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Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Transportation and Infrastructure
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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/050307.htm
TOP STORIES
National
Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050201517.html
President Bush and congressional leaders began negotiating a second war funding bill yesterday, with Democrats offering the first major concession: an agreement to drop their demand for a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq. Democrats backed off after the House failed, on a vote of 222 to 203, to override the president's veto of a $124 billion measure that would have required U.S. forces to begin withdrawing as early as July. But party leaders made it clear that the next bill will have to include language that influences war policy. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) outlined a second measure that would step up Iraqi accountability, "transition" the U.S. military role and show "a reasonable way to end this war."
RELATED: Some Republicans split with Bush on the war
RELATED: Iraq veto stands; Dems vow new push to end war
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-02-bush-veto_N.htm
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT
Karzai Says Civilian Toll Is No Longer Acceptable
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202757.html
Afghan President Hamid Karzai declared Wednesday that his government can "no longer accept" civilian casualties caused by U.S.-led operations, shortly before news spread that as many as 51 civilians may have died during clashes this week in far western Afghanistan. Civilian deaths are "becoming a heavy burden and we are not happy about it," Karzai told reporters here. His remarks came two days after rioting broke out following a protracted battle in western Herat province, where police said as many as 30 residents had been killed during three days of fighting between U.S.-led forces and Taliban insurgents. Several government buildings were stormed by demonstrators, some of whom were wounded by police in the incidents.
RELATED: Afghans Say U.S. Bombing Killed 42 Civilians
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/world/asia/03afghan.html?ref=world
Ex-Aide to Gonzales Accused Of Bias
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050201569.html
The Justice Department has launched an internal investigation into whether Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's former White House liaison illegally took party affiliation into account in hiring career federal prosecutors, officials said yesterday. The allegations against Monica M. Goodling represent a potential violation of federal law and signal that a joint probe begun in March by the department's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility has expanded beyond the controversial dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys last year. The revelations about Goodling were among several developments yesterday in connection with the firings, including a new subpoena seeking presidential adviser Karl Rove's e-mails and new accusations from two of the dismissed U.S. attorneys.
RELATED: Tester Calls on Montana U.S. Attorney to Resign
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202353.html
RELATED: Subpoena issued for e-mails
RELATED: Lam defends her performance as a U.S. attorney
RELATED: Justice Dept. Announces Inquiry Into Its Hiring
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/washington/03attorneys.html?ref=washington
Police action on journalists at melee is assailed
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-media3may03,0,6704192.story?coll=la-home-headlines
One day after several reporters and camera operators were injured while covering an altercation at an immigrant rights rally in MacArthur Park, news organizations condemned the Los Angeles Police Department for its use of batons and riot guns against members of the media, and some said they were considering legal options. "We are sorry for what happened to our employees and find it unacceptable that they would be abused in that way when they were doing their job," said Alfredo Richard, spokesman for the Spanish-language network Telemundo, of the anchor and the reporter who were hurt during the evening rally.
RELATED: Immigrant groups decry police tactics
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/03/immigrant_groups_decry_police_tactics/
More immigration policy news in NATIONAL/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/IMMIGRATION
More police/protest news in COLORADO/CRIME
Colorado
Former Rep. Schaffer to run for Senate
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/former-rep.-schaffer-to-run-for-senate-2007-05-02.html
Former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Colo.) said Saturday at a Lincoln Day Dinner that he would run for U.S. Senate in 2008, according to local sources. Speaking at a small dinner in Teller County, Schaffer told a crowd of about 100 that he had decided to run, according to two local party operatives who were there. “He announced that we were the first to know that he is a candidate,” said County Commissioner and former county Republican Party Chairman Bob Campbell. Campbell added that Schaffer said a formal announcement and release would be coming at a later date. Current Teller County Republican Party Chairman Mark Sievers also confirmed Schaffer’s announcement: “He did say that. He was unequivocal.”
Ritter signs budget - and does it his way
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5518142,00.html
Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter signed the $17.8 billion state budget Wednesday, saying he put his own stamp on the spending plan he inherited from Republican Gov. Bill Owens and included a few course changes as well. However, Ritter followed Owens' lead by vetoing 88 budget notes containing instructions from lawmakers on how the money should be spent. Ritter told majority Democrats they can't tell him what to do. Ritter said he tried to give voters what they asked for during his campaign last year - responsible, conservative spending - although the budget was being worked on when he took office.
