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TOP STORIES
Effective and Ethical Government
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Effective and Ethical Government
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/042707.htm
TOP STORIES
National
Senate Sends War Timetable To Bush's Desk
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602469.html
The Senate approved a $124 billion Iraq war spending bill yesterday that would force troop withdrawals to begin as early as July 1, inviting President Bush's veto even as party leaders and the White House launch talks to resolve their differences. The 51 to 46 vote was a triumph for Democrats, who just weeks ago worried about the political wisdom of a veto showdown with the commander in chief as troops fight on the battlefield. But Democrats are hesitant no more. And now that withdrawal language has passed both houses of Congress, even Republicans acknowledge that Bush won't get the spending bill that he has demanded, one with no strings attached. Bush is expected to veto the bill early next week. But bipartisan negotiations have already started on a compromise to cool the red-hot war debate, at least on the funding front.
RELATED: Congress sets terms of Iraq exit
RELATED: Showdown time
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/27/showdown_time/
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/MILITARY
Panel Seeks Records of Political Briefings at Agencies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602710.html
A House committee chairman asked 27 federal departments and agencies yesterday to turn over information related to White House briefings about elections or political candidates, substantially widening the scope of a congressional investigation into the administration's compliance with the law that restricts partisan political activity by government employees. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, made the requests after the White House acknowledged that aides to Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, had presented 20 briefings on the "political landscape" to senior federal appointees, last year and this year. An undetermined number of briefings were held in previous years, a spokesman said. Waxman asked that the information be submitted by mid-May, including the dates, times, locations and names of attendees of briefings that occurred from 2001 until this month, as well as any related "communications and documents." Waxman's committee has the authority to subpoena the data if the Bush administration declines to provide them voluntarily.
RELATED: Probe of White House political operations moves ahead
RELATED: White House says it held employee briefings on GOP races
RELATED: White House Calls Political Briefings Legal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27hatch.html
More Bush administration scandal news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT
Candidates Unite in Criticizing Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602593.html
Democratic presidential candidates largely set aside their differences here Thursday and presented a united front of opposition to President Bush and his Iraq policy, urging the president not to veto newly passed legislation that sets a timetable for beginning the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the conflict. In their first debate of the 2008 campaign, the Democrats showed some disagreement over the issue of cutting off funding for the war and vied with one another to demonstrate their willingness to retaliate swiftly if the United States is attacked by terrorists. But they found common ground in accusing Bush of making the country less safe and damaging U.S. relations abroad through foreign policy and argued that the president is ignoring the will of the American people by refusing to shift course dramatically in Iraq.
RELATED: Democratic Hopefuls Show Political Heft
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602957.html
RELATED: Democrats get their first close-up
More 2008 presidential race news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, COLORADO/ELECTION
States see new fights on abortion
Buoyed by last week's victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion opponents in various states are dusting off old laws and drafting new ones to curb access to the nation's most controversial medical procedure. In the past week, North Dakota's legislature passed a law that would ban virtually all abortions, the Missouri House voted to tighten regulation of abortion clinics and two federal appeals courts were asked to lift injunctions blocking enforcement of state abortion bans. At the same time, state and federal abortion-rights advocates are stepping up their efforts as well and announced plans to seek laws guaranteeing women the right to terminate a pregnancy.
More reproductive choice news in NATIONAL/CHOICE
Colorado
Ritter tax plan hanging on
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5507541,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to boost school revenue squeaked to preliminary approval in the House on Thursday amid Republican charges that it is a tax increase and Democratic rebuttals. The proposal would curtail scheduled property tax reductions in most districts, increasing school funding by about $55 million in the second year of operation. Some 33 districts with the highest tax rates would see a rate reduction. Some of the lowest-funded school districts would get more money. The plan was adopted in a voice vote as an amendment to Senate Bill 199, the annual school finance bill. The amended bill could come up for a final vote this morning, when 33 votes would be needed for passage. In a lengthy debate, Republicans repeated charges that the program Ritter calls a rate "freeze" is actually a tax hike.
RELATED: House narrowly backs school funding plan
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760251
RELATED: Tax freeze for school funds passes House
http://www.gazette.com/articles/tax_21667___article.html/school_freeze.html
RELATED: Dems rebuff cries of 'increase,' maintain freeze in property-tax rates
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/27/4_27_1a_School_Finance.html
RELATED: School-tax plan scores House win
RELATED: School Finance Act becoming election issue
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/8
More school funding news in COLORADO/EDUCATION
Amendment 41 bill signed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5507527,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter signed a bill Thursday that supporters say brings clarity to Amendment 41. Senate Bill 210 creates the ethics commission required in Amendment 41 and offers guidelines to commission members on reviewing complaints. The bill's passage ends a tumultuous effort to implement Amendment 41, the so-called ethics-in-government law that voters approved last year. The amendment sparked concerns over whether government workers' children could receive scholarships or whether blizzard victims could accept donations. "We are pleased that . . . government employees can go on with their private lives without fearing the scare tactics that suggested scholarships or blizzard relief would violate the law," said Mark Grueskin, the attorney for a coalition formed to implement Amendment 41.
RELATED: Supreme Court silent on ethics law
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760247
House OKs self-sufficiency standards bill
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070427/NEWS01/704270331/1002
The Colorado House passed a bill Thursday that will develop "self-sufficiency" standards for each county that will give residents an idea of what kind of income they'll need to maintain a basic lifestyle. "This bill brings to light the true cost of living in various parts of our state," said Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, who sponsored the bill with Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood. "We're empowering families with information that could help them get off of welfare and put them on a path toward financial independence." The House voted 39-22 to approve the bill. The Senate voted 20-15 earlier this month in favor of the bill, so it now goes to Gov. Bill Ritter for action. Committee and floor votes on the bill generally have been along party lines, with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans against. Republican leaders said adopting the self-sufficiency standard could be used to expand the number of people qualifying for social-service programs.
Lawmaker's 'get out of jail free' example not completely accurate
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5507529,00.html
A state lawmaker didn't have all the facts when she testified that a teen rape victim ran into her attacker a few weeks later, back on the street, after he'd been deported to Mexico, Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said Thursday. Before a House committee Wednesday, Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument, held up Gabriel Chavez-Hurtado as an example of an illegal immigrant who received a "get-out-of-jail- free card." That is when a violent offender, in the United States illegally, agrees to deportation, opening the door for a defense attorney to have his state criminal charges wiped clean, she said. Quick gave this account of the case: The victim-attacker encounter in Adams County did occur, but charges against Chavez-Hurtado were never dropped, as Stephens implied Wednesday.
More immigration policy news in NATIONAL/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/IMMIGRATION
Election
Back of the pack comes forward
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5507831,00.html
Going into the debate, many political observers focused on the three perceived front-runners, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, and Edwards, who has been leading most early Iowa polls. But on Thursday night, "The back of the pack candidates - (Sen.) Chris Dodd, (Sen.) Joseph Biden and (New Mexico Gov.) Bill Richardson - did themselves more good than the front-runners," said David Yepsen, the influential political columnist from the Des Moines Register. Overall, neither Clinton nor any other candidate made the types of major flubs that could derail a candidacy, said Peverill Squire, political science professor at the University of Iowa.
RELATED: Dems clash in hopefuls' first debate
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5760552
Despite slips, Hick feels the love
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5507826,00.html
As Mayor John Hickenlooper cruises toward re-election Tuesday against a little known opponent, Denver's two previous mayors could be forgiven for looking on with envy. Both Wellington Webb and Federico Peña faced fierce challenges when they sought re-election to second terms. Their first years in office were marked by controversy, and there was widespread criticism of their performance. While both men are now respected for accomplishments that changed the face of Denver, they had to fight to stay in office. The contrast with Hickenlooper is startling. His only opponent is Danny Lopez, a city employee who is spending no money to campaign. Hickenlooper continues to have stellar approval ratings, and it is difficult to find many people in Denver's political world who will publicly criticize him.
Greeley weighs road funding measure
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070427/NEWS01/704270327/1002
Efforts to form a transportation authority to fund regional road and transit projects might have hit a setback Tuesday as the Greeley City Council moved toward putting its own tax proposal for transportation on the city ballot.
Effective and Ethical Government
Senators head back to drawing board
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/1
Knowing that President Bush will veto the Iraq war supplemental bill, Colorado's two senators both acknowledged the Senate would have to start over next week in fashioning a defense supplemental bill that the White House will accept - one without a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Sen. Ken Salazar voted with other Democrats in approving the $123 billion supplemental Thursday on a party-line vote but said the Senate would have to work on a bipartisan basis next week in writing a new bill that would provide needed funds for the war effort in Iraq. "Not since Vietnam has the American public been so divided," Salazar said, noting that both Republicans and Democrats want to bring home U.S. troops as soon as possible. "I am concerned that the bitterness and the harshness of the debate clouds good judgment on the future direction in Iraq." Allard, a Republican who said the Democratic bill was a "surrender" to terrorism, criticized the Democratic leadership for being slow to meet with Army Gen. David Petraeus on Wednesday. Petraeus is the new U.S. commander in Iraq.
RELATED: Salazar discusses Iraq, school safety
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/04/26/local_news/2.txt
Musgrave opens downtown Greeley office
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070427/NEWS/70426010
Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., has relocated her Greeley office to downtown. The new office is at 822 7th St., Suite No. 9. Office hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number is (970) 352-4037. "I relocated my office to this location to provide an office that is convenient for people in the area. I also wish to help contribute to the growth of downtown Greeley," said Musgrave in a prepared statement.
QUIT WHINING AND PUT ON YOUR DIAPERS (Roll Call, April 27)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5507523,00.html
The Bathroom War continued Thursday at the Capitol. It started this week when, at the request of Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, lobbyists were banned from using the bathroom near the second-floor Senate chambers. He complained about being lobbied in the can. Lobbyists aren't too happy . "I'm going to run a resolution to ask Senate members to donate a buck or two to buy a couple of boxes of Depends . . . for some of these whining lobbyists," Hagedorn joked. Thursday morning, a sign reading "No senators allowed" was briefly posted on a men's bathroom in the Capitol basement.
GOP SPRING CHICKENS (EXTRA!, April 27)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507825,00.html
So much for the myth that Senate Republicans are - in their their own words - "doddering harrumphers who haven't danced since the jitterbug and who spend the interim feeding pigeons from a park bench." Last year's election brought three young guns to Senate Republicans, once deemed the "geezer caucus" by their very minority leader, Sen. Andy McElhany. The average age of Senate Republicans is 53, while the average age for Democrats is 55. "We're obviously younger, hipper and maybe even sexier than some might have thought." McElhany, 66, of Colorado Springs " I'm going to throw away my whole box of Depends." Sen. Ken Kester, 71, of Las Animas, Source: coloradosenatenews.com
Fire chief quits
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507866,00.html
Evergreen Fire Chief Joel Janov resigned Thursday, a day before volunteer firefighters planned to present petitions seeking his ouster. Janov was unavailable for comment. "He doesn't want to be a distraction or a hindrance, so he voluntarily stepped down," said Jim Licko of Webb Public Relations, the department's communications consultant. Janov has been at the center of a conflict between the department's 85 volunteers and the district board over centralizing decision-making and limiting firefighters' authority.
