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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/042607.htm
TOP STORIES
National
House Passes Iraq Pullout Timetable
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500273.html
The House last night brushed aside weeks of angry White House rhetoric and veto threats to narrowly approve a $124 billion war spending bill that requires troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, with a goal of ending U.S. combat operations there by next March. The Senate is expected to follow the House's 218 to 208 vote with final passage today, completing work on the rarest of bills: legislation to try to end a major war as fighting still rages. Democrats hope to send the measure to the White House on Monday, almost exactly four years after President Bush declared an end to major combat in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That would be a particularly pungent political anniversary for Bush to deliver only the second veto of his presidency.
RELATED: Dems toss down gauntlet, press Bush on war, ethics
RELATED: War Bill Passes House, Requiring an Iraq Pullout
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/washington/26cong.html
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/MILITARY
Hill Subpoenas Approved for Rice, Other Bush Officials
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042501863.html
Lawmakers approved new subpoenas yesterday for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other Bush administration officials, part of an expanding legal battle between the Democratic-controlled Congress and the administration over issues such as the firings of eight U.S. attorneys and flawed justifications for the war in Iraq. The subpoena issued to Rice seeks to force her testimony about the claim that Iraq sought to import uranium from Niger for its nuclear weapons program. President Bush offered that as a key rationale for the war in his 2003 State of the Union address. The subpoena was approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee along party lines, 21 to 10. The same panel also issued two subpoenas to the Republican National Committee for testimony and documents related to political presentations at the General Services Administration and the use of RNC e-mail accounts by White House aides, including presidential adviser Karl Rove.
RELATED: Democrats step up oversight investigations, approve subpoenas
RELATED: Flexing Muscles, Democrats Issue 3 Subpoenas
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/washington/26subpoena.html?ref=washington
More DOJ scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT
More GSA scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT
A Unified Voice Argues the Case for U.S. Manufacturing
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/business/26alliance.html?ref=business
United States Steel, Alcoa, Goodyear and other manufacturing companies have formed an unusual alliance with the United Steelworkers, aiming to preserve and promote manufacturing in the United States. One of the first issues that the group, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, plans to address is how American factory owners and workers have been hurt by what the group says is the Chinese government’s improper currency manipulation and industry subsidies. The United States has lost one-sixth of its factory jobs over the last six years because of many factors, including automation, imports and relocation overseas in search of lower-cost labor and proximity to developing markets.
Federal Oversight of Student Loan Industry Is Lax, Cuomo Testifies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502777.html
New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, whose investigation of ties between student loan companies and universities has triggered calls for reform, charged yesterday that the Bush administration had been lax in oversight of the $85 billion-a-year industry. "The Department of Education has been asleep at the switch," Cuomo (D) said at a House education committee hearing prompted by controversy over the industry's ethics. He called for federal action to revamp the student loan system. His comments echoed criticism from congressional Democrats, who contend that inadequate federal scrutiny led to the kickbacks and conflicts of interest among lenders, universities and government officials that have emerged in Cuomo's nationwide investigation.
RELATED: U.S. Is Lax on Loans, Cuomo Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/us/26loans.html
Colorado
Lawmakers' tough choice: judges or roads
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5505218,00.html
A Democratic bill to add 43 judges to Colorado's backlogged court system might limp to passage this week, but only after what is sure to be one of the toughest budget battles of the legislative session. Some Senate Republicans oppose the measure, saying it will strip money from roads. And some Democrats fear the battle over House Bill 1054 could interfere with another proposal that shifts $30 million in transportation dollars to college construction projects. "It's competing with other programs that need funding," said Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, chairman of the Joint Budget Committee. "I'm in favor it. It's something we need to do. I hope we get it out this year."
RELATED: Dollars go from roads to buildings
http://www.gazette.com/articles/million_21636___article.html/colorado_one.html
Ethics issue sets off fireworks in House
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5505270,00.html
An ethics brouhaha exploded at the legislature Wednesday, with the House majority leader accusing her Republican counterpart of being a "hypocrite" and violating legislative rules. Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, ripped Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, after he wrote a two-page letter saying he would boycott a vote to determine whether an ethics panel should review a complaint against a lobbyist. Democrats said the letter, distributed to all lawmakers, was misleading and disingenuous. "It kills me that he used state funds to publish a political rant," Madden said. May said he was only trying to raise the question of whether the legislature has the right to "destroy lobbyists' livelihoods" by ordering that they be investigated. He said the process for handling complaints needs to be changed. Their fight comes as lawmakers have only 10 working days left before they must adjourn. May's letter was critical of the majority and left the impression that Democrats were behind the decision to form an ethics committee to review an earlier complaint against a lobbyist. But May agreed to the review - a decision he now regrets.
RELATED: No ethics probe over lobbying
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751194
RELATED: Legislature drops Lamberts ethics complaint
http://www.gazette.com/articles/committee_21638___article.html/complaint_lambert.html
Congested I-70 costs state millions, study finds
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5505111,00.html
Congestion along the Interstate 70 corridor costs Colorado nearly $1 billion a year, with the greatest impact on business productivity, according to a study commissioned by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. "Everyone has experienced personally the frustrations of driving along that corridor," said Joe Blake, CEO and president of the chamber. Blake said he hopes "people recognize that the clock is ticking, that there is intense pressure on the corridor. . . . All of Colorado has an interest in the outcome." The study, released Wednesday and conducted by Littleton-based Development Research Partners, specifically estimated Colorado loses $839 million annually in 2005 dollars because of I-70 congestion.
RELATED: Study: Gridlock toll in mountains $839 million
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751037
RELATED: Congestion on I-70 causes efficiency loss of $839M across state, Denver study says
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/26/4_26_I_70_and_economy.html
RELATED: The cost of doing nothing: I-70 study details congestion's impact
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070425/NEWS/70425010
Salazar opposes Army on Pinon Canyon
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/1
U.S. Rep. John Salazar just said no. The U.S. Army lost a battle Wednesday in its long campaign to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site when Salazar, D-Colo., sent a letter to the Defense Department stating his opposition to any expansion of the 238,000-acre training site southwest of La Junta. The Pinon Canyon training area is within Salazar's 3rd Congressional District and Salazar spelled out his opposition in a four-page letter to Keith Eastin, assistant Army secretary for installations. Salazar said that adding 418,000 more acres to the Pinon Canyon site would "decimate" the area's ranching economy and take needed tax revenue from the rural counties that would be affected. He said the Army has failed to justify why it cannot conduct training at other Defense Department sites.
Election
Valley helps fuel home rule campaign
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070426/NEWS/104260056
Campaign finance reports show Roaring Fork Valley residents in Eagle County are throwing their financial support behind a ballot initiative to switch the style of government. Citizens for Home Rule, an issue committee promoting the change, collected $2,335 from 21 residents of the mid-Roaring Fork Valley during the first reporting period, which ended April 5. The committee's report was filed with the Colorado Secretary of State. Only five residents of the Eagle Valley contributed to that committee during that period, but they were bigger spenders. Their contributions totaled $3,650, the report showed. "I think it's very 'grassrootsy' over on this side," said Jacque Whitsitt, a former Basalt town councilwoman who is helping with the campaign.
Politics extend beyond city boundary
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070426/NEWS/104260054
Aspen's mayoral candidates can't court votes outside the city limits, but money is another matter.
High hopes in Black Forest
http://www.gazette.com/articles/black_21627___article.html/forest_incorporation.html
Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected incorporation with a 71 percent majority. The final tally was 959 for incorporation and 2,350 against. The decision came after months of hard-fought campaigning. But leaders say the divisiveness won’t linger among neighbors. Tuesday night’s vote-counting session included workers passionate about both sides of the issue.
Effective and Ethical Government
Colorado delegation votes along party lines on war bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5752099
Colorado's congressional delegation split along party lines Wednesday on a war-funding measure that suggests a timeline for troop withdrawals. Republican Reps. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs, Marilyn Musgrave of Fort Morgan and Tom Tancredo of Littleton voted against the bill. They opposed the timeline and what they called the "pork," extra funding for special interests added to attract votes. Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Denver, Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs, John Salazar of Manassa and Ed Perlmutter of Golden supported the measure, saying the president's war policy is failing and accountability is needed. In the Senate, Sen. Ken Salazar wants to stick to a goal of withdrawing troops from Iraq, even if President Bush vetoes the funding bill.
RELATED: Salazar supports supplemental
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/25/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
RELATED: Disaster funding part of military measure
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070426/NEWS/104260121
RELATED: Allard, Salazar split on Iraq vote
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/4
Ethics law blocking benefits for ranchers
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/3
Ranchers and farmers in need of assistance following back-to-back blizzards that hit the region in late December may not be eligible for some benefits because of Amendment 41. Amendment 41, the voter-approved ethics law that puts strict limits on gifts to public officials and their families, is affecting agricultural producers who either work for or have immediate family employed by the state of Colorado. As a result, ranchers seeking money from organizations such as the Colorado Cattleman's Association and the Colorado Farm Bureau's Operation Blizzard Benefit may not be eligible for funding. The assistance is available through the funds raised as a result of the recent Operation Blizzard Benefit concert last month by country singer Michael Martin Murphey and other performers in Pueblo. Officials in Otero County said Wednesday that Amendment 41 could affect 60 percent of the people applying for the aid. In early January, Gov. Bill Ritter asked the federal government to declare 10 counties - Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Huerfano, Kiowa, Las Animas, Lincoln, Otero and Prowers - agricultural disaster areas. Federal and state disaster assistance is available for the counties and that aid is not affected by Amendment 41. So far, Operation Blizzard Benefit has raised more than $680,000 through in-kind donations of services and feed as well as pledged cash donations.
Citizen Legislator: Sara Gagliardi
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5505273,00.html
Rep. Sara Gagliardi has been a nurse with Kaiser Permanente for nearly 25 years, a job she says helps her understand the many health care issues heard in the legislature. The first-term Arvada Democrat also focuses on job creation and education.
SPEAKING UP (Roll Call, April 26)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5505268,00.html
A toddler let out a long, loud shriek up high in the House gallery Wednesday morning that stunned and amused lawmakers on the floor below. It was 2-year-old Kennedy Kerr, daughter of Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, whose family was watching dad chair the House session. Kennedy's 3-year-old brother, Braden, had swiped her box of crayons. She asserted her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures.
Budget concerns result in layoffs of 2 Jeffco directors
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751038
A reorganization of Jefferson County's administrative staff - prompted by dire budget projections - has resulted in the elimination of two top-level positions. Judy Goebel, the human resources director, and Jere Bower, the support services director who supervised the information technology division, were notified within the past week that their county employment had ended. "It is always difficult and painful to make decisions like these," County Administrator Jim Moore said. "But in the long run, I believe this reorganization will allow us to continue to operate in a streamlined manner while providing quality customer service."
Fire chief may have hit links more than 1st cited
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505644,00.html
Aurora Fire Chief Casey Jones may have been golfing even more during scheduled work days than a CBS4 investigation first revealed last week. City of Aurora records show the chief made tee times for 15 work days between March and November of 2006. Jones, who oversees about 300 firefighters, did not use vacation, leave or personal time for any of those weekday tee times, according to personnel records. But now it appears the chief may have actually been on the course even more last spring, summer and fall without using leave time. The new information comes from a golf Web site - the Golf Handicap and Information Network - that is used by members of the Colorado Golf Association. It allows golfers to compare their scores and golf handicaps with other golfers.
Sparks fly over Evergreen fire chief
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505271,00.html
The mountain wildfire season hasn't started, but tempers are smoldering in Colorado's largest volunteer fire department. Evergreen Fire/Rescue has 85 highly trained, but unpaid, men and women who spend up to 90 hours a month fighting fires and performing rescues across a 120-square-mile territory. That system, which has protected homes and businesses in the Evergreen area for 58 years, is changing and some volunteers are balking. They have voted no confidence in the chief and threatened to recall the board that hired him.