RELATED: Budget omits footnotes
http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill_21852___article.html/ritter_budget.html
RELATED: Ritter nixes budget items
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/03/5_3_1B_Legislature.html
RELATED: Ritter signs state budget
Foreclosure battle advances
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5804652
Four bills seeking to stem foreclosures in the state moved closer to final approval Wednesday. A bill to regulate the conduct of mortgage brokers, House Bill 1322, was amended Wednesday in a conference committee to bring its language in line with another mortgage-broker reform bill, Senate Bill 216. HB 1322 initially required mortgage brokers to act for the "benefit of the borrower." That standard was stricter than SB 216's requirement that brokers act with "good faith and fair dealing." Critics, including the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association, argued that "for the benefit of the borrower" created a fiduciary obligation that wasn't practical or enforceable. "Mortgage brokers don't represent consumers, they represent the source of the funds," said Chris Holbert, CMLA president.
Ritter set to sign Pinon Canyon bill
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020069
Gov. Bill Ritter plans to sign a bill aimed at stopping the Army from using eminent domain to expand its troop training ground in southeastern Colorado. A bill signing was scheduled for Thursday. Ranchers around the Pinon Canyon maneuver site lobbied lawmakers to pass the bill, which withdraws Colorado's "consent" for the federal government to acquire more land for Pinon Canyon. The bill cites a provision of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution that requires states to give permission before land can be purchased to build forts, arsenals and dockyards. It seeks to apply that to Pinon Canyon's proposed 654-square-mile expansion - about two-thirds the size of Delaware.
Election
Dems hope to move up presidential caucus
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5518137,00.html
Democrats are trying to persuade presidential candidates to make stops in Colorado by moving up the state's presidential caucuses. House Bill 1376 would require political parties to move caucuses from the third Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in February during presidential election years. The Colorado Democratic Party pushed the bill, hoping to capitalize on the national attention that the likes of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards would bring to the state. "Colorado very much wants to be a part of the selection of the next presidential nominee in 2008 and not be bypassed as they fly over to other Western states," said Billy Compton of the state Democratic Party.
It's the end of a campaign for powerful Capitol player
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5517802,00.html
In just a few days, a woman considered instrumental to the Senate Democrats' success will walk away from the Capitol and begin another political job. Mary Alice Mandarich, chief of staff for the Senate Democrats, is calling it quits after five legislative sessions. But her boss will remain the same: Mandarich is going to work for Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald's congressional campaign.
Candidate files for Udall seat
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5801172
Democratic congressional candidate Will Shafroth said he filed papers today with the Federal Election Commission to form a campaign committee. Shafroth, 49, is seeking the 2nd Congressional District seat held by Democrat Mark Udall, who is running for Senate. Shafroth is executive director of the Colorado Conservation Trust. He is the great-grandson of John Shafroth, who served as governor, senator and congressman in Colorado. Golden Democrat Joan Fitz-Gerald, president of the state Senate, has also said she will seek the seat.
RELATED: Shafroth files to fill Udall's seat
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70502005
GOP group fined for attack ad funding
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS01/705030376/1002
A Republican political committee that financed 568 negative television advertisements against Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, during last year's election was fined $1,000 by an administrative law judge for violating campaign finance law. Last month's decision is being called a major victory by Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government, or CCEG, in the struggle for fair campaigning. The group brought the suit against the Committee for the American Dream, or CAD, the group that aired the ads. CAD's filings with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office show close ties to the Colorado Association of Home Builders. "The ruling will change the way candidate committees file reports during political seasons," said Chantell Taylor, executive director of CCEG. The political action committee was found in violation of state reporting requirements for any person or group that spends more than $1,000 on ads that refer to a candidate and are broadcast to voters 60 days prior to an election. CAD spent $28,435 on the 568 advertisements, which aired on television stations in Fort Collins during October and November. Scott Gessler, an attorney representing the home builders association, said the ruling is unfortunate.
Healthy turnout in Denver election
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5517799,00.html
The Denver election Tuesday attracted slightly more than 42 percent of active voters - a record for a sleepy election with little real opposition to a popular mayor. Denver Election Commission spokesman Alton Dillard said the last time an incumbent mayor faced only token opposition was in 1999, when 26 percent of voters turned out to re-elect Wellington Webb. Dillard credited the larger turnout to the use of all mail ballots.