RELATED: Evergreen fire chief resigns
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5759655
Aurora to put fire chief on leave today
The city of Aurora will place Fire Chief Casey Jones on administrative leave today. City officials Thursday did not provide a specific reason, but CBS 4 News investigator Brian Maass recently aired two investigations detailing how Jones was golfing during scheduled workdays. The city manager's office issued a statement that said, "This action will better enable all parties to thoroughly assess options to best serve the needs of the organization and of the Aurora community." Deputy Chief Dan Martinelli has been designated acting fire chief. Jones, who will continue to receive his salary while on suspension, makes $138,419 a year and receives 23 vacation and personal days.
RELATED: Fire chief on leave over claims of affair, golf
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760054
Alamosa manager leaving county job
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/18
County administrator and controller Herry Andrews resigned Wednesday. He is leaving to become director of accounting at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo. Andrews said Thursday he made the move to rejoin his wife, who has been in Wyoming for four years.
MV Town Council fills Fansler's seat
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/04/27/news/news01.txt
When they filled the outgoing mayor's seat, the Mountain Village Town Council sought a familiar face: Bob Trenary. In a 4-2 vote on Wednesday, councilmen appointed Trenary to fill the seat vacated by Davis Fansler. Council's decision represents a lean toward political experience in a year that will see four of the seven council seats up for election this summer.
Plan sketches future of city core
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5507800,00.html
Imagine wider sidewalks in downtown Denver with more trees and landscaping. Fewer one-way streets. Buildings on the Auraria campus fronting Speer Boulevard. A half-dozen neighborhoods as distinct as LoDo. A downtown school that would encourage more young families to live in the city. These are a few of the ideas being floated for the Downtown Denver Area Plan, a wide-ranging vision for downtown that would guide the growth of the city's core and surrounding neighborhoods over the next two decades.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Women committed to fighting for rights
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/tibet-protesters-women-committed-to-fighting-for/
Two women with Boulder ties detained by the Chinese government after protesting the Beijing Olympics and calling for the independence of Tibet share a passion for human rights, friends and family say. Four Americans with Students for a Free Tibet were taken away Wednesday after holding up a banner at the base of Mount Everest that said "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008."
RELATED: China expels 5 Americans, including Colorado woman
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070427/NEWS/70427002
Sand Creek to be dedicated as historic site
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507806,00.html
A remote southeastern Colorado streambed where a day of horror still echoes will be dedicated Saturday as the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. On Nov. 29, 1864, more than 700 U.S. Army troops attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho who were sleeping under a U.S. flag on the stream's sandy banks. By day's end, about 150 were killed - mostly women and children - and the volunteer militia had mutilated the corpses for "trophies" that were later paraded on Denver's streets. "The site will provoke thoughts about the larger issues of humanity and what happens when fear of our cultural differences provokes violence," said Alexa Roberts, the site's superintendent.
Utes’ decision to ban flag out of respect
The Southern Ute Indian Tribal Council has released a statement clarifying its decision to prohibit a U.S. flag from flying atop a construction crane on the reservation. In the two-page statement, the council says that placing a U.S. flag or a tribal flag on top of the crane, where there is no permanent flagpole, would be improper treatment for either symbol. It goes on to say that the council's decision was made to protect the flags from being "torn to shreds by the high winds" or being blown to the ground. "We want to emphasize that our decision was the result of a profound respect for and pride in the symbols of our two nations," the statement says. "The Tribal Council's respect for these symbols led to our decision to not fly either flag from the top of a crane on tribal land."
RELATED: Action OK with tribal members
Immigration
Allard: ICE office coming to Greeley
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070427/NEWS/104270116
After heated debate from opponents and supporters, plans to create a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in Greeley are now official. According to representatives from U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard's office, the Department of Homeland Security has completed its survey to determine the need for a Greeley office and the answer is yes. "I am very happy with the results and perseverance of Sen. Allard's efforts," said Weld District Attorney Ken Buck, who has pursued plans for an ICE office since November 2005. "I think they are going to help Greeley police by deporting more gang members and help with issues of identity theft." Rather than opening a new office, Homeland Security will relocate its existing office in Brush to Greeley, according to the department's survey report.
Raids take toll on immigrant kin left behind
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/17
A tool that's grown important for federal officials battling illegal immigration is being criticized for its effects on families left behind. Flora Archuleta, who heads the San Luis Valley Immigrant Resource Center, said the families left behind when people are deported are turned upside down by workplace raids like the one conducted by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents last week in Monte Vista. "They have no idea what they are going to do," she said. One woman, whose husband was detained in the raid last week, said the biggest blow from the raids was to her three children.
Firms form immigration coalition
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5507287,00.html
A broad range of Colorado employers have formed a coalition aimed at lobbying Congress for a guest-worker program and other changes in immigration policies. The group, known as "Colorado Employers for Immigration Reform," will officially launch the new organization on Wednesday. Participation is open to any employer in the state. "It's several industries coming together," said Kristen Fefes, executive director of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, a trade group. Fefes, who is helping to organize the effort, said the group has been working with a lot of associations to get the coalition up and running. More details will be announced next week, she said.
Health Care and Public Safety
A vow unfulfilled for ill nuclear workers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507526,00.html
The government still hasn't paid the money it promised 5,600 sick nuclear weapons workers up to three years ago, the Rocky Mountain News has learned. The former employees received letters authorizing them for a program that pays for medical care, lost wages and permanent health impairment. But none has received the cash, which can reach $250,000 for total disability. The Department of Labor didn't discover the problem until late 2006. Officials said that more than half of the 5,600 eligible workers did not file the necessary paperwork, even though the department says it issued proper instructions. But the Rocky found two workers who were given incorrect information.
RELATED: Flats workers to confront panel
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760550
Legislators in dark about readiness
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/disaster-planning-legislators-in-dark-about/
Colorado has an elaborate plan to ensure state government will function in natural disaster or terror attack. There's just one problem — someone forgot to tell the lawmakers. The clandestine blueprint, kept in a notebook carried by a state patrol trooper at the Capitol, includes secret locations to house legislative leaders and a chain of command if the governor and lieutenant governor were incapacitated. But lawmakers — including some who could potentially run the state if other top leaders were injured or killed — say they're puzzled about how it will work if no one knows where to go or what to do. "We're so essential they forgot to tell us," said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, a Democrat, who is third in line if the governor and lieutenant governor are incapacitated. The plan, dubbed Continuity of Government, was developed with funds from the Homeland Security Department in 2003. It covers any disruption or attack that could shut down the Capitol or state agencies, ranging from a blizzard to total destruction.
Here's smokin' at you
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760056
While judges and lawmakers tinker with Colorado's anti-smoking law, jovial Louise Dolph vows to provide the last oasis for people who want to drink and enjoy a few drags on a cigarette at the end of a hard day. Dolph manages Stein's Tavern in the middle of a block of faded storefronts on Pecos Street. Here, where Sheila and Rick Soderberg nurse beers and puff away every night, Dolph cheerily declares that smoking will be allowed as long as a loophole remains in a state law that otherwise banned the practice in bars and restaurants last year. "These are just hard-working people, and they should be allowed to smoke here if they want to," Dolph said. "I just think the police have better things to do than come in here and see if we are smoking," added Rick Soderberg, while his wife, Sheila, nodded. Stein's Tavern claims the cigar-bar exemption - under the law, smoking is allowed as long as owners can show that 5 percent or $50,000 of sales are from tobacco.
RELATED: Put money on casino smoke ban
http://www.gazette.com/articles/casinos_21647___article.html/smoking_casino.html
Meth task force to meet
http://postindependent.com/article/20070427/VALLEYNEWS/104270046
If you haven't been negatively affected by methamphetamine in some way or know someone who has, you're in the minority. That's one message of the recently established Garfield County Methamphetamine Task Force. The task force, with the ultimate goal of eradicating meth in local communities, holds its first meeting geared towards the public on Tuesday, May 1. Interested members of the public are invited to attend the meeting. The purpose is to educate the people about the drug and its dangers. "Methamphetamine is prevalent in Western Colorado and is moving toward epidemic proportions," a poster about the meeting says.
Crackdown on animal torture advances
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5507543,00.html
State lawmakers Thursday recounted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's abuse of animals in the debate over a bill to tighten animal cruelty laws. "People who abuse animals have an indifference to suffering, which is a precursor to crimes against humans," said the bill's sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver. "That's why it's important to take it seriously." The Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee voted 4-1 to advance House Bill 1235. It would close a loophole that lets an abuser escape felony prosecution for animal torture.
RELATED: Pit bull death included on top cruelty case list
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15992
Crime and Penal Reform
Bill to add judgeships earns early support
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/27/4_27_Judgeships_bill.html
A bill poised to create 43 new judgeships over the next three years earned tentative support Thursday morning despite Republican lawmakers decrying the bill’s effect on transportation funding. House Bill 1054, which will add one district court judge in Mesa County as early as this summer, passed its first full vote in the Senate nearly five months after it was introduced. Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, said the passage of the judgeship bill is absolutely essential to abating Colorado courts’ deep civil-case backlogs. Court filings have increased 139 percent since 1976, while the number of judges has increased only 48 percent, according to statistics from the Colorado Judicial Branch. Senate Minority Leader Andrew McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, said he understands the need to expand Colorado’s judiciary, but it should not come at the expense of roads and construction funding.
450 officers make sweeping gang arrests
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507828,00.html
Hundreds of law enforcement officers descended on metro Denver on Thursday, ripping drugs and money out of walls, taking weapons stashed under beds and hauling away boxes of cash, drugs and other items, including bulletproof vests and three grenades. Forty-nine people were arrested in what authorities called the largest gang takedown in Colorado history. The suspects were indicted on federal gun, drug and money- laundering charges. Authorities also said the suspects could be linked to 10 to 12 unsolved murders, including the Jan. 1 killing of Denver Bronco Darrent Williams. It is "very, very likely" the arrests will lead to charges in some of those cases, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said.
RELATED: Man linked to Darrent Williams case on feds' list
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507827,00.html
RELATED: Historic "gang takedown"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760551
RELATED: Donors not in on gang tackle
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760055
Ritter touts CBI hotline success
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507002,00.html
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to release figures tomorrow about the success of Safe2Tell — a Colorado Bureau of Investigation hotline staffed by trained personnel, said its director, Susan Payne. Callers are able to maintain anonymity if they feel they have a threatening situation to report.
RELATED: Bullying top concern for kids
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760644
Tampering in murder case probed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507834,00.html
Greeley police are investigating possible evidence tampering in the homicide case against Shawna Nelson, who is accused of killing the wife of a police officer with whom she had an affair. According to a search warrant affidavit unsealed in Weld County District Court on Thursday, investigators had tapped "countless" phone calls Nelson made after she was jailed in the Jan. 23 fatal shooting of Heather Garraus, 37. On Feb. 4, police said they heard Nelson, wife of a former Weld County sheriff's deputy, call her older sister and ask her to delete photographs that were stored in a Verizon account she had set up on her home computer.
