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Daily news digest 4/14-16/2007
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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/041607.htm
TOP STORIES
National
Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301932.html
The Bush administration yesterday asked Congress to make more non-citizens subject to intelligence surveillance and to authorize the interception of foreign communications routed through the United States. Currently, under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, individuals have to be associated with a foreign terrorism suspect or a foreign power to fall under the auspices of the FISA court, which can grant the authority to institute federal surveillance. The White House proposes expanding potential targets to include non-citizens believed to possess, transmit or receive important foreign intelligence information, as well as those engaged in the United States in activities related to the purchase or development of weapons of mass destruction. The proposed revisions to FISA would also allow the government to keep information obtained "unintentionally," unrelated to the purpose of the surveillance, if it "contains significant foreign intelligence." Currently such information is destroyed unless it indicates threat of death or serious bodily harm.
Marines Killed Civilians, U.S. Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041400603.html
A preliminary U.S. military investigation indicates that more than 40 Afghans killed or wounded by Marines after a suicide bombing in a village near Jalalabad last month were civilians, the U.S. commander who ordered the probe said yesterday. Maj. Gen. Frank H. Kearney III, head of Special Operations Command Central, also said there is no evidence that the Marine Special Operations platoon came under small-arms fire after the bombing, although the Marines reported taking enemy fire and seeing people with weapons. The troops continued shooting at perceived threats as they traveled miles from the site of the March 4 attack, he said. They hit several vehicles, killing at least 10 people and wounding 33, among them children and elderly villagers.
RELATED: Afghans find Marines acted illegally
RELATED: Marines’ Actions in Afghanistan Called Excessive
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?ref=world
More Afghanistan news in NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY
Iraq Militants Dominate City, and Attacks Surge
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/middleeast/16insurgency.html?ref=world
It is impossible to say how many insurgents are in Baquba now. Using a broad definition that comprises not just those who actively fight, but also those who place bombs and others paid by insurgents, some military officials put the number around 2,000. It is a nasty stew that includes former members of the Saddam Hussein army and paramilitary forces, the Fedayeen; angry and impoverished Sunni men; criminal gangs; Wahhabi Islamists; and foreigners. While most insurgents here are not as hardened, that is similar to the numbers in Falluja in 2004, before a bloody Marine offensive to retake the city, says Lt. Col. Scott Jackson, deputy head of the provincial reconstruction team in Diyala, who fought in Falluja. As the insurgent ranks have swelled, attacks on American troops have soared. The 5,000-strong brigade that patrols Diyala Province has had 44 soldiers killed in five months, more than twice the number who died in the preceding year.
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/ELECTION, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/MILITARY
Gonzales to insist attorney firings were appropriate
When Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales faces angry Senate Democrats on Tuesday, he will acknowledge that he made a broad range of mistakes in the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys last year and will apologize to them and their families, but he also will insist that even though the White House was originally behind the terminations, none of the prosecutors were fired for political reasons. In what has been described as a make-or-break appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the nation's top federal law enforcement officer will say: "I know that I did not, and would not, ask for a resignation of any individual in order to interfere with or influence a particular prosecution for partisan political gain. I also have no basis to believe that anyone involved in this process sought the removal of a U.S. attorney for an improper reason." He also will tell the committee: "I firmly believe that these dismissals were appropriate." In an unusual move, the Justice Department released Gonzales' prepared testimony Sunday, two days prior to the hearing. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been leading the Judiciary Committee's investigation of the controversy, reacted quickly to the attorney general's 24-page statement, saying it "does not advance his cause at all."
RELATED: Ex-Justice Official's Statements Contradict Gonzales on Firings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500548.html
RELATED: Gonzales offers an apology
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-15-gonzales_N.htm
RELATED: ‘Nothing to Hide,’ Gonzales Insists Before Senate Hearing
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/washington/16attorneys.html
RELATED: E-Mail Identified G.O.P. Candidates for Justice Jobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/us/14attorneys.html
Colorado
Foreclosures increase 30 percent
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5483865,00.html
More than 6,200 real estate foreclosures have been filed in the seven-county Denver area in the first three months of the year, a 30 percent jump from the record pace in the first quarter of 2006. The huge jump surprised some experts who were expecting a more modest increase. "Our forecast was anticipating maybe a 5 percent to 10 percent increase over last year," said Patty Silverstein, chief economist for the Metro Denver Economic Development Center and president of Development Research Partners. A Rocky Mountain News survey of public trustee offices in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties found that the offices received a total of 6,213 foreclosures filed in the first quarter, compared with 4,781 foreclosures last year. There were a record 19,425 foreclosures filed in the Denver area last year, and Silverstein was projecting about 20,000 for 2007. But the number could end up in the 25,000 range this year if they don't level off.
Ritter says roadless petition won’t supersede current protections
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_1b_Ritter_on_Roadless.html
Gov. Bill Ritter on Saturday reiterated his support for broad protections now in place for Colorado’s roadless areas. Ritter said the intent of a letter he sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week was to ensure the areas remain protected if the 2001 Roadless Rule gets struck down in federal court. Ritter sent a petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week asking the agency to protect Colorado’s roadless areas while also honoring the work of the Colorado Roadless Area Review Task Force, which recommended last year that some exceptions be made to some roadless protections, allowing for some coal mining, wildfire prevention and some other activities. The 2001 Roadless Rule, which now protects all of the nation’s 58.5 million acres of roadless land, is being challenged in federal court.
Pace of fix perturbs Amend. 41 coalition
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5670682
Time is running out on the much ballyhooed compromise for fixing Amendment 41. Friday is the deadline for filing 2007 ballot proposals, and leaders of a coalition of people who both supported and opposed the ethics-in-government measure say they stand ready to put the issue back to voters in the form of a lobbyist tax if the Senate doesn't get moving. At issue is House Joint Resolution 1029, which was pushed through the House quickly after leaders from both houses and both parties announced agreement on how to narrow the amendment's broad reach. The resolution asks the state Supreme Court for guidance in determining the gift ban's scope - including whether it affects inheritances, scholarships and gifts for rank-and-file government workers. The resolution passed out of the House the day after it was introduced on April 2. But it was not introduced in the Senate until Tuesday. It was then referred to the Senate state affairs committee, which has not scheduled a hearing. Senate President pro tem Peter Groff, who chairs the panel, said he thinks the committee will hear the bill Wednesday. House Minority Leader Mike May has accused the Senate of stalling, and Speaker Andrew Romanoff questioned why a committee hearing was even necessary.
'Backdoor' crime bill progresses in House
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/14/death-penalty-backdoor-crime-bill-progresses-in/
Colorado would shift money from prosecuting death-penalty cases to cracking unsolved murders under a Louisville legislator's bill that won initial House approval this week. 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.
Election
Fighting to be fourth
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5486819,00.html
Colorado's entrant in the field, Rep. Tom Tancredo, is trying to gain traction by riding his signature issue: a call for tougher border enforcement and opposition to guest-worker plans he equates to "amnesty" for illegal immigrants. He won both applause and scattered "oohs" Saturday by questioning whether unnamed candidates really share that view. "We have many good men in this race. Many have recently converted to our cause. They are welcome, of course," Tancredo said. "My concern is that the conversions have occurred not on the road to Damascus, but on the road here to Des Moines. They have spent a lifetime on the other side." And thus, Tancredo and the rest of the second tier argue for the party faithful to hold out for a true believer.
Biden speaks to packed audience
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/14/biden-speaks-to-packed-audience-conference-on/
The United States is facing several catastrophic dangers, but none is more significant than the war in Iraq, Sen. Joseph Biden told a full house at the University of Colorado. More than 2,000 people filled Macky Auditorium to hear the presidential hopeful's speech Friday, the last day of the weeklong Conference on World Affairs. Biden, D-Del., identified several steps he would take if he became president. First on his list would be to end the war gradually and help Iraqis develop a decentralized government. He said the United States must draft a clear and specific exit plan so it doesn't "leave behind chaos." "There is a civil war going on that can turn into a regional war," Biden said. He said his plan for a decentralized system would give sections of Iraq to various ethnic and religious groups, which could stem the violence among them.
RELATED: Biden speaks to CU
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/15/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
DNC host group seeks union input
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483691,00.html
The local host committee for the 2008 Democratic National Convention has asked union leaders to recommend multiple candidates to serve on a "labor outreach" panel that will work on union issues. "The situation is delicate so we'd like input," Denver Host Committee CEO Mike Dino said. "It's just a matter of getting buy-in from the labor community on who they'd like to see" in those positions. At meetings with convention officials this week, labor leaders questioned why unions had no voice in the planning process for next summer's confab. They also laid out their concerns about the labor climate in Denver.
Perlmutter has raised nearly $264,000
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5669849
U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter raised nearly $264,000 in his first quarter as a congressman. Perlmutter, a Golden Democrat elected to his first term in November, took in $152,147 from individuals and $111,750 from political action committees, according to a report covering the first three months of the year. Perlmutter spent $70,286 and had $226,458 cash on hand at the end of the period. Eight different political action committees each gave Perlmutter $5,000 - the biggest contribution allowed by law. Three of those came from labor unions representing steel workers, food and commercial workers, and aircraft owners and pilots.
Musgrave raising, saving '08 funds
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/NEWS01/704160330/1002
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave raised less money in the first three months of the 2008 election campaign than she did two years earlier but has more money in the bank, according to campaign finance reports filed this weekend. Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, raised $246,653.79 between January and March, down from $388,514.85 in the first three months of 2005. She has more than $267,000 bankrolled as she starts her 2008 re-election bid, compared to $179,500 as she began her last campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. Musgrave raised more in the first quarter than all but four of the other incumbents on a White House list of the 17 most vulnerable Republican House seats in 2008, according to a Coloradoan review of campaign finance reports filed this weekend.
Voter Act raises questions, ire
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070414/NEWS01/704140337/1002/NEWS17
Larimer County and state officials say federal legislation aimed at boosting voter confidence in the election process could have the opposite effect. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accountability Act of 2007, which was introduced in Congress in February, would require electronic voting machines to produce paper ballots that could be verified by voters. It also would require random audits of elections using the paper ballots, which also would be the ballots of record in recounts. The goal of the bill is to make election processes more transparent while ensuring greater security, supporters say. The bill has noble intentions, said Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle, but it is not practical. "It comes down to time and money," Doyle said. "Quite frankly, I don't see us having enough of either." States and counties would be hard-pressed to meet the bill's deadline for implementing its requirement in time for the primary and general elections of 2008, a presidential election year, Doyle said.
In divided District 7, there are two sides to everything
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5486856,00.html
The candidate who replaces Denver City Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie will inherit a district with two personalities. Split down the center by the South Platte River, District 7's divisions are not just geographical. The east side of the south-central Denver district, which includes West Washington Park and Platt Park, is relatively prosperous. It has become a magnet for developers who are razing homes to make room for bigger, more expensive dwellings, often to neighbors' annoyance. Residents tend to be more affluent, more educated and more vocal in government matters. On the other side of the river, though, life is much different.
Five city candidates didn't vote in January election
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484203,00.html
They want your vote, but five candidates running for office in Denver in May didn't cast ballots in the last election. Their reasons for not voting in January - when voters were asked whether to replace the troubled Denver Election Commission with an elected clerk and recorder - are as varied as the candidates. Mitchell Poindexter, running in District 5, said he didn't understand the question on the ballot. "I'm fairly highly educated and if I can't understand the ballot, then I don't expect other people to," he said. "If I don't know which way I'm voting, I'm certainly not going to vote."
Mayoral pool keeps eye on business
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070414/NEWS/104140060
Aspen mayoral candidate Bonnie Behrend said Friday that one way to enliven the downtown commercial core is to encourage small businesses to use "collapsible tents in the alleyways," and to permit restaurants to set up tables on rooftops. Behrend, a former national and local television personality, arrived a few minutes late, but ready to rumble, at a forum hosted by the Aspen Business Improvement League. She proposed the tents and rooftop eateries as a way to increase the vitality of Aspen's downtown shopping district. Her ideas came up as part of a broad discussion among the candidates - including Behrend, Mick Ireland, Tim Semrau and Torre - and business representatives, intended to provide an idea of how the mayoral hopefuls view relations between government and business.
Candidates for Fountain council talk about growth
http://www.gazette.com/articles/city_21224___article.html/fountain_council.html
Keeping pace with growth and expanding emergency services rank as the most critical issues facing Fountain, contenders for two open City Council seats said. The seven candidates for the Ward 1 and 2 seats also agreed that a management audit now under way could provide some insight into whether the city is making the best use of its resources. “We have to make sure we’re spending the dollars responsibly,” said Sam Provenza, one of three vying for the Ward 1 seat in Tuesday’s special election. The other two candidates are Gabriel Ortega and Judy Christian.
RELATED: Fountain not buying dismal forecast
http://www.gazette.com/articles/fountain_21285___article.html/percent_area.html
Vote shouldn’t affect home values
http://www.gazette.com/articles/_21260___article.html/_.html
Incorporating Black Forest and Falcon into cities wouldn’t affect home values, some experts say. Even if they incorporate, these areas will remain desirable for city dwellers seeking a peaceful, rural place to live, said El Paso County Assessor Mark Lowderman. “The rural lifestyle and the area trumps the fact that it’s a city of its own,” Lowderman said.
Effective and Ethical Government
Looking back at first 100 days
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5486397,00.html
A Westminster resident wants to know where Gov. Bill Ritter stands on charter schools. A Fort Morgan farmer is concerned about groundwater. And an Evergreen middle-schooler is hoping Ritter will volunteer for a dunk tank to help raise money for a school trip. Eleven-year-old Elliott Burke said he thinks the governor will help raise more money than "just some ordinary person." "He's kind of an important person that people would want to dunk," Elliott said. "It would be a cool thing to say, 'Oh, I dunked the governor' or 'I watched the governor get dunked.' " As the governor this week marks his 100th day in office since being sworn in Jan. 9, Coloradans were invited to submit questions to him. Not everyone gave permission for their names to be used.
RELATED: For Ritter, resolution needed on key issues
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675335
State’s bills on Iraq not likely to influence many
http://www.gazette.com/articles/resolution_21279___article.html/iraq_senate.html
For more than a month now, a resolution calling for the end of Iraq war escalation has been about the hottest, most contentious issue at the state Capitol. But in the halls of Congress, where the Colorado General Assembly wants to send its message, there is little interest in how Colorado legislators feel about something that isn’t their responsibility. The war resolution, like all resolutions, mandates nothing, spends no money and carries with it no force of law. It’s merely intended to convey the Legislature’s opinion. The U.S. House of Representatives voted three weeks ago to set a September 2008 deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq — and several congressional spokespeople said the yet-to-be-delivered resolution from Denver will not influence how they feel. Meanwhile, the offices of Colorado’s two senators said they continuously gather facts to consider strategy but are getting most of their information from Washington, D.C., sources. “It’s not possible for me to measure the effectiveness because I don’t know that anyone in D.C. is paying attention to these legislative measures,” Steve Wymer, press secretary for Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, said of the Colorado resolution and others going through legislatures in other states. “The Senate hasn’t actually received any of these.”
Schwartz gives talk to residents in SLV
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176616800/13
State Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, said she is respectful of the ability of San Luis Valley residents to know what is right for their area. Schwartz’ comment came at a Saturday town meeting attended by between 40 and 50 constituents at Adams State College. Schwartz presented an overview of the 2007 legislative session ranging from renewable energy bills to water, education, tobacco use in casinos, concealed weapons and the right of gay couples to adopt.
EXTRA!, April 14
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484186,00.html
Secretary of State Mike Coffman underwent minor surgery Thursday afternoon. He was put under and, as he was drifting off, he murmured, "I think we're going to be attacked tomorrow." His wife, Cynthia Coffman, was alarmed, fearing he was having a flashback to his service in Iraq last year. Her fears were calmed, however, when, just before going to sleep, he said, "But we'll be able to respond with the editorial boards." It turns out that Coffman was worried that the Rocky Mountain News was going to write an unflattering story from a hearing Thursday about an election rules change. Not to worry. No story was written. And Coffman recovered just fine.
Granite memorial honors 12-term Rep. Aspinall
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675333
No one did more to bring water to the developing West than the late 12-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Wayne Aspinall, and now a memorial has been unveiled in his hometown. The granite memorial, unveiled Saturday, quotes Aspinall's famous remark: "In the West, when you touch water, you touch everything." Gov. Bill Ritter and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., were among 250 people who attended the unveiling. "He saw so far into the future, and in his time, he acted on it," Ritter said. Salazar said he thinks of Aspinall every time he wades into one of Colorado's myriad water battles. "Water truly is the lifeblood of the West," Salazar said.
RELATED: Aspinall memorial unveiled in Palisade
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_1b_Aspinall_Memorial.html
Gil Smith accused of assault on officer
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15781
A former [Longmont] city employee who was convicted in January of child abuse resulting in the July 2006 death of his 2-year-old son was arrested Friday on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, according to police reports.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Tribal leader determined to defeat despair
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483651,00.html
Gary Hayes wants to find answers. Answers to what happened to Avery Whiteskunk, found dead three years ago. Answers to what became of Avery's nephew, Odie Whiteskunk, missing for seven years. And answers to the unchecked crime that rages on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. That's why Hayes, a tribal council member, helped coordinate a new "law enforcement working group" last fall. Made up of tribal administrators, representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the tribe's attorney, the group is looking for ways to curb the violence. He hopes his background will help bridge a gap between two cultures that sometimes seem worlds apart.
