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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/042407.htm
TOP STORIES
National
Outcry halts building of 'Great Wall' in Baghdad
The U.S. military calls it the Great Wall of Adhamiyah, outraged Iraqis have dubbed it the Sectarian Wall and Arab commentators are drawing dark comparisons with the security barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. The U.S. military's construction of a concrete wall around the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah, billed as one of the "centerpieces" of the latest strategy to pacify Baghdad, has instead triggered a torrent of outrage among Iraq's Sunnis and across the region. On Monday, the U.S. military said it had suspended construction of the 3-mile wall after an appeal by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But U.S. officials also defended the effort to turn Adhamiyah, a known insurgent stronghold, into a "gated community," and an Iraqi military spokesman vowed to press ahead with the wall, leaving its fate shrouded in confusion.
RELATED: Military officials defend new barrier in Baghdad
RELATED: Frustration Over Wall Unites Sunni and Shiite
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/MILITARY
Bush Asserts Increased Confidence in Gonzales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301765.html
President Bush said his confidence in Alberto R. Gonzales has grown as a result of the attorney general's testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as the administration moved to end speculation that Gonzales would step down after a performance criticized by senators in both parties. "The attorney general went up and gave a very candid assessment and answered every question he could possibly answer, in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday. "Some senators didn't like his explanation, but he answered as honestly as he could."
RELATED: Bush praises attorney general's testimony
RELATED: At Least the Boss Was Satisfied by Gonzales’s Answers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24gonzales.html?ref=washington
More DOJ scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT
GSA Briefing Now Part Of Wider Investigation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301995.html
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is expanding its investigation of a January videoconference, conducted by Karl Rove's deputy for General Services Administration appointees, to look at whether the political dealings of the White House have violated the Hatch Act, its chairman said last night. Not long into its investigation of the presentation, Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch said, his office had collected "a sufficient amount of evidence" that merited a deeper examination of whether the White House was running afoul of the law. J. Scott Jennings conducted the Jan. 26 videoconference in the political affairs office at the White House. His PowerPoint presentation, to as many as 40 Republican GSA political appointees, contained slides describing Democratic seats that the GOP planned to target in the next election and Republican seats that needed to be protected.
RELATED: Low-key office launches high-profile inquiry
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-probe24apr24,0,3535547.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Bill would make abortion felony
State legislators have agreed to make abortion a felony crime -- if the U.S. Supreme Court gives states a free hand to regulate it. The North Dakota House voted 68-24 on Monday to approve a bill that declares abortion illegal except in cases of rape and incest or if it was done to save the woman's life. The Senate followed suit Monday night, voting 29-16 to endorse the legislation. It now goes to Gov. John Hoeven. The bill would not take effect, however, unless the attorney general recommends, and the Legislative Council agrees, that "it is reasonably probable that this act would be upheld as constitutional."
More reproductive choice news in NATIONAL/CHOICE, COLORADO/CHOICE
Colorado
Education fund plan backed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501395,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to prop up the state education fund won approval Monday in the House Education Committee on a straight party-line vote. The measure would freeze the tax rate in most school districts, canceling tax cuts that would otherwise occur under a 1994 school finance law. Ritter's plan would allow taxes to decline in 34 districts that pay the highest rates. The vote on SB 199 was 8-5, with all the Democrats in support and all the Republicans opposed. The bill now goes to the House Appropriations Committee. Republicans called the plan a tax increase. Democrats rejected that argument, countering that the plan does not determine anyone's tax bill, only the rate at which property will be taxed.
RELATED: Ritter, Dems walking political tightrope on school funding plan
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501396,00.html
RELATED: GOP chairman licking his chops
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501393,00.html
RELATED: Dems OK Ritter’s school tax plan
RELATED: Property-tax freeze added to school bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735501
RELATED: Bill to freeze property tax passes committee
http://www.gazette.com/articles/school_21562___article.html/districts_tax.html
RELATED: Lawmakers warm to freeze on mill levies
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/24/4_24_new_1a_School_finance.html
More education funding news in COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/EDUCATION
Anti-affirmative action measure in the works
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5500544,00.html
In its current form, it's 37 words and, if it gets approved by the legislative council Thursday, it could become the hot-button issue of the 2008 election in Colorado. Sponsors of their self-described "civil rights initiative" launched their campaign at the Brown Palace Hotel Monday morning in hopes of dismantling affirmative action in government — including everything from admissions to state universities to contractors submitting bids to do work for government. Flanked by State Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, and State Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, the face of the anti-affirmative action movement spoke about moving toward a color blind society and that the existence of affirmative action laws actually promotes race bias instead of eliminating them.
RELATED: Affirmative-action ban: Campaign targets Colorado in effort to make practice illegal
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/affirmative-action-ban-campaign-targets-colorado/
RELATED: Race, sex emphasis in Colo. targeted
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735696
RELATED: Affirmative action may be bound for ballots
http://www.gazette.com/articles/colorado_21531___article.html/initiative_affirmative.html
Churchill report full of errors, profs say
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735754
A group of professors at the University of Colorado at Boulder is demanding that CU retract the report that forms the basis for the possible firing of professor Ward Churchill. In an open letter released Monday, seven CU professors and two professors from other institutions said the report - which accused Churchill of academic misconduct and plagiarism - is error-filled, relies on biased information and distorts other information. The group said if the university does not retract the report, it may file charges of research misconduct against the authors of the report. "We feel that when you're making a report on which a person's job and reputation rests, you should be exceedingly careful about what kind of claims you make," said CU professor Tom Mayer, one of the scholars who signed the letter. "We feel they haven't been exceedingly careful at all, but have been quite sloppy, which is exactly what they accused Churchill of being." The controversy surrounding Churchill erupted in early 2005 as the result of an essay he wrote comparing Sept. 11 victims to Nazis. Shortly thereafter, CU launched an investigation to examine questions that surfaced on Churchill's academic work. The investigative committee found several instances in which it said Churchill plagiarized other scholars or committed academic misconduct. Mayer, though, said the investigative committee contained only one expert in Native American studies, Churchill's specialty. He said the committee suppressed and ignored information that supported Churchill's case, relied on biased material for other allegations and exaggerated the seriousness of the plagiarism allegations.
RELATED: Scholars: Churchill report flawed
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/scholars-churchill-report-flawed/
RELATED: Open letter from CU faculty calling for retraction of the Ward Churchill report
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/open-letter-cu-faculty-calling-retration-ward-chur/
Colorado sheriff haunted by hostage dilemma
HE knows he was right. Sheriff Fred Wegener has reviewed every angle of his decision on that September afternoon seven months ago. A gunman was holding two girls hostage in a classroom at Platte Canyon High School. His last message to negotiators had been: This will be all over at 4 p.m. It was 3:36. Wegener sent in the SWAT team. As officers detonated explosive charges to break through the locked door, the gunman killed 16-year-old Emily Keyes. Veteran police officers backed up Wegener's decision. Parents in this rural mountain town told him he made the right call. He's received hundreds of supportive letters from strangers nationwide. The ones he's memorized, though, are the two that stung. "You must be a coward. How do you cash your paycheck?" he recites, his voice flat. "You should have gone in sooner." The other e-mail chided him for impatience, for provoking a gunman who had only discharged his weapon once, into a wall: "I would much rather have a raped daughter than a dead one."
More school violence news in NATIONAL/EDUCATION, COLORADO/CRIME, COLORADO/EDUCATION
Election
House votes to curb amendments
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5500986,00.html
Coloradans change the state constitution "like (they) change an undershirt," says Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial. On Monday, the House agreed. Representatives voted 46-16, the necessary two-thirds, for a resolution that would make it harder to pass ballot measures that amend the constitution. Currently, it is the easiest-to- amend state constitution in the nation. But under House Resolution 1001, a three-fifths - or 60 percent - citizens' vote would be needed to pass a ballot measure amendment. A simple majority is currently needed. The sponsor, Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, says the 130- year-old document has been reduced to a kitchen sink, including everything from a ban on "the trapping of fur-bearing animals" to impossible-to-interpret ethics reforms to dueling tax measures that straitjacketed the state.
RELATED: Constitution plan advances
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735342
RELATED: Colorado Constitution chronology (On the side, 4/24)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735496
RELATED: House wants amending constitution to be tougher
http://www.gazette.com/articles/state_21561___article.html/house_resolution.html
RELATED: Legislators aim to raise bar for Colorado ballot
RELATED: House OKs measure to require more votes to alter constitution
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/18
Robo-calls duel in home rule race
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070423/NEWS/70423030
With just one week left until the election for home rule, both sides of the issue are stepping-up efforts to get voters on their side. Campaign signs for and against the proposed government reform have been popping-up across the valley, and now automated phone calls are going out to registered voters. “My husband got a call for home rule and he was cracking up,” said West Vail resident Cheri Thompson. “He said it was such a waste of time and money because people don’t care about home rule, and those who do have already made up their minds. This isn’t a presidential election.”
Challenger from right will seek Bruce’s seat
http://www.gazette.com/articles/lathen_21546___article.html/bruce_county.html
A politically connected conservative and former employee of Focus on the Family has set up a Web page announcing she’ll seek the District 2 commissioner seat held by fellow Republican Douglas Bruce. Amy Lathen’s decision — coming a full year before the GOP caucuses and 20 months before the general election — could set up a primary challenge against a man well-known in El Paso county for his antitax crusades and his ability to flummox opponents. Lathen, 39, said that she will formally announce her candidacy in June, but that she already has filed paperwork with the El Paso County clerk and recorder that allows her to seek campaign donations. Lathen is a member of the El Paso County GOP executive committee, ran John Newsome’s successful campaign for district attorney in 2004 and played a role in the campaigns of former Gov. Bill Owens and President Bush.
Effective and Ethical Government
Blizzard relief hangs in debate over war funding
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/5
As President Bush and the Democratic leaders in Congress head for a showdown over a $125 billion defense spending bill for the war in Iraq, it is uncertain whether the $4.5 billion in disaster aid that would help Colorado's Eastern Plains farmers and ranchers will survive the struggle. Bush has said he will veto the emergency defense bill because Democrats have included a requirement that nearly all U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq by the end of March 2008 - a condition Bush has called unacceptable interference with his authority as commander in chief and his plan to send more troops to Iraq to confront the sectarian violence there. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters that Democrats in the House and Senate would finalize a defense bill early this week that keeps the Iraq timetable, setting up a veto showdown with the White House.
Legislators tackle budget issues
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=6771
Words like disingenuous and sanctimonious were thrown around when Reps. Buffie McFayden and Bob Gardner discussed the budget Saturday during the Legislative Hour at the Cañon City City Hall. "The big issue with school finance in the house has been the question of the governor’s proposed mill levy freeze,” Gardner said. “The net affect over the course of time is your property values go up then your property taxes go up.” Gardner said his constituents dislike paying property taxes a great deal. “I don’t think this is the way to solve our money problems by putting the burden on the backs of local taxpayers,” Gardner said. “There has been no commitment that I have heard to where this money is going to go.” The state has several billion dollars in the budget today because of Referendum C and yet, “the governor is wanting another $50 or $65 million from the people of Colorado without accounting for it and I think that’s really the issue here,” Gardner said. Although the budget is $17 billion, it doesn’t seem to be enough. “We need some leadership on this issue and the leadership doesn’t need to ask for more money to solve the taxing and budgeting of Colorado,” Gardner said. McFayden said Referendum C got the state back to the levels prior to the recession. “I’m very disappointed to hear Rep. Gardner criticize this governor,” McFayden said. “He has the courage to stand up and do something about it. If we do not put a freeze on the mill levy, you’re going to see cuts all over the state. I have not heard a proposal that’s better than this comprehensive plan.” McFayden said Gov. Bill Ritter had inherited the problem from the previous administration.