RELATED: Court records reveal new twist in murder case
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070427/NEWS/104270117
Law firm sued over forgery by attorney
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507528,00.html
A prominent Denver law firm is being sued after one of its attorneys forged a federal judge's signature on a legal document. The forgery allowed one of Faegre & Benson's clients to obtain a loan and pay the firm for work, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S District Court in Colorado. The attorney, Mark W. Fischer, admitted in a two-page letter that on April 25, 2005, that he "fabricated a false document which purported to be an order" signed by Judge Philip -Figa to release a lien against his client's property. The lien had been entered against Judy Heumann after Infant Swimming Research won a breach-of-contract lawsuit against her. "I accept full and sole responsibility for any and all improper conduct associated with this matter," Fischer wrote in the letter to federal magistrate Michael E. Hegarty. Fischer said he asked Heumann to give $90,000 to his firm to deposit in court as bond for the release of the lien. Fischer said the money was never deposited.
Columbine kin to appeal deposition seal
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5759656
A lawyer for the parents of two Columbine High School victims filed formal notice Thursday that they will appeal a federal judge's decision to keep statements by the gunmen's parents secret for 20 years. U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock ruled April 2 that depositions by the parents of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would remain sealed for 20 years. The depositions were made for a civil lawsuit that was settled out of court. Several Columbine parents, scholars and law-enforcement officials had argued the depositions should be opened at least to researchers in hopes they could help prevent future school shootings.
Lamar takes the stand in rape trial
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/lamar-takes-the-stand-in-rape-trial/
"I had no idea that she wouldn't have done this," Lamar told jurors. "I didn't have the foggiest idea this would happen. ... That's the honest truth." Lamar later told jurors during prosecutor Ingrid Bakke's cross-examination that the woman told him "no," but that "no sometimes means yes." "I pushed the envelope, the boundaries," Lamar said. The woman's "no" was because she had just met him and they had no condoms, Lamar said. Bakke took issue with Lamar's shrugging-off the characterization of being a rapist, asking if he listened to the testimony of two other women who accused him of sexual assault. He was convicted in one case.
CSI volunteers no sit-at-homes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507835,00.html
Some folks get their kicks on a Friday night staying home watching CSI re-runs on television. Others, like Kymbal Lindsay, Beth Walson and Cathy Verbrugge, would rather take turns standing on a wet metal lawn chair on a cold spring night, dusting for fingerprints on a rear window that was forced open by a burglar. None of the three women is a crime scene investigator. They just look like one on nights when they serve as volunteers assigned to the CSI unit of the Denver Police Department.
Economy
Nacchio's lawyers to seek retrial
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5507286,00.html
Joe Nacchio's attorneys on Thursday said they intend to seek a new trial based in part on grounds an error "may have been committed" when the court narrowed the prospective juror pool from 1,000 to 78 before the jury selection process. The statement came in a motion filed by Nacchio's attorneys in U.S. District Court in Colorado to get the responses to the 1,000 pretrial questionnaires sent by the court to potential jurors. Former Qwest CEO Nacchio last week was convicted on 19 counts of insider trading covering $52 million of stock sales in April and May 2001. He faces roughly 10 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for July 27. "To the extent that (a) potential juror's answer to the questionnaire did not demonstrate bias justifying automatic excusal, the court's unknown method for winnowing the (pool) from 1,000 to 78 may have constituted error warranting the grant of a new trial," states the motion by Nacchio's attorneys.
RELATED: Civil-fraud case against Nacchio to move forward
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5506925,00.html
RELATED: Nacchio lawyers want jury questionnaires
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5758121
RELATED: Civil case proceeds vs. Nacchio
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5760217
Funds ask feds to reconsider
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5760216
Venture-capital companies, including at least a handful in Colorado, are asking the federal government to reconsider its decision to scale back investing money with venture capitalists. The U.S. Small Business Administration in 2004 stopped granting new licenses to venture-capital funds under a public-private partnership called the Participating Securities Program. Firms with existing licenses can continue to draw money from the SBA until 2008. The program had allowed venture funds that raised $10 million or more to receive a two-to-one match from the federal government, supplementing money raised from private or institutional investors.
Newmont's earnings tumble
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5760340
High gold prices weren't enough to save Denver's Newmont Mining Corp. from a 67 percent drop in profits during the first quarter caused by rising costs. The company reported net income Thursday for the first quarter of $68 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with $209 million, or 47 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2006. Investors pummeled Newmont's stock, driving it down 2.3 percent to close at $43.18. It fell further in after-hours trading. The earnings hit resulted from unexpected startup costs at a Nevada mine; high production costs at several large mines, including Yanacocha in Peru; and exchange-rate problems in Australia, where Newmont has major operations, company executives said.
CBI raids poker Wheat Ridge poker business
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5506915,00.html
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has seized documents and records from the Wheat Ridge office of the Amateur Poker Tour as part of an investigation into suspected illegal gambling operations. The poker company holds "Texas Hold 'Em" and other poker games in area bars and restaurants. The bars and restaurants. hoping to bring in business, pay the company to stage the games. At issue is a $199 quarterly fee charged by the poker company for a VIP Gold Card, giving holders a different prize than those playing for free. "An illegal poker game is one in which players pay a fee to play," said CBI Agent Ralph Gagliardi. Social poker games are legal, but when a host or organizer charges any kind of fee for participation, Colorado law defines the game as illegal.
RELATED: Poker tour offices raided
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5757930
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
State AFL-CIO chief reaches agreement to quit amicably
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5507285,00.html
Colorado AFL-CIO President Steve Adams agreed to resign from his position rather than fight his pending removal from the group's payroll in mid-May. "I have struck a deal with the national AFL to leave amicably," Adams said. "This puts them in the best place to move forward to continue the successes that we had." Adams' resignation comes during a tumultuous period for the state AFL-CIO. In January, the national office took control of the Colorado labor group to address conflicts between its two principal officers. A Colorado AFL-CIO advisory committee voted this month to remove Adams and Secretary-Treasurer Paul Mendrick from the payroll at the end of the state legislative session.
RELATED: Colorado's AFL-CIO chief resigns
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5760338
Housing and Homelessness
Vacancies sink to 7.1%
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5507283,00.html
If you're an apartment renter, it might be a good time to lock in a long-term lease. The average vacancy rate has fallen to a six-year low for a first quarter, while average rents are down slightly, according to a report released Thursday by Gordon E. Von Stroh, professor at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. Typically, when occupancies rise, so do rental payments.
RELATED: Apartment construction surges
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5760213
Carbondale tackles occupancy issue
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070426/NEWS/70426003
A new ordinance governing residential occupancy — specifically, overcrowding — won approval from Carbondale trustees Tuesday after several years of discussion. The issue was highlighted on national TV last fall when NBC aired the immigration special “In the Shadow of the American Dream.” The show featured a “family” of 18 people living in one home in Carbondale. The occupancy ordinance will give the town the tools it needs to address the impacts related to so many people living in one space. The most common impacts are excessive trash, parking constraints and noise.
It’s R.I.P. for Meadows housing
http://postindependent.com/article/20070427/VALLEYNEWS/70426005
A proposed 120-unit lower-income apartment project at Glenwood Meadows is dead after a key piece of funding couldn’t be obtained. Robert Macgregor, whose Aspen-based Dunrene Group owns the land where the apartments would have been built, said the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority turned down a request for $8.9 million in tax credits.
Media
Post reporters garner Best of West awards
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5759653
Denver Post journalists recently won several awards in the prestigious "Best of the West" contest for papers in states stretching from Colorado to Alaska and Hawaii. Former Post staff writer Eric Gorski was awarded first place in the Business and Financial Reporting category for "The Gospel of Prosperity," a look at the finances of the Heritage Christian Center. Judges called the series "a great example of watchdog journalism." Gorski recently joined The Associated Press as a national religion writer. The series "Truth Be Tolled," which exposed how inflated-revenue estimates are used to sell toll-road projects to investors, was awarded second place in Growth and Development Reporting. The series was reported and written by staff writers Chuck Plunkett and Jeffrey Leib.
Education
5 questions for Roy Romer
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5507803,00.html
Roy Romer didn't get enough of education in the six years he spent running the Los Angeles Unified School District. The former Colorado governor this week announced he will lead a national bipartisan effort aimed at making education a top priority in the 2008 presidential campaign. Funded with $60 million from philanthropists Bill Gates and Eli Broad, the Strong American Schools effort - known as "Ed in '08" - will focus on three areas, as Romer, 78, explained by phone Thursday:
Online school hit with big bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5507524,00.html
Hope Co-op Online Learning Academy must refund $3.8 million in state aid for students who cannot be adequately documented, Colorado Education Department auditors said in a report released Thursday. At issue for Hope are 610 students who may not have been in attendance with the online program for enough hours per day to qualify for full funding. The auditors also criticized Hope for failing to maintain adequate records on students at its headquarters in Centennial. Many of the records were kept at the school's 79 "learning centers," which are run by subcontractors, at locations mostly in the Denver area.
RELATED: Audit shows state overpaid Vilas schools
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760642
RELATED: Hope online school to repay $3.9 million
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/2
Web school bill gets Senate nod
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/3
After much rewriting, a measure designed to hold online education programs more accountable won preliminary approval in the Colorado Senate on Thursday. The measure was introduced by Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, as a result of a critical audit last year of online education programs in the state, particularly the Hope Online Learning Academy Co-op, which was contracted as a charter school through the Vilas RE-5 School District in Baca County. According to that audit, conducted by the State Auditor's Office, online programs are trailing traditional schools on state assessment tests, and the Colorado Department of Education isn't overseeing what they do. As a result, Windels introduced SB215 as an attempt to bring some accountability to the programs. Though she was forced to back away from some of her initial proposals, she promised to return next year with more changes.
RELATED: Senate OKs measure to regulate online education programs
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5507525,00.html
RELATED: Senate accord fleshes out online schools' oversight
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760253
Instructor tenure?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
CU instructor Suzanne Hudson says she's lost her job eleven times. “As a lecturer, I've lost my job every year,” she said in a speech for CU faculty last week. “Each time, I've been successful in persuading administrators to enter into a new contract with me. But, frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of the process. I think it's time CU gave me tenure.” Hudson and the American Association of University Professors are advocating a new kind of tenure - “instructor tenure,” given for teaching and service, which differs from professorial tenure, which includes a research requirement.
PCC president hopefuls visit, share some ideas
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/6
Improved marketing and innovative ideas were among suggestions two candidates for the president's position at Pueblo Community College said would help boost enrollment. "We are the best unknown secret in the world," said James Richardson, a fundraising consultant assisting nonprofit organizations. "We need to take our dog and pony show on the road."
RELATED: Two more to speak today in college's leader search
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/7
Community airs concerns on School Board's budget process
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26336
More than 80 community members turned out Thursday afternoon to plead their cases against possible program and staff cuts to the Moffat County School District Board of Education. As the lowest per pupil funded district in the state, Moffat County administrators and the board have been lobbying legislators for change in school finance law. But Superintendent Pete Bergmann said reducing district expenditures is inevitable, regardless of possible increased state funding.
Historical society weighs museum in Civic Center
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507832,00.html
The Colorado Historical Society is exploring building a museum in Civic Center. Discussions have begun with Denver and the state to build on the lawn southeast of the City and County Building. The site was originally earmarked for an art museum in a 1917 plan for Civic Center.