RELATED: Sounding the alarm
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483650,00.html
Blogger draws line on 'Internet cruelty'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484198,00.html
Kathy Sierra did what anyone else might do when faced with nasty comments on her popular blog: She deleted the worst and ignored the rest. Then a month ago, the ugly comments turned even uglier. First came a stream of death threats. Then the final straw: a faked image of her on another blog depicting sexual violence and suffocation. Sierra, the Boulder-based author of a series of computer programming books and a sought-after speaker, canceled her presentations and gave up her blog. "As I type this, I am supposed to be in San Diego, delivering a workshop at the ETech conference," she wrote in one of the last of her 405 posts on headrush.typepad.com. "But I'm not. I'm at home, with the doors locked, terrified." Sierra's experience has sparked a heated debate between people who advocate some kind of blogger's "code of conduct" and those who believe that policing anyone's words - even threatening ones - infringes on free speech.
Holocaust survivor to speak at PCC event
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176727129/7
A nationally-known author and Holocaust survivor will share the story of his experiences under Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin as part of Holocaust Remembrance Week activities at Pueblo Community College. PCC's Arts and Science division will be sponsoring a variety of activities and events beginning Tuesday and going through Friday as part of the observance of the Holocaust. The Holocaust is the term used to describe the killing of approximately 6 million European Jews during World War II as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the Nazi regime in Germany led by Hitler.
Immigration
Musgrave talks about H-2B program at quarry
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15769
The stone excavated by workers under the federal H-2B worker visa program can be seen in structures all over Colorado and the West, including Centerra in east Loveland, Colorado State University, Coors Field and the Pepsi Center. On Friday, the workers and managers who quarry that stone asked that changes to the H-2B program be dropped, or else they may be forced to close. Amid wisps of fluttering snowflakes Friday morning, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., visited with members of the Northern Colorado Stone Quarries Association at Arkins Park Stone Quarry near Masonville about a topic she said she highly values: legal immigrant workers. Musgrave, who serves on the House Committee on Small Business, is pushing the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act, which supports the H-2B visa program.
TV show helps Gould get employees
http://postindependent.com/article/20070415/VALLEYNEWS/104150042
Rick Valko has NBC to thank for getting him out of Michigan and into a good job and a new life in Glenwood Springs. On Dec. 26 Valko, 23, like millions of other viewers tuned into an NBC special TV show hosted by former news anchor Tom Brokaw about the national debate over illegal immigration. The show focused on a Glenwood Springs contractor, Mark Gould, who spoke about his frustration at not being able to hire Americans to do the hand labor required to lay sewer pipe and sidewalks. Gould relied on hiring Hispanic immigrants who jumped at the chance to make the $14 an hour he pays his laborers. Now, with new tighter immigration laws, Gould has to clear all workers through Homeland Security, which has hampered his ability to fill vacant positions. After the TV show aired Gould received more than 600 phone calls and e-mails from people all over the country willing to relocate to work for him.
Marriage and Family Issues
Bill allowing gay couples to adopt prompts debate
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070414/NEWS01/704140352/1002/NEWS17
Gov. Bill Ritter's expected signing of a bill that would allow gay couples to jointly adopt children or for one partner to adopt the other's child is stirring up debate on what constitutes a family. The bill went to Ritter after receiving the state Senate's final approval Thursday. Ritter's spokesman said Thursday that the governor intends to sign the bill. Jen Lowe, who will soon be marrying her long-time partner, said it's a huge step for the gay rights movement. "We love and care for our families the same way our heterosexual friends do," said Lowe, who serves as president of the Lambda Community Center's board of directors. The bill creates greater stability for children in that there will be more than one adult who is legally able to make decisions concerning that child and that child will have access to both parent's health benefits, Lowe said.
Abuse cases on the rise, but termination of parental rights pits moms, dads against the system
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_1a_Child_neglect_main.html
The Hollands drew the attention of authorities when they were arrested for possession of methamphetamine. After their children were placed in a kinship-foster home, they and other parents who are upset because their offspring have been or soon could be taken from them permanently have been protesting frequently in front of the Mesa County Department of Human Services. They say the system is too aggressive when it comes to terminating parental rights. Mesa County authorities disagree. They say the county does not want to take children from parents; it only wants to ensure children are raised in a safe environment. Statute requires that anytime a child is removed from a home, Human Services must work toward the goal of reuniting the child with its family, said Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland, who used to be a Human Services investigator before she was elected to public office.
RELATED: Taking child from home never an easy call, officials say
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_1a_Child_neglect_side.html
Report criticizes Social Services
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26145
A report released recently finds Moffat County Department of Social Services is not in compliance with state rules and "does not assure child safety." The report, dated Jan. 11, summarizes the Colorado Department of Human Services' review of Moffat County's Child Protection Program in December 2006. The report lists concerns about the county's decisions on entering referrals into the state's automated reporting system and when to involve the court as reasons for the department's review. "CDHS is concerned about child welfare practices in this county," the report reads. "Complaints have come from the community and clients regarding case-planning practices."
Health Care and Public Safety
Legislation could offer tax options
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/NEWS01/704160327/1002
A bill making its way through the state Legislature could have a major impact on Larimer County's quest to find funding for construction projects. House Bill 1344 would allow counties to collect sales tax up to 2 percent to pay for public safety improvements, including construction and operating costs. The tax, which would need voter approval, could be imposed beyond the 1 percent sales tax cap placed on counties under state law. Revenue from the tax could be applied toward major projects that otherwise would be difficult to finance, such as expanding the county jail and the justice center, officials said. Money also could be directed to projects related to public health and emergency services. "It would make a big difference," said Dave Spencer, county facilities director. "It would move things from being impossible to possible."
RELATED: County's to-do list adding up
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/NEWS01/704160324/1002
Legislators raise more smoke
Hold on, smokers - the Legislature's not done with you yet. Local bars like Orio’s Roadhouse in Durango seemingly won a victory last month when lawmakers declined to tighten the state smoking ban’s so-called “cigar bar exemption.” Now, a senator wants to eliminate the exemption altogether. Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, has introduced Senate Bill 250, which would effectively ban smoking at all bars in Colorado except for smoking lounges at Denver International Airport. When they passed the smoking ban in 2006, lawmakers said the cigar bar exemption was for a handful of upscale establishments like the bar at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel. But tavern owners, including Rob and Heidi Orio of Durango, argued that their bars qualified for the exemption. Boyd said her bill would eliminate an unfair part of the law.
Boy to speak to Senate about epilepsy
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_Epilepsy_spokeskid.html
When Brenden Chappell had problems in the second grade in a Kansas school because of epilepsy, his teacher’s answer was to put his desk at the back of the room and make him face the wall. Brenden suffered a great deal because of his teacher’s ignorance that year, the same year he was diagnosed with a type of epilepsy that causes absentee seizures. This type of seizure means Brenden “blanks out” and stares into space for a few seconds. He also has partial seizures that cause him to do odd repetitive behaviors such as sniff loudly or pull at his hair. He doesn’t remember these lapses, which are caused by brief electrical disturbances in the brain. During the second grade, Brenden was punished for his odd behaviors, was sent to the principal’s office repeatedly and was abused physically and verbally by other students, which his teacher did nothing to stop, said his mother, Cecilia Curry. Curry has learned a lot about her son’s disability and is encouraging his teachers at Paonia Elementary to learn more, so her son can get the education he needs and deserves, she said. Brenden, now 11 years old, is also fighting back, and at the invitation of the Epilepsy Foundation, he will represent Colorado at a Kids Speak Up for Epilepsy program April 22-25 in Washington, D.C.
Emergency chief stresses planning, problem solving
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/17
George Epp has had a busy time since he became director of Colorado's Department of Emergency Management last August - and much of the activity has been in the southeast corner of the state, from the blizzards at Christmastime to the tornado in Holly last month. Epp spoke Friday at the Colorado Mitigation and Wildfire Conference at the Pueblo Convention Center. The conference continues today and Sunday. He spoke about the need for planning and ways to become more effective problem solvers.
RELATED: Crisis talk on city agenda
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176727129/9
Governor taps Riddle for health board
Gov. Bill Ritter has picked La Plata County Commissioner Joelle Riddle to serve on the state Board of Health. Riddle is a board member of the San Juan Basin Health Department, and, as a county commissioner, is working on the crisis caused by the closure of Valley-Wide Health Systems' clinics last month. "It seemed like kind of a natural fit to me," Riddle said. Her first task is to learn more about the nine-member state board.
Club 20 committee proposes health care reform
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26153
Two months of discussion, and input from a wide range of interests, were used in formulating a Club 20 plan to reform the state's health care system, members said. Club 20, a Western Slope political group, formed its Health Care Reform Working Group to develop a health care plan to submit to the 208 Health Care Commission, formed by the state legislature last year. "The best compromise is when no one comes away with absolutely everything they wanted, and this really was kind of an epitome of that," said Steve Reynolds, a Glenwood Springs business owner and member of Club 20's reform working group. "We had a diverse group of individuals with a broad range of backgrounds and different levels of involvement with the health care industry." The committee was comprised of physicians, hospital administrators, insurance industry representatives, nurses, small business representatives and individuals consumers.
CSU vets grow tissue for laboratory tests
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483689,00.html
Far fewer rabbits and other lab animals will have to die in the name of science, thanks to an engineering breakthrough in Fort Collins. Veterinarians at the Colorado State University Tissue Engineering Laboratory are growing 24 copies of a rabbit's corneal tissue from a single cornea, and doing the same with animal skin and heart muscles. That means that 24 rabbits will keep their two good eyes for every rabbit that must be sacrificed so drugs can be tested for their effectiveness in treating eye injuries. "I'm very interested in not having animals suffer," said Tom Eurell, veterinarian, toxicologist and director of the CSU lab.
If OK'd, flood map will flow to FEMA
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/16/if-okd-flood-map-will-flow-to-fema/
A flood plan that predicts hundreds more homes and businesses would be inundated in a 100-year flood than previously believed is expected to win approval from the Boulder City Council on Tuesday night. Elected leaders will be asked to submit the plan, which has been nearly a decade in the making, to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The new study predicts a total of 1,137 structures would be at least partially underwater in a flood. A total of 734 of those are "primary" structures — that is, homes — said Bob Harberg, the city official overseeing the study.
RELATED: Flood study to FEMA?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/15/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Partnering to prevent infections
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/16/partnering_prevent_infections/?local_news
Sometimes it’s good to be below average. Yampa Valley Medical Center’s hospital-acquired infection numbers are below the national average, and Infection Prevention Coordinator Meg Montgomery, RN, is working to keep them there.
Proposed permit to lower drinking age
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/15/licensed-to-drink-proposed-permit-to-lower-age/
John McCardell proposes a course similar to driver's education, except the curriculum would surround safe drinking. The students — younger than 21 — would earn drinking permits after successfully finishing the 40-hour class, which would be taught by a certified alcohol educator and would include passing a final exam and maybe sitting in on a drunken-driving court hearing. McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College in Vermont, is leading a grass-roots campaign to decriminalize drinking among 18- to-20-year-olds, a group that is otherwise given the rights and responsibilities of adulthood.
911 dispatchers lauded for going beyond the call
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486851,00.html
They are the voices at the other end of the 911 call. They calm callers and direct police and firefighters to an emergency. They are the dispatchers. Often they perform their work without thanks. But one night a year, at an annual awards ceremony for eight local fire and police dispatch centers, the dispatchers take center stage. More than 50 were honored Sunday at the Denver West Marriott for their work during such diverse crises as blizzards, swindles and stabbings.
Health Academy prepares students for health-care fields
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176727129/2
South High School senior Katie Fitzgerald was enjoying spring break when she received word that she’d been accepted at both Yale University and Dartmouth College. She hasn’t decided which school she’ll attend next year but either way, plans to be a pre-med major. And when she does start taking college classes, she likely will have an advantage over many of her classmates after four years in Pueblo City Schools’ Health Academy. She is one of 160 students enrolled in the academy, an all-time high for the 12-year-old program. Enrollment is pretty evenly divided among the four high schools, said Brenda Krage, head of vocational programs for the district and an assistant principal at Central High School.
Teen turns concussion into red flag
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675254
Nick Greos is one teen for whom a concussion actually clarified his thinking. Concussions also helped him win a national science scholarship and awards at every science fair in sight. Last summer, the Cherry Creek High School science enthusiast was trolling for a good research project and considering, among other ideas, an analysis of teen athletes' risk of concussion - a head injury that causes temporary loss of awareness or consciousness. Then, while playing around and scrambling on some rocks, he fell and hit his head on the ground. "Ironic. I was messing around and smacked my head. It was really dumb," Greos says. "But it solidified my interest in head injuries."
Local teen-suicide attempts twice the national rate
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/20
The number of Pueblo teenagers who attempt suicide is nearly double the national rate, according to a member of a local family agency. Yvonne Gallegos, a vice president of Crossroads Turning Points Inc., this week told a luncheon crowd of the Mental Health Association of Pueblo that "nearly 9 percent of high school students, nationally, have attempted suicide. In Pueblo, that number is almost doubled, according to the Colorado Youth Survey." Gallegos' presentation, "A Successful Approach to Teen Suicide Prevention" was put on by Teen Screen, a new program instituted to help prevent teen suicides. Her talk delved into the alarming statistics and prevention methods to counter the problem.
Neighbors: Suicide e-mail sent before blast
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5674761
The cause of the explosion that leveled a plumber's house in Centennial won't be known for several days while investigators analyze evidence from the blast. Authorities sent materials from the explosion to a lab for analysis, said Andy Lyon, spokesman for South Metro Fire. Neighbors have said that 34-year-old Erik Johnson, a resident of the home believed to have died in the explosion, sent an e-mail to his ex-wife about suicide before the blast. Johnson's ex-wife could not be reached for comment and Johnson's brother did not return a phone call today.
RELATED: Investigators looking at gas leak in fatal blast
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486716,00.html
RELATED: Blast cause still unknown
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675327
Crime and Penal Reform
Colorado may get Cold Case Team
A state lawmaker has introduced a bill to create a new crime unit within the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that would help solve cold cases across the state. House Bill 1272 already has won unanimous support from the House, and it is expected to be debated this week in the Senate. If created, a CBI Cold Case Team will establish a database for tracking and linking unsolved homicide cases from various jurisdictions across the state, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, said in an interview Friday. So, if there are unsolved murders in Lamar and Durango, the CBI database would identify similar characteristics of each homicide and alert authorities to possible connections. The Durango Police Department recently reopened two unsolved murder cases from 1985. It is unknown if a cold-case database would have helped identify a suspect sooner, Rice said, but hopefully it would have.
Assault threat in our midst
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675336
Oklahoma repeat sex offender Jermaine Vaden met a 15-year-old boy through an Aurora city parks program for kids, took him to a movie, served him Jim Beam at his home and molested him, prosecutors say. Vaden - convicted of sexually assaulting two boys in Oklahoma and now awaiting trial in the 2006 Aurora case - had not registered his address with Aurora police, violating a state law that carries penalties of up to 18 months in prison and a $100,000 fine. About 7.4 percent of Colorado's estimated 10,000 registered sex offenders - a total of 740 rapists, child molesters and others - have likewise moved without registering their new addresses, either within the state or to another state, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. Experts and a Washington state study indicate that sex offenders who don't register are more likely to commit more crimes.
RELATED: Lyons debating sex-offender residency rules
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675257
Hudson voters will have say on proposed prison
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104140151/-1/NEWS
Laura Moreland likes the way the small town of Hudson looks with its familiar faces. But her views could soon change if a proposed 1,250-bed women's prison moves into town. "I think we need to open our eyes," Moreland said. "Hudson's a cute little town." Hudson's board of trustees unanimously voted to annex 340 acres into town limits Wednesday. About 126 acres will be used for the prison facility, said Joe Racine, town administrator. Moreland and about five other people formed Citizens Against the Hudson Prison to educate residents on what can happen to the town if it comes. And changes are happening.
Prison denies allegations
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/27
A company that once operated the private prison in Olney Springs is denying allegations by a federal agency that female workers were given dangerous assignments for objecting to what they contend was repeated, serious sexual harassment.
Teens vow to remain nonviolent
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5669850
After listening to parents who lost their children to gang violence, then hearing of the harsh realities of prison, about 200 boys and girls flocked to the front of the auditorium stage at East High School on Saturday and vowed to live their lives violence-free. "It opened my mind and made me think," said Larnell Anderson, 16, a student at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver. Anderson joined parents and students from East High and other schools at the fourth-annual "Jail is No Place To Be" conference sponsored by the Denver NAACP Youth Council, Epworth United Methodist Church, the Denver Crime Prevention and Control Commission and the East High Black Student Alliance.
Division about toy gun arrest
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/15/division-about-toy-gun-arrest/
Twenty years ago, when kids warred with BB guns and bottle rockets, they knew it wasn't smart, but it wouldn't land them in jail, either. Those days are gone. The April 9 arrest of a high school wrestling champion on suspicion of shooting an off-duty police officer with what turned out to be a toy gun has left students and parents wondering if the incident was a case of bad judgment or one of authorities being overly cautious. For Cory Casady, though, the end result could be the same. The 18-year-old is facing charges of menacing with a weapon and reckless endangerment after playfully firing a clear Airsoft pistol at a man he thought was a friend, according to those on the scene.