Phone calls subject of hearing
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501397,00.html
A lawmaker, a lobbyist and a developer are expected to be the first witnesses to testify Friday in a legislative ethics hearing involving a controversial telephone campaign. The phone calls were aimed at killing a home buyers protection bill. The three-member ethics committee indicated Monday it might also ask movers and shakers in Colorado's business community to tell what they know about the calls. The first three witnesses will be Rep. Alice Borodkin, D-Denver; William Mutch, a lobbyist for Colorado Concern, a group of powerful business leaders that opposed House Bill 1338; and developer Rick Sapkin, chairman of Colorado Concern and Mutch's boss.
RELATED: Panel weighs complaint on lobbyist
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735497
KILROY WAS HERE (Roll Call, April 24)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501391,00.html
Various groups reserve the committee rooms at the Capitol for their meetings. It's unclear who used House Room 0109 before the Ethics Committee met on Monday afternoon, but this message was scribbled on the chalkboard: "Bush is a punk."
Poll: Growth, water top list of concerns in Springs
http://www.gazette.com/articles/percent_21557___article.html/city_growth.html
Excessive growth, water and traffic weigh heaviest on the minds of Colorado Springs residents, whose satisfaction with city government has declined since the city began taking citizens’ pulse in 1999. The city’s sixth survey since 1999, released Monday, showed that half said the city was headed in the right direction, down from 63 percent in 2005. Thirty-four percent thought the city is on the wrong track, and 16 percent weren’t sure.
Fountain ex-councilman takes 1st step to sue city
http://www.gazette.com/articles/city_21560___article.html/fountain_police.html
A former Fountain councilman plans to sue the city for $3 million in compensation for alleged attacks on his character. Al Lender, who recently was the subject of an investigation by Fountain police, has sent a notice of his intent to sue, the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city. Fountain has “inappropriately allowed irrevocable damage to our family. This attack includes willful, wrongful and malicious actions on the part of city employees,” according to the letter, which names Police Chief Charles Crawford and Deputy Police Chief Mike Barnett. “I’m very upset with our police department,” Lender said. He said the lawsuit will claim a loss of income, significant emotional stress and medical issues.
Complaint filed against mayor of De Beque
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/24/4_24_1A_debeque_mayor.html
A complaint filed by the De Beque town clerk against Mayor Donald Cramer has led to an investigation into the town’s personnel matters. At a special meeting of the De Beque Board of Trustees on Monday night, the six trustees present voted to allow the Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency to begin an investigation into the personnel complaint. Town Administrator Davis Farrar declined to discuss the details of Town Clerk Karen Eisenach’s complaint against the mayor. Phone calls to several trustees regarding the matter were not returned Monday. The trustees also voted to go into an hourlong executive session to receive legal advice from representatives from the Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency.
Clerk long on ideas, but short on money
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/9
Lines for license plates are starting their seasonal buildup at the Pueblo County Courthouse, and County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz Jr. is trying everything he can think of to reduce the wait. Early this month, he joined several of the state's largest counties in offering online license plate renewal, in which a vehicle owner can use an electronic check or credit card to renew license tags. This is a fourth option for renewing plates: Owners also may use the mail, place their renewal card and a check in drop-boxes at the courthouse or stand in line at the courthouse. The biggest time-killer in the vehicle registration realm, though, is getting a title on a newly purchased vehicle.
County Commissioners consider return to Action 22
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/19
Pueblo County commissioners were talking togetherness on several fronts last week. At Thursday's work session, representatives of Action 22 asked commissioners to rejoin the lobbying organization of 22 counties that was formed in 1998. Pueblo County was one of the original members but dropped out a couple of years ago, Commissioner Anthony Nunez said, largely to save the dues of $5,000 a year. "The commissioners were asking all county department to cut their budgets and that's something we did to cut ours," he said. Matt Heimerich, a Crowley County commissioner who heads the group, said Action 22 has done "a credible job of building bridges - we have members in the San Luis Valley, the Arkansas Valley, Eastern Plains and El Paso County."
Council still mulling land-use code changes
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104240037
Presented Monday with hundreds of pages detailing a proposed overhaul of the city's land-use codes, the Aspen City Council decided to continue its discussion at a meeting Tuesday. The decision comes against the backdrop of the city's moratorium on development applications, which was implemented in April 2006 and is scheduled to expire May 31. The council passed the moratorium, originally scheduled to last six months, in response to growing community concerns about construction and development.
A student in charge
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/23/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
It's not every day you see a 25-year-old CU-Boulder graduate student elected as chairperson for a city advisory board, but for Richard Murray, it's become like a second job.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Sand Creek Massacre Site to be dedicated Saturday
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/14
More than 140 years have passed since Colorado militia soldiers attacked a peaceful encampment of American Indians on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. Still, the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre continues to reverberate as one of the nation's most sorrowful events. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne signed documents designating the place a national historic site. A dedication ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the site, about 30 miles northeast of Eads.
RELATED: Kempthorne formally creates Sand Creek National Historic Site
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070423/NEWS/104230067
Immigration
Troopers to train for immigration enforcement
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104230123
Twenty-two state troopers are starting to train with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to investigate and locate people who have emigrated illegally into the United States. A training course described as rigorous will stress immigration and nationality law, and also -- according to a news release -- emphasize "cultural sensitivity and civil rights instruction." The five-week course has been set up by ICE and will be taught by certified immigration instructors. The course will enable the Colorado State Patrol to have an Immigration Enforcement Unit to perform "limited immigration law enforcement," according to the release. The opening session at Camp George West in Golden -- the CSP's training area -- will begin this morning with comments from officers and administrators in the patrol.
Reproductive Choice
Ground zero on abortion
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501512,00.html
Mary Rita Urbish remembers perfectly the moment 40 years ago when Colorado became ground zero in the battle over abortion. It was April 25, 1967 - the day a proposal by a legislator named Lamm was signed into law by a governor named Love, making the state the first in the nation to liberalize its abortion law. In that moment, as supporters cheered the potential end of illegal abortions, a social movement was born. "I was so angry," said Urbish, one of the founders of Colorado Right to Life. "It's like a continuous loop in my mind that just runs and runs and runs and runs. It makes me mad to think about it, even now, 40 years later." Future Gov. Richard Lamm was a freshman state legislator when he introduced the bill to overhaul Colorado's century-old abortion law.
Health Care and Public Safety
Backers to strategize on stem-cell bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735219
Leaders of a congressional effort to boost embryonic stem-cell research will huddle soon to develop strategies for passing their bill around President Bush's promised veto. One option is adding the legislation to a bill Bush will have a harder time vetoing. "There's going to be a bill at some time that President Bush has to sign," said Jennifer Mullin, spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, a co-sponsor of the bill passed in the Senate earlier this month. Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, Democratic author of the House version of the bill, said she would repeatedly add it to legislation that goes to Bush - an approach that could make for a lengthy game of political ping- pong. Political analysts and opponents of the research predict Bush would repeatedly veto any bill that contains the language of DeGette's legislation. "He's so much on record as opposing this that he cannot afford to sign a bill with that attached," said Thomas Mann, political analyst with the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
Members added to health care commission
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5500146,00.html
"More than 770,000 Coloradans — including 180,000 children — currently lack health insurance in Colorado," Ritter said. "One of my top priorities is to end this crisis, and I'm pleased that my administration's efforts have been able to dovetail with the 208 commission's work." The state Legislature last year passed Senate Bill 208 that created a 24-member task force to examine health care issues across Colorado. It also established health-care models to expand health care coverage and decrease health care costs for Colorado residents.
Senate OKs health insurance bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5500988,00.html
Senate Republicans and Democrats traded jabs Monday in a two-hour debate over a health insurance measure. In the end, the Senate approved House Bill 1355, which bars insurers from using pre-existing health conditions and claims histories to raise rates for small businesses. Republicans, who argue it will skyrocket small-business health insurance costs, zinged sponsor Sen. Bob Hagedorn. At one point, Fruita Republican Sen. Josh Penry suggested the Aurora Democrat should be named the state's "health care czar" after Hagedorn touted his knowledge of health care reform. "I'm impressed with your self-stated credentials," Penry said. "Given your encyclopedia knowledge of health care, Sen. Hagedorn, I'm surprised you're coming up with this proposal."
RELATED: Heath-care measure clears preliminary vote in Senate
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/17
Bill will give cancer patients unused drugs (Under the dome, 4/24)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735499
A bill to help cancer patients afford prescription drugs passed the House 62-3 Monday and goes to the governor. Senate Bill 231 sets up a program to distribute unused cancer drugs to patients who cannot afford them or don't have insurance. Rep. Dianne Primavera, a Broomfield Democrat and a cancer survivor, said unused cancer drugs are ending up in the trash.
VNA to address health care concerns
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26266
A significant number of Moffat County residents are living either without health insurance or are underinsured, officials from the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association said. According to estimates compiled by the VNA, there are 1,300 people in Moffat County, including 350 children, with limited or no health insurance. There are about 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, without health insurance, according to 2005 Census Bureau estimates.
County, city hire health-care adviser
A consultant with international experience has been hired to recommend a long-term solution to primary health care in La Plata County. John Snow Inc. was chosen over four other applicants. "We think they're a good fit for Durango," Pat Murphy, a member of the Citizens Health Advisory Council, said Monday. The community panel is looking for a replacement for Valley-Wide Health Systems, which left Durango at the end of March, leaving thousands of residents without a doctor.
When can medical martial law be applied?
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15937
The Longmont City Council ordered schools, churches, movie theaters and the library to close — and banned all other public assemblies — on Oct. 11, 1918. They did so “to prevent the spread of influenza,” but hundreds of people still sickened and dozens died in Longmont before the epidemic slowed in November 1918, said Erik Mason, curator of research for the Longmont Museum. As part of its task force to prepare for a flu pandemic, the Boulder County Medical Society will host a summit May 1 to discuss government powers during such an outbreak.
RELATED: Doctors prep for pandemic
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15936
Providing medicines, cheaper
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/24/providing_medicines_cheaper/
A partnership of pharmaceutical powerhouses is providing lower-cost prescription medications to patients across the country. A national bus tour to promote the informational service, called the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, visited Craig and Steamboat Springs on Monday. Traveling in a large orange bus, partnership staff met with nearly 20 Northwest Colorado residents to offer applications and assistance for getting medicine at cheaper costs.
Rare illness inspires parents to organize, help others cope
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501510,00.html
Jay and Donna Sperry got two pieces of good news recently about their daughter Kelley and her struggle with a rare disease that has disfigured the right side of her face. Last week, the couple learned that the Internal Revenue Service had approved their yearlong quest for nonprofit status for a foundation to fund research into Parry Romberg syndrome and to help other families cope with the medical and psychological impacts of the disease. And in June, Kelley will be able to undergo plastic surgery that doctors hope will help reverse some of damage that has left her nose crooked and her teeth loose.
PETA praises Glenwood mall's decision
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104240034
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is lauding the Glenwood Springs Mall for canceling an exotic animal display. PETA says the organization that was to have put on the display this week abuses the animals under its care. Last week, PETA sent the mall a letter asking that it cancel the appearance by G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park, based in Wynnewood, Okla. On Monday, PETA announced it was giving the mall PETA's "Compassionate Business" Award for agreeing to PETA's request.
Crime and Penal Reform
Healing light: UNC students come together to remember victims of Virginia Tech shootings
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104240111
Students shared tears, compassion and the light of their candles Monday night, as one-by-one a flame was passed until hundreds glowed outside Garden Theater on the University of Northern Colorado campus. The Gunter bell rang 32 times commemorating those killed in the Virginia Tech shooting April 16.
Sex offenders to be more closely monitored
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070424/NEWS01/704240319/1002/NEWS01
A bill that would increase accountability in the state's prison system to better monitor the rehabilitation progress of incarcerated sex offenders passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously Monday. HB 1004, sponsored by Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, adds additional reporting requirements to the Lifetime Supervision of Sex Offenders Act that its supporters hope will reduce the amount of time some offenders spend in jail. "The less money we can spend on the state corrections budget the better," Bacon said. "If we can get treatment for people that don't need to be incarcerated at such a huge annual cost, than I am for it."