'Safe Schools' aims to stop student violence
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507542,00.html
Teachers, mental health specialists, police and other professionals are spending two days learning how to prevent angry students from becoming violent and hurting others. Organized by the Colorado Attorney General's Office, Safe Schools - the Next Generation was held at the Park Meadows Marriott Conference Center on Thursday and continues today. The event was sold out; more than 550 people applied for the 250 seats. "Part of our challenge is that everyone concerned about school safety has other full-time jobs, such as administration and teaching," said organizer Jeanne Smith of the Colorado Department of Public Safety. "So we have to make school safety a priority, rather than just tucked in as a part of their responsibilities."
RELATED: BVSD reviews how to handle school threats
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/bvsd-reviews-how-to-handle-school-threats/
RELATED: Feds to meet with Ritter
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/school-violence-feds-to-meet-with-ritter/
Parents get letters explaining response to threats at 2 junior highs
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070427/NEWS01/704270330/1002
Principals from two Fort Collins junior high schools sent letters home with students Thursday chronicling responses to "low level" threats made at the schools earlier this month. Dana Calkins, principal at Boltz Junior High School, and Sandy Bickel, principal at Webber Junior High, each sent the notes home to parents to better explain incidences at the schools reported in Thursday's Coloradoan. A Webber seventh-grader has been disciplined after a teacher found a "hit list" the girl had compiled, something administrators have characterized as a "joke." "We thought, being a low-level incident, we only needed to talk to the parents of those involved," Bickel said of her decision to not notify parents of the incident. "Once it became public, we felt it was critical to inform parents." Minor incidences such as this are not uncommon at the school, Bickel said, and notices are not sent to all parents in those instances either.
Walker hands in resignation
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/27/4_27_1A_Walker_resigns.html
Johnnie Walker resigned Thursday as Grand Junction High School activities director, one day after he was charged with three felony counts in connection with his alleged sexual solicitation of a man posing as a 14-year-old girl. “As a result of the recent allegations made against me, I believe it is in the best interest of all, and most importantly, of the students, that I submit my resignation,” Walker wrote in a two-paragraph letter, which was addressed to the Mesa County School District 51 Board of Education and given to Superintendent Tim Mills and District 51 attorney David Price. Walker’s resignation is effective immediately.
RELATED: GJ man accused of Internet luring gets tracking device removed
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070426/NEWS/104260087
'Dorm crasher' arrested again
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/dorm-crasher-arrested-again/
Ferguson, a Boulder County man who is not a CU student, is accused of 10 counts of second-degree burglary, two counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of harassment stemming from the Feb. 23 arrest. He has yet to go through the court system on those charges. He's now been arrested on suspicion of new charges, including a felony bond violation. He is accused of attempting to intimidate a victim of a crime, trespassing and unlawful conduct for coming onto the campus, according to his arrest report. At about 7 p.m. Wednesday, Ferguson followed a woman into Baker and asked whether there were security cameras in the dorm, explaining he could go to jail if he was caught in the building, according to the police report. He identified himself as the molester and said he needed to find one of his alleged victims to "clear things up," the report said. CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard commended the students who reported the intruder and for attempting to keep him out of their locked building.
RELATED: Dorm suspect rearrested
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Military
Fallen soldier makes final journey home
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507544,00.html
Cpl. Wade Oglesby, who put his life on hold to care for his family before joining the Army, came home Thursday, his casket borne by an Army honor guard a week after he was killed in an explosion in Taji, Iraq. With his brother, sister, other relatives and friends looking on, a somber 20-minute ceremony was conducted at Walker Field Airport in a silence broken only by the takeoff and landing of planes. The honor guard waited as Army escorts secured the American flag on the casket before slowly removing it from the chartered plane that brought Oglesby's body home. The honor guard then carried the casket to a waiting hearse. The funeral for Oglesby, 27, is scheduled Saturday morning with burial following in Grand Junction Memorial Gardens.
Soldier claims discipline issue stemmed from brain injury
http://www.gazette.com/articles/brain_21681___article.html/thurman_injury.html
An Army soldier claims he faces a disciplinary hearing for behavior he blames on a brain injury suffered during Special Forces training, which he said was ignored by his commanders, who sent him to Iraq anyway. Col. John Cho, commander of Fort Carson’s Evans Army Community Hospital, declined to comment on the case of Spc. Paul Thurman. Dee McNutt, spokeswoman for Fort Carson, said Thursday she would look into the case but a soldier’s health records are confidential and she could not comment on them. Thurman is scheduled to undergo an Article 15, which in Army lingo is “nonjudicial punishment.” Punishment from an Article 15 is limited to no more than 30 days in custody, some loss of pay and some extra duties. It can also result in a decision to conduct a court-martial. Thurman said his brain injuries caused the behavior that got him in trouble.
Resident guard speaks from Iraq
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=6804
He has spent the past 10 months in Iraq, fighting the sand, the wind, the heat and worst of all — insurgents, who can strike at any time and anywhere. And Staff Sgt. Bryon Crossno, Fremont County resident, believes in America’s role in the area. “I volunteered to be here,” he said. “I think we’re doing a very good thing in this area. There’s a huge improvement in the area since we’ve been here.” Son of Bill and Pauline Crossno of Florence, Crossno recently received a Combat Action Badge after an incident in Mozul, Iraq, in January.
Backers await Army's response on Pinon Canyon
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/5
Supporters of the Army's plan to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site believe the Pentagon will be able to make a compelling case to increase the training area - despite the growing list of state and federal lawmakers who are opposed to the expansion. "Once the Army has identified its area of interest around Pinon Canyon, they can begin to have a dialogue with area landowners," said retired Air Force Col. Brian Binn, president of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Division. "Tomorrow's Army needs larger training areas and Pinon Canyon and Fort Carson are inextricably linked."
Energy Policy
Denver running on empty
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5507804,00.html
Denver is seeing a severe crunch in gasoline supply, and pump prices likely will top $3 a gallon in the coming days, industry sources said. Oil refinery problems in Texas and Oklahoma - which supply Colorado with gasoline through pipelines - are the root cause of the shortage. And the situation is being exacerbated by rising demand ahead of the busy summer driving season. Pump prices could move toward $4 a gallon this summer if an event such as a severe hurricane or political crisis in an oil-producing nation further squeezes already tight gasoline supplies, analysts said. "There is no gas in Denver," said Bryant Gimlin, energy risk manager at Fort Lupton-based Gray Oil Co., a wholesale distributor of gasoline and diesel. "The situation here is worse than how it was after Hurricane Katrina."
Gas group release sparks questions
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/27/4_27_1a_Roan_Hearing.html
The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States announced in a scathing news release Thursday that a congressional field hearing about energy development on the Roan Plateau will be next week, but it did not substantiate its claims. Energy companies are “bracing” for the House Natural Resources Committee hearing, IPAMS claimed in the news release, which did not say which congressmen may be involved or provide a time or location for the hearing. It said the hearing will conflict with the “Fueling Thought: Trends in Energy” symposium scheduled for May 4 in Craig. Tara Trujillo, spokeswoman for Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., said Thursday that such a hearing may be “under discussion” but nothing has been scheduled. Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., visited Glenwood Springs in February to talk about the Roan Plateau at the invitation of conservation groups who want to the congressmen to introduce legislation curtailing potential energy development atop the Roan Plateau. The news release said the hearing was announced with one week’s notice, preventing Republicans, who no longer control the House Natural Resources Committee, from attending the hearing.
CSU-Pueblo steps toward renewable energy
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177685037/14
Colorado State University-Pueblo made a switch to renewable energy Thursday morning as officials unveiled two new solar panels that will provide power to the Technology Building. "We're hoping this will be the first of many efforts to improve long-term sustainability and our commitment to renewable energy," CSU-Pueblo President Joseph Garcia said at Thursday morning's dedication ceremony. The twin photovoltaic solar energy panels, located just south of the Technology Building, were installed this spring as part of a collaborative project with Smart Growth Advocates of Pueblo and EcoSol/EcoStruct.
For a brighter future
http://postindependent.com/article/20070427/VALLEYNEWS/104270043
More sunlight will find its way into Yampah Mountain High School - in the form of electricity.
Douglas, Jeffco outage continues
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5507495,00.html
At least 2,000 Intermountain Rural Electric Association customers, mainly in Jefferson and Douglas counties, remained without power into a third day Thursday as crews struggled to restore service. That number was expected to drop to 200 by this morning, said Bill Schroeder, IREA spokesman, adding that crews were working around the clock. Even so, Schroeder said, it could be as late as Saturday before power is restored to all homes affected by the outage.
RELATED: Power's out, but anger burns bright
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760058
RELATED: Ellicott still in the dark after storm
http://www.gazette.com/articles/water_21652___article.html/ellicott_power.html
Novelist shows life amid uranium ruin
She was an uranium miner's daughter. More precisely, a uranium mill worker's daughter. And like Loretta Lynn, the more famous coal-miner's daughter, Ann Cummins has made art of her life. Cummins was born in Durango when her father worked in the uranium mine here. Then the family moved to the Navajo reservation when her father's company opened a mill in Shiprock, N.M., Yellowcake is Cummins' first novel, though her volume of short stories Red Ant House attracted favorable reviews and sales. She centers the book on two families, one Anglo and one Navajo, who lived through the uranium boom and bust. As one of her characters says, uranium made money for one generation mining it and the next generation cleaning up the mess.
Environment and Conservation
Cherry Creek will flood today
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5762600
Police have issued a warning to joggers, bicyclists and the homeless that the Cherry Creek ditch and bike path could become flooded this morning. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will release a high volume of water today out of Cherry Creek Reservoir which could cause the creek to overflow its banks until late morning. Joggers and bicycle commuters are warned not to drop down into the sunken creek bed but to stay on the surface roads. Police are attempting to remove any homeless people who may be sleeping along the banks or under bridges.
Group talks Cemex pollution, looks for support
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15995
A nonprofit group dedicated to improving air quality in Colorado held a meeting at the Longmont Public Library on Wednesday to discuss pollution from the Cemex cement plant in Lyons and lobby for funds to support their lawsuit against the company. Five people attended the meeting. “We just want the plant to install the most up-to-date pollution controls,” Jeremy Nichols, director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, told the audience. The nonprofit announced in February it would seek $500 million in civil penalties unless the plant reduces air-pollutant emissions.
Mud spill reveals missing water permit
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070426/NEWS/70426032
The Ginn Company, which let large amounts of mud spill into the Eagle River last week during a wood hauling operation, was illegally working without a water permit, said a state water quality official. Any development working on an acre or more or land is required to have what’s called a “Stormwater Discharge Permit,” which ensures that builders are taking the right steps to prevent water pollution, said Matt Czahor, a stormwater inspector with the state. “Right now, they don’t have one of those permits with us, and operation without that permit is a pretty serious offense,” Czahor said.
Residents call for green mandates
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15994
The county should impose energy-efficiency requirements on the design and construction of new buildings, additions or major remodeling projects, a series of speakers told Boulder County Board of Review members this week. “I just don’t think people change until they’re forced,” said Rich Woolley of Longmont, adding that such mandates especially are needed for tract-home builders. Woolley was one of more than 20 people who showed up to speak at the advisory board’s Tuesday afternoon public hearing on a proposal to incorporate “green-building” standards into codes applying to projects in unincorporated Boulder County.
