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TOP STORIES
National
Bush Keeps Vow to Veto War Funding Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100968.html
President Bush vetoed a $124 billion measure yesterday that would have funded overseas military operations but required him to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq as early as July, escalating the most serious confrontation between the White House and Congress over war policy in a generation. Bush carried through on his veto threat just after the legislation arrived at the White House, calling the timetable a "prescription for chaos and confusion" that would undercut generals. "Setting a deadline for withdrawal would demoralize the Iraqi people, would encourage killers across the broader Middle East and send a signal that America will not keep its commitments," he said last night. "Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure."
RELATED: Bush vetoes Democrats' Iraq war bill
RELATED: Bush, Dems to seek Iraq funds deal
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-26-bush-veto_N.htm
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/CIVIL LIBERTIES, COLORADO/MILITARY
Intelligence Chief Decries Constraints
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101357.html
Court orders in January that brought President Bush's warrantless terrorist surveillance program under existing law have limited the intelligence that agencies can collect, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told a Senate committee yesterday. "We are actually missing a significant portion of what we should be getting," McConnell said during an unusual public session of the Select Committee on Intelligence on the administration's proposal to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). The intelligence collection program was secretly instituted under presidential authority shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and was disclosed by the news media in December 2005. It permitted warrantless intercepts of telephone calls and e-mails between the United States and locations overseas if one participant was believed to be a member of al-Qaeda or an associated terrorist organization. In January, the administration agreed to bring the program under the oversight of the secret FISA court, which approves warrants in terrorism and espionage investigations. That reversed Bush's position that he had the authority to order the program on his own. In a January letter to some lawmakers, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said the administration was satisfied the new arrangement would have the "speed and agility" to protect the nation from terrorists.
RELATED: Senators dubious of spying rules
RELATED: Administration Pulls Back on Surveillance Agreement
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/washington/02intel.html
Residency Clause Adds Fuel To Dispute Over U.S. Attorneys
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101961.html
On Nov. 10, 2005, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales sent a letter to a federal judge in Montana, assuring him that the U.S. attorney there, William W. Mercer, was not violating federal law by spending most of his time in Washington as a senior Justice Department official. That same day, Mercer had a GOP Senate staffer insert into a bill a provision that would change the rules so that federal prosecutors could live outside their districts to serve in other jobs, according to documents and interviews. Congress passed the provision several months later as part of the USA Patriot Act reauthorization bill, retroactively benefiting Mercer and a handful of other senior Justice officials who pull double duty as U.S. attorneys and headquarters officials. Justice officials say the measure was a necessary clarification to ensure that prosecutors could fill temporary postings in Washington, Iraq and elsewhere, and that it also applies to assistant U.S. attorneys. But the episode, which received little notice at the time, provides another example in which Gonzales's statements appear to conflict with simultaneous actions by his aides in connection with U.S. attorney policies.
Interior Dept. Official Facing Scrutiny Resigns
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101920.html
A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department who revised scientific reports to minimize protection of endangered species has resigned, officials said yesterday. Julie A. MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, had been criticized by Interior's inspector general, and Congress was preparing to scrutinize her performance in an upcoming hearing. Interior Department spokesman Hugh Vickery confirmed MacDonald's resignation, delivered in a letter late Monday. Her departure came as the agency was discussing plans to demote her, said a person in the agency familiar with the matter. Vickery declined to comment on that possibility.
RELATED: Interior Department official resigns
More Interior Department news in COLORADO/TOP STORIES
Colorado
'We came to build America'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515865,00.html
Some demonstrators wrapped themselves in Mexican or American flags and chanted in English and Spanish. One banged a plastic bucket like a drum, while another tooted a trumpet. They were among the thousands of people who marched Tuesday through downtown Denver to call for an end to immigration raids and a path to legal status for the estimated 12 million people in the U.S. illegally. Marches also were held in several other cities. Students, families and groups of teenagers started the Denver march at 10:30 a.m. in Lincoln Park just outside downtown. They snaked through the city, passing by the Capitol, downtown business district and LoDo in a 2 1/2-hour march that was a mixture of protest and pride. Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said no major incidents were reported. He estimated the number of marchers at up to 2,000, but event coordinator Julien Ross said 10,000 was a more accurate number.
RELATED: 'Day of National Action' draws thousands to rally
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/immigration-rallies-day-of-national-action-draws/
RELATED: Immigrants, backers march for U.S. citizenship, families, respect
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5795977
RELATED: Protesters gather to end raids
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020096
More immigration policy news in NATIONAL/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/IMMIGRATION
School-funding plan gets green light
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5515825,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to generate more property tax income for schools cleared its final legislative hurdle Tuesday with narrow passage in the Senate. The measure, Senate Bill 199 sponsored by Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, passed 18-16. It now goes to Ritter for his signature. Republicans, who called the plan a tax increase, predicted it will spark a backlash. "This is going to drive a revolt in the future of taxpayers, just like it did in the late '70s and early '80s across the country," said Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray. "People cannot take these types of increases in their property tax burden." Democrats said the additional money is needed to prevent the state education fund from becoming insolvent by 2011-12. "There are some votes that require political courage," said Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver. Under the bill, property tax rates will be frozen at current levels, eliminating tax cuts that otherwise would have taken place under a 1994 school finance law.
RELATED: GLOVES COME OFF (Roll Call, May 2)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5515827,00.html
RELATED: Senate OKs tax freeze
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796194
RELATED: School funding bill clears the Senate
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/legislature-2007-school-funding-bill-clears-the/
RELATED: Plan allows PSD extra funding
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS01/705020316/1002
RELATED: Senate approves education plan
http://www.gazette.com/articles/tax_21833___article.html/districts_state.html
RELATED: GOP threatens lawsuit over school funding bill
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/4
RELATED: School district may receive additional state money
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26390
RELATED: 'Tax increase' now heads to Ritter's desk
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_21a__Freeze_Vote.html
RELATED: Ritter wins on property-tax plan
Interior battle stalls Colo. parks chief's federal nomination
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5795826
The former Colorado parks director's nomination to a high-level federal post was blocked Tuesday by a U.S. senator critical of the Interior Department under the Bush administration. The nomination of Lyle Laverty to oversee the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service was held up by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. "The Interior Department has been a source of shame to this government too long," Wyden said in his floor statement Tuesday. "... It has stumbled from one misstep to another, from one scandal to another." Laverty, 64, was nominated in March as the Interior Department's assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. Laverty officially stepped down Tuesday as the director of state parks.
Home rule a loser in Eagle County
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020047
Eagle County voters left no doubt Tuesday how they felt about a proposal to change their style of government. A ballot measure to switch from a statutory to "home rule" style of governing lost for the second time in seven months. In this election, the proposal failed by 355 votes, or 47.5 to 52.5 percent. The measure lost in last November's general election by a similar margin. Home rule proponents put the measure back before voters because they felt the issue was overshadowed on the crowded November ballot and that some county residents were confused about what home rule meant. Tuesday's outcome shows that voters weren't confused, acknowledged Jacque Whitsitt, a Basalt resident who helped lead the campaign in favor of the proposal. "It means people knew exactly what they were voting on," she said.
RELATED: Home rule defeated again
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70501034
More municipal election news in COLORADO/ELECTION
Election
Presidential-caucus bill in Senate (Under the dome, 5/2)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796523
The Colorado House approved and sent to the Senate a plan to move the state's presidential caucuses from March to Feb. 5 along with several other states, hoping to cash in on the national attention it would bring from candidates. House Bill 1376 would allow political parties to decide whether to move the caucuses from the third Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in February during presidential election years.
It's the Hickenlooper waltz
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5516253,00.html
Mayor John Hickenlooper won re-election outright Tuesday, sailing toward a second term with a staggering number of votes. "The fact is, no matter what came at us, we never quit," he said. "We always worked hard. We tried to always tell the truth. And I think people care about that." In the race for the city's first elected clerk and recorder, voters overwhelmingly chose Stephanie O'Malley, daughter of former Mayor Wellington Webb. Incumbents fared well Tuesday. Auditor Dennis Gallagher trounced opponent Bill Wells. City Council members Marcia Johnson, Peggy Lehmann and Judy Montero won handily. Councilman Doug Linkhart topped the three-way race for the two at-large council seats. The other at-large incumbent, Carol Boigon, was leading challenger Carol E. Campbell for the second seat.
RELATED: Table set for popular mayor's 2nd term
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5516257,00.html
RELATED: O'Malley wins clerk and recorder race
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5515478,00.html
RELATED: Incumbents score early; DA measure passes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5515480,00.html
Turnout running behind 2003 Denver election
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515390,00.html
RELATED: Hickenlooper makes it look easy
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796195
RELATED: 3 council races headed to June runoff
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5797305
RELATED: Rush to find election results overwhelms city's website
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5797482
Semrau boasts largest war chest
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70502003
Tim Semrau leads in campaign contributions for Aspen’s mayoral race — he's more than $8,000 ahead of Mick Ireland, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Mayoral candidate Torre’s campaign war chest added $2,175 in the latest cycle — from April 18 to May 1 — boosting his total to $8,096. Bonnie Behrend reported just one contribution of $100 during the cycle — the total amount she has raised for the entire campaign, thanks to contributor Sandy Israel of Basalt.
RELATED: Most council hopefuls don't have legal woes
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020046
RELATED: Candidate profiles: affordable housing
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020045
County to have mail-in election
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS01/705020319/1002
In hopes of saving money for next year's election, Larimer County officials plan to conduct the November election with a mail-in ballot. The county commissioners gave their approval Tuesday to County Clerk Scott Doyle's request to conduct a mail-in election, the first for the county since 2001. Voter turnout that year was 34 percent, according to county records. A mail-in election would cost between $400,000 and $500,000, Doyle told the commissioners. The county has budgeted about $806,000 for the election.
Voters to decide on $6.9M in bonds
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/voters-to-decide-on-69m-in-bonds/
Come November, voters will be asked to decide whether the city of Lafayette can finance $6.9 million through bonds to pay for street repairs, new traffic lights and a family changing room at the recreation center. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to put two questions to Lafayette voters this fall. Neither measure would raise taxes.
Dinosaur mayoral recall petition fails
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26391
A petition proposing to recall Dinosaur Mayor Freda Powell was deemed insufficient and fell short of the required number of signatures, town officials said Tuesday.
Effective and Ethical Government
Allard and Salazar join forces on Fort Carson, forest funds
Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar often find themselves on opposite sides of the political fence, but on Tuesday they shunned partisan differences and joined together on forest and veterans’ mental health policy. In the first of a series of back-to-back statements, the Democrat Salazar and Republican Allard praised the Forest Service’s decision today to add $2 million to the Colorado region’s slice of the agency’s budget. “This is an important win for property and home owners across Colorado, and an important step forward in wildfire prevention for the entire state,” Salazar said. “We must continue to do what we can to avert the potentially dangerous fire season that is approaching,” Allard added. The Forest Service money was restored after the two senators joined the rest of Colorado’s congressional delegation in criticizing the Bush administration for cutting $4.3 million in funds to the Rocky Mountain area in its 2007 continuing budget resolution.
'War on terror' conflict settled
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5515867,00.html
A war veteran settled a House quarrel Tuesday over whether Iraq is a civil war or part of the global "war on terrorism." The debate began in the morning when Rep. Mike Cerbo, D-Denver, opposed the wording in Senate Bill 86, which would create a "War on Terror Fallen Heroes Memorial" for service members killed in the war on terror, including those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cerbo said the conflict in Iraq is a "civil war" and not part of the "war on terrorism." "We're just buying into a myth that was propagated when we got involved in this civil war, and I don't think we should propagate it any further," said Cerbo. Initially, the House adopted an amendment by Cerbo that struck the phrase "during the war on terrorism" from one line in the bill.