RELATED: Mail ballots likely led to more votes
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5804514
Corporate donors fly under radar
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070503/NEWS/105030052
Despite the state constitution's prohibition against corporate contributions, mayoral candidate Tim Semrau and two City Council hopefuls listed such donations in the campaign finance reports they filed Tuesday. "If something was wrong, I'm sure we'll receive a complaint and investigate," said John Worcester, Aspen's city attorney. Worcester, however, could cite no rules against corporate contributions in the city election ordinance, adding that if there were something out of place, it was a matter for the Colorado secretary of state. City Clerk Kathryn Koch said she mistakenly gave the go-ahead to a number of candidates who asked if they could accept corporate contributions, which has created some confusion.
RELATED: Candidate profiles: Downtown regulation
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070503/NEWS/105030049
RELATED: Voters skirt Election Day, cast ballots early
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070503/NEWS/105030053
Council approves resolution on adding two more commissioners
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/03/5_3_city_council.html
The Grand Junction City Council did its part Wednesday night to allow voters to consider adding two more members to the Mesa County Commission. Council members unanimously agreed to adopt a resolution requesting that the commission put a question before voters asking them whether the number of county commissioners should be bumped up from three to five.
Greeley may seek road tax
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5804502
Greeley might bypass regional approaches to fixing transit problems and instead ask voters for a tax increase to rehabilitate its streets. A proposed ballot measure for November will ask voters to approve a 0.54 percentage point sales-tax increase to repair roads damaged by time and the winter's cold and snow, said Mayor Tom Selders. The tax could generate between $6 million and $9 million.
Effective and Ethical Government
Bush veto leaves Democrats at loss to stop war
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178200793/3
President Bush kept his promise to veto the $123 billion Iraq supplemental bill Tuesday, leaving Democratic lawmakers uncertain of how they can affect a White House policy that appears to be aimed at keeping U.S. troops in Iraq through 2008. "The American public is very much in disagreement with this war," Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said Wednesday in a telephone press conference as House and Senate Democratic leaders were meeting with Bush. "When we are dealing with important issues such as war and peace, we need to find a way to work together." Salazar said he had hoped the White House would adopt the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which called for giving the Iraqi government a series of milestones to meet, with U.S. troops starting their withdrawal next year. That didn't happen, however, and Bush vetoed the Democratic supplemental bill, which called for most combat troops to be withdrawn next year.
Lawmakers hope to leave 5 days early
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5517801,00.html
Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff drew bipartisan whoops and hollers Wednesday when he set a goal to end the 120-day session Friday - a record five days early. "It's my husband's birthday today. So, that's my present to him," House Majority Leader Alice Madden quipped. She cracked up colleagues by joking: "He just called. I'm supposed to go home now." Senate leaders also have said they're aiming to wrap up on Friday, but the people's business could spill over to Monday for both chambers.
RELATED: Democrat leaders claim ordinary people won
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5517803,00.html
RELATED: Fast finish at state Capitol
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805063
Sealed-records bill advances
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS01/705030377/1002
A bill that would allow some people to permanently seal their criminal records passed the Senate on Wednesday by a 26-8 vote. The bill heads back to the House for approval of Senate amendments before heading to Gov. Bill Ritter's desk.
Some lawmakers may get more for expenses
http://www.gazette.com/articles/legislators_21853___article.html/house_denver.html
State legislators from outside the Denver area could get a pay raise of almost $6,000 a year, thanks to a bill approved by the House on Wednesday. Senate Bill 139 raises the per diem allowed for nonmetro legislators from $99 to $150 per day. The per diem can be taken for all 120 days of the legislative session, though most legislators work Monday through Friday and do not put in requests for weekends.
RELATED: Per diem pay (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178200793/21
Efficiency review will take broad look at how state works
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805062
Gov. Bill Ritter on Wednesday launched his government-efficiency review program, signing a bill that provides $700,000 to hire Public Works LLC, a consulting firm based in Philadelphia. Ritter said the effort will not be a line-by-line review of state spending but rather will focus on outcomes generated by state departments. For example, Ritter said, he wants to look not at "outputs," like the number of prison beds the state has, but at how to improve "outcomes," like reducing the return rate of released prisoners. Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said the review is the culmination of a process the Joint Budget Committee started two years ago when it began pressing state agencies to provide better information about how they measure their success in serving the public. "This bill is the real step toward real efficiency," Buescher said.
Capital construction fund gets extra budget money
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070503/NEWS/105020118
It was a fight for the leftovers between the Road Warriors and Construction Crusaders. In the end, the construction crew, led by state Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, won out. Projected state leftovers are going to higher education institutions and other state assets to help fix ailing buildings. The measure, which passed the Colorado House of Representatives on Wednesday, basically allows construction projects to cut in front of transportation within Colorado's complex funding structure. Senate Bill 222 transfers $30 million to state capital development projects, which will help pay for almost twice the amount of projects allowed in the state budget.