Cougar study gets vote of confidence
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/cougar-study-gets-vote-of-confidence/
A controversial mountain-lion study took a big step forward Thursday, after an advisory committee gave the plan its stamp of approval. The Boulder County Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee voted to recommend that the county commissioners approve the Front Range Cougar Pilot Study — which calls for tracking a sampling of cougars and using intimidation and force to scare away those that are habituated to people.
Opinion
Don't further restrict Guantanamo lawyers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5507190,00.html
The Bush Justice Department is asking the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to restrict the Guantanamo Bay detainees' lawyers to three visits with their clients and to allow the military to read attorney-client mail. Currently, the lawyers are allowed unlimited visits, as they are in the United States, and communications are privileged, being inspected for contraband, but not read. The department also wants the courts to restrict the lawyers' access to classified evidence. The administration seems to make up the rules at Guantanamo as it goes along and expects everyone to play by them. "There is no right on the part of counsel to access to detained aliens on a secure military base in a foreign country," said the filing, even though the courts have said the detainees have the right to counsel, which is meaningless without access; the administration put them on a military base in the first place; and Guantanamo is for all functional purposes U.S. soil. It's doubtful that if the foreign country - Cuba - objected, the White House would pay any attention.
Johnson: Lawmakers step to plate for families of soldiers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5507336,00.html
The legislature took yet another big step toward actually supporting the troops on Thursday when a House committee approved a bill providing $300,000 a year for mental health treatment for families of soldiers returning home from war. The committee vote was unanimous this time, 11-0, a far cry from the 3-2 nail-biter that got it out of a Senate committee weeks ago. Told you I would not forget this one.
The ethics fix flies
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/27/the-ethics-fix-flies/
"This is truly the right outcome for the state," Polis said Thursday. "Amendment 41 has helped level the playing field between the monied special interests and the people, and I am confident that it will be a positive legacy for clean government in Colorado." Mark Grueskin, attorney for Coloradans for Sensible Ethics, concurred: "We are pleased that the intent of the voters is being upheld and that government employees can go on with their private lives without fearing the scare tactics that suggested scholarships or blizzard relief would violate the law." House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, told the Associated Press that he respects the decision of the court and the intent of the voters. "They demand — and deserve — a government that maintains the highest ethical standards." Romanoff is right. But Thursday's developments do not close the book on the Amendment 41 hullabaloo. A lawsuit challenging 41 is still pending, and it's possible that a statewide ballot question would seek to clarify 41 with constitutional finality. Meantime, citizens will see whether the worst-case scenarios discussed before the election materialize. Will anyone file an "ethics" complaint about a scholarship for a public employee's kid? If so, would someone challenge the right of the ethics commission to rule the complaint frivolous? The courts can sort out ill-meaning uses of the law. In all other cases, though, the people of Colorado will profit.
Spencer: Reforming the health of our care
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5760057
The craziest letter to the editor that I've read in some time came from a physician who claimed that Coloradans have no right to health care. Seems the guy not only forgot his Hippocratic oath but also the law. If you're sick enough or badly injured, they have to treat you at the emergency room regardless of your ability to pay. The doctor aimed his editorial rant against socialized medicine. But he wrote it because a state blue-ribbon commission is now cobbling together a plan for medical treatment and prescription drugs for Coloradans.
Upstream Paddling
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/04/27/4_27_canyon_edit.html
In the laborious efforts to forge a new agreement to quantify federal water rights in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, a surprising legal objection by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to stipulations that the state had agreed to in an earlier 2003 accord was an unnecessary obstacle to a resolution of the entire Black Canyon federal reserved water rights issue once and for all. Fortunately, that obstacle was removed this week, in great part because of pressure from state Reps. Bernie Buescher of Grand Junction and Kathleen Curry of Gunnison, Sen. Josh Penry of Fruita, and water officials from around the Western Slope. Critics of the state AG’s office’s meddling maintained, among other things, that the filing appeared tailored toward protecting the rights of Front Range water interests which hope to take water from the Gunnison Basin.
Tatum: Make the media be accountable
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5759331
Rather than tune out, readers, listeners and viewers should hold news organizations and the companies that own them accountable for their news coverage and the business decisions that undermine responsible journalism. Write letters, send e-mail, make phone calls or blog. We'll all be better for it.
UNC wrong to label student code violators
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5759323
The website is a blunt instrument that fails to provide useful information about potential threats. Posting a link to the site under the banner of "Virginia Tech Tragedy" recklessly connects the non grata group with the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. Not all violations of the student code should be associated with that awful day. UNC officials should use reasonable judgment in how they present such information to the campus community.
Contempt of court
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5759321
Allegations that a Douglas County judge and a prosecutor carried on a courthouse tryst are serious enough. But according to a disciplinary complaint, Laurie A. Steinman prosecuted two cases before Judge Grafton M. Biddle during their liaison, neither one disclosing the relationship. The situation discredits the outcomes in those cases and casts a dark shadow on Douglas County's justice system. The Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel is investigating, and we urge a full airing of the facts.
Shackelton: Safety of U.S. food chain being questioned
http://craigdailypress.com/section/opinion/story/26329
Families victimized by tainted spinach and peanut butter, as well as green onions and now pet food, put a human face on the recent outbreaks for foodborne illness, urging lawmakers to strengthen oversight of the nation's food supply. A rash of contaminated food products has raised questions not only about the U.S. food supply but also about efforts by the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies to keep food safe. Those testifying in Washington on Tuesday stated that "a key element of trade and commerce is trust -- whether placed in accountants, airline pilots or auto mechanics. This trust is also extended to the trust in the food we order or buy from the grocery store -- that it's edible and safe. Without that trust, commerce cannot work."
Littwin: Having nothing, really, to lose
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5507833,00.html
Barack Obama got lucky. The only reason he didn't lose the season's first Democratic debate Thursday night was that it's pretty much impossible to lose a debate like this one. You try it. There are eight people on the stage. You don't really debate each other. You give one-minute policy statements. Or, depending on the timer, 30-second policy statements. Or in some cases, in place of actual answers, NBC anchor Brian Williams asks for a show of hands. Seriously.
Election
Romney: 'My record is consistent'
Republican Mitt Romney on Thursday defended his series of shifts on issues, arguing that his top rivals for the GOP presidential nomination also have histories of switching positions. "I served as governor for four years and my record is consistent and clear," the former Massachusetts governor told the Associated Press. "I'd also note that everybody in this race that I know has changed their mind on certain positions and they've done so as they gained more experience." He singled out Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, both of whom lead Romney in national polls. "Sen. McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts. Now he's for them. He was opposed to ethanol. Now he's for it. He said he was opposed to overturning Roe vs. Wade. Now he's for overturning Roe vs. Wade," Romney said, adding: "That suggests that he has learned from experience."
RELATED: Romney jabs Giuliani on abortion
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-26-romney_N.htm
McCain Returns to the Scene of His 2000 Undoing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602321.html
Sen. John McCain returned to South Carolina on Thursday, continuing his presidential announcement tour on the site of his bitter 2000 clash with George W. Bush. The two waged a make-or-break battle for the nomination in 2000, and when it was over McCain's presidential hopes were dashed. In the days and weeks after that vote, McCain was angry, lashing out at the Bush team. But seven years later, as he woos former Bush supporters here, he allows not a hint of the animosity he once exuded.
Gilmore officially enters 2008 race
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-26-gilmore-2008_N.htm
Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in Des Moines Thursday, calling himself a "genuine conservative." "That's why I'm in this race, as a consistent conservative that the American people can count on, someone who won't waffle, waver, change or pretend they're someone else to get this nomination," the 57-year-old former prosecutor told a small group of GOP activists and news reporters at the Iowa Republican Party's headquarters.
Effective and Ethical Government
Tenet Says He Was Made a Scapegoat Over Iraq War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602247.html
Former CIA director George J. Tenet bitterly complains in a forthcoming television interview that White House officials set him up as a scapegoat when they revealed that he had assured President Bush the intelligence on Iraq's suspected weapons arsenal was a "slam dunk." Tenet, who was one of the longest-serving CIA directors in U.S. history, resigned abruptly in June 2004 after administration infighting over the flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. Bush awarded him the Medal of Freedom six months later. Tenet then remained publicly silent about his role in the presentation of prewar intelligence that turned out to be wrong. But in a memoir scheduled for release on Monday, Tenet will offer his version of events and of conversations preceding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
RELATED: Ex-C.I.A. Chief, in Book, Assails Cheney on Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27intel.html
Mideast Delegation Left Disagreement at Home, Pelosi Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602434.html
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had been under fire from the administration for a visit to Syria earlier this month, met yesterday with President Bush to brief him on the trip. She talked to reporters afterward.
Rice unlikely to comply with subpoena
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-26-rice-subpoenas_N.htm
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested Thursday that she was not inclined to comply with a House committee subpoena looking into what she knew about the pre-war charges by the Bush administration that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa before the war. Rice, in Norway for a NATO meeting, said she had already answered questions on the issue and, in any case, was protected by executive privilege from being compelled to testify about issues arising during her years as National Security Adviser. The White House later acknowledged that the report, involving purported attempts by Iraq to purchase uranium from Niger, had been based on faulty intelligence. The House Oversight and Government Reform committee voted 21-0 on Wednesday to subpoena the secretary after she declined to appear voluntarily. It was one of a number of subpoenas approved Wednesday by several Democrat-controlled committees investigating the Bush administration.
Documents Related to U.S. Attorney Firings Are Withheld
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27brfs-DOCUMENTSREL_BRF.html
The Justice Department notified Congressional investigators that it was withholding more than 170 documents on the ouster of eight United States attorneys, saying it would be inappropriate to turn over material on inquiries from members of Congress and the news media. It did provide a list of the e-mail messages it was withholding. They included exchanges last January between D. Kyle Sampson, then the attorney general’s chief of staff, and Harriet E. Miers, then the White House counsel, about replacement prosecutors. The list also refers to “talking points” provided to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for conversations with members of Congress.
Another Day, Another Hold On Finance Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602249.html
Sen. Anonymous struck again yesterday. The infamous unnamed senator (or senators) has for more than a week blocked passage of legislation that would require Senate candidates to file campaign finance reports electronically. Electronic filings would make the names of campaign donors readily available -- it's how members of the House and presidential candidates have been doing it for years. When Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) first brought the bill to the floor last week, though, he was told that an unnamed lawmaker objected. Long-standing Senate custom allows the objection of a single senator to stop a bill in its tracks -- it's known as a secret hold. A measure that passed the Senate earlier this year, and awaits a House vote, would eliminate the practice.
NASA Chief Improperly Destroyed Tapes of Meeting, Lawmaker Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602570.html
NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin held an unusual meeting with the staff of the inspector general who oversees his agency and then ordered that video recordings of the meeting be destroyed, a House panel said yesterday. In a letter to Griffin, the chairman of the Science and Technology subcommittee on investigations and oversight demanded an explanation from the NASA administrator and accused him of improperly trying to influence the watchdog office's decisions on what it should investigate. In addition, the letter from Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) said the order to destroy the meeting tapes, which was issued by NASA's chief of staff, "appears on its face to be nothing less than the destruction of evidence."