Don't tread on speaker's lines (On the side, 5/2)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796526
State representatives poked a little fun at House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, known for slowly articulating the end of a sentence he says dozens of times each day: "Will the clerk please open the machine and the members proceed ... to ... vote." Representatives, coordinated through whispering, all shouted "proceed ... to ... vote" at Romanoff before he could say it himself. "That's cute," Romanoff said, laughing. "I used to say that I could be replaced by a trained monkey, but someone objected to the training part."
Citizen legislator: Dianne Primavera
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5515826,00.html
Rep. Dianne Primavera took up ballroom dancing three years ago, after her youngest daughter left for college but before Dancing With the Stars. She and her dance partner, Mark Bevington, take lessons a couple of times a week. Primavera's daughters, Kelsey and Darcie, were toddlers when she was diagnosed on Sept. 21, 1988, with an aggressive form of breast cancer and given less than five years to live. The 57-year-old Broomfield Democrat concentrates on health careissues at the legislature. Primavera worked for state government in three departments before retiring in 2002 after 28 years. She also volunteered for numerous boards and commissions.
Data glitch set off alarm bells
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516196,00.html
It took two days and a round of office gossip for staff members at the Colorado Department of Revenue to bring their concerns about possible theft to someone who called investigators. A co-worker's suspicions were raised after a glitch in the computer system caused years of data to flash across the screen. One oddity jumped out: four large refunds for Andre Holliday, for four years, for the same, strangely even amount - $20,000, plus interest. As the rumors made their way through the department, a supervisor confronted Michelle Cawthra, who had authorized the final payment. The supervisor dismissed the complaint based on Cawthra's explanation. Investigators now allege, however, that the transactions were part of a multimillion-dollar scheme to funnel money from state tax funds to businesses owned by Cawthra's boyfriend and one of his childhood friends.
RELATED: Holliday denies having access to millions
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516198,00.html
RELATED: Third arrest made in tax-refund case
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796109
Fowler names town manager
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/13
A former La Junta economic development director has been named Fowler's town administrator. Wayne Snider, who was replaced as La Junta's development director in March, started his new job in Fowler on April 10. Snider, 62, said Monday that his goal is to help organize the town and to move forward. "I want to look at what they have done in the past and what we can do in the future - economic development is key to the future. We will be working on plans for the future," Snider said.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Workplace shield for gays wins approval in House
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5515971,00.html
State lawmakers found common ground Tuesday on a hot- button bill to shield gays from workplace discrimination. On a 44-18 vote, the House passed Senate Bill 25, which added prohibitions against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and religion. State law already bars employers from making hiring, firing or demotion decisions based on disability, race, gender or age. The bill had faced fierce GOP opposition in the Senate, but it won backing from several House Republicans. "I do not believe that somebody wakes up one morning and decides to choose (homosexuality) as a lifestyle," said Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park. "I think it is something they were born with." Given that "deeply held belief," White said he could no more restrict gay rights "than I should shorten the civil liberties of a person (based on) race or a person who has been born with one arm or no legs."
RELATED: House backs protecting gays from firing
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070501/NEWS/105010070
Death by the UMC fountain
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/01/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
For a brief but terrifying moment, Tegan Davis thought she narrowly missed falling victim to another campus shooting. “At first I thought people were just hanging out, but then I realized, ‘Oh God, no one's moving,'” said Davis, a CU junior, as she surveyed dozens of bodies sprawled across the concrete at CU's University Memorial Center fountain area. “After what just happened at Virginia Tech, I thought, ‘Oh God, did I miss something?'” Davis said. About 140 people laid motionless across the UMC Fountain Area Tuesday afternoon to commemorate lives lost in Iraq.
Citizens, groups recognized for promoting acceptance
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS01/705020321/1002
Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson applauded a group of locals Tuesday for promoting diversity in Fort Collins, though the city has work to do before it can be heralded for its acceptance of people of all backgrounds, he said. As part of the city's annual Human Relations Awards ceremony, Hutchinson said thank you to six local individuals and four organizations for their work promoting acceptance and respect of diverse populations.
Mexican national anthem stirs controversy
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/16
A decision to play the Mexican national anthem prior to a baseball game at Colorado State University-Pueblo this weekend stirred up enough controversy that university officials sent out a press release Tuesday morning explaining their decision. On Sunday, the CSU-Pueblo baseball team hosted the Colorado School of Mines at Rawlings Sports Complex. It was the last home game of the regular season and, as many college sports teams do, the Thunderwolves honored their seniors, including a Mexican national who is here legally and is charged non-resident tuition by the university, the press release said. The Mexican national anthem was played to honor him and was done so at the request of his teammates, the university said.
Immigration
No local rally, but area immigrants still have serious concerns
http://postindependent.com/article/20070502/VALLEYNEWS/105020038
Sayre Park was quiet Tuesday. A big difference from last year on May 1. And even though immigration marches and rallies were held around the state and nation through the morning, it seemed like business as usual in Glenwood Springs. No rally, not because immigration is no longer an issue. It's just that last year had a different set of circumstances, according to Adriana Ayala, Roaring Fork School District's pre-collegiate director. Ayala said last year's rally was a national effort to bring attention to the issue. This year it's still an issue but it's just not in the same spotlight. "It was a lot about economic boycott and to show what the impact would be," she said.
Anti-immigration group stages protests in Delta
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_Illegal_immigration.html
As immigration rights activists demonstrated in Denver, New York, Los Angeles and other major cities, an anti-illegal immigration group staged a small counterprotest in Delta. About eight protesters stood on both sides of Fifth Street and Main Street, also U.S. Highway 50, holding signs with messages that included “Secure our borders,” “Enforce our laws” and “No amnesty” to show their displeasure with illegal immigration and support for protest organizer Michael Bilicko, founder of Stand Up Now America. “All around the nation, illegals are taking to the streets demanding amnesty and open borders,” Bilicko said. “They’re not asking for it, but demanding it. We are doing our best to bring to the attention of the American public that one inch at a time we are losing our country.” The whole country could disappear if illegal immigration doesn’t stop, Bilicko said, and he blames the president in particular.
Eight former Swift workers helping with federal case
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020095
Several former workers at Swift & Co.'s Greeley meat processing facility are now cooperating with a federal investigation, but authorities won't say whom or what the subject is. Eight workers had their Weld District Court identity theft charges dismissed recently, after agreeing to provide information to federal authorities. "Charges were dismissed against eight defendants as part of an agreement to assist a grand jury investigation being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)," District Attorney Ken Buck said. Buck could not say whom or what the grand jury is investigating, or how the defendants might be able to assist.
Health Care and Public Safety
Flats workers have chance to plead case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515549,00.html
If ill workers from the dismantled Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site get streamlined compensation for their radiation-related cancers, it likely will be limited to specific workers during specific years, experts working on the case say. Today, workers will have a chance to plead for help when a presidential advisory board meeting on the issue allows public comment, starting at 5 p.m. at the Westin Westminster hotel, 10600 Westminster Blvd. The workers have asked that anyone who ever worked at the plant that produced atomic bomb cores northwest of Denver be granted streamlined access to compensation and medical reimbursement promised by Congress in 2000.
RELATED: Ex-Flats workers to testify tonight to health panel
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796105
Senate OKs cervical-cancer shot coverage
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796522
The Senate on Tuesday gave final passage to a bill that would require insurance companies to cover a new cervical-cancer vaccine. House Bill 1301, which passed the Senate 25-9, also directs the health department to establish an education campaign about the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, which causes an estimated 70 percent of cervical-cancer cases. "This will enable underinsured families to have access to this vaccine if they choose," said Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, who sponsored the bill with Democratic Reps. Dianne Primavera of Broomfield and Bernie Buescher of Grand Junction.
Bill to close loophole in smoking ban dies
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5515973,00.html
The Senate killed a bill Tuesday that was aimed at closing a loophole some taverns are using to skirt the statewide smoking ban. "The bill has turned into a nightmare," said the measure's disappointed sponsor, Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood. "I still believe a repeal is what makes the most sense. The state smoking ban, in its current form, is patently unfair." Senate Bill 250 set out to ban smoking in cigar bars, but Boyd couldn't get the votes to pass it. Last week, it transformed back into a bill killed earlier this year, which would have strictly limited smoking to cigar bars that show 5 percent or $50,000 of their sales come from cigars. Some taverns say they sell enough tobacco to qualify as "cigar bars" and are allowing patrons to continue smoking. Police say that the loophole is making enforcement of the ban nearly impossible.
RELATED: Smoking-ban tweak extinguished
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796525
RELATED: Senate kills bill bolstering state smoking ban
http://www.gazette.com/articles/senate_21838___article.html/smoking_ban.html
RELATED: Lawmakers vote down cigar-bar bill
Law requires 15-year-olds to complete driver’s ed for permits
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/05/01/local_news/3.txt
Recent legislation requiring 15-year-olds to complete driver’s education before receiving permits ensures a more robust knowledge of dangers and safety tips before they hit the road. “These laws keep coming around because teens keep doing what teens keep doing,” said Mike Rossi, owner of the Western Slope Driving Institute in Montrose.
Meth Task Force looks to get the upper hand on drug problem
http://postindependent.com/article/20070502/VALLEYNEWS/105020044
Data presented at the first public meeting of the Garfield County Methamphetamine Task Force showed the number of methamphetamine cases has overtaken the number of cocaine cases in the county. "We're seeing the barometric pressure rising with regards to meth and that a storm is coming," Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cheney said. But people who filled the county commissioners' meeting chambers Tuesday night hope to work proactively to fight the problem. About five years ago, Glenwood Springs Police were surprised when they saw meth, Chief Terry Wilson said. Now, they're surprised to see many crimes that don't involve it.
Panel discusses need to track county human-services funds
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16096
The total dollars government and nonprofit agencies spend on providing human-services programs to Boulder County residents each year have not yet been tallied. But when those totals are stacked up against needs, it likely will show that “we need more money,” Boulder County Community Services director Robin Bohannan predicted. “We need to increase funding that comes into the community,” Bohannan said during a Monday meeting of a panel that’s studying funding as part of an effort to develop a formal strategic plan for delivering human services throughout Boulder County.
More teeth added to nuisance measure
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/more-teeth-added-to-nuisance-measure/
Boulder now has more power to take the owners of "nuisance" properties to court, a change made at Tuesday night's City Council meeting over the objections of landlords. Boulder has had a "nuisance-abatement" law since 2003 but has used it only about two dozen times — and none of those cases has been brought to court, City Attorney Ariel Calonne said.
Crime and Penal Reform
San Luis Valley may get third district court judge
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/14
A bill awaiting the signature of Gov. Bill Ritter would fund an additional district court judge for the San Luis Valley. The measure, which passed in the state Senate last week, would also create three staff positions for the 12th Judicial District, which includes six counties in the valley. "It will help us immensely," District Judge Pattie Swift said. "We have enough cases for three judges." Swift, who serves alongside Judge O. John Kuenhold, said the district's caseload has required a lot of late-evening and weekend work to keep up. The bill would allocate $4.1 million and 52 full-time positions to the Colorado Judicial Department.
Scrutiny of police under the gun
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516223,00.html
A new level of scrutiny in Denver police shootings has proved to be more time-consuming than anticipated, and the city's top prosecutor threatened Tuesday to stop cooperating with the system if problems aren't fixed soon. Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey highlighted the trouble in a letter saying he would not file any criminal charges against an officer who wounded a man in March. In that letter, Morrissey said he will open all his office's files on police shootings from 2005 and 2006 and stop waiting for the city's manager of safety, Al LaCabe, to issue rulings on them.
