of loan portfolios."
Media
Hundreds Rally for Captive Reporter
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201994.html
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Thursday called for the immediate release of a BBC journalist kidnapped a month ago in the Gaza Strip, on a day of international media attention, rallies and news conferences to highlight the case. Hundreds of people rallied in Gaza and London to demand the release of Alan Johnston, 44, a veteran BBC reporter who was abducted at gunpoint by masked kidnappers March 12.
RELATED: Gaza seizure remains murky
Don Imus Is Fired by CBS Radio
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201007.html?hpid=topnews
Bowing to a national outcry and internal protest, CBS Radio said yesterday it would end Don Imus's morning program "immediately," possibly bringing the sometimes inflammatory broadcaster's four-decade career to a swift and ignominious end. CBS followed NBC, which Wednesday canceled the MSNBC simulcast of Imus's radio show. Imus touched off a conflagration last week when he made racist and sexist comments. Imus -- as well as CBS and NBC -- struggled for the past eight days to craft an effective response to widespread criticism after he called the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." But neither repeated apologies nor a two-week suspension imposed this week by the two media companies quelled the furor. Advertisers deserted Imus's show and protests continued, inside and outside the companies.
RELATED: Static Gets Louder for CBS Radio
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202309.html
RELATED: Democratic politicians lose a soapbox with Imus
Hispanics unhappy with Burns' changes
Several Hispanic groups said Thursday that they are unhappy with Ken Burns' plan to amend his World War II documentary series, "The War," by telling stories of Latino veterans during breaks and at the end of each hour. PBS and Burns have faced heated protests from an array of Hispanic groups because the 14-hour documentary does not include any Hispanics who served in the war or information about their contributions. "The War," is scheduled to premiere in September, Hispanic Heritage month. The film, made over six years, tells the story of the war through people from four communities.
Education
Education Chief Orders Ethics Check
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202416.html
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has launched reviews of the department's ethics and financial disclosure policies in response to questions raised through far-ranging investigations of the student loan industry, the agency said in a statement last night. Spellings also asked for the resignation of Ellen Frishberg, director of student financial services at Johns Hopkins University, from a committee that is drafting new student loan regulations for the department.
RELATED: Area Colleges Scrutinizing Financial Aid Practices
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202337.html
RELATED: U.S. Official Had Disclosed His Holdings
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/education/13educ.html
Sallie Mae Said to Talk to Suitors
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/business/13deal.html?ref=business
Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest lender to college students, is in talks to be bought out by private equity in what could be a deal for more than $20 billion, people briefed on the discussions said yesterday. A buyout, if completed, would be an impressive show of muscle-flexing by private equity firms, which have grown emboldened over the last two years by acquiring ever larger targets.
Cabbie Is Hailed By Some as Hero In Duke Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041200285.html
Long before the case against three Duke University lacrosse players collapsed in public, a soft-spoken Sudanese immigrant knew that something wasn't quite right. When asked, he told the truth: One of the players had been in his cab that night -- and nowhere near the house where a sexual assault allegedly occurred. But as soon as Moezeldin Elmostafa, 39, a Durham cabbie, became known as a key alibi witness, his attorney says, Elmostafa fell victim to Durham District Attorney Michael B. Nifong's rough-and-tumble tactics. He was arrested. "I was afraid," he recalled at his attorney's office Thursday during a break from driving. "I'd never been in handcuffs, I'd never been in the back of a police car, but there they were taking me away. . . . In Sudan, when you are arrested, it might be months before you see the sun again." He was later freed and found not guilty of the two-year-old misdemeanor.
RELATED: Prosecutor who charged Duke players apologizes
RELATED: Duke case DA's apology not accepted
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/lacrosse/2007-04-12-duke-nifong-apology_N.htm
Science and Technology
High-tech tools link T. rex to chickens
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/13/high_tech_tools_link_t_rex_to_chickens/
Call it the paleontological equivalent of squeezing blood from a stone. Using highly sensitive instruments and techniques more typically employed to study human disease, scientists at Harvard Medical School have for the first time isolated and identified proteins from a dinosaur, a tyrannosaurus rex that roared its last 68 million years ago.