Supreme Court voids death sentence
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735755
A death sentence against an inmate who killed a prison employee is not valid because a jury didn't decide his fate, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled. The state's high court did, however, uphold the first-degree murder conviction of Edward Montour Jr. for the October 2002 bludgeoning death of Eric Autobee, a 23-year-old kitchen supervisor at the Limon Correctional Facility. Montour pleaded guilty to the death of Autobee, and in doing so "automatically waived his right to have a jury determine his sentence" under the state's death penalty statute, the Supreme Court said in a ruling posted Monday. "We hold that the statute unconstitutionally links the waiver of a defendant's jury-sentencing right to his guilty plea," the opinion states.
Under fire for 24 years
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735697
In 1983, Denver's top prosecutor became so alarmed by six deadly clashes between police and civilians in six weeks that he sent a letter to the police chief urging an overhaul of police training. Now, 24 years later, a federal lawsuit asserts that Denver's retraining of its officers remained deficient despite former District Attorney Norm Early's warnings. Until this year, the city did not consistently conduct annual retraining on such basics as when an officer can resort to using force against a suspect. That retraining is a requirement for accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. It also is urged by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Court documents show that the city also did not begin documenting which officers actually were tested on their reflexes and split-second decisionmaking on when to shoot until 2005 or 2006. And that testing was on computer simulation models rather than using live ammunition. Police Chief Gerry Whitman said in January that the department added a review of its use-of-force policy, which covers when an officer can use deadly force, to every-three-month marksmanship training. While that review had been previously ordered, Whitman said it was not always happening.
RELATED: Briefs: Cop to appeal suspension in Childs death
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735277
RELATED: Ford "trigger happy," woman who dated him says
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735874
Controversial Aurora cop promoted
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501492,00.html
An Aurora police sergeant accused of assaulting a disabled woman and yelling a racial slur at her is now a lieutenant with a $10,000 raise. Charles DeShazer's promotion touched off demands for policy changes that could be aired during a Civil Service Commission meeting today. "It's outrageous, and our community can't sit still and allow that to continue," said the Rev. Thomas Mayes, who sits on Aurora's Key Community Response Team.
RELATED: Aurora cop being sued is promoted
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735344
Therapists try to keep inmates out of jail
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070423/NEWS/70423008
In 2005, more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem, according to a Bureau of Justice report. From what Johnson’s seen, most often, people living with diseases like depression, bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress syndrome self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, then wind up behind bars because of drunk driving, drug possession charges or violence-related crimes. “There isn’t anybody in our group who has not admitted to substance abuse — period,” she said. The inmates sober up while serving time, but fall back into the same habits upon release and usually end up with a new jail sentence, she said. “They go from 90 days to 180 days to 240 days,” Johnson said. “They never seem to get out of the system once they’re in it.” “It’s a serious problem, and it’s a serious problem everywhere because there aren’t enough mental health resources,” said Summit County Jail Capt. Dave Suter.
Detention center guard gets 3 years
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501663,00.html
A former security guard at a juvenile detention center was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for sexual assault on a child and unlawful sex in a penal institution. Heather Robbins, 30, had a sexual relationship with a 16- year-old boy who was serving time at the center.
Pair admit to sex in courthouse
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501491,00.html
A Douglas County judge and a female prosecutor admitted having sex in his chambers, and on more than one occasion he slipped into the women's showers at the courthouse for a tryst. Those are some of the details included in a complaint filed Friday with the Attorney Regulation Council, which is looking into allegations that could result in their disbarment. Grafton Minot Biddle, 57, resigned Dec. 18 after his fourth wife sent a letter to the chief judge saying he was having an affair with Laurie A. Steinman, 29. Carol Chambers, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, fired Steinman on Dec. 22, the day she admitted to the affair, the complaint said.
Memorial fund hits goal
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501493,00.html
Bolstered by a "significant" donation from an anonymous source, the long-delayed Columbine Memorial is at its goal, provided already-pledged funds and services develop, organizers said Monday. The Columbine Memorial Committee, which has been struggling for eight years to collect money to build a permanent monument to the victims of the April 20, 1999, rampage, is expected to be completed later this summer, said Bob Easton, chairman of the committee.
Economy
Salazar introduces bill to maintain family farms
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/23/local_news/3.txt
U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, introduced a bill last week to exempt family farms from the estate tax. “As a farmer and a member of the House Agriculture Committee, I understand the bitter reality of the estate tax,” Salazar said in a press release. “This bill will counter the estate tax by offering an incentive for farmers to keep the farm in the family, which in turn benefits our country by sustaining the land and the environment by reducing urban development.” Salazar and U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Florida, introduced the Save the Family Farm and Ranch Act of 2007 on Thursday.
Plan to develop Denargo Market advances
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501628,00.html
A huge development that could form a new gateway to downtown moved closer to reality Monday night, winning initial approval from the City Council. Under the plan, Denargo Market along the South Platte River would be transformed into a major residential district with more than 2,000 homes as well as office and retail space. Construction could begin early next year. "It's within walking distance of Coors Field and has a relationship to the Platte River," said Adams Gates, of Cypress Real Estate, which is spearheading the development. "We're immediately north of everything that's going on."
Pinnacol will return $60 million
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735325
Pinnacol Assurance will return $60 million to its customers in a dividend after claims came in lower than expected last year, the state's largest provider of workers' compensation insurance said Monday. The dividend, the third in as many years, will be distributed to about 56,000 of the company's 60,000 customers. The amount of the dividend received varies based on the industry, the number of employees and the claim history of a company.
VF fund-raising deadline changed to May 11
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/24/news/news01.txt
Since February, when the Valley Floor Preservation Partners pledged to raise $24.5 million to help the town of Telluride pay for the Valley Floor, the deadline for the non-profit to have the money secured has been dancing all over the calendar. It’s jumped again. The deadline for the Preservation Partners to have $24.5 million is now May 11. This date, which falls on a Friday, is three days earlier than the previous deadline of May 14.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Labor leader: Ousters' timing tied to election
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5501390,00.html
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney decided to oust the top officers from the Colorado labor federation so the organization can pull itself together before the next political campaign heats up. "We do not take this action lightly," Sweeney said Monday after a meeting at the State Capitol with Gov. Bill Ritter. "We figured it had to be done before our next political campaign started." Sweeney came to Denver to talk with Ritter and other local leaders about issues related to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. His trip closely followed the termination of Colorado AFL-CIO President Steve Adams and Secretary-Treasurer Paul Mendrick from their elected posts. Sweeney noted that he had "the power" to cut the jobs, and he cited divisiveness between the leaders as the main reason for the changes.
RELATED: Ritter schmoozes with AFL-CIO
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5732881
RELATED: Union chief upbeat over DNC issues
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735327
State's tech jobs decline
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5500941,00.html
Move over Colorado. Make way for Virginia. Colorado lost its bragging rights in 2005 as the state with the No. 1 concentration of high-tech workers. It's the first time that's happened in the 10 years the American Electronics Association has compiled the data. A decline in Colorado's technology work force in 2005 helped drop the state to the No. 3 spot for the percentage of tech workers that make up its private-sector work force. Virginia was No. 1 and Massachusetts No. 2. Both states gained tech jobs.
RELATED: Colo. slips in tech-worker rankings
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735695
USPS, letter carriers at odds
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735326
Letter carriers and the U.S. Postal Service are butting heads over the federal agency's increased reliance on contract workers in Colorado and elsewhere. The spat, which has been simmering for months, sparked protests by letter carriers last week in Washington, D.C. It also was a major sticking point last year between the union and the Postal Service as the two sides failed to negotiate a new union contract. The letter carriers are working under the existing contract, and if the sides can't reach a resolution, an arbitrator will settle the dispute, said Al Lindy, a union representative who helps oversee the postal region that includes Colorado.
Media
Cortelyou pleads guilty in sex case
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735821
Scott Eller Cortelyou, a longtime Colorado radio voice pleaded guilty Monday to two felony charges and will have to register as a sex offender. As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Cortelyou is not expected to serve any time in prison. Prosecutors said Cortelyou, 53, engaged in sexually graphic Internet conversations with a person he believed to be a 12-year-old girl, but who was really an undercover police investigator.
Press Club honored achievements
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501064,00.html
In March 2002, David Halberstam came to Denver to accept the Denver Press Club's Damon Runyon Award. "Thank you for the honor," the journalist told a crowd of 380 people at the banquet. Halberstam said he accepted the award on behalf of other journalists who worked alongside him covering the early days of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement.
RELATED: Crash kills author, Pulitzer winner Halberstam
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_5735285
Denver Post offers newsroom buyouts
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735304
The Denver Post on Monday extended voluntary-buyout offers to about 90 newsroom workers in a move aimed at trimming costs amid an industrywide downturn. The Post will accept as many as 37 buyouts by early June. The paper currently has about 268 workers in its newsroom.
116 in Lafayette part of event
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/tv-turnoff-week-116-in-lafayette-part-of-event/
SpongeBob SquarePants will be making fewer appearances this week in millions of homes around the country and more than 100 here, as families take part in TV-Turnoff Week. The national campaign got started in 1995 by the Center for Screen Time Awareness as an effort to reduce the amount of time kids and families spend in front of the television. Participants from around the world are encouraged to get outside, exercise and take part in healthier, face-to-face family activities — everything from card games to cloud watching. "The biggest benefit from doing this for just one week is to just rediscover each other," said Robert Kesten, executive director of the Center for Screen Time Awareness in Washington, D.C.
‘Rules’ earns award for author
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15939
Janice Hoffman said she often felt like a man in a woman’s body as she researched and wrote her first book, “Relationship Rules: 12 Strategies for Creating a Love that Lasts.” The role reversal stemmed from trying to get into a man’s shoes to write more insightfully from a woman’s perspective, she said. That meant interviewing men and paying much closer attention to their comments while employed as a workshop leader, and while training other workshop facilitators, during the past 11 years for the Mars Venus Institute. The educational organization sprung up after the success of John Gray’s books on how and why gender influences communication in romantic relationships. The Colorado Independent Publishers Association in March awarded Hoffman first place in the inspirational and self-help category.
Education
CU president warns of public discontent with higher ed
The University of Colorado has made a dramatic turnaround in terms of credibility, but is threatened by a growing lack of public confidence in the higher education system, CU President Hank Brown said Monday. Brown told the National Press Club that reforms during his tenure such as streamlining staff have eased the university’s problems with state funding and improved the quality and diversity of its student body. But Brown, who will leave his post next year, said CU remains vulnerable to crisis unless universities begin to provide detailed data about student performance and progress to alleviate public concerns about the quality of college education.
RELATED: CU president takes funding fight to D.C.
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104230121
Legislative typo puts education bill back in play
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070424/NEWS01/704240321/1002/NEWS01
Sometimes, even when they get it right, lawmakers still get it wrong. Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, introduced a bill late last week that would allow the state's higher education institutions to offer an unlimited number of multiyear contracts to research faculty. This is the second time Senate Bill 257 has been given to the Legislature for approval this year - the first time it passed as Senate Bill 048 and was signed by Gov. Bill Ritter into law. In a legislative typo of lawmaking proportions, when SB 048 originally passed its language allowed higher education institutions to hire nontenured researchers for a "duration of more than five years." The law's language should have read "not more than five years." With only two weeks left in the legislative session, Bacon reintroduced the law he just passed weeks ago but this time under a different bill number and with the word "not" included in its language.
Steps DPS is taking
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5500420,00.html
Enrollment incentives: Schools that recruit students from charter schools, private schools, home-schooling or suburban districts this past fall received an extra $1,179 per pupil. Marketing director: Mile High United Way is paying for DPS’ first marketing director, who is working with individual schools on recruitment strategies. School improvement plans: Every school will be required to complete a plan that prioritizes needs in improving student achievement, sets out realistic and measurable goals and identifies steps to reach them. School accreditation framework: Every school will be measured on a framework that includes progress toward state and federal student performance goals, comparisons with other DPS schools with similar demographics, student gains over time and progress in closing achievement gaps among student groups by race and income.