Gov. Corzine counts his blessings
Gov. Jon Corzine, speaking publicly for the first time since he was seriously injured in an automobile crash two weeks ago, said Thursday that he felt blessed. Sitting in a chair next to his hospital bed, Corzine appeared in good spirits. "I'm the most blessed person who ever lived," Corzine said. Wearing a white Cooper University Hospital polo shirt and red exercise pants, Corzine had no visible scrapes or bruises, though his speaking was a bit labored as he visited with a son and read get-well cards.
Civil Liberties and Equality
U.S. Wants to Limit Guantanamo Detainees' Access to Lawyers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602468.html
The Bush administration is urging a federal appeals court to clamp down on Guantanamo Bay prisoners' ability to see their attorneys and obtain government records to help argue their innocence. As the legal battle over the detentions moves to a new arena, the Justice Department is trying to tightly restrict the tactics that a persistent and largely volunteer group of defense lawyers can use to challenge the government's basis for holding their clients. In recent court filings, the Justice Department argues that defense lawyers' visits to the prisoners "cause unrest on the base," including hunger strikes and protests, and are often a pretext for obtaining accounts from the detainees to relay to the media.
Echoes of Terror Case Haunt California Pakistanis
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27lodi.html?ref=us
Members of the Pakistani community here distrust one another almost as much as they do outsiders. Even now, residents with evidence of sudden wealth, like a new car, are immediately rumored to be on the F.B.I.’s payroll. Anything connected to the government is inherently suspect. Some people have stopped home visits by social service agencies; others have balked at writing their Social Security numbers on government documents. Some residents returning from Pakistan avoid including their Lodi addresses on their United States customs forms.
Polish PM: More gays bad for society
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-04-26-poland-gay-rights_N.htm
Poland's conservative prime minister rejected European Union criticism Thursday of a proposal to fire teachers for "homosexual propaganda," saying it was not in the interest of society to have more gay people. Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said homosexuals did not face discrimination in his country, responding to an EU parliament vote to send a mission to Poland to investigate recent anti-gay comments by senior officials.
Genetics bill passes with ease, irony
Rep. Judy Biggert of Illinois for years has pushed a bill she says would lower health-care costs, advance medical research and help people live longer. House leaders always spurned her efforts. But with Democrats now running Congress, Biggert finally saw her bill pass this week. Which is ironic, because she's a Republican. Biggert recognizes that aspect of Wednesday's 420-3 vote in favor of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which bars employers and insurers from denying a job or health coverage to someone whom DNA tests show to be genetically predisposed to a disease. It was the first floor vote for any of the similar bills Biggert pushed in the past, even though last year's version had 244 co-sponsors. "Let's say it took longer to convince the leadership of the Republican Party," Biggert said.
Foreign Policy
72 killed in fighting around capital
Bombers struck an Iraqi Army post northeast of Baghdad and civilian targets in the city as violence across Iraq killed at least 72 people yesterday, including the bullet-riddled bodies of 27 men dumped in the capital -- apparent victims of sectarian death squads. The deadliest attack occurred about 9 a.m. when a suicide car bomber killed 10 Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint in Khalis, a longtime flashpoint city about 50 miles northeast of Baghdad. Ten other soldiers and five civilians were wounded, police said. The city is in Diyala province, which has seen some of Iraq's worst violence recently. Mostly Sunni Arab insurgents are thought to have fled to the area to escape the security crackdown in Baghdad that US and Iraqi troops launched on Feb. 14. In the capital, a car bomb exploded near Baghdad University, killing eight civilians and wounding 19, including some students, police said.
Blast walls of Baghdad becoming oases of art
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-26-baghdad-art_N.htm
When he sees the concrete walls springing up all over Baghdad, Baquir al-Sheik doesn't think of violence. He sees an open canvas. Al-Sheik is leading a team of 40 artists who are painting a half-mile stretch of protective walls with murals of colorful desert landscapes and proud moments in Iraqi history. If the walls are necessary to protect buildings from truck bombs and insurgents, they can at least be beautiful, al-Sheik says. "We want people to feel their environment, to remember their history," says al-Sheik, 32. "Hopefully it will remind some people that there is good news in this country, not all bad." The walls have been the subject of intense debate among Iraqis this week after the U.S. military began surrounding a Sunni area with them. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered construction halted because they appeared to further divide the city into Sunni and Shiite areas.
Afghan Infant Mortality Declines, Signaling a Post-Taliban Recovery
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/world/middleeast/27kabul.html
Infant mortality has dropped by 18 percent in Afghanistan, one of the first real signs of recovery for the country five years after the fall of the Taliban regime, health officials said Thursday. “Despite many challenges, there are clear signs of health sector recovery and progress throughout the country,” Dr. Muhammad Amin Fatimi, the health minister, told journalists here.
Israel delivers warning after 2 more rockets fired
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets toward Israel on Thursday, the army said, and Israeli officials warned they were losing patience as rising tensions threatened a 5-month-old cease-fire. One rocket landed in the Mediterranean Sea and the second in an open area in southern Israel, the army said. There were no injuries. "Israel will not be restrained forever," said Miri Eisin, spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "We will defend our citizens and choose the time and place to respond."
Ethiopia Finds Itself Ensnared in Somalia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602715.html
Four months after Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared his own "war on terror" against an Islamic movement in Somalia, Ethiopia remains entangled in a situation that analysts and critics are comparing to the U.S. experience in Iraq. Though Meles proclaimed his military mission accomplished in January, thousands of Ethiopian troops remain in the Somali capital, where they have used attack helicopters, tanks and other heavy weapons in a bloody campaign against insurgents that in recent weeks has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, and forced half of the city's population to flee.
RELATED: Somalia says rebels defeated in capital
Japanese Leader Aims To Build Ties With Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602344.html
The first time they met late last year in Hanoi, the new Japanese premier, Shinzo Abe, presented President Bush with a photograph of their respective grandfathers playing golf with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. It was a gesture intended to remind the American president of the conservative political lineage from which both leaders sprang -- Abe's grandfather was Nobusuke Kishi, also a Japanese prime minister, and Bush's was former Connecticut senator Prescott S. Bush. It was also Abe's stab at starting to try to build the kind of relationship his more flamboyant predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, famously enjoyed with the president. Bush and Koizumi, a huge Elvis Presley fan, marked the end of their professional relationship with a joint tour of Graceland, Presley's home, last summer.
RELATED: Abe tries to explain comment
Russia to Suspend Compliance With Key European Pact
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042600430.html
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he was suspending Russia's obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, ratcheting up a tense standoff with the NATO alliance over U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. The CFE Treaty dates from the last days of the Cold War and limits the deployment of conventional arms, including tanks and other heavy weapons, on either side of the old Iron Curtain. Putin linked his decision, which he said could lead to full withdrawal from the treaty, to the U.S. missile plan.
RELATED: Putin retaliates for American antimissile plan
For French power couples, l'amour is very complicated
No matter who wins the presidency of France on May 6, life in the grand, presidential Elysee Palace is destined to change. There is no future for the role of dutiful partner filled for the past dozen years by Bernadette Chirac, who as first lady has run charities, held dinners and served as a local official in the farming town of Correze. Both presidential candidates are members of unconventional couples. Segolene Royal, the Socialist Party candidate, is not married to the father of her four children, Francois Hollande. But more than that, they are political rivals. As head of the Socialist Party, he was nearly the candidate himself and says he will try to run in 2012 if Royal loses this time. "Certainly, without doubt," he said Wednesday in an interview on a train from Paris to Nantes. "It's also a competition between us." He added that even if Royal won the election, he would not be joining her in the Elysee for her five-year term.
RELATED: Royal Accuses Rival of Apology to Bush on Iraq; Sarkozy Denies It
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/world/europe/27paris.html
Brazil's leader begins diplomatic offensive
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived in Argentina on Thursday night as part of a diplomatic offensive aimed at reasserting Brazil's regional leadership role against a mounting challenge by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Though Lula has denied any effort to undermine Chavez's petro-diplomacy, South American analysts see the Brazilian president responding to his Venezuelan counterpart's oil-funded strategy to become a regional power broker — a role Lula believes should rightly be his because his nation is Latin America's largest and most populous. "Brazil is returning step by step to the political initiative," said Julio Burdman, a political analyst here. "That includes balancing the aspirations of Chavez to lead the region."
Nationwide power failure hobbles Colombia
The electrical grid of Colombia collapsed Thursday, causing a nationwide blackout that briefly halted stock trading and trapped people in elevators as authorities tried to determine the cause. By midday, power was slowly being restored to homes and companies, and the northern part of Bogota, the capital, was back to normal. President Alvaro Uribe told journalists in the southwestern city of Cali that the blackout, which began at midmorning, "appears to have affected the entire country."
Immigration
Foreign-born grads stymied by work visas quota
Kuanysh Batyrbekov, 22, will soon graduate from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in economics, and he has lined up a job with the prominent investment bank Lehman Brothers . But he won't be spending much time on Wall Street. Batyrbekov is a citizen of Kazakhstan , and his student visa will expire 10 months after his June graduation. Lehman Brothers plans to keep him, but will be forced to move Batyrbekov to one of its overseas offices. I'll probably end up in London because I can't get a visa," he said. "There's no way I can stay here." Batyrbekov has plenty of company in a year when all available work visas were claimed in record time. Every year, thousands of foreign-born college students graduate from US schools after acquiring valuable training and skills. But often these graduates can't take jobs with American firms that would gladly hire them because of limits on the number of work visas. Compounding the problem is the fact that for eign students must graduate before applying: This year's visa quota was filled in early April, long before the new crop of seniors could apply.
Reproductive Choice
Mexico City abortions now legal
A measure legalizing first-trimester abortions in Mexico City was published into law Thursday, and City Health Secretary Manuel Mondragon said the procedure would be legal starting today for women nearing the 12-week limit. Women whose pregnancies are less advanced must wait until the law's regulations are published, a move that is expected next week. Mondragon also said that except in cases of medical emergency, women seeking abortions would have to prove residency in the capital — addressing the widespread belief that the law would make the city of more than 8 million a magnet for women throughout Mexico seeking abortions. Girls younger than 18 will need parental consent. The law also allows gynecologists to refuse to perform abortions.
Marriage and Family Issues
New Hampshire Senate Votes to Allow Same-Sex Civil Unions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27civil.html
A vote in the New Hampshire Senate on Thursday cleared the way for the state to become the fourth to allow civil unions for same-sex couples, and the first to do so without a court order or a pending lawsuit. The Senate voted along party lines, 14 Democrats in favor and 10 Republicans against, passing a bill that gives couples in civil unions the same rights and benefits as married couples, and that recognizes legal same-sex marriages from other states or countries as civil unions. Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, said last week that he would sign the bill, saying it was a matter of promoting fairness and preventing discrimination. The bill passed the New Hampshire House this month. Its passage reflects a sea change in New Hampshire politics, which in 2006 elected Democratic majorities in both state chambers for the first time in more than a century.