RELATED: Morrissey clears two officers in March shooting of suspect
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516186,00.html
RELATED: Cop avoids criminal charges in fleeing suspect's shooting
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796107
DA is accused of "veiled threat"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5797491
The Office of Attorney Regulation is again investigating 18th Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers to determine whether she violated rules of professional conduct. Sources tell "9Wants to Know" the investigation was sparked by several contentious e-mails that Chambers sent last month complaining to judges and other officials of the 18th Judicial District. The dispute started after a judge admonished two of Chambers' assistant district attorneys. And at least one official viewed an e-mail as a "veiled threat."
La Plata County OK's $17M in cash for jail expansion
La Plata County will pay $17 million in cash to build an 84-bed expansion to the county's Bodo Park jail complex. County Manager Michael Scannell said the 2007 budget originally called for the jail expansion to be financed and a new $9.5 million Human Services building to be built with cash, but a surplus of cash in the county coffers motivated the staff to reverse the financing options. County commissioners on Monday voted 3-0 to approve the funding change.
NOT BUYING IT (EXTRA!, May 2)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516195,00.html
"I'm not a doctor, but it's hard for me to imagine someone kicked in the head 10 to 30 times and not show some sign of it." Denver District Judge Robert McGahey Jr., in denying a defense motion to exclude Lawrence Trujillo's videotaped statement to police. Trujillo claimed police beat him after he allegedly ran down the Frank and Becca Bingham family in November.
RELATED: Judge rejects claim suspect was beaten
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516194,00.html
Economy
Riesberg's bioscience bill on way to governor
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020087
A Greeley lawmaker's bill that might bring more jobs to Colorado is on its way to the governor. House Bill 1060, sponsored by Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, will help seed new bioscience firms in Colorado. The measure appropriates $2.5 million in matching grants from the Office of Economic Development to Colorado research institutions working on ground-breaking bioscience and biofuel technology. Riesberg passed a similar measure last year, which gave $2 million to institutions, including the University of Northern Colorado and Colorado State University. The grant funded 27 research projects around the state and could result in new Colorado companies, Riesberg said. HB1060 sets aside $2 million for startup companies that have received federal Small Business and Innovation Research grants, which are used to offset business costs. The state funds would match 50 percent of those grants, up to $50,000.
Lower costs, broadband help Qwest triple profits
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5515541,00.html
Qwest Communications' profit nearly tripled to $240 million in its first quarter, driven by lower expenses and continued demand for high-speed Internet services. The 12 cents-a-share profit for the quarter ended March 31 exceeded analyst projections by 3 cents and represented a big jump from a profit of $88 million, or 5 cents a share, during the same period a year ago. But revenues essentially were flat at $3.45 billion, compared with $3.48 billion a year ago.
RELATED: Denver trios see robust quarter
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5795998
Janus founder Bailey cutting last formal tie to company
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5515515,00.html
Tom Bailey is severing his last formal tie to Janus Capital Group, the mutual fund company he founded in 1969. Bailey, who stepped down as Janus' chief executive in 2002 after unloading a $1.2 billion stake in the Denver firm, now is leaving his position as a trustee of the Janus fund family. The billionaire businessman, 69, still has significant investments in the company's mutual funds and Janus stock. Bailey these days is consumed with what he called his "third career," breeding and training horses on his Iron Rose Ranch near Aspen. He had wanted to step down "well before" the mandatory retirement age of 72, Janus spokeswoman Shelley Peterson said.
Chipotle revenue up 26 percent for quarter
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5515510,00.html
CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL INC., a Denver-based burrito chain, said first-quarter revenue rose 26.2 percent and same-store sales increased 8.3 percent. Chipotle opened 28 new locations during the quarter ended March 31.
In Colorado, the stakes are low
http://www.gazette.com/articles/stakes_21835___article.html/colorado_limit.html
The $5 limit on gambling is a blessing or a curse. To a gambler trying to stick to his budget, it’s a good thing. To a casino owner in Colorado, it’s one of the reasons potential customers go to other states. To the father and son playing blackjack at Bronco Billy’s Casino in Cripple Creek, it can be either, depending on how the game is going. “When you’re winning, it’s great to bet more,” said David Gillen of Florissant. “But when you’re losing . . .” In 1990, Colorado voters approved gambling with the caveat that the maximum amount of any wager be limited to $5 and that only poker, blackjack and slot machines be allowed — a conservative approach deemed most palatable to the public.
RELATED: Black Hawk drives statewide March record
http://www.gazette.com/articles/million_21839___article.html/casinos_record.html
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Unions await labor plan
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5796087
Randy Atkinson, president of the local firefighters union, said he will wait until a committee overseeing the state chapter of the AFL-CIO develops a plan for the organization's future before deciding whether his union should stay in the federation. Other local unions, riled by a takeover that began in January, also are considering whether to stop paying a portion of their members' dues to the chapter until it returns to local control. Laborers Local 578 in Colorado Springs already has begun withholding the assessment. But while a number of labor leaders are upset by the takeover, it is unlikely that many will abandon the AFL-CIO, said Mark Schwane, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "I haven't seen any sign of mass mutiny at this point."
IBM: 150 to lose jobs in Colo.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5796000
IBM said it would lay off 150 people in Boulder and metro Denver over the next 30 days as the company shifts resources to meet its customers' changing needs. The employees are part of the company's information technology delivery organization, IBM spokesman Lon Levitan said Tuesday. The cuts in Colorado are part of 1,300 IBM cuts across the United States, according to a labor group called The Alliance at IBM.
Housing and Homelessness
Home values drop across much of area
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5796002
Home values fell across much of the metro area during the first quarter, according to a home price index from Zillow.com. Median home values in the Denver-Boulder-Greeley metro area declined 1.9 percent to $217,533 in the first quarter of 2007 versus the first quarter of 2006. Of 45 metro-area cities tracked, 10 experienced gains in home values, while 35 saw a decline. Seattle-based Zillow, best known for its online home-valuation tool, also provides an index based on new home, existing home and for-sale-by-owner transactions. The Zillow index uses sales data to estimate values for entire cities and neighborhoods, going a step beyond Realtor data, which can be skewed by the mix of homes selling in a given time frame.
Neguse: CU-to-city continuum
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/01/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
Neguse told the Daily Tuesday, while taking a break from studying for a Constitutional Law final, that a great deal of his interest in serving on the housing board came from his prior experience in working with public policy issues. He served as a Tri-Exec in 2005, but also held a paid internship with the City of Boulder's Economic Vitality program in late 2005 and worked as an assistant at the state Capitol for Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff in 2006. He also said learning the ropes of his new housing board position requires a decent amount of homework, as well as learning from the veteran commissioners that know the issues surrounding affordable housing in Boulder and nationally with great detail.
Louisville unanimously repeals trailer ordinance
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/louisville-unanimously-repeals-trailer-ordinance/
The Louisville City Council on Tuesday repealed an ordinance governing parking of trailers on private property — one the city has not enforced in years because of controversy over its intent and effects. The 2002 law prohibited detached trailers from being parked in residential front yards for more than 72 hours and required a 4- to 6-foot privacy fence around trailers parked in side yards. Former Mayor Tom Davidson suspended enforcement of the ordinance the same year amid complaints from residents who said it's none of the city's business what they park on their own property.
Media
TV via DSL is "flawed" method
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5796088
Telecommunications companies' efforts to provide TV service over enhanced digital subscriber lines is a "flawed" concept, according to Liberty Media chairman John Malone. "DSL ... has limited capacity, I don't believe it will be enough to satisfy the demand for video. It ain't going to cut it," Malone said during a question-and-answer session at the company's annual meeting Tuesday. "They're going to have to bite the bullet and buy a cable company or spend a lot of capital." He said given increasing consumer demand for high-definition TV, telecommunications companies such as Qwest and AT&T will continue to rely on marketing partnerships with satellite companies DirecTV and EchoStar Communications. Liberty is poised to gain a 38 percent controlling stake in DirecTV Group Inc. pending final approvals for its stock-for-asset swap with News Corp.
Jury in 'Sahara' trial could get case on Wednesday
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5793581
Jurors will have to decide whether to believe a best-selling author or a reclusive billionaire in a trial involving dueling lawsuits over the movie "Sahara," an attorney argued today. Lawyer Bert Fields wrapped up his closing arguments, saying his client, Clive Cussler, should receive damages because a movie production company broke a deal that gave the novelist approval rights over the "Sahara" screenplay. Lawyers for the other side will present their closing arguments Wednesday. Superior Court Judge John Shook adjourned the trial for most of today because of an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles. Fields told jurors the trial pits two men against each other: Cussler, the aging author who has written 32 books, and reclusive Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz who owns Crusader Entertainment, the company that produced the 2005 action-adventure film.
Education
5 questions for author John Stossel, critic of public schools
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5515653,00.html
John Stossel believes having the government run American schools is not just stupid, it's "stunningly stupid," he writes in his new book, Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. The co-anchor of ABC News' 2 0/20 received a warm welcome Tuesday in Denver from an audience of more than 500, including Mayor John Hickenlooper and former Gov. Bill Owens, who gathered at a downtown hotel to support the Alliance for Choice in Education, which gives $2 million of scholarships annually to help children from low-income families attend private schools in the metro area.
CU physicist elected to academy
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5792989
A Boulder physicist has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of 72 new members, that organization reported today. Noel Clark, at the University of Colorado, Boulder, studies liquid crystals, which are used widely in commercial products from flat-panel televisions to watches. Last year, Clark won the American Physical Society's Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize. Sixteen of the 73 past recipients of the Buckley prize have gone on to win a Nobel prize in physics or chemistry.
District widening students’ world
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16094
Students in the St. Vrain Valley School District have the chance to expand their foreign language skills to include the most spoken language in the world. The district will offer an online course in Mandarin Chinese and an on-site class at Erie High School starting in the fall.
Administrator follows ex-superintendent to district in California
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/11
Sandy Gecewicz, an assistant superintendent for instruction in Pueblo City Schools for nearly seven years, has been named to a similar post in Vista, Calif., by her former boss, Joyce Bales. Gecewicz’s appointment as chief academic officer of the Vista Unified School District was approved Monday night by the district’s board.
RELATED: 2 City Schools principals announce retirements
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/9
Glenn Miller artifacts given to CU
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/local-big-band-archive-glenn-miller-artifacts-to/
The swing music sounds a little bit sweeter at the University of Colorado this spring, thanks to a large collection of Glenn Miller's musical artifacts that has been donated to the campus' Big Band-era archive. The American Music Research Center's Glenn Miller Archive received two crates — weighing in at 1,800 pounds — filled with books, photographs, posters, records and other Miller memorabilia. The collection was kept by the late Richard C. March, a member of the Glenn Miller Society in England, who died in November 2005.
Still guilty
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16093
Some Silver Creek High School ninth-graders argued Monday that Hitler was not responsible for the Holocaust because he suffered from mental illness. But a jury of six of their peers did not buy it and convicted the leader of the Third Reich of crimes against humanity. The trial, which lasted about an hour, was part of the students’ integrated world studies class, in which they study history and English together in a class taught by Justelle Grandsaert and Jamie Neufeld. After studying World War II for two weeks, the students spent a week and a half researching their characters and preparing their arguments. Today, another group of students will put President Harry S. Truman on trial for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945.
District denies request for raw data
Durango School District 9-R denied Tuesday a local man's request for raw data from a survey conducted at Durango High School. The school district said it could not provide Walter Venable with a copy of the data because the district doesn't have possession of it. Instead, Incite Learning, the Durango company that conducted the survey, has the raw data, a 9-R official said. "Incite Learning did not provide the district with the raw data, because it has a professional and ethical obligation to protect respondents' confidentiality," 9-R spokeswoman Deborah Uroda wrote in an e-mail to Venable on Tuesday. "The raw data that you've requested remains the property of Incite Learning, a private company."
Group begins recall process
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/may/02/group_begins_recall_process/
A committee calling itself “Save Our Schools RE-2” submitted petition language Tuesday seeking to recall John DeVincentis from the Steamboat Springs School Board. The committee submitted the petition language to the Routt County Clerk’s Office. Pat Gleason, one of the committee members and a former School Board member, said the group has taken the time it needed to get the petition in order.