Murder case continues to evolve as parties prepare for preliminary hearing
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104140152/-1/NEWS
Weld County's most famous homicide case continues to take new turns, even as attorneys and police prepare for Thursday's preliminary hearing for Shawna Nelson. Her husband, Ken Nelson, the former Weld County Sheriff's investigator, has moved to Washington state, as the El Paso County Sheriff's Office starts an internal investigation of him. His last day is effective today, April 15. Weld Sheriff John Cooke stressed that Ken Nelson did not move because of the internal investigation, which is just beginning. Two other sources told the Tribune that Ken Nelson moved to Walla Walla, Wash., in the southeast corner of the state near the Oregon border.
Lawsuit says police entitled to overtime
http://www.gazette.com/articles/officers_21220___article.html/police_suit.html
Putting on bulletproof vests, inspecting equipment and checking e-mail are essential tasks for Colorado Springs police officers, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. But city and Police Department leaders discourage officers from requesting overtime pay to complete them, requiring them to work “off the clock” for hours each week, according to the suit, which asks for up to $35 million in damages for about 400 officers. Five officers — Alexander Trujillo, David Henrichsen, Gilbert Lucero, Alan Roman and Colby Doolittle — were named as plaintiffs in the suit filed Tuesday against the city, the department and Police Chief Richard Myers.
Scanner eyes traffic coming in courthouse
http://www.gazette.com/articles/security_21280___article.html/scanner_machine.html
Starting this week, somebody will be looking under your clothes before you enter the Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex. A fancy new machine that looks like a telephone booth out of Buck Rogers sends radio waves bouncing off skin to reveal anything — a dollar bill, a tube of lotion or a todo list. It will also reveal drugs, weapons or plastic explosives, which is why El Paso County shelled out $140,000 for the Pro-Vision body scanner. “This assures privacy and safety,” said Rick Leffler, head of security for El Paso County.
Sheriff takes over in Ward
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/14/sheriff-takes-over-in-ward-after-resignation-of/
There's a new sheriff in town. This fiercely independent mountain hamlet 23 miles northwest of Boulder has been without an official police force since its only state-certified officer, Robert "Fuzzy Bob" Spratford, posted his resignation letter on a piece of yellow paper outside the town's post office in November. Now, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office has stepped in. Reluctantly.
EMS worker at center of drug probe
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484209,00.html
Narcotics detectives were investigating an emergency medical services technician to see whether he tampered with any of the fire department's morphine supplies, police said Friday. The EMS technician has taken a paid sick leave while the detectives conduct a criminal inquiry and the Aurora Fire Department investigates the case, fire Capt. Michael Ackman said. The technician also has been temporarily banned from all fire stations pending the outcome of the investigations.
Boastful teen taggers arrested
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/15/boastful-teen-taggers-arrested/
After two Longmont teenagers gave a local newspaper a tour of the graffiti they spray-painted throughout the city, police say they tracked down the anonymous taggers and arrested them. Police say the teens, whose names were not released because they're juveniles, are responsible for $1,155 in damages. They were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of criminal mischief. In a Longmont Daily Times-Call story published April 7, two boys using the pseudonyms Abraham "Mousie" and Ricardo "Grifo" showed off their work, including several "High Life" or "HLC" tags.
RELATED: Two admitted taggers arrested
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15763
Economy
Deliberations to resume Monday
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5483625,00.html
The jury in former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio's insider- trading case went home Friday after deliberating for a second day without reaching a verdict. Jurors are scheduled to resume Monday morning. The jury began considering the case early Thursday after hearing nearly four weeks of testimony. Members are considering 42 counts of insider trading against Nacchio, who is accused of illegally selling Qwest stock between January and May 2001.
RELATED: DU students, profs weigh in on ex-CEO's trial
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5486257,00.html
RELATED: Ex-Qwest Lawyer never called to stand
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5674840
RELATED: Nacchio verdict may affect civil suits
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5665212
RELATED: Mistrial motions set foundation for appeal
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5665218
Brazilian beef company eyes Swift & Co.
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070414/NEWS/104140144
A Brazilian beef producer may be in the running to buy Greeley-based Swift & Co. Steve Kay, publisher of Cattle Buyer's Weekly, a trade publication in California, said Friday that JBS S.A., an international exporter of fresh and processed beef based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, may be in the running to buy Swift. The apparent asking price for Swift is in excess of $1.5 billion. Swift & Co. owners, HM Capital Partners, put the company up for sale in January. In an earnings call this week, Swift president Sam Rovit said some movement on that end may be announced in May. Swift spokeman, Shawn McHugh, did not return calls for comment Friday.
When skiing ends, town’s cash flow dries up
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/16/news/news01.txt
Skiers are pouring down the mountain in record numbers, and two-bedroom shanties in town sell for $1 million. Telluride is clearly booming by many yardsticks, and the town is reaping the benefits in sales-tax dollars. But not during the off-season. A Planet analysis of town taxes shows that Telluride’s income streams dry up year after year once the mountain closes or the festival crowds fly back to the coasts.
Tale of 2 towns: one generous, one miserly
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5665198
Try to name the least and most generous communities in Colorado for charitable giving among the well-to-do. The answers might surprise you. About 200 miles separate Nederland, an old mining town west of Boulder, from Fowler, a farming town east of Pueblo. But when it comes to charitable giving as a percentage of annual income, the two are worlds apart: Conservative Fowler, with its 10 churches and a struggling farm economy, opens its wallet wider than anywhere else in the state. Progressive Nederland, which is developing into a wealthy bedroom community to Boulder, keeps the tightest grip on its purse strings.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
OSHA cites resort for safety
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/15/local_news/5.txt
Crested Butte Mountain Resort faces $67,500 in fines because of possible workplace safety and health standard violations in January. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health administration issued two citations to the resort Wednesday.
Uranium worker sues
Working in the uranium mines made a good living for Ismael "Mel" Montaño and his family. He liked the work. Starting in 1959, he worked for Union Carbide, now Dow Chemical. Montaño can no longer tell his story. He no longer has the strength to speak loudly enough for his family to understand him. Now he is part of a class action lawsuit, in which attorneys for six former workers are asking a judge to force the U.S. Department of Labor and its depart ments to comply with the 2000 Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.
To fill jobs, businesses get creative
http://postindependent.com/article/20070415/VALLEYNEWS/104150041
As the shortage of workers grows in the [Roaring Fork] valley like bindweed in the backyard, so have the creative efforts of local employers to recruit, hire and retain good help. Newspapers are packed full of Help Wanted ads offering plenty of perks like discounted gas, flexible hours, end-of-season bonuses, sign-on bonuses, even relocation bonuses. A high cost of living - especially housing - and relatively low wages are driving younger workers away. In addition, there simply are not enough bodies to fill the jobs.
RELATED: [Eagle County] Workforce shrinking, jobs increasing
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070414/NEWS/70413033
Housing and Homelessness
Western Slope gets boost in housing help
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/16/4_16_1A_housing_help.html
Since its creation by the state Legislature in 1973, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority has financed more than 57,000 mortgages and 46,000 rental units for those needing a hand to get into their own house or apartment. But help for rural stretches of western Colorado hasn’t been as readily available as it has been for metropolitan areas on the Front Range. That’s the primary reason why the authority, headquartered in downtown Denver, chose to open a second office in Grand Junction this year. Observers say in serving 22 counties, a local housing and finance authority office will provide a boost to lower- and middle-income renters and first-time homebuyers, local businesses seeking to expand and affordable-housing providers struggling to match supply with demand.
Welcome homes
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15778
A shiny brass “1316” shimmered under the spring sun from its mount on Vanessa Villagran’s newly minted home Saturday afternoon. Standing under the glimmering numbers of 1316 Carriage Drive, Villagran’s 5-year-old daughter dangled from her mother’s hand as a prayer was said over the three-bedroom house with a west-facing porch. The 23-year-old mother shied under the attention as friends, family and volunteers from the Rocky Mountain Christian Church and Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley gathered for the dedication of Longmont’s 29th Habitat home, this one in the new Quail Ridge subdivision on the southeast corner of U.S. Highway 287 and Quail Drive.
Habitat to break ground
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/16/habitat_break_ground/?local_news
The Routt County Habitat for Humanity will break ground on its second duplex April 21 in conjunction with a statewide celebration for Habitat for Humanity. April 21 marks the Habitat Builds Colorado Day, a day organized by Habitat for Humanity of Colorado during which Gov. Bill Ritter and many other government officials will join with Habitat to raise awareness for affordable housing issues.
Media
Columnist Krugman celebrates Ivins
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/14/columnist-krugman-celebrates-ivins/
Say what you see, speak truth to power and reserve ridicule for the powerful. That's what New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman urged a packed Macky Auditorium to do before and after 2008 elections that may or may not set the country on a better path. Courage manifest in such behavior will be more important than ever, he said, because "we won't have Molly Ivins to do it for us."
Methamphetamine project judged best for in-depth reporting
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/8
Colorado State University-Pueblo's student newspaper won a first-place award for in-depth reporting at the annual Society of Professional Journalists Region 9 Mark of Excellence Awards held recently in Salt Lake City. The CSU-Pueblo Today won the award for its reporting on methamphetamine addiction and its effect on society. The report was written and prepared by 10 junior- and senior-level students in Richard Joyce's reporting public affairs class.
Rocky staffers win national, regional honors
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483986,00.html
Rocky Mountain News staffers have won honors in two national photography competitions and a regional competition.
Education
Lawmakers to discuss school finance bill
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176727129/5
Lawmakers will be discussing the $5.1 billion school financing measure this week, including a controversial proposal to freeze school districts' property tax rates. That proposal, backed by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and supported by the two legislative sponsors of the annual School Finance Act, is designed to help shore up the state's main education funding account, which is expected to become insolvent by 2011. The plan, which is to be tacked onto SB199 when it comes before the House Education Committee next week, is designed to free up about $55 million in state aid to education.
Some in no sex-ed mood
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5670095
Students in Wray don't receive lessons in health class on how to use condoms or when to take the morning-after pill, and the small, northeastern Colorado community likes it that way. But a proposed state law awaiting a likely signature from Gov. Bill Ritter will force school districts to include science-based material, including emergency contraception, in sex-ed classes. "We don't teach that kind of material ... not as graphic as what that new law is saying," said Wray superintendent Ron Howard. Wray is among the nearly one-third of Colorado school districts that skip condom instruction and focus on abstinence, according to a Planned Parenthood survey.
DPS brain drain
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5478029,00.html
About a fourth of school-age children ages 5 to 17 in Denver don't attend the city's public schools, according to a first-ever analysis of data by the Rocky Mountain News and the nonprofit Piton Foundation. An estimated 15,700 students bypassed Denver Public Schools last year in favor of private or suburban schools they see as safer or academically superior.
RELATED: A timeline of school choice in Denver
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5478027,00.html
Moving to the next level: Schools help students switch from middle to high school
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/15/moving-to-the-next-level/
Eighth-graders at Casey Middle School sat in a circle in a recent class, using toy figurines to help explain what they're going to miss about middle school and what they're happy to leave behind. Friends attending different schools and "groovy" teachers who pushed them to do their best will be missed. Mean teachers, drama with classmates and stress won't be. "It's cool starting a new school and going to a higher level," said eighth-grader Jenny Perez. The exercise, led by Casey interventionist Marie Perea, was one of five in a series designed to teach students how to say goodbye to middle school and get ready for the next step.
D-11 panel would study East, grade arrangement
http://www.gazette.com/articles/school_21222___article.html/students_board.html
The Colorado Springs School District 11 board heard a plan Wednesday that would form a committee with at least 13 members to develop a “school configuration master plan.” A subcommittee of the group would study the issues facing East Middle School. It would recommend how to use the building after the board voted last month to close the school for at least a year because of low enrollment and test scores.
Private school to tackle dyslexia
A new private school in Durango promises to offer cutting-edge instruction to pupils in grades K-4 who struggle with reading.
More Re-2 teachers sticking around
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104150082
Thanks to a $1.6 million mill-levy override passed by voters in 2006, the Garfield School District Re-2 is able to maintain a competitive wage scale to aid in retaining quality teachers, according to district officials.
RELATED: Re-2 examines safety issues
http://postindependent.com/article/20070416/VALLEYNEWS/104160018
Group plans Dr. D recall
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/15/group_plans_dr_d_recall/?local_news
A coalition of former Steamboat Springs School Board members and John DeVincentis former supporters is weighing an effort to recall DeVincentis from the School Board. “I think we were all disappointed John did not resign,” said Jim Swiggart, the former chairman of Parents for Dr. D. “We were hoping John would step down. No one person can bring enough to the board to outweigh the distress that John has brought to the board and the problems that will follow.”
Basalt High School student group asks Re-1 board for more vocational training
http://postindependent.com/article/20070415/VALLEYNEWS/104150040
Basalt High School students made a pitch for more vocational training in high schools to the Roaring Fork School District Re-1 board Wednesday. The seven BHS students' presentation, titled School Reform for the Future, was the final activity after about 10 weeks of studying policy issues for Ben Bohmfalk's Fundamentals of American Democracy class.
CSU-Pueblo dean to teach at academy
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/12
The dean of science and mathematics at Colorado State University-Pueblo will be stepping down in July to accept a teaching position at the Air Force Academy. Kristy Proctor, who has been dean since 2002, will take a one-year leave from CSU-Pueblo to serve as a distinguished visiting professor of chemistry at the Air Force Academy.
CU international fest a tasty cultural blend
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/15/cu-international-fest-a-tasty-cultural-blend/
The Saudis, Iranians and Israelis served up coffee, jujeh kebab and falafel to all comers and each other. Germans stomped about onstage to an accordion as synth-heavy French pop blared from a corner of the crowded ballroom. India and Pakistan dueled not in nukes but chutney, tamarind versus mango. Saturday's International Festival at the University of Colorado's University Memorial Center was a dreamland version of the United Nations, where everybody gets along and there's free food. The Glenn Miller Ballroom was crowded with students and civilians sampling falafel, tiramisu, chicken tinga tostada, Khazak khvorost (port wine-flavored fried cookies) and 18 other national specialties. The East Africa table was ostensibly serving dodo, but a naked tray showed the fried plantains to have gone extinct.
Monkey sheds light on human genetics
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486477,00.html
Some answers to the age-old question of what makes us human are being provided by the rhesus macaque monkey - and the Colorado researchers who've just completed a full analysis of the macaque's genome. The macaque becomes the third mammal - after humans and chimpanzees - to be analyzed gene by gene on a complete strand of DNA, said James Sikela, professor of human medical genetics at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine.
Vandalism at schools costs $50,000 a year
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_1a_school_vandalism.html
Overall acts of vandalism at local schools are down, but the criminal acts are costing taxpayers around $50,000 a year. According to the Mesa County Valley School District, there has been a 29.3 percent decrease in the past two years in acts of vandalism at all of its 38 schools. The highest year for vandalism insurance claims in the past five years was the 2002-03 school year, when the district filed claims for $57,400.
Military
Bomb claims three from Fort Carson
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483860,00.html
One was a combat veteran on his third tour in Iraq with two Purple Hearts at the age of 21. Another was a 37-year-old who had joined the Army only last September and had been in Iraq barely a month. Between them was the youngest, a 20-year-old on his first tour. The three members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division were the latest Fort Carson soldiers to perish in Iraq, killed Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Baghdad. All three were husbands and fathers. The Army identified them as Spc. Ismael G. Solorio, 21, of San Luis, Ariz.; Pfc. Brian L. Holden, 20, of Claremont, N.C.; and Pvt. Brett A. Walton, 37, of Hillsboro, Ore.
Family works to bring soldier home
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070414/NEWS/104140080
All they want, all he wants, is to be home. But instead, Army Staff Sgt. Rich Watson's year tour in Iraq that was nearing its end has been extended by five months. "At this point he just wants to come home," said his mom, Sharon Jones-Bird, of Frisco, who spoke with her son Friday. "He's tired of killing people. Those were his words." Both she and her husband, Jerry Bird, are angry, worried and searching to find anything they can do to bring him home. A few weeks ago, Watson woke up in a hospital in the Diyala Province after a grenade blast went off within feet of him on the street. It turned out to be friendly fire, Jerry said. He is still suffering from a concussion, has headaches, is vomiting, and has lost 15 pounds, and yet, Friday he was put back on full duty, the Birds said.
Soldiers' hidden wounds
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675337
After the 5-ton Army truck stopped tumbling down an embankment in Iraq, Gary Watts found himself standing on his head, upside down in the cab of the truck. "All I had was a sore neck and a bad, bad headache," Watts said. He rested for a couple of days after the July 24, 2003, accident, then went back to work. He would listen to his commander's directions but hear only pieces of sentences. Twice, he ended up in the wrong convoy in Iraq, driving a truckload of supplies to the wrong place. His bosses chewed him out, and fellow soldiers made fun of him. It took nearly three years for doctors to diagnose Watts with what is now known as the signature wound of this war - traumatic brain injury.