College happy with tuition-incentive enrollment
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/10
Incoming freshmen students at Colorado State University-Pueblo are eagerly signing up for the university's tuition-rebate offer. "We already have about 130 students who have signed contracts with us," CSU-Pueblo Provost Russ Meyer said Friday. "We're really quite pleased with the response so far. "I would be absolutely delighted if all the students who sign a contract fulfill their obligation." In February, Meyer unveiled the university's new incentive program for students who complete their degree in four years.
Literacy plan shows progress in first year
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104240110
A first-year program to track and speed students' literacy gains shows positive strides in Greeley-Evans School District 6. Anne Ramirez, district English language learner coordinator, and Frank Davila, an English language learner expert consulting with the district, updated the school board on the literacy development plan at a Monday work session.
D60 alerts 130 to possible job losses
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/6
Non-renewal notices reportedly have gone out to approximately 130 full- and part-time teachers in Pueblo City Schools. The board of education will take formal action tonight to approve the layoffs. Approximately 1,800 people work for District 60, now known formally as Pueblo City Schools.
Grade change passes
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070424/NEWS01/704240331/1002
Poudre School District ninth-graders will be attending high school in three or four years, with most sixth-graders headed to middle school, under a proposal adopted by a divided school board Monday night. "The indicators say we have very good schools. My question is, is 'very good' enough?" board member Larry Neal said in explaining his vote in favor of the grade reconfiguration.
One for all, all for one
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/23/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Last spring's CU Student Union tri-executive election was won by one of the smallest margins of victory in CU history: about 100 votes, out of the 6,000 cast, separated the winner from the runner-up. This spring's elections had the same voter turnout, but boasted a 1,500-point difference between the two leading tickets. Why? “I think a big part of it was the way everyone characterized the [runner-up] Value ticket as being Greek,” said outgoing tri-executive Andy Aitchison, whose year-long term leading the 29,000-person student body could end as early as this Thursday if no one contests last week's election results.
We regret to inform you your rejection is toast
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735340
It was not the typical barbecue. What was cooking at Colorado Academy were rejection letters from the country's top colleges, which are turning away well-qualified students in record numbers as applications boom. Seniors at the private prep school late last week let the flames in a campus fire pit devour crisp 8½-by-11 pages with short unwelcome messages. The bonfire is a 13-year tradition designed to assuage any bruised egos and to put students in the mood to celebrate their acceptances by other institutions. They are part of the Echo Boomers, the children of the large Baby Boom generation, which have created a demographic bulge in college application and entrance numbers. But that's not all.
Jury seated in CU rape trial
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/jury-seated-in-cu-rape-trial/
A jury has been seated in the trial of a Boulder man charged with sexually assaulting a woman on the University of Colorado campus two years ago. Andrew Mark Lamar, 29, represented himself in Boulder County District Court on Monday, having fired four previous attorneys in the case. "I'm not going to be as artful or as dramatic as a lawyer," Lamar said to the pool of potential jurors during jury selection, which lasted the entire day. "I'll take the full brunt of what you decide. I just want reasonable doubt, and I want burden of proof (on the prosecution)." One juror told the court that he found it "astonishing" that Lamar wouldn't seek the counsel of a professional lawyer in such an important matter.
Brighton teacher may plead
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5500631,00.html
A former Brighton Charter High School teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a student is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday and could agree to a plea deal in her case. Carrie McCandless, 30, faces charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and bail violations. She is scheduled to appear in court in Fort Collins for a disposition hearing, at which time she could agree to a plea deal with prosecutors.
CSU athlete suspended over gun allegation
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501147,00.html
A Colorado State University basketball player was suspended from the team Monday after he allegedly pointed a gun at a teammate over the weekend. Xavier Kilby, 21, of Phoenix, is accused of putting a gun to the head of teammate Ronnie Aguilar and threatening to shoot him during an argument, Fort Collins police said. Kilby then moved the gun from Aguilar's head and fired it into the couch, according to police. Kilby was advised Monday that he was being held for investigation of felony menacing and misdemeanor prohibited use of a weapon.
RELATED: CSU basketballer arrested, charged
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5736347
RELATED: CSU's Kilby arrested
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070424/CSUZONE06/704240329/1002/NEWS01
Unlawful possession
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/23/news/c_u_and_boulder/news4.txt
After violent threats occurred across the nation last week, possible dangers were taken very seriously by CU Police. After receiving an anonymous call last Thursday, a CU freshman was arrested for possession of unlawful weapons and is scheduled to appear in court today. Matthew Furnish, an international affairs major, faces five charges for keeping a shotgun, handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a 12-inch long knife in his Kittridge West dorm room, according to a CUPD news release.
Military
GI from Grand Junction killed in Iraq
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735756
Military officials Monday confirmed the death of a soldier who dropped out of high school to care for his ill mother full time and joined the Army after she died. Cpl. Wade J. Oglesby, 27, was one of two soldiers killed Wednesday in Taji, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle, the Defense Department said. Cpl. Michael M. Rojas, 21, of Fresno, Calif., also was killed. Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Wash.
From dangerous roads to road home
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501633,00.html
Families erupted in cheers Monday as 141 soldiers from the Army's 423rd Transportation Company marched into Fort Carson's events center, home from Iraq. The bleachers were filled with fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, and sons and daughters who have waited more than a year for the reunion that came Monday evening. The Army Reserve company based at Fort Carson gathered reservists from around the country when it was activated 16 months ago for a one-year tour in Iraq.
Troopers train for coming deployment
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501524,00.html
Less than six months after coming home from Iraq, Fort Carson's 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team is immersed in training for its third deployment there, which may come as early as this fall. The 3rd Brigade returned home last November, but in the surge to expand U.S. troop strength, it is expected to return between November and January. The surge is also likely to extend the brigade's next tour to 15 months instead of the previous 12-month deployments in 2003-04 and 2005-06. Around the post, the brigade's 3,600 soldiers are qualifying on rifle ranges and practicing on tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Most importantly, they are drilling on the aspects of urban warfare that have defined the Iraq conflict.
Veterans’ terror war stories sought
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/4
In an effort to broaden The Pueblo Chieftain's coverage of the war on terror, we are looking for Southern Colorado veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan who would be willing to share their stories, opinions and comments on a continuing basis. The Chieftain also is interested in talking to veterans about their experiences in receiving treatment, are awaiting approval for treatment or have been denied services from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Safety fears at debate
http://www.gazette.com/articles/debate_21559___article.html/weinstein_military.html
An Air Force Academy graduate who has been an outspoken critic of what he’s claimed is religious intolerance at the school is concerned about his safety at a debate today. Mikey Weinstein, who sued the Air Force in 2005 over alleged proselytizing on campus, will debate conservative attorney Jay Sekulow on the issue of religion and the military at 5 p.m. at the academy’s Arnold Hall. Weinstein says he’s received four death threats this week — about average, he says, but enough to warrant concern. “I’m depending on the academy to take complete care of my son (who attends the AFA) and my party,” Weinstein said.
Garage-door openers could go haywire
http://www.gazette.com/articles/garage_21545___article.html/mooney_force.html
Thousands of garage doors across Colorado Springs could go haywire when a new Air Force radio system powers up next month. Transmissions will emanate from towers at Cheyenne Mountain, Peterson and Schriever Air Force bases, said Col. Fred Mooney, affecting houses within a seven-mile radius of each.
Energy Policy
Salazar bill addresses reuse of gas-well water
Congressmen from Rocky Mountain states, including Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, have introduced legislation encouraging the recovery, treatment and reuse of water contaminated during the extraction of coal-bed methane gas. Currently, leftover "produced water" carries so many dissolved substances, including salts, that it's unsuitable for irrigation, drinking by livestock or wildlife or recreational purposes. An estimated 2 million gallons a day of "produced water" is pumped off coal beds or from oil fields for which there is little further use. Methane-gas producers extract water to free gas from coal seams. Most of that water is stored in deep wells. "The produced water is pumped into wells ranging around 4,000 feet," Walt Brown, a geologist with the San Juan Public Lands Center in Durango, said Monday. "The water must be pumped into formations where the quality of water is poorer than the quality of the produced water. "There's been interest for maybe the last 10 years in treating recovered water so it can be used on the surface," Brown said. "In terms of the Northern San Juan Basin, it would be very expensive."
Xcel breaks ground on sprawling new solar plant in Colorado
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_5500585,00.html
With the sun glinting off the shovels, Xcel Energy broke ground Monday on a $60 million solar power plant designed to supply enough electricity to power 1,500 homes. The 8-megawatt photovoltaic plant in the San Luis Valley about 130 miles south of Denver will be the largest solar plant for civilian use in the country, backers said. "The energy generated from this facility will be clean and prevent harmful carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere," Gov. Bill Ritter said.
RELATED: Xcel breaks ground on solar power
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735661
RELATED: 'Sun' Luis Valley beams
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/1
RELATED: More solar projects expected to follow
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177423503/2
Second group angles to raise severance tax
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/24/4_24_1A_Severance_Taxes.html
For the second time in a month, a group of Coloradans has proposed asking voters to eliminate a tax credit for energy producers and raise the state’s severance tax. Under ballot language two Colorado Springs businessmen submitted to Colorado Legislative Council late last week, energy producers would lose a property-tax credit and see the state’s severance-tax rate raised to 9 percent. The combination of these measures, submitted by Greg Walck and Sam Humpert, would markedly increase the amount of severance tax funds collected in Colorado, where the current effective severance-tax rate is 5.7 percent. Walck said he decided to put his ballot measure forward because he felt Colorado was not getting a high enough return on its mineral resources.
More drilling to come: EnCana plans at least six new sites in Erie
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/eries-rich-underbelly-more-drilling-to-come-at/
For those who thought the recent departure of a towering natural-gas rig from town signified the end of drilling in Erie, they may want to head over to Town Hall this evening. That's when town trustees are expected to grant special-use permits to EnCana Oil & Gas USA for two new drilling operations in town, the first of at least six planned for Erie this year. Three of the drilling sites would be close to homes in the neighborhoods of Kenosha Farm, Erie Village and Grandview, subjecting residents there to more than a month of grinding noise, bright lights and noxious smells as crews bore into the ground to establish wells.
RELATED: Drilling for gas not for faint of heart
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/boring-into-bedrock/
BioFuel offering 9.5 million shares
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5500908,00.html
Denver-based BioFuel Energy Corp. on Monday set the terms of its initial public offering at 9.5 million shares, with an estimated price range of $16 to $18 a share. The ethanol producer has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 1.4 million additional shares to cover overallotments, according to an amended prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Space race: Growth at DIA
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735323
Denver International Airport is considering whether to expand with a new commuter facility on Concourse C. "We've had phenomenal growth," DIA manager Turner West said. "We're coming close to 50 million passengers. We'll probably exceed it this year, and we're running out of gate space." Concourses A and B already have commuter facilities, and Frontier and DIA have discussed building a commuter facility on Concourse A.
Air traffic soars in GJ, Montrose
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/24/4_24_1b_airport_numbers.html
The number of people who boarded commercial carriers at Walker Field Airport climbed about 13 percent in March when compared with February, according to the Airport Authority.
Environment and Conservation
Ness, Newmont acquitted
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5501318,00.html
An Indonesian judge today found Richard Ness and his employer, Newmont Mining Corp., the world's No. 2 gold producer based inDenver, not guilty of violating pollution laws. Presiding Judge Ridwan Damanik acquitted Ness and Newmont of charges they dumped mercury and arsenic waste from the now-shuttered Minahasa Raya gold mine in Buyat Bay, sickening villagers and making fish unsafe to eat. "There also is not enough evidence that people suffered from health problems," the judge said. The ruling caps a 20-month criminal trial in which Ness, the mine's president director, and Newmont repeatedly denied the Indonesian government's charges. They maintained that disposal of the waste was within government limits. "We could not be more pleased that this case was decided on the facts and evidence presented in the court," said Newmont Chief Executive Wayne Murdy, who followed the ruling in Denver. "It is the correct decision, and there is no factual or legal basis upon which to reasonably dispute this outcome." Ness' family, including his Indonesian wife, Nova, and five sons, had flown Monday to Manado to be with him when the judge read the verdict. Ness' son Eric issued a statement after the verdict. "My family and I are extremely happy as this vindicates my dad . . . and maybe most importantly the villagers of Buyat Bay can finally rest with the knowledge that there is no pollution," Eric Ness said.