Tragedy's lessons find eager scholars
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796193
Months after a gunman strolled into Platte Canyon High School, took seven girls hostage and killed one of them, repercussions are being felt throughout the mountain community of Bailey. The incident has brought bouts of widespread depression and increased stress, leading to a sharp rise in family arguments and prompting interventions with at least three students experiencing suicidal thoughts, according to Park County human services. But the event also has resulted in some silver linings for students that were not fully anticipated.
Students expelled over two 'hit lists'
http://postindependent.com/article/20070502/VALLEYNEWS/105020032
Two Glenwood Springs Middle School seventh-graders were recently expelled after school officials discovered what was described as two "hit lists." Some kids had gathered about three weeks ago and a teacher took something from them that turned out to be a list of names with the words "hit list" on it, GSMS assistant principal Mike Wells said. A friend of the student was also involved and a second list was found. He told GSMS principal Brad Ray that he had written his own copy because he was the boy's friend, Ray said. "It's two seventh-grade boys who made a horrible mistake," Ray said. "It's a tough situation for everybody."
Military
Bomb kills 3, pushing post's toll to 200
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516227,00.html
Fort Carson's death toll in Iraq hit a milestone of 200 as the Army released names Tuesday of three more soldiers killed. The Army identified them as Staff Sgt. Jay E. Martin, 29, of Baltimore; Sgt. Alexander J. Funcheon, 21, of Bel Aire, Kan.; and Pfc. Brian A. Botello, 19, of Alta, Iowa. They died together Sunday when a bomb exploded during combat operations in Baghdad. All three were members of Fort Carson's 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
RELATED: Voyage to Germany was in plans
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515972,00.html
RELATED: B followed family path in service
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515970,00.html
RELATED: Ft. Carson toll in Iraq hits 200 as 3 more die
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796196
Soldier with desire to protect weighed joining police
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515949,00.html
On May 1, 2003, Pfc. Jesse Givens, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, became the first Fort Carson soldier killed in Iraq. He drowned when a riverbank collapse sent his tank into the Euphrates River in Habbaniyah. "Any loss of life is tragic, and the 200th is an unhappy occasion. But it's part of the global war on terror," said Fort Carson spokeswoman Karen Linne. The 2nd Brigade, now in its second deployment, has been hit hardest, with 95 killed - 68 in its first tour from September 2004 to June 2005. Jay E. Martin liked the military since he was a boy and had dreams of becoming a pilot.
Salazar, Allard defend care at Fort Carson
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/2
How Fort Carson deals with soldiers suffering from post-combat stress has spilled back into the Senate this week where nine senators, led by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., have asked for a General Accountability Office investigation into allegations that soldiers at the Mountain Post are not getting adequate treatment or are being punished for problems associated with post-traumatic stress. On the other side, Colorado Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard sent their own letter to the GAO on Tuesday, praising Fort Carson for its research on severe brain injuries and asked that any GAO investigation look at problems Armywide, not just at the Mountain Post. "Focusing the investigation solely on a single installation, such as Fort Carson, may result in the faulty perception that these challenges are confined to one installation," Salazar, a Democrat, and Allard, a Republican, said in their letter Tuesday. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress and does research and investigations on a bipartisan basis for lawmakers.
Pinon bill ready for Governor's signature
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/1
Gov. Bill Ritter will sign a measure Thursday aimed at making it more difficult for the U.S. Army to use its eminent domain powers to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in Southeastern Colorado. The measure, HB1069, withdraws the state's permission for the Army to use eminent domain in expanding Pinon Canyon. No state has attempted this in the past. Introduced by Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, and Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, legislators hope the bill will force the Army to acquire land through easement agreements or outright purchases. The Army, which has said it plans to do that anyway, is looking to expand the 238,000-acre training site by as many as 418,000 acres.
Defense lawyer calls Abu Ghraib scandal a case of failed leadership and planning
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/5
Frank J. Spinner has spent the past three years standing in military courtrooms defending soldiers and sailors against charges they mistreated Iraqi prisoners in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, and Tuesday night he told the Pueblo County Bar Association the experience taught him three major lessons about war and personal behavior: In war, there is no substitute for strong leadership.
VA clinic opens in Burlington
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5514773,00.html
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs is opening an outreach health care clinic in Burlington. The new clinic is the first to specifically serve Eastern Colorado, and is expected to serve an estimated 10,000 Colorado veterans. After serving our nation with honor and distinction, we owe our veterans the respect of providing real access to the health care they were promised," said Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat. "This is an important piece of keeping that promise."
Town meeting to provide veterans clinic info
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26400
The battle area veterans and veterans' organizations had long fought -- securing a local medical care clinic for veterans -- was won last month when news came that a facility would open in Craig.
Drowning victim at Fort Carson identified
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515317,00.html
A soldier who drowned in Womack Reservoir at Fort Carson on Saturday was identified as Staff Sgt. Willie Roberts, 34, from Philadelphia.
15 AFA cadets expelled in cheating case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5515548,00.html
Fifteen cadets were expelled from the Air Force Academy in a cheating scandal and three others resigned, school commanders said Tuesday. Thirteen others were placed on probation. The cadets, all freshman, either confessed or were found guilty of sharing answers to a required test of general knowledge about the Air Force. Academy officials said the cadets forwarded test answers through an Internet social group and private computer messages. The school first disclosed the investigation in February. The academy said 29 cadets admitted to cheating and two were found guilty by an honor board. Nine others who were accused of cheating were cleared.
RELATED: AFA expels 18 in cheating case
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796520
RELATED: 18 cadets leaving over test cheating
http://www.gazette.com/articles/cadets_21820___article.html/cheating_test.html
Energy Policy
Power lines measure ready for Ritter's OK
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/12
Two local lawmakers breathed a huge sigh of relief Tuesday when a measure to help rural parts of the state build high-voltage transmission lines got the power it needed to make its way to Gov. Bill Ritter's desk. Though it was one of the first bills introduced in this year's session, it became one of the last to make it out because several lawmakers and groups kept tinkering with it, said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, and Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas. In the end, though, the two lawmakers agreed the measure was improved in the process. HB1150 would create the Colorado Clean Energy Development Authority, which would have bonding authority to help remote parts of the state build electric power lines to connect to the state's power grid.
Oil shale's lure beckons wiser Western Slope
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796182
The promise of oil shale collapsed in thousands of pink slips and many more broken dreams and fortunes on May 2, 1982 - a day known here as Black Sunday. On the 25th anniversary of the oil-shale industry bust, the resource still dangles the enticing prospect of a new domestic source of fuel. And once again, there is a concerted push to get at it. At least eight companies are working at oil-shale research using heaters, radio waves and conventional mining in the search for cost-effective and environmentally acceptable ways of tapping oil shale. The Bureau of Land Management issued five federal research and demonstration leases. One more in Utah got a preliminary green light this week. "If it isn't going to fly now, it may not fly," said Dr. Jeremy Boak, project manager of the Colorado Energy Research Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. "Everyone seems to be being pretty careful. It is not the sort of rosy scenario that came out the last time around."
RELATED: GarCo commissioner didn’t fit in during oil shale boom
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_Black_Sunday_McCown.html
RELATED: 'It doesn't feel the same' ... as it did back then, say those who witnessed the downturn
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_1a_www_black_sunday_main.html
RELATED: Economy similar to last boom, says lumberman
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_9a_Oil_Shale_Goodman.html
RELATED: Survivors of bust from Rifle, Parachute recall Black Sunday
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_1a_Black_Sunday_Rifle.html
RELATED: Is town of Rangely ready for oil shale's return?
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_1a_Oil_shale_Rangely.html
RELATED: Shale bubbles up in literature
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_8a_Oil_Shale_literature.html
RELATED: A Black Sunday memory - bust led to desperate times
http://postindependent.com/article/20070502/VALLEYNEWS/105020031
Encana Energy Expo returns to Rifle today
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_3b_EnCana_expo_brief.html
EnCana Oil and Gas will bring its fifth annual Energy Expo to Rifle today at the Garfield County Fairgrounds from 12 to 6 p.m. Community members can talk one-on-one with EnCana and other industry operators, including Antero Resources, Berry Petroleum, Bill Barrett Corp., ConocoPhillips, Occidental Oil, PetroHunter Operating, Shell Exploration and Production and Williams Production. Contractor companies, area colleges, workforce-training groups, government and regulatory agencies also will be present.
Roan Plateau energy hearing canceled
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_4b_Roan_Hearing.html
A congressional hearing about energy development on the Roan Plateau will not happen this week. The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States sent out a news release last week saying the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee did not give Republicans enough time to make plans to attend the hearing, which the petroleum group said may be scheduled for May 4. No other details were given. The hearing had been in the planning stages, but the committee decided not to hold the session because of a scheduling conflict, according to Allyson Groff, the committee’s communications director. “The hearing was never even announced to members or to staff,” she said.
Windsor becomes a whirl beater
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5796001
In a county that boasts 12,000 oil and gas wells, Colorado's future as an alternative energy hub is taking shape. Vestas Wind Systems, the world's largest maker of wind turbines, is preparing an empty field in Weld County for the construction of its first North American plant. "With Vestas coming in, we get the one piece that has been missing from the energy picture here. We now have a major manufacturer of renewable energy components," said Laura Brandt, economic development director with the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. The plant, which will be located at the Great Western Industrial Park in Windsor, represents a $60 million investment by Vestas, based in Randers, Denmark. Once the plant opens early next year, Vestas is expected to employ more than 400 people to produce 1,200 wind turbine blades annually.
Rio Blanco loses use-tax case to energy company
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_Use_tax.html
A Denver District Court judge recently threw out claims by Rio Blanco County that ExxonMobil did not pay use taxes over a 19-month period in 2003 and 2004. Commissioner Ken Parsons said Tuesday he was surprised by the ruling because the county based part of its case on laws that exempted specific ski-lift operations, but not energy development. “We said since the ski industry needed a special bill to exempt ski lifts (from use taxes), oil and gas processing facilities should have to pay use taxes,” Parsons said. In the April 23 ruling, however, the judge disagreed, writing that energy development equipment was beyond the scope of 1973 use-tax laws.
Web site focuses on De Beque wastewater proposal
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_3b_Dalbo_Web_site.html
Dalbo, Inc., the Vernal, Utah-based company planning to construct oil and gas wastewater ponds on 45 1/2 Road near De Beque, launched a Web site Monday to answer the community’s questions about the proposed project.
Gas woes deflate brand loyalty
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5795999
As gas at an increasing number of Colorado stations surpassed the $3-per-gallon mark on Tuesday, some local drivers sought out bargains in the form of non-name-brand gasoline. Gas prices climbed nearly 2 cents to an average of $2.96 per gallon of regular unleaded on Tuesday. Prices are up almost 12 cents per gallon from this time a year ago and are up about 33 cents from this time a month ago, according to AAA Colorado. Nationally, motorists are paying $2.965 per gallon of regular, up a penny from Monday.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Enforcement questions linger around chain law bill
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070501/NEWS/70501001
Truck drivers are facing higher penalties next year for ignoring the chain law, but whether or not there will be enough police officers on the interstate to enforce the law remains to be seen. Colorado State Patrol Troop 6B, which covers Summit and Clear Creek counties, including the approaches to the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 where many wintertime accidents occur, is chronically understaffed. “There are many times when we can’t send anyone out to enforce the chain law; we don’t have anyone to send,” said Troop Capt. Ron Prater. Right now, Troop 6B employs 13 field officers, which allows only one trooper, per county, per shift to be on duty, Prater said.