Brigade's next mission to Iraq may be delayed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483862,00.html
A Fort Carson brigade that was facing its third redeployment to Iraq in August, barely 10 months after returning home, might delay its departure for another couple of months. The change was the small glimmer of good news during an otherwise grim week for soldiers who heard that all Army units now will face 15- month deployments in Iraq instead of 12-month stints.
Purple Heart awarded to Manzanola soldier
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/22
Army Pfc. Joshua Ryan Neilsen, a 2005 graduate of Manzanola High School who was severely injured in Iraq earlier this year, has received a Purple Heart medal from President George W. Bush.
Guv urges more aid for veterans
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486825,00.html
Colorado is not doing enough for veterans, Gov. Bill Ritter said Sunday night as he called for more money for a state trust fund for veterans and a new veterans cemetery in southern Colorado. "We are generating more veterans today than we have since the Vietnam War," Ritter told about 450 people at the United Veterans Committee of Colorado awards banquet at the Radisson Hotel. "We have a moral obligation to take care of them when they return home." He quoted state Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, who has cited figures that peg Colorado's spending on its 425,000 veterans at about 98 cents per veteran - far below the nation's average.
Town meeting: Big picture of Fort Carson growth
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176616800/1
Pueblo-area residents who want to see the "big picture" of the planned expansion of Fort Carson are invited to a public meeting Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Pueblo Convention Center. The meeting will focus on several pieces of the expected growth at Fort Carson, including the controversial planned expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site southwest of La Junta. The Army wants to expand the site from its current 238,000 acres to 656,000 acres - a plan that has galvanized strong opposition from the surrounding communities and landowners. Pinon Canyon aside, the major topic of the meeting is what will be the broad impact of the Defense Department's decision to bring an additional 10,000 troops to the Mountain Post over the next two years. Army officials have said that growth - the post only had 16,000 soldiers stationed there in 2005 - will have about a $1 billion economic impact on the region.
RELATED: Army wants to start Pinon Canyon expansion in ’09
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/1
RELATED: Army sets sights on willing sellers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483630,00.html
Army set to transport nerve agent to Texas
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176727129/8
Environmental and community groups may seek court orders to block the Army’s latest plan to ship nerve agent waste out of the Newport, Ind., Army Depot. The Berea, Ky.-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, a watchdog coalition that has successfully blocked incineration efforts at the Blue Grass Army Depot and the Pueblo Chemical Depot, held a telephone press conference Thursday that included representatives from both Indiana and Port Arthur, Texas, the latest destination for the VX nerve agent hydrolysate.
Soldier says infant's death was his fault
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486854,00.html
A Fort Carson soldier has pleaded guilty to charges in the death of his infant daughter, who died last year of severe bleeding of the brain after a fall. Prosecutors dropped a first- degree murder charge against Pfc. Johnathon Klinker, 22, after he pleaded guilty Friday to child abuse resulting in death and second-degree assault. He could face 30 to 64 years in prison at a sentencing hearing on July 9.
Satellite sending signals
http://www.gazette.com/articles/_21284___article.html/_.html
An Air Force Academy-built satellite is finally sending signals to Earth, and cadets think they can fix software glitches that hamper Falcon-Sat III.
Religion
Eco-rally turns heavenward
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5669851
Combining elements of a Sunday service and a political rally, Denver-area congregations gathered Saturday to call on Congress to reduce carbon emissions and fight global warming. Similar rallies took place statewide as part of the national "Step It Up" event. Activists gathered at more than 1,300 sites across the country to push for an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. "The faith community has been pretty quiet about global warming, but it goes to the core of what we believe about taking care of each other and the Earth," said Monika Leaf, a United Methodist church member who attended Saturday's rally at First Plymouth Congressional Church. Church groups at the rally signed commitments to sustainability and pledged to start a "low-carbon diet" to reduce their ecological footprint.
Chaput, parish meet privately
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5483988,00.html
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput met privately with members of a parish whose former priest was convicted of sexually assaulting teenage boys. About 200 people met with Chaput on Thursday night to discuss the case of Timothy Joseph Evans, a priest who was found guilty in separate trials of molesting teens while he was at churches in Fort Collins and Arvada.
Rector to address Episcopal charges of theft, fraud
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484199,00.html
The Rev. Donald Armstrong today is scheduled to address accusations of theft and fraud outlined by the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado in a church version of an indictment. The document, called a "presentment," outlines six counts against Armstrong, including allegations he used nearly $400,000 in church funds to cover family expenses, a grant to a friend, his own children's education and other, unknown, expenditures. Armstrong, a rector of 20 years at the prominent Grace Church and St. Stephen's parish in Colorado Springs, has denied the charges, and plans to address the allegations this morning at what his spokesman called a "public forum" at the church.
RELATED: Episcopal priest denies funds misused
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5670092
Energy Policy
Gas crests $3 in Vail
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5674836
Three-dollar-a-gallon gasoline is back in Colorado. The average price for self-service regular hit $3.01 a gallon Friday in Vail, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. While prices have been rising steadily across Colorado since February, the new high in Vail marks the first time that gasoline has topped $3 since last year's record highs in the 10 cities tracked by AAA. Gasoline prices often rise in late spring as peak summer driving season approaches. But analysts said prices started rising earlier this year because of unplanned refinery shutdowns and rising crude oil prices prompted by unrest in the Mideast. Colorado's average price hit a two-year low of $2.09 in late January. Since then, it has risen 70 cents a gallon to Friday's peak of $2.79. The all-time high for Colorado was $3.08 last August.
Durango goes to windmills
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5660567
The city of Durango has signed an agreement with its electric utility to boost the amount of wind-generated power it buys from 10 percent to 100 percent, officials said. The additional cost of about $120,000 per year should be offset by savings stemming from an energy audit by the La Plata Electric Association aimed at helping the city improve conservation and energy efficiency, said City Manager Bob Ledger. "This is the right thing to do," he said in a statement. He said one option to reduce power use could be change rates at the Chapman Hill ice rink to encourage people to use the rink at times when energy consumption elsewhere is low.
Solar Expo shines at Adams State College
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176616800/14
Saturday's inaugural Solar Expo at Adams State College had something for everyone - whether they were looking for the best way to heat their home, wanted an update from the state capital or hoped to make a business connection. The San Luis Valley has become a focal point of activity for solar development in the state. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden have rated the valley as having the state's best solar exposure and major proposals, including one by SunEdison to build a plant near Mosca, came out last year. State Sen. Gayle Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, reported that lawmakers had put forth 22 bills dealing with alternative energy sources, including HB1281, which was recently signed by Gov. Bill Ritter.
The carbon-neutral bandwagon
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104150086
Buying wind credits gives peace of mind to us environmental sinners in Vail, but are they worth much else? There's been some serious back-patting going on ever since Vail Resorts and the town of Vail decided to offset 100 percent of their electricity use with clean, emission-free power produced by wind farmers. It's the first thing you see on the Vail Resorts Web site and has made Vail a leader in this rapidly growing trend of "neutralizing" environmental impacts by investing in renewable energy. Some people, though, question the world-saving value of purchasing wind offsets, fearing they're being used in lieu of actually decreasing energy use, or fearing the offsets themselves are shady buys. They are certainly in vogue in the Fortune 500 world, but how much do they help the environment beyond clearing your conscience?
BLM policy encourages solar energy development on public lands
http://postindependent.com/article/20070415/VALLEYNEWS/104150043
As part of the effort to diversify the nation's energy supply and develop renewable energy resources, the Bureau of Land Management has issued updated policy guidance for processing applications for solar energy projects on public lands. The BLM also continues to evaluate the feasibility of installing photovoltaic (PV) systems on administrative facilities, as well as on range improvements and resource monitoring, public safety, and recreation projects on public lands. Some 600 PV systems generating 135 kilowatts are currently installed in BLM-owned facilities, supplying nearly 200 megawatt-hours of power annually. The second phase of a contract will be awarded soon to install additional renewable energy technologies, including solar energy systems at the BLM Field Office in Medford, Ore., and the Anasazi Heritage Center at the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado.
Ethanol worries ranchers
Lawmakers working on the "New Energy Economy" heard a peep of protest Wednesday from one of Colorado's oldest economies - agriculture. A national boom in ethanol has lifted the spirits of corn farmers, but ranchers and pork producers are hurting because they need corn to feed their animals. “Corn is basically our only option,” said Erin Daley of the Denver-based U.S. Meat Export Foundation. “We don’t really have a substitute for corn.”
Uranium mining raises concerns
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070414/NEWS/104140137
Robin Davis enjoys her new home built on 80 acres and approximately six miles northwest of Nunn. In February 2006, she and her husband, Jay, moved to rural Weld County with hopes of building a horse boarding facility, teaching riding lessons and conducting 4-H classes. A year later, those dreams are about to end. Powertech Uranium Corp. sent a letter to homeowners in October 2006 informing the couple of its intent to drill for uranium on their land. "I looked at that letter and thought this has got to be joke," Robin Davis, 42, said. "We moved out here for the focus on our horses and riding lessons," said Robin Davis. "This is a nice place to do that sort of thing. There's no traffic on the road, and it's close enough to centralized locations like Fort Collins and Greeley." Since area property owners do not own the mineral rights on the land, Powertech can drill when and where needed.
Tri-State backs off plans to build new coal plants
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_Coal_plant.html
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has backed down on plans to build three, new, coal-fired power plants, but the move may not be enough to retain a local member co-op beyond its current contract. The board of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association, a member of Tri-State, voted in December against a 10-year contact extension with Tri-State that would run through 2040.
Glenwood Springs considers electric-system rate hike
http://postindependent.com/article/20070415/VALLEYNEWS/104150038
Glenwood Springs electric rates may go up 4 percent this year - the first increase since 1991. "For an electric utility in today's world, that's a very long time," said city public works director Robin Millyard. The move would increase the average monthly residential electric bill by $2.41, to $62.73. The average residential customer uses about 800 kilowatt-hours per month.
EnCana coal bed methane field waterlogged
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_1b_EnCana_wastewater.html
EnCana Oil and Gas USA is vigorously searching for a solution to an unusual water problem with a shut-in coal bed methane field near Mamm Creek: The company is producing too much of it. “It’s one of the things that’s going to make us not an economical venture anymore,” EnCana land negotiator Greg Ryan said last week during an energy and environment symposium at Western State College. Excess water production is unique to EnCana’s 24 coal bed methane wells east of Mamm Creek, where test wells produced between 300 and 3,000 barrels of water daily, according to reports from 2005. EnCana’s other normal natural gas wells produce up to 15 barrels of water each day. “We can’t de-water the coals because we don’t know what to do with the water,” Ryan said.
RELATED: Company faces unusual well problem
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070415/NEWS/70415004
Blinded by the lights: Astronomers, energy savers bemoan Boulder's bright nights
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/14/stargazers-lament-friday-night-lights-blinded-by/
When the University of Colorado's Sommers-Bausch Observatory opened in 1953, school officials questioned the need to run electric and telephone cables to a then-remote location on "Observatory Hill" to escape the glow of city lights. A half-century later, it's amazing to think any site on the CU campus was free of light pollution from Boulder and the surrounding Denver-metro area, observatory manager Keith Gleason said. "Now you can't even see the MilkyWay from here," Gleason said. "The observatory at CU is largely useless for serious research projects anymore because the light pollution has gotten so bad."
Transportation and Infrastructure
Riesberg's rail ride remarks spark controversy
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104140150/-1/NEWS
Northern Colorado leaders are poised to form a regional transportation authority, so there's been plenty of transit talk in the region. Some recent discussion, however, focuses on Denver's transit system and a Greeley lawmaker's use of it. The two main parties involved do not even think this is a story. But several other people disagree with them, so now Rep. Jim Riesberg's free ride on a light rail train is a story. Riesberg, D-Greeley, said he had the best interests of his Weld County constituents in mind two weeks ago when he spoke against a bill that would allow Denver's Regional Transportation District to charge non-metro-area residents a fee to park at Park-N-Rides. Riesberg said if RTD needs money, the transit authority should make sure people are paying to ride after they park. On the floor of the Colorado House of Representatives, Riesberg told of how he would ride a light rail train to the Pepsi Center for sporting events.
Big bumps don't rattle RTD chief
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484202,00.html
"I need to deliver on FasTracks," [Carl] Marsella said of the challenge ahead. "We've got a track record of being on-time and on-budget to maintain."
RTD opens door to tech
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5670109
RTD's decision to encourage private companies to finance, build and operate FasTracks commuter trains has revived the possibility of a high-tech "maglev" train to DIA, transit officials say. Maglev refers to magnetic levitation, by which trains elevate over a guideway and are propelled for fast, frictionless travel. The Regional Transportation District is seeking federal support for a plan to contract with private firms to finance, design, build, operate and maintain as many as four commuter rail lines. The north metro, northwest, Gold and DIA rail lines will cost more than $2 billion.
Quiet homestead in path of new road
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486821,00.html
When Swickard bought her property in 1991, Castle Rock officials already had conceived a plan to someday build a "ring road" to loop the town's core. Swickard knew about plans for the road, but she didn't think it would bisect her property. "The town has grown so much that this is not a 'ring road' anymore. It's destroying the open space we enjoy," said Swickard, who intends to put up a fight. The town needs access to Swickard's land by May to "obtain geotechnical information," according to a memo to the Town Council in February. The memo also said Swickard "will not allow the equipment onto her property to perform the work."
A two-hour walk home from Wal-Mart
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104150081
The bus stops at the Village at Avon, which includes Wal-Mart, The Home Depot and Buffalo Ridge, are casualties of a long dispute between Avon and the Traer Creek Metropolitan District, the entity responsible for building roads and funding basic services such as snowplowing and police and fire protection at the Village at Avon. The town, which added the stops less than a year ago, believes the metro district should feel obligated to pay for the bus service, but the metro district says there is no obligation and that Avon regrettably started a route it couldn't afford. People like Foutz though don't particularly care about the dispute. They just need a bus, he said.
Uh-oh, snow's a no-show
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484200,00.html
Is Denver becoming a city of weather wusses? Maybe. Friday's snowstorm was a no-show. But more than 140 flights were canceled at Denver International Airport, thwarting the travel plans of thousands of passengers. Schools closed for a day when there was barely a dusting. Even the state legislature adjourned Thursday, declaring Friday a snow day. What gives, hardy Coloradans? For starters, almost every prominent weather forecaster got it wrong in predicting a big spring storm for metro Denver.
Due to arrive: new jets that fly light
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5484185,00.html
Adam Aircraft and Aviation Technology Group are located about 1,000 yards apart, separated by a runway and several hangars at Centennial Airport. It's somewhat fitting, then, that they are helping pioneer a new generation of planes expected to enhance the market for private and business jets. After years of hype - and various delays - the companies have taken big steps forward and are nearing the day when they can begin delivering their advanced, lightweight jets to customers.
Environment and Conservation
State's CO2 output jumps, environmental group says
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5484201,00.html
Colorado's emissions of carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas considered the major driver behind global warming - grew 39 percent from 1990 to 2004, according to figures compiled by environmental activists. The increase was the fifth- largest among states and compares with a national increase in carbon dioxide emissions of 18 percent in the same time frame, Environment Colorado said Thursday. Environmentalists said the data, compiled using information from the U.S. Department of Energy, show that Colorado needs to take more steps to use alternative energies and take advantage of existing technologies to make cars, power plants and businesses more efficient. "Colorado needs to be a leader, not a laggard, in protecting the climate," said Matt Baker, executive director of Environment Colorado, in a statement. Baker noted that figures show Colorado's carbon dioxide emissions surpass those of 175 other nations.
[Durango] Group rallies for the environment
United by the motto "80 percent by 2050," a modest crowd gathered Saturday in Santa Rita Park to promote the reduction of American carbon emissions and recruit support for the environmental awareness coalition Focus the Nation. The local "Step it Up" event, organized by Fort Lewis College senior David Karabelnikoff, was part of the National Day of Climate Action during which participants gathered at more than 1,400 places across the country to ask political leaders to take measures to stop global warming.
RELATED: Residents get behind green
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15777
RELATED: [Fort Collins] Rally turns up the heat
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070415/NEWS01/704150350/1002/NEWS17
Kerrys bring environmental message, book to town
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486516,00.html
Former presidential candidate John Kerry came to LoDo Sunday to talk about ordinary people and the things they're doing to help protect the environment. As part of a tour for their new book This Moment on Earth, the Massachusetts senator and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, also helped kick off the first annual Earth Action Festival at the Tattered Cover Book Store in LoDo. "This book is a story of scientific fact and real Americans who are out there linking those facts to the choices they are making in their lives, without regard to party label," Kerry told 200 attendees.
RELATED: Kerry, wife call for eco-action
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5675334
Growing water crisis seen in West
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176616800/3
Rocky Mountain states are growing faster than the rest of the nation and get less rain, stressing its water supply, which is already overtaxed in many places. Climate changes are projected to reduce the amount of water available in the future. Finally, transfers from agriculture, which still uses most of the water, to growing cities are evolving with innovative strategies, but the ultimate price might be the quality of life in the West, not just the sustainability of the water supply. Those are conclusions reached in Colorado College’s 2007 State of the Rockies Report Card, released and discussed last week at a three-day conference. The report looks at water issues of concern to the Arkansas Valley, including Aurora’s water rights purchases in the Arkansas Valley, water banking and a proposed water lease management program.