Firefighter sues for his job
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/26/firefighter_sues_his_job/
A former Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue firefighter has filed a wrongful termination suit against the city, claiming his September 2006 firing came after he raised safety issues with his supervisors. Craig resident David Roberts, who is being represented by Berthoud attorney Elizabeth Lamb Kearney, alleges he was fired after he began raising concerns with some of the department’s safety equipment in the fall of 2005.
City one step closer to municipal campus
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/7
The Pueblo City Council's decision to purchase the Santangelo Woodworks building puts the city another step closer to designing a campus of municipal buildings off Main Street. Jim Munch, assistant city manager for community development, said a number of the city's department directors will meet next Tuesday to go over the final details of three alternatives for the campus before submitting them to council next month. Munch said there are no specific drawings of buildings. Instead, staff is working with a few general ideas of how to fit various offices around the new police and municipal court building.
Windsor gives job to interim manager
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/NEWS01/704260360/1002
Windsor's interim town manager, Kelly Arnold, has been named the official town manager. Arnold has been serving as interim town manager since Jan. 2. His official start date is May 1, and his annual salary will be $125,000.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Protections for workers perceived to be gay (Under the dome, 4/26)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751192
A bill to protect employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation passed the House Judiciary Committee. The bill also protects workers from being fired for their religious beliefs, which some church groups objected to as an infringement of their rights. Jim Pfaff, president of Colorado Family Action, testified that the bill was unnecessary and noted that anyone could claim to be homosexual because gays and lesbians don't have any "immutable characteristics." The committee added an amendment to clarify that the bill applies to those who are discriminated against by someone who "perceives" them to be gay. The Senate has already passed the bill, which has been introduced for more than a decade. Similar measures passed in 2005 and 2006, only to be vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens. Gov. Bill Ritter has said he would probably sign the bill.
Group against affirmative action slams foes
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/group-against-affirmative-action-slams-foes/
The group pushing a ballot proposal to end affirmative action in Colorado slammed one of its biggest opponents Wednesday, accusing members of trying to disrupt the democratic process. The Sacramento-based American Civil Rights Institute announced this week it is including Colorado in its broader campaign, trying to pass a 2008 ballot measure that would make it illegal to use race or gender preferences in college admissions and government hiring. The group would need about 75,000 valid signatures in Colorado. But a pro-affirmative-action group called By Any Means Necessary told the Chronicle of Higher Education it has partnered with civil-rights and gay and lesbian groups. Together, activists plan to challenge the validity of the signatures that will be collected during the petition drive and accuse those gathering them of voting fraud.
Boulderite among 4 Americans held by China after protest
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505645,00.html
China detained four Americans, including a Boulder woman, on Wednesday after they staged a protest at a Mount Everest base camp, calling for independence for Tibet and protesting the Beijing Olympics, an activist group said. Students for a Free Tibet said three Americans were taken away after holding up a banner at a camp on the Tibetan side of the mountain that said "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008." The fourth person detained by Chinese authorities was filming the protest, which lasted about 30 minutes, said the group's executive director, Lhadon Tethong.
RELATED: Boulder woman detained: Two activists with area ties held by Chinese after protest
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/boulder-woman-detained-two-activists-with-area/
Immigration
Panel advances bill closing loophole that aids illegals
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5505272,00.html
A teenage rape victim in Adams County believed she would be safe after her attacker, an illegal immigrant, agreed to "voluntary" deportation from the United States. "A few weeks later, this girl is walking down the street and comes face to face with her rapist," Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument, told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. "You want to talk about trauma? You want to talk about just the awful feelings this produced in this young woman?" Stephens urged the committee to close a loophole that gives career criminals facing stiff prison time a "get-out-of-jail-free card" that U.S. citizens can't obtain.
Reproductive Choice
Keyes: Keep up fight
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5505655,00.html
Likening abortion to terrorism, conservative commentator Alan Keyes on Wednesday called on abortion opponents to remain committed to ending abortion completely without compromise. In legalizing abortion, Keyes said, the United States abandoned the principle that every person is created equal, a right that comes from the "hand of almighty God," and allowed innocent babies to be killed just as terrorists kill innocent people. He likened judges who have allowed abortion to serial killers who take a false premise and logically work their way to a conclusion justifying their killing. Keyes delivered a fiery speech to about 200 people gathered at the state Capitol to mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of a Colorado law that expanded abortion rights.
Councilman wants more teen pregnancy prevention
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/13
One recent day, City Councilman Ray Aguilera noted that 17 of 24 births reported in The Pueblo Chieftain were to single mothers. Most of the mothers, he guesses, were teenagers. Aguilera asked for time on the board of health's agenda on Wednesday, partly to commend the adolescent pregnancy prevention coordinator, Kirsten Townley, and partly to ask the board to put much more effort into fighting teen pregnancy.
Marriage and Family Issues
Foster Care Month (On the side, 4/26)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751196
Senate Joint Resolution 37 proclaims the month of May as Foster Care Month in Colorado to recognize the work and commitment of individuals and organizations that help provide safe, quality foster care and services for children and youths in Colorado. It coincides with National Foster Care Month. Every year in the state, nearly 14,000 children and youths spend time in out-of-home placements, including foster or kinship family care, group homes and residential child care. The children receive care until they can safely be reunified with their families or until permanent homes are found. The resolution encourages Coloradans to support the work of foster care parents and volunteers throughout the state.
Health Care and Public Safety
Salazar opposes cuts in health
Rep. John Salazar is pushing a bill to prevent $256 million in statewide Medicaid funding cuts over the next two years that could adversely impact Southwest Memorial Hospital. “Hospitals cannot afford any more budget cuts, and rural Coloradans cannot afford any more cuts to their health care,” Salazar, D-Manassa, said in a prepared statement. “Many of my constituents who would depend on these services already have a hard enough time finding a health care provider.” Colorado’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is proposing a rule that would slash $128 annually in federal funds to the state. Salazar is co-sponsoring the bill, H.R. 1741, which would suspend implementation of the rule for two years. The delay would allow a review of the budget cut’s possible effects, especially on Medicaid.
Smoking ban in cigar bars hangs in balance as two Senate Democrats stay on the fence
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5505219,00.html
A bill to outlaw smoking in casinos starting Jan. 1 appears headed for passage. The outlook for cigar bars is less certain. A bill to ban smoking in cigar bars is still smoldering in the Senate as two Democrats waver on whether to support it. Sens. Ron Tupa, of Boulder, and Paula Sandoval, of Denver, argue there is a vast difference between cigar bars and casinos, both of which now are exempt under the statewide smoking ban. They say cigar bars do not pose a public health risk because those who patronize places such as Churchill Bar at the Brown Palace in Denver do so for one reason - to smoke fine cigars. "When you go to gamble, you may not be a smoker," Tupa said. "When you're going into a cigar bar, it is assumed you're going there to smoke or you're OK with inhaling smoke into your lungs."
Red tape still tangling food benefits
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751928
Yvette Garcia trembled - more from worry than her grumbling stomach - as the clock ticked down the final minutes of her telemarketing shift Saturday. She desperately needed the $10 bonus that came with logging a sale. It would mean she and her 22-year-old unemployed son wouldn't go hungry for a fifth night. The 49-year-old Lakewood resident is one of 1,325 food- stamp recipients statewide whose benefits have been in limbo as county workers struggle to manage a re-approval backlog. In some cases, such as Garcia's, recipients have been without food stamps for weeks. Federal guidelines say reapproval applications should be processed within 30 days. County officials blame the delays on short staffing and increased caseloads or Colorado's difficult and complex computer benefits system - a $223 million investment that seems to get blamed for every shortcoming in the state's welfare system.
Big immunization boost
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505643,00.html
Colorado's climb from last place to 16th in the nation in childhood immunization rates was good for a shot in the arm Wednesday in the form of the "Most Improved State" award presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While health officials credited better outreach, much of the improvement can be traced to lawmakers' finally freeing up money to buy a vaccine that many 2-year-olds couldn't get. Colorado ranked 50th for both 2002 and 2003, back when the nation faced a shortage of a diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis vaccine. While most states found extra money to buy the expensive, scarce vaccine, Colorado, which was facing a budget crisis, did not. Thus, many of the state's toddlers, especially those who relied on government-funded health care, were missing that one vaccine, and weren't counted as being fully immunized. Things started getting better before the end of 2003.
County seeks link to state radio system
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/NEWS01/704260368/1002
Larimer County's proposal to build a radio tower on Middle Bald Mountain is linked to efforts to upgrade its communication system for emergency services. County officials are moving toward implementing an 800-MHz radio system and tapping into a statewide system that allows agencies to speak directly with one another.
RELATED: Storm clouds brew over radio tower
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/NEWS01/704260365/1002
More than 100 rescued from storm
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505206,00.html
More than 100 people trapped in their vehicles by a powerful spring snowstorm Tuesday in eastern El Paso County were rescued during a 23-hour period by the Colorado National Guard and search and rescue teams. The last stranded motorist was reached about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Lt. Cliff Northam, El Paso County sheriff's spokesman, said.
RELATED: Up to 750 without power after storm
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5752035
RELATED: Overflowing South Platte worries some, helps others
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070426/NEWS/104260112
Springs hospital has luxe touches
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751138
The city's newest hospital caters to the sick but has the amenities of a high-end hotel: fireplaces in lobbies, wireless Internet, flat-screen televisions and room service. Memorial Hospital North, a 98-bed, $146 million facility, is the first of three new hospitals in the Pikes Peak region. St. Francis Medical Center, a 158-bed hospital, and Pikes Peak Regional Hospital, a 15-bed facility in Teller County, are scheduled to open in August. "We've got a lot of the latest technology, but what we're really dwelling on here is more of the human touch. We want to make sure that the patient is at the center of every decision we make and focus on the art of caring," said Lynda York, director of patient-care services.
Crime and Penal Reform
Victim-confidentiality bill moves on
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/NEWS01/704260361/1002
A bill that would allow victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking to shield their addresses from their attackers is one step closer to the state Senate floor. The bill, which would create an "address confidentiality program" to allow victims to be assigned a substitute mailing address that would be used on public records, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee late Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors fight elimination of some mandatory minimum sentences
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/14
Prosecutors from around the state beat up on Sen. Abel Tapia and the Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday for their idea to eliminate certain mandatory minimum sentences as a way of cutting costs. The prosecutors, primarily from the Denver area, said the plan under SB260 may save the state a lot of money on incarceration, but it will lower public safety by releasing habitual criminals onto the streets. The prosecutors were particularly focused on proposed changes to mandatory consecutive sentences for parole and community corrections violations, saying having the threat of more jail time is a deterrent to not violating their parole conditions and not "walking away" from where a judge has ordered them to stay.
RELATED: Bill aims to reduce prison sentences
Prison staffing tops concerns
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=6789
Federal prison union representatives from around the country converged Tuesday at the Stanley Hotel, a place where one of the most frightening motion pictures produced, “The Shining,” was filmed. But, while the event was merely meant as a training event for attending union reps, many following meetings expressed concerns of potential horror stories for correctional officers at Federal Bureau of Prisons institutions that would make Stephen King shudder. Under-staffing concerns, medical shortages, rising assault numbers and perceived lack of concern on the part of the Bureau continue to anger union reps who say issues are not being addressed, leaving the safety of officers and inmates in danger at federal institutions where some of the most hardened criminals are being housed.
Dream job lasted just 8 months
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505337,00.html
The call came to Grafton Biddle in May from Gov. Bill Owens' office, and he immediately phoned his wife to tell her the good news. "It was a job he had wanted for his entire career," Gail Liles, 51, said. "He was extremely excited. He was thrilled to have it. He had given up his job (as a magistrate) in Centennial to have it." This moment had been ingrained in Biddle's imagination for so long, he knew exactly what he wanted served at the reception after his swearing-in. It would be something near and dear to his Philadelphia roots: cheese steaks and hoagies. But eight months down the road from his appointment to district court judge, Biddle's life became a nightmare. Allegations surfaced in December of a sexual liaison between the 57-year-old Biddle and a younger prosecutor named Laurie Steinman who tried cases in his court. The allegations became more concrete Friday when the Attorney Regulation Council filed a complaint with details that included sex in his courtroom chambers and in the women's showers at the courthouse with 29-year-old Steinman.
