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TOP STORIES
National
Senior Democrat Plans Speech Attacking Bush Record
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402006.html
A senior Democratic leader, in a speech Wednesday at the Brookings Institution, will tie together a long series of Bush administration scandals, controversies and missteps into what he argues is a campaign to turn the government into an appendage of the Republican Party. The speech by House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) marks an escalation in the party's rhetorical war with President Bush. For much of last year's campaign season, Democrats called the Bush administration incompetent. Now they are preparing a darker case, accusing the administration of harboring malevolent intent. To make his case, Emanuel will cite the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, the discrediting of a key critic of the justification for war in Iraq, the hiring of young, inexperienced Republicans to oversee Iraq's reconstruction, secret meetings between Vice President Cheney's energy task force and oil industry executives, the downplaying of links between greenhouse-gas emissions and global warming, the alleged use of the General Services Administration for partisan purposes and the hiring of an attorney for the International Arabian Horse Association to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/MILITARY
More DOJ scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT
Pentagon to End Talon Data-Gathering Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402540.html
Less than two weeks after being sworn in as undersecretary of defense for intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr. is moving to end the controversial Talon electronic data program, which collected and circulated unverified reports about people and organizations that allegedly threaten Defense Department facilities. Clapper, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, "has assessed the results of the Talon program and does not believe they merit continuing the program as currently constituted, particularly in light of its image in Congress and the media," according to a statement released in his name yesterday by a Pentagon spokesman. Talon, launched in 2003 with an eye toward Sept. 11, 2001, came under public scrutiny in December 2005 with the disclosure that it had collected data on anti-military protesters and peaceful demonstrators.
RELATED: Pentagon Intelligence Chief Proposes Ending a Database
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25intel.html
Gay-rights proposals gain in Congress
After more than a decade of government inaction, gay-rights proponents in Congress have gotten several major bills moving through the Democratic-controlled chambers, a development that could result in the greatest expansion of federal protections for gays and lesbians in US history. This week, a key House committee is set to approve a measure that would in some cases make hate crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation a federal offense, as are crimes committed on the basis of the race or religion of the victim. Also, a bipartisan group of House members introduced a bill yesterday that would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Both pieces of legislation are on track for congressional approval in the coming months. If Congress passes the bills, gay-rights advocates say, it reflects a dramatic change in the national political landscape. In the dozen years Republicans controlled Congress, GOP lawmakers paid little attention to the gay-rights agenda and kept some gay-friendly legislation from even being considered.
Task Force to Examine Alleged Improper Politicking
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402438.html
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is creating a task force to examine allegations that White House or Justice Department officials violated a federal law that insulates government employees from partisan politics. Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch said yesterday that staffers from a unit in his office that enforces the Hatch Act will form the core of a wider group set to examine whether White House officials improperly used federal resources for partisan purposes, improperly conducted partisan political business on federal time or tried to coerce federal employees into taking partisan political actions.
RELATED: Critics doubt official looking into Rove
RELATED: Inquiry on Political Influence
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25bloch.html?ref=washington
Colorado
Senate backs changes to state's oil and gas commission
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743223
The Senate on Tuesday endorsed Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to overhaul the state's oil and gas regulatory process, although Republicans cautioned they will be watching the new panel closely. "Ultimately, this process will succeed or fail based on who the governor appoints to this commission," Republican Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said of the "hard-won compromise." "I've told the governor as those nominees come up, they will undergo significant scrutiny." On a voice vote with no opposition, the Senate initially approved House Bill 1341, which will expand and change the makeup of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to include environmental, wildlife, public health and landowner representatives. Currently, the seven-member panel is dominated by oil and gas representatives, which critics say amounts to the industry regulating itself. The bill will reduce from five to three the number of industry voices while expanding the commission to nine members. The oil and gas industry has reluctantly signed on to the bill, though it remains concerned that the drilling permitting process could become hampered by politics.
RELATED: Revised commission reform glides through the Senate
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_COGCC_shuffle.html
RELATED: Senate gives early OK to oil, gas reform bill
More energy policy news in NATIONAL/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENVIRONMENT
Rainy-day bill dies; sponsor sees trade
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743225
At the request of the bill's sponsor, the Senate Finance Committee voted 5-2 to kill a proposal to gradually increase the state's savings account for emergencies. Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, said his request came after fellow senators refused to back the savings account and another bill to boost the number of judges in the state. The pair of bills would divert tens of millions of dollars that would be used to build and repair roads, so Morse killed his bill to win support for the judges bill. "We need four Republican votes to add judges to our system," Morse said. "The Republicans have made it clear that we cannot have both an increase to our general fund reserve and new judges." The savings bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, expressed frustration as he watched the effort to create a rainy-day fund die for a second year in a row. The House approved the bill 64-1 on March 5.
RELATED: Rainy-day fund bill loses Springs sponsor
http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill_21600___article.html/judges_fund.html
RELATED: Republican ultimatum kills savings bill
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_1B_Rainy_Day_Fund.html
Ritter creates panel to track schools through 'grade 20'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503178,00.html
Some of the biggest names in education cheered on Gov. Bill Ritter Tuesday when he created a council to track Colorado schools from preschool to "grade 20." Ritter said the council is part of his commitment to cut the dropout rate, reduce the gap in achievements for minorities and ensure that Colorado graduates are properly trained by the time they hit the workforce. "The consensus among governors is states need to lead . . . in education reform," he said. "This is our vehicle for reform." College presidents, school board members, high school principals and superintendents watched as Ritter signed an executive order creating the Governor's P-20 Education Coordinating Council. Among those offering support was education kingpin Bruce Benson. "I think it's great because you've got to put the pieces together, and this does that," he said. Benson is chairman of Metropolitan State College of Denver's board of trustees, former chairman of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and chairman of the Denver Public Schools Foundation.
RELATED: Education council will ‘breed ideas’
http://www.gazette.com/articles/panel_21601___article.html/school_college.html
RELATED: Education commission (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/18
Suthers' office concerned about Ritters proposed mill-levy
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_3a_Constitutionality.html
Lawyers within the Colorado Attorney General’s office said they have significant concerns about the constitutionality of Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposed freeze of property tax rates that House lawmakers approved Monday. Nate Strauch, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said state lawyers are reviewing Ritter’s proposed mill-levy freeze, but the prognosis is not good. “It’s safe to say our office has significant concerns about the constitutionality of whether the measure meets the constitutional requirements of (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) as to whether it qualifies as a tax-policy change,” Strauch said. “That being said, we continue to explore the issue.”
RELATED: $5.1 billion education bill clears House panel
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/16
More school funding news in COLORADO/EDUCATION
Election
Immigration issues divide GOP candidates
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-24-immigration-republicans_N.htm
In Iowa, which begins the presidential nominating season, thousands of meatpacking industry jobs have helped to more than double the number of immigrants since 1990. The story is much the same in other early-contest states. The number has tripled in South Carolina and nearly doubled in New Hampshire. Republicans "have a very visceral reaction to people who they feel are beating the system," Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio said. A lesser-known candidate could vault to prominence just by running anti-immigration commercials in an early-contest state like Iowa, Fabrizio said, calling it a "sleeper issue." That's the hope of Tom Tancredo, a Colorado congressman who launched a longshot campaign for the GOP nomination on Iowa talk radio earlier this month. "My purpose is to flush everybody out on this," Tancredo said in an interview. "Either they weren't talking about it at all, or when they were, they pretended like they invented the idea of border security."
Salazar's effort to fund national-convention security axed
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742599
Sen. Ken Salazar's effort to use an emergency funding bill to provide $100 million for security costs at the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions failed Tuesday. Salazar, D-Colo., added an amendment providing the $50 million each for Denver and St. Paul, Minn., the convention host cities, to an Iraq war funding bill that passed in the Senate. But when a group of lawmakers met to merge the Senate bill with the House bill funding the war, they yanked out Salazar's amendment. Another mechanism for funding the security costs is moving through the House. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, wrote a provision adding $100 million to another funding bill. That bill is on track to come to a vote this summer, said DeGette spokesman Brandon MacGillis.
House sponsor kills parolee bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503001,00.html
A Senate bill provision allowing parolees to vote was killed by the House sponsor Tuesday. Rep. Paul Weissmann, D- Louisville, said he fundamentally agreed with the right of parolees to vote and disagreed with Attorney General John Suthers' opinion that the provision was unconstitutional. Secretary of State Mike Coffman, who proposed the overall bill to "clean up" technical issues in the election law, praised the move.
RELATED: Parolee voting stripped from elections bill
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_1B_parolee_voting.html
Victor chooses to oust mayor
http://www.gazette.com/articles/justice_21596___article.html/city_votes.html
Victor’s mayor is out. Residents of the Teller County mountain hamlet braved Tuesday’s snowstorm to cast just enough votes to oust Kathy Justice from the City Council. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done from my heart,” said Justice, who was narrowly removed by a count of 107 to 102. Replacing her will be Serena Bielz, who received the highest number of votes — 62.
Incorporation push is shot down 2-1
http://www.gazette.com/articles/incorporation_21586___article.html/black_forest.html
Black Forest residents have decided city life isn’t for them. By more than a 2-1 margin, locals Tuesday voted against incorporation, keeping the heavily forested area outside city boundaries. “They did not want to incorporate,” said Pam Devereux, one of the leaders of Keep Black Forest Free. She attributed the success of the group’s campaign to “just a lot of hard work with a lot of volunteers.” Eddie Bracken, who led the incorporation effort, said “I think the people have expressed their desires and we accept that.”
Greeley moves closer to putting sales tax increase proposal on ballot
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070425/NEWS/104250113
It's starting to look as if at least one sales tax increase proposal will be on the ballot in November. The Greeley City Council Tuesday directed its staff to begin drafting ballot language on a proposed .54 percent sales tax increase to fund the city's road maintenance needs. Overall, a tax increase would raise nearly $9 million annually for street work, city officials estimate. The decision opens the door for two sales tax increases to be on the ballot in November; council members haven't ruled out the possibility of the city entering into any proposed regional transportation authority, which also would levy a sales tax increase.
Effective and Ethical Government
Senate OKs ethics-commission bill (On the side, 4/25)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743224
The Senate passed and sent to the governor a bill that sets up an Amendment 41 ethics commission. Under Senate Bill 210, a five-member panel will hear alleged violations of the ethics-in-government amendment passed by voters last November. The House and Senate have asked the Colorado Supreme Court to give the ethics panel guidance in interpreting the amendment, which some say is broad enough to ban scholarships to the children of government workers. Lawmakers also might send Amendment 41 back to the ballot in 2008 to clarify it.
Ethics complaint filed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503177,00.html
A Republican lawmaker filed an ethics complaint against an education lobbyist on Tuesday, saying she was "deceptive" in an e-mail urging support for the governor's property tax plan. Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, is the lone lawmaker involved, although his letter to the Senate president and House speaker begins, "We are formally lodging a complaint." He named Lynne Garramone Mason, the lobbyist for the Colorado Education Association. CEA spokeswoman Deborah Fallin called the complaint baseless, and said it was nothing more than a political attack on Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter. It is the second ethics complaint filed this year against a lobbyist. In both cases, the lobbyist is accused of using deception in attempts to pass or kill a bill. In Mason's case, she sent an "action alert" e-mail about Ritter's plan to raise money for schools by stabilizing property tax rates. Mason said the plan would take the pressure off of "future cuts to K-12," which Lambert said was false. He said that under the voter-approved Amendment 23 "it is impossible to cut K-12 funding." Lambert is wrong, said Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, who helped put Amendment 23 on the 2000 ballot before he was a lawmaker. Romer said Amendment 23 protects about 95 percent of school funding, but not special programs, discretionary spending, capital construction and such.
RELATED: Lambert files ethics complaint against teachers union
http://www.gazette.com/articles/tax_21599___article.html/lambert_complaint.html
RELATED: GOP files lobbyist-ethics beef
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743221
SENATE SANCTUARY (Roll Call, April 25)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503179,00.html
Lobbyists have been banned from using the men's bathroom just outside the Senate. A sign outside the loo now says it's for senators and staffers only. "There was a sentiment that there should be a place a senator can go without being lobbied," said Karen Goldman, secretary of the Senate.
Committee OKs fee increases for vanity plates, driver's licenses
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503182,00.html
Lawmakers on Tuesday backed a bill to cut long lines at state motor-vehicles offices by boosting fees for vanity plates and driver's licenses. Yet Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, called Senate Bill 241 "socialistic," because it would double to $50 the fees paid by those who can afford speciality license plates to open new driver's license offices in three counties. The bill also would boost the fee for a driver's license from $15.60 to $21. "I haven't brushed up on Marx and Lenin," quipped House sponsor Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, but he said the bill's fee-for- service approach "is usually portrayed as more of a free-market system."