RELATED: Cities hunt water to feed growth
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176616800/4
Gavel falls on farm's future
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5670094
As a gabbling auctioneer sold off nearly 30 years' worth of accumulated farming equipment, men in sagging blue jeans and sturdy work boots studied the rows of tractors, plows, cultivators and other equipment displayed on what used to be part of Steve Weigandt's first crop of alfalfa. There won't be a second crop on his land this year. There isn't enough water. Like hundreds of other South Platte Basin farmers in Adams, Weld and Morgan counties, Weigandt can pump only 15 percent of the water in the farm's shallow well. That's not enough to sustain 80 acres of beans, corn and alfalfa. "You can't even irrigate your lawn with that," observed Mary Dean, who spent more than 30 years running a well-dependent vegetable farm in Brighton.
Water tap fees, expenses vary widely
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176727129/1
The cost of water in the Arkansas Valley depends on how close the supply is, the size of system and what has to be done to treat the water. In terms of water quality, that means more expense as you move down the river or away from it, as a recent survey by The Pueblo Chieftain indicated. It also revealed costs to provide services in growing communities is higher, as reflected in connection fees. Finally, communities depending on water supplies in the Fountain Creek watershed, or which import water into that area, generally have higher rates.
RELATED: District managers share ideas on growth
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176530400/4
Groundwater overuse tied to fisheries
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1176616800/17
Most fish don’t live underground, but the water there is as important as the rivers, streams and lakes they live in. “It turns out fish need water every day,” Melinda Kassen, Trout Unlimited Western Water Project managing director told an audience of about 100 during a panel discussion on Colorado College’s 2007 State of the Rockies Report Card.
Proposal puts forest land up for sale
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/NEWS01/704160328/1002
Nearly 3,700 acres of federal forest land in Larimer County could go on the block as part of a revived proposal to fund timber-dependent counties nationwide. The National Forest Land Adjustment for Rural Communities Act, which would extend the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, would authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide funding for five more years for rural communities that have relied on timber receipts.
Animas tree thinning fires up critics
A plan by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to conduct fire mitigation thinning on Animas City Mountain is drawing criticism. The agencies claim that dense stands of juniper, ponderosa pine and Gambel oak in a 672-acre section on the mountain present a significant wildfire hazard. It is not the thinning project itself that has neighbors concerned, but rather the method of thinning preferred by the agencies. That method involves the use of a hydro mower, a large machine that resembles an enormous lawnmower. The hydro mower cuts, shreds and mulches small trees and forest vegetation to reduce fuels in areas deemed susceptible to wildfire.
GLOBAL CELEBRATION (EXTRA!, April 16)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486823,00.html
According to the Earth Day Network, Earth Day is the only event celebrated around the world simultaneously by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities.
RELATED: Earth Day-related events
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/16/earth-day-related-events/
Local appointed to GOCO board
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104150085
Former state senator and 30-year Frisco resident Tom Glass has been named to the board of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), a trust funded by state lottery proceeds. GOCO awards grants for projects that preserve, protect and enhance state parks, rivers, trails, open space and wildlife, and, as a boardmember, Glass will a have a hand in deciding where millions of dollars is spent each year (GOCO received $50.2 million from state lottery funds in 2005 and 2006).
Wilderness Workshop's budget, initiatives surge
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104150078
Nobody said being a leader in environmental activism would be easy - or cheap. Wilderness Workshop, the oldest locally-based environmental organization, doubled its staff and increased its revenues 86 percent this year compared to 2005. The growth coincides with the organization's expanding role as a watchdog for issues affecting wilderness and other national forest lands. Wilderness Workshop does everything from taking the defensive to try to prevent gas companies from drilling on leases they hold on forest lands to taking the offensive on adding lands with the wilderness protections in Colorado. Executive Director Sloan Shoemaker said it is important to have an organization that represents the environment when the gas, logging and motorized recreation industries are so powerful.
Boon or boondoggle?
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070415/NEWS/104150086
When Wellington Neighborhood resident Sean McAllister considers the federal plan to move polluted mine waste from the Claimjumper parcel to a repository in the French Gulch drainage near his home, he sees a potential health risk to his young daughter. "My experience is that unlined repositories leak," said McAllister, who spent three years as a Colorado assistant attorney general, working with federal and state environmental agencies on mine cleanups. McAllister said the proposal to move the rock, tainted with high concentrations of lead and arsenic, may not be the best way to go. Given the complex geology of the area, McAllister said there's a risk that the planned dump site won't contain the toxic heavy metals unless it's properly lined and drained. That could lead to an increased risk of exposure for residents, he said. Current plans call for the repository to be capped with clean rock and monitored, according to standard mitigation procedures.
County not sweating easement crackdown
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15767
A Boulder lawmaker’s effort to establish stricter reporting requirements for tax-credited conservation easement donations shouldn’t pose problems for Boulder County’s conservation-easement program, county officials say. Rep. Alice Madden, D-Boulder, has said her House Bill 1361 “increases the accountability and transparency of a critical tool for land preservation in our state.” The Colorado Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service have uncovered abuses and other problems with some conservation easements that get state and federal tax breaks, Madden said. However, “there were literally no stories about Boulder County whatsoever,” she said.
BOULDER GETS GIFT OF TREES (Briefing, April 16)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5486847,00.html
When the dozens of cherry tree saplings dotting Boulder bloom next spring, Yoko Tamaki hopes their pink flowers will help ease the homesickness of Japanese expatriates living here. "Cherry blossoms are in our heart, so when we're away from them, we miss them," said Tamaki, who moved to Boulder from Tokyo 40 years ago and heads a friendship committee between Boulder and its Japanese sister city, Yamagata.
Opinion
Brown: Ethics is more than money
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5655086
The legislature sets boundaries for its members and for lobbyists. A joint House-Senate rule says lobbyists may not "attempt to influence [legislators, officials, etc.] by means of deceit or by threat of violence or economic or political reprisal ... ." A lobbying practices committee 20 years ago said lobbyists should "practice common courtesy and respect" and "uphold the honor of the legislative process." (It also said they should wear their name tags.) But fear of [Amendment] 41, and overreaction to it, have made the legislative-lobbying relationship worse. There's really nothing to prevent lobbyists and legislators from dining together, as long as they pay their own way. But legislators and lobbyists are shying away from the kind of social interaction that allowed everyone to get to know each other. "We're not building relationships as strongly as before 41," Stafford said. Term limits compound the problem, leaving less time to build relationships and statehouse savvy. Buying lunches and game tickets for legislators is not a particularly good tradition, but it's not as big a problem as lying and threatening. Concern about the means and manners of lobbying is at least as important as the money.
O'Neill: Wildlife and the Oil and Gas Commission
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/speakout/2007/04/post_25.html
We are the Colorado Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit organization of conservationists including hunters, anglers and wildlife viewers. As such, we are concerned with wildlife habitat. Directly and indirectly, wildlife contributes more than $2.0 billion annually to the Colorado economy. Wildlife, moreover, makes an immeasurable contribution to the quality of life of all of us who live in Colorado and the West. We seek to ensure sustainable wildlife populations, and to conserve important wildlife winter ranges, reproduction areas, migration corridors and summer ranges. The impacts that rapidly expanding oil and gas development are having on Colorado’s and the West’s native wildlife such as mule deer, pronghorn (antelope) and sage grouse have been well documented by respected wildlife biologists. We recognize that oil and gas production is a vital part of Colorado’s economy. Yet we also know that energy development need not jeopardize the wildlife and habitats that help define our state and the West.
Beers: Saving Colorado
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/speakout/2007/04/saving_colorado.html
I spoke recently at THE GOOD NEIGHBOR FORUM in Greeley. The subject was how the Federal government and various environmental organizations were using the Endangered Species Act to insert Federal authority into the future use of water and the future of agriculture and rural livelihoods in the Platte River watershed in Eastern Colorado and Nebraska. At that meeting I became familiar with the US Army (and The Nature Conservancy) expansion plans in SE Colorado (Pinon Canyon) and Federal takeover planning on the Republican River watershed before I returned to my home in the Washington, DC area.
BLM oil-shale dilemma: Guess the resource impact
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/04/16/4_16_shale_edit.html
When the Bureau of Land Management releases a draft environmental impact this summer on commercial oil-shale development in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, don’t expect anything close to precision on the anticipated impacts of such an industry. That’s because as yet there are no formal proposals for commercial oil-shale production, and any projections the BLM obtains for things like energy consumption by the oil-shale industry will be nothing more than the best estimates supplied by the industry itself. That was the word from Lynn Rust, BLM’s deputy state director in Colorado for energy, lands and minerals, speaking at a conference in Gunnison last week. Unlike normal environmental impact statements, in which federal agencies can make reasonable projections about the impacts of specific projects, the BLM in this case is attempting to predict the environmental impact of an industry whose very viability is far from certain. Furthermore, the companies involved either have little data themselves about environmental impacts, or they are reluctant to share what they consider proprietary information. Meanwhile, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, working with a grant from the state Water Conservation Board, faces many of the same difficulties in trying to assess an equally important question about oil shale: Just how much water will a commercial oil-shale industry require?
Hecox, Jackson: Less water, more people
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5655073
Prolonged drought, perilous forest conditions and rapid population growth are combining to create serious challenges for the eight-state Rocky Mountain region. With increased population growth and continued drought-like conditions becoming a regional norm, how will the Rockies manage competing needs, particularly allocation of the region's already scarce water? That was the key question that the 2007 Colorado College State of the Rockies Project examined. The issue of sustainability increasingly permeates discussion of water distribution in the Rockies. Limited in supply and often separated from "higher-value users," water has and will continue to be a fundamental challenge for Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The sustainability and livability of the Rockies, so valued by millions of residents and visitors, depends largely on how this limited, variable and potentially shrinking supply is managed in the face of myriad challenges, ranging from climate change to rapid urban growth. Water supplies must sustain both human and environmental needs if the region is to retain vitality and viability.
Martinez: Equal Rights Amendment (Affairs of state, 4/15)
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5674829
The two highest-ranking women in the state legislature say they will help fight for ratification of a new Equal Rights Amendment if it is passed by Congress. A bill was reintroduced in Congress last month with a new name: the Women's Equality Amendment. It contains a simple mandate: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex." The U.S. House and Senate passed the first ERA overwhelmingly in 1972 but after 10 years it failed to get the necessary ratification from 38 states; 35 states, including Colorado, ratified it. Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and House Majority Leader Alice Madden say women still lag men in pay, promotion and other areas, despite laws passed in the last three decades that ban discrimination. Both leaders said they would be "delighted" if Congress passes the amendment and sends it to the states for ratification. Not everyone agrees, of course.
Carman: Anti-gay rhetoric drowns out kids' needs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5665070
A flat-screen TV hangs on the wall across from my desk in the fancy new Denver Post building and for weeks now I've been tempted to take it out with my coffee mug. When I absent-mindedly lift my gaze from my computer screen to the TV tuned to CNN or Fox or whatever, inevitably I see the pinup gallery of Anna Nicole Smith or in recent days the grotesque mug of Don Imus. So naturally I thought of Smith and Imus last week when David Schultheis, Scott Renfroe and the rest of the anti-gay-rights gang took to the Senate floor to bloviate about protecting marriage, blah, blah, and the interests of the children. It was political infotainment at its most craven. Sen. Schultheis of Colorado Springs and Sen. Renfroe of Greeley were among the 15 Republicans who voted against a bill that would allow same-sex partners to adopt each other's children.
Meet Ritter halfway
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/15/opinion/op1.txt
Jeannie Ritter is frank: addressing mental health issues in the cash-strapped Western Slope is not easy. And the learning curve is steep. But she’s throwing her weight behind spotlighting the problem and she’s doing her research the old-fashioned way: face time with the folks in the know. “This is a new role for me,” Colorado’s first lady said while in town Thursday. “How do I come forward and make an impact? The first step is public awareness.”
Smith: Health care is a game without rules
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5655071
Playing games with the American health-care system has fragmented it to the point that it is not cost-effective, efficient or fair. Half the time, patients do not get best-practices treatment. One-third of the medical expenses are unnecessary, counterproductive, or harmful to the patient. Despite spending 16 percent of the nation's gross domestic product on health care, our infant mortality is rate is more than twice the rates in Sweden, Japan and Hong Kong. We as a society have not established an overall vision or goal for our health-care system. Many diverse interest groups jockey in a system too complex to control without a plan, but planning is difficult because the involved groups have such different agendas. The interest groups bring different languages and perspectives, and there hasn't been enough common ground to build a consensus. They are not even playing the same game.
Higher high-school standards: A good thing
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/16/higher-high-school-standards/
Our children must be able to compete at a high level academically. Students who are under-prepared in high school may face difficulty getting into post-secondary school and surviving tough college-level classes. The workforce, too, demands high-level skills and abilities. Other states also are looking at toughening the route to graduation for students.
Our view: County should not be surprised it made list
We appreciate Routt County Clerk Kay Weinland’s efforts to correct the election problems that occurred in November 2006. We think the formation of an Election Review Committee was the right step, and we agree with the committee’s recommendations of more machines and more voting centers. Still, we have to agree with Secretary of State Mike Coffman’s decision to put Routt County on the Election Watch List. Until the county actually holds another election and does so successfully, we deserve to be on the list.
NW Parkway an object lesson
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5655089
The financially troubled Northwest Parkway looks like it may stave off bankruptcy by leasing the toll road to foreign investors for what may be as long as 50 years. The deal is preferable to a default that could hurt the ability of other public road authorities to market their bonds. But the parkway's problems should prompt the state to rethink its infatuation with pay-to-drive roads as a solution to Colorado's mounting transportation woes.
Salzman: Should Democratic leaders be so cozy with Rosen?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5483688,00.html
Three Democratic presidential candidates won't participate in a debate co-hosted by Fox News. They were pressured by activists who say Fox has a conservative bias. The Democrats shouldn't have dumped Fox because politicians should debate on left- and right-leaning news media. But Democrats shouldn't favor their ideological opponents in the media, either. So I don't understand why Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Bill Ritter appear for an hour each month on Mike Rosen's talk-radio show on KOA-AM (850) without offering equal time to a left-leaning outlet.
Second term for Mayor Hickenlooper
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5674832
The Post Endorsement: Denver's mayor has demonstrated the benefits of innovation in tackling the issues of the city and deserves re-election.
RELATED: Barnes-Gelt: Denver's doldrums election
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5655075
RELATED: Quiet but historic election for Denver
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5655088
Quillen: No fixing Electoral College
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5655087
The Electoral College is one place where our Founding Fathers stumbled so badly that they had to perform some patchwork in just a few years, and the proposals for change continue to this day.
Censorship U: Animal-welfare group should be open
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/15/censorship-u/
In March, we learned that the University of Colorado had killed at least 18 dogs and 191 pigs during sales "training" sessions for a private company. CU had just stopped the practice and affirmed its impropriety. But more than a month after the Camera reported this story, the public still doesn't know how, exactly, this travesty occurred. Who approved of these vivisections? When was the OK given? Was there any debate about the propriety of sales-related killing?
Littwin: When time's up, it doesn't matter who's got your back
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5483989,00.html
I'm listening to sports-talk radio the other night. I have no excuse for this behavior. Maybe the Nuggets had just played. I swear I'd have documentation for this slip - if Karl Rove hadn't lost my e-mails. Anyway, I'm listening, and the announcer - I'm not sure who it was; it definitely wasn't my smart friend Sandy Clough - asks a question that goes something like this: Speaking as a white guy, who has my back? I almost ran off the road. I didn't know whether - as white-guy Bill Clinton famously said - to kill myself or go bowling. The white-guy announcer is discussing, of course, Don Imus - and the so-called double standard he has faced. He's saying that black people have someone like Al Sharpton to watch their collective back. And I guess the implication is that women have, I don't know, Rosie O'Donnell. And gays have Barney Frank. And certain U.S. attorneys wish they'd have had Alberto Gonzales. And white guys?
RELATED: Johnson: Imus obvious, but subtle racism stings, too
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5483990,00.html
Election
Sen. Clinton's Campaign War Chest Tops All Rivals
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500522.html
Newly released campaign reports show upstart presidential candidate Barack Obama raised more than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the first three months of this year, but modest spending and an infusion from her senate accounts have left Clinton the overall money leader among 2008 presidential hopefuls. Clinton finished the first quarter of this year with $24 million to spend on her primary bid and another $7 million that will be available if she wins the Democratic nomination, according to reports of presidential campaign fundraising and spending that became public this afternoon.
RELATED: Clinton's campaign coffers lead the pack
RELATED: Attacking
Bush, Clinton Urges Government Overhaul
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/us/politics/14clinton.html
Obama Taps Two Worlds To Fill 2008 War Chest
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401491.html
Sen. Barack Obama's elite inner circle of presidential- Sen. Barack Obama's elite inner circle of presidential-campaign fundraisers filed into the basement ballroom of a Washington hotel last week to hear the candidate describe "the yearning that America has for change" and his strategy for "tapping into it." A senator for only two years, the Illinois Democrat has been cast in the early stages of the campaign as an upstart who refused money from Washington lobbyists and parlayed Internet savvy, opposition to the Iraq war and grass-roots enthusiasm into a surprising $25 million first quarter of fundraising -- money that has made him a legitimate contender for the party's nomination.