RELATED: Jailed man's action isn't based on affair
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505338,00.html
Sheriff's office warns of home burglaries in Jeffco
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5504965,00.html
A number of home burglaries in Jefferson County that occurred since April 1 while residents were asleep or in their backyards prompted a warning from the sheriff's office Wednesday. In six of the 15 burglaries, entry was through an open garage door; four by cutting window screens; two by forcing open back doors; and one each was through a rear sliding glass door, a broken basement window and a forced- open front door.
RELATED: Jeffco issues burglary alert
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751337
Funding tight at [Montrose] jail
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/25/local_news/1.txt
Two county commissioners went to jail Tuesday — all part of a tour that underscored budgetary needs. Sheriff Rick Dunlap, Undersheriff Kevin Walters and Sgt. Dave Waker showed Commissioners Bill Patterson and Allan Belt around the facility, which is capable of housing up to 192 inmates at a time. The commissioners and other county staff got an inside look at jail operations, along with members of the media and the public.
Records show court workers’ legal trouble
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070425/NEWS/70425007
Daniel Ramirez, who’s on probation for driving under the influence, says his probation officer shouldn’t be going through the criminal legal system at the same time he is. “They are human beings and they can make a mistake,” said Ramirez, 25, of Avon. “But they have to take responsibility for what they’ve done just as they make me take responsibility.” According to anonymous letter received in February by La Tribuna, authorities from the 5th Judicial District probation department — which covers Eagle, Summit, Lake and Clear Creek counties — allowed two probation officers to keep working while one had an outstanding arrest warrant in another county and the other faced court sanctions for possession of marijuana.
Rape trial turns into spectacle
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/rape-trial-turns-into-spectacle/
Throughout the day, more than a dozen lawyers and courthouse employees stopped by the trial to observe. Many expressed shock at Lamar's conduct in the courtroom. Lamar fired four attorneys assigned to him on the case and asked to represent himself. A trial on the same charges in November 2005 resulted in a hung jury. Wednesday, a male juror briefly nodded off while Lamar stumbled through his lengthy cross-examination of the alleged victim.
Economy
State stocks soaring to new heights, too
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5505107,00.html
The Dow isn't the only thing hitting record highs - Colorado companies are reaching new peaks. The Bloomberg Rocky Mountain News Index closed Wednesday at 425.88, an all-time high. It's traded above 400 all spring. Year-to-date, the Colorado index is up 11.3 percent, topping the Dow's 5 percent and Standard & Poor's 500 mark of 5.4 percent. The performance continues its long-term trend of beating most of the national indexes. Colorado is heavy with energy companies, which did well even in the market downturn of 2001 and 2002. The state also is loaded with small-capitalization stocks, which have higher risk but also tend to reward investors with higher returns. Small-cap and midcap stocks have outperformed large-cap shares for several years.
Nacchio verdict renews focus on ethics
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5747494
Joe Nacchio probably wouldn't have been prosecuted by the federal government had he stopped trading shares of Qwest when it became clear to company executives that its 2001 earnings projections were unrealistic. A University of Denver professor suggests CEOs will always have an inside edge, no matter how much information their companies publicly disclose. "I'm just wondering if executives should sell any stock at the time that they are at the head of a company," says Kevin O'Brien, a DU associate professor specializing in corporate governance issuesat the Daniels College of Business. "They should wait until after they leave."
United loses money on Denver hub
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5504886,00.html
United Airlines said fierce competition in Denver has eroded some of its profits here, contributing to a first-quarter net loss that exceeded analyst expectations. The arrival of discount giant Southwest Airlines last year, coupled with aggressive expansion by homegrown Frontier Airlines and United's emergence from bankruptcy, has helped keep fares low in Denver despite a nationwide increase in ticket prices. United's Denver hub has "changed significantly from one of our more successful profit contributors" a year ago, Glenn Tilton, the carrier's chief executive officer, said Wednesday on a conference call.
Briefs: $12.4 billion into Colo. annually from beer
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5751439
The beer industry pours $12.4 billion into Colorado's economy annually, according to a study of 2006 data commissioned by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Beer Institute. The beer industry directly employs 23,992 people in Colorado, paying them $1.1 billion in wages. Large and small brewers and beer importers employ 6,087 people in Colorado, and Colorado's 38 beer distributors employ approximately 799 people.
Triple Crown financial impacts could be significant
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26305
If a sports complex is built in Hayden, it could mean significantly more money and jobs for Routt County. Conversely, Moffat County would feel minimal increases in money and jobs. However, if no sports complex is built, and Triple Crown takes away its baseball tournaments because of inadequate capacity or a lack of quality fields, Craig and Moffat County could stand to lose more than $135,000 in tax revenue and 40.5 jobs on a yearly basis, while the Northwest Colorado would lose substantially more -- $1.2 million in tax revenue and 266 jobs total.
VF fundraising heads into final stretch
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/news01.txt
After a vigorous eight weeks of soliciting and gathering funds in an urgent attempt to raise $24.5 million for the Valley Floor, the private fundraising campaign is heading into the home stretch.
BIOTA struggles for air
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/25/local_news/2.txt
UPS Capital Business Credit recently filed a lawsuit against BIOTA founder David Zutler after he failed to make payments since about July 2005 on what amounts to $8.2 million in debt, an attorney for UPS said. BIOTA, a water bottler in Ouray, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 17 to reorganize its finances and avoid a foreclosure sale scheduled for the next day. Denver-based attorney Risa Wolf-Smith, who represents UPS, said she intends to ask the court to allow foreclosure on the plant despite the filing.
Iowa man arrested in Janus threats
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5751924
An Iowa man suspected of mailing a pipe bomb to Denver-based Janus Capital Group threatened violence to boost the value of stocks and options he held, according to an affidavit federal authorities filed Wednesday.
Debit-card 'holds' spur complaints
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5505109,00.html
It was business as usual for Sue Merriam last week, when she used her debit card to buy $35 worth of gas at her neighborhood Safeway store in Longmont. Not so that evening, when she logged on to pay bills and found a $75 charge for it on her checking account. She panicked, she said, thinking someone else was using her account. Instead, calls to the store and then the company's customer service line confirmed that the charge was actually a "preauthorization" hold on funds, a standard way for the store to ensure payment. The charge disappears after several days. Preauthorization charges aren't new, but the details surrounding them can be confusing - even for the retailers and bankers who control them. First of all, retailers set the amount, but the card-issuing banks determine how long a hold stays on. Second, the rules seem to vary between retailers, bankers, types of cards and even types of transactions.
THIEVES BEWARE! (EXTRA!, April 26)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505640,00.html
A 21-page repair kit with a 10-step checklist for victims of identity theft is free for the taking for Colorado consumers. It includes credit bureau phone numbers, online contacts and other relevant instructions. Lakewood-based FirstBank Holding Co., which partnered with the Colorado Attorney General's Office on the project, is distributing more than 20,000 of the repair kits through its 118 Colorado branch locations. For more information: www.ago.state.co.us/ idtheft/IDTheft.cfm.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Mendrick appealing AFL-CIO takeover
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5504904,00.html
Ousted Colorado AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Paul Mendrick has launched a formal appeal of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney's decision to put the state labor federation into trusteeship. In a letter mailed to Sweeney's office this week, Mendrick said he plans to file a brief arguing the state AFL-CIO did not meet any of the criteria giving Sweeney the right to seize control of the office. Mendrick said several local unions and Colorado AFL-CIO board members also want to appeal the national office's recent takeover of the state office. "This is not what we want in the Colorado labor movement," said Mendrick, who led the local unit of the American Postal Workers Union before being elected to his paid position as an officer of the state AFL-CIO.
Housing and Homelessness
Foreclosures soar in first quarter
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5751137
Late payments on subprime mortgages drove up U.S. foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2007 by more than a third over the same period last year, according to research company RealtyTrac Inc. Colorado and Nevada led the surge. Colorado's rate was one filing for every 111 households, a 24 percent increase from the same period in 2006. Nevada's rate doubled over a year earlier, with one foreclosure filing for every 75 households, more than three times the national average. Nationally, almost 437,500 foreclosure filings were reported, a jump of 35 percent from the first three months of 2006, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said.
RELATED: State holds second highest foreclosure rate
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/26/4_26_Foreclosure_Brief.html
New group tackles housing crisis
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070426/NEWS/70425011
A new regional organization called Congregations And Schools Empowered,
or CASE — a “faith-based” community organizing effort — is holding a regional
meeting on April 30 to discuss the ongoing “attainable housing” crisis in
communities from Aspen to Parachute. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at St.
Stephen’s Church, 1885 Blake Ave. in Glenwood Springs and is expected to last
about 90 minutes, according to organizer Tom Ziemann of CASE.
This is the first valleywide meeting on the topic of “our
shared housing concerns,” according to organizers, and elected officials from
throughout the region are expected to attend and participate.
RELATED: The challenge of finding housing
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070426/NEWS/104260060
Housing plan takes another step
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/apr/26/housing_plan_takes_step/
Like April rain clouds over Steamboat Springs, the city’s inclusionary zoning ordinance changes almost daily — but keeps moving forward. Proposed revisions to the controversial ordinance, which regulates how the city provides affordable housing, will take another step in the public process tonight at a meeting of the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission, beginning at 6 p.m. at Centennial Hall on 10th Street.
Media
Scripps takes hit in Denver in first quarter
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5504890,00.html
Rocky Mountain News parent E.W. Scripps said its share of a first-quarter loss at the Denver Newspaper Agency was $1.86 million, compared with a $1.17 million profit in the first quarter of 2006. The figures do not include newsroom expenses, which Scripps did not disclose. Newsroom expenses have traditionally exceeded $5 million per quarter, suggesting Scripps lost roughly $7 million on the Rocky in the period ended March 31. The figures came as part of Cincinnati-based Scripps' first- quarter earnings announcement. The company reported net income of $68.5 million, or 42 cents per share, compared with $75.1 million, or 45 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2006. Revenue increased 2 percent to $601.4 million.
Education
School reform: A major '08 pitch
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751925
Former Gov. Roy Romer will lead a $60 million, nonpartisan campaign to hurtle education to the top of the presidential-election agenda, an unprecedented push for major school reform on a federal scale. Philanthropists Bill Gates and Eli Broad announced Wednesday that they will fund "Ed in '08" - a force of "public awareness and action" with "troops" in up to a dozen states and an interactive website to mobilize the public. The project, run like a presidential campaign for a single issue, is an attempt to show voters that America's education system is slipping in the global economy and to pressure presidential candidates for solutions. "We need to have fundamental overhaul," said Romer, who was superintendent of Los Angeles schools for six years after serving three terms as Colorado governor. "Our expectations are too low. We want to make sure that education is elevated as the No. 1 priority."
Education bills advance (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/18
The Colorado Senate gave final approval to two measures introduced by local lawmakers that center on education. HB1256, introduced by Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, allows colleges and universities to offer in-state tuition to the children of employees of businesses that bring new jobs to the state. HB1178, introduced by Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, allows, but does not require, school districts to sell buildings to charter schools that have been in operation for five or more years. Both measures were slightly amended in the Senate, which requires them to return to the House for final approval before they can head to Gov. Bill Ritter.
'Old way' no longer enough
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5505269,00.html
Denver Public Schools leaders on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of voices saying the school district is broken and radical reform is needed. "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 in the same old way," reads a letter signed by DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet and all seven members of the school board. The letter is a response to the Rocky Mountain News series "Leaving to Learn," about the growing number of families leaving Denver's public schools.
Faulty math may cost Vilas schools
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751342
The Vilas School District may have to pay back as much as $4.5 million to the state, largely because many of the students enrolled in an online charter school may not have been eligible for state funding, Superintendent Joseph Shields said Wednesday. Shields said that of the $4.5 million he believes the district will owe, slightly more than $4 million is owed because students enrolled at the Hope Co-Op Online Learning Academy during the 2005-06 school year got funding they did not qualify for under Colorado law. Vilas chartered Hope in 2005.