Trespass charges dismissed against former lawmaker
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503003,00.html
Denver prosecutors Tuesday dismissed a charge of criminal trespass against former state Sen. Robert Hernandez, who was accused of moving back into his home after he was evicted. Hernandez, a Democrat, represented northwest Denver until term limits forced him out of office in 2002. Lynn Kimbrough, spokesperson for the Denver District Attorney's Office, said the case was dismissed because the bank that owned the home did not want to press charges.
Pearl Street over-taxed: Business district lowers tax after mistake found
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/pearl-street-over-taxed-business-district-lowers/
The Downtown Boulder Business District that helps maintain and promote the Pearl Street Mall and surrounding shopping area is cutting the property taxes it charges downtown businesses in order to pay back $372,000 in excess taxes it collected from them between 2003 and the end of 2006.
De Beque mayor accused of inappropriate behavior
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_1a_mayor_folo.html
Donald Cramer, the mayor of De Beque, is being investigated for allegedly violating the town’s policy regarding inappropriate behavior — again. The latest complaint, lodged verbally by the town clerk in March, alleges a violation of the town’s “workplace threats, bullying and violence policy.” City Clerk Karen Eisenach also complained about the mayor’s behavior in July 2006. At the time, the town’s board of trustees held a closed-door meeting, which the town attorney now says was illegal, to discuss that issue. Eisenach eventually dropped that complaint, said Ed Sands, the town’s attorney.
Palisade: County commission should be increased
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_palisade.html
Palisade trustees sent a message Tuesday night to Mesa County Commissioners that they haven’t forgotten promises some county candidates ran upon. Increasing the number of commissioners from three to five would better represent all areas of the county, according to a resolution that trustees approved at their board meeting. “The biggest thing is to educate people why there is a need to increase that number and not have one or two commissioners decide what is going on in the whole county,” said Palisade Mayor Doug Edwards. “We don’t say they haven’t done a good job. We think they could do a better job if there’s better representation.”
Apparent sun block stalls project
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742601
A University of Colorado at Denver architecture student opposed to a development used her schooling to beat city hall - at least for a week. Danielle DePasquale stifled the City Council with an illustration Monday night showing that a proposed Jefferson Park apartment complex would block the sun eight months of the year for three houses. "This is of concern to me," Councilman Rick Garcia said, holding up the analysis. "This is the one thing in tonight's testimony that actually provides me with some pause." The City Council voted unanimously to delay a decision for a week so a "certified" shadow analysis can be done.
Olathe board moves forward despite vacancies; faces 10th loss
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/24/local_news/2.txt
Monday night’s town board meeting advanced smoothly with former billing clerk Terri Foechterle signing on for office of Olathe Deputy Town Clerk. “That’s really nice to see something other than a resignation letter,” Mayor Woody Palmer said, prompting laughter.
EDP to bring in experts before proceeding
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26299
Craig/Moffat County Economic Development Partnership board members agreed to bring in business experts from other towns before deciding its fate during a meeting Tuesday night with the Craig City Council and Moffat County Commissioners. The EDP board has been contemplating its options following the recent resignation of Executive Director Tim Gibbs.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Ban affirmative action?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/24/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
A proposal scheduled for legislative review later this week may bring Colorado voters one step closer to halting affirmative action programs, including those that give preferential treatment to minorities in college admissions. If the issue comes to ballot in Colorado next year, it will ask the state not discriminate or give preferential treatment to individuals or groups based on race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin. But according to university officials, such a proposal would have no bearing on admission policies at CU-Boulder. According to Christine Wyoshimaga-Itamo, vice provost and associate vice chancellor for diversity and equity, there are no race-based programs or race-based quotas at CU.
Businesses convince Springs to OK fest that includes gays
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742634
This city's battles over gay and lesbian issues have been long fought by those carrying the rainbow flag. The fight took on a new complexion Tuesday as men in suits - backed by some of the city's most powerful people - urged inclusiveness for gays and lesbians at a summer festival celebrating cultural diversity. At issue was whether the City Council would sponsor the festival by waiving $8,700 in costs for park rental, barricades and police service. On April 9, when the issue first came to light, council members Margaret Radford and Darryl Glenn questioned whether gays and lesbians would participate and whether the event would be a forum to tout a political agenda. Glenn worried gays might use the event to promote gay marriage. Radford said: "When a large portion of this community does not support gay and lesbian viewpoints, I don't see us putting tax dollars into supporting that direction."
RELATED: Council votes to include gays in festival
http://www.gazette.com/articles/colorado_21571___article.html/festival_city.html
Immigration
State Patrol training new unit to enforce immigration laws
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503427,00.html
Colorado State Patrol troopers trained in immigration enforcement will bust people suspected of being in the country illegally beginning in July. On Tuesday, 22 CSP officers began five weeks of training under an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CSP officials say the effort is not meant to turn troopers -into full-time immigration agents. But one advocacy group is calling for strict oversight of the program. The troopers are part of a new CSP unit set up primarily to assist ICE in arresting smugglers as well as the people they're transporting. The troopers are being trained by ICE agents on how to identify fake documents, use immigration databases and spot those involved in human smuggling and trafficking.
RELATED: Troopers training to enforce ICE laws
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/troopers-training-enforce-ice-laws/
RELATED: Troopers to train for immigration enforcement
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070425/NEWS/104230123
Swift exec defends ID verification practices
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5502925,00.html
A Swift & Co. executive told lawmakers Tuesday that the meat processor has gone "above and beyond" the law to verify worker identities. "Simply put, a company cannot legally and practically do more than we have done to ensure a legal work force under the current tools and regulations available by the government," said Jack Shandley, Swift's senior vice president of human resources in Greeley. Shandley's comments came in a prepared statement before testifying in front of a U.S. House judiciary panel examining the problems in employment verification and worksite enforcement.
3 more charged from immigration raid
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/15
Last week's raid on a potato processing plant at Monte Vista has resulted in three more criminal cases. Three people who worked there are charged with misuse of Social Security numbers by allegedly using phony numbers for their jobs. The charges were filed Monday in U.S. District Court and made publicly available on Tuesday by court staff. The three are Hilda Bustillos Terrazas, Eudolia Hernandez Estrada and Leticia Baca Bustillos.
Van driver wanted for role in crash, cops say
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070424/NEWS/70424006
An arrest warrant has been issued for the driver of an Edwards-based ski shuttle in which eight passengers were injured when it crashed on Interstate 70 March 25, the Colorado State Patrol said Tuesday. Former Colorado Mountain Express driver Sebastian Lopez, 28, is wanted on suspicion of several counts of reckless endangerment and vehicular assault, said Trooper Gilbert Mares, spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol. But Lopez may never go to trial because he returned to Spain this spring when his work visa expired and he’s unlikely to be extradited, authorities said. If Lopez enters the United States again, he will be arrested, but police would “probably not” extradite Lopez, Mares said.
Reproductive Choice
Colo. abortion rights got start 40 years ago today
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743173
Forty years ago, when Gov. John Love wrote his signature on a bill liberalizing Colorado's abortion law, the moment signaled a stunning victory for one Denver attorney with political aspirations, and a stupefying defeat for another. Dick Lamm, the freshman legislator who sponsored that bill making Colorado the first state to legalize abortions in certain circumstances, was euphoric. "When you could hardly say the word 'abortion' in polite company, how could it pass the legislature?" Lamm said, reflecting on that day. "We caught everybody so by surprise," he said. "The opposition completely underrated us. They couldn't believe it would happen." But Charles Onofrio, who went on to unsuccessfully challenge Lamm for his state House seat in 1970 and 1972, remembers April 25, 1967, as the day Colorado stepped into "40 years in the wilderness." Onofrio is one of three co-founders of the Colorado Right to Life Committee, which is bringing conservative activist Alan Keyes to speak about abortion at 1:30 p.m. today at the old Supreme Court chambers in the state Capitol.
Health Care and Public Safety
Lt. Governor to speak at tobacco cessation conference
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070425/NEWS/104240120
Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien will be the keynote speaker at a regional tobacco cessation conference for health care providers Friday. The event, "Our Patients Are Smoking: How to Put Out the Fire," will take place from noon-4 p.m. at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, north of U.S. 34 off of Interstate 25.
Strickland to Take UnitedHealth Post
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5502004,00.html
Former Colorado U.S. Attorney Thomas Strickland on Tuesday announced he's will be chief legal officer for UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. medical insurer. Strickland, 54, is stepping down as managing partner for Hogan & Hartson and will move to UnitedHealth's Minnetonka, Minn.-based headquarters. He and his wife, Beth, plan to keep their house in Denver and return as often as possible. "This is very much going to be our home for the long haul," said Strickland, who spent 15 years in private practice in Denver before serving as U.S. attorney from 1999 to 2001.
RELATED: Denver lawyer heads to insurer
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5742664
Competition is heating up in region
http://www.gazette.com/articles/hospital_21602___article.html/memorial_hospitals.html
Being the first to open one of three new hospitals planned for the Pikes Peak region will give Memorial Health System a competitive advantage, officials from the city-owned hospital predict. “We wanted to be the first to market,” said Steve Schaefer, vice president of strategic development for Memorial Health System. “We have approximately 16 months to take care of patients in northern Colorado Springs. If we do it right, patients will value that experience and continue to use Memorial Hospital North.” The 98-bed Memorial Hospital North opens today near Briargate Parkway and North Union Boulevard. Four miles away, at Woodmen Road and Powers Boulevard, the private, nonprofit Penrose-St. Francis Health Services will open a 158-bed hospital next August.
RELATED: Hospitals’ economic impact is considerable
http://www.gazette.com/articles/hospital_21592___article.html/construction_million.html
Proposed plan would create Greeley-only paramedic service
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070425/NEWS/104250112
Greeley could soon get its own paramedic service, but not without a fight from Weld County officials.
Crime and Penal Reform
Commission assailed on police promotions
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503208,00.html
Leaders of Aurora's black community said the city's Civil Service Commission passed up an opportunity Tuesday to fix a broken system of promoting officers. "I'll tell you, I think the commission is trying to avoid accountability, and that's unfortunate," the Rev. Thomas Mayes said. Mayes' remark came after he and another black pastor spoke to the commission Tuesday, demanding changes after the promotion of an officer accused of assaulting a disabled black woman and yelling a racial slur at her. Police Chief Daniel Oates said he was required to promote Charles DeShazer to lieutenant because he scored the highest on an evaluation over which the chief has no control.
RELATED: Forums aimed at easing racial tensions
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503210,00.html
Sheriff: ACLU laywer move will cost GarCo
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_3a_ACLU_lawsuit.html
Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said the recent withdrawal of the lead attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in its lawsuit over county jail conditions would add to the taxpayer-funded costs of the suit. Vallario said Tuesday he learned last week that attorney John Phillips, of Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy of Denver, had withdrawn. “I know there can be hundreds of reasons, personal or whatever,” Vallario said. “My concern is the delays that understandably will be needed so the new attorney can get up to speed.”
RELATED: Attorney in ACLU case withdraws
http://postindependent.com/article/20070425/VALLEYNEWS/70424015
Sheriff hires former officer
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/25/sheriff_hires_former_officer/
A former police officer who left the department after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor crime in May 2006 has been hired as a patrol deputy for the Routt County Sheriff’s Office.
Driver accused of killing family declines plea deal
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5502478,00.html
Lawrence Trujillo, accused of plowing into the Bingham family while driving drunk in November, rejected a plea bargain and is headed for trial on charges of vehicular homicide. His attorney is fighting to get statements he made to police suppressed, saying that Trujillo, 36, was threatened and beaten by police before he was interviewed.
RELATED: Plea-bargain fizzles in 3 hit-run deaths
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742638
Wis. firefighter pleads guilty in death of Ft. Lewis student
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503073,00.html
A Wisconsin firefighter could be sentenced to as little as probation or as much as six years in prison under a plea bargain reached Tuesday in the death of a Fort Lewis College student last fall in Durango. Matthew Marcus Kispert, 24, is scheduled to be sentenced June 18 by District Judge Jeffrey Wilson. Kispert, from the Green Bay area, pleaded guilty Monday to criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jonathan Parker Sheppard, a 24-year-old math major at Fort Lewis who died Nov. 15 at Swedish Hospital in Denver from injuries he received Oct. 28 in a Durango parking lot.