U.S. 36 group does turnaround on tolls
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5516199,00.html
Communities along the congested U.S. 36 corridor did an abrupt about-face this week and embraced tolls as a way to add new lanes after years of opposing the idea. The change came in an application to the Federal Highway Administration for $234.5 million to finance construction of one new lane in each direction in the center of the highway. If the feds fund the project, that money could kick-start one of the FasTracks rapid-transit corridors that has been hurting for cash.
RELATED: Future could be HOT for U.S. 36
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5795979
Environment and Conservation
Surprising rebound in ozone depleting chemicals
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796108
Just when it seemed Earth's protective ozone layer was healing, researchers have discovered that three types of ozone-depleting chemicals are rising again. Soon after an international agreement was signed in 1987, levels of ozone-eating hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs, began dropping in the atmosphere - until 2005. Since then, levels of the chemicals, found in car and home air conditioners, have been growing in the atmosphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab in Boulder. "We thought everything was fine," NOAA scientist Jim Elkins said. "This is very much a surprise." Near the Earth's surface, ozone contributes to smog, but high in the stratosphere, the chemical forms a natural blanket that protects living things from damaging ultraviolet radiation. Elkins and others blame the problem on another international environmental treaty - the Kyoto Protocol, designed to slow the emissions of greenhouse gases.
Forecast: Drought here to stay
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/02/5_2_1b_April_weather.html
The Grand Valley and the rest of the southwestern United States appear to be heading back into a drought, according to Brian Avery, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service. Avery said a La Niña, a colder than normal flow of water, is beginning to set up in the Pacific Ocean. That cold flow, he said, will shift normal weather patterns to the north, bringing Grand Junction back into a drought. “We have been in a drought period since 1999, and we have had a couple of wet years, but it looks like we are going into a bit of a drought period again,” Avery said. Southwest Colorado and the Grand Junction area are listed as being in a drought, he said.
Fire potential for Springs high
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5796521
The last time a catastrophic wildland fire swept through the foothills of Colorado Springs, nine people died, 50 were injured and 109 Fort Carson buildings were damaged or destroyed. The January 1950 catastrophe began when a fire to clear vegetation for a golf course at the Broadmoor Hotel raced out of control. Then, there were few homes in the foothills. Today, there are more than 32,000 properties from NORAD to the Air Force Academy in heavily vegetated areas mixed with scrub oak, ponderosa pine and aspen. And in its recently released "State of the Rockies Report Card," Colorado College lists El Paso County at No. 10 for fire risk in the eight-state Rocky Mountain West.
Second devastating fire hits paper plant
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020094
It's hard on Roy Martin, hit by two fires in two years. So hard, he may not open the paper recycling business again. Martin is the owner of Northern Colorado Recycling and also Arctic Insulation, both located at 1216 N. 11th Ave., where his main warehouse and paper shredding building burned early Tuesday. Damage was estimated at $890,000. It's the second such fire for Martin in the past two years. On Sept. 3, 2005, the same building burned, causing $450,000 damage. Martin rebuilt, brought in new shredding machines, and got back to work. Tuesday morning it ended again.
County remains committed to 'green' health building
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178116701/17
Pueblo County commissioners said Tuesday they are committed to achieving "green" certification on the new City-County Health Department building, even though the consultation fee for that aspect is going to be more than they thought earlier. LEED certification - the acronym stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - is available at several levels and the health building is going for the second, "silver" level.
Committee targets impressionable students
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/05/01/local_news/2.txt
By reaching children at an impressionable age, the Montrose Recycle Education Committee hopes to create a "lifestyle" and clean up the Earth. "We've got to get this recycling bug going," Lesley Hallenborg, committee member, said.
Restoring Niwot's historic Grange
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/restoring-niwots-historic-grange/
Left Hand Grange No. 9 certainly doesn't look as fresh and new today as it did when it was built during the Roosevelt administration. That's Theodore Roosevelt. As in 1905. But that's OK. The distinctive white clapboard building, located in the middle of downtown Niwot, isn't looking to be shiny and new. Its status as one of the county's most historic buildings — first as a meeting hall for farmers and later as a gathering place for the entire community — is one of its greatest assets, say its backers. Inside its walls is more than a century's worth of concerts to share, stories to recollect and memories to treasure.
Opinion
Caught in his own web
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5515655,00.html
President Bush may want to send his former CIA Director George Tenet a thank-you note. In a few short days, Tenet has become a bigger target for public criticism than the president himself. In appearances on CBS News' 60 Minutes and elsewhere to promote his new memoir At the Center of the Storm, Tenet has tried to square his recollections of the 9/11 attacks and the run-up to the Iraq war with what happened at the time. Such memoirs can provide valuable insights into the thinking of key policy-makers at important times in history. So it's understandable that Tenet received a $4 million advance for the book. But parts of his story need a lot of work. Tenet presents himself at times as if he were a bit player who tried to get senior administration officials to warn Bush that an invasion of Iraq would be a calamity, but no one would heed his advice. There's one problem: He was a senior administration official who met daily with President Bush. Tenet simply refuses to accept responsibility for any bad things that happened on his watch.
Iraq rebuilding mishandled
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5794168
Four years after the unfortunate bravado of "Mission Accomplished," a report on the reconstruction of war-torn Iraq painfully details that the U.S. rebuilding mission is anything but.
Reduce U.S. penalty for state benefit mess
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5794167
Colorado should not get stuck with an $11.2 million bill to reimburse the federal government for food-stamp overpayments, especially under the circumstances. The sanction is being imposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for questionable benefit distributions and cost of living adjustments in 2005. The problem is that some of the overpayments might not have been overpayments at all. The $11.2 million was recorded as errors by Colorado's besotted Computer Benefits Management System. Deputy Attorney General Dennis Ellis says some of the errors could very well have been underpayments.
Spencer: Tax freeze could heat up next election
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5795978
This is the big-picture approach that Democrats must take to overcome the Republican tax-increase mantra. Colorado is a different place than when Wadhams engineered the elections of tax-cutting ideologues such as Gov. Bill Owens and U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard. "We've gone through a recession, budget cuts and Referendum C (which suspended TABOR refunds for five years)," said John Straayer of Colorado State University. "The kitchen- table issues have shifted from ideology and endless tax cuts to potholes and schools." Still, if this bogs down into a debate about whether an increase in your home's assessment equals a tax increase, nobody wins. The Republicans must overcome a reputation as naysayers without an alternative. The Democrats cannot get lost in the details. "The real question," Straayer said, "is if we are at a point where one party or the other would articulate a vision for the future of Colorado and put an honest price on it. We seem to have lost the connection between services and costs."
Public has role in resolving health-care crisis
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020309/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
The issue of access to health care could be compared to the weather. Everybody complains about it, but nobody does anything about it. But that may change May 12, when Northern Colorado residents are invited to share what principles they believe should be a part of any health reform plan, including specific features. The opportunity to offer suggestions comes at a Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform.
Munoz: Immigration myth No. 3 ... and counting
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070501/COLUMNS/105010058
"Summit's blue-collar workers are (mostly) not lazy, they are just under paid because the amigos that are jumping the fence down South are happy to work for peanuts and pay no taxes. Send them home and resort wages rise to market levels. It's not rocket science." - Comment, summitdaily.com (posted April 21). Thank you, Mr. Bob Norton (Daily Mail, April 19) for providing me with a segue from Myth No. 2 to Myth No. 3. Illegal immigrants pay no taxes (Myth No. 2) debunked in my previous column; and now, illegal immigrants depress wages (Myth No. 3) - a myth I will debunk with some help, because you see, economics may not be "rocket science," but it is more complicated than your simple analysis - and I do mean simple.
Johnson: Marchers seek dignity, recognition for efforts
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5515868,00.html
Never go to the very front of these things. That is where the organizers, the ideologues, shouters and incessant drum-beaters dwell. It is all noise, loud talking points and little substance. Tag along on a protest march, you have to go to the tail end, the place where the stragglers, the mommies and the timid hang out. It is there where you find those with an actual stake in what those in the front are shouting about. So when the May Day march through downtown set out from Lincoln Park Tuesday in support of immigration reforms - including a path to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants in this country - I hung back.
The lesson from Tibet: Boulderite's dissent was brave
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/02/the-lesson-from-tibet/
Say what you will about Kirsten Westby. You must acknowledge her bravery. Sure, as a Denver pundit noted, urging China to relinquish Tibet could be the very definition of "futile." But America needs more of her kind of moxie. Last month, Westby, a 29-year-old Boulder woman, trekked to the Tibetan side of Mount Everest and helped stage a gutsy protest at the 17,000-foot base camp. The protest was staged by Westby and four other Americans who are members of Students for a Free Tibet.
Israel's example of political freedom
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5515654,00.html
With the exception of Turkey, Israel is essentially alone in the Mideast as a democracy - and a robust democracy it is, as events this week prove. A government commission, appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, issued a report on the conduct of the war with Hezbollah last summer. Fully aware that its findings might well bring down Olmert's government, the commission let fly: "The prime minister made up his mind hastily, despite the fact that no detailed military plan was submitted to him and without asking for one. All of these add up to a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence." Incredibly, some Israelis criticized the commission for pulling its punches.
Election
Democratic Field Seeks New Moves to Halt War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101876.html
Democratic presidential candidates urged Congress yesterday not to yield to President Bush's veto of an Iraq funding bill that included a timetable for beginning troop withdrawals, but the party's two leading contenders were more tentative than their rivals in offering support for aggressive steps to bring the war to an end. Four candidates -- Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina -- called on Democrats to consider more drastic steps aimed at ending the war. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, however, argued that Congress should stay focused on the fight over the supplemental funding bill before considering more far-reaching steps favored by their rivals. Clinton hinted that she is open to compromise with the president, but she declined to specify the shape of an agreement.
RELATED: Edwards Ads Take Aim At Veto
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101978.html
3 Democrats Suggest Plans for Education in Poor Nations
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/us/politics/02dems.html
President Bush has made fighting AIDS and malaria in poor nations signature issues, and now the three leading Democratic presidential candidates are laying claim to the theme of educating children in poor countries. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York proposed legislation yesterday to spend $10 billion over five years to build classrooms, train teachers and get millions of children, especially girls, into school in the developing world. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and John Edwards of North Carolina have made their own ambitious education proposals for poor nations in recent speeches.
Despite his law firm's ties, Giuliani slams Chavez
Rudolph W. Giuliani on Tuesday called Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez a dangerous foe of the United States — even though Giuliani's law firm lobbies for a U.S. branch of a Chavez-controlled oil company. Giuliani never mentioned his law firm's contract with Citgo Petroleum to a crowd of Latino small-business owners, even as he said it was Chavez's vast oil wealth that gives the Venezuelan a platform for his anti-American activities in the region. "We need a president who knows how to get things done so we don't have to be sending money to Chavez," Giuliani said, calling for energy efficiency to wean Americans from foreign oil. "Who would listen to Chavez if he didn't have all this oil money?" Giuliani asked. Bracewell & Giuliani lobbies in Texas for Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela's national oil company, controlled by Chavez.
Ford: Obama can win in South
Before Sen. Barack Obama was the rising star of the Democratic Party, there was Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee. Both gave well-received speeches to their party at national conventions. Both are younger than most politicians who rise to the national stage. And both are black. While Ford, 36, narrowly lost one of the most closely watched elections last fall, he said Tuesday in Chicago that the Illinois senator's race is not a hurdle to his winning in the South. "Can somebody who is black win? The answer is yes," said Ford, now chairman of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, a post Bill Clinton used to help him rise to national prominence in the early 1990s.