RELATED: Newmont, exec acquitted of fouling bay
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735773
LATE MONSOON (EXTRA!, April 24)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5501511,00.html
A new study indicates that Colorado's summer monsoon weather has been delayed in the past decade because of warmer temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.
RELATED: CU researchers eye warmer ocean effect
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5500982,00.html
Ruedi water study draws attention
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070424/NEWS/70424001
Two proposed water studies are drawing attention from the Interbasin Compact Committee of the state Department of Natural Resources, which has said they could potentially harm established water rights. The IBCC oversees the nine river basin roundtables created by House Bill 1177 to determine future water needs in each basin. IBCC spokesman Rick Brown told the Colorado River Basin Roundtable Monday in Glenwood Springs that he felt considerable “consternation” over the two studies, by Grand County and the Ruedi Water and Power Authority, to identify water needs. Data compiled by those studies, such as actual in-stream flows and the amount of water necessary to maintain a viable and healthy river ecosystem, could be used in future legal proceedings or for regulatory purposes that would prove harmful to “vested water rights,” Brown said. “It’s a hugely important issue.”
Gunnison water users fear loss of resource
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/23/local_news/1.txt
A recent filing by the state’s attorney general has prompted controversy among water users in the upper basin of the Gunnison River. The filing objects to stipulations protecting the water rights of ranchers and other users from the government’s reserved water right for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. “I was astounded to see it,” said John McClow, attorney for the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District.
Assessing the wetlands
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/24/assessing_wetlands/
A report assessing impacts on wetlands adjacent to the new Routt County Justice Center should be available to the public “in the next 30 days,” Routt County building and plant director Tim Winter said Monday. Winter said consultants from international engineering firm WorleyParsons Komex will prepare the report, copies of which will be available for public viewing at the Routt County Courthouse Annex on Sixth Street. Winter said the document will be the first of five annual reports required from Routt County by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps approved wetland mitigation plans in 2005 for construction of the Justice Center.
Blue River flows set to get a boost
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070423/NEWS/70423005
Boaters looking for an early season splash factor may want to stay tuned. Denver Water is upping outflows from Dillon Reservoir into the Lower Blue this week in anticipation of the snowmelt season. By the end of today, the river should be running at 200 cubic feet per second (cfs), up from the current 113 cfs. Another boost to 300 cfs is planned for Tuesday. “These changes are being made to decrease the risk of flooding problems below the dam during the snowmelt season,” Denver Water engineer Bob Steger said via e-mail. The increased flows can’t eliminate the flooding risk entirely, he said, adding that Denver Water needs to balance flood control with other objectives, including water supply, recreation and environmental preservation.
Forest funds doled out
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070423/NEWS/70423018
A slew of forest trail, including some sorely needed work on the Ptarmigan Peaks trail, will move up on the list of Forest Service projects this summer, thanks to a $226,000 infusion of cash from Vail Resorts and the National Forest Foundation. The money was generated by the first phase of a voluntary guest contribution service launched at VR’s Summit and Eagle County ski resorts this season. Guests had the option of donating $1 on every lift ticket and season pass transaction, as well as for each night spent in a resort room, matched by a contribution from the National Forest Foundation.
Breckenridge gets tough on beetles
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070423/NEWS/70423007
A tough new pine beetle ordinance will help Breckenridge tackle the spread of the voracious bugs on private property by setting a 10-day limit for removing infested trees. Alternately, property owners can submit a removal plan within the 10-day span. The new law, set for a Tuesday public hearing and adoption by the town council, gives the town the right to enter the property during “reasonable hours,” if a neighboring landowner has reported a pine beetle infestation, or if town officials have reason to believe, based on a visual observations, that beetle-infested trees are present on the property.
Bears endangered by trash
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/24/bears_endangered_trash/
Beginning May 1, the Steamboat Springs Police Department will start issuing tickets to people who put their trash at the curb before 6 a.m. on trash collection day (or after 8 p.m. the night before), unless it is in a wildlife-proof container. The amount of the fine is up to the discretion of the municipal court judge. “It can be from $100 to $500 depending on whether the person is a repeat offender or not,” said Wendy DuBord, deputy city manager. “Most of the time if you come into court and prove that you ordered the service from Waste Management with an approved trash can, or purchased one, the judge will waive the fine because you are now in compliance.”
Opinion
Colorado vs. the Army
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5500787,00.html
The legislature overwhelmingly passed a measure designed to thwart the Army's plan to nearly triple the size of its training site in southeastern Colorado. Now it's up to Gov. Bill Ritter to send a message to Washington by signing the bill quickly and enthusiastically. He hasn't had much to say on the issue up to this point. Unfortunately, neither have most members of the congressional delegation. They seem to be hunkered down, wishing the problem would go away. Some have deplored the prospect of condemning ranches, to be sure, but only one - Rep. Marilyn Musgrave - has taken the obvious next step of flatly opposing the Army's goal.
Kennedy: Increase Colorado's reserves
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5733633
The General Assembly's 2007 session is drawing to a close. There have been a number of significant accomplishments in the areas of health care, renewable energy and education. Before the session comes to an end, however, the Colorado legislature will have the chance to vote on a proposal to increase the amount of money the state saves. I urge them to vote "yes." It's not surprising for the treasurer to advocate for increased savings. As the state's fiscal watchdog, it's my job to promote sound financial management. That means advocating that the government maintain cash reserves to protect against the effects of economic downturns. Solid reserves put the state on stronger financial footing and protect its ability to borrow funds at more reasonable rates. This is why past Colorado treasurers have also called for the state to save more.
Our basic charter
http://pueblochieftain.com/editorial/1177423503/1
We’ve long maintained that the Colorado Constitution is too easily changed, and as a result it has become a Christmas tree of special interest legislation that better should have been handled as statutes, not written into the state’s basic charter. There is precedent for the approach taken by supporters of HCR1001, and it’s the United States Constitution. A proposed amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, or proposed by two-thirds of the states. Then three-fourths of the state legislatures must approve it before it becomes part of the Constitution. The Founders realized that changes to the basic charter of the land should be difficult to enact so as not to be propelled by the shifting winds of sentiment. The same should be true for the Colorado Constitution.
Campos: Loose cannon
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5500807,00.html
Here's what seems to have happened to Georgia Thompson: She was framed for committing a nonexistent offense in order to provide a "scandal" that could then become the centerpiece of Doyle's opponent's campaign advertising - which is exactly what transpired. Biskupic, naturally, denies this. Now it turns out Biskupic's name was on the list of U.S. attorneys the White House planned to purge, until it was mysteriously removed after he brought charges against Thompson. And there's more: In his zeal to find politically useful examples of "fraud and corruption" in the months prior to the 2006 election, Biskupic also imprisoned Kimberly Prude, an African-American woman who mistakenly cast an absentee ballot while on probation for writing a bad check. Prude, whose vote only came to Biskupic's attention after she called City Hall to try to withdraw her ballot, is still in prison. Many other questions remain. For example, could the national media's striking lack of interest in the story of how a U.S. attorney might have tried to destroy an innocent woman's life in order to appease the White House and save his job have anything to do with the fact that Biskupic's sister is a prominent reporter for The Washington Post? Who exactly are the real criminals here?
RELATED: A tough time with recollection
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/23/opinion/op1.txt
Liddick: Selling one's soul may not be good for business
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070423/COLUMNS/104230048
Guilty. Guilty, guilty, 19 times guilty. There, didn't that feel good? And won't it be delicious knowing that Joe Nacchio's smirk won't be quite so wide anymore? Yes, another of America's worst boardroom buccaneers has been handed his comeuppance in court. And though we Qwest customers were the ones footing the bill for this lying weasel's defense, in this case I didn't feel all that bad about not getting my money's worth. After all, the prospect of seeing Mr. Nacchio serve a substantial portion of the rest of his life behind bars for getting caught at his high-stakes confidence game could be considered one of those infamous "non-monetary benefits." The fact that this felon is being sent up the river by a jury of folks he undoubtedly would have regarded as worthless drones is icing on the cake.
Congress views food safety
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5733625
Most of us like to take the American food supply pretty much for granted, so a string of contaminations and recalls in the past year have become disturbing. Contaminated foods have included peanut butter carrying salmonella and spinach harboring E. coli. With each outbreak of foodborne illness, the government had ostensibly launched investigations to figure out what was contaminating the food and how it got there.
Carman: Why do men earn more? Just because
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735341
It's Pay Equity Day 2007, and some of us aren't celebrating. We can't afford it.
Lewis: Unkindness in face of fatal illness
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5735324
She'd worked at United for 18 years. She was a personable woman who'd once served Joe DiMaggio on a flight. She married at age 40, got pregnant on her honeymoon and was on her maternity leave when she got the news. The cheerful flight attendant who had Joe DiMaggio's autograph also had Lou Gehrig's disease. She had a new husband, a new baby and a new diagnosis that promised her only months to live. "They said this will be your first Christmas with Jacob. Plan on it being your last," she said. Somehow, Reinhardt outlived this diagnosis. At 45, she is now paralyzed from the neck down and requires a respirator to breathe. But when I called her at her home in Indianola, Wash., she was mostly upset about being fired. She just got the word April 17. "United never even called to tell me that I was going to be terminated," Reinhardt said. "We found out through the grapevine and had to call them. ... It was as if the supervisor was afraid to tell me." Sara Nelson, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said the union had asked United to extend Rein hardt's medical leave, or make some other accommodation, so her medical benefits could be extended. The union's contract, forged while United was in bankruptcy, caps medical leave at three years. Nelson said United was considering an exception. But perhaps United fears that making an exception in one case could open a floodgate for others.
Littwin: Giuliani soft-pedals own positions
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5501528,00.html
Conventional wisdom can't always be wrong. Therefore, even before I got to South Carolina, I didn't see how basically pro-choice, pro-gun-control, pro-gay rights, pro-illegal immigrant Rudy Giuliani could win the Republican primary here. Now that I'm here, I still don't see how.
Quillen: The quest for villains
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5733632
One day I was standing in line at the local post office, behind a guy whom I did not know but had seen around town. He wore a heavy belt that held a couple of knives, a big wallet on a chain, another chain to a bundle of keys and, as I noticed with this proximity, a small pistol. Should I have been worried because he might pull the gun and start shooting? Or relieved because if someone else "went postal" that morning, he was ready to defend us by shooting back?
Election
Climate Change a Security Issue, McCain Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301763.html
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cast global warming and America's dependence on foreign oil as national security issues in a speech on energy policy yesterday, the last of three addresses designed to outline the foundation of his soon-to-be announced presidential campaign. "National security depends on energy security," said McCain in the speech, which was part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' "Decision 2008" program. "The problem isn't a Hollywood invention, nor is doing something about it a vanity of Cassandra-like hysterics." McCain was light on specifics, but he made clear that energy independence and climate change are important to him, while leaving exact policy proposals for later in the campaign.
Obama’s Rise Strains Loyalty on Clinton Turf
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/us/politics/24clinton.html
Only a few months ago, the vast majority of black elected officials in New York were expected to support the presidential candidacy of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. But no longer. In a series of interviews, a significant number of those officials now say they are undecided about whether to back Mrs. Clinton or one of her main rivals for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the only black politician in the race. The officials described themselves as impressed with the strength of Mr. Obama’s campaign in recent weeks, saying it reflected a grass-roots enthusiasm for Mr. Obama that many noticed among black voters in their own districts.