Lamar taxed by self-representation
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/lamar-taxed-by-self-representation/
A convicted sex offender who fired four public defenders before choosing to represent himself learned lawyering the hard way Tuesday. Andrew Mark Lamar, 29, is on trial for the alleged March 2005 rape of a 19-year-old woman who was visiting the University of Colorado campus. She took the stand as a prosecution witness. Prosecutor Ingrid Bakke guided her through an explicitly detailed description of the encounter. Lamar then had the floor to cross-examine the woman accusing him of rape. He spent a full hour juggling photographic exhibits and maps of the campus, shuffling paper, repeating scattershot questions and seeing the prosecution's objections sustained. "Obviously this cross-examination isn't going as I planned," he said more than once.
Economy
Don Elliman Jr. has a Midas touch
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5742660
Don Elliman Jr. wasn't named to the state's top economic-development job because he had years of experience recruiting companies. Then again, he didn't know much about running sports teams when he took charge of the company that became Kroenke Sports, which owns the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Pepsi Center. Nor did he have health care expertise when he was named chairman of the Children's Hospital board and shepherded a fundraising campaign for its new facility. What Elliman, 62, brings to the table as executive director of the state's Office of Economic Development and International Trade is one of the most analytical business minds in town, said Don Kortz, Elliman's successor as Children's Hospital chairman.
House gives initial OK to cut in business personal property tax
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104240069
The House gave initial approval Tuesday to a plan that would increase the exemption of the business personal property tax from $2,500 to $7,000. The measure (House Bill 1325) would be phased in three steps by 2011. After 2013, the exemption would increase according to the Consumer Price Index. The measure would affect approximately 30 percent, or an estimated 30,400 small businesses in Colorado. The bill faces a third reading in the House before it goes to the Senate.
Whole Foods helping little guys
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5502962,00.html
Haystack Mountain is one of the first five area recipients of a program the Austin, Texas-based grocer announced late last year, pledging $10 million in direct loans nationally to encourage and nurture local producers. In this part of the world, Whole Foods has made five loans totaling $219,000, and there are at least 10 more applicants in the pipeline, said Will Paradise, the retailer's Rocky Mountain regional vice president. "My interest is to get as many done as possible," said Paradise, who said the recipients and applicants range from established Whole Foods vendors such as Haystack Mountain to startups with the potential to someday sell to the stores. With interest rates between 5 percent and 9 percent on the loans, which range from a few months to 10 years, they're geared toward smaller producers. It's about half what some bankers would charge, said Robert Poland, co-owner of Fort Collins-based MouCo Cheese Co., another borrower.
Telluride land buy taps new sources
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742604
With $22.1 million in hand or in secured pledges, those trying to raise the remainder of the approximately $2.7 million needed to buy the valley at the entrance to Telluride have hit a dry spell with the close of the ski season. But members of the Valley Floor Preservation Partners reassured town officials Tuesday they are reaching out to new sources as they enter the final phase of fundraising. "We are moving ahead on the assumption that they are going to raise it," said Telluride Town Manager Frank Bell.
GJ employers see business zooming along
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_1a_listen_to_biz.html
A healthy business climate has employers in the Grand Junction area fired up about their potential for growth in the next few years, a survey showed Tuesday. Businesses in a broad range of sectors from manufacturing to natural resources anticipate creating about 1,500 jobs, spending $322 million on capital investments and developing more than 631,000 square feet in space to meet their needs.
2 men arrested in bilking of elderly woman for $20,000
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503478,00.html
Broomfield police have arrested two men they say posed as members of a charitable organization and bilked an 83-year-old Broomfield woman out of $20,000. Police arrested Danny Troy Kleiman, 43, of Lakewood, and David Dale Werkmeister, 42, of Glendale, at the woman's Gate- n-Green home last week on suspicion of theft from an at-risk adult and charity fraud, Broomfield Sgt. Colleen O'Connell said. Both men were booked on pending charges and released.
Buying time, BIOTA files for bankruptcy
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/25/news/news01.txt
Last Wednesday could have finished off BIOTA, the bottled-water maker touted at the Oscars but plagued by financial woes. The company had gone into receivership and shuttered after months of struggle, and its Ouray plant was due to be auctioned off Wednesday to satisfy creditors. But the day before the auction, BIOTA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court. The company hopes it can restructure itself, resolve its money woes, find new financing and resume pumping out pure Ouray water in its uniquely biodegradable bottles.
No home run (yet) for Triple Crown
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26301
Triple Crown sporting events could bring $1.2 million in tax revenue to Northwest Colorado every summer, potentially supporting the need for a new regional sports complex in Hayden. However, county officials said Tuesday many of the numbers in the study could be misleading.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Officials looking to narrow wage gap
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503181,00.html
The state labor director is convening a commission to examine the wage gap between men and women. Don Mares, head of the Department of Labor and Employment, is expected to bring together groups and individuals to discuss ways of closing the gap. The commission will begin meeting this summer. Nationally, women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn, and minority women earn even less, according to recent figures. The average in Colorado varies, but one study shows it is only a penny off the national average, said Linda Meric of 9to5, the National Association of Working Women.
Pilots union to eye UAL management
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5502928,00.html
The union representing United Airlines pilots said it will use "every available legal resource to aggressively confront" company management over executive compensation and contract changes. The Air Line Pilots Association also agreed to support rallies to help unify its members. The union made the decisions at meetings in Denver this week.
Union trying to organize casino workers in Black Hawk
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5502947,00.html
A local labor union has launched a campaign to organize workers at casinos in Black Hawk, the hub of Colorado's limited-stakes gaming industry. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents grocery store employees and workers in a variety of industries, said it began its effort in January after some workers expressed interest in union representation. "These are the kind of employees who make up most of the work force in Colorado, and they are increasingly at the mercy of their employers," said John Bowen, general counsel for the UFCW Local.
Housing and Homelessness
Senate backs bill setting fines on mortgage brokers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5502997,00.html
Mortgage brokers could face stiff fines for knowingly making loans to home buyers who can't reasonably pay the mortgage, under a bill passed by the Senate Tuesday. Most Republicans argued the measure will choke off home loans to hundreds of Coloradans with tainted credit and make it harder for seniors and homeowners to obtain home-equity loans. "It's economic redlining people with weak credit," said Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield. The measure won the Senate's initial approval on voice vote. Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, joined Democrats in supporting the bill. Senate Bill 216, by Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, is meant to reduce skyrocketing foreclosure rates in Colorado and crack down on those who take advantage of homeowners who can barely afford their house payments.
RELATED: Senate endorses bill to regulate mortgages
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5743107
Home resales decline
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5743172
U.S. home resales in March suffered their biggest monthly slump since the late 1980s, while metro Denver's home resales show signs of stabilizing. Home values nationally declined slightly in March, while annual price declines in metro Denver were larger, suggesting that the metro area may be further along in the natural cycle of the housing slump than the rest of the country. The national numbers were contained in a report Tuesday from the National Association of Realtors. The Colorado numbers were released earlier this month by independent real estate analyst Gary Bauer.
Affordable options worry tenants
Razing the End O' Day Motel will eliminate an affordable-housing option for Durango residents. Owner Tracy Reynolds said he hopes to gradually empty the building of its residents by ceasing to rent rooms once tenants leave. Reynolds pledged during a Durango Planning Commission meeting Monday to help tenants find somewhere else to live before he destroys the building this fall or next spring. Tenants at End O' Day have frequently drawn police attention, Reynolds said. "We've had drug dealers moving in - just a lot of issues," he said. "So I think it's time we tear the building down and start over with something new."
Media
Supreme Court expert: Free press in danger
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/supreme-court-expert-free-press-in-danger/
Freedom of the press and the public's right to access information have been under attack since Sept. 11, 2001, Supreme Court expert Erwin Chemerinsky said Tuesday. Chemerinsky, who is also a lawyer for outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, delivered the message during a speech at the University of Colorado law school. About 70 people attended.
Education
College construction bill heading for House
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503180,00.html
Senate Democrats gave initial approval to shift $30 million from highways to college construction projects Tuesday, prompting Republicans to cry foul. Senate Bill 222 would pay for 12 higher-education projects and other building repairs. The bill is expected to come up for a formal vote today, then would head to the House. "This money isn't to build nice buildings; it's to repair unsafe buildings," said the sponsor, Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada. "Higher education has had to assess fees on students to pay for buildings. We need to accept our responsibility to take care of our state buildings and take it off the backs of our students." The fight over transferring money from roads to colleges has simmered throughout the legislative session. Attempts to do so in the budget for next year failed, prompting Windels to introduce a separate bill. Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, suggested that Democrats are being greedy. He noted that the state's $17.8 billion spending plan for next year includes $700 million for capital construction.
RELATED: Deal would add $30 million to capital development funds
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/8
Bill would give in-state tuition rates to military members
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/bill-would-give--state-tuition-rates-military-memb/
Members of the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee unanimously approved House Bill 1163. It is sponsored by Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, and Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch. The committee voted 5-0 to send the proposal to the full Senate for consideration. The proposal would mean military members and their dependents would be eligible for resident tuition rates while they are in Colorado on temporary-duty assignments. The eligibility definition now requires a permanent assignment.
Measure would protect school staff
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503005,00.html
A House committee unanimously advanced a bill Tuesday to help avert tragedies like the shootings at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech. The bill would shield school staff members who intervene with troubled students from criminal prosecution and civil liability. "We're going to put safety back into our schools," said Rep. Sara Gagliardi, D-Arvada, who sponsored Senate Bill 227 with Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, and Sen. Brandon Shaffer,D-Longmont. The bill protects school employees who physically intervene "if a situation looks like it's escalating and getting out of control," Gagliardi said.
Competition heating up to get into CU
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5503498,00.html
The University of Colorado has sent acceptance letters to 80 percent of its applicants, meaning that competition to get into the state's flagship school was stiffer among this crop of incoming freshmen. Last year, the acceptance rate was 89 percent, admissions director Kevin MacLennan said. CU received about 2,000 more applications during this year's admissions season, compared with last year's. School officials said they want to stabilize the size of the next freshman class, limiting first-year student enrollment to about 5,600.
Goodall speaks at CSU reception
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742393
Jane Goodall, 15 years ago, flew over the Tanzania forest where for decades she has studied chimpanzees and was horrified by what she saw. Landslides, deforestation and the encroachment of humans had decreased the numbers of chimps made famous through her studies and prompted her into a broader mission she is continuing today - to raise environmental awareness around the world. "Every one of us makes a difference and makes an impact on the world," Goodall said Tuesday in a Colorado State University reception in Denver. "And we get to choose what kind of impact we want to make."
BVSD tackles budget
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/bvsd-tackles-budget/
The Boulder Valley School District's preliminary budget for the coming school year is balanced, but there's not much money for new initiatives. The school board discussed the $247.1 million budget at its Tuesday meeting. The most common requests from schools were more counselors and more English-as-a-second-language, special-education and talented-and-gifted teachers.
133 city teachers to get nonrenewal notices
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/4
The Board of Education of Pueblo City Schools Tuesday night unanimously approved that the contracts of 101 probationary teachers and 32 part-time, emergency and alternative license teachers not be renewed. Three of the probationary teachers unsuccessfully pled for their jobs before the board, two of them pointing out that they been hired more than three years ago, although not in full-time positions. Surrounded by a large group of supporters, kindergarten teacher Peggy Meyers, who splits her time between Haaff and Ben Franklin Schools and Valerie Radford, a fourth grade teacher at Haaff, tearfully described their dedication to their students.
Kids programs funded after election loss
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070424/NEWS/70424015
Kathy Kunis took a minute from changing a diaper Tuesday to say she’s “very upset” by the county’s decision to fund early-childhood programs. “The voters turned it down in November — I turned it down — and now they have funded their plan anyway,” said Kunis, who has run Rumpelstilskin Preschool in Avon for the last 25 years. “I and most of my parents just don’t think the government has any place in child care or preschool.” The county commissioners Tuesday approved $822,759 in funding for early childhood programs such as college reimbursement for day-care providers, health and dental assistance and education, teen parent resources and more affordable day care.
9-R Board discusses second-language instruction
A pilot program under way at Durango High School to teach Spanish to 10 students with reading disabilities has so far proved successful, a teacher told the Durango School District 9-R board of education Tuesday. Derinda Babcock, a DHS teacher, crafted a program based on Orton-Gillingham multisensory teaching methods for students who have trouble reading. All 10 students in her program are passing with a C grade or better, Babcock said. Babcock's comments came as part of a report on "world languages" in 9-R during the school board's regular meeting Tuesday.
Mesa State College to use more funds for plans
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_Mesa_State_Funds.html
Mesa State College will be allowed to spend up to $13.9 million of its own funds to continue its Saunders Field House renovation project, thanks to a Tuesday morning vote by the Capital Development Committee. The committee’s 6-0 vote reaffirmed provisions added to the 2007-2008 state budget that authorized the college to raise its own funds to continue its construction project.