RELATED: 20,000 turn out for Obama [in Atlanta]
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/04/14/0414metobama_web.html
RELATED: Donors Linked to the Clintons Shift to Obama
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/politics/16donate.html?ref=washington
Romney, Giuliani Have Money to Burn
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302044.html
Republican presidential front-runner Rudolph W. Giuliani spent $5.7 million on his campaign during the first three months of the year, campaign aides said yesterday, leaving him with more than $10.8 million to spend -- almost as much as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Romney also announced his final fundraising numbers for the first quarter yesterday. His campaign said he spent about $11.6 million during the period, almost half of the $23.4 million he raised and lent his campaign, leaving him with about $11.8 million to spend on the primary.
Campaign
Financial Reports Show McCain Lagging Rivals
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401543.html
Sen.
John McCain's presidential campaign burned through more than $8 million
during the first three months of 2007, leaving the onetime Republican
front-runner with only $5.2 million in the bank, less than half the cash
remaining for each of his chief rivals for the GOP nomination. The Arizona senator's campaign also listed $1.8 million in debts, including $207,000 on its
American Express account, in a report filed yesterday to the Federal Election
Commission. By contrast, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani reported
cash on hand of $10.8 million and debts of about $89,000. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had almost $12 million in cash and reported no debt. The
leading Democratic candidates are expected to announce their remaining cash
today, when all candidates must file their first-quarter financial reports by
midnight. McCain's financial filing is the latest sign of the struggles to
beset a 2008 candidacy once considered as the most formidable in either
political party.
Gore
'08: Does He Round Up or Down?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401585.html
Gore's 2000 campaign
chairman, Donna Brazile said, while speaking to students at Moravian College in
January, that she foresaw a campaign announcement if he dropped 25 to 30 pounds
for his Oscar night debut.Whether Gore runs or not, the attention paid to his
waistline brings up a larger question: Why can't a fat person be president?
Examine the current field of contenders in both parties. They may not all be as
svelte as Barack Obama, but not a single one could fairly be described as
corpulent. Is avoirdupois the final taboo?
GOP
Contenders Flock to Iowa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401547.html
Most of them had similar messages -- they would be tough on terrorism, they
would fight defeatist Democrats, they would keep taxes low, they would tackle
illegal immigration. Many rushed to extol Ronald Reagan while barely mentioning
President Bush. They kept reassuring each other that it is good to be
Republican despite recent polls and political travails. But with nine of them
trying to distinguish themselves from the pack here in this season's opening
GOP presidential cattle call, the candidates looked for small ways and large to
attract attention.
RELATED: Republicans enter the ring in Iowa
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop15apr15,1,6146903.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Campaign donor's cash arrived with baggage
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-jinnah15apr15,1,1812300.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
On a sun-dappled October afternoon, Ray Jinnah stood beside his Bel-Air
swimming pool to address 60 guests gathered for his latest fundraiser, a 2004
affair for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Los Angeles Mayor James K.
Hahn was there, along with then-City Council President Alex Padilla. Both had
received backing from Jinnah, a Pakistani businessman positioning himself as a
player in Democratic fundraising and an organizer of support for Pakistan on Capitol Hill. As captured on a DVD he distributed to guests, Jinnah introduced Clinton, whose political action committee would take in $45,000 through his efforts.
"I'm just recalling how close I've been with the Clinton family and those
nights, movies, dinners, lunches in the White House," he said in unsteady
English. Clinton, beaming, warmly thanked Jinnah and noted that he had been
among the first well-wishers to call her husband, Bill, after his recent heart
surgery. At about the same time, the Justice Department began investigating
allegations that Jinnah's fundraising on behalf of Clinton and others was
illegal.
Effective and Ethical Government
'Clean' War Bill Will Pass, Cheney Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500469.html
Vice President Cheney predicted that the Democratic-led Congress will approve funding for the Iraq war with no strings attached, although not until after a veto showdown with President Bush. "I think the Congress will pass clean legislation," Cheney said during a taped interview broadcast yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation." If Democrats do not have the votes to override Bush's veto, "they will not leave the troops in the field without the resources they need to be able to carry out their mission." Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) acknowledged that an override is unlikely, but said Democratic leaders are considering other ways to force a change of course in Iraq. One option, Levin said on "Fox News Sunday," is to include the Iraqi government benchmarks that the White House established for reducing sectarian violence and building a democratic governing and political system.
RELATED: Cheney, Reid open week's debate over Iraq money
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-15-cheney_N.htm
RELATED: Political winds shift on prairie
Bush Acknowledges Congress's Right To Weigh In on War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500654.html
Democratic lawmakers and liberal scholars have taken issue with the White House assertion that Congress does not have the constitutional authority to "micromanage" the war, and they seem to have an unlikely ally: President Bush. Asked at a recent news conference about congressional war powers, Bush seemed to suggest that while he disagrees with efforts to set a timetable for withdrawal, lawmakers are within their constitutional rights to do so. "The Congress is exercising its legitimate authority as it sees fit right now," Bush said. "I just disagree with their decisions. I think setting an artificial timetable for withdrawal is a significant mistake. It sends mixed signals and bad signals to the region, and to the Iraqi citizens." Those comments tracked Bush's statement to the Wall Street Journal editorial page months ago that Congress has "the right to try to use the power of the purse to determine policy," and could put limits on how he deploys troops in Iraq.
Pelosi survives 1st 100 days as speaker
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-14-pelosi-100-days_N.htm
Nancy Pelosi won her biggest victory in her first 100 days as speaker by making peace among her own House Democrats. Mollifying moderates and staving off liberal defections, she narrowly wrung passage of legislation setting a troop withdrawal deadline from Iraq. The Iraq legislation was the truest testament to her leadership, analysts said. The nation's first female House speaker has also passed a raft of other bills, set herself up as a visible opponent to President Bush and taken steps to protect Democratic incumbents who could be vulnerable to Republican challengers next year. Key tests lie ahead when House members return from their April recess in the coming week.
Even in Wartime, Voters Think Locally
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401245.html
Tom Matzzie, the Washington director of the liberal activist group MoveOn.org
Political Action, boasted that his antiwar coalition raised more than $5.6
million for a full-throttle campaign to crack GOP support for the war. The
targets have been chosen: the 15 Republicans who voted for the nonbinding
resolution against the troop buildup but against the war spending bill; 25
others -- the "party before country" caucus, as Matzzie called them
-- who have spoken against the war but voted with the president; and the
"squealers," Republicans who can expect tough races in 2008
regardless of the war. "We're going to give them a choice," Matzzie
said. "Break with the president and the war, or political extinction."
But if the pressure on them is building, Republicans aren't showing it. Sen. Norm
Coleman (R-Minn.) shrugged off the protesters who had occupied one of his
home-state offices and dogged his spring break.
RELATED: Iraq War and Other Issues Follow Lawmakers Home
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/us/15recess.html
White House, Senators to Confer on E-Mail Expert
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401243.html
The White House said yesterday that it has accepted the Senate Judiciary Committee's proposal on how to choose an outside consultant to help recover lost e-mails involving official presidential business. White House counsel Fred F. Fielding called Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) -- the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, respectively -- to say that their suggestion to allow committee input on the choice of a consultant was a good idea, spokeswoman Dana Perino said. White House and committee staffers plan to meet early this week to move forward, she said. The White House acknowledged last week that aides to President Bush improperly used e-mail accounts created by the Republican Party to conduct official White House business, and that an undetermined number of those e-mails have been lost. Perino said Friday that she could not rule out the possibility that up to 5 million e-mails were missing.
RELATED: Explaining Missing E-Mails, Attorney Says Rove Thought RNC Saved Them
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302043.html
Spending puzzle for US agencies
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/15/spending_puzzle_for_us_agencies/
The decision by congressional Democrats to remove "earmarks" directing funds to lawmaker-favored projects has left government agencies with billions of dollars in extra money to spend before the fiscal year ends in September -- and little guidance about where it should go. As a result, Bush administration officials are quietly scrambling to decide how to spend the money under a budget that arrived so late that the fiscal year was already a third over. The formerly earmarked programs range from an estimated $300 million for anticrime efforts to more than $1 billion for road construction, among many others.
Cheney hasn't spoken to his old friend Libby
In the nearly six weeks since his close friend and former chief of staff was convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation, Vice President Dick Cheney has not once spoken to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. "Well, there hasn't been occasion to do so," Cheney said when asked why Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." Libby, found guilty of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago. Cheney said he believed deeply in Libby. "He's one of the most dedicated public servants I've ever worked with, and I think this is a great tragedy," he said. But when Cheney said he had not spoken to Libby, interviewer Bob Schieffer asked the vice president about it again. Why not call to express your regrets? "I just — I haven't had occasion to do that," was all that Cheney would say.
NJ governor on ventilator but stable after crash
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041300825.html
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was heavily sedated and breathing with the help of a ventilator on Friday after a highway accident, though his condition was improving, aides and doctors said.
RELATED: Driver in Corzine Crash Not Charged
With April 15 nearing, Bushes and Cheneys do their taxes too
President Bush and the first lady paid $186,378 in federal taxes on their income of $765,801 for last year. Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife made twice as much and paid the tax man about $50,000 more than they owed.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Bush threatens to veto intelligence bill
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-13-bush-intelligence_N.htm
President Bush is threatening to veto a Senate intelligence bill that's laced with provisions that would force the White House and spy agencies to be more responsive to Congress. In a policy statement released Thursday, Bush's advisers said the bill fails to provide enough money, "with sufficient flexibility," to adequately pay for spying operations. The Senate has struggled for two years to pass a spending blueprint for the roughly $45 billion-a-year spying budget. Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., made the legislation a top priority when he took over in January. "These provisions are all intended to improve our ability to make decisions, leading to better intelligence for the military and policymakers," Rockefeller said on the Senate floor. Bush issued the only veto of his presidency last year, killing a bill on the use of federal money for embryonic stem cell research. But since the Democrats assumed congressional control, Bush has been warning more often that he will nix legislation.
Arrested in '02, 'dirty bomb' suspect Padilla to be tried
Cast as a murderous Al Qaeda warrior when arrested five years ago, Jose Padilla goes on trial this week on downsized charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism. The 36-year-old former Chicago gang member was originally accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in an unnamed U.S. city. In a dramatic satellite broadcast from Moscow in May 2002, then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft portrayed Padilla's arrest at O'Hare International Airport as a government victory in averting another attack like Sept. 11. But after holding Padilla in solitary confinement in a South Carolina military brig for 3 1/2 years, deprived for months of human contact and subjected to sensory-distorting extremes of light, temperature, noise and odor, the Bush administration dropped its contention that the U.S.-born suspect figured in any specific bomb plot. The government's shift on Padilla has made his trial, which begins today in federal court in Miami, a focal point in the national debate over how terrorism suspects are treated.
Hayden Works to Absorb New Hires at CIA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401443.html
CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, after nearly a year as head of the nation's premier intelligence agency, says his biggest challenge is absorbing all the newly hired analysts and the case officers who have been hired since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Chaplains' Complaints Of Bias Rise At NIH
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302347.html
The spiritual ministry department of the National Institutes of Health, which serves patients being treated in the nation's premier research hospital, is in disarray and battling a lawsuit and discrimination complaints that allege bias against Jewish and Catholic chaplains. In February, a federal panel ordered the hospital to reinstate a Catholic priest who was wrongfully fired in 2004. In January, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had found that he was the target of "discriminatory and retaliatory animus." Three other former chaplains have said that they also were wrongfully terminated. They have accused O. Ray Fitzgerald, a Methodist minister and the former head of the spiritual ministry department, of anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism. They say that NIH retaliated against them when they spoke up and invented reasons for terminating them.
At State, a Friendlier Workplace
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500652.html
In stark contrast to the Pentagon policy of "don't ask, don't tell," the State Department acknowledges its gay employees, allows their partners to live in official residences overseas, helps them obtain foreign residence visas, and has sent out a cable to missions encouraging U.S. ambassadors to include diplomats' partners in social and official functions. At the Pentagon, anyone declaring homosexuality is subject to dismissal.
Foreign Policy
A World Wide Web of terrorist plotting
The Internet has become a virtual operations center replacing the Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and Bosnia.
U.S. Consulate Closes in Morocco Over Security Concerns
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/africa/16morocco.html?ref=washington
The United States Consulate here said Sunday that it would close until further notice, a day after two brothers carried out puzzling suicide attacks near the consulate amid a spate of bombings in Morocco and Algeria. With the Moroccan police tightening security around the consulate and other foreign consulates here, the closing underscored American concerns expressed here and in Algeria about further attacks and possible dangers to Americans. On Saturday, United States officials here told their employees to stay home, warning that the potential for violence against Americans “remains high.”
U.S. Decides Against Freeing 5 Iranian Agents
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301282.html
After intense internal debate, the Bush administration has decided to hold on to five Iranian Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents captured in Iraq, overruling a State Department recommendation to release them, according to U.S. officials. At a meeting of the president's foreign policy team Tuesday, the administration decided the five Iranians will remain in custody and go through a periodic six-month review used for the 250 other foreign detainees held in Iraq, U.S. officials said. The next review is not expected until July, officials say. The five, seized in a Jan. 11 raid by U.S. forces in the Kurdish city of Irbil, are at the center of increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran. The decision is certain to further irritate Tehran, which has ratcheted up pressure on the United States and on its allies and even its friends in the Iraqi government to win freedom for the Irbil five.
Divided Iraq has two spy agencies
Shiite officials wary of the CIA-funded, Sunni-led official intelligence service have set up a parallel organization.
RELATED: Iraq: Sadrists to leave Cabinet
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-16-sadrists-cabinet_N.htm
Dozens Killed in Iraqi Holy City
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041400412.html
A car bomb tore through a packed bus station and marketplace in one of Iraq's holiest Shiite cities Saturday morning, killing at least 32 people and wounding more than 150, police and hospital officials said. The vehicle's driver detonated his explosives at the main entrance of the Karbala bus station about 9:15 a.m., turning stands at an adjacent vegetable market into piles of twisted metal and engulfing nearby vehicles in flames, police said.
RELATED: Baghdad bombings kill 45 in Shiite areas
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-15-iraq_N.htm
A Chaotic Day On Baghdad's Airport Road
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401490.html
The full story of what happened on Baghdad's airport road that day may never be known. But a Washington Post investigation of the incidents provides a rare look inside the world of private security contractors, the hired guns who fight a parallel and largely hidden war in Iraq. The contractors face the same dangers as the military, but many come to the war for big money, and they operate outside most of the laws that govern American forces.
Taliban has ways to evade U.S. forces
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-15-afghanistan_N.htm
Troops with powerful rifle scopes scanned mountain ridges for elusive, black-clad Taliban infiltrators. Afghan soldiers, hit by a roadside bomb, pressed on into the valley. U.S. Special Forces swept through the sinister alleys of its main settlement. The strike, carried out by about 200 American and Afghan government forces, was supposed to sever a major insurgent infiltration and supply route from neighboring Pakistan to Islamic fighters deep in Afghanistan. But the attack didn't work — an object lesson in why 47,000 U.S. and NATO forces are struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban movement.
Pakistanis protest anti-vice campaign
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-16-pakistan-rally_N.htm
About 100,000 people rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday against a radical Islamic mosque and seminary that launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the country's capital last week. The mass protest in Karachi was organized by the Mutahida Qami Movement, or MQM, a party based in the southern port city that strongly supports President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has promoted moderate Islam.
Iran plans to build 2 more nuclear power plants
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-15-iran-nuclear_N.htm
Iran said Sunday it is seeking bids to build two more nuclear power plants even as the launch of its first plant is stalled amid a bitter dispute with Russia over its funding. Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization in charge of power plants, told reporters the plants would be light-water reactors, each with the capacity to generate up to 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Each plant would cost up to US$1.7 billion (euro1.26 billion) and take up to 11 years to construct, he said. The announcement comes as Iran has been struggling with Russia over the funding of the country's first plant near the southern city of Bushehr.
RELATED: Iran invites bids for two nuclear plants
Iran's intellectuals retreat from the fray
Under pressure from conservatives, young writers and thinkers focus on literature rather than politics.
Israel, Palestinians report progress after leaders meet
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders today discussed the outlines of Palestinian statehood for the first time in six years, taking a modest step toward breaking the long paralysis in peacemaking. In the first in a series of biweekly talks, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas focused mostly on day-to-day issues such as travel and trade restrictions, but also raised broader issues that have not been discussed by the two top officials since the collapse of peace talks in 2001. Representatives of the two sides said Olmert and Abbas discussed the structure of the government of a future Palestinian state and economic cooperation, among other topics. "It was a good beginning," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said of the meeting, which lasted more than two hours. Olmert and Abbas smiled and looked comfortable as they walked into Olmert's official residence in central Jerusalem.
RELATED: Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Discuss Outlines of Statehood
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500273.html
Nigeria vote begins amid violence
Africa's most populous country began voting Saturday in state and national elections, amid complaints that authorities have stopped dozens of opposition figures from running, doubts about voter registrations and an unresolved challenge to the list of presidential candidates. The elections are aimed at completing the first transfer of power from one civilian leader to another since independence from Britain in 1960. And aside from the vote's importance for Nigeria, analysts say the country's size and influence means the success of its democracy will be reflected in other African countries. From independence until elections eight years ago, Nigeria was under almost continuous military rule.