Health Care and Public Safety
Feds to enforce chemical security
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-26-chemical-security_N.htm
Six years ago, anyone in a boat could have gone up the murky Brazos River, hopped ashore and walked up to a tank holding one of the world's deadliest chemicals here at the nation's largest petrochemical complex. Today, that intruder wouldn't stand much of a chance of getting close to the round, five-story storage sphere that holds a key ingredient needed to make plastic. Chain-link fences topped with three layers of barbed wire line the banks of the river running through Dow Chemical Company's 3,200-acre complex. Microwave-beam alarm systems and more fences ring the tank, surveillance cameras scan the perimeter, armed guards patrol, the tank's control room is secured, and the tank itself sits on a concrete slab equipped to quickly contain any chemicals released in an accident or attack. The post-9/11 security upgrades at this massive plant have made Dow an example of what must be done at chemical plants nationwide, says Bob Stephan, infrastructure protection chief at the Homeland Security Department.
Tamiflu maker to reduce output of anti-viral drug
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2007-04-27-tamiflu-usat_N.htm
Roche, which makes the flu-fighting drug Tamiflu, says it will scale back production because supply now exceeds worldwide demand. Company officials said in a briefing Thursday that Roche and its partners can produce 400 million treatment courses annually, but just 215 million courses have been ordered by governments. All but about 40 million have been delivered. "If we stopped tomorrow, we would still be able to meet all firm orders in our hand, next winter's demand and then some," said William Burns, CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals Division.
Hogs That Ate Tainted Food to Be Euthanized
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602614.html
Federal and state authorities have identified 6,000 hogs in seven states that may have consumed contaminated pet food or pet food byproducts, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday. A maximum of about 300 of the animals may have already entered the human food supply, but the rest of the hogs have been quarantined and are slated to be euthanized, Agriculture Department officials said. Officials said they are also looking into the possibility that some chickens may have eaten chow contaminated by the pet food, which they believe was tainted with chemicals imported from China. The disclosures are the latest in a string of recent surprises that have brought home to many Americans how complex and interconnected are the supply chains linking imported pet food ingredients, farm animal chow and food for human consumption.
RELATED: A national food security plan exists, but it's stalled
RELATED: FDA raids company that imported tainted wheat gluten
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/2007-04-27-company-raided_N.htm
Crime and Penal Reform
Pleas won't end probe of Atlanta police
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/04/27/0427metjohnston.html
What started with a few bags of marijuana being planted near a suspected street dealer quickly spiraled out of control. Narcotics officers lied to a judge, illegally broke into 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston's house, fired 39 shots at her — and then one handcuffed her as she lay bleeding before he planted drugs in her basement. The events of Nov. 21, outlined in court documents, were almost an "inevitable" outcome of a troubled police unit, a federal prosecutor said Thursday as two former Atlanta narcotics officers pleaded guilty and promised to cooperate in a wider probe of the department. According to investigators, Atlanta narcotics officers hoped to satisfy goals set by police commanders by repeatedly lying to obtain search warrants, barging into homes and sometimes restraining innocent people, an atmosphere that led to tragedy.
RELATED: Chain of lies led to botched raid
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/04/27/0427metdetails.html
U.S. Proposal Could Block Gun Buyers Tied to Terror
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27guns.html?ref=washington
The Justice Department proposed legislation on Thursday that would give the attorney general discretion to bar terrorism suspects from buying firearms, seeking to close a gap in federal gun laws. The measure, which was introduced by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, would give the attorney general authority to deny a firearm purchase if the buyer was found “to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism.” Suspects on federal watch lists can now legally buy firearms in the United States if background checks do not turn up any standard prohibitions for gun buyers, which include felony convictions, illegal immigration status or involuntary commitments for mental illness.
Economy
Progress Is Seen on Trade Legislation
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/business/worldbusiness/27trade.html?ref=business
A trip on Air Force One and a talk between President Bush and Representative Charles B. Rangel as they traveled to Mr. Rangel’s home district in Harlem this week has suddenly lifted prospects for bipartisan agreement on trade legislation in Congress, officials on both sides said Thursday. The officials said that negotiations had resumed between teams led by Susan C. Schwab, the United States trade representative, and Mr. Rangel, the New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and that a deal was in sight, clearing the way for approval of the trade legislation. “They are talking, they are making progress, and they are hopeful of wrapping this up,” a Rangel aide said. But he said the talks could spill into next week.
Wolfowitz To Defend Himself on Pay Raise
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602641.html
Embattled World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz learned Thursday that he will be allowed to argue for his job in front of a bank committee investigating him for engineering a generous pay raise for his girlfriend, a fellow employee at the institution. The crisis surrounding his tenure continued to deepen as members of a team drafting a strategy to root out corruption in bank lending, an initiative pressed aggressively by Wolfowitz, sent a letter to the bank board on Thursday complaining that the scandal was jeopardizing their work. "We are deeply concerned by the impact of the current leadership crisis on the Bank's credibility," said the letter, which was signed by 46 members of the team of professional staff from around the world who are drafting the bank's Governance and Anticorruption Strategy. "The credibility of our front line staff is eroding in the face of legitimate questions from our clients about the Bank's ability to 'practice what it preaches.' "
RELATED: Wolfowitz Loses Ground in Fight for World Bank Post
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27wolfowitz.html
Frist Not Charged as Investigators Close Probe of His Hospital Stock Sales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602343.html
Ending an investigation that clouded the tenure of former Senate majority leader Bill Frist, federal prosecutors have decided not to file insider-trading charges against the Tennessee Republican for his sales of stock in a family-owned chain of hospitals. The U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York and Securities and Exchange Commission staff sent Frist letters last week signaling that they had closed their joint, 18-month investigation. The letters essentially cleared him of wrongdoing. Frist said in a statement that he "acted properly" and that his only reason for selling stock in his trust accounts was to "eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest."
Stocks Point to Lower Start Ahead of GDP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042700465.html
Wall Street was poised to open lower Thursday ahead of the government's estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product and more earnings reports. Economists are anticipating that the Commerce Department will report that GDP growth was about 2.0 percent in the first quarter, down from 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter last year. Wall Street is hoping for slow, steady growth _ a climate in which the Federal Reserve is unlikely to hike interest rates, a move that would limit inflation but also curb spending.
RELATED: [Thursday] Shares End Mixed Despite Strong Results
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/business/27stox.html
For Shareholders, a Ticket Into an $8 Billion Deal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/business/27audio.html?ref=business
Private equity has done much bigger deals in the last two years. But the $8 billion buyout for Harman International Industries, the maker of JBL speakers and Harman Kardon home theater systems, may prove the most groundbreaking. The buyers, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs, have offered Harman shareholders a chance to retain a stake in the newly private company and share in any profit made if the company is later sold or taken public. Under the terms of the deal, the public shareholders could hold as much as 27 percent of the private company.
In Tangles of Airbus Project, a Reflection of Europe's Struggles
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602300.html
Airbus was founded in 1970 as a high-tech European partnership to challenge the U.S. dominance in building passenger jets. But the A380 project shows instead how the dream of creating a borderless European company remains shackled -- much like European integration itself -- by continuing cultural differences, feuding bureaucracies and politicians, nationalist infighting and protectionism. With the 555-seat A380, Europe teamed up to target Boeing's enormously successful 747 passenger jet, the world's only 400-plus-seat airliner, but the missteps have cost Airbus close to $6 billion in future profits while leaving the new plane two years behind schedule.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Jobless Claims Ease
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/business/27econ.html
The number of laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week by the most in nearly two months, indicating that the labor market remained healthy despite the sluggish economy. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits totaled 321,000 last week, a decline of 20,000 from the previous week — more than double what economists expected.
Housing and Homelessness
Housing Aid Extended For Hurricane Victims
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602324.html
The Bush administration said yesterday that it will extend housing aid through March 2009 for hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a blanket expansion that more than doubles the amount of aid typically received by evacuees after a major disaster. The decision is recognition that 20 months after the 2005 storms that devastated the Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana coasts, many residents remain without permanent addresses.
Education
Probe Launched on Sallie Mae Collection Tactics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602627.html
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student loan company, may have violated federal laws by repeatedly using aggressive tactics to collect loans from student borrowers, Senate investigators said yesterday. Aides to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate education committee, said they believed the Reston lending giant tried to collect debts that were not owed, fired employees who attempted to help borrowers and intentionally sent payment notices to an incorrect address to force a borrower into default.
RELATED: Inquiry Into Student Loan Industry Widens
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27loans.html
Top teacher pops a 'bubble'
New York State's Teacher of the Year, a Long Island fifth-grade instructor, was honored by President Bush in a White House ceremony Thursday as her union got ready to lobby Congress on changes to Bush's flagship education policy. The teacher, Marguerite Izzo, 52, said after the ceremony that she was less than enthusiastic about the testing requirements of Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. "I don't think we want a nation of bubble-fillers," she said. "We want a nation of thinkers."
MIT Dean Says She Lied on Resume, Quits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602333.html
Marilee Jones, a prominent crusader against the pressure on students to build their resumes for elite colleges, resigned yesterday as dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after acknowledging she had misrepresented her academic credentials. Jones has been a popular speaker on the college-admissions circuit, urging parents not to press their kids too hard, and has told students there are more important things than getting into the most prestigious colleges. She rewrote MIT's application to get students to reveal more about their personalities and passions and to de-emphasize lists of their accomplishments.
RELATED: MIT dean quits over fabricated credentials
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/27/mit_dean_quits_over_fabricated_credentials/
Teachers dropping out too
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers27apr27,0,6989401.story?coll=la-home-headlines
In California, teachers are departing the profession in alarming numbers — 22% in four years or fewer — but simply offering them more money won't solve the problem, according to a report released Thursday. The real issue is working conditions, which are the flip side of a student's learning conditions, said Ken Futernick, who directs K-12 studies at the Center for Teacher Quality at Cal State Sacramento.
Ex-Duke lacrosse player honored by high school
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/lacrosse/2007-04-26-seligmann-honor_N.htm
Less than two weeks after sexual offense charges were dropped against him and two fellow Duke lacrosse teammates, Reade Seligmann received a medal from the exclusive prep school where he graduated in 2004. Seligmann was presented with the Delbarton Medal, the highest honor from the all-boys Delbarton School. The school's headmaster, the Rev. Luke L. Travers, praised Seligmann for demonstrating "courage, nobility, integrity and charity" during the year since the charges were brought.
Military
Army Officer Accuses Generals of 'Intellectual and Moral Failures'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602230.html
An active-duty Army officer is publishing a blistering attack on U.S. generals, saying they have botched the war in Iraq and misled Congress about the situation there. "America's generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq," charges Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, an Iraq veteran who is deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "The intellectual and moral failures . . . constitute a crisis in American generals." Yingling's comments are especially striking because his unit's performance in securing the northwestern Iraqi city of Tall Afar was cited by President Bush in a March 2006 speech and provided the model for the new security plan underway in Baghdad. He also holds a high profile for a lieutenant colonel: He attended the Army's elite School for Advanced Military Studies and has written for one of the Army's top professional journals, Military Review. The article, "General Failure," is to be published today in Armed Forces Journal and is posted at http://www.armedforcesjournal.com. Its appearance signals the public emergence of a split inside the military between younger, mid-career officers and the top brass.