Retract Churchill report, profs say
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/24/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
Nine professors, seven from CU, allege the university's investigation of Prof. Ward Churchill was “shoddy” and are asking CU to retract its findings. Last year a faculty investigation found Churchill plagiarized and misrepresented some academic work. But this week an ad hoc group of professors sent CU an open letter stating “we have found the [investigative] Report to contain violations of standard scholarly practice that are so serious we are considering filing charges of research misconduct against the authors of the Report.”
UNC ban list on Web leads to resentment
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5503500,00.html
Some of the people listed on the University of Northern Colorado's Web site as being banned from campus say they resent being compared to the Virginia Tech shooter. Included on the list is a woman who suffers from anorexia and has had a heart attack. She was barred from campus as a threat to herself, not to others. "I was extremely upset - beyond upset - when I found out," about being on the list, said Brittany Bethel. She was suspended from school last fall after she went into cardiac arrest in the campus rec center, one month into her junior year. The names of 24 people barred from campus were posted Friday. Fourteen appear with their pictures, including Bethel. Those on the list committed infractions ranging from violations of the campus honor code to felonies, the Web site explains. They are barred from campus for specific periods. "They aren't necessarily dangerous, but they are unwelcome anywhere on campus," the Web site says.
Students held in spate of threats against metro-area schools
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5503501,00.html
Metro-area law enforcement officers dealt with continued threats against schools Tuesday, the latest in a weeklong spate of disruptions after the Virginia Tech shootings and the Columbine anniversary. The Adams County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of two 14-year-old Clear Lake Middle School students who allegedly threatened to commit a large-scale shooting at Ranum High School. The two teenage boys were arrested Monday at school by deputies investigating reports of the alleged threats, which the Sheriff's Office described as "credible." Both were being held at the Adams County Juvenile Detention Facility while the investigation continues.
RELATED: State schools play it safe
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743174
RELATED: Lawyer: Student posed no threat with explosive
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743299
RELATED: Boltz: Letter found in bathroom not a threat
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/NEWS01/704250326/1002
Teacher pleads guilty in sex case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503243,00.html
A former Brighton Charter High School teacher faces a 45-day jail term and five years of supervised probation after pleading guilty Tuesday to charges she had sexual contact with a 17-year-old student on a class trip last fall. Carrie McCandless, who was fired from the school where her husband is principal, decided to accept an agreement with prosecutors because the risk of going to trial on charges of sexual assault on a child was too great, said her attorney, M. Trent Trani. "The plea bargain was such that it was difficult to reject, given the possible consequences of a trial," Trani said. Both in the courtroom and outside after the hearing, Trani said he disagreed with some of the "facts" set out in the agreement. He said the suggestion that she subjected the teenager to unwanted sexual advances was "ridiculous" and that the reality was the boy fondled McCandless.
RELATED: Ex-teacher's plea avoids prison for contact with student
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742934
RELATED: Brighton teacher gets 45-day jail term for fondling teen
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/NEWS01/704250323/1002
Day-care workers won't be charged
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503244,00.html
Workers at a Copper Mountain day-care center held an unlit cigarette to a baby's mouth and took a cell phone photo, but they didn't take pictures of babies with exposed genitalia being paraded around, an investigation has found. The Pumpkin Patch Day Care Center employees were cleared of allegations they had photographed naked babies in sexually suggestive poses, according to Summit County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Paulette Horr. She said there will be no criminal charges. A detective determined their actions were neither abusive nor done for sexual gratification, Horr said.
RELATED: No charges on day-care pics
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742600
RELATED: No charges filed against Pumpkin Patch
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070424/NEWS/70424010
Military
Springs GI, 19, slain in Iraq blast
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743330
Jeffrey Avery had every intention of becoming a police officer after he got out of the Army. The 19-year-old from Colorado Springs was serving as a military police officer in Muqudadiyah, Iraq, when he was killed Monday by an improvised explosive device that detonated during checkpoint operations. Avery, who graduated from Coronado High School in 2005, was serving with the 42nd Military Police Brigade, based at Fort Lewis, Wash. "He was an awesome kid," said Angel Madonna of Peyton, who was Avery's friend. She said he attended Pikes Peak Community College, where he majored in criminal justice, and then "he decided that he wanted to serve his country."
RELATED: Colo. Springs soldier, 19, killed in Iraq
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503426,00.html
Funeral services planned for fallen GJ soldier
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_soldier_funeral.html
A funeral service for a Grand Junction man who died fighting in Iraq is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. Cpl. Wade Oglesby, 27, was killed last Wednesday when the Humvee he was driving rolled over an improvised explosive device north of Baghdad, according to his family. Oglesby is remembered by his family as putting others’ needs before his own.
Boulder surgeon testifies to Congress
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/boulder-surgeon-testifies-congress/
A congressional investigation into whether the Pentagon manipulated information about the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman and the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch heard testimony Tuesday from a Boulder neurosurgeon. Dr. Gene Bolles, who practiced as a civilian in Boulder for 32 years before becoming chief of neurosurgery at Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, operated on Lynch in 2003. He was called by the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee for medical insight into initial accounts of her rescue and questions that have emerged since. Lynch, then 19, was badly injured when her convoy was ambushed near Nasiriyah, Iraq, and subsequently rescued from an Iraqi hospital by U.S. troops. She told the House committee that the Army mythologized her as a "Rambo from West Virginia" when her fellow soldiers deserve the credit for heroism in battle. "The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes, and they don't need to be told elaborate lies," Lynch told the committee.
Fort Carson to test equipment to gauge brain injuries
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503477,00.html
The Army, faced with thousands of cases of brain injury from the Iraq war, soon will begin testing brain scanning equipment in hopes of finding a more accurate way to identify hard-to-diagnose wounds, the commander of the post hospital said Tuesday. The Army has not extensively used neuroimaging equipment to detect brain injuries in returning soldiers because not enough testing has been done to judge the technology's effectiveness. But Fort Carson soon will test a brain scan procedure that uses gamma rays along with radioisotopes, said Col. John Cho, commander of the Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson. The tests will be conducted on Fort Carson units returning from Iraq, he said.
Pueblo soldiers say Mosul is dangerous enough
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/3
Mosul, Iraq, isn't the hotbed of insurgent attacks that U.S. troops are facing in Baghdad, but it's dangerous enough, according to two Pueblo soldiers serving there with the 169th Fires Brigade, a Colorado National Guard unit that has been in Iraq since July. "It's fairly hot up here and we have frequent encounters," said Sgt. Clifford Yohn, who was recently awarded his Combat Action Badge after his convoy was attacked by roadside bombs. Operating out of Forward Operating Base Marez, Yohn said he spends much of his time providing security escorts to senior U.S. officials who visit Iraq.
Marine back home, enjoyed using training
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/marine-back-home-enjoyed-using-training/
Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Ordal spent seven months in Iraq facing mortar attacks, improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers. Overall, he said, it was a great experience. "To tell you the truth, my buddies and I actually had a good time," he said. "It comes as a natural instinct. It's what we're trained to do as Marines."
Debate over religion in military cordial
http://www.gazette.com/articles/debate_21582___article.html/weinstein_sekulow.html
The battle over religion’s place in the military took a strangely cordial turn Tuesday at the Air Force Academy. “We may have to see a movie together,” Mikey Weinstein told Jay Sekulow toward the end of the debate. “It won’t be ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ I can tell you that.” Weinstein, an Air Force Academy graduate who’s led a two-year crusade against alleged proselytizing at the academy, squared off against Sekulow, an attorney who defends religious freedoms. They hold opposing views on what constitutes unwanted religious influence in the military — a fight that Weinstein says is a “war.”
House veterans panel OKs new national cemetery
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/11
Legislation to establish a new national cemetery in the Pikes Peak region took its first step Tuesday when a House subcommittee approved the measure unanimously, sending it on to the full House Veterans Affairs Committee. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., is a committee member and the sponsor of the bill, which is similar to legislation also introduced by Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Doug Lamborn, both Colorado Republicans. Veterans in the Colorado Springs and Pueblo area have been lobbying the Veterans Administration for several years to establish a new national cemetery in this area but have been repeatedly refused. VA officials have cited their regulations that prevent a national cemeteries from being within 75 miles of each other. The Fort Logan National Cemetery in south Denver is too close to justify a new cemetery in the Colorado Springs vicinity - despite that city's heavy concentration of military retirees.
UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN (EXTRA!, April 25)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503499,00.html
For thousands of garage owners across Colorado Springs, mysteriously opening doors could be the scene when when a new Air Force radio system powers up next month. Transmissions will emanate from towers at Cheyenne Mountain and Peterson and Schriever Air Force bases, affecting houses within a seven-mile radius of each. The Air Force's new, hand-held radios use the same frequency as many garage-door openers, jamming signals.
Religion
Lawsuits against diocese at 23
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/10
A 23rd lawsuit has been filed in district court alleging sexual abuse of students at Roncalli High School by a former band instructor and teacher. The latest suit alleges that former Marianist Brother William Mueller incapacitated a student with ether and sexually abused the boy on four occasions, according to court documents made public on Tuesday. Similar allegations are contained in 22 other lawsuits filed in district court by former students of Roncalli, an all-boys Catholic school that closed in 1971. Mueller has been accused of molesting students after disabling them with ether at schools in Missouri and Texas as well.
Energy Policy
Energy bonds not enough for resident
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26302
Craig resident Allan Reishus is worried. He's worried that the proposed Resource Management Plan presented to the public by the Bureau of Land Management does not go far enough in ensuring the reclamation of oil and gas exploration projects in Moffat County. "Oil and gas companies do experience bankruptcies, and they do experience mergers," Reishus told commissioners at their Tuesday meeting. "When they're done with the land, 20 or 30 years from now, we want to be sure it's cleaned up." Reishus asked the commissioners to send a letter to the BLM, asking for increases in the bonds that guarantee land will be reclaimed after energy exploration is finished. In a letter to the Moffat County Land Use Board and presented to the commissioners, Reishus pointed out that energy companies need bond requirements of $2,500 per well, or $10,000 for all of a company's wells in Colorado, or $25,000 for all of a company's wells in the United States, to explore and drill on federal lands.
Oil-shale idea back in play
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_1a_Exxon.html
One week before the 25th anniversary of Black Sunday, ExxonMobil is showing renewed interest in oil shale and may begin conducting research on in situ oil shale extraction on private land at its long-defunct Colony Project site near Parachute. It was on Black Sunday, May 2, 1982, when the former Exxon Corp. shocked the Western Slope with the news it was shutting down the Colony Oil Shale Project, snuffing out the dreams and jobs of thousands of Coloradans. ExxonMobil, to which the Bureau of Land Management denied a Piceance Basin oil shale in situ, or “in place,” research and development lease last year, will be “doing some research and development with its own technology on its own land,” BLM Colorado Solid Minerals Chief Jim Edwards said Monday.
BLM approves more gas wells near Meeker
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104240071
More natural gas wells will be drilled in northwestern Colorado under a plan approved Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The BLM approved a proposal by ExxonMobil for 20 new well pads about 15 miles west of Meeker. Each well pad could have as many as nine wells, which would be drilled at different angles. The company also plans to build a new gas processing plant. The wells will be in an existing gas field under development since the 1950s.
RELATED: Oil drilling sites approved
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/25/oil_drilling_sites_approved/
La Plata County makes energy conservation a priority
In 2006, the county's efforts took on even more significance when it adopted the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement, which provided important policy direction to our staff with respect to environmental stewardship. A staff team, called the Energy Management and Resource Conservation Team, formed to advance our vision by assessing and analyzing new opportunities for energy management and resource conservation, engaging county staff in generating and implementing ideas to save energy and resources, serving as the organizational champions on conservation initiatives and making recommendations to the board of commissioners. The team is made up of representatives from the Information Technology Department; Fairgrounds, Facilities and Grounds Division; Procurement Division; Fleet Division; Public Works Department; and Administration Department.
Energy Expo in Rifle looks at development of natural gas
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5502926,00.html
EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., headquartered in Denver, will hold its fifth Energy Expo in Rifle on May 2. The event will be at the Garfield County Fairgrounds from noon to 6 p.m. "It's vitally important that we continue to educate the community about our industry," said Doug Hock, director of community and public relations for EnCana. "This forum brings all aspects of the natural gas development process together under one roof." Community members can talk to executives from not only EnCana but also other companies such as Antero Resources, Berry Petroleum, Bill Barrett Corp., ConocoPhillips, OXY, PetroHunter Operating, Shell Exploration & Production, and Williams Production.