RELATED: Nigeria's ruling party takes lead in elections amid fraud allegations
Deadline Passes for N. Korea
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041400319.html
A deadline for North Korea to shut down its nuclear reactor passed Saturday with no known compliance action by the communist state, which has said it must first collect $25 million in frozen assets. U.S. officials lamented the missed deadline, but treated it as something that need not derail the landmark nuclear agreement reached Feb. 13 after almost four years of negotiations.
Dozens Arrested as Riot Police Beat Anti-Kremlin Protesters in St. Petersburg
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500250.html
Riot police beat anti-Kremlin demonstrators who attempted to march to government buildings in St. Petersburg on Sunday after an officially permitted protest rally on the edge of the city center, in a second day of clashes in Russia. Dozens of people were arrested before and during the rally, but most were hauled away as demonstrators demanded a right to march after the event. Riot police blocking the route waded into the crowd and beat demonstrators, and some participants tossed bottles and stones at police lines. The violence followed the arrest of nearly 200 people in Moscow on Saturday, when an anti-government coalition led by former world chess champion Garry Kasparov was prevented from assembling in Pushkin Square. Kasparov was arrested but released late Saturday after he was fined $39 for participating in an unsanctioned rally. He did not travel to St. Petersburg, according to a spokesman for the activist.
RELATED: Police in Moscow Overpower Opposition Rally
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041400383.html
Ukraine mired in political crisis
In the topsy-turvy world of Ukrainian politics, about the only thing anyone agrees on these days is that their country is in the throes of another political crisis -- the latest in a series of crises that have dogged Yushchenko's presidency ever since the Orange Revolution launched him into power. The latest imbroglio, however, is by far the country's worst since the revolution, pitting Yushchenko on one side against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and parliament on the other, with the country's constitution hanging in the balance.
Colombian Officials Probe Uribe Allies In His Home State
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041501066.html
An investigation that has already bared ties between government officials and paramilitary death squads in six of Colombia's coastal states has now widened to the home state of President Álvaro Uribe, focusing on his administration's politically powerful allies, judicial officials say. The development could further complicate Colombia's efforts to secure a free-trade pact with the United States, where some Democrats on Capitol Hill are increasingly concerned about the growing scandal. Colombia's Supreme Court, which is responsible for investigating malfeasance in Congress, has received detailed evidence that has spurred an investigation concerning three lawmakers from Antioquia state, one of them Sen. Rubén Darío Quintero, Uribe's private secretary when he was governor there from 1995 to 1997.
Immigration
Lottery Used to Narrow Work Visa Petitions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/washington/14immig.html
Swamped by petitions for work visas from highly educated or skilled foreigners, immigration authorities have conducted a lottery for the first time to determine which ones will be considered, federal officials announced yesterday. A computer randomly selected 65,000 petitions from among the 123,480 that had passed a preliminary check for eligibility, said Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees the visas.
Tax Returns Rise for Immigrants in U.S. Illegally
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/nyregion/16immig.html?ref=us
With the tax deadline approaching, illegal immigrants are sending in federal returns in what appear to be record numbers despite fears heightened by recent immigration raids around the country. The increase in filings comes amid talk of an immigration overhaul, with some proposals introduced in Congress linking amnesty to the payment of taxes. Many illegal immigrants showing up at tax preparation offices around the country say they hope that filing a return will create a paper trail that could lead to citizenship one day. In Raleigh, N.C., a tax preparer found 350 immigrants waiting outside his office at 7 a.m., including one dragging a suitcase that held $14,000 in cash for back taxes. In Baltimore, a community agency offering free tax help that was deserted the day after 69 people were rounded up in immigration raids elsewhere in the city was crowded again within 24 hours.
Reproductive Choice
Study Casts Doubt on Abstinence-Only Programs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301003.html
A long-awaited national study has concluded that abstinence-only sex education, a cornerstone of the Bush administration's social agenda, does not keep teenagers from having sex. Neither does it increase or decrease the likelihood that if they do have sex, they will use a condom. Authorized by Congress in 1997, the study followed 2000 children from elementary or middle school into high school. The children lived in four communities -- two urban, two rural. All of the children received the family life services available in their community, in addition, slightly more than half of them also received abstinence-only education. By the end of the study, when the average child was just shy of 17, half of both groups had remained abstinent. The sexually active teenagers had sex the first time at about age 15. Less than a quarter of them, in both groups, reported using a condom every time they had sex. More than a third of both groups had two or more partners.
In Mexico, Powerful Forces Drive a Furious Debate Over Abortion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041400775.html
The debate has been ignited by two proposals to expand access to abortions in this overwhelmingly Catholic country, considered a regional trendsetter on social issues. Mexico City's legislature is widely expected to approve a law on April 24 that would decriminalize abortion and allow the procedure during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. A similar proposal has been filed in the Mexican Congress.
Health Care and Public Safety
Depression enters a new era
Abraham Lincoln battled it all his life. Theodore Roosevelt struggled with it even as he negotiated the end to the Russo-Japanese War. Thomas Eagleton found himself booted off a presidential ticket because of it. So, when Massachusetts' new first lady, Diane Patrick, recently revealed that she suffers from depression and exhaustion, she joined a long line of American politicians and their loved ones hounded by what Winston Churchill called the "black dog" of depression. With the 2008 race for the White House under way, Patrick's announcement again raises questions about the political liability of depression and how views on it have changed since Lincoln's dark days of "melancholy."
FEMA Doubles Estimate of Lost Meals to 13 Million
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302187.html
The Federal Emergency Management Agency yesterday more than doubled its estimate of the number of prepared meals lost during the 2006 hurricane season because of storage problems to 13.4 million, up from the 6 million it reported earlier. The lost food consisted of civilian box lunches, said FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker, not versions of the military's Meals Ready to Eat, as officials had said.
Report: Columbia families got $26.6M
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2007-04-15-shuttlesettlement_N.htm
NASA paid $26.6 million to family members of the astronauts who died on the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, a newspaper reported Sunday, citing recently released documents.
Crime and Penal Reform
Murders, assaults, robberies soar in some Midwest cities
This neighborhood in northeast Milwaukee is not the city's toughest, but it does provide a view of a strengthening wave of violent crime that is plaguing Milwaukee and, disproportionately more than the rest of the nation, other major cities in the Midwest. A Milwaukee alderman called recently for the National Guard to patrol the city's streets, a remark that stoked, if not advanced, the public discussion and finger-pointing. Since 2004, aggravated assaults are up a whopping 86 percent in Milwaukee and 42 percent in Minneapolis. Homicides are up 41 percent in Cincinnati, 26 percent in Kansas City, Mo., and 38 percent in Cleveland. Detroit's robberies have leapt by 40 percent since 2004. And the incidence of aggravated assault with a firearm in St. Louis jumped 45 percent, according to a recent study by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington law-enforcement think tank.
Economy
Wolfowitz Clashed Repeatedly With World Bank Staff
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401564.html
As he prepared to sign a five-year contract as World Bank president in the spring of 2005, Paul Wolfowitz sent his personal lawyer, Robert Barnett, to negotiate the terms. Barnett, whose high-profile clients have included some of Washington's biggest political and media figures, did not mince words in his meetings with the bank's legal team. Wolfowitz wanted more than a dozen amendments to the standard contract that had served the institution for decades, Barnett told them, including special dispensation for the books he would write and the paid speeches he planned to deliver, and a salary on par with that of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who was traditionally more highly paid. A final sticking point, conveyed in all capital letters in an e-mail to then-general counsel Roberto Dañino, was Wolfowitz's insistence that, while he had earlier offered to recuse himself from all office matters involving bank employee and his girlfriend Shaha Riza, he insisted on retaining retain "professional contact" with her -- something that the executive board later determined was a clear conflict of interest under personnel rules. The Riza issue has come back to haunt Wolfowitz, as the bank's executive board is now considering what to do about revelations -- contained in documents it released Friday -- that Wolfowitz resolved the issue by personally arranging a bank salary and promotions for her in a temporary State Department post.
RELATED: Public Rebuke for Wolfowitz, but He Digs In
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/washington/16bank.html?_r=1&ref=washington&oref=slogin
RELATED: Wolfowitz Seeks African Leaders’ Backing
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/washington/15bank.html
Unpaid Taxes Tough to Recover
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041501158.html
The tax gap is becoming a popular target in Washington, where the White House and the Democrats who control Congress are eager to find new sources of cash without raising tax rates. But narrowing the gap would require potentially invasive new reporting requirements and ramped-up IRS audits that would inconvenience honest taxpayers and businesses even as they detect cheaters. Some ideas under discussion: Force credit card companies to report the flow of funds to individual businesses, from the corner dry cleaner to online auctioneers who use eBay. Require stock brokers to report the purchase price when people sell stock. And create tax-withholding arrangements in industries that use independent contractors, such as hair salons, travel agencies and construction sites.
RELATED: I.R.S. Audits Middle Class More Often, More Quickly
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/16tax.html?ref=washington
Wholesale Prices Jump 1 Percent in March
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041300588.html
Wholesale prices shot up by 1 percent in March, mostly reflecting more expensive gasoline and food. However, when those volatile energy and food prices are removed, all other prices were flat in March, suggesting that inflation is not spreading throughout a wider range of goods in the economy, the Labor Department's report, released Friday, also showed.
A peek at the perks of the corner office
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/2007-04-16-ceo-compensation-usat_N.htm
During the past two decades, CEO pay has blasted off from the terrestrial world in which most workers toil to interplanetary levels where few salaried employees could ever hope to go. And while annual proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the past provided a general snapshot of just how big those CEO salaries were, shareholders could never quite get a detailed, granular view of how much a chief executive made — until now. Under disclosure rules approved by the SEC last year, public companies must furnish many more details about compensation packages than they've ever had to divulge.
Private-Equity Firms Face Public Future
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500688.html
The co-founder of the Carlyle Group, the giant District private-equity firm that invests tens of billions of dollars on behalf of pension funds and other investors, said over the weekend that he expects most of the major firms in his industry to become public companies in the next few years. "These guys who built these private-equity firms: You can say many things about them, but one thing you can't say is they're stupid, or they are not an alpha male," said David M. Rubenstein, Carlyle's managing director. "These guys are going to be fairly forthright about getting what they think they earned for building these firms."
Vonage: No tech 'workaround'
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2007-04-15-vonage-usat_N.htm
Vonage has finally confirmed what many had feared: The embattled Internet phone company has no "workaround" in hand to sidestep Verizon's patented Internet phone technology. Moreover, Vonage (VG) isn't sure that such a plan is even "feasible," given the expansiveness of Verizon's (VZ) patents, which set out methods for passing calls between the Web and conventional phone networks. Vonage's chilly assessment, contained in a filing submitted to a federal court Friday, marks the first time it has admitted that it doesn't have a plan for getting around Verizon's technology. Vonage couldn't be reached for comment. A federal court recently ruled that Vonage had infringed on Verizon's patented technology. As punishment, Vonage was barred from using the disputed technology to support new customers. Existing customers are not affected. The company immediately requested — and received — an emergency stay. Meanwhile, Vonage told investors and customers not to worry because a "workaround" was in development.
Google To Buy Online Ad Giant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301606.html
Google said yesterday that it planned to acquire Internet advertising company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, a deal that would expand the search firm's presence into online banner advertising and raise the stakes for its competitors, such as Yahoo and Microsoft. The purchase, which Google said will be made in cash, would accelerate the Mountain View, Calif., company's effort to extend its business beyond the small text ads that appear next to Web search results. Microsoft had been trying to outbid Google for DoubleClick, an online ad broker that sells banner and video Web ads. Yahoo also competes in the market. Another large DoubleClick competitor, Advertising.com, is owned by AOL, a division of Time Warner.
RELATED: Microsoft Wary of DoubleClick Buyout
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500855.html
E-Mail Innovator Plans to Enlist in the Wireless Campaign of the Patent Wars
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16email.html?ref=business
Nicholas Fodor is about to dive into the patent wars that have tangled up the business of wireless e-mail. But his weapon of choice is not a lawsuit. It is a new e-mail service he is developing using the knowledge gained from years of experience with e-mail software. Mr. Fodor, 43, a French computer programmer, said that in the early 1990s he worked on “push” e-mail services that predated the filing of important patents in this area. He intends to test his claims as soon as next month by introducing Freedom Mail, a simple free service that he says will make it possible to view and respond to messages sent to almost any e-mail account on a cellphone or other mobile device. “Freedom Mail will liberate wireless e-mail from expensive and spurious litigation driven by very few patent owners for the sole purpose of dominating global wireless e-mail communications,” Mr. Fodor said in an e-mail message.
Media
Gaza Militant Group Says It Killed BBC Reporter
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/middleeast/16gaza.html
A previously unknown group in Gaza sent a statement to news organizations on Sunday claiming that it had killed Alan Johnston, the BBC correspondent who was kidnapped in Gaza City on March 12. The BBC said it was aware of the reports and deeply concerned, but emphasized that there was no independent verification of the claim, which it was treating as rumor. The group, calling itself the Tawhid and Jihad Brigades, first sent an e-mail message with the claim to a journalist at the Palestinian Ramattan news agency in Gaza. The message said that the group held the British government, the Palestinian government and the Palestinian presidency responsible for the death, and said that its demands for the release of Palestinian prisoners inside Israel had not been met.
Pearl honored with Holocaust victims
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-15-pearl-honored_N.htm
Daniel Pearl was added to the 30,000 names etched on the Holocaust Memorial Wall here on Sunday to honor the American journalist who was abducted and killed by terrorists in 2002. Although Pearl's death and the Jews of the Holocaust were executed by people of different faith, language and agendas, there is a common thread of hatred, his father Judea Pearl told a crowd of hundreds as his son's name was unveiled as the first non-Holocaust victim to be remembered at the wall in Miami Beach. "The forces of barbarity and evil are still active in our world. The Holocaust didn't finish in 1945," Judea Pearl said. Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal's South Asia bureau chief, was abducted Jan. 23, 2002, while working on a story about Islamic militants in Karachi, Pakistan. Four days later, the Journal and other media outlets received pictures of Pearl with a pistol to his head. A group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and demanded that suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters be released from U.S. custody.
Suitors Raise Bid for Clear Channel
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/media/16deal.html?ref=business
The two private equity firms seeking to buy Clear Channel Communications have sweetened their offer, fearing that their initial bid may be rejected by shareholders. In a letter to Clear Channel’s board, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners have proposed raising their $26 billion offer, including debt, for the nation’s largest radio company, people briefed on the negotiations said yesterday. The letter proposes several alternatives, including letting shareholders co-invest in a small part of the deal, in what is known as a stub. That would allow the investors a greater return, should the deal prove successful.
Best-Informed Also View Fake News, Study Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/media/16pew.html
Americans may have more news outlets today than two decades ago, but they still don’t know much more about current events than they did then, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. But here’s one big difference: the survey respondents who seemed to know the most about what’s going on — who were able to identify major public figures, for example — were likely to be viewers of fake news programs like Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report”; those who knew the least watched network morning news programs, Fox News or local television news.
Education
Lenders Misusing Student Database
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401444.html
Some lending companies with access to a national database that contains confidential information on tens of millions of student borrowers have repeatedly searched it in ways that violate federal rules, raising alarms about data mining and abuse of privacy, government and university officials said. The improper searching has grown so pervasive that officials said the Education Department is considering a temporary shutdown of the government-run database to review access policies and tighten security. Some worry that businesses are trolling for marketing data they can use to bombard students with mass mailings or other solicitations.
RELATED: Kennedy Wants Lenders Blocked From Data
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500987.html
Student Lender to Pay $2.5 Million Settlement
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/education/16direct.html?ref=us
Education Finance Partners, a student loan company that investigators found had paid at least 60 colleges and universities across the country for steering students to its loans, has agreed to pay $2.5 million to resolve an investigation of its practices by the New York attorney general, according to lawyers who have taken part in the negotiations.
Sallie Mae Stock Rises On News of Possible Sale
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301016.html
Shares of Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student loan company, rose 14.8 percent yesterday on reports that it was in talks to be bought by private investors. The Reston company has been talking with potential buyers, including private-equity firms, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are ongoing.
RELATED: Negotiators Say Sallie Mae to Be Sold for $25 Billion
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/16deals.html?ref=business
Ethics charges stand against Duke D.A.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-13-duke-ethics_N.htm
A disciplinary committee rejected a request Friday to dismiss ethics charges against the former prosecutor in the dismissed Duke lacrosse case, who is accused of withholding critical DNA evidence from the defense. The decision by the three-member panel came shortly after an hourlong hearing, at which committee chairman F. Lane Williamson repeatedly challenged the arguments made by attorneys for Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong.
RELATED: Dropped Duke Charges Renew Hope in Georgia
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16rape.html
Texas may require schools to carry elective on Bible
The Lone Star State could become the first in the nation to require all public high schools to offer an elective course on the Bible. Hearings continued in the Legislature last week on a bill that calls for school districts in Texas to offer a class on "the history and literature of the Old and New Testaments eras" if at least 15 students sign up. The bill was written by state Rep. Warren Chisum, a West Texas Republican who teaches Sunday school at a Baptist church. He said the course would not treat the Bible as a "worship document" but would promote religious and cultural literacy by "educating our students academically and not devotionally."