Obama still answers for old ties to Rezko
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said Monday he never received complaints about poor living conditions from residents of deteriorated properties owned by one of his early and prominent political supporters, Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Obama, a Democratic presidential contender, also said "nobody's been more disappointed than me" in learning of the controversial history of Rezko, who pleaded not guilty after being indicted last fall on federal influence-peddling and fraud charges. "One of the perils of public life is that you end up being responsible for, or you're held responsible for, associations that you didn't necessarily know were a problem," Obama told the Tribune after making a major address to outline his foreign policy goals. Responding to a Chicago Sun-Times report that Obama's former law firm did legal work for Rezko's low-income housing development business, the Illinois senator said he performed five hours of work on behalf of non-profit housing groups that partnered with Rezko. "We were brought in through them [the non-profits], not through Rezko," Obama said.
RELATED: Obama hits Bush on foreign policies
Presidential longshots keep hope alive
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-22-longshots-cover_N.htm
Geneva Grooters and Ruth Moorberg are ready to give Democratic presidential contender Chris Dodd a fair hearing when he speaks to the Iowa State Education Association. If only they could figure out just who, exactly, he is. One of a procession of Democratic candidates and their representatives addressing the state teachers' union, Dodd is introduced on stage as a U.S. senator. But from where? "I'm figuring the East," ventures Moorberg, 46, a fourth-grade teacher from Estherville. Welcome to the life of a long shot.
Effective and Ethical Government
Sen. Reid Says Bush Is in 'Denial' of Iraq Situation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042300396.html
President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) clashed today over the war in Iraq, with Reid charging that Bush is in "denial" about the situation there and the president strongly rejecting what he calls the Democrats' "artificial timetable" for withdrawing U.S. forces. In brief remarks to reporters at the White House, Bush also said his confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has "increased" as a result of his testimony before a Senate committee last week, an appearance he said made clear that his embattled friend and longtime confidant "broke no law" and "did no wrongdoing."
RELATED: Negotiators Agree on War-Funding Package
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301131.html
RELATED: Bill nears its high noon
RELATED: Democrats set date to begin troop pullout
Bridging a Divide -- and Crossing an Ocean
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301764.html
David L. Hobson, a nine-term House member from Ohio, is becoming the token Republican. In January, he was the lone Republican on a congressional trip to Iraq led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). This month, Hobson was again the only member of the GOP on a trip to the Middle East organized by Pelosi.
Former Hill Staffer to Plead Guilty in Abramoff Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301743.html
A former senior staffer on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the public by steering potential clients and inside government information to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for cash, gifts and the promise of a high-paying job on K Street. Mark Dennis Zachares admitted to prosecutors that he accepted more than $30,000 in tickets to 40 sporting events, a luxury golf trip to Scotland and $10,000 in cash from Abramoff and his lobbying team. He acknowledged providing them with information about the reorganization of the Homeland Security Department, federal disaster and highway aid, and maritime issues.
GAO Finds Fraud in Commuter Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301563.html
It's a perk of federal employment: a free monthly subsidy that pays for commutes on public transportation. But scores of workers have been taking the government for a ride, selling their benefits on the Internet and pocketing millions in cash each year.
RELATED: U.S. Employees Selling Transit Passes Illegally, Investigators Say
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24perk.html?ref=washington
Gov. Corzine's Condition Improving After Crash
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301761.html
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) was upgraded from critical condition Monday and was moved out of intensive care, doctors said, 11 days after he was injured in a crash on the Garden State Parkway. Steven Ross, head of trauma at Cooper University Hospital, said Corzine will be in the hospital for at least one more week.
Foreign Policy
Iraq Blast Kills 9 GIs, Injures 20 At Outpost
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301704.html
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged truck into a U.S. military outpost near Baqubah on Monday, killing nine soldiers and wounding 20 in one of the deadliest single ground attacks on U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq, military officials said early Tuesday. Suicide attackers rarely penetrate defenses that surround American troops, but a 10-week-old U.S. counterinsurgency strategy has placed them in outposts and police stations that some soldiers say have made them more vulnerable.
RELATED: Car bombing at base kills 9 U.S. troops
RELATED: Group claims attack that killed 9 U.S. soldiers
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-23-iraq-soldiers_N.htm
Rice Urges Iran To Attend Mideast Meeting on Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301877.html
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Iran not to boycott a conference next week of the major countries and parties with a stake in the future of Iraq, at which the United States and Iran would have an opportunity for senior-level talks. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran is still "reviewing" whether it will attend. Yet in a reflection of the sometimes bizarre relations between Tehran and Washington, he also called for direct talks with President Bush. "Last year I announced readiness for a televised debate over global issues with His Excellency Mr. Bush, and now we announce that I am ready to negotiate with him about bilateral issues as well as regional and international issues," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by an Iranian television channel. He made similar comments in an interview with Reuters.
RELATED: U.S. targets arms flow to, from Syria and Iran
RELATED: Blasts hit near Iran's Embassy in Baghdad
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-24-blasts-embassy_N.htm
Al-Maliki support eroding in Iraq
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-24-maliki-iraq_N.htm
A broad range of prominent Iraqi lawmakers say they have lost confidence in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to reconcile the country's warring factions. A leading Kurdish lawmaker said al-Maliki should resign. Legislators from several parties told USA TODAY that al-Maliki lacks the support in parliament to push through laws, such as a plan to distribute oil revenues, that could reduce tensions between Sunnis and Shiites. Iraq's parliament has failed to pass major legislation since a U.S.-led security plan began on Feb. 14.
Iraq Students Show Virginia Tech Support
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400461.html
Students in Baghdad, where universities have been hard-hit by violence, said they were saddened by last week's massacre at Virginia Tech and hung up a banner to express their solidarity with "our brothers in humanity and in pursuing knowledge." "We want to let the whole world know that we do not support terrorism anywhere," said Yassir Nazar, head of the student union at Baghdad Technology University, who organized the hanging of the banner near the campus gate. It reads, "We, the students of Technology University, denounce the attack at Virginia Tech. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims who faced a situation as bad as Iraq's universities do. The sanctity of campuses must be protected around the world."
Palestinian Government Shows Strains as Interior Minister Seeks to Quit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301224.html
The first cracks in the Palestinian unity government appeared Monday when the independent interior minister, who has been trying to tame lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, submitted his resignation. Hani al-Qawasmeh, the consensus choice for the post in a power-sharing government that brings together the Islamic Hamas and secular Fatah movements, has told Palestinian officials he is frustrated by a lack of cooperation from Fatah-controlled security forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
RELATED: Hamas: Rockets fired at Israel
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-24-hamas-rockets_N.htm
Congress weighs Armenian genocide resolutions
Every April 24, U.S. presidents commemorate the official day of remembrance of the Armenian genocide with a speech or statement carefully crafted to avoid use of the word "genocide." U.S. officials have avoided the word because Turkey, a key ally, strongly opposes the characterization to describe the early 20th Century deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks. In the past, members of the House and Senate have proposed resolutions calling on the president to utter the phrase "Armenian genocide," but the efforts have run aground in the face of political concerns voiced by both Democratic and Republican administrations. In the past year, however, the struggle over the word "genocide" has received international attention through a series of high-profile news events, commencing with the passage of a bill in the lower house of the French parliament criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide and extending to the political murder of a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist.
Nigeria Election Victor Is Named Despite Protests
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042300565.html
Nigeria's electoral commission on Monday named ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua the landslide winner of Saturday's presidential election, brushing aside demands from opposition parties and observer groups that results be canceled because of widespread ballot-box stuffing and other irregularities. The vote margin for Yar'Adua, who was little known beyond his own northern state before outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo endorsed him, surprised even supporters of the ruling party. Yar'Adua got 24.6 million votes, according to the electoral commission, nearly four times the 6.6 million of his nearest rival, former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari.
RELATED: Governing Party Wins in Nigeria, but Many Claim Fraud
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/world/africa/24nigeria.html?ref=world
Mogadishu Hospitals Overwhelmed by Victims of Street Fighting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301762.html
There were no empty hospital beds in Somalia's bloodstained capital Monday, and barely enough bandages to patch up the wounded. Bottles of medicine were running dry. But patients kept pouring in -- and they were the lucky ones, having survived another day of bullets and mortar shells as Islamic insurgents battled troops allied with the country's fragile government. "Even the shades of the trees are occupied at this point," said Dahir Dhere, director of Medina Hospital, the largest health facility in Mogadishu. "We are overwhelmed."
RELATED: Ethiopian artillery hits rebels in capital
Boris Yeltsin, 1931-2007: Rough-Hewn Father of Russian Democracy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042300524.html
Boris Yeltsin was once asked to name his greatest goal as president. He answered that more than anything, he wanted tranquillity for Russia. Ultimately, it eluded him. But the burly Siberian who was Russia's first freely elected leader did more than anyone to raze the rotting communist superstructure of the former Soviet Union and build from its ruins the framework of a newly democratic and capitalist country. Yeltsin died Monday at 76, a Kremlin official announced. The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified medical source as saying that he died of heart failure.
U.S. Aims to Reassure Russia on Defense Sites
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042300378.html
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday in Moscow that Russian leaders appear concerned a U.S. plan to place 10 missile-defense interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic could pose threats to Russia, should the characteristics of the facilities change in the future. After meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Gates said: "The current design and current 10 interceptors, they acknowledge are not probably a threat to Russia in any way." But, Gates added: "I think one of their concerns is . . . a few years from now, the character of these sites might change and, in fact, become a greater concern in terms of Russia's strategic security. And I think those are issues that we can address."
RELATED: U.S. missile defense pitch bombs initially
Britain's Gun Laws Seen as Curbing Attacks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301794.html
At 9:35 a.m. on a March day in 1996, a disgruntled former scout leader walked into a primary school gym in Dunblane, Scotland, with four guns and killed 16 children and their teacher in Britain's worst mass shooting. The crime still causes Britons to recoil when they recall the victims, many of them only 5 years old. That rampage, with guns purchased legally -- as were those used in last week's killings at Virginia Tech -- led to a near-total ban on handguns, and Britain's current laws are considered among the most restrictive in the world. Days after the shooting, hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions demanding tougher gun control, and weeks later more than 22,000 illegal or unwanted guns, and nearly 700,000 rounds of ammunition, were turned in to authorities under a special amnesty. Although England already had tough restrictions in place, champions of the gun control laws say the new limits have been vital in keeping fatal shootings relatively rare. Still, guns continue to proliferate and the law has not kept firearms out of the hands of some criminals.
In French Runoff, a Fight for the Center
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301221.html
With French voters selecting a conservative, Nicolas Sarkozy, and a Socialist, Ségolène Royal, as the finalists in the country's two-stage presidential contest, a clear battle has been drawn along ideological lines, and the outcome could depend largely on who lures the most voters from the center in the next two weeks, political analysts said Monday. Final results from Sunday's first round of balloting gave Sarkozy, of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, 31.1 percent of the vote and Royal 25.8 percent. The 84.6 percent turnout was just shy of the 84.74 record set in the 1965 first round that included French icons Charles de Gaulle and François Mitterrand.
Bush meets with Peruvian president
President Bush dusted off his Spanish for an Oval Office meeting with Peruvian President Alan Garcia on Monday as the leaders discussed trade, reviewed efforts to fight cocaine production and exchanged condolences over the Virginia Tech massacre, which claimed the life of a Peruvian student. Garcia announced that Bush would visit Peru next year, and the South American chief of state said he was in Washington to urge Congress to pass a free-trade agreement the administration has reached with his nation. "It is vital to our country," Garcia said.
Immigration
Border Patrol Agent Charged With Murder
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/us/24border.html
A Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a Mexican immigrant along the Arizona-Mexico border in January was charged Monday with first-degree murder and three related offenses. The agent, 39-year-old Nicholas Corbett of Sierra Vista, Ariz., shot Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, 22, while taking him into custody on Jan. 12, shortly after Mr. Dominguez Rivera and three family members crossed illegally into Cochise County in southeastern Arizona. Mr. Corbett declined to be interviewed by investigators from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department but told supervisors at the Naco Border Patrol station that Mr. Dominguez Rivera had threatened him from across his truck with a rock, according to evidence released by the Cochise County attorney, Ed Rheinheimer, on March 26 after a public records request by local news organizations. Mr. Rheinheimer said Monday that physical evidence and statements from other witnesses failed to support Mr. Corbett’s account.