Military
'This Is Tough News': Soldiers and Their Families Brace for Extended Tours
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202330.html?hpid=topnews
They found out by reading exasperated e-mails from their spouses, hearing somber announcements from their platoon commanders, seeing snippets of the secretary of defense at a televised news conference: The American soldiers who thought they were staying in Iraq one year would now stay 15 months. All of them. From Texas to Baghdad and Baqubah to the Beltway, the reaction Thursday among U.S. soldiers and their families to the news of the mass extension was akin to a collective groan. "It flat-out sucks, that's the only way I can think to describe it," said Pvt. Jeremy Perkins, 25, who works in an engineering battalion that clears roadside bombs in the embattled city of Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. "I found this out today from my squad leader. I still haven't told my wife yet. I'm just trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to break it to her that 'Honey, uh, yeah, might be home before our next anniversary. Sorry I missed the last one.' "
RELATED: Longer Duty Leaves Forces Disappointed but Stoic
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/world/middleeast/13troops.html?ref=washington
In White House Plan, War 'Czar' Would Cut Through Bureaucracy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202147.html
When the commanding general in Iraq needed people for a rule-of-law initiative, he had to send a memo to the U.S. Central Command. That command forwarded it to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Joint Chiefs forwarded it to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Only then was it passed along to the White House to find the people. That would change under a plan developed by President Bush's aides to create a high-powered "czar" to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new "execution manager," as the White House termed the position, would be empowered to cut through the bureaucracy and talk directly with Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and other key figures to figure out what is needed to make progress on the ground.
Veterans possibly being shortchanged
The Army might be shortchanging injured soldiers by rating the severity of their disabilities with a system that is both unwieldy and inconsistent, the head of a special commission said yesterday. Pentagon officials denied those who rate the disabilities would cheat service members but pledged to investigate. "I'm trying to make sense of this finding," acting Army Secretary Pete Geren said. Meanwhile, two Democratic senators criticized the Department of Veterans Affairs, expressing concern that President Bush's nominee to be VA's undersecretary for health, Michael Kussman, was long aware of problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center but didn't respond.
High Costs Lead Navy to Cancel Lockheed Coastal Vessel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202159.html
The Navy cancelled the second of two ships to be built by Lockheed Martin yesterday, ending intense negotiations over the vessels' growing price tags and continuing efforts to keep the cost of weapons programs under control. The decision comes three months after the Navy ordered the Bethesda defense contractor to stop work on the second coastal combat ship after finding that the first would cost $350 million to $375 million, more than 50 percent over its original price. Last month the Navy said Lockheed could save the ship from cancellation by agreeing to take on more of the financial risk, including picking up the tab for future cost overruns.
State's drivers are pumping less gas
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-demand13apr13,0,4334502.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Californians slowed their fuel guzzling last year as prices hovered above $3 a gallon.
Transportation and Infrastructure
FAA split on close calls at runways
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-12-runway-close-calls_N.htm
A controversial air traffic procedure has nearly caused midair collisions during takeoffs and landings around the nation and brought a stern warning from U.S. safety investigators, who this month ordered the practice halted at Memphis International Airport, according to federal records, controllers and pilots. Passenger jets arriving at Memphis and several other airports routinely fly directly over the top of planes landing on another nearby runway. Earlier this year, a midair collision between a Northwest Airlines DC-9 and a commuter plane was narrowly averted in Memphis, according to a report on the incident. The issue offers a rare glimpse into the steps aviation officials take to increase capacity at airports and the debates that arise over safety.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Ignatius: A Power Outage At the White House
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201824.html
As political power ebbs from the Bush presidency, a number of changes are becoming visible around the world -- most of them unwelcome. Simply put, the White House is losing its ability to shape events. President Bush's relentless focus on Iraq magnifies this problem. His almost daily comments on the war underscore just how much he has ransomed his presidency and the nation's security to the unlikely prospect of success in Iraq. And the monomania about Iraq distracts Bush and his advisers from other big issues that need attention.
RELATED: Geyer: Bush keeps low profile in days of high anxiety
Read the signals in Iraq
EVEN BY Baghdad standards, yesterday's bombings were shocking. Mayhem in the Parliament building and the disabling of a key bridge over the Tigris River illustrated the dim prospect of a purely military solution to Iraq's civil war.
Froomkin: Countless White House E-Mails Deleted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/12/BL2007041200941.html
Countless e-mails to and from many key White House staffers have been deleted -- lost to history and placed out of reach of congressional subpoenas -- due to a brazen violation of internal White House policy that was allowed to continue for more than six years, the White House acknowledged yesterday. The leading culprit appears to be President Bush's enormously influential political adviser Karl Rove, who reportedly used his Republican National Committee-provided Blackberry and e-mail accounts for most of his electronic communication.