RELATED: 2007 Energy Expo puts spotlight on energy education
http://postindependent.com/article/20070425/VALLEYNEWS/70424011
Transportation and Infrastructure
RTD privatization rule would be eased
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743226
The House transportation committee approved a bill Tuesday that alters the formula for farming out RTD bus routes to private contractors. The measure erases the current requirement that at least 50 percent of the Regional Transportation District's bus service - including special service for disabled riders - be privatized. The bill, which the full Senate already approved, would cap the amount of RTD's privatized bus service at 58 percent while eliminating the 50 percent minimum. Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial, echoed a concern originally raised by RTD officials, that if privatized bus routes were returned to RTD, it could add millions of dollars in expenses to the agency's budget and threaten the financial health of the FasTracks expansion plan. Swalm voted against the bill in committee.
Environment and Conservation
Newmont shareholders support religious resolution
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5502135,00.html
An overwhelming majority of shareholders of Newmont Mining Corp. approved a resolution Tuesday morning requiring the Denver company to produce a report addressing community opposition to its mining activities in the United States and across the world. At an annual meeting in Willmington, Dela., 91.6 percent of Newmont shareholders voted on the resolution filed by Christian Brothers Investment Services and other religious investors. Newmont had endorsed the resolution, becoming the first U.S. mining company to call on its shareholders to vote for such a social resolution. "The board endorsement of the resolution and the resulting mandate of this vote should reinforce to Newmont the importance of producing a thorough and substantive report that sheds light on the ways that Newmont can improve its policies and practices, as well as bolster relations with the communities in which it operates." said Julie Tanner, corporate advocacy coordinator at Christian Brothers Investment Services.
RELATED: Acquittal positive signal for Newmont
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5502948,00.html
RELATED: Newmont sees growth in Indonesia
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5742662
3 jailed on charges of waste violations
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503075,00.html
Three men involved in the recovery of precious metals were jailed this week on dozens of suspected violations of environmental laws. Joseph Casebolt, 73, and his son, Steven, 48, were arrested Monday in Montrose and held on $100,000 bail while an alleged co-conspirator in their business, Wayne Ratner, was arrested in Tennessee, authorities said. They were indicted by a statewide grand jury on 44 counts, including violations of the Colorado Crime Control Act through a pattern of racketeering and conspiracy, securities fraud and violating the state's hazardous- waste laws.
RELATED: Briefs: Indictments allege fraud, waste violations
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742598
RELATED: Reclamation firm owners suspected of racketeering
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_1a_racketeering.html
RELATED: Casebolts indicted
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/24/breaking_news/bn1.txt
Putting damper on beetle-wrought fire risk
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743220
A Senate committee Tuesday passed the third measure this legislative session targeting bark-devouring beetles that have destroyed thousands of acres of Colorado forest. With little money, lawmakers are seeking creative ways to combat the risk of a major forest fire kindled by thousands of dead trees. The measure passed by the Senate Local Government Committee sets up a $1 million grant program for forest restoration projects. House Bill 1130 would encourage communities to clean up beetle-ravaged forests to prevent fires and damage to watersheds. The state would cover up to 60 percent of the cost of projects to remove trees and plant new ones.
RELATED: Beetle bill passes Senate committee unanimously
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070424/NEWS/104240067
Subdivision's residents balk at more drilling
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503212,00.html
Bear Mountain Vista homeowners are well aware why Jefferson County is weighing ways to govern new wells in mountain subdivisions. The 1,000-acre subdivision south of Evergreen features broad meadows, mountain views, a wealth of wildlife and several hundred homes with individual wells. It also features growing concern over shrinking water supplies. Developer Ron Lewis had asked the state water court for permission to drill nine new wells on less than 35 acres within Bear Mountain Vista. But adjacent -homeowners concerned about their own wells objected. The case is pending before the Colorado Supreme Court. Unlike the vast underground water basins that Douglas County depends on, Jefferson County's mountain residents tap into unpredictable caches of water in random fractures of bedrock.
RELATED: Too many 'straws' in the wells could drain Jeffco water supply
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503213,00.html
Aurora OKs watering restrictions
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5502961,00.html
Aurora residents can't water their lawn more than three days a week under standard summertime restrictions adopted Monday by the Aurora City Council. Beginning May 1, residents with even-numbered addresses can water Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Residents with odd-numbered addresses can water Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. As part of the restrictions, residents cannot water between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., when evaporation rates are highest. The rules don't limit how long residents can water, but city officials can cite people for wasting water.
Watering suit against Lafayette tossed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5503077,00.html
A Boulder County District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the city of Lafayette by a homeowners association. Blue Heron Estates Homeowners Association filed the suit in November, claiming that the city wrongly required it to pay to irrigate a 4-acre park. The HOA asked for repayment of $71,648 in water bills as well as attorney fees. In the ruling last week, the judge found that the subdivision agreement between the developer and the city required the HOA to maintain and water the neighborhood's park and open-space areas.
City’s got water aplenty
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15952
City residents this summer will likely face only voluntary water conservation measures because Longmont has so much water stored in reservoirs. In fact, based on current predictions, Longmont will have 161 percent of the water it needs for the year, city water officials say. That’s the norm for Longmont, which historically has had far more water than its residents needed.
Environmental stewards honored on Earth Day
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070424/NEWS/70424013
Summit County leaders in environmental stewardship in were honored for their work with Green Scene Awards at the Annual Earth Day Action Fair. ”The nominees were amazing this year,” Karn Stiegelmeier, chair of the Blue River Group, Sierra Club, said in a press release. “We are fortunate to have so many dedicated individuals committed to greener practices in Summit County.” State Representative, Dan Gibbs presented the awards to the winners who were nominated by the community at the Sunday fair in Frisco.
Some think voluntary is not enough
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/25/some-think-voluntary-is-not-enough/
A majority of people attending a public hearing on green building practices said the environmentally friendly approach to designing and constructing homes should be made mandatory throughout the county. At a Boulder County Board of Review meeting Tuesday, a steady stream of residents took to the microphone to tell the board that allowing homebuilders to implement green building codes — such as high-energy efficiency and less-toxic construction materials — on a voluntary basis would make it harder for the county to achieve its sustainability goals.
RELATED: Boulder County to seek green opinions
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15957
Green scene: Environment the focus of new building ideas
http://postindependent.com/article/20070425/VALLEYNEWS/104250032
Such ideas may be helping usher in a new era of development in Garfield County. Developers are touting green initiatives as major components of both projects. Local government planning officials say they wouldn't be surprised to see more such initiatives for both their environmental and marketing appeal. In the meantime, officials in Glenwood Springs are beginning to discuss whether developments should be encouraged or even required to take more steps to be green.
RELATED: Green programs not perfect, but provide tools, focus attention
http://postindependent.com/article/20070425/VALLEYNEWS/104250031
City eyes saving ridges
Durango city councilors sat down with city staff and planners Tuesday to begin work on a possible hillside and ridgeline ordinance that would protect scenic views within city limits from future development. Other discussions at the work session concerned short-term priorities in the city's Comprehensive Plan. A possible ridgeline ordinance was singled out by the newly elected councilors as a chief concern among voters in the recent council election.
Opinion
Hart: What it means to be secure
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5741007
Hidden within the many dramas of the early 21st century is a profound question: What does security mean in this new age? For the better part of a half century of Cold War, security meant containment and deterrence of communism. It was a national security concept pursued almost exclusively by military means. Exactly a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, our central organizing principle of containment of communism was replaced by war on terrorism. Both have the advantage of being bumper-sticker simple. They also are based on the premise that insecurity is the result of some external threat, justifying a foreign policy of confrontation and a military policy of unilateral intervention. It is no accident that our messianic and utopian goal is to eliminate evil from the world. What greater way can there be to achieve security? It is more than reasonable to assume that, had Sept. 11 never occurred, we would today be in a serious confrontation with China.
Bennett: A vision for a 21st century school district
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion/article/0,1299,DRMN_38_5503072,00.html
The Rocky Mountain News series, "Leaving to Learn," tells a painful and accurate story about the state of our school district. It is hard to admit, but it is abundantly clear that we will fail the vast majority of children in Denver if we try to run our schools the same old way. The evidence in Denver and from big-city school districts across the country is undeniable. Operating an urban school district in the 21st century based on a century-old configuration will result in failure for too many children. It is long past time to admit this. As a district and a community, we must gather strength and have the courage to make change, knowing that the changes we face are much, much less perilous than the status quo. Many believe that our system is intractable and impossible to fix. They look at our high dropout rate, our low achievement rate, and decades of failed reform efforts in Denver and around this country, and conclude it cannot be done.
RELATED: Cronin: Important lessons emerge from stories
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion/article/0,1299,DRMN_38_5503074,00.html
Kefalas: Mill-levy stabilization could help PSD
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/OPINION04/704250304/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
With two weeks left, the 2007 Legislative Session has flown by and we are down to the wire with lots of excitement yet to come, such as the School Finance Act (SB07-199), which will be debated in the House this week. An important amendment to SB-199 is Gov. Ritter's mill-levy stabilization plan to tackle the decline of local property tax support for public schools and help shore up the state Education Fund. In 1994, local property taxes paid for 47 percent of K-12 costs and the state paid the other 53 percent. Over the years, this cost-sharing has shifted significantly so that in 2007 local taxpayers will pay 36 percent of the tab with the state picking up 64 percent. Left unsolved, this problem will eventually squeeze out other state priorities, such as higher education and human services.
Woodliff-Stanley: It's time for universal health care
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070424/COLUMNS/104240052
It's time. Past time, in fact. For too many years now, Americans have been paying more for health care and getting less in return than almost every other industrialized nation in the world. Who doesn't know that our health care system is badly broken? It is a system that leaves at least 45 million Americans completely uninsured, including about 788,000 of us in Colorado, almost one of five residents. In many cases, the uninsured get little if any preventative care and must use emergency rooms as their first or only source of health care.
Spencer: Abstinence the star in sex-ed lesson
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5742636
It's STARS night at Center High School/Middle School. In a classroom filled with seventh- and eighth-graders and some parents, 13-year-old Kristi Martinez reads an essay that explains what she has learned about Self-control, Trust, Abstinence, Responsibility and Self-respect. "Saving sex for marriage can strengthen family values," Kristi reads. "You can model positive values not just based on sex." Her presentation is followed by the "Cracker Test," where one girl and two boys eat 10 saltines at once and try not to take a drink of water for five minutes.
Senate should revive rainy day measure
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5741020
The state Senate Finance Committee chose a day dominated by chilling showers to kill a proposed "rainy day fund" that would have staved off the need for radical cuts in state programs the next time the economy nosedives. Talk about being unclear on the concept. Unfortunately, the Senate's supposed fiscal watchdogs did much worse than merely missing the obvious metaphorical connection between Tuesday's miserable weather and the need for a rainy day fund. Democrats also failed the far more important test that comes with having majority control of the Senate - namely, the responsibility to put the public interest above politics when vital state issues are being decided.
Blake: In Beauprez's footsteps
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5503048,00.html
As the late state Rep. Arie Taylor used to say, "He who tooteth not his own horn, his horn shall go untooted." It's very professional. Maybe I can learn which mail house produced the brochure by the postage-meter number . . . Oops! My mistake! There is no postage meter, just a scrawled signature, presumably Perlmutter's, in the top right corner. At the bottom left it says, in tiny type: "This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense." So it's not a campaign piece at all! It's just an informational newsletter. Everybody knows you can't use your frank on a campaign brochure. This must have passed the scrutiny of the House franking commission. Just how blatant the self-promotion must be to get rejected by those folks is hard to say. But it's obviously OK to use four photos of yourself and the above quotes, and mention your own name 18 times. When it comes to exploiting tax-paid "newsletters," Democrat Perlmutter has obviously studied at the feet of the master, who just happened to be his Republican predecessor, Bob Beauprez.
Election
As He Enters Race, McCain Appears to Be Off His Stride
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402344.html
John McCain will formally launch his bid for the White House on Wednesday in the state that vaulted him to national prominence eight years ago, and if a candidate from either party needs a fresh start, it is the embattled senator from Arizona. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has surged past McCain in national polls testing the strength of the Republican field. McCain's fundraising in the first quarter was anemic and his candidacy has been defined almost exclusively by his public advocacy for President Bush's unpopular troop-increase policy in Iraq.