PCC finalists here today
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/6
Two of the four finalists for the Pueblo Community College president's position will be on campus today to visit with community and college constituents. James Richardson, president emeritus of Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton, N.C., and James Malm, dean of continuing education at Colorado State University-Pueblo, will be participating in interviews on both the Pueblo and Fremont County campuses. Richardson will participate in an open forum at the Pueblo campus from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. in the Fortino Ballroom in the PCC student center. Malm will speak from 4:45 to 6 p.m., also in the Fortino Ballroom.
Jane Goodall: Think locally before you think globally
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070426/NEWS/104260110
Direct from the jungles of Africa, Jane Goodall sat down with members of Colorado State University's Roots and Shoots club Wednesday to discuss hope and the future. Ten tables holding more than six students and faculty each surrounded Goodall, who spoke alongside her companion, Mr. H, a stuffed monkey given to her more than 10 years ago. Goodall gained acclaim in the 1960s for discovering that Chimpanzees used tools. "Remember to make a difference everyday," Goodall told the students. "Spend a bit of time thinking of the effect of every little choice that is done every day."
RELATED: Goodall: Rise to the challenge
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/CSUZONE01/704260358/1002/NEWS01
Back to school for teachers
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070425/NEWS/70425031
Zehring, a high school math teacher with more than 20 years experience under his belt, wonders how those green grad students are technically more qualified than he is to teach a college math course. He is one of many teachers dealing with an unintended consequence of No Child Left Behind, which in its quest to put top teachers in every classroom, is threatening dual-enrollment courses at Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain high schools. These teachers, while experienced and effective, don’t have enough graduate college hours to be qualified under No Child Left Behind to teach dual-enrollment courses, which allow students to receive credit at Colorado Mountain College while taking rigorous classes within high school walls, Eagle Valley Principal Mark Strakbein said.
First classes
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15974
Three more elementary schools are preparing to offer full-day kindergarten to parents willing to pay for it. The St. Vrain Valley Board of Education is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to allow Lyons, Mead and Niwot elementary schools to offer full-day kindergarten next year for $250 per month per student. Currently, fee-based, full-day kindergarten is offered at Legacy, Burlington, Sanborn, Longmont Estates and Hygiene elementary schools. Some schools offer traditional half-day kindergarten, while some kindergartners attend two full days and a half day each week.
Charter school to fight loss of federal cash
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/16
Cesar Chavez Academy stands to lose close to $200,000 in federal funding in the next school year after failing to meet Pueblo City Schools’ Title I criteria for three years in a row. The charter school, which has received accolades from state and federal officials for its work with minorities, is fighting the funding cut and will take the issue before a mediator next month. School district officials, in spite of an ongoing debate over who does more for poor and minority students, were reluctant to discuss the issue and needed a Colorado Open Records Law request to turn over information on the latest dispute between the district and the school.
9-R denies open-records request
Durango School District 9-R on Wednesday denied an open-records request that demanded access to verbatim comments from a survey of Durango High School teachers, parents and students. The Durango Herald had filed a request under the Colorado Open Records Act on Friday for access to the more than 1,500 verbatim comments submitted as part of the survey. The school district said in a letter it is "unable to provide copies of the 'comments' because we have been unable to completely redact personally identifiable information regarding students and employees." The district cited sections of the Colorado Open Records Act that allow for certain specific exceptions to public disclosure of government documents.
UNC stands firm on website list of banned visitors, despite gripes
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751548
University of Northern Colorado officials said Wednesday that they will continue to post the names and pictures of people banned from the school to the college's website, despite complaints about the practice. UNC president Kay Norton said the posting was the best way to balance student safety with an open campus. In an e-mail sent to students and staff, Norton said the list, first posted Friday, identified 24 people as personae non gratae for a variety of reasons. She said the designation doesn't mean those listed are necessarily dangerous, "just unwelcome on our campus because they have violated our code of conduct." Some of those banned complained about a link on the college's home page to the list, which says: "Read about how the University of Northern Colorado is responding to the Virginia Tech tragedy," the April 16 slayings of 32 people by a student. The UNC list violates their privacy rights and defames them, several said, by putting them in the same category. "I am really stressed out about this. People are assuming I'm dangerous," said former student Brittany Bethel, 21, of Loveland. She said she suffers from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa and "passed out at the UNC rec center" last fall and was taken to the hospital. She said that she apparently violated the school's honor code "by being a danger to myself."
RELATED: Girl says Web page labels her dangerous
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/banned-at-unc-girl-says-web-page-labels-her/
LINK seeks to unify efforts in identifying troubled kids
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505034,00.html
Looking back, the signs were there: a Web site full of threats, a violent homework video, a fascination with guns and bombs. If local law enforcement, mental health professionals and Columbine High School had been talking to each other, the behavior of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold might have set off the right alarms before it was too late. That kind of coordination is one of the goals of a new program in Cherry Creek Schools called LINK - Local Intervention Network for Kids.
Police arrest teen after gun found in locker
http://www.gazette.com/articles/school_21613___article.html/student_district.html
A 13-year-old North Middle School student was arrested Wednesday after he brought a loaded handgun to school, Colorado Springs police reported. The .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun was discovered in a locker about 2 p.m. after another student reported it to school officials, officials said.
No ID on culprit of menacing messages
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/no-id-on-culprit-of-menacing-messages/
Police and school officials in Longmont are working to identify the third-grade student who wrote, "I'm gonna kill you" on pieces of tissue paper and left them on four students' desks earlier this week.
Mom of Boltz student named in threatening note questions actions
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/NEWS01/704260367/1002
The mother of a Boltz Junior High School student said she's not sure when her daughter will return to class after a note found in the girls bathroom threatened to kill the eighth-grade student and her "preppy friends." School officials haven't been able to determine who wrote the note, but they said Tuesday the case has been closed and that the threat wasn't credible.
RELATED: Report but no charges for Webber hit list
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/NEWS01/704260364/1002
Student's lawyer cites 'bad decision' on guns
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5504964,00.html
The University of Colorado freshman caught last week with guns in his room was charged Wednesday with possessing deadly weapons on campus, but his lawyer said the student never had any mayhem in mind. "There is nothing more sinister here than a young man deciding to store weapons in his room because he and his buddies were going to go out target shooting the next day," said Scott Robinson, the lawyer representing Matthew Furnish. "This is not, I repeat not, a Virginia Tech situation," added Robinson, who writes an occasional column about legal matters for the Rocky Mountain News.
RELATED: Student charged with 3 felonies; attorney says guns were for target shooting
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/student-charged-with-3-felonies/
Military
Funeral pending for Springs GI killed at Iraq checkpoint
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5504967,00.html
Funeral arrangements are pending for a military police officer from Colorado Springs killed in Iraq. Pfc. Jeffrey Alan Avery died Monday from wounds suffered after a bomb exploded at a checkpoint in Muqudadiyah, Iraq, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Avery, 19, was a 2005 graduate of Coronado High School in Colorado Springs.
RELATED: Cop dreams shattered in Iraq blast
http://www.gazette.com/articles/avery_21624___article.html/parson_family.html
Religion
Immigrants' beliefs can drift
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505663,00.html
Among Latinos, large majorities of Catholics, Protestants and other Christians say religion is very important to them. Nearly 45 percent of Hispanics say they attend religious services at least once a week. But 8 percent of more than 4,600 Latinos interviewed said they had "no religion." Mark Lopez, pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship, has seen firsthand the influence of American culture - especially religious freedom - on Hispanic immigrants. "Our society is so secular, so consumer-driven, it's not surprising that faith becomes a trade-off for immigrants," he said. "Many immigrants are here to make money in as quick a time as possible, especially given the current political climate," he said. "With so much uncertainty as to how long they'll he here, work becomes a priority, not church."
RELATED: The changing face of U.S. Catholicism
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505613,00.html
Energy Policy
Rep. Salazar seeks Desert Rock hearings
U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, has asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs to hold public hearings in La Plata and Montezuma counties when the environmental impact statement on the proposed Desert Rock power plant is released.
Measure to save power clears House and Senate
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5504929,00.html
The Colorado House and Senate have passed a bill that would direct utilities that deliver electricity and natural gas to launch energy-saving programs, including offering rebates to customers for installing energy-efficient lights, appliances and insulation. Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to sign the bill in the coming weeks. House Bill 1037 would allow utilities to levy a surcharge on residential and commercial customers to pay for the programs. Former Gov. Bill Owens vetoed a similar bill in 2006.
COGCC reforms clear Senate
http://postindependent.com/article/20070426/VALLEYNEWS/104260039
Landmark regulatory reform of the oil and gas industry could be headed to Gov. Bill Ritter's desk for his signature by the end of the week. The Colorado Senate on Wednesday voted 29-6 to pass a measure that changes the mission and makeup of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The bill already has passed the House of Representatives, which now will consider changes contained in the Senate version. The Western Colorado Congress, an environmental organization that supports the measure, is predicting that a final version could be delivered to Ritter before the end of the week to be signed into law.
RELATED: Senate approves oil, gas reform
State Supreme Court rules against Fort Morgan in gas lawsuit
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070425/NEWS/104250068
Two Fort Morgan-based plants will be allowed to get their own, direct natural gas supplies after a years-long legal battle, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled. The high court decided Monday against the City of Fort Morgan, which fought attempts by KN Wattenberg to supply gas directly to the Leprino Foods Cheese Factory and Cargill Meat Solutions. The city was notified of the decision Tuesday.
Colony Project revival possible by Exxon Mobil
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5505110,00.html
Exxon Mobil could use its long-idle Colony Project site to begin new research into extracting oil from shale, government regulators and industry experts said. News of the possible revival at the site comes nearly 25 years after Exxon Mobil predecessor Exxon Corp. shut down its oil-shale research at the Colony Project and threw thousands of western Colorado residents out of work. The date, May 2, 1982, is known as Black Sunday. Jim Edwards, a minerals manager for the federal Bureau of Land Management, told Grand Junction's The Daily Sentinel in Wednesday's editions that Exxon Mobil plans "research and development with its own technology on its own land."
RELATED: State seeks commments on Shell reclamation permit
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/26/4_26_Shell_Permit.html
County developing energy master plan
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/26/4_26_1b_energy_master.html
The Mesa County Commission is drafting a master plan for energy development to address the future impact of oil and gas exploration and production throughout the county. Unlike other types of development in Mesa County, energy is often overlooked, County Commissioner Janet Rowland said. The plan will show where energy development is happening today and project where the development will occur and what its impacts will be in the future, she said. It also will outline ways for energy companies to reduce their impact on communities and the environment.
County assessor's hopes high for gas equipment audit
http://postindependent.com/article/20070426/VALLEYNEWS/104260038
Garfield County Assessor John Gorman is expecting inspections by an Oklahoma company to turn up a significant amount of oil and gas property that isn't currently being counted for taxation purposes. This month, Visual Lease Services, or VLS, came to the county to help inventory and value equipment related to energy production. This can include well-site equipment, compressor stations, gas plants, pipelines and related field equipment. The county is paying up to $395,000 for the company's services but county officials believe the investment will pay off by turning up additional property to be included on the county's tax rolls.
Evergreen Energy CEO leaves company
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5504726,00.html
Denver-based Evergreen Energy Inc., formerly known as Kfx Inc., said its Chief Executive Officer Mark Sexton has left the company. Kevin Collins was named as interim CEO and Robert Clark as chairman of the board. Collins, 50, joined the company in September 2005 and previously served as its executive vice president and chief operating officer. Clark is president, chief executive and a director of Bear Cub Energy LLC. Evergreen Energy has started a search a new permanent chief executive. A company representative said the board replaced Sexton because the company needs someone who would accelerate the building of new plants, improve its existing plant near Gillette, Wyo., and increase the number of customers.