Reproductive Choice
Court orders abortion decision applied in Mo.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-23-abortion-ban_N.htm
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ordered that its decision last week to uphold the ban on a disputed abortion procedure must be applied to a long-delayed lawsuit in Missouri. The two-sentence order threw out a 2005 ruling from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down a Missouri ban on certain late-term abortions that lower courts had concluded lacked an exception for the health of pregnant women. In a 5-4 decision last week, the high court said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. It was the first time the court banned a specific abortion procedure.
Study: No abortion, breast cancer link
A new study from researchers at Harvard University has set the pot boiling again over one of the most perturbing questions in the abortion wars: Does terminating a woman's pregnancy increase her chances of developing breast cancer? The study, in this week's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, followed more than 100,000 women from the landmark Nurses Health Study for 10 years. It found no link between abortion and breast cancer, and none between miscarriage and breast cancer. A comprehensive review of the scientific evidence conducted in 2003 by the National Cancer Institute reached the same conclusion, and most experts thought the issue had been put to rest. But abortion opponents continue to insist the link is real, and at least four states (Texas, Mississippi, Minnesota and Kansas) require that women seeking abortion be told as part of their mandatory counseling that the procedure could cause breast cancer. The national Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer immediately rejected the new study as flawed.
RELATED: Abortion doesn't boost breast cancer risk, large study finds
Vote could end Mexico's abortion subculture
If lawmakers decide this week to legalize the procedure, it could signal the demise of a thriving herbal, medicinal and surgical black market.
Marriage and Family Issues
McGreevey: Wife knew he was gay before marriage
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-23-mcgreevey-divorce_N.htm
Former New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey claims in divorce papers filed Monday that his wife knew he was gay before they married. "Although it is clear that the Defendant (Dina Matos McGreevey) knew of my sexual orientation before our marriage, she chose to either ignore it or block it out of her mind, even when questioned by her friends," McGreevey wrote, according to Live from the Ledger, the website for The Star-Ledger of Newark. McGreevey resigned as governor in 2004 after admitting he was gay and had had an extramarital affair. He since has said the affair was with Golan Cipel, whom McGreevey had made a homeland security adviser, though Cipel denies having an affair with McGreevey. McGreevey doesn't detail how Dina Matos McGreevey knew he was gay, but calls his wife a "bitter vengeful woman" and objects to his wife's contention in recent court papers that he is bisexual.
Health Care and Public Safety
Social Security, Medicare Panel Adjusts Forecast
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301963.html
The trustees who oversee Social Security and Medicare issued new warnings yesterday that the two programs are becoming unaffordable but pushed back slightly their predictions of when the crunch will hit. By 2017, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes, the trustees said in their annual report. The program's trust fund is projected to be exhausted by 2041, one year later than estimated last year. Medicare, which serves more than 43 million elderly and disabled people, is in worse shape, with its hospital insurance trust fund projected to be insolvent by 2019, trustees said. But that also was one year later than last year's forecast.
RELATED: Medicare financial alarm sounded
FDA scrutinized as panel probes food safety
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-24-house-food-safety_N.htm
From tainted peanut butter to deadly spinach and pet food, incidents of contamination have raised questions not only about the U.S. food supply but the government's efforts to keep it safe. The Food and Drug Administration's oversight of what Americans eat is the larger focus of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Witnesses were to include officials from food manufacturers and distributors involved in recent recalls of tainted products. The safety of food raised domestically was questioned anew last fall when officials traced a nationwide E. coli outbreak to contaminated spinach processed by Natural Selections LLC. Three people died and nearly 200 others were sickened.
Crime and Penal Reform
Drugs Used in Executions May Cause Paralysis, Pain for Conscious Inmates
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301671.html
The cocktail of drugs used for lethal injections is unreliable and could render inmates paralyzed but not unconscious, unable to cry out as they experience excruciating pain and eventually suffocate, according to a new scientific analysis. The analysis, released yesterday and based on published data about the three drugs used and public records of executions in North Carolina and California, concluded that the protocol does not dependably induce a quick, painless death. "This raises the possibility people are being tortured and you can't see it because they are paralyzed," said University of Miami surgery professor Leonidas G. Koniaris, who led the analysis. "I'm not sure a civilized society should be doing this."
RELATED: Reliability of execution drugs is in question
Are passengers 'seized' during a police stop? Supreme Court to decide
Are the passengers in a car that has been stopped by the police "seized" by the authorities, or are they free to walk away? The Supreme Court took up that question Monday in a California case that could decide whether passengers are protected from "unreasonable searches and seizures" when officers pull over the vehicle in which they are riding. Last year, the California Supreme Court gave police more leeway to search occupants of cars they stop when it ruled that drug evidence found on a passenger could be used against him. The passenger was "not seized as a constitutional matter" when the driver was pulled over, the state court said in a 4-3 decision. Under that reasoning, the passenger had given tacit consent to be searched by staying in the car. Most of the justices on the U.S. high court said Monday that view did not square with common sense. Several said they would not feel free to walk away if a police officer stopped the car they were riding in. The tenor of their comments suggested the California ruling would be reversed.
RELATED: Court Weighs Rights of Passengers When Police Stop Cars
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24scotus.html
Man Is Cleared of Rape Charges After Serving 25 Years
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/us/24dna.html
A man who spent 25 years in prison for rape was exonerated Monday as a judge threw out his convictions because DNA evidence showed he could not have committed the attack. An advocacy group said it was the 200th such case. The man, Jerry Miller, smiled and the courtroom erupted into cheers after Judge Diane G. Cannon of Cook County Circuit Court read the ruling that cleared him of all charges. Mr. Miller, 48, had been found guilty of rape, robbery, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery even though he testified he was at home watching television at the time of the attack, in 1981. He was paroled in March 2006 and now works two jobs and lives with a family member in a Chicago suburb.
Economy
Wolfowitz Promises Changes in Leadership
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301744.html
World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz met yesterday with senior managers to promise unspecified changes in his leadership and to appeal for their help, even as he hired a prominent defense lawyer to represent him. "I want to make sure his rights are fully protected," said Robert S. Bennett, whom Wolfowitz retained on Saturday. On Friday, the World Bank executive board named an ad hoc committee to consider "conflict of interest, ethical, reputational, and other relevant standards" in judging Wolfowitz's performance, including his role in setting the terms of a pay and promotion package for his girlfriend, a bank employee. "He is not going to resign," Bennett said after meeting with Wolfowitz this weekend. "His mood is just fine. . . . He feels people are trying to interfere with his job to get at world poverty, and he wants to get this thing behind him so that he can concentrate 100 percent of his effort."
RELATED: World Bank weighs end to Wolfowitz controversy
Stocks & Bonds: Dow Flirts With 13,000, Then Falls Back
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/business/24stox.html
The Dow Jones industrial average hit a new intraday trading high yesterday, but stocks later retreated as concern about rising oil prices outweighed strong earnings reports and new takeover activity. The Dow rose to 12,983.92 after the British bank Barclays said it would acquire ABN Amro of the Netherlands for $91.16 billion and the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said it would buy the American drug maker MedImmune for $15.6 billion.
ID Task Force Ideas Receive Cool Reception
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301401.html
A federal task force Monday urged the Bush administration to back certain policy proposals to help combat identity theft, but critics say the recommendations will do little to curb the loss or needless collection of sensitive consumer data. President Bush's Identity Theft Task Force, co-chaired by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, called for a review at the state and federal level of the use of Social Security numbers in consumer records. The panel also broadly supported national standards for requiring organizations to notify consumers if they experience a data breach or loss that jeopardizes personal or financial data. Thirty-five states have data breach disclosure laws. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are drafting and circulating similar measures.
Scrushy agrees to $81M SEC settlement
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2007-04-23-scrushy_N.htm
Fired HealthSouth chief executive Richard Scrushy reached an $81 million settlement to end a government lawsuit in a huge accounting fraud, but he will pay less than $10 million — maybe much less — as his attorneys contend he is running out of money. A federal judge on Monday approved the settlement of the lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which billed the financial deal as one of the SEC's largest against an individual. While not admitting that he did anything wrong, Scrushy agreed to give up $77.5 million that the government claimed he profited from in the $2.7 billion fraud at HealthSouth, and he agreed to pay an additional $3.5 million in civil penalties.
Top Hedge Fund Managers Earn Over $240 Million
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/business/24hedge.html?ref=business
The rewards for managing hedge funds — lightly regulated private investment pools for institutions like endowments and wealthy individuals — have been lucrative for some time. Yet the survey also shows that for the hedge fund elite, the rich are getting much richer in a hurry.
Toyota Tops GM in 1Q Global Auto Sales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400167.html
Toyota Motor Corp. became the world's top auto seller in the first three months of the year, passing rival General Motors Corp. for the first time, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday. Toyota sold 2.35 million vehicles worldwide in the January-March quarter, the company said, surpassing the 2.26 million vehicles that GM said it sold during the same period. The results mark the first time Toyota has beat GM in global sales on a quarterly basis.
NASD Warns Investors About 'China' Stock Scam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301835.html
Securities regulators are warning investors to be wary of faxes, e-mails and text messages sent by cellphone that promise huge profit from "China" stocks of companies that are often unrelated to the country or its stock markets. The NASD, the brokerage industry's self-policing organization, issued an investor alert yesterday regarding "pump and dump" scams touting bogus stocks with promises of large returns. Faxes carry headlines such as "Grabbing massive profits in China has never been easier than right now!" the NASD said. The word "China" in a company's name can be misleading, and most of the companies being promoted are not incorporated in that country, according to the organization.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Minimum-Wage Accord Produces Protests
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301886.html
The Iraq spending bill moving through Congress includes a provision to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade. But Democrats have stripped out a variety of contentious tax measures that had been tied to the minimum-wage legislation, under pressure from some of the nation's largest business lobbies. Gone is a measure that would have restricted what executives and other highly paid employees can place in deferred-compensation plans, one of the most popular benefits in corporate America. Gone is a proposal to deny tax deductions for fines and penalties associated with lawsuits. And gone are measures to target a variety of corporate tax shelters. The demise of these measures infuriated one of their chief sponsors, who yesterday accused Democrats of "caving in to K Street, pure and simple."
RELATED: A deal is set on minimum wage hike
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/24/a_deal_is_set_on_minimum_wage_hike/
Number of U.S. tech jobs rises despite fears of outsourcing
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2007-04-24-techjobs_N.htm
California continues to employ far more technology workers, pay higher wages and attract more venture capital than any other state. But the overall U.S. tech sector is also growing at a surprisingly brisk clip — for now. That's the conclusion of a highly anticipated annual report by AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association, the country's largest technology trade association. Researchers relied on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, mostly from 2006. According to the 2007 "Cyberstates" report, to be published Tuesday, the U.S. tech industry employed 5.8 million people last year — up 2.6% from 2005. Despite fears of jobs going overseas, the industry gained nearly 147,000 positions in 2006, compared with 87,400 jobs added in 2005. The strongest subcategory of technology in the 10th annual AeA report was software, which employed more than 1.5 million people and created 88,500 new jobs last year. The average technology worker nationwide earns $75,500. That's short of the $78,691 average income in 2000, the peak of the dot-com boom. But it's 86% more than the average private sector wage of $40,500.
Media
FCC Seeks To Rein In Violent TV Shows
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042302048.html
Federal regulators, concerned about the effect of television violence on children, will recommend that Congress enact legislation to give the government unprecedented powers to curb violence in entertainment programming, according to government and TV industry sources. The Federal Communications Commission has concluded that regulating TV violence is in the public interest, particularly during times when children are likely to be viewers -- typically between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., FCC sources say.