Petraeus sees more violence if force shrinks
The sectarian violence engulfing Iraq will only grow worse if the U.S. abandons its current military strategy and begins to withdraw its forces, the top American war commander said Thursday. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, speaking at a Pentagon news conference, said he was trying to steer clear of the "political minefields" of Washington and avoided any direct comment on the political showdown between Congress and the White House over Iraq. But he said the limited improvements that had resulted from President Bush's new strategy would be eroded by troop withdrawals. The Democratic measure would require withdrawals to begin by October, with a goal of completing the U.S. pullout in six months.
U.S. Officer in Iraq Accused of Aiding Enemy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042600375.html
A senior U.S. Army officer who led a military police unit guarding prisoners in Iraq has been charged with "aiding the enemy" for allowing detainees to use a cellphone, having a relationship with a detainee's daughter and other offenses, according to a U.S. military statement. Lt. Col. William H. Steele, an active Army reservist whose mother lives in Frostburg, Md., oversaw high-value detainees at Camp Cropper, the sprawling holding center on the western outskirts of Baghdad where Saddam Hussein was held after his capture. The preliminary investigation shows that Steele had an intimate relationship with an Iraqi woman whose father is a former Baath Party official held at Camp Cropper, according to a U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.
Detainee dies at U.S. Army prison in Iraq
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-27-detainee-iraq_N.htm
A detainee at a U.S. Army prison has died from injuries apparently sustained during an assault by other prisoners, the military said Friday. The detainee — whose name, age and nationality were not given — was pronounced dead at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq Thursday by an attending physician, a brief statement said.
Guard commander slams tattoo search
The commander of New Mexico's National Guard is demanding an apology from the Army brass after dozens of his soldiers in a mostly Hispanic unit were ordered to strip to their gym shorts and searched for gang tattoos while on duty in Kuwait.
Exxon Mobil Earnings Rise 10 Percent
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/business/27exxon.html?ref=business
Despite a winter of relatively soft oil and natural gas prices, Exxon Mobil on Thursday reported another surge in profit for the first quarter of the year because of stronger earnings from its refining, marketing and chemicals businesses. Exxon’s continuing good fortunes — it said the results were its best ever for any first quarter — were particularly noteworthy given the mixed earnings picture reported in recent days by other large oil companies. Most of them cannot match the cost management and range of investments held by the world’s largest publicly traded oil company.
Public Remains Split on Response to Warming
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27poll.html?ref=washington
Americans in large bipartisan numbers say the heating of the earth’s atmosphere is having serious effects on the environment now or will soon and think that it is necessary to take immediate steps to reduce its effects, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll finds. Ninety percent of Democrats, 80 percent of independents and 60 percent of Republicans said immediate action was required to curb the warming of the atmosphere and deal with its effects on the global climate. Nineteen percent said it was not necessary to act now, and 1 percent said no steps were needed. Recent international reports have said with near certainty that human activities are the main cause of global warming since 1950. The poll found that 84 percent of Americans see human activity as at least contributing to warming.
Climate Panel Sees Need for New Steps on Emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27climate.html?ref=washington
Substantial new efforts will be needed worldwide to stem accelerating growth in greenhouse-gas emissions linked to rising global temperatures, according to a summary of a report being prepared by hundreds of climate scientists and economists working under the auspices of the United Nations. The summary, which is subject to revision, said that efforts to rein in the billions of tons of annual releases of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases would have to begin soon to limit risks of large changes in the climate and their impact on humans and nature.
Volcanoes blamed for prehistoric global warming
Scientists believe they have solved the mystery of what caused the most rapid global warming in known geologic history, a cataclysmic temperature spike 55 million years ago driven by concentrations of greenhouse gases hundreds of times greater than today. The culprit, the researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science, was a series of volcanic eruptions that set off a chain reaction releasing massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The eruptions occurred on the rift between two continental plates as Greenland and Europe separated. In 10,000 years — a blip in Earth's history — the polar seas turned into tropical baths, deep-sea microorganisms went extinct, and mammals migrated poleward as their habitats warmed. It took about 200,000 years for the atmospheric carbon to transfer to the deep ocean, allowing the planet to cool. The event, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, was discovered in the early 1990s. Since then, scientists have studied it to better predict how Earth will respond to the current buildup of greenhouse gases. The ancient warming was sparked by the release of 1,500 to 4,000 gigatons of carbon over several thousand years, scientists estimate. By comparison, emissions from human activities are about 7 gigatons a year — a much faster rate.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Dionne: Bush's Non-Argument
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042601887.html
President Bush and Vice President Cheney cannot make the case that their Iraq policies have succeeded, so they are doing one thing they do very well: taking a serious argument over the future of American foreign policy and turning it into a petty partisan squabble. This is not really an argument over the "surge" of troops into Iraq. It is a fight over whether we want to make an open-ended commitment to keeping combat forces in Iraq for many years or whether we anticipate pulling most of them out within a year or two. Even if the surge succeeds in a narrow sense -- by reducing the number of Iraqis killed in sectarian violence in Baghdad -- there is no guarantee that the overall situation in Iraq will be any better, no guarantee that Iraqi leaders will take the political steps necessary to end the internecine killing and create a stable government, no guarantee that we will make progress against al-Qaeda.
Froomkin: Keep Your Eye on the Benchmarks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/04/26/BL2007042601119.html
There is one thing that pretty much everyone agrees on regarding the situation in Iraq: Without Iraqi political progress, there is no chance for U.S. troops there to achieve their mission of leaving behind a peaceful country. There is even widespread agreement on some key benchmarks of political progress, and on how critically important it is that the Iraqi government achieve them.
Corporal Tillman Haunts the Pentagon
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/opinion/27fri3.html
Despite multiple investigations and hand-wringing by the Pentagon, the full truth has not emerged about the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the football star turned infantryman who was accidentally gunned down by other Americans in Afghanistan. Details dribble out about how quick Army brass were to burn his battle uniform, concoct tales of heroism and go into a full public relations blitz.
Palast: U.S. media have lost the will to dig deep
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-palast27apr27,0,5178561.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
IN AN E-MAIL uncovered and released by the House Judiciary Committee last month, Tim Griffin, once Karl Rove's right-hand man, gloated that "no [U.S.] national press picked up" a BBC Television story reporting that the Rove team had developed an elaborate scheme to challenge the votes of thousands of African Americans in the 2004 election. Griffin wasn't exactly right. The Los Angeles Times did run a follow-up article a few days later in which it reported the findings. But he was essentially right. Most of the major U.S. newspapers and the vast majority of television news programs ignored the story even though it came at a critical moment just weeks before the election. According to Griffin (who has since been dispatched to Arkansas to replace one of the U.S. attorneys fired by the Justice Department), the mainstream media rejected the story because it was wrong. "That guy is a British reporter who accepted some false allegations and made a story up," he said. Let's get one fact straight, Mr. Griffin. "That guy" is not a British reporter. I am an American living abroad, putting investigative reports on the air from London for the British Broadcasting Corp. I'm not going to argue with Rove's minions about the validity of our reporting, which led the news in Britain. But I can tell you this: To the extent that it was ignored in the United States, it wasn't because the report was false.
RELATED: McNulty: There's a war out there, and in Iraq
After the Lawyers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/opinion/27fri1.html
It can be hard to tell whom the Bush administration considers more of an enemy at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp: the prisoners or the lawyers.
Brooks: 9/11 was bad, but ...
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks27apr27,0,4715219.column?coll=la-opinion-center
ARE WE A NATION of irrational wimps? Rudy Giuliani thinks so. On Tuesday, he claimed that if we elect a Democrat to the presidency, we should expect more 9/11-style attacks. This, he assumes, is enough to scare the pants off the voting public and send them scurrying frantically off to support Republicans such as … well, Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani's line of argument — though "argument" is too generous a word — isn't new. Since 9/11, our political leaders have proceeded on the assumption that Americans are cringing, cowardly souls more than ready, when we hear the word "terrorism," to suspend our critical capacities, mortgage our futures and jettison our civil liberties and our principles — all for impossible assurances of "safety." The awful thing is, many of us obediently conformed to this condescending stereotype. The United States is the most prosperous and powerful nation in the world, but after 9/11, many of us started to act as if we're in danger of imminent extinction. We're not.
Crippling Government From Within
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/opinion/27fri2.html
The Bush administration has proved indefatigable at finding industry foxes to upend the regulatory chicken coops. The result has been an undermining of restraints on everything from strip miners to long-haul truckers and corporate executives intent on consumer-unfriendly mergers. One of the most zealous of the antiregulatory ideologues is Edwin Foulke, tapped by President Bush last year to run the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. As South Carolina’s Republican Party chairman and an anti-union stalwart, Mr. Foulke worked tirelessly to weaken the agency’s enforcement authority on workplace safety. Now that he is OSHA’s chief, he is moving even more aggressively away from regulations in favor of corporations’ pledges to police themselves.
Sen. Luddite Strikes Again
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602257.html
JUST AS she did on April 17, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) went to the Senate floor to call for unanimous consent on a common-sense bill that would require candidates to file their campaign finance reports electronically. And just as he or she did on April 17, Sen. Ima Luddite (R-Who Knows Where) voiced opposition. This time the mouthpiece was Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.). "On behalf of the Republican side," he said, "I object." We object to the obstruction.
Burk, Smeal: Why We Need an ERA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042601970.html
Some members of Congress are looking to do something long overdue: pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Recently renamed the Women's Equality Amendment and introduced by its chief sponsors, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the amendment would grant equal constitutional rights to women -- something we have yet to achieve. This simple concept had the blessing of both political parties until the Republicans struck it from their platform in 1980, with the Democrats following suit in 2004.
RELATED: Goodman: Regulating women
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/04/27/regulating_women/
After firing 3,400, Circuit City enriches CFO
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2007-04-26-circuit-city-cfo_N.htm
Even as Circuit City Stores (CC) pushed 3,400 purportedly overpaid employees out the door, the company went out of its way to make the departure of its outgoing chief financial officer a lot more pleasant. What Circuit City did for Michael Foss last week says a lot about the haves-over-the-have-nots way executive compensation works.
Dodd: A corporate carbon tax
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/04/27/a_corporate_carbon_tax/
THIRTY-SEVEN years after the first Earth Day, the environmental crisis Gladwyn Hill reported on not only still exists, its stakes are dramatically higher. The movement that led to Earth Day's creation focused on preserving the environment so that the trees and wildlife would be around for future generations to enjoy. Today we worry about the world we give not to our great-grandchildren but our own children. Parents are alarmed by asthma rates that have increased four fold since 1980 and coastal communities like New Orleans savaged by increasingly extreme weather. And we all are concerned by reports that a million species could become extinct in the next half century. Those are but a few of the stakes that led Al Gore to describe the global warming crisis as a "planetary emergency." This week a panel of retired generals and admirals released a report stating that "climate change is a threat multiplier in already fragile regions, exacerbating conditions that lead to failed states -- the breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism." It is no longer up for debate: Global warming is a matter of economic, environmental, and national security.
Brownstein: The Democrats' polling puzzle
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-brownstein27apr27,0,7374812.column?coll=la-opinion-center
Can any candidate cover the party's many bases?
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