PUC orders review of Xcel talks
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5751423
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission ordered a review Wednesday of Xcel Energy's negotiations with companies that bid unsuccessfully last year to build a new coal-fired generation plant in the state. Staff for the commission alleged in a draft complaint against Xcel last month that the state's largest utility negotiated in bad faith with the companies. Xcel denies the allegation and says it chose not to proceed with the coal plant because the bids were too high. The negotiations were part of a PUC-mandated program in which Xcel was to enter into contracts to meet Colorado's power needs through 2013. The Minnesota-based utility, which operates here as Public Service Co. of Colorado, was able to secure most but not all of its projected energy requirements. The PUC staff drafted a complaint seeking financial penalties against Xcel. The complaint also sought to force Xcel to award a contract to build the coal plant. But two of the commission's three members - chairman Ron Binz and Carl Miller - objected to that part of the complaint.
Xcel reports lower profits
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5504136,00.html
Colorado's biggest utility Xcel Energy Inc. on Wednesday said earnings in the first quarter of 2007 fell 21 percent to $120 million, or 28 cents per share on a diluted basis, compared with $151 million, or 36 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2006. Operating revenue in first quarter 2007 stood at $2.76 billion compared to $2.89 billion in the same period a year earlier. Xcel, based in Minneapolis, Minn., said the lower earnings were expected because of several factors including higher nuclear costs associated with the timing of plant outages, lower electric short-term wholesale and trading margins and a higher effective tax rate. The utility has nuclear power plants in Minnesota.
RELATED: Xcel reports 1st-quarter profit drop
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5751455
Transportation and Infrastructure
Chain law bill headed to Ritter’s desk
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070425/NEWS/70425009
Rep. Dan Gibbs’ once-troubled chain law bill has inched along to its final stopping point. House Bill 1229 passed out of the Senate on Wednesday by a 33-1 vote, and is on the way to Gov. Bill Ritter’s desk, awaiting his signature. The freshman legislator from Silverthorne proposed the measure in an attempt to ramp up the penalties for truck drivers who don’t abide by chain law restrictions, many times spinning out and causing the interstate to close, which keeps tourism dollars out of the mountains.
Liability pact eases path for FasTracks
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751338
It doesn't solve RTD's financial challenges, but the Colorado General Assembly's passage this week of key legislation improves chances for new FasTracks rail lines to be built where area voters thought they would. The Regional Transportation District planned to put FasTracks passenger trains serving Denver International Airport, north Adams County, Boulder/Longmont and Arvada/Wheat Ridge in freight-rail corridors after negotiating property purchases and operating rights with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads. "This was established as an absolute must-have by (BNSF) as a condition for negotiations," said RTD general manager Cal Marsella. "By getting it done, we're back at the table in meaningful negotiations to get the property and develop operating plans to implement FasTracks." When metro Denver voters approved an RTD tax hike to pay for much of the $4.7 billion FasTracks plan, the assumption was that at least four of the trains would share routes with freight railroads. Yet after a fatal train crash in California in January 2005 involving passenger and freight trains, BNSF demanded that RTD limit the liability of the railroad if an accident were to occur involving FasTracks trains in freight-rail corridors.
With more cash, ailing streets might be on road to recovery
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505664,00.html
Old Man Winter is gone, but he's still forcing the city of Denver to spend some cold hard cash. The city will have to invest $20 million over the next four years to repair the damage city streets endured this winter, Public Works Manager Bill Vidal said Tuesday. If similar storms pound the city in the future, he said, the costs will escalate even more. Vidal likened the city's asphalt to a "living, breathing organism." "It has a life span that can be prolonged with regular checkups and medical treatment," he said. "That's how we look at it, so we spend our time giving it a regular checkup and determining what the medical treatments will be." Damages were less in neighboring cities.
RELATED: City faces cold, hard facts of road fixes
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751340
Traffic delay continues
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/26/4_26_McClure_Pass.html
Unstable soil and rocks above a rockslide area on Colorado Highway 133 have to be blasted and brought down before the rockslide can be cleared and McClure Pass reopened, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The work means through traffic will not reopen over the pass this weekend as planned, department spokeswoman Nancy Shanks said.
Environment and Conservation
Solar cycle to disrupt planes, cell phones, experts predict
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5505646,00.html
The next solar cycle, while about average, will be strong enough to disrupt airplanes, cell phones, power grids and geopositioning satellites off and on during the next 11 years, scientists said Wednesday. Researchers from across the U.S. gathered Wednesday in Boulder to give their predictions for Solar Cycle 24, which should start next year and peak in 2011 or 2012. While the sunspots and solar flares should be nowhere near as intense as in 1989, 1972, 1956 or 1859, there will be so many more electronics to disrupt that the storms will be more aggravating, they said.
State pulls canyon objections
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/26/4_26_1aBlack_CanyonWithdrawal.html
Attorney General John Suthers has withdrawn the state’s objections to stipulations created to resolve the dispute over the quantification of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park water right, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said Wednesday. The park has a federal reserve water right senior to the Blue Mesa Reservoir and other upstream water users on the Gunnison River. Some Western Slope legislators, including Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, are worried that the park’s water right could curtail water use in the Upper Gunnison River Basin. “I’m very relieved,” Buescher said of the state’s withdrawal. “You hate to play tough politics on these types of things. Sometimes on really important issues, you have to force things to happen right.”
Colorado water woes remain
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/state-region-colorado-water-woes-remain/
A wild storm that unleashed rain, hail and snow in parts of Colorado gave a slight boost to the statewide snowpack but did little good in the mountains, the source of much of the water that feeds the region. The National Weather Service said more than 2 feet of snow fell in parts of the foothills west of Denver Tuesday, and some spots on the Eastern Plains got up to 5 inches of rain, more than the monthly average for April.
RELATED: Water supply gets slight boost
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177597597/2
Breck mine waste plan faces credibility gap
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070425/NEWS/104250066
A $1.9 million federal plan to truck polluted mine waste across town to a storage site in French Gulch faces a credibility problem, Mayor Ernie Blake said at this week's town council meeting. "The question in my mind at least, is whether citizens understand ... and are comfortable with this," Blake said, adding that the town will likely have an outside expert look at the EPA's cleanup studies. The town won't allow the federal agencies to go forward unless it's clear that there are no human health and safety risks, Blake said.
NOAA honors state climatologist
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070426/NEWS/70425007
Nolan Doesken, state climatologist at Colorado State University, has been recognized as one of 10 “Environmental Heroes” by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for creating an amateur precipitation monitoring network that has 4,000 volunteers and continues to grow.
Opinion
California import that our state doesn't need
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5749757
Just when Coloradans thought we might have to think for ourselves for a change, Ward Connerly jetted into town this week to promote his California-style ban on affirmative action. Colorado is one of eight states targeted by Connerly for anti-affirmative action initiatives on the November 2008 ballot. He led the fight to pass a 1996 California initiative that barred preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, education and contracting. Clones of that California ban later passed in Washington state and in Michigan. As much as we respect the right of out-of-state politicians to export their pet projects to Colorado, we can't avoid noting that history is not on Connerly's side.
Our secret detentions: Look who defends them
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/26/our-secret-detentions/
The federal government exercises "unprecedented" levels of secrecy, an expert on constitutional law told an audience at the University of Colorado this week. Even casual newspaper readers know this. In making that point, Supreme Court expert Erwin Chemerinsky highlighted a key casualty of the "war on terror," namely government transparency in certain court proceedings. Chemerinsky, an attorney for outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, noted that reporters have been jailed for refusing to reveal their sources. He also noted that the government has refused to release clearly public information such as the number of people detained by U.S. forces since December 2001 and why they are in custody, he said. "I don't understand how it would hurt national security to find out the aggregate number of people detained as a result of the war on terrorism," Wednesday's Camera quoted him as saying. Secret detentions and surreptitious court proceedings are a minuscule portion of the Bush administration's expansive use of secrecy. But Chemerinsky's remarks bring to mind the secret detentions on American soil in the fall of 2001, and the administration's vigorous defense of its censorial tactics.
Carman: Rehab for Springs' anti-gay image is a slow dance
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5751193
Mike Kazmierski wants the world to know that not everybody in Colorado Springs - home of Focus on the Family, the anti-gay-marriage amendment, the anti-domestic-partnership initiative and Will Perkins - is a flaming anti-gay-rights activist. "We're really very diverse," said the president of the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. Trouble is, Amendment 2, the anti-gay-rights measure born in the Springs in 1991, created an enduring image of the city as an unwelcoming - even hostile - place.
Military twisted the truth
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5750108
The wartime heroism of Army Ranger Pat Tillman and Pfc. Jessica Lynch made for riveting stories. He died in a fierce firefight with the enemy. She was captured after raining shots on her attackers. The military took great pains to propagate these yarns. The trouble is, as a disgusted nation heard in detail this week, the stories weren't true. Congressional hearings have exposed two abhorrent examples of how Defense Department officials spun tragic events into public relations boons. Further investigation has been promised and certainly is appropriate.
Kent: Saving victims of malaria must be a global concern
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5750113
In declaring April 25 Malaria Awareness Day, President Bush asked us all to care about a disease that seems so far away. I had the unforgettable experience of confronting malaria in person - in the body of a 3-year-old African boy named Frederick.
Rainy day fund sunk again
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/04/26/4_26_Rainy_Day_fund.html
For the second time in two years, the Colorado Senate has killed a measure that would have gradually increased the state’s savings account — the so-called rainy day fund. This year, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee threatened to kill a bill to increase the number of judges in the state unless the rainy-day fund legislation was killed, because both would have used revenue from the capital construction and transportation fund. Not much foresight was demonstrated with that ultimatum. When Colorado experiences another economic downturn, as it did in the early part of this decade, it will likely have to tap the capital construction, transportation and other funds to meet operational needs if it doesn’t have the expanded rainy day fund in place.
Regulate athletic trainers
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070426/TRIBEDIT/104260118/-1/TRIBEDIT
The Colorado House of Representatives is considering a bill that would give legal definition to the term "athletic trainer." The bill -- co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley -- is a good idea. The state Senate already passed the measure -- co-sponsored by Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora -- by a 24-9 vote on March 1. If it becomes law, it will ensure that anyone calling themselves an athletic trainer will hold a certification.
Sundin: Time to question the 2nd Amendment
http://postindependent.com/article/20070426/COLUMNISTS/104260044
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." The question is whether a dictum written nearly 220 years ago has any validity today. We need to look at the circumstances of that time which prompted its inclusion as one of the first ten amendments, referred to collectively as The Bill of Rights. Recall that both the Constitution and Bill of Rights were drafted less than ten years after the cessation of hostilities in our war for independence from Great Britain. This was a war that was in large part fought by citizen soldiers, many with their own firearms, a strong distrust of the British and a concern that we might have to fight them again to defend our hard-won freedom. There was also uncertainty whether the experiment in government framed in the Constitution would adequately serve and protect people's freedoms, and that it might be necessary for the people to take up arms against their own government to protect those freedoms.
Littwin: A reporter's reporter who tirelessly delivered truth
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5505131,00.html
David Halberstam changed the world - or at least the journalism part of the world. That's not a small thing. He was in his 20s when he went to Vietnam. He'd already gone to Mississippi - straight out of Harvard - to write about civil rights. He went where the important stories were, where the world-changing stories were. He wrote about the two most important stories of his lifetime - and left his imprint. Not a small thing at all.
Gliese 581c: It isn't home, but it's getting close
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5504811,00.html
For millennia, it was assumed that the planets orbiting the Sun were unique in the universe, and then in the 1990s astronomers began to detect positive evidence of other planets. Now there have been so many extra-solar planets discovered that astronomy Web sites are getting careless about keeping track of them. One authoritative site says 229; NASA says 211. Until now, most of them were gas giants, a scientific curiosity but from the standpoint of the layman, with dreams of exploration, useless. But that searching has paid off with the discovery by European astronomers of a potentially habitable planet.