RELATED: McCain Campaign Gives Preview of Speech
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402458.html
Giuliani Says Democrats Would Put Nation on 'Defense'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402241.html
Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani wrapped up a day of campaigning in New Hampshire on Tuesday night by issuing a stark warning that Democrats would put the country on defense in the campaign against terrorism and needlessly prolong a conflict that he said America can and must win. Giuliani appeared at the Rockingham County GOP Lincoln Day dinner and spoke at length about the differences he sees between the Republican and Democratic parties on everything from fixing public schools and health care to combating the threat of global terrorism. But he was most animated and direct when he focused on his prospective Democratic rivals and national security.
RELATED: Giuliani declines to assess troop hike
For Obama, charity really began in the U.S. Senate
Giving, service and compassion are recurrent themes on the campaign trail for Sen. Barack Obama, but the Democratic presidential contender has only recently dug deep into his own pockets to support charitable causes. Obama has enjoyed a robust household income throughout his political career in the Illinois Senate and the U.S. Senate. But for most of that time he has reported comparatively little by national standards in charitable contributions on his tax returns, records released by Obama show. Public attention to charitable gifts has led to uncomfortable moments for prominent political figures. Then-Vice President Al Gore came in for withering ridicule in 1998 when his tax return showed he had contributed just $353 to charity. So did then-President Bill Clinton, after a review of old tax returns revealed that he had once claimed a $75 deduction for donating a suit with ripped pants to the Salvation Army, as well as $2 for a pair of used underwear and $9 for six pairs of used socks. Obama's household income has been inflated the last two years from the proceeds of lucrative book deals he signed shortly before entering the Senate in 2005. He pledged to turn over $200,000 of the book money to charity.
Out of spotlight, Dodd runs on hope
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/25/out_of_spotlight_dodd_runs_on_hope/
Senator Christopher J. Dodd had a small group of New Hampshire voters enthralled as he discussed -- of all things -- a carbon tax on businesses to discourage them from polluting. "Price is the last real barrier" to forcing businesses to install cleaner technologies, Dodd told the dozen or so people at one of his "kitchen table" campaign events at a home in this southern New Hampshire city last week. He detailed his plan to raise $50 billion a year for alternative-energy research by imposing a fee on polluters. The Connecticut Democrat then led the Granite State voters into an extensive conversation about solar energy, fuel economy standards, and tax breaks to help consumers buy hybrid vehicles. It is one of the more audacious proposals made by a presidential candidate this year, but Dodd's plan barely provoked a murmur from either his Democratic primary opponents or the energy industry, which strenuously opposes emissions taxes.
RELATED: The other candidates
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/25/The_other_candidates
Justices to Consider Finance Law Limits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402213.html
The Supreme Court will consider today for the third time in four years Congress's landmark effort to regulate campaign finance, and the outcome could have a major impact on the role businesses, unions and special interests play in the 2008 elections. The court in 2003 upheld the overall constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act -- commonly known as the McCain-Feingold law -- but today will hear a challenge that its restrictions unfairly limit the right to lobby Congress on specific issues.
RELATED: Campaign funding rule before Supreme Court
Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/education/25schools.html
Eli Broad and Bill Gates, two of the most important philanthropists in American public education, have pumped more than $2 billion into improving schools. But now, dissatisfied with the pace of change, they are joining forces for a $60 million foray into politics in an effort to vault education high onto the agenda of the 2008 presidential race.
States Seek Limits on ‘Robocalls’ in Campaigns
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/us/politics/25calls.html
State investigators here are still trying to figure out who sabotaged Scott Kleeb’s campaign for Congress last November with a barrage of automated telephone calls to voters. The unauthorized calls, officials said, distorted Mr. Kleeb’s views and even used a recording of his voice — sometimes arriving in the middle of the night — with the greeting: “Hi, this is Scott Kleeb!” Several Nebraska state lawmakers were so outraged by the shenanigans that they are pushing legislation that would impose some of the country’s most restrictive regulations on prerecorded campaign calls, both bogus and legitimate ones. Similar bills are in the works in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin and at least a dozen other states, prompted in large part by telephone calls authorized by campaigns during last year’s elections. “Get rid of them,” said Stan Jordan, a Republican state representative in Jacksonville, Fla., who has sponsored a bill there. “When they first started, this wasn’t much of a nuisance. But it’s epidemic-level now.”
Effective and Ethical Government
Bush Gives Mixed View Of Progress In Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402466.html
President Bush said Tuesday that the verdict is still out on whether the Iraqi government can make the political changes necessary to end sectarian violence as he offered a mixed report card on the progress of his new Iraq strategy. Bush told PBS talk-show host Charlie Rose that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has followed through on commitments to bolster Iraqi forces in Baghdad but that he has "still got a lot of work to do" on the political front, such as holding provincial elections and passing a law to share oil revenues.
RELATED: Senate Leader Becomes Chief Critic of Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402342.html
RELATED: War votes target GOP lawmakers
RELATED: Bush and Cheney Chide Democrats on Iraq Deadline
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25cong.html?ref=washington
Revival of Oversight Role Sought
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402439.html
Over the course of only 15 minutes today, three congressional committees will consider subpoenas for half a dozen officials from the White House and the departments of Justice and State. On the list is former presidential chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Justice Department liaison to the White House Monica M. Goodling, a key figure in the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Republican leaders call it a "partisan witch hunt." But Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans, say it is an overdue return to their constitutional role of executive-branch oversight.
RELATED: More GOP Senators Critical of Gonzales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402178.html
Ex-Hill aide pleads guilty in Abramoff scandal
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-24-house-aide-abramoff_N.htm
former congressional aide pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff in an influence-peddling scandal that has touched the White House, Interior Department and congressional Republicans. Mark Zachares was the 11th person to be convicted in the Justice Department probe. Zachares admitted engaging in official acts on Abramoff's behalf while working for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who chaired the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Abramoff assisted Zachares in obtaining his committee post. Zachares left Young's staff in 2005. Young's office declined to comment Tuesday.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Canadian Detainee Charged in '02 Death of U.S. Soldier
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042401056.html
The U.S. military filed charges of murder and other crimes yesterday against a Canadian detainee whose family is alleged to have close ties to Osama bin Laden, launching the second case under a new military trial system at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Omar Khadr, 20, is accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade and injuring another during a firefight at an alleged al-Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002. He was charged with murder and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, as well as conspiracy, spying and providing material support for terrorism, according to charging documents.
Foreign Policy
Nations Balk at Compact For Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402346.html
U.S. and Iraqi efforts to win international support to help stabilize Iraq are running up against serious obstacles, with key countries balking at provisions for debt relief and others concerned about blanket endorsement of an Iraqi government that has failed to follow through on many political promises, according to sources involved in the negotiations. Kuwait, Russia, China, Iran and other governments are concerned about signing a proposed resolution that calls for 100 percent debt relief for oil-rich Iraq, given the tens of billions of dollars each country is owed in debt or in war compensation by Baghdad. The proposed resolution, obtained by The Washington Post, is designed to endorse the new International Compact for Iraq -- a five-year plan covering political, economic and social development in the war-torn country. The compact is the product of almost a year of negotiations. It will be the subject of a May 3 meeting of all major countries and institutions involved in Iraq, to be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
U.N.: Baghdad violence has not slowed
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-25-un-baghdad_N.htm
Sectarian violence continued to claim the lives of a large number of Iraqi civilians in Sunni Arab and Shiite neighborhoods of Iraq's capital, despite the coalition's new Baghdad security plan, the U.N. said Wednesday. In its first human rights report since the security plan was launched on Feb. 14 — and began increasing U.S. and Iraqi troops levels in the capital — the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said civilian casualties in the daily violence between January and March remained high, concentrated in and around Baghdad. UNAMI also said that for the first time since it began issuing quarterly reports on the human rights situation in Iraq, the new Jan.1-March 31 one did not contain overall death figures from Iraq's Ministry of Health because it refused to release them.
Outpost Attack Highlights Troop Vulnerabilities
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400755.html
As U.S. soldiers fired a hail of bullets, the first suicide bomber sped toward their patrol base. Reaching the checkpoint, the truck exploded, blasting open a path for the second bomber to barrel through and ram his truck into the concrete barrier about 90 feet from the base. The second explosion crumbled walls and parts of a school building, killing nine American troops and injuring 20. Mourning his fallen comrades Tuesday, Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly took comfort in a single detail: The bombers did not detonate their payloads inside the base, located in Sadah, a village 40 miles northeast of Baghdad near Baqubah, the Diyala provincial capital. "It certainly could have been worse," said Donnelly, a U.S. military spokesman, describing Monday's bombing, one of the deadliest ground attacks against U.S. forces since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
RELATED: Group claiming to have killed 9 U.S. troops issues threats
RELATED: Al-Sadr condemns wall; Diyala bomb kills 4 Iraqi police
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-25-iraq-violence-sadr_N.htm
NATO pulls disputed Afghan opium ad
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-25-nato-opium-ad_N.htm
NATO said Wednesday that it has withdrawn a radio message telling Afghan farmers that its troops will not destroy their opium fields, following complaints that the alliance appeared to condone the illicit crop. The advertisement was paid for by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and aired on radio stations in Helmand province, the largest opium-producing area in the world and the focus of NATO's biggest ever anti-Taliban offensive. "This was an error by ISAF," said Zalmay Afzali, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry for Counter Narcotics. "We request from ISAF to avoid these kind of errors in the future because it can create a hell of a problem for the counter-narcotics strategy of Afghanistan." Lt. Col. Angela Billings, an ISAF spokeswoman, said that the "poorly worded address" was taken off the air on Tuesday.
Troop Pullout Bill Defeated in Canada
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402348.html
Canada's House of Commons on Tuesday defeated a bill to withdraw the country's troops from Afghanistan in 2009, but the government faced new questions over the treatment of Afghans captured by those soldiers. The bill was brought by the opposition Liberal Party after eight Canadians were killed this month, bringing to 54 the death toll since the country's military first deployed to Afghanistan in 2001. The Canadian force is pivotal to NATO combat operations in southern Afghanistan.
RELATED: Canadian Vote Defeats Proposal for Leaving Afghanistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/world/americas/25canada.html
World powers may relent on Iran uranium
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-24-nuclear-iran_N.htm
The United States, Russia, China and key European powers may for the first time be ready to allow Tehran to keep some of its uranium enrichment program instead of demanding it be completely mothballed, foreign government officials said Tuesday. Speaking on the eve of talks between top Iranian envoy Ali Larijani and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, the officials — some of them diplomats, others based in their capitals — said the discussions were key because for the first time they could try to sidestep the deadlock over enrichment by trying to agree on a new way of defining enrichment.
Hamas Fires Missiles Into Israel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400358.html
The military wing of Hamas fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel on Tuesday and reiterated that it would no longer abide by a five-month-old truce with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. Two of the six crude rockets fired from Gaza landed inside Israel but caused no injuries or damage. Eight mortar shells also landed in open areas during a two-hour attack. Israeli helicopter gunships responded quickly, firing on the launch sites. Israeli military officials said the missile attacks, which further eroded a cease-fire with Hamas agreed to last November, were designed to mask a Hamas attempt to enter Israel on the ground.
RELATED: Israel prepares response to attack
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-25-israeli-response_N.htm
Wealthy Nations Chided on African Aid
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402266.html
A star-studded panel led by former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan and funded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates is using celebrity and diplomatic prowess to pressure the world's major industrial powers to support development in Africa. The Africa Progress Panel met in Berlin yesterday to chide the world's richest countries for neglecting a 2005 commitment to double aid to Africa within five years and to help lift the poorest continent out of poverty by 2015. In its first official action, the panel met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the lagging financial commitments and to lobby them to put Africa atop the agenda of the Group of Eight, which includes the seven wealthiest nations plus Russia.
Scores Are Killed In Ethiopia Attack
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400604.html
Gunmen killed scores of people at a Chinese-run oil field in Ethiopia early Tuesday in an attack claimed by a separatist group operating near the border with Somalia. Ethiopian officials said 74 workers, including nine Chinese, were killed in Abole, a small town in the country's ethnically Somali region known as the Ogaden. In a communique posted on its Web site, however, the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front said the casualties were scores of Ethiopian troops, along with "a handful" of Chinese oil workers. The ONLF said that civilians in the region had been forcibly removed from their homes recently and that grazing rights had been cut off following an oil exploration deal between the Ethiopian government and the Chinese. The attack, near the town of Jijiga, was aimed at Ethiopian soldiers guarding the oil field perimeter, the group said.
RELATED: Ethiopian Rebels Kill 70 at Chinese-Run Oil Field
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/world/africa/25ethiopia.html?ref=world
Nigerian Victor A Break With Past
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402349.html
Nigerians are accustomed to certain things from their presidents. Most have been generals, or former generals, with big personalities and reputations for corruption. And those who haven't been installed through coups have come to power in elections so flawed they bore little relationship to popular will. Last weekend's presidential vote was as bad as most in Nigeria's troubled history, observers said. But the election of Umaru Yar'Adua -- a bookish and shy former chemistry teacher -- offers Nigerians a leader with a reputation for honesty and little resemblance to most of his predecessors.