Deep pockets can hold sticky details
What's a politician to do upon discovery that a generous billionaire donor turns out to be a major tax dodger? It's a dilemma already encountered by the Republican and Democratic parties in this season of unprecedented political fundraising. At a time when newly powerful Democrats, including presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, are pressing for aggressive pursuit of unpaid tax bills to boost federal revenue, the party's biggest financier and prominent Clinton backer is tied to one of the largest individual tax avoidance schemes on record. And two Republican billionaires — Texas brothers who have poured a small fortune into supporting the presidential bids of two George Bushes and, more recently, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — were accused last year of exploiting offshore havens to escape taxes on nearly $200 million in gains. Amid predictions that the 2008 presidential campaign will be the most expensive in history, with spending possibly topping $1 billion, pressure to raise huge sums of cash is a certainty. For candidates, the question is whether the headlong pursuit of deep pockets may also risk embarrassment over their donors' financial baggage.
Senators sponsor D.C. voting rights bill
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-01-voting-rights-bill_N.htm
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he's supporting legislation to create new House seats for his home state of Utah and the District of Columbia, boosting chances that after two centuries residents of the nation's capital will get a vote in Congress. Hatch joined Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in sponsoring the Senate version of a bill, passed by the House last month, that would permanently add two seats to the 435-seat House, giving one to the Democratic district and another, provisionally, to Republican-leaning Utah. Most House Republicans joined the Bush White House in opposing the bill, saying the Constitution denies voting rights to a non-state entity such as the district. The support of Utah's two Republican senators was deemed crucial to success in the Senate.
Effective and Ethical Government
Watchdog Faces Three Investigations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101775.html
The inspector general of the Department of Commerce, the watchdog charged with rooting out wrongdoing at the agency, is himself the subject of three separate government investigations into allegations that he misspent his budget and retaliated against employees who raised concerns about his actions. Last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.); Rep. Joe L. Barton (Tex.), the ranking Republican on the panel; and two other members sent an eight-page letter to the inspector general, Johnnie E. Frazier, demanding scores of records. Investigators from two executive-branch agencies have also been looking into Frazier's conduct.
Penalty Stands in Congressmen's Battle Over Leaked Phone Call
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101774.html
A decade-long feud between Reps. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) appeared to end in Boehner's favor yesterday when a court ruled McDermott liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and legal fees over an illegally taped conference call he leaked to reporters. In a 5 to 4 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the offense was especially egregious because McDermott was a senior member of the House ethics panel at the time. The case stretches back to December 1996, when a couple using a police scanner illegally taped a cellphone conference call between House Republican leaders discussing ethics allegations against then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). The couple gave the tape to McDermott, who turned it over to news outlets.
RELATED: Court Says Congressman Must Pay Damages
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/washington/02court.html
Corzine pays seat belt ticket
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-26-corzine-seatbelt_N.htm
Gov. Jon S. Corzine has voluntarily paid a $46 fine for violating state law by not wearing a seat belt during the trip in which a car accident almost killed him, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Kent State audio tape released
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-01-kent-tape_N.htm
Survivors of the National Guard shooting that killed four Kent State University students during an anti-war rally released an audio tape Tuesday that they said includes a military order to fire on the demonstrators. "The evidence speaks for itself," said Alan Canfora, 58, one of nine students wounded during the 1970 shooting. Canfora released two versions of a 20-second clip — the original and an amplified version — in which he says a Guard officer issues the command, "Right here! Get Set! Point! Fire!" The tape begins with static in the background and then screams from protesters. The word "point" can be heard followed by the sound of shots being fired. There is no indication on the tape of who said the word.
Foreign Policy
U.S. diplomats returning from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-05-01-diplomats-stress_N.htm
U.S. diplomats are returning from Iraq with the same debilitating, stress-related symptoms that have afflicted many U.S. troops, prompting the State Department to order a mental health survey of 1,400 employees who have completed assignments there. Larry Brown, the State Department's director of medical services, said that as early as this month the department will e-mail questionnaires to employees who have been posted in Iraq.
Iraqis Say Insurgent Leader Is Dead
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100414.html
Iraqi government officials said Tuesday they believed the leader of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq was killed north of Baghdad, but U.S. military officials said they could not confirm the reported death. The Iraqi ministers of defense and interior told reporters there was reliable information that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the nom de guerre of a man believed to have taken over the group's leadership after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in fighting near Taji. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh confirmed those reports but said DNA testing would be done to verify Masri's death.
RELATED: Iraqi Officials Say Top Qaeda Leader May Have Been Killed
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/middleeast/02iraq.html
In Baghdad, Survival Depends on Simpler Ways
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101798.html
To those accustomed to the barren, brown expanse of the Tigris, in recent years primarily the domain of floating corpses and speeding patrol boats, the dozens of skiffs now traversing the river are a striking sight. About 15 feet long and powered by outboard motors, the boats are one more solution, however primitive, that Iraqis have devised to survive their daily rounds in Baghdad. "When you walk down the street, you don't know if the person next to you is wearing an explosive belt or if there's a bomb in the next car," said the salesman, who gave only his nickname, Abu Zaid Hamdani, out of fear. "I feel more comfortable on the water. I feel psychologically safe." From the boys selling black-market gasoline from donkey carts, to the abandoned movie theaters, restaurants and liquor stores, from the overflowing sewage to the dwindling food rations, Baghdad has lost its place as a pinnacle of Middle East modernity. Existence has become more rudimentary.
RELATED: Iraq's civilian toll grows
As Funding Increases, Afghan Forces Range From Ragtag to Ready
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/asia/02kabul.html?ref=world
These wildly contrasting glimpses of Afghanistan’s security forces illustrate the mix of achievements and frustrations that have accompanied international efforts to create a capable Afghan Army and a police force after decades of disorder and war. They also underscore the urgency behind the renewed push to recruit and train these units, which is now under way with an influx of equipment and training approved by the Bush administration last year. Yet, even after several years of efforts to create new army and police units, it remains difficult to fully assess their readiness. Some units, especially in the army, are motivated and much better equipped than any Afghan forces were five years ago. Others, especially in the police, remain visibly ragtag, underequipped, disorganized, of uncertain loyalty and with links to organized drug rings.
U.S.-Iran Talks Unlikely at Conference
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101592.html
Despite the buildup to a possible meeting between senior U.S. and Iranian officials, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian counterpart are unlikely to hold substantive one-on-one talks at a conference in Egypt on Friday, U.S. and Iranian officials said yesterday. Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki are both scheduled to attend a meeting with Iraq's neighbors in Sharm el-Sheikh, the second of two days of talks on the future of Iraq. The two will be part of U.S.-orchestrated discussions on how to stabilize Iraq at a joint session of foreign ministers, when the Bush administration hopes all countries will commit to help end the escalating violence in Iraq.
India Official Dismisses Iran Reports
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050102045.html
The Indian government is "quite amazed" by news reports suggesting that New Delhi is building a closer military relationship with Iran, a senior Indian official said yesterday, seeking to dampen growing congressional concern over India's relations with the Islamic republic. Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, who completed two days of talks with U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also reported great strides in resolving disputes that have held up the implementation of a landmark 2006 nuclear accord between the United States and India.
Calls Mount for Olmert to Step Down
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100413.html
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced rising calls Tuesday for his resignation, a defection from his governing coalition and rumblings of insurrection within his own party a day after an official investigation found "serious failings" in his conduct of the war in Lebanon last summer. Olmert's aides and political allies acknowledged that the Winograd Committee's interim report was unusually harsh and that the prime minister would require political resilience to survive. "There is a group that is examining the possibility of his resignation and there is another group that does not think it is the right time," said Otniel Schneller, a lawmaker from Olmert's centrist Kadima party, describing the divide in the ranks as one member, Marina Solodkin, called publicly for him to resign.
RELATED: Olmert showing strain in aftermath of censure
RELATED: Israeli junior minister resigns after war report
After Protest, Turkish Court Annuls Vote For President
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100270.html
Turkey's highest court sided with the secular opposition on Tuesday in a contest over the presidency, annulling a parliamentary vote for the candidate of the Islamic-rooted ruling party. The government said it would hold another vote on Thursday. The prospect of the foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, in the presidency raised the possibility of a rise in political Islam that could erode Turkey's long secular tradition. Hundreds of thousands of pro-secular demonstrators have called for the government to step down.
RELATED: High court ruling deepens Turkey's political crisis
Warrants Issued for Darfur Suspects
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-International-Court-Darfur.html
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese government minister and a janjaweed militia leader suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur, the court said Wednesday. The warrants were a crucial step toward bringing atrocities in the Sudanese region before a panel of international judges in The Hague. However, Sudanese authorities have in the past refused to arrest and turn over suspects to the court and it was unclear whether either suspect would surrender.
China's Muckrakers for Hire Deliver Exposés With Impact
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050102072.html
Official censorship still protects authorities, including corrupt authorities, more than two decades after China launched itself on a path to reform. In a society that is swiftly modernizing, the security-conscious Communist Party continues to fear, and filter, the spread of information. Although censorship is imposed at all levels of the party and government, much of it is self-inflicted by editors who are afraid of losing their jobs and are regularly coached by party officials on what to publish or broadcast. The emerging Internet journalists for hire, however, have no jobs to protect; they are self-employed. And although the freedom is greater, the returns are meager. Xu said he has earned a little less than $4,000 since starting up 10 months ago. In addition, he has to pay two employees. To supplement his income and help support his two children, he recently found a day job at Democracy and Legal System magazine.
Scotland may go its own way
It was on the low cliffs looming over the white-capped Firth of Forth here that Alexander III, the last of Scotland's Celtic kings, plunged from his horse to his death one inky night 721 years ago. England backed a successor, and ultimately invaded, touching off the wars of Scottish independence that inspired medieval verses about refusing to submit to "the bonds of slavery entwined" and opulently tragic films such as "Braveheart." These days, Scotland's independence movement is still playing out on the Kinghorn uplands. Here George Kay is making his way, house by house, to a succession of doors ringed by pansy pots and "no milk today" signs. Kay is running on the Scottish National Party ticket in elections Thursday that could set Scotland on a course to break away from Britain.
RELATED: Elections in Britain Reveal a Scottish Line in the Sand
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/europe/02scotland.html?ref=world
Don't vote, urges eliminated candidate
Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen urged his supporters Tuesday to abstain from voting in France's weekend presidential runoff between conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal. Le Pen collected about 10.5 percent of the ballot to finish fourth in the April 22 first round. It was far from certain how his announcement could reshape the outcome Sunday, which will determine who runs a country adrift and eager for change after 12 years under President Jacques Chirac.
RELATED: After Chirac, Questions on French Foreign Policy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/europe/02france.html?ref=world
Search for the fallen in a now-quiet forest
A volunteer sifts the earth outside Berlin for forgotten soldiers. So far, he's uncovered the remains of 20,000.
Castro skips May Day parade
Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro missed Havana's May Day parade Tuesday for the first time in decades but still managed to set the political themes for the workers march that drew half a million people. Galvanized by his suggestions for banners and slogans in an editorial carried by all major Cuban media, the marchers denounced the Bush administration for releasing an accused terrorist from a New Mexico jail last month and criticized the world's biggest gas-guzzlers for using food crops to produce fuel.
RELATED: No Sign of Fidel Castro on Cuban Holiday
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/americas/02cuba.html?ref=world
Immigration
Immigration Rallies Focus On Keeping Families Intact
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100263.html
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in cities across America yesterday, shouting slogans that called for a path to legal residency for about 12 million illegal immigrants and an end to federal deportation raids that have increased during the past year. A year after a series of similar rallies, yesterday's protests focused on keeping families intact. That focus appeared aimed at raids that could separate parents who are in the country illegally from children born here who are citizens. More than 3 million American-born children have illegal immigrant parents who are subject to deportation, according to the Urban Institute and the Pew Hispanic Center.