Education
Spreading Word Of Campus Crises Crucial, Senate Told
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301975.html
Colleges need better ways of spreading information in a crisis and improved means of dealing with students who are mentally ill, even as the schools balance the principles of academic openness with campus safety, witnesses told the Senate Homeland Security Committee yesterday. The hearing, held a week after a rampage at Virginia Tech that left 33 dead, was intended to find ways to prevent further campus violence, said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), the committee's chairman. One expert suggested shielding campus officials from lawsuits as they deal with students who pose a potential threat to themselves or others. "Maybe set up conditions whereby there's liability protection if the university can establish by very clear criteria" that dangers are apparent, suggested Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness and an associate dean at Columbia University.
RELATED: Aid Providers, Some Invited and Some Not, Arrive En Masse
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301880.html
RELATED: Virginia Tech Struggles to Return to Normal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/us/24virginia.html?ref=us
3 Schools Settle Lending Charges
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301888.html
Attorneys general across the country have begun forcing universities and student loan companies to revamp their business practices as part of a burgeoning nationwide investigation into the $85 billion-a-year student loan industry. The attorneys general in Illinois and Missouri joined yesterday with New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who launched the loan probe last year, to announce multi-state settlements with Washington University in St. Louis and two of the largest for-profit schools in the nation. The Nebraska attorney general settled with lending giant Nelnet last week.
RELATED: Student loan flap touches Illinois
RELATED: Case against University of Phoenix stands
RELATED: In U.S. Absence, States Take Lead in Student Loan Cases
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/education/24loans.html?ref=us
Military
Tillman-Lynch hearing set to open
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-24-tillman-lynch_N.htm
As the Army probed Pat Tillman's death, investigators implored the CIA and Pentagon last year to scour their databanks for aerial video of the friendly fire incident, footage they believed might have been captured as a Predator drone flew over the scene. The trail ran cold in October, but lawmakers plan to press the Pentagon on Tuesday with questions still hovering over the one-time National Football League star's shooting: Was a drone flying overhead when Tillman was killed? Did it videotape the incident, and if so, where is the footage? Some members of Congress hope to elicit the new information Tuesday when the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds a hearing as part of an investigation into misleading information from the U.S. military.
U.S. Command Shortens Life of ‘Long War’ as a Reference
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24policy.html
When the Bush administration has sought to explain its strategy for fighting terrorism, it has often said the United States is involved in a “long war” against Islamic extremists. The phrase was coined by Gen. John P. Abizaid before he retired as head of the Central Command. It was intended to signal to the American public that the country was involved in a lengthy struggle that went well beyond the war in Iraq and was political as well as military. It would be a test of wills against “Islamofascism,” as President Bush once put it. It would also be a historic challenge that spanned generations much like the battles against Communism. As it turned out, however, the long war turned out to be surprisingly short-lived, at least at the command that pioneered the term. After taking over last month as the head of Central Command, Adm. William J. Fallon quietly retired the phrase.
Administration Yields on Wiccan Symbol
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042302073.html
Facing lawsuits by veterans and their families, the Bush administration relented yesterday and agreed to allow the Wiccan pentacle -- a five-pointed star inside a circle -- on tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery and other U.S. military burial grounds. The Department of Veterans Affairs previously had given veterans a choice of 38 religious symbols, including numerous forms of the Christian cross, as well as the Jewish Star of David, the Muslim crescent, the Buddhist wheel and an atomic symbol for atheism. But, for nearly a decade, the department had refused to act on requests for the pentacle, without a clear reason. VA spokesman Matt Burns said that approximately 10 applications were pending from adherents of Wicca, a blend of witchcraft and nature worship that is one of the country's fastest-growing religions.
Oil prices jump on Nigerian election dispute
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-04-23-crudeoilsurge_N.htm
Crude oil prices soared above $65 a barrel Monday on fears that escalating violence in Nigeria could result in supply disruptions, while gasoline prices climbed toward a seasonal peak. Early estimates for draws on the USA's crude oil and gasoline supplies pushed prices higher, analysts said. Last week, U.S. gasoline inventories stood at the lowest level since October 2005 and were about 3% below the level at this time last year, said Citigroup Global Markets energy analyst Tim Evans. The price of gasoline on the futures market and at the pump historically peaks ahead of the summer driving season — when concerns about supplies reach a crescendo.
Carbon Gas Is Explored as a Source of Ethanol
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/business/worldbusiness/24ethanol.html?ref=business
A New Zealand company said Monday that it had secured financing from an investor in Silicon Valley to produce ethanol from an untapped source — carbon monoxide gas. The company, LanzaTech, based in Auckland, said it had developed a fermentation process in which bacteria consume carbon monoxide and produce ethanol. Ethanol can be used as an alternative fuel or an octane-boosting, pollution-reducing additive to gasoline. Sean Simpson, LanzaTech’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, said the company would use the $3.5 million investment from the venture firm, Khosla Ventures, to establish a pilot plant and perform the engineering work to prepare for commercial-scale ethanol production.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Detroit Faces Bipartisan Fire Over Fuel Economy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301893.html
For more than 20 years, the American automotive industry has deflected attempts to force improvements in vehicle mileage. Now Detroit is getting battered on the issue from almost every side, and even industry-friendly lawmakers say change is looming. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), long protective of the automakers, has told lobbyists for the industry to get ready for some bad news. In private meetings this year, Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that a proposal that alters fuel economy standards is likely this year -- and that Detroit will not like everything in it.
Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24bees.html?ref=science
What is happening to the bees? More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives. As with any great mystery, a number of theories have been posed, and many seem to researchers to be more science fiction than science. People have blamed genetically modified crops, cellular phone towers and high-voltage transmission lines for the disappearances. Or was it a secret plot by Russia or Osama bin Laden to bring down American agriculture? Or, as some blogs have asserted, the rapture of the bees, in which God recalled them to heaven? Researchers have heard it all. The volume of theories “is totally mind-boggling,” said Diana Cox-Foster, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. With Jeffrey S. Pettis, an entomologist from the United States Department of Agriculture, Dr. Cox-Foster is leading a team of researchers who are trying to find answers to explain “colony collapse disorder,” the name given for the disappearing bee syndrome.
New Allies on The Amazon
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301903.html
It was an unusual group to be sharing a small boat making its way up the Amazon River. There were four environmental activists from Greenpeace -- Brazilians and others who flew in from Europe for the trip. And there were four corporate leaders of McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food chain, from its Chicago headquarters and from Europe. The eight were in the rainforest together on a mission to see firsthand where farmers were cutting down virgin forest to grow soy beans for, among other customers, McDonald's. And though Greenpeace had not long ago been accusing McDonald's of complicity in the deforestation, by the time of the Amazon trip in January, the eight officials were calling each other partners.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Robinson: Walled City
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301453.html
Meanwhile, back in Baghdad, we're building a wall. Actually, quite a few walls. While we were absorbed with the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech-- and before that the Don Imus affair and the Alberto Gonzales tragicomedy-- the war in Iraq was pushed below the fold. While we weren't looking, the U.S. military started building high walls in parts of the Iraqi capital to separate Sunnis from Shiites. Basically, we're turning Baghdad into Belfast.
What will it take for the president to lose faith in Alberto Gonzales?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301724.html
ATTORNEY GENERAL Alberto R. Gonzales's testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys "increased my confidence in his ability to do the job," President Bush said yesterday. Maybe that's because he didn't actually watch the testimony -- he was on the road that day. In fact, Mr. Gonzales's testimony was anything but reassuring about his capacity to lead the department. He emerged, once again, as a negligent manager, scarcely aware of the major personnel moves his department was about to make in the president's name. "I now understand that there was a conversation between myself and the president," Mr. Gonzales said at one point, acknowledging that he had discussed New Mexico U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias with Mr. Bush, though he didn't actually remember doing so. Is this really what Mr. Bush wants in the nation's chief law enforcement officer? Another question: The president had acknowledged that Mr. Gonzales had work to do to repair his credibility with lawmakers. Does it not matter that he failed to do so?
RELATED: The man who was not there
McGovern: Cheney is wrong about me, wrong about war
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mcgovern24apr24,0,4084076.story?coll=la-opinion-center
VICE PRESIDENT Dick Cheney recently attacked my 1972 presidential platform and contended that today's Democratic Party has reverted to the views I advocated in 1972. In a sense, this is a compliment, both to me and the Democratic Party. Cheney intended no such compliment. Instead, he twisted my views and those of my party beyond recognition. The city where the vice president spoke, Chicago, is sometimes dubbed "the Windy City." Cheney converted the chilly wind of Chicago into hot air. Cheney said that today's Democrats have adopted my platform from the 1972 presidential race and that, in doing so, they will raise taxes. But my platform offered a balanced budget. I proposed nothing new without a carefully defined way of paying for it. By contrast, Cheney and his team have run the national debt to an all-time high. He also said that the McGovern way is to surrender in Iraq and leave the U.S. exposed to new dangers. The truth is that I oppose the Iraq war, just as I opposed the Vietnam War, because these two conflicts have weakened the U.S. and diminished our standing in the world and our national security.
Greenway: Uncertain consequences for those who trusted us
WHEN APRIL came to Indochina in 1975, the long war of that generation was coming to a close in chaos and despair. When it came time for "option four," which meant that the only way left out of Saigon was going to be by helicopter from the US Embassy, we saw American Marines furiously chopping down a tree in the chancery garden in order to make room for a landing pad. The US ambassador had not allowed them to touch the tree before then, which was symbolic to some of the head-in-the-sand attitude that refused to recognize that the war had long been lost. Hundreds of desperate Vietnamese, who had trusted the Americans, began to gather outside the embassy begging to be let in, to be given a chance to get away.
Froomkin: A Delusional Dinner
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/23/BL2007042301056.html
The annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner is always surreal -- a boozy scrum of frenetic bonhomie among Washington's top news-makers and news-gatherers, ostensibly a well-deserved respite from all the accumulated tension of their otherwise relentlessly adversarial relationship. But I was struck by what seemed to be among the sentiments emanating from the head-table.
A Deal on the Minimum Wage
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/opinion/24tue2.html
Congressional negotiators have finally reached an agreement on a bill to raise the federal minimum wage. But in getting to that important point, some Democratic lawmakers have shown the same disturbing tendency as their Republican kin to turn pressing issues into pretexts for more tax cuts.
Skrzycki: Environmental Justice Stalled, Report Finds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301839.html
Federal regulations have an impact on the development of technologies, the finances of companies, the competitive playing field and how many lawyers are on a company's staff to interpret the rules. These are the practical, known effects of regulations on business. The rules also have an effect on communities when it comes to important decisions about where to locate a hazardous-waste facility, an industrial plant or a refinery, especially if race is involved. A recent report by the United Church of Christ in Cleveland suggests that decisions made by federal, state and local governments, as well as by companies, have penalized minority groups. The evidence: There are a disproportionate number of hazardous-waste facilities near where they live.
Mr. Spitzer and Gay Marriage
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/opinion/24tue1.html
The news that Gov. Eliot Spitzer will soon introduce a bill to legalize same-sex marriage — what he calls “a simple moral imperative” — is welcome and could give new national momentum to this important cause. Mr. Spitzer would be the first governor in the nation to introduce a gay marriage bill. But if he is going to make a real difference, rather than simply checking off a box to fulfill a campaign promise, he will have to fight for the law vigorously.
Applebaum: Russia's Agent of Change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301452.html
It was October 1987, three weeks before the 70th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. The Soviet elite had gathered in Moscow to mark the occasion. After the customarily lengthy speech by Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, the chairman asked whether anyone wanted to respond. Unexpectedly, Boris Yeltsin, then the Moscow party boss, went up to the rostrum. He spoke for a mere 10 minutes -- and in that 10 minutes changed Russian history.
RELATED: Boris Yeltsin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301488.html
RELATED: Boris Yeltsin
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/04/24/boris_yeltsin/
RELATED: Boris Yeltsin’s Bequest
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/opinion/24tue3.html
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