Taiwan's opposition eyes trade deals with China
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500199.html
Taiwan's main opposition party is eyeing closer trade ties with China's Communists, who regard the island as sovereign territory, to boost the island's economy and the party's chances in presidential elections in 2008. Arrangements were being made for Chinese President Hu Jintao to meet Lien Chan during the Cross-Strait Economic and Trade Forum in the Chinese capital this weekend, a spokesman for China's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office said. Chan is honorary chairman of Taiwan's Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT). About 300 Taiwan and 200 Chinese businessmen and representatives of the KMT and the Communist Party will attend the forum -- the third summit between the two parties since 2005.
Japan’s ‘Atonement’ to Former Sex Slaves Stirs Anger
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/world/asia/25japan.html?ref=world
Facing calls to compensate the aging victims of its wartime sexual slavery, Japan set up the Asian Women’s Fund in 1995. It was a significant concession from Japan, which has always asserted that postwar treaties absolved it of all individual claims from World War II. But the fund only fueled anger in the very countries with which Japan had sought reconciliation. By the time it closed as scheduled last month, only a fraction of the former sex slaves had accepted its money. Two Asian governments even offered money to discourage more women from taking Japan’s.
Thousands Mourn Founder of a New Russia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400330.html
Thousands of Russians, some weeping, many carrying flowers, lined up Tuesday to bid farewell to Boris Yeltsin, whose body lay in state in a replica of a cathedral that was blown up by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and rebuilt in the new Russia birthed by the former president. The open coffin at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and Wednesday's planned burial in the historic Novodevichy Cemetery are part of the first full Orthodox Christian funeral for a Russian leader since Czar Alexander III was buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg in 1894.
Poland Ties U.S. Missile Plan to Security Pledges
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/world/europe/25gates.html
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was told Tuesday that the Polish government supported proposals to base 10 American missile interceptors on its soil, but only so long as Poland’s security was enhanced along with that of Western Europe. The Polish defense minister, Aleksander Szczyglo, chose the words carefully in expressing his government’s desire to move forward with negotiations for an American missile defense base, clearly hinting that the eventual price to the United States could be an even broader range of security guarantees. “We came to a common conclusion that this U.S. project should first and foremost serve to increase the level of security in Europe and, in this case, specifically in Poland,” he said.
Reproductive Choice
Mexico City's Legislature Votes to Legalize Abortion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400803.html
After months of furious debate and threats of excommunication by the Catholic Church, Mexico City's legislative assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to legalize abortion for the first time in the capital's history. Riot police held back thousands of protesters, some hoisting coffins and others waving plastic fetuses, as lawmakers wrangled over a measure that would allow abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and abolish a seven-decade-old law that levied criminal penalties against women who have abortions. The bill, which was approved 46 to 19 and which Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has promised to sign into law, would make Mexico City the largest city in Latin America to legalize abortion and could give momentum to efforts to legalize the procedure nationwide in this predominantly Catholic country. Currently, abortion is allowed in limited cases, including rape and when the mother's life is in danger.
RELATED: Mexico City votes to legalize abortion
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-24-mexico-abortion_N.htm
RELATED: Mexico City Legalizes Abortion Early in Term
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/world/americas/25mexico.html?ref=world
Health Care and Public Safety
Ore. governor starts week on food stamps
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-25-food-stamps_N.htm
If Gov. Ted Kulongoski seems a little sluggish this week, he's got an excuse: he couldn't afford coffee. In fact, the Democratic governor couldn't afford much of anything during a trip to a Salem-area grocery store on Tuesday, where he had exactly $21 to buy a week's worth of food — the same amount that the state's average food stamp recipient spends weekly on groceries. Kulongoski is taking the week-long challenge to raise awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget.
PCBs cause autism-like condition in newborn rats
Traces of a chemical banned 30 years ago cause brain abnormalities in newborn lab animals that are similar to defects in children with autism, according to a new study by University of California scientists. Many scientists say that an array of chemicals in the environment are scrambling brain development and could play a role in children's learning disorders. The new study adds to the evidence by showing that PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, disrupt the auditory cortex, a part of the brain that is impaired in autistic children.
Report: Tracking of 911 mobile calls iffy
A new report by a public safety group throws into question whether police and firefighters can locate people through cell phones when they dial 911. The report was commissioned by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, a group that has long been concerned about the public's unrealistic expectations of the technology. The Associated Press was given an advance copy of the study, to be released in May. APCO declined to identify the cell phone companies in its report. The Federal Communications Commission requires companies that use "network" technology -- triangulating among cell towers to determine the caller's location -- to come within 300 meters of the caller 95 percent of the time. The company identified as "carrier No. 001" in the testing was unable to come within 300 meters of the 911 caller 73 percent of the time in Onondaga County, N.Y.; 64 percent of the time in Marion County, Fla.; and 61 percent of the time in Jasper County, Mo.
FDA to Test Imported Additives for Melamine
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402343.html
Concerned that a wide variety of Chinese vegetable protein products may be contaminated with the harmful compound melamine, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it will begin testing batches of six imported ingredients used in pet foods and livestock feed, as well as additives to human food. Officials have not found the substance in food products for people but detected it in two imported ingredients widely used in pet food: wheat gluten and rice protein. The agency said that imported corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein and rice bran will also be tested. The vegetable proteins are used in bread, pizza, baby food and many vegetarian dishes.
RELATED: Rep.: 'Broken' FDA can't keep food safe
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-24-house-food-safety_N.htm
RELATED: Human foods to be tested for melamine
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/2007-04-24-fda-pet-food-probe_N.htm
Wal-Mart expands in-store clinics
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said Tuesday it has plans to dramatically expand the number of health clinics it operates, opening as many as 400 in U.S. stores in the next three years and possibly 2,000 of them within five to seven years. With its extraordinary reach and power, the proliferation of Wal-Mart clinics providing customers with access to simple medical treatment is almost certain to have an impact. Given enough scale, it could put pressure on other big retailers to follow suit, which in turn could force primary-care physicians to become more competitive on pricing.
Crime and Penal Reform
Kaine May Seek More Data for Gun Sales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402524.html
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that he is considering an executive order to make sure that gun sellers have more information about the mental health of potential buyers, a move that would have kept Seung Hui Cho from purchasing the handguns he used to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech last week. A court had found Cho to be dangerously mentally ill, but that information was not available in the computer systems used by the outlets that sold Cho the guns. Kaine's proposal would ensure that such mental health information be in the database. "I think there's a way to tighten this and to get more data onto the system," Kaine (D) said. If that data had been available at the gun stores, Cho, who killed himself after the rampage April 16, would have been barred by federal law from buying the weapons.
2nd Atlanta police officer to plead in shooting death
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/04/24/0424policeshooting.html
A second Atlanta police narcotics officer has reached a tentative plea deal for his involvement in a drug raid last year that killed an elderly woman, according to people close to the investigation. The deals topple the department's original contention that officers were justified in raiding the home of Kathryn Johnston, and the pleas could bolster the federal investigation into broader abuse of warrants by narcotics officers.
For Indian Victims of Sexual Assault, a Tangled Legal Path
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/us/25rape.html?ref=us
As a Cherokee woman charging rape by a non-Indian, Jami Rozell could not go to the tribal court, which handles only crimes by Indians against Indians in Indian country. So after five months of agonizing, she went to the district attorney in Tahlequah, Okla., and testified at a preliminary hearing. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, get up there in front of my family with all these men I’ve grown up with all my life,” said Ms. Rozell, now 25 and a first grade teacher in another town. But that was not the worst of it. The police, she said she was soon told, had cleaned up the evidence room and thrown out her rape kit, and with it all chances of prosecution. However, Chief Stephen Farmer of the Tahlequah police says the department had received permission to destroy the evidence after Ms. Rozell initially declined to press charges.
9 people injured in prison riot
About 500 inmates staged a two-hour riot at a medium-security men's prison Tuesday, injuring two staff members and seven inmates and setting fires in a courtyard. Authorities were investigating whether the disturbance started because newly arrived prisoners from Arizona were upset about their treatment. An Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman said more than one cell house was involved in the riot at the New Castle Correctional Facility, 43 miles east of Indianapolis.
Economy
Stocks and Bonds: Dow Sets Trading High As Stocks Recover From Early Loss
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042401996.html
Wall Street was mixed Tuesday, recovering from an early loss as investors shrugged off disappointing housing and consumer confidence data to focus on stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average set a trading high. The Dow rose 34.54, or 0.27 percent, to 12,953.94, setting an intraday high of 12,989.86 as it ticked closer to 13,000. The S&P 500-stock index was down 0.52, or 0.03 percent, at 1480.41, and the Nasdaq rose 0.87, or 0.03 percent, to 2524.54.
Frustrations With Wolfowitz Boil Over at Meeting
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25wolfowitz.html?ref=washington
At a meeting between Paul D. Wolfowitz and his top managers at the World Bank last week, Mr. Wolfowitz made an unusual confession. “I understand that I’ve lost a lot of trust, and I want to build that trust back up,” he said, according to people present. But the beleaguered bank president was immediately confronted by one of his top deputies, who asserted that Mr. Wolfowitz was wrong to think that the furor over his leadership sprang only from his handling of the pay and promotion for his companion or from unease over his support of the Iraq war while at the Pentagon. Graeme Wheeler, the bank’s managing director, said at the meeting that the fight over whether Mr. Wolfowitz should stay on at the bank amounted to the “the biggest crisis in its history.” He said it arose from a range of issues, including fears that Mr. Wolfowitz and his aides were trying to impose Bush administration ideas on family planning and climate change at the bank and worries over a possible conflict of interest in the bank’s hiring of a Washington law firm, Williams & Connolly, to investigate leaks. A partner at the firm had earlier negotiated Mr. Wolfowitz’s employment contract with the bank.
Apple's Former CFO Settles Options Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400925.html
A former chief financial officer of Apple reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday over the backdating of stock options and said company founder Steve Jobs had reassured him that the questionable options had been approved by the company board. Fred D. Anderson, who left Apple last year after a board investigation implicated him in improper backdating, agreed yesterday to pay $3.5 million to settle civil charges.
Vonage Wins Stay in Verizon Dispute
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042401034.html
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Vonage Holdings, the leading Internet telephone provider, can continue doing business as usual while it seeks to overturn a lower-court ruling that it violated three patents belonging to Verizon Communications. Roger Warin, an attorney for Vonage, told the court that the company faced a "real risk of insolvency" if barred from selling its service to new customers, as a lower court ordered earlier this month. He asked the three-judge panel to extend an emergency reprieve allowing the company to continue adding new customers.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
OSHA Leaves Worker Safety in Hands of Industry
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25osha.html?ref=washington
Since George W. Bush became president, OSHA has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say. It has imposed only one major safety rule. The only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court. The agency has killed dozens of existing and proposed regulations and delayed adopting others. For example, OSHA has repeatedly identified silica dust, which can cause lung cancer, and construction site noise as health hazards that warrant new safeguards for nearly three million workers, but it has yet to require them. “The people at OSHA have no interest in running a regulatory agency,” said Dr. David Michaels, an occupational health expert at George Washington University who has written extensively about workplace safety. “If they ever knew how to issue regulations, they’ve forgotten. The concern about protecting workers has gone out the window.”
Wall St. Firm Will Settle Sex Bias Suit
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/business/25bias.html?ref=business
For years, sex discrimination lawsuits against Wall Street firms were almost guaranteed to include details of crude antics, pornography and strip clubs. A bias settlement announced yesterday had no such lurid accusations, but sought to tackle a subtler, if arguably systemic, form of discrimination that has long troubled Wall Street. Morgan Stanley agreed to pay at least $46 million to settle a class-action suit filed by eight current and former female brokers who contended that they were discriminated against in how they were trained, promoted and paid.
Housing and Homelessness
Existing-Home Sales Fall Steeply
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400627.html
Growing problems in the mortgage industry combined with bad weather in some parts of the country to fuel the steepest one-month decline in sales of existing homes in nearly two decades, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday. Sales of previously owned homes in March fell 8.4 percent from February, the group reported. It was the largest one-month drop since sales plummeted 12.6 percent in January 1989, when the country was in a housing recession. It was also 11.3 percent below the number of units sold in March 2006. The drop -- from a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.68 million homes sold in February to 6.12 million in March -- followed three consecutive months of increases in sales of existing single-family houses, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops. Those gains had led to speculation that the market was coming back after a sluggish 2006.