RELATED: 'We're proud of our lives'
RELATED: Small turnout, big questions
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-march2may02,0,3947088.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Texans: Border fence not what we were sold
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-01-border-fence_N.htm
A new map showing President Bush's planned border fence has riled Rio Grande Valley officials, who say the proposed barrier reneges on assurances that the river would remain accessible to farmers, wildlife and recreation. City officials in the heavily populated valley had anticipated a "virtual" fence of surveillance cameras and border patrols. Instead, a Customs and Border Protection map depicts a structure running piecemeal along a 600-mile stretch of Texas from Presidio to Brownsville, a border region where daily life is binational. "We were given the impression that they were not going to be building walls, that there would be more cameras, surveillance, boots on the ground," said Mike Allen, head of McAllen Economic Development Corp. "This is going to seriously affect the farmers," he said. "They will not have access to water. It's just going to create bedlam."
U.S. Seeks Closing of Visa Loophole for Britons
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/europe/02britain.html?ref=world
American officials, citing the number of terror plots in Britain involving Britons with ties to Pakistan, expressed concern over the visa loophole. In recent months, the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, has opened talks with the government here on how to curb the access of British citizens of Pakistani origin to the United States.
Health Care and Public Safety
Millions Of Chickens Fed Tainted Pet Food
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050102071.html
At least 2.5 million broiler chickens from an Indiana producer were fed pet food scraps contaminated with the chemical melamine and subsequently sold for human consumption, federal health officials reported yesterday. Hundreds of other producers may have similarly sold an unknown amount of contaminated poultry in recent months, they added, painting a picture of much broader consumption of contaminated feed and food than had previously been acknowledged in the widening pet food scandal. Officials emphasized that they do not believe the tainted chickens -- or the smaller number of contaminated pigs that were reported to have entered the human food supply -- pose risks to people who ate them. "We do not believe there is any significant threat of human illness from this," said David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's chief medical officer. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach named Acheson yesterday the agency's new "food czar" -- officially, assistant commissioner for food protection.
RELATED: Crisis Over Pet Food Extracting Healthy Cost
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101918.html
RELATED: Pet Food Chemical Unlikely to Pose Threat to Humans, Experts Say, as U.S. Continues Inquiry
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/washington/02food.html
In a Reversal, U.S. Says Medicare Won’t Cover Stents for Neck Arteries
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/business/02stent.html
Responding to criticism from surgeons, the government has dropped its previously announced plans to expand Medicare coverage for the use of stents to prop open neck arteries to prevent strokes. Instead, Medicare will stick with definitions that restrict eligibility for such stents to fewer than 10 percent of the 150,000 to 200,000 Americans who annually undergo surgery to clear blockages that restrict blood flow to the brain and raise stroke risks.
TB patient jailed after not following doctor's orders
His legs shackled and his wrists in handcuffs, Robert Daniels craned his neck past the armed Maricopa County sheriff's deputy and gazed at a sliver of daylight spilling through the hospital doors. "That's the first time I've seen sunlight in … " Daniels' voice trailed off. He couldn't remember the last time. The 27-year-old has been confined to a sealed room in the Maricopa County Medical Center's jail ward since August. He has not committed a crime but is under lockdown by health authorities because he suffers from a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, yet went out in public without a face mask. He also failed to take required medications. "It's not fair that they put me in jail," Daniels said during a recent hospital room interview. A thick breathing mask covered his mouth and nose. He said being locked up alone for nine months in a room that is lighted 24 hours a day had brought him to the brink of madness. "You can't imagine what it's like," he said. County officials say that they must forcibly quarantine a tuberculosis patient nearly every year and that the only secure facility in the state is the fourth-floor jail ward of the county hospital.
Crime and Penal Reform
Privacy Laws Slow Efforts on Gun-Buyer Data
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/us/02guns.html?ref=washington
Momentum is building in Congress behind a measure that would push states to report their mental health records to the federal database used to conduct background checks on gun buyers. But a thicket of obstacles, most notably state privacy laws, have thwarted repeated efforts to improve the reporting of such records in the past and are likely to complicate this latest effort, even after the worst mass shooting in United States history at Virginia Tech last month.
Sex offenders may get special tags
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-01-sex-offender-tags_N.htm
Lawmakers in three states are pushing bills to require convicted sex offenders to display special license plates on their cars. Proponents in Wisconsin, Ohio and Alabama say the sex offender plates would be another tool to keep the public safe. Critics say the plates would lead to a false sense of security and unintended consequences. "For too long child sex predators have been watching our children," said state Rep. Joel Kleefisch, a Wisconsin Republican. "It's time we have an opportunity to watch them back." Wisconsin's bill, authored by Kleefisch, would require people convicted of the most serious assaults involving children to use a chartreuse-green plate. The license plate in Ohio would be fluorescent green, and the Alabama bill would leave it up to the state Department of Revenue to design the plate. An Assembly committee approved the Wisconsin bill 8-3 last week. Hearings have been held in Ohio, where Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, has said he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. The Alabama bill was only recently introduced.
Atlanta police chief denies charges of arrest quotas
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/05/01/0502metcouncil.html
The question of whether police have arrest quotas continued to follow Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington no matter where he went in City Hall on Tuesday. He insisted that officers do not have to make a minimum number of arrests to avoid punishment; they do have "performance standards." After fielding questions on the subject at a news conference, Pennington was under fire as the head of the police union and some City Council members questioned the difference between the two terms. "Where's the fine line between performance evaluations and quotas?" asked Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the Atlanta chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers. City Council members H. Lamar Willis and Joyce Sheperd, at a meeting of the Public Safety Committee, wondered the same thing.
Economy
Paulson: U.S. on right trade path with China
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/trade/2007-05-01-paulson-usat_N.htm
Despite congressional anger over Chinese trade practices, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson insisted Tuesday that a Bush administration initiative he heads is spurring China to quicken its economic reforms. "We've made a lot of progress," Paulson said in an interview with USA TODAY. But the Treasury chief, who in December launched high-level talks with China called the Strategic Economic Dialogue, acknowledged the need for further gains to head off protectionist sentiment. The U.S. ran a $233 billion trade deficit with China last year, and this year's first-quarter deficit of $46.4 billion was twice as large as in the comparable period last year.
Manufacturing sector expands
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-05-01-ism-reports_N.htm
The nation's manufacturing sector showed surprising strength in April, growing at a faster pace since May 2006, which helped accelerate prices, a trade group said Tuesday. The Institute for Supply Management, based in Tempe, Ariz., said its manufacturing index registered 54.7, above the March reading of 50.9 and Wall Street's expectation of 51. A reading above 50 indicates growth for the sector, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
RELATED: Factory Work Expanding at Best Pace in 11 Months
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/business/02econ.html
Stocks and Bonds: Shares Rise on New Interest in Takeovers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/business/02stox.html
Stocks moved higher on Wall Street yesterday after a bid for the media company Dow Jones & Company revived enthusiasm about takeover activity. Stocks of big companies benefited, and the Dow Jones industrial average reached another record close, its 38th since October. The Dow industrials rose 73.23 points, to 13,136.14, after dropping to 13,041.30 in earlier trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 3.93 points, to 1,486.30. The Nasdaq composite index rose 6.44 points, to 2,531.53.
Wolfowitz's Story Disputed By Ex-Official
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101842.html
The former chairman of the World Bank's ethics committee yesterday accused the institution's embattled president, Paul D. Wolfowitz, of misleading a panel investigating his role in granting his girlfriend a substantial pay raise. In a written submission to the investigating committee, the former ethics chairman, Ad Melkert, contradicted Wolfowitz's assertion that he fully informed bank officers of his handling of his girlfriend's transfer to the State Department and that his actions had their blessing. "I am deeply hurt by efforts to manipulate information," Melkert said in his statement, maintaining that his committee was never consulted on the details of a promotion-and-raise package for Wolfowitz's girlfriend. His comments to the committee were an elaboration on a statement he released late Monday. Wolfowitz's attorney, Robert S. Bennett, said his client was being unfairly blamed for following the instructions of the ethics committee by finding another job for his companion, Shaha Riza, a senior World Bank official, to avoid an obvious conflict of interest when he arrived at the bank.
RELATED: Former World Bank Officials Detail Discord Over Wolfowitz
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/washington/02wolfowitz.html?ref=washington
A Warning on Risk in Commercial Mortgages
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/realestate/commercial/02real.html?ref=business
Spurred by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, the leading bond rating agencies are beginning to crack down on what they see as risky lending practices in commercial real estate. Low interest rates and an abundance of investment capital have led to heady times for buyers and sellers of office buildings, hotels and other income-producing property. Buildings have traded at record prices and loan terms have become increasingly generous, with many buyers putting little or no equity into the deals.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Circuit City's Job Cuts Backfiring, Analysts Say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101623.html
Circuit City fired 3,400 of its highest-paid store employees in March, saying it needed to hire cheaper workers to shore up its bottom line. Now, the Richmond electronics retailer says it expects to post a first-quarter loss next month, and analysts are blaming the job cuts. The company, which on Monday also revised its outlook for the first half of its fiscal year ending Feb. 29, 2008, cited poor sales of large flat-panel and projection televisions. Analysts said Circuit City had cast off some of its most experienced and successful people and was losing business to competitors who have better-trained employees. "I think even though sales were soft in March, this is clearly why April sales were worse. They were replaced with less knowledgeable associates," said Tim Allen, an analyst with Jefferies & Co. In particular, the televisions showing disappointing results are "intensive sales" requiring more informed employees, Allen said. "It's a big-ticket purchase for somebody. And if they feel like they're not getting the right advice or are being misled by someone who doesn't know, it would be definitely frustrating. They will take their business elsewhere."
Housing and Homelessness
Heir Apparent Spurns Freddie Mac Offer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100993.html
Freddie Mac president and chief operating officer Eugene M. McQuade has turned down the board's offer to make him chief executive this summer, dashing the federally chartered mortgage funding company's long-standing succession plan. McQuade was part of a leadership team brought in to straighten out the company after a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal. He joined Freddie Mac in 2004 as the intended successor to chief executive Richard F. Syron. Since then, McQuade has helped preside over Freddie Mac's effort to fix flaws in internal controls and financial reporting systems. In passing up the chance to head one of the nation's largest financial institutions, McQuade said the government's unresolved push to tighten regulation of Freddie Mac and its rival, Fannie Mae, has made the job less appealing.
Media
Murdoch Bids for Wall Street Journal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100709.html
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has made an unsolicited takeover bid for the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, an offer that generated nearly instant resistance from the company's controlling family and set up a media culture clash. The offer seeks to marry the pinstriped Journal, widely regarded as the paper of record for the U.S. economy, and Murdoch's News Corp., home of "American Idol," Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly and the New York Post tabloid. For Murdoch, the Journal would be a key component of the business news channel, a rival to CNBC, that he plans to launch on cable this year. But first, Murdoch must persuade the Bancroft family, which controls more than 60 percent of Dow Jones & Co. voting power.
RELATED: Murdoch's News Corp. bids $5b for Dow Jones
http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2007/05/02/murdochs_news_corp_bids_5b_for_dow_jones/
Education
Yield Documents, Lawmaker Tells White House
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/washington/02loan.html?ref=washington
The chairman of the House education committee asked the White House yesterday to turn over all its communications about the scandal-tarred student loan program and also Reading First, the administration’s $1-billion-a-year reading initiative, which has been besieged by accusations of conflict of interest. The request by the lawmaker, Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, carries his inquiries into education policy-making beyond the Education Department itself and into the Bush White House. “The committee’s ongoing investigations into both programs have revealed serious oversight failures by senior officials,” Mr. Miller’s office said in a statement.
Military
At Hearing in Iraq, U.S. Colonel Is Cast As Flouter of Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101872.html
Witnesses testifying at a hearing here Tuesday said a senior U.S. Army officer accused of aiding the enemy kept top-secret papers at his base residence, allowed child detainees to make unmonitored calls on his cellphone and provided former president Saddam Hussein with Cuban cigars at taxpayer expense. Though some witnesses defended his work, much of the testimony cast Lt. Col. William H. Steele, a reservist and former Anne Arundel County police officer, as a commander who flouted a wide range of military laws and was careless with highly sensitive materials. One witness said Steele confessed to the charges against him. When Steele left his job at western Baghdad's Camp Cropper detention center for another position in Iraq, he took 18,000 electronic and printed classified documents, witnesses testified. Investigators who searched his residence in February found some in a briefcase, said Special Agent Thomas Barnes, a senior military fraud investigator.