Thornton: A quiz from DRCOG
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5750112
The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), the area's metropolitan planning organization, has a major impact on all our lives. It determines which roads and corridors will receive federal transportation funds, conducts reviews of all major transit projects, and is charged with protecting people who live in long-term care facilities. The organization covers more than 5,000 square miles and encompasses 52 cities and counties in the metro area. Here's a quiz from DRCOG on some of the metro area's growth-related challenges.
Election
Rivals Challenge Assertion That a Democratic President Would Delay U.S. Victory
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402241.html
Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) drew swift and angry reactions yesterday from his prospective Democratic rivals for president after asserting that the election of a Democrat in 2008 would put the country back "on defense" against terrorism, prolonging the global conflict with violent extremists and costing the nation additional lives. The leading Democratic candidates challenged Giuliani's contention that their party cannot keep the country safe and accused him of attempting to divide the nation over what many consider the paramount issue of the coming campaign.
RELATED: Giuliani calls Democrats soft on terrorism
RELATED: Giuliani Broadens His Message on Terrorism
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/us/politics/26giuliani.html
For McCain, a Second Try at the White House
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042501636.html
Republican Sen. John McCain distanced himself from President Bush on a pair of key issues Wednesday as he launched his second campaign for the White House, calling on Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to resign and offering fresh criticism of the administration's handling of the war in Iraq. After months of wooing Bush's allies to his campaign and serving as one of the most outspoken supporters of U.S. efforts in Iraq, McCain (Ariz.) used his announcement to draw distinctions from the Bush administration on the Iraq war, saying the United States "must never repeat" the mistakes made in the conflict.
RELATED: McCain enters presidential race from the outside
RELATED: McCain aims to turn his age to advantage
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/26/mccain_aims_to_turn_his_age_to_advantage/
Romney Aide Resigns From Campaign
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502765.html
Jason Roe, the deputy campaign manager of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's 2008 GOP presidential bid, has resigned. The resignation came a day after the St. Petersburg Times reported that Roe, while serving as chief of staff to Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), had sent an e-mail to the paper saying that Feeney had no way to know that now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff paid for a 2003 trip to Scotland with the congressman. The Justice Department is investigating the trip. Kevin Madden, Romney's chief spokesman, said that Roe was not fired and that Roe cited family obligations when he announced his resignation on Tuesday. Roe commuted between Washington and Boston.
Ex-Va. governor to enter '08 presidential race
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-25-gilmore-2008_N.htm
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore said Tuesday he will officially start his longshot 2008 White House bid in Iowa this week with a live webcast speech. The little-known conservative who headed the Republican National Committee in 2001 formed a presidential exploratory committee earlier this year, but raised only about $200,000 through March.
Bloomberg Tells Gore He Should Run in ’08
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/us/politics/26gore.html
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he hoped former Vice President Al Gore would run for president in 2008, saying “I think it would be good for the country.” The mayor made the comments to reporters after a news conference kicking off the Tribeca Film Festival, as the two men took the stage and teased each other over speculation about their respective presidential ambitions.
Unity08 Seeks Middle-of-the-Road Candidate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502379.html
Actor Sam Waterston praised the personal attributes of "Law and Order" co-star Fred Thompson but warned that if the former Tennessee Senator enters the Republican presidential field he will be forced to run the "gauntlet" of conservative interest groups to win the nomination. "Everyone is obliged to trim their answers," to please the party's base, said Waterston, a leader of Unity08, a third-party movement, during an interview today on washingtonpost.com's "PostTalk" show. "This is a legitimate concern for anybody who is entering the race." Former Gov. Angus King (I-Maine), another leader of the new group, said the current Republican campaign underscores the negative impact of this sort of base politics, noting that candidates including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) have had to engage in numerous "twists and turns" on crucial stands on social issues to please conservative activists.
Democrats to debate in South Carolina
In an early taste of the debates that will help shape the crowded contest for the White House, all eight declared Democratic presidential candidates will climb onto the stage in a college auditorium Thursday to face 90 minutes of questions before a national television audience.
RELATED: Race is onstage in South Carolina debate
Emotions run high in House debate on Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico's rival advocates of statehood, independence and the colonial status quo vented decades of frustration and anger in a congressional hearing Wednesday, but made little progress toward convincing legislators to back one of their competing plans for the island's future. The contentious issue of the island's status in relation to the United States has consumed Puerto Rico since it was ceded to the U.S. by Spain in 1898. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but can't vote for members of Congress or the president. They pay no federal income tax but pay about a third of their income to island tax collectors. A White House task force recommendation in December 2005 that the 8-million-strong Puerto Rican population and diaspora vote on their status has riled political leaders and divided lawmakers being asked to decide between two roadmaps.
Justices Reconsider Campaign Finance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042501739.html
It was clear from the start yesterday just how eager some justices were to revisit the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance act that the Supreme Court only four years ago blessed as constitutional. "Maybe we were wrong last time," Justice Antonin Scalia told Solicitor General Paul D. Clement when Clement advised that the court had already decided the very issue at stake in yesterday's oral arguments. Scalia was then in the minority of the court. But by the end of yesterday's oral arguments, it seemed that he is part of a majority on the new court headed by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., which appeared skeptical of the way Congress tried to curb the election-year influence of unions, corporations and special interest groups.
RELATED: Justices may ease limits on 'issue ads'
Effective and Ethical Government
Nation on wrong track, 66% tell poll
Two out of three Americans think the country is on the wrong track, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Only 22% of Americans think the country is moving in the right direction, while 66% think it's on the wrong track, the poll of 1,004 adults taken April 20 to 23 showed. The poll had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. That compared with 58% who saw the country heading down the wrong track and 25% who saw it moving in the right direction in a NBC/WSJ poll taken in March. NBC News said the poll numbers pointed to one compelling reason why that should be the case: the war in Iraq. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said the war could not be won.
Renzi Aide Called U.S. Attorney to Ask About Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502707.html
The top aide to Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) called the office of Arizona's U.S. attorney about six weeks before the prosecutor was fired, inquiring about a federal probe into the congressman's role in a land deal that benefited a former business partner and political patron. The former U.S. attorney, Paul K. Charlton, told House investigators this week that his office alerted the Justice Department's headquarters about the call from Renzi's chief of staff, Brian Murray, because he considered it potentially improper, according to congressional sources who spoke about the probe on the condition of anonymity. Justice rules require prosecutors to report contacts from members of Congress seeking information about investigations.
RELATED: House Panel Votes to Give Gonzales Aide Immunity
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500914.html
Political Briefings At Agencies Disclosed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042503046.html
White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday. The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said. The existence of one such briefing, at the headquarters of the General Services Administration in January, came to light last month, and the Office of Special Counsel began an investigation into whether the officials at the briefing felt coerced into steering federal activities to favor those Republican candidates cited as vulnerable. Such coercion is prohibited under a federal law, known as the Hatch Act, meant to insulate virtually all federal workers from partisan politics.
Capitol clout funnels funding home
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-25-earmarks-main_N.htm
As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Ted Stevens secured funding for pet projects worth $1,044 for each Alaskan in 2005 — more than three times any other state, an analysis of newly released federal data shows. By contrast, North Carolina, which had no senator on the committee in 2005, barely got $25 per resident — the least of any state. For decades, senior members of the appropriations committees from both parties have used "earmarks" — money for specific projects or programs added to spending bills at a lawmaker's request — to direct federal money to their home states. An unwritten rule distributed 60% of the money to the party in charge and 40% to the minority party, former House Appropriations Committee staffer Jim Dyer says. A USA TODAY analysis of a White House budget office database released this month illustrates the clout of top appropriators.
Scandals and Inquiries Mean More Fees
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502760.html
It's springtime in Washington and some of the biggest things blooming are politicians' legal bills. The large number of political figures, including current and former members of Congress, who are embroiled in criminal, ethics and civil cases helped rack up more than $2 million in legal bills in the first three months of the year, an unusually large amount for the first quarter of a non-election year. The Republican National Committee ran up one of the biggest tabs, reporting it paid $500,000 last month alone to the D.C. blue chip firm of Covington & Burling. Officially, the GOP offered no explanation. "As a matter of policy, the RNC does not comment on legal fees," spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said. Unofficially, GOP officials said they continue to pay bills stemming from the civil case involving a scheme in which Republican operatives in New Hampshire were convicted of conspiring to jam phone lines during the 2002 election in hopes of keeping Democrats from voting.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Court Asked to Limit Lawyers at Guantánamo
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/washington/26gitmo.html?ref=washington
The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the request has become a central issue in a new legal battle over the administration’s detention policies. Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused “intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo,” a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004.
Contractors playing major role in U.S. intelligence
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-25-contractors-intel_N.htm
Private contractors, including for-hire intelligence analysts, computer technicians and spies, now form a "key part" of the overall intelligence workforce, according to a survey by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The hiring of contractors has surged since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, said the report's author, the office's chief human capital director, Ron Sanders. Intelligence agencies hired contractors to fill gaps caused by downsizing after the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, as well as new slots created by funding of the war on terrorism. Sanders would not say how many private intelligence workers are under contract to government agencies, saying that would compromise security. The number of government employees in intelligence work also is secret.
RELATED: Government Keeps a Secret After Studying Spy Agencies
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/washington/26contracting.html?ref=washington
Foreign Policy
U.N. Report on Human Rights in Iraq Draws U.S. Denunciation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502948.html
A new human rights report by the United Nations mission in Iraq described high levels of ongoing violence, an unfair and potentially abusive detainee system and a country suffering a "breakdown in law and order." The report upset the U.S. Embassy here, which characterized it as inaccurate and not credible. The 30-page report by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, an appraisal of human rights conditions from January through March, said the Iraqi government is up against "immense security challenges in the face of growing violence and armed opposition to its authority and the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis." For the first time, the United Nations did not include civilian death tolls, statistics that are usually provided to it by the Health Ministry and the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad. The data have become a key gauge of the level of violence in Iraq. In the last report, the United Nations said 34,452 Iraqi civilians had died violently in 2006, a number that the Iraqi government later said was exaggerated.
RELATED: U.N. report and Times data paint grim Iraq picture
Baghdad's Fissures and Mistrust Keep Political Goals Out of Reach
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042503076.html
U.S. military commanders say a key goal of the ongoing security offensive is to buy time for Iraq's leaders to reach political benchmarks that can unite its fractured coalition government and persuade insurgents to stop fighting. But in pressuring the Iraqis to speed up, U.S. officials are encountering a variety of hurdles: The parliament is riven by personality and sect, and some politicians are abandoning Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. There is deep mistrust of U.S. intentions, especially among Shiites who see American efforts to bring Sunnis into the political process as an attempt to weaken the Shiites' grip on power. Many Iraqi politicians view the U.S. pressure as bullying that reminds them they are under occupation. And the security offensive, bolstered by additional U.S. forces, has failed to stop the violence that is widening the sectarian divide.
RELATED: Baghdad residents find little security
Israel holds off on big Gaza strike
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday ruled out for now a broad military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the day after Hamas militants fired a barrage of rockets and declared an end to a five-month cease-fire. Israel warned, though, that it would take whatever steps it deems necessary to bar future attacks. "All options are on the table," said Miri Eisin, a government spokeswoman. "There will be no immediate wide-scale response, but that doesn't mean there won't be one later on."
RELATED: Olmert investigation urged
RELATED: Arab Israeli suspected of aiding his nation's enemy
After Saudis’ First Steps, Efforts for Reform Stall
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/world/middleeast/26saudi.html?ref=world
It was a scene to warm the heart of any democrat. Here in this autocratic kingdom, elected city councilmen vowed to stand up for poor fishermen and ask the government to ensure that a large section of seafront on which a new university is planned be left accessible to local residents. After an hour of vigorous discussion recently, Jidda’s City Council actually passed a resolution calling for the waterfront to remain open to the people. But there was a catch: The resolution is nonbinding, its wording will not be made public, and it is unlikely to have any impact on the government’s plans.