Military
Commission on Veterans Care Pledges to Develop Solutions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401459.html
Injured soldiers returning home for medical treatment face an unacceptable maze of paperwork and bureaucracy, leaders of a presidential commission on veterans' health care said yesterday. At its first public meeting, the nine-member commission led by former senator Robert J. Dole and former health and human services secretary Donna E. Shalala heard from veterans, spouses and advocacy groups who decried what they said was a failed system. The commission pledged to work quickly to find solutions rather than to assign blame.
RELATED: Returning troops face obstacles to care
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-14-veteran-care_N.htm
War strategy critic to review IED office
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/04/16/war_strategy_critic_to_review_ied_office/
Alarmed by a spike in deadly roadside bombings in Iraq, the Pentagon has enlisted an early critic of the US war strategy to reevaluate the controversial office that has spent billions of dollars but failed to curb the biggest killer of American troops, according to Defense Department officials and documents.
Study belies beliefs about military marriages
The Rand Corp. reports that the war hasn't increased the divorce rate, and that deployments may even strengthen couples.
A Combat Mission Two Decades in the Making
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302049.html
After more than 20 years in development at a cost of billions of dollars, the long-troubled V-22 Osprey will head to Iraq in September for its first combat missions, the Marine Corps said yesterday. The tilt-rotor Osprey, a helicopter-airplane hybrid, has survived attempts by the Pentagon leadership to cancel it, criticism of its rising cost and unique design, and three fatal accidents since 1992. The aircraft, made by Bell Helicopter and Boeing, can take off, land and hover like a helicopter, then turn its rotors to fly straight ahead like a conventional plane. It will operate out of al-Asad air base in central Iraq for seven months.
Religion
Vatican agrees to attend Holocaust service, backs off threat
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-15-yadvashem_N.htm
The Vatican's ambassador to Israel will attend a Holocaust memorial service at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, reversing an earlier decision to boycott the event, officials said Sunday. The boycott had threatened to upset fragile relations between Israel and the Vatican. The Vatican's ambassador, Monsignor Antonio Franco, announced last week that he would skip Sunday night's event because of a caption at the museum describing the wartime conduct of Pope Pius XII.
RELATED: Pope Benedict XVI set to name influential U.S. bishops
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-04-15-us-popes_N.htm
Christian school to host gay activists
Breaking with many fellow conservative Christian schools, Gordon College in Wenham will welcome to campus this week a busload of young adults who are sharply critical of the school's policies on homosexuality.
Pain Arrives Early at the Pump
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302126.html
The driving season stretching from Memorial Day through Labor Day is known for pinching motorists. But since the devastating hurricanes of 2005, the pain at the pump each year has returned earlier and with a particularly sharp bite, prompting cries from legislators and causing automakers to scramble to produce smaller, fuel-efficient models. This year, the federal government's Energy Information Administration is predicting that motorists will pay an average of $2.81 a gallon, just six cents less than last summer's steep levels. Others, including James Mulva, the chief executive of ConocoPhillips, warn that prices could hit an average of $3.
5 Firms Compete for $10 Billion Gas Project
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/16gas.html
At least five international energy companies submitted bids on Sunday for a giant sour gas project in the United Arab Emirates that could have a price tag as high as $10 billion. The project is one of the largest open to oil and gas companies competing for limited access to the Middle East’s energy reserves. Saudi Arabia, which has the world’s biggest oil reserves, is closed to international companies, while the gas exporter Qatar has a moratorium on new projects.
Military Sharpens Focus on Climate Change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401209.html
The U.S. military is increasingly focused on a potential national security threat: climate change. Just last month the U.S. Army War College funded a two-day conference at the Triangle Institute for Security Studies titled "The National Security Implications of Global Climate Change." And tomorrow, a group of 11 retired senior generals will release a report saying that global warming "presents significant national security challenges to the United States," which it must address or face serious consequences. The 63-page report -- which is being released a day before the U.N. Security Council holds its first-ever briefing on climate change -- lays out a detailed case for how global warming could destabilize vulnerable states in Africa and Asia and drive a flood of migrants to richer countries. It focuses on how climate change "can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world," in part by causing water shortages and damaging food production.
RELATED: Global Warming Called Security Threat
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/us/15warm.html
California Adopts First Phase of Ocean Preserves
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/us/15coast.html?ref=science
California wildlife regulators adopted a sweeping ocean protection plan on Friday, the first such statewide effort in the country, intended to establish a network of underwater refuges. The plan, unanimously approved by members of the California Fish and Game Commission, will create a statewide system of connected ocean preserves where fishing and other human activities would be limited or banned. The first phase sets aside the waters along a 200-mile stretch of the coast, including tidal areas that fan out three miles from shore, to protect marine habitat between Point Conception, near Santa Barbara, and Half Moon Bay, about 25 miles south of here.
Scientists Enlist Nature's Divers to Sample Icy Sea
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500551.html
For years, scientists have been trying to get a sense of the ocean north of Greenland but have been deterred by the harsh weather there. Now they have finally found deep-diving oceanographers willing to do their work for them: narwhals. Narwhals -- whales that got their name because the Norse thought their skin resembled that of a drowned sailor -- used to be coveted for their 9-foot spiral tusks. In the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I of England bought a narwhal tusk for a price supposedly equal to a castle, and other royals sought the tusk for medicinal purposes. But researchers from the United States and Greenland are using them to analyze a part of the ocean crucial for regulating climate. The narwhals' wintering territory is near the northern Labrador Sea, where warm, salty water is moving north and cold, fresh water is moving south.
RELATED: Canadian north offers 'ground zero' view of global warming
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-04-15-canada-ground-zero_N.htm
Russia Tries to Save Polar Bears With Legal Hunt
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/europe/16polar.html?ref=science
For the first time since the Soviet Union banned the practice more than five decades ago, the government is preparing to allow hunters here to kill the bears. The animals are descending with greater regularity on coastal villages in this part of Russia’s far north as a result of shrinking sea ice generally attributed to a warming planet. “The normal life space for the polar bears is shrinking,” Anatoly A. Kochnev, a biologist with the Pacific Scientific Research and Fisheries Center here in the Chukotka region, said in an interview. “They come in search of food on the shore, and the main sources of food are where people live.” Even as many warn that the world’s polar bears are threatened, with the Bush administration proposing to include them on the United States’ listing of threatened species, scientists, environmentalists and native villagers here express hope that a legal hunt could rein in rampant poaching.
Climate Change Scenarios Scare, and Motivate, Kids
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041501164.html
For many children and young adults, global warming is the atomic bomb of today. Fears of an environmental crisis are defining their generation in ways that the Depression, World War II, Vietnam and the Cold War's lingering "War Games" etched souls in the 20th century.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
The Fantasy Behind the Scandal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/opinion/15sun1.html
The more we learn about the White House’s purge of United States attorneys, the more a single thread runs through it: the Bush administration’s campaign to transform the minor problem of voter fraud into a supposed national scourge. When the public first learned about the firing of eight United States attorneys, administration officials piously declared that many of the prosecutors had ill served the public by failing to aggressively pursue voter fraud cases (against Democrats, naturally). But the more we examine this issue, the more ludicrous those claims seem. Last week, we learned that the administration edited a government-ordered report on voter fraud to support its fantasy. The original version concluded that among experts “there is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling place fraud.” But the publicly released version said, “There is a great deal of debate on the pervasiveness of fraud.” It’s hard to see that as anything but a deliberate effort to mislead the public.
Froomkin: E-Mail Saga Gets Fishier
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/13/BL2007041301125.html
The saga of the missing White House e-mails took a turn from the deeply suspicious to the deeply, darkly suspicious yesterday as Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman disclosed the bizarre response by the Republican National Committee to early indications that consequential White House e-mails -- particularly to and from Karl Rove -- were being deleted. From 2001 to 2004, the RNC's highly unusual "document retention" policy was to intentionally destroy all e-mails that were more than 30 days old. In the summer of 2004, due to "unspecified legal inquiries," the RNC changed its policy by allowing -- but not mandating -- the indefinite retention of e-mails sent and received by White House staffers on their RNC accounts. That was just around the time special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's investigation of White House involvement in the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity was kicking into high gear.
RELATED: White House E-Mail Mystery
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302078.html
Unanswered Questions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500784.html
THE UPROAR over fired U.S. attorneys and missing White House e-mails has crowded out attention to another matter of concern: the campaign briefing that White House political aide J. Scott Jennings provided to political appointees at the General Services Administration. This episode raises some obvious questions: Were similar presentations made to other government officials on government property during business hours? Did Mr. Jennings clear this practice with the White House counsel's office -- whether it was a one-time deal or part of a series? Did that office consider whether the briefings complied with the Hatch Act, which regulates the political activity of federal government employees? Does it believe Mr. Jennings's briefing was appropriate?
Anatomy of Neglect
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401206.html
IT'S OFFICIAL: Poor outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was delivered by an inadequately sized staff suffering from "compassion fatigue"; neglected by leaders who "should have been aware of the poor living conditions and administrative hurdles" and yet "failed to provide clear direction, or place proper priority, on the management of outpatients"; and worsened by "destabilizing" workforce changes and outdated policies on debilitating wounds. The failures were both systemic and specific, and there is plenty of blame to go around.
Wheatcroft: The shifting burden of war
AFTER HE had been sent by President Franklin Roosevelt as his wartime emissary to London, Harry Hopkins became a friend as well as a colleague of Winston Churchill. When Hopkins's son, Stephen, was killed in the landing on Iwo Jima, Churchill expressed his sympathy. Since this was Churchill, there was no mere letter of condolence but a touch of grandeur, a parchment inscribed with the haunting lines from Macbeth that begin, "Your son, my lord, has died a soldier's death . . . " When I was reminded of this story recently, something struck me, a jarring anachronistic note. Not the friendship of two great men nor the hardships of war; it was the fact that one of the most powerful Americans of his age could lose a 19-year-old son serving as a private in the Marines. Not so today. Even during the Vietnam War there were several dozen sons of senators and congressmen in the armed forces. Now Senator Jim Webb of Virginia is unique on Capitol Hill in having a son serving in Iraq. That is a most ominous change.
Kamen: Tenet's Tell-All Is a Slam Dunk to Provoke Invasion's Architects
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500653.html
The drums have begun sounding for the long-awaited book by former CIA director George Tenet, in which he gives his take on pre-9/11 days and on Saddam's huge cache of weapons of mass destruction. And the drums are saying that Tenet is not going to get too many Christmas cards from Vice President Cheney's office after they read "At the Center of the Storm." Folks from down the river at the Pentagon, including former deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz-- a guy who's already going through a rough patch -- and former defense undersecretary Douglas Feith, might also get some heartburn.
Sheehan: Why I Declined To Serve
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500564.html
Service to the nation is both a responsibility and an honor for every citizen presented with the opportunity. This is especially true in times of war and crisis. Today, because of the war in Iraq, this nation is in a crisis of confidence and is confused about its foreign policy direction, especially in the Middle East. When asked whether I would like to be considered for the position of White House implementation manager for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I knew that it would be a difficult assignment, but also an honor, and that this was a serious task that needed to be done. I served as the military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense in the mid-1980s and more recently as commander in chief of the Atlantic Command during the Cuban and Haitian migrant operation and the reconstruction of Haiti. Based on my experience, I knew that a White House position of this nature would require interagency acceptance.
Whose Job Is It, Anyway?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/opinion/14sat2.html
We have long suspected that there is no one in charge of the Iraq war. How else can you explain four years of multifront failures, including President Bush’s most recent plan to order even more American troops to risk their lives there without demanding any political sacrifice or even compromise from Iraq’s leaders? So we were not surprised to hear that White House officials are looking for someone to oversee both Iraq and the faltering Afghanistan war— and not surprised that they were having a tough time filling the job.
Tucker: GOP still can't find those FVs — fake voters
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2007/04/15/0415edtuck.html
Republicans seem to believe that if they lost an election, somebody cheated. That delusion has not only led them to chase after unsubstantiated rumors of fake voters but also to put in place unconstitutional restrictions at the ballot box. Harsh voter ID laws have already suppressed voting by people of color around the country. Now, the GOP's paranoid insistence that countless votes have been illegally cast has mired them in legal and political quicksand. It was the party's determination to prosecute voter fraud, even if it did not exist, that forced some conscientious U.S. attorneys out of office — a scandal reminiscent of Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre. The clumsy politicization of the Justice Department has created turmoil in its ranks. Democrats have issued subpoenas to try to get a straight story about the dismissal of competent attorneys such as New Mexico prosecutor David Iglesias; meanwhile, high-ranking Justice Department appointees have headed for the exits. The controversy may yet end the tenure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Don't slip back into illegal spying
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/04/16/0416edspy.html
National Intelligence Director Mike Mc-Connell plans to overhaul America's spy apparatus to make it more effective. That's fine as long as it doesn't include reprising warrantless — and therefore illegal — domestic surveillance. But that's exactly what McConnell has in mind, according to The Associated Press.
Beware of Lapsing Ethicists
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/opinion/14sat4.html
With a healthy sense of political survival, House freshmen who campaigned against Congressional corruption are prodding the new Democratic majority to deliver on its promises of ethics reform. Commendable progress was made in January, when the House tightened its rules against accepting gifts from lobbyists. But there is still worrying foot-dragging on the key question of reform: whether to create an independent entity to oversee the integrity of lawmakers, rather than leaving that job solely to the less-than-vigilant House ethics committee.
Broder: Democrats' Welcome Discipline
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301996.html
On this tax-filing weekend, a bit of consolation is coming from an unexpected quarter in Washington. Instead of promising more unaffordable tax cuts that go mainly to the richest Americans, as their Republican counterparts have done for the past six years, key Democrats are imposing some real spending discipline on themselves. That is the underreported story in the budget resolutions passed by the House and Senate just before the Easter recess and now headed for tweaking in a conference between the chambers and final approval in the next few weeks.
RELATED: Fairbanks: Nancy Pelosi: the extreme moderate
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-fairbanks15apr15,0,6422702.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Wolfowitz should walk
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-wolfowitz16apr16,0,4176122.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
A World Bank president who grants favors to his girlfriend can't convincingly chide other leaders for corruption.
RELATED: Time for Mr. Wolfowitz to Go
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/opinion/16mon3.html
Get real: Fix immigration
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/04/15/0415edimmigration.html
Even with Democrats in control, Congress will find it difficult to pass legislation reforming the nation's immigration process. Racially-charged rhetoric, the steadfast refusal to acknowledge the significant costs and sharp disagreements over handling illegal workers already here have made consensus difficult. But doing nothing is not acceptable.
Sign the stem cell bill
IRAQ WASN'T the only factor that decided congressional races last fall; embryonic stem cell research was a major issue, too. Polls consistently show public support of greater than 60 percent for broadening federal funding of experimentation with these cells, which have the potential to become any human tissue, advancing the treatment of diseases or injuries.
Conflict at the Smithsonian
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401204.html
THE TOP two Smithsonian officials who were paid big bucks for serving on the corporate board of a firm doing business with the institution didn't break any rules. But that doesn't make the practice right or their judgment correct. The Smithsonian board, to its credit, is moving to tighten its rules, but it needs to go even further.
Carroll: New thinking to save the earth
THIS WEEK, spring fever takes the form of the fever pitch to which concern over global warming is rising. Last Saturday was the National Day of Climate Action, a campaign organized by writer Bill McKibben, aimed at getting Congress to "step it up" and cut US carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. Next Sunday is Earth Day -- part festival and part political demonstration, always a call to action for the environment.
McPherson: Leafy, green and good
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mcpherson16apr16,0,2743505.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Planting trees to strategically shade our buildings is one way to cut energy use, which then reduces emissions from power plants. Right now, two-thirds of the electricity produced in the U.S. is created by burning coal, oil or natural gas — and on average, for every kilowatt hour of electricity created, about 1.39 pounds of carbon dioxide is released in the air. I recently worked on the U.S. Forest Service's feasibility study of the Million Trees LA program. We found that the plan — announced by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last fall — could make a measurable difference in Los Angeles. Over the next 35 years, adding 1 million trees to the city would reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 1 million tons, the equivalent to taking 7,000 cars off the road each year.
Chapman: McCain digs deeper hole for himself
John McCain is an indomitable patriot who will forever be remembered for his stoic endurance of captivity and torture as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. But lately, he has gone to great lengths to prove that it's possible to be both a hero and a fool.
King: Standing Up to Imus
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301872.html
This week I walked into the auditorium of Francis Junior High School, where in May 1954 our principal announced at a hastily called afternoon assembly that the Supreme Court had just abolished segregation in public schools. That decision struck down legally sanctioned discrimination, but as the Don Imus episode reminds us more than 50 years later, the disease of discrimination is hardly a thing of the past.
RELATED: Responding to racism with dignity
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-rutgers14apr14,0,5153315.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Booth: Is That Wheat Gluten in My Bowl?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302067.html
Raging pancreatitis? See what I'm talking about? Friends have begun to share dog food recipes with me. There are pet cookbooks. There's the bones and raw food, or BARF, diet. The buzz now? Organic pet food from local providers; nouvelle cuisine for cats. What happened at the Menu Foods plant is still being investigated. But we do know that melamine causes kidney failure. I do not want to feed melamine to my dogs, though I am sure they would eat it, just as they once ate those designer beds.
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