Guard units race to ready for Iraq duty
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-01-national-guard_N.htm
Sgt. Dave Kinyon stood in the middle of a group of helmeted men and women dressed in camouflage rain gear and Kevlar vests, an M-9 pistol in his hand. "If it jams you rap it once, pull back and fire," he said, tapping the handle and pulling the slide as rain, sleet and sub-40-degree wind whipped the shivers into his squad. "When you run out of rounds, drop the magazine, don't waste your time picking it up. You only have seconds with each target." Kinyon's military police unit in the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is among units from four states that will be the first to come under a new policy of shorter stints in Iraq and a shorter training period beforehand. Some in the Guard, from new enlistees to former active-duty soldiers and commanders, are concerned that the schedule will make it harder to prepare properly. They say they haven't trained yet with armored Humvees and fully equipped rifles.
Marine cleared in assault case
Assault charges against an officer suspected of attacking Iraqi civilians have been dismissed, the Marine Corps announced Tuesday. Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of the Marine Corps Central Command, dismissed the charges against 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan, 26, after reviewing the evidence, officials said. Phan had been charged with choking two civilians and pointing a gun at another near Hamandiya, west of Baghdad, last year in March and April. He still will be subject to administrative punishment after a hearing.
BP Chief Resigns Abruptly Over Relationship Furor
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100674.html
BP chief executive John Browne resigned yesterday following revelations in a London newspaper about a four-year relationship he had with a Canadian man and a British judge's assertion that Browne had lied to the court during a bid to block publication of the story. The resignation, effective immediately, brings an abrupt end to Browne's 41-year career at BP. He joined British Petroleum as a university apprentice and as chief executive transformed it into a "supermajor" oil company by buying big U.S. oil companies Amoco and Arco and establishing an exploration venture in Russia. And he rebranded the firm as BP for an environmentally conscious era "beyond petroleum."
Chavez wraps up takeover of nation's privately run oil fields
President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields Tuesday, intensifying a power struggle with international companies over the world's largest known single petroleum deposit. Newly bought Russian-made fighter jets streaked through the sky as Chavez shouted "Down with the U.S. empire!" to thousands of red-clad oil workers, calling the state takeover a historic victory for Venezuela after years of U.S.-backed corporate exploitation.
Prince Charles: Climate change fight is like war against Nazis
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-05-01-prince-charles_N.htm
Prince Charles said Tuesday that urgent action is needed to fight climate change, likening the struggle to Britain's battle against Nazi Germany in World War II. The environmentalist prince told a business conference at his St. James's Palace residence that "the crisis of climate change is far too urgent and discussion simply isn't enough." "I do not want my children and grandchildren, or anyone for that matter, saying to me, 'Why didn't you do something when it was possible to make a difference and when you knew what was happening?'" he said. "We can do it, just think what they did in the last war. Things that seemed impossible were achieved almost overnight." The 58-year-old heir to Britain's throne is a firm supporter of environmentalist causes, and runs an organic farm on his Highgrove estate in western England. He also has a multimillion-dollar line of organic foods, Duchy Originals, whose profits go to charity.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Froomkin: Four Years After 'Mission Accomplished'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/01/BL2007050100936.html
There may be no more vivid illustration of the collapse of President Bush's public image than the changing perceptions of his "Mission Accomplished" moment.
RELATED: Jackson: Here's what our mission accomplished
Spying on Americans
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed1.html
For more than five years, President Bush authorized government spying on phone calls and e-mail to and from the United States without warrants. He rejected offers from Congress to update the electronic eavesdropping law, and stonewalled every attempt to investigate his spying program. Suddenly, Mr. Bush is in a hurry. He has submitted a bill that would enact enormous, and enormously dangerous, changes to the 1978 law on eavesdropping. It would undermine the fundamental constitutional principle — over which there can be no negotiation or compromise — that the government must seek an individual warrant before spying on an American or someone living here legally.
Cohen: A Case Against Cheney
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101419.html
He continued to insist that Saddam Hussein had high-level contacts with al-Qaeda -- " the evidence is overwhelming," he once said -- while others in the government not only knew that the evidence was not overwhelming but that it hardly existed. It was the same with Cheney's insistence-- not just wrong, but irrefutably so -- that Hussein "has weapons of mass destruction," and "[t]here is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us." The percussive march of these statements is so forceful, one after another after another, that it suggests Cheney wanted war no matter what. If he was lying to himself as well as to the rest of us, that is only a mitigating circumstance -- sort of an insanity defense. Kucinich also alleges that Cheney "purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress." That, as the expression goes, is the gravamen of the charge. Kucinich doesn't stand a ghost of a chance of making it stick because Congress is not about to vote impeachment. But no one who reads Kucinich's case against Cheney can fail to conclude that this is a rational, serious accusation. It's possible that each individual charge can be rebutted, but the essence of it is shockingly apparent: We were being manipulated.
Ignatius: The Price Of 'We Know Best'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101421.html
Wolfowitz has failed at the World Bank not because his underlings were out to get him (though many probably were) but because he treated the organization itself as an enemy. He saw its professional staff as an impediment to achieving his goals, rather than as a potential ally. Instead of heeding advice to work with the prickly international staff and win them over, he installed a palace guard of Americans who, like him, exuded the cocky "we know best" confidence of the Bush administration.
Missile Test
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101573.html
The Pentagon has been chastised repeatedly by Congress, government watchdogs and its own expert auditors for rushing the deployment of missile defense systems before they have been adequately tested or a genuine threat has materialized. Yet despite promising to learn from its mistakes, the administration is repeating them in Europe. It opened bilateral negotiations with the Polish and Czech governments on missile bases without adequately consulting other European allies or coordinating the proposed system with NATO's own missile defense projects. It asked Congress to appropriate more than $300 million for the project next year, even though the threat it is aimed at -- an Iranian missile capable of reaching Europe -- isn't expected to materialize until 2015.
A Harsh, Healthy Verdict in Israel
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed2.html
Israel’s government badly botched the war in Lebanon last summer. But you have to admire the work of the investigating commission that same government appointed to analyze what had gone wrong. In its initial report, the commission pointed to “severe failures” of “judgment, responsibility and prudence” on the part of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
John Kerry: Healthy businesses and healthy workers
MASSACHUSETTS HAS set an example for the rest of the country by taking bold steps to provide quality health coverage for everyone. Now it's time for Washington to do the same by bringing meaningful, affordable healthcare to the uninsured -- in Massachusetts and across America. In Massachusetts there's still a major obstacle in the overall goal of universal coverage: cost. The problem of the uninsured can't be solved unless the issue of skyrocketing health costs to families and businesses is also tackled. Fully reforming the healthcare system will require that the federal government begin shouldering some of the burden to help alleviate costs. One percent of patients account for a quarter of healthcare costs. By the same token, 2 out of 10 patients account for more than 80 percent of all healthcare costs. . To make healthcare more affordable, there must be a better way to share the immense burden of insuring the chronically ill and seriously injured.
Brownstein: The wise investment of insuring children
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brownstein2may02,0,5145402.column?coll=la-opinion-center
Until recently, children had been the exception in an otherwise bleak healthcare story of rising costs and declining access. From 1998 through 2004, the number of children without health insurance across the country dropped to 7.9 million, from 11.1 million, according to the Census Bureau. That was largely because of the Children's Health Insurance Program, a state-federal partnership created by President Clinton and the Republican Congress in 1997 to subsidize insurance for children in working-poor families. Through President Bush's first term, the growth in CHIPs (and Medicaid, another state-federal partnership that insures the poorest children) offset a decline in children receiving coverage through their parents at work. But with healthcare costs pressing their budgets, states squeezed services, and the number of children receiving insurance through the government dropped last year. And because employer-based coverage for kids continued to erode, the number of uninsured kids rose again. More than 8.3 million children now lack health insurance. That number is a stain on the nation.
Discrimination in the genes
AFTER BEING BLOCKED for years by Republican leaders in the US House, New York Representative Louise Slaughter's bill to ban genetic discrimination passed the chamber last week with 420 votes, and President Bush has vowed to sign it if it reaches his desk. The appeal of the measure is clear: As more hereditary disorders become detectable through genetic testing, more people are at risk of being denied employment or health coverage on the basis of their genetic makeup. And that threat could keep people from coming forward for genetic testing.
The year for a shield law
STEADILY, prosecutors and plaintiffs are showing an increasing desire to make their cases on the backs of reporters, poking into their confidential notes and information, often obtained with the promise of anonymity. And judges are increasingly turning the screws by threatening journalists with jail time unless they break that promise. Too often, judges are carrying out the threat.
May 1 redux
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-marchers2may02,0,3449402.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Like last year's march, Tuesday's immigration protests were primarily peaceful, family-oriented -- and fueled by bacon-wrapped hot dogs.
Samuelson: Seeking Sense on Immigration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101417.html
Our stalled immigration debate needs more common sense and more common decency. America's immigration system is unquestionably broken. It encourages illegality, frustrates assimilation and barely aids the economy -- exactly the opposite of what it should do. Senators are striving to craft something more sensible. But they will fail unless both liberals and conservatives discard some of their cherished ambitions.
Meyerson: Fires That Still Smolder in L.A.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101420.html
Fifteen years ago this week I was inside the First AME Church, a pillar of Los Angeles's African American establishment, watching Mayor Tom Bradley's aides figuring out how they could get him safely out of the building. A few hours earlier, my colleagues and I at the L.A. Weekly had watched jurors acquit the cops whose beating of Rodney King had been recorded for all to see. The city had just been thrown headlong over a cliff, and everybody sensed that the ensuing crash would be god-awful. Bradley, who had been mayor for 19 years, was an iconic African American political leader whose success at building white-black coalitions was unrivaled in his day. But while Bradley and the other civic leaders assembled in the church were voicing outrage at the verdict and preaching nonviolence in response, shouts and shots and sirens were increasingly audible outside.
Tucker: Futile drug war ignores target: Safety
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2007/05/01/0502edtuck.html
If Kathryn Johnston's tragic death is to lead to systemic change at the Atlanta Police Department, then Chief Richard Pennington should reconsider the foolish and costly war on drugs. Forget raising the numbers of narcotics officers — a tactic reminiscent of President Bush's misguided "surge" in Iraq. What Pennington ought to do is decrease the number of officers who waste time and ruin lives going after penny-ante drug dealers. Atlanta police are still reeling from the plea deals of two narcotics officers involved in the illegal Nov. 21 raid on Johnston's home, during which she was fatally wounded. Gregg Junnier will serve 10 years, while Jason Smith will serve 12 years and seven months. Prosecutors say that together with another officer, Arthur Tesler, they piled lie upon lie to obtain a "no-knock" warrant to search Johnston's home, where they may have believed they would find cocaine. Their supporters claim they were under pressure to produce arrests.
Loopholes and More Loopholes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed3.html
The country would be better off if politicians worried less about the gun lobby’s cash and more about Americans’ safety.
Parker: Clinton's mistake may be in the spin
Of all the words spilled during the recent Democratic presidential debate, the most interesting were 27 of Hillary Rodham Clinton's in response to a question about the candidates' biggest mistakes. Clinton began self-effacingly, saying that her mistakes were too numerous to list, but offered a couple: that whole health-care thing. "And, you know, believing the president when he said he would go to the United Nations and put inspectors into Iraq to determine whether they had [weapons of mass destruction]." Say what? While we're pulling deflections out of the memory hole, what about believing the international community that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons?
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