U.S. let Japanese coerce 'comfort women' for GIs
Japan's abhorrent practice of enslaving women to provide sex for its troops in World War II has a little-known sequel: After its surrender -- with tacit approval from U.S. occupation authorities -- Japan set up a similar "comfort women" system for American GIs. An Associated Press review of historical documents and records shows U.S. authorities permitted the official brothel system to operate despite internal reports that women were being coerced into prostitution. The Americans also had full knowledge by then of Japan's atrocious treatment of women in countries across Asia that it conquered during the war. Tens of thousands of women were employed to provide cheap sex to U.S. troops until the spring of 1946, when Gen. Douglas MacArthur shut the brothels down. The documents show the brothels were rushed into operation as American forces poured into Japan beginning in August 1945.
RELATED: Military talks key at summit of U.S., Japan
Singapore Makes a Pitch to Draw the Wealthy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/business/worldbusiness/26singapore.html
This affluent city-state of 4.5 million people is aiming to be a sanctuary for the world’s wealthy and their money, Asia’s answer to Geneva and Zurich. Singapore, with its reputation for authoritarian order and safety, has long relied on luring multinational corporations for manufacturing jobs and economic growth. But with China’s rise as an industrial powerhouse, it started chasing a succession of economic fads — from technology to pharmaceuticals to stem-cell research — in search of a fresh elixir.
Rice calls Russian missile concerns 'ludicrous'
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-26-rice-russian_N.htm
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed Russians concerns over Washington's plans to deploy anti-missile defenses in Europe, saying on Thursday the American interceptors would pose no danger to Moscow's nuclear arsenal. "Let's be real about this and realistic about this, the idea that somehow 10 interceptors and a few radars in eastern Europe are going to threaten the Soviet strategic deterrent is purely ludicrous and everybody knows it," Rice told reporters ahead of NATO talks with Russia's foreign minister. "The Russians have thousands of warheads. The idea that you can somehow stop the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent with a few interceptors just doesn't make sense."
RELATED: Russians mourn Yeltsin, debate legacy
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/04/26/russians_mourn_yeltsin_debate_legacy/
France's Bayrou Withholds Support
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500212.html
Francois Bayrou, the centrist candidate who placed a strong third in the first phase of France's presidential contest last weekend, on Wednesday delivered a fierce condemnation of the two front-runners -- Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal -- and said he would not endorse either in a runoff vote on May 6. The decision by Bayrou, who has promoted himself and his Union for French Democracy party as "a third way" that would bridge the traditional left-right divide in French politics, leaves his bloc of 6.8 million swing voters up for grabs. That will heighten the already intense competition between Sarkozy, of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement, and Socialist Royal, with just 12 days remaining in the campaign.
RELATED: French Left uneasy about Royal's courting of center
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042600417.html
Ex-official in Poland kills herself in raid
An ex-government minister committed suicide in her bathroom early Wednesday as police searched her house amid corruption allegations, authorities said. Internal Security Agency agents raided Barbara Blida's home in Siemianowice, southern Poland, said agency spokesman Magdalena Stanczyk. Blida, a lawmaker for the Democratic Left Alliance from 1989-2005 and construction minister from 1993-1996, "was suspected of taking and receiving material gains," Stanczyk said. Blida, 57, asked agents if she could use the toilet while they searched. A female agent accompanied Blida to the bathroom, the agency said.
Peruvian Honored for Defending Indigenous People
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502955.html
"The government thinks the Amazon is empty, but it is and has been inhabited for thousands of years," Cusurichi said in a telephone interview on the eve of his award ceremony at the National Geographic Society. "This is not about political systems but about our responsibility towards human lives. It is not only affecting our culture, but the whole planet." Politically excluded primitive communities nestled in the jungles bordering Brazil and Bolivia fought for centuries to defend the sovereignty of their territory and the purity of their habitat, choosing to live in isolation. Though he lives in the Amazon region in the small city of Puerto Maldonado, Cusurichi said it takes him four days by boat to get to a territorial reserve he helped create in 2002, an area of about 2,968 square miles, larger than Delaware.
Argentina court voids pardons of junta ex-leaders
Former President Videla and navy chief Massera must serve life sentences for their role in the 'dirty war,' judges say.
Immigration
Feds crack alleged fake document business
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-25-fake-document-business_N.htm
Federal agents charged 22 people with operating a massive fake document business in Chicago that they say provided thousands of illegal aliens with fake immigration papers, drivers licenses and other documents. An indictment unsealed Wednesday says the Chicago branch of a Mexican crime family produced more than 15,000 bogus identification documents each year since 2003. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who represents the community where the raid took place, called it "an outrage and completely excessive." "It only served to frighten and intimidate a vulnerable community and to drive a wedge between law enforcement and immigrants," Gutierrez said in a statement.
Reproductive Choice
Abortion foes vow to blockade clinics
Mexico's leading anti-abortion group vowed Wednesday to block pregnant women from entering hospitals and clinics and publicly identify abortion doctors if a measure legalizing the practice in the capital is signed into law. Abortion-rights activists, for their part, prepared to confront a Supreme Court challenge and to push for all government hospitals to offer abortions without restrictions to adult women in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. They also want similar laws passed in other states in the heavily Roman Catholic country.
Marriage and Family Issues
N.H. Is Set To Approve Same-Sex Civil Unions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502950.html
The champagne is on ice at the Notchland Inn on Route 302. Proprietors and longtime partners Ed and Les are ready to raise their glasses to New Hampshire later today, when the state is set to pass a broad civil union bill granting gay and lesbian couples virtually all the same legal rights as married heterosexuals. Supporters and opponents of the measure agree that it will be approved, and last week Gov. John Lynch, a moderate Democrat, said he will sign it. When he does, it will make New England the first region to have every state granting a measure of legal rights to same-sex couples. Even as the bulk of the country has passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and civil unions, New England has stubbornly gone its own way.
Health Care and Public Safety
Doctor freebies common, study says
Nearly 95% of physicians in the U.S. receive free food, beverages, drug samples, sports tickets or other benefits from drug company sales reps eager to influence their prescribing habits, according to a report today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Texas Legislators Block Shots for Girls Against Cancer Virus
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/us/26texas.html?ref=us
A revolt by lawmakers has blocked Gov. Rick Perry’s effort to make Texas the first state to require sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. In a 135-to-2 vote that appeared veto-proof, the Texas House gave final passage on Wednesday to a Senate bill that bars the state from ordering the shots until at least 2011. Even many supporters of the governor resented Mr. Perry’s proposal as an abuse of executive authority. “There was no public testimony — why we were jumping so fast into a vaccine that was not for a true communicable disease,” said Senator Glenn Hegar Jr., a Republican representing a district just west of Houston who sponsored the Senate bill to overturn the governor’s order. It passed 30 to 1 on Monday.
RELATED: Texas lawmakers nix HPV vaccine order
Food tests promise tough task for FDA
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-04-25-melamine-usat_N.htm
The Food and Drug Administration faces an enormous challenge as it begins testing six food ingredients imported from China for chemical adulterants. In 2006, the USA imported 51.9 million pounds of wheat gluten from China, 112,500 pounds of cornmeal and 5 million pounds of soybean meal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Three other ingredients the FDA says it plans to test — corn gluten, rice protein concentrate and rice bran — are imported in such small amounts that the USDA does not track them. While they make up a tiny fraction of imported agricultural products, those ingredients show up in lots of foods, says Joseph Hotchkiss, chairman of the food science department at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Examples include baby formula, breads, cereals and some vegetarian foods.
Panel Urges Schools To Replace Junk Foods
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500762.html
A prestigious scientific panel urged the government yesterday to ban soft drinks, sugary snacks and other junk food from schools, saying the typical fare available in vending machines, at snack bars and at class birthday parties is contributing to the growing obesity of America's children. The Institute of Medicine report, which Congress requested, said less-nutritious items should be replaced with healthier stuff such as fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. It emphasized adding snacks with more whole grains and less sodium, saturated fat and added sugar.
Activists: Fat ogre must go
A children's advocacy group wants the Department of Health and Human Services to oust Shrek, the animated ogre, as spokesman for an anti-obesity drive. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood says the soon-to-open "Shrek the Third" movie has too many promotional ties with unhealthy foods to justify using Shrek as a health advocate.
Crime and Penal Reform
Va. Tech Killer's Motives Pursued
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500172.html
State police offered several new and chilling details about the deadliest shooting by an individual in U.S. history, saying that Cho's later attack at Norris Hall lasted nine minutes and that he squeezed off more than 170 rounds. Law enforcement officials said they found 17 ammunition magazines at the scene. They said they have read reams of e-mail and cellphone records and interviewed hundreds of witnesses but have found no explanation for Cho's actions. In fact, they said, they may never know why Cho started at the dorm, waited more than two hours and then killed 30 more people at Norris Hall.
Death Sentences Rejected
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500660.html
The Supreme Court threw out death sentences for three Texas killers yesterday because of problems with instructions given to jurors who were deciding between life in prison and death. In the case of LaRoyce Lathair Smith, the court set aside the death penalty for the second time. It also reversed death sentences for Brent Ray Brewer and Jalil Abdul-Kabir. The cases stem from jury instructions that Texas has not used since 1991. All three convictions occurred in 1991 or earlier. Under those rules, courts found that jurors were not allowed to give sufficient weight to factors that may cause them to impose a life sentence. The three 5 to 4 rulings had the same lineup of justices, with Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter and John Paul Stevens forming the majority.
Native American Women Face High Rape Rate, Report Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502778.html
One in three Native American women will be raped at some point in their lives, a rate that is more than double that for non-Indian women, according to a new report by Amnesty International. The report, "Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA," noted a variety of reasons that rape is so prevalent on reservations, according to its authors.
A jury's stand against racism reflects hope
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-26-texas-town_N.htm
This wisp of a town in the piney woods of East Texas is the birthplace of music greats T-Bone Walker and Scott Joplin — a bit of historical fortune that local officials hope one day will draw music-loving tourists here. Today, however, Linden is wrestling with another identity: as the home of four white men involved in attacking a mentally disabled black man in 2003 and dumping him, unconscious and bleeding, along a country road in the middle of the night. Billy Ray Johnson, now 46, has not recovered from a blow to his skull and will need nursing home care the rest of his life. The men involved were convicted of minor criminal charges; the longest sentence imposed was 60 days in jail. Civil rights lawyer Morris Dees then helped Johnson sue the assailants in civil court. Last week, a mostly white jury here awarded Johnson $9 million in damages. Jurors say they stood up to racism in Linden and surrounding Cass County.
Economy
Dow Closes Above 13,000
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500183.html
The Dow Jones industrial average surged past the 13,000 mark for the first time Wednesday, as U.S. stocks rallied on better-than-expected manufacturing data and strong corporate earnings. The close, 13,089.89, comes less than two months after a late February plunge in world markets sent investors heading for safer ground. The broader market has been rising almost uninterrupted since late March. If the trend holds, U.S. stocks are on track to finish April with the biggest monthly gain in more than three years. The rally has been helped by a steady stream of earnings reports that have beaten Wall Street estimates. Strong global economic growth and a weaker dollar also helped boost the bottom line at large U.S. companies that draw some revenue from abroad. At the same time, the supply of publicly traded stocks has diminished as companies buy back shares or are taken private through leveraged buyouts. The flurry of acquisitions, led by private-equity firms, as well as the pool of cheap credit available to those firms, have boosted targeted companies' shares.
RELATED: Dow today: 13,000 and counting?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-04-25-stocks-wed_N.htm
Fed Sees Moderate Growth in Country
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042501698.html
Most parts of the country showed moderate economic growth in the early spring despite sluggish manufacturing largely due to the housing slump. The fresh snapshot of the national economy, released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve, found manufacturing activity slow in many areas. Activity in residential real estate continued to weaken. Overall, most regions reported "only modest or moderate expansions," the Fed said. But the Minneapolis region posted "firm growth" and the Dallas area characterized economic activity as "moderately strong."