RELATED: Existing homes sales see biggest fall since 1989
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-04-24-existing-home-sales-plunge_N.htm
Property taxes up as house prices fall
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-04-24-property-tax_N.htm
Property taxes will keep rising nearly everywhere for homeowners even as house prices are falling in many parts of the country, according to a USA TODAY analysis of government data. A key reason: Despite the downturn, the market value of millions of homes still exceeds their assessed value used for tax purposes.
New Orleans' blacks see rental block
African Americans seeking rental housing in the New Orleans metropolitan area face significant discrimination and fewer accommodations to choose from since Hurricane Katrina, a report released Tuesday found. In 6 out of 10 transactions, African Americans faced less favorable treatment than comparably qualified whites, the report said. "For Rent, Unless You're Black," a study by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, surveyed 40 properties in the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany and St. Bernard.
Media
Rosie O'Donnell leaving `The View'
http://www.miamiherald.com/272/story/86048.html
Rosie O'Donnell's stormy tenure on "The View" will be a short one. The opinionated host was unable to agree on a contract with ABC, and she'll leave the show in June. "My needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me," O'Donnell said in a statement Wednesday. "This has been an amazing experience," she said, "and one I wouldn't have traded for the world." O'Donnell has helped raise the ratings for the daytime chat show invented by Barbara Walters. But her outspokenness has caused almost constant controversy, including a nasty name-calling feud with Donald Trump that placed Walters squarely in the middle.
Education
Bush Presses Schools Plan During Trip to New York
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25bush.html?ref=education
President Bush fought with the Democrats over war financing yesterday morning. But in the afternoon he came to Harlem to seek common cause with the rival party, on its home turf, on his signature education initiative, No Child Left Behind. The trip gave the president a chance to joke with Representative Charles B. Rangel, usually a Democratic nemesis, who rode with him in the presidential limousine to Harlem and to praise Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York schools and a former Clinton administration official.
Sallie Mae Board Members Under SEC Trading Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402086.html
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest provider of student loans, said yesterday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating trading in its stock by at least two members of its board of directors. The disclosure, in a regulatory filing that also reported a 23 percent decline in Sallie Mae's earnings during the first quarter, did not name the directors or explain the basis for the probe. It was previously reported that the SEC and congressional committees were examining the sale of $18.3 million of company stock by Chairman Albert L. Lord in February, days before the Bush administration unveiled a budget proposal that called for cuts in subsidies to student loan providers. Sallie Mae's stock price declined after the cuts were proposed.
Questions on Officials’ Ties to Lenders
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/education/25loans.html
Sara Martinez Tucker, the under secretary of education, was relatively new to her job when she announced in January that the Department of Education would allow Nelnet, a student loan company accused of overbilling the government, to keep $278 million in payments that auditors had declared improper. Ms. Tucker was not a stranger to the loan industry. Under her leadership, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, a philanthropy she turned into a fund-raising powerhouse, harvested numerous donations from banks and loan companies, along with scores of other corporations.
U-Va. Board Regrets Past Link To Slavery
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402180.html
Warren Thompson's great-great-grandfather was born a slave, not far from the University of Virginia. His father, a Korean War veteran, was refused admission to the state's flagship university. Every time they drove through Charlottesville, Thompson said, he would hear about that. So when the Board of Visitors unanimously passed a resolution expressing regret for the use of slaves at the school, Thompson, a board member and an alumnus, thought of his forefathers.
Teen finishes Univ. of Mich. in one year
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-04-25-michigan-graduate_N.htm
A 19-year-old suburban Detroit resident is on track to graduate from The University of Michigan after just a year of study. Nicole Matisse is to officially graduate in the summer with a bachelor's degree in psychology. As a student at Lahser High School, Matisse had exhausted the curriculum by her junior year. Between the exams she passed on eight advanced placement courses and the eight classes she took at Oakland Community College, she had amassed enough credits to enter the university last fall as a junior.
Nader impressed by protests of Cheney at BYU
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/219091/4/
Ralph Nader says his invitation from students at a conservative, LDS Church-owned university to speak on the same day the vice president gives the school's commencement address reflects increasing opposition to the war in Iraq.
Science and Technology
Scientists find earth-like planet
European astronomers announced Tuesday that they had discovered the first planet beyond our solar system that orbits in a "sweet spot" zone where life could exist. The planet, about five times as massive as Earth, orbits Gliese 581, a red dwarf star about 20 light-years from our solar system. The team of Swiss, French and Portuguese scientists who found the planet estimate its surface temperature at freezing to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, a range in which water can exist as a liquid. "Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life," said Xavier Delfosse, an astronomer from Grenoble University in France.
RELATED: New Planet Could Be Earthlike, Scientists Say
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/science/space/25planet.html?ref=science
Military
Bush Orders VA, Military to Cooperate on Care
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402188.html
President Bush last night ordered the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs to come up with a joint process for establishing the level of disability of injured service members, and to implement other recommendations from a presidential task force. Those recommendations, the latest military health-care reform promised by the Bush administration, are intended to "streamline" the care and benefits given to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, who chaired the task force. The group also suggested that all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated in VA health-care facilities be screened for traumatic brain injury, which Nicholson called "one of the signature injuries" of the conflicts.
Panel Vows to Pursue Tillman Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042400181.html
Members of a congressional oversight panel vowed yesterday to investigate whether the White House and top Pentagon officials played a role in deceiving the public about the 2004 "friendly fire" death of a former NFL player, Cpl. Pat Tillman, and argued that five investigations have failed to answer critical questions about the case. During a dramatic hearing on Capitol Hill, Tillman's brother, Kevin, spoke publicly for the first time about the shooting and how members of the Army Ranger unit they both were with kept him in the dark about how Pat died on an eastern Afghanistan hillside. Kevin Tillman spoke about the "deliberate and calculated lies" the military told his family and the public, and how he believes military officials "hijacked" Pat's legacy by transforming his tragic death into "an inspirational message."
RELATED: Army's credibility takes 2 hard hits
Airmen placed in jobs they're not trained for, general says
The Air Force's top general expressed frustration on Tuesday with the reassignment of troops under his command to ground jobs for which they were not trained, including guarding prisoners, driving trucks and typing. Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, said that more than 20,000 airmen had been assigned to roles outside their specialties. In a breakfast session with reporters, Moseley said he was trying to be realistic. "We live in a military that's at war. And we live in a situation where, if we can contribute, then sign me up for it," he said. Still, the Air Force general added, "I'm less supportive of things outside our competency."
Russian Energy Giant to Bundle Carbon Credits With Gas Sales
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/business/worldbusiness/25carbon.html
Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, has made handsome profits selling natural gas to Europe. Now the company is positioning itself to make even more money, this time from the effluents from all that gas it sells to Europe. Gazprom announced Tuesday that it is selling carbon dioxide emissions credits that companies in the European Union need in order to burn Gazprom’s fuel. The company is already testing the market for an innovative combination sale of fuel-and-emissions credits in countries that have undertaken to limit the release of gases that scientists say are warming the earth.
Democrats want swifter EPA action on emissions standards
The chief of the Environmental Protection Agency came under fire Tuesday from congressional Democrats, who said he had failed to respond more aggressively to the Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gas emissions could be federally regulated. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson's appearance before a Senate committee spotlighted the clashes to come between Democratic leaders who want to pass global warming legislation and an administration that resists mandatory limits on carbon emissions out of fear they would damage the economy. The hearing also showed that, despite the Supreme Court ruling, it might take congressional action — rather than an EPA initiative — to establish nationwide regulations on carbon dioxide emissions. Johnson would not say when or whether his agency would regulate emissions.
RELATED: Act now on emissions, senators tell EPA head
Al Gore trains a global army
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-24-gore-trainees_N.htm
The stocky man with the soft Southern accent rivets the hotel ballroom crowd with his plea: "We are in a time of peril, so please allow me to explain a topic that has overwhelming importance in my life." Meet, no, not Al Gore, but Gary Dunham, 71, a grandfather from Texas who was the first of 1,000 Americans Gore trained to deliver his Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth slide show to schools, Rotary clubs and nursing homes around the nation. Two weeks ago, the last 150 of this hand-picked crew arrived here — paying their own way for everything but food — to go through a two-day seminar starring Gore but effectively led by Dunham and a few other graduates of the former vice president's global-warming boot camp.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Ignatius: The Oval Office Bunker
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042401500.html
The disconnect that is destroying what's left of the Bush presidency was clear in an image from the Oval Office this week. President Bush was sitting warily in his chair, pursing his lips as if he had just eaten a bad radish, as a reporter asked about the performance of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in recent congressional testimony concerning the firing of U.S. attorneys. Prominent Republicans had criticized Gonzales's testimony as evasive and inadequate. But Bush responded blandly that his attorney general had given "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."
RELATED: Froomkin: Bush's Inexplicable Confidence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/24/BL2007042400929.html
RELATED: Brownstein: Dead-ender presidency
Losing Muslim hearts and minds
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-iraq25apr25,0,2458138.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Why the White House should worry about a new poll suggesting that even allied Muslim countries believe the U.S. wants to weaken and divide the Islamic world.
Wrong Time, Wrong Place
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402024.html
The White House has more explaining to do about political briefings at federal agencies.
RELATED: PowerPoint Politicking on the Job
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/opinion/25weds2.html
Marcus: Court Knows Best
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042401501.html
How nice of Justice Kennedy to look out for me. Goodness knows, if I didn't have the justice and his buddies hovering, I might make a terrible mistake. I mean, I'm so impulsive and muddle-headed, I sometimes don't know what's in my own best interest. Luckily, the Supreme Court does. I'm referring, of course, to the court's insulting throwback of a ruling upholding the federal ban on the procedure known as "partial birth abortion."
Judging Campaign Ads
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402047.html
Most important, it's critical that the newly constituted court -- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was part of the five-justice majority that upheld the provision -- not reverse or undermine its common-sense holding of just three terms ago. Then, the court found that Congress, in its effort to combat "the corrosive and distorting effects" of unregulated corporate money in elections, wasn't powerless to act in the face of campaign ads that simply avoided certain "magic words." Now, the advocates who opposed the provision in the first place are urging the court to revisit that holding. For the court to accept that invitation, either by explicitly overruling itself or through language that would have the same effect, would be an enormous mistake, as damaging to the integrity of the court as it would be to the electoral process.
RELATED: A Test for the Roberts Court
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/opinion/25weds1.html
Passengers get the 4th Amendment, too
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-passenger25apr25,0,3997873.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
As viewers of "Law & Order" know, evidence seized illegally may not be introduced in court because it's the "fruit of the poisonous tree." Like it or not, the exclusionary rule has been adopted by the courts as the best way to deter police misconduct. But last year, the California Supreme Court ruled that drug evidence found on Bruce Brendlin, a front-seat passenger in a car stopped by a Sutter County deputy sheriff, could be used against him even though the stop that made the search possible was unlawful. (The pretext for the stop was that the car's registration had expired, but a temporary permit was visible in the rear window.) The state court ruled 4 to 3 that Brendlin's rights weren't violated because, as a passenger, he wasn't the subject of the deputy's "show of authority" in flashing his lights and pulling the car over. Therefore, unlike the driver, he wasn't "seized" and, in theory, could leave the scene. At oral arguments Monday, both conservative and liberal justices were appropriately skeptical of the real-world relevance of this distinction.
Keillor: Occupational hazards of being chosen
The Republican candidates are slugging it out, talking tough about cracking down on gay Mexican couples who are stealing our guns and leaving us defenseless against big government, decrying the evils of taxation, meanwhile an ancient Republican dropped by my house to sun himself on my porch and announce over coffee that he is now an independent. He is disgusted with the Current Occupant over Iraq and much more, including taxation. Unlike the Occupant, he does not think of taxes as a sacrifice but simply the dues you pay as a member of society, and the haves pay more than the have-nots because they have more to lose should anarchy ensue. And he was brought up to believe that more is expected of those to whom much is given.
Jackson: Democrats still silent on gun control
The Democrats, not officially beholden to the National Rifle Association, have been cowards more concerned about reelection in centrist districts than the trauma to American children. The same Reid who bemoans the loss of life over a failed Iraq war said about Virginia Tech, "I hope there's not a rush to do anything. We need to take a deep breath." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ignored a question by a reporter on whether Virginia Tech would inspire Democrats to revisit gun control. All she said was, "the mood in Congress is one of mourning, sadness, and the inadequacy of our words or our actions to console the families and the children who were affected there." "Inadequacy of our words or our actions" was a Freudian slip.
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