Kamen: A Letter Is No Substitute for a Personal Chat, Waxman Tells Rice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202082.html
The tussling between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, shows no signs of letting up. A couple of weeks ago, Waxman sent a letter to Rice saying she hadn't responded to his many letters requesting information about the administration's bogus claims that Iraq wanted to buy uranium from Niger, how it handled classified information and such. So Waxman invited her to come up to the Hill on April 18 to talk about this. The State Department last week issued what a spokesman called a "thorough and comprehensive" reply that should "obviate the need" for a hearing. Apparently not. Waxman has written back saying he wants specific answers about what Rice knew and when she knew it about the Niger uranium claim and other issues. "Rather than address any of these questions," Waxman wrote, the department's letter included "copies of two old State Department letters that have no bearing whatsoever on your knowledge of, your role in, or your statements about the Niger claim."
The Warriors’ Second Front at Home
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/opinion/13fri3.html
Investigators have concluded that the scandal of the shamefully neglected outpatients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center is likely a systemic problem afflicting wounded veterans at other military hospitals. This is only one of the disheartening findings by a panel that reported a “perfect storm” of troubles afflicting Walter Reed. These ranged from the Army’s failure to anticipate the high flow of casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan to the “Byzantine” ratings system that puts soldiers through four separate hearings to determine — or discourage — their needed level of care.
Mallaby: The World Bank, Stuck In the Mud
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201822.html
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there was a new recognition that poor countries could harm rich ones: Weak and failing states could incubate disease, crime, environmental degradation -- and terrorism. But that healthy recognition is fading, and the World Bank, which ought to be a powerful voice against complacent backsliders, is muted by scandal. Before we get to the World Bank, consider the bigger picture.
Brooks: To the rest of the world, we're cheapskates
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks13apr13,0,2290377.column?coll=la-opinion-center
The U.S. international affairs budget -- which helps fight AIDS, poverty and more -- is just 1% of total spending.
Turkey and the U.N.’s Cover-Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/opinion/13fri2.html
Turkey has long tried to deny the Armenian genocide. Even in the modern-day Turkish republic, which was not a party to the killings, using the word genocide in reference to these events is prosecuted as a serious crime. Which makes it all the more disgraceful that United Nations officials are bowing to Turkey’s demands and blocking this week’s scheduled opening of an exhibit at U.N. headquarters commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide because it mentions the mass murder of the Armenians.
Loosening the Stem Cell Binds
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/opinion/13fri1.html
The Senate easily approved a bill this week that would free embryonic stem cell research from the worst shackles imposed by the Bush administration. The House passed its version earlier. A substantial majority of Americans tell pollsters they support embryonic stem cell research. Yet one man, President Bush, and a minority of his party, the religious and social conservatives, are once again trying to impose their moral code on the rest of the nation and stand in the way of scientific progress.
Dionne: Saying No to Fox News
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201821.html
I have this mischievous suspicion that Roger Ailes, the creator and chairman of Fox News, secretly admires the bloggers and other activists working to keep Democratic presidential candidates from debating on his cable network. To be sure, Ailes will never say this. On the contrary, he is furious that MoveOn.org and others have struck a chord in arguing that Democrats have no business creating any formal link with a network that so openly favors conservative and Republican causes. "Pressure groups are forcing candidates to conclude that the best strategy for journalists is divide and conquer, to only appear on those networks and venues that give them favorable coverage," Ailes fumed earlier this year as Fox's effort to sponsor a Democratic presidential debate in Nevada was falling apart. "Any candidate for high office of either party who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake." Using the incendiary word "blacklist" was a nice touch. What Ailes knows is that the campaign to block Fox from sponsoring Democratic debates is the most effective liberal push-back against the network that stars Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity since its debut on Oct. 7, 1996.
Robinson: Why Imus Had to Go
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041201825.html
Now that the networks have pulled the plug on Don Imus, let's have no hyperventilation to the effect that the aging shock jock's fall from undeserved grace raises some important question about just who in our society is permitted to say just what. Wherever "the line" delineating acceptable discourse might be, calling those young women from Rutgers University "nappy-headed hos" is miles on the other side. Especially for a 67-year-old white man with a long history of racist, sexist and homophobic remarks.
RELATED: Stein: Imus' sin: He's stupid
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein13apr13,0,4403580.column?coll=la-opinion-center
RELATED: 'Hos'? Stereotypes deeply held
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2007/04/12/0413edtucker.html
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