RELATED: Durable-Goods Picture Shows Surprising Strength
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/business/26econ.html
Wolfowitz Escalates Battle to Stay at Bank
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/washington/26wolfowitz.html?ref=washington
Escalating his campaign to remain president of the World Bank, Paul D. Wolfowitz accused the bank’s board on Wednesday of treating him “shabbily and unfairly,” and appealed for more time to defend himself against allegations of favoritism and other matters. Mr. Wolfowitz, increasingly isolated at the bank and facing a board seemingly determined to force his resignation, sent a letter to the head of a board panel dealing with issues affecting his leadership, asking to appear before the board next week in the interest of “fairness to me” and “good governance” at the bank.
Federal Workers Owe Billions in Back Taxes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502820.html
More than 450,000 federal workers and retirees owe a total of $3 billion in back taxes, prompting the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Finance Committee to urge President Bush to put more effort into collecting from delinquent government employees. "If the federal government doesn't make its own employees follow the rules, it's hard to tell the rest of the American people that they should do better," committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said in a statement accompanying the delinquency figures. Baucus and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the ranking Republican on the committee, sent a letter to Bush asking him to "remind" federal workers and retirees of their "obligations and to warn them of the consequences for failing to comply with the nation's tax laws."
Apple Zooms Past Rivals, With 88% Profit Growth
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/technology/26apple.html?ref=business
Apple Inc. surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts for its usually tepid second quarter, delivering an 88 percent increase in profit on strong sales of Macintosh computers and iPod music players.
RELATED: In Comments About Apple Chief, Questions of Motive
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/technology/26anderson.html?ref=business
The Upside of Being Out
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502717.html
Golden parachutes and other rich severance deals have long made headlines after executives have been forced out, but new government regulations are requiring companies to disclose more clearly this year what executives had the potential to pocket at the end of 2006 under a variety of hypothetical scenarios. Generally, it does not pay to be fired for cooking the books or embezzling, but absent outright misconduct, departing can be sweet. Among other scenarios, the disclosures show how much executives stood to profit if their companies were taken over.
S.Korea could decide on U.S. beef by Friday: importer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042600522.html
South Korea could decide by Friday whether to allow the first shipment of U.S. beef into the country since 2003, a beef importer said on Thursday, while a U.S. Senator said a rejection could scuttle a trade deal. South Korea, which struck a free trade deal with the United States earlier this month, had ordered the rejection of all 22 tons of beef sent in three shipments after finding bone fragments the size of peas and grains of rice.
Housing and Homelessness
New-Home Sales Tick Up, But Big Reversal Not Seen
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500345.html
Sales of new homes rose slightly in March, reversing a downward trend from the previous two months. However, industry experts played down the rise as a sign of a turnaround in the housing market. The report came after news Tuesday of the steepest one-month drop in existing-home sales since 1989. That was seen as an indication that problems in the mortgage market will continue to drag down housing, which stumbled through last year.
Media
FCC suggests ways to control TV violence
There is a correlation between bloodshed on television and violence in real life, and Congress can do something about the TV version without violating the First Amendment, regulators said Wednesday. A long-awaited report from the Federal Communications Commission lays out ways the government can regulate violence on television, including cable, satellite and broadcast. The final report appears to have changed little since details were provided to The Associated Press in February, but it does contain tougher language on a possible requirement that cable companies sell their programming on a per-channel or family tier basis, rather than only in pre-bundled packages.
RELATED: F.C.C. Moves to Restrict TV Violence
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/business/media/26fcc.html?ref=business
Chandlers Finally Get to Cash Out Tribune Stake
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502588.html
The tempestuous, sometimes bitter seven-year relationship between the Chandlers of Los Angeles and the Tribune Co. of Chicago is coming to an end. Yesterday, Tribune announced a tender offer of $34 per share for 126 million shares -- about half of the company's outstanding stock -- at a total cost of $4.3 billion. The price represents a slight premium on Tribune shares, which closed yesterday at $32.78, up 23 cents.
Education
Colleges Enhancing Security
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502941.html
Catholic University in the District is adding sirens to its security cameras. Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., will start training students how to get out of harm's way during a crisis. The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., has decided to break its tradition of open barrack doors and install locks. After the shootings at Virginia Tech last week, scores of schools across the country have implemented measures to bolster security and improve communication.
Massacre fallout: Charges for essay
Told to express emotion for a creative-writing class, high school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday. Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location. Neither police nor the school would release a copy of the essay written Monday. School officials declined to say whether Lee had any previous disciplinary problems, but said he was an excellent student. Authorities said Lee had never been in trouble with the police.
Military
U.S.
Soldier Accused of Aiding the Enemy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042600418.html
A senior U.S. officer has been charged with nine offenses, including aiding the
enemy and fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee while he commanded a
military police detachment at an American detention facility near Baghdad, the military said Thursday. Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele was accused of giving
"aid to the enemy" by providing an unmonitored cell phone to
detainees. Steele was the commander of the 451st Military Police Detachment at
Camp Cropper, a U.S. detention center on the western outskirts of Baghdad, when
the offenses allegedly occurred between October 2005 and February, military
spokesman Lt. Col. James Hutton said. Steele was being held in Kuwait pending a grand jury investigation, Hutton said. The other charges included
unauthorized possession of classified information, fraternizing with the
daughter of a detainee, maintaining an inappropriate relationship with an
interpreter, storing classified information in his quarters and possessing
pornographic videos, the military said.
RELATED: U.S. Is Detaining a Senior Officer
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/world/middleeast/26cropper.html
Religion
Dalai Lama ignites buzz on U.S. tour
During a two-day visit to the Hawaiian island of Maui, the Dalai Lama -- leader of Tibetan Buddhists, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, best-selling author -- drew crowds of more than 10,000 people to two speeches focused on promoting human compassion, environmentalism and world peace. The trip marked his first stop on a U.S. tour set to include visits to San Francisco, Houston, Madison, Wis., and Chicago. The Dalai Lama's visit seems to be generating all the buzz of some of the most legendary rock concert tours, albeit with a decidedly serious undercurrent.
Archdiocese cuts $2m from deficit
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/26/archdiocese_cuts_2m_from_deficit/
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston still faces significant financial challenges five years after the sexual abuse crisis erupted, but has been making slow progress, in large part by selling real estate and cutting staff, church officials said yesterday.
Latinos reshaping nation's religious landscape, study says
The growing numbers of Latinos in the United States, and that population's embrace of charismatic styles of worship, are reshaping the Roman Catholic Church and the nation's religious landscape, according to a major study of Latinos and faith released Wednesday. The study, by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, found that a majority of Latino Catholics practiced a distinctive, charismatic form of Catholicism, one that might include speaking in tongues, prophesying and other practices considered more typical of Pentecostal churches. Those traditions are much less widespread among non-Latino Catholics, who also are less likely to identify themselves as charismatics or Pentecostals, the researchers found.
U.S. and Japan sign nuclear power pact
The Bush administration's plan to rapidly expand global nuclear energy took a key step Wednesday when the government signed an agreement with Japan to conduct joint research on a new generation of reactors and a new type of nuclear fuel. The Energy Department has been pushing an ambitious but controversial agenda to build a fleet of nuclear power plants worldwide, based on prospective technology that would include reprocessing radioactive wastes. The agreement with Japan is the first formal international deal under the program, known as the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
Fungus linked to decline of bees in U.S.
A fungus that caused widespread loss of honeybee colonies in Europe and Asia may be playing a crucial role in the phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United States, researchers in California said Wednesday. The new findings represent the first solid evidence pointing to a potential cause of the disorder. But they are "highly preliminary" and from only a few hives in California's Merced County, said Joe DeRisi, a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco. Other researchers said Wednesday that they, too, had found the fungus, a single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae, in affected hives from around the country -- as well as in some hives that have survived. Those researchers also have found two other fungi and a half-dozen viruses in the dead bees.
Government vows greenhouse gas cuts
Canada's Conservative government vowed Wednesday to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 and ban incandescent lightbulbs by 2012 as part of a national environmental initiative. The plan includes measures to stop the rise of greenhouse gases within five years.
Plastic bags may be banned in Boston
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/26/plastic_bags_may_be_banned_in_boston/
The Boston City Council wants to ban the use of plastic shopping bags at supermarkets, pharmacies, and convenience stores in the city, saying the ubiquitous bags are a hazard to the environment and a maddening blight of the landscape.
A Sumatran rhino's last chance for love
Five-year-old Andalas is under pressure to breed at an Indonesian sanctuary, and perhaps save his species from extinction.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Robert Novak: Bush's Barricade
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502408.html
A report as routine as the one put out by the Identity Theft Task Force on Monday normally is released without a White House statement, but this time the announcement came from George W. Bush himself. He praised Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "for taking on this difficult and important assignment" in co-chairing the task force. That constituted bad news for Republicans outside the White House, signaling that the president really does intend to keep Gonzales. That Bush went out of his way to support his beleaguered friend from Texas confirmed other signals sent this week; the president's improbable praise for Gonzales's pathetic performance as a witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week was no mere gesture. The authoritative word from the White House was that Bush was adamant about retaining Gonzales as attorney general despite Republican demands that the president cut his losses.
RELATED: Chapman: Man of principle (Peter's)
RELATED: Another Dubious Firing
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/opinion/26thu1.html
Froomkin: 'No One Suffers More Than the President'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/25/BL2007042501330.html
First Lady Laura Bush said this morning that "no one suffers more" than the president and she do when watching television footage of the carnage in Iraq -- potentially opening her up to charges that the first family is too removed from the anguish of American troops and their families.
RELATED: Ranting at Reality on Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/opinion/26thu2.html
Greenberg, Minoff: A Plan to Cut Poverty in Half
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502442.html
For too many years, political leaders in both parties have had too little to say about poverty in America. There are some important signs that things are changing. Today, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing devoted to discussing solutions to poverty. It will be their fourth poverty-focused hearing this year, and it's clear that they want to do more than just talk. Why now? The answer goes beyond last year's election returns. In 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg created an Economic Opportunity Commission and charged it with developing strategies to expand opportunity and reduce poverty. The U.S. Conference of Mayors established a Task Force on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. In the faith community, Catholic Charities USA and Sojourners/Call to Renewal have launched poverty reduction campaigns.
Almond: Our addiction to violence
LAST WEEK'S massacre at Virginia Tech, in which a student named Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, then took his own life, set off a predictable frenzy of media coverage. For a full week -- while bodies of presumably less divine origin piled up in Iraq and elsewhere -- America threw itself an elaborate, televised wake.
Guns and More Guns
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/opinion/26thu4.html
By now, the logic is almost automatic. A shooter takes innocent lives, and someone says that if the victims had been armed, this wouldn’t have happened. The only solution to a gun in the wrong hands, it seems, is a gun in the hands of everyone.
Kurlansky: 70 years of 'shock and awe'
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-kurlansky26apr26,0,5552374.story?coll=la-opinion-center
The 1937 air raid on the Basque city of Guernica ushered in the modern concept of total war.
Meyerson: Unions for a Global Economy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502409.html
The business press has barely noticed and the usual champions of globalization have been mute, but an announcement last week in Ottawa signaled a radical new direction for the globalized economy. The United Steelworkers -- that venerable, Depression-era creation of John L. Lewis and New Deal labor policy -- entered into merger negotiations with two of Britain's largest unions (which are merging with each other next month) to create not only the first transatlantic but the first genuinely multinational trade union.
A choice in Mexico
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-mexico26apr26,0,3675821.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Women in Mexico City will be able to obtain an abortion legally, unlike in most of Latin America.
Inherited Persecution
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502564.html
China imprisons the son of a human rights activist.
Prescription for trouble
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-fda26apr26,0,3018089.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
ALMOST AS SOON as antibiotics came into widespread use during World War II — allowing battlefield doctors to cure once-fatal infections — bacteria started evolving to resist the miracle drugs. The medical profession further eroded antibiotics' effectiveness by prescribing them too blithely, sometimes for the wrong illnesses; patients chipped in by stopping their medications too soon. Now a drug company wants to use an important human antibiotic on beef cattle, another major way in which antibiotic resistance is bred. The Food and Drug Administration should deny the request.
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