RELATED: Capital construction bill survives House vote
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178200793/7
Revenue chief, JBC meet Friday
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805083
State lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee plan to meet with the executive director of the Department of Revenue on Friday to discuss a multimillion-dollar tax-refund scam. Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said the JBC will consider whether budget cuts in recent years have caused a lack of oversight at the department. Pommer said funding for a better computer system and for auditors to monitor workers would help protect the agency from such losses in the future. "They lost two auditors when the budget was cut over the last lean years," Pommer said. "There's a difference between lean government and really bad government."
RELATED: Revenue director strengthens oversight procedures
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518129,00.html
Woman charged in scheme
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518132,00.html
The woman accused of stealing millions of dollars in taxpayer money while working for the Colorado Department of Revenue was charged Wednesday with 27 counts of racketeering, theft and forgery. Taxpayer services supervisor Michelle Cawthra, 30, is accused of funneling millions of dollars to accounts controlled by Hysear Don Randell, 40, who was arrested Tuesday. Each is held on $10 million bail. Andre Holliday, 41, who was arrested with Cawthra on Saturday, was released Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors said evidence showed that he wasn't a knowing participant in the alleged scheme. The counts against Cawthra include violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, conspiracy to commit computer crime, conspiracy to commit theft, and 18 counts of forgery, embezzlement of public property, theft and conspiracy to commit embezzlement of public property.
RELATED: Suspect in theft from state released
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518130,00.html
RELATED: Clothier held in tax scam is released
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805038
LIKE THAT, HUH (EXTRA!, May 3)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518131,00.html
"I'd say it's more like the third trimester of pregnancy." Alice Madden the term-limited state House majority leader, when asked if it feels like she and Andrew Romanoff, the also-term-limited speaker of the House, are entering their senior year of college
HUMMERS BUMMER (Roll Call, May 3)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5517891,00.html
"Hummers," where the minority party parodies the majority party in the House in skits and songs, won't be happening this year on the last day of the session. The minority GOP nixed coming up with a show after stinging criticism of last year's effort, where even fellow Republicans thought their effort bombed, in part because it was so mean-spirited.
You're done, 10 officials learn
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5517890,00.html
Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter's administration has told 10 top state government officials, including the director of emergency management, their jobs expire June 30. The officials, hired by previous governors, have "senior executive service" contracts, which are renegotiated every April. Colorado Emergency Management Director George Epp, former Boulder County sheriff, was recruited to the $124,900- a-year post nine months ago by former GOP Gov. Bill Owens. "I was told last week," Epp said Wednesday. "It was a complete shock. My staff was very surprised." All 10 were given the option of being put on immediate administrative leave, continuing to draw a salary through June 30. Some accepted, while others are continuing to work.
Ex-Boulder city employee facing felony theft charges
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5804362
A former Boulder Parks and Recreation Department employee is facing felony charges of theft between $500 and $15,000 and unauthorized use of a city purchasing card after authorities said she made personal charges on a city credit card last year. Mary Austin is suspected of making charges of just less than $10,000 from February to October 2006 and fraudulently represented the charges as being for legitimate city business, according to city officials in a news release. The city has received restitution from Austin for the fraudulent charges, the city said. In October, the city began investigating Austin's credit-card purchases, which led to a criminal investigation, according to the release.
RELATED: Former city employee accused of theft
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/03/former-city-employee-accused-of-theft/
Briefs: Lawsuit, storms add $18 million in costs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5804360
A police officer surplus, a Fire Department lawsuit and snowstorms have added more than $18 million in unanticipated costs for the city of Denver this year. The city plans to pay for the costs with contingency funds, budget adjustments or extra revenues. The city has added about $1.9 million in savings from utility and gasoline cost reductions.
Kramer leaving Springs’ top post
http://www.gazette.com/articles/city_21858___article.html/kramer_council.html
Colorado Springs City Manager Lorne Kramer announced Wednesday he’ll retire June 30 after 44 years on the public payroll. The City Council hasn’t decided whether to solicit applicants or to choose an internal candidate, Mayor Lionel Rivera said Wednesday. Internal contenders would be department heads or assistant city managers, Rivera said, the same pool from which an interim manager will be appointed until Kramer’s replacement can be hired. Kramer, who oversees 2,532 employees and a $242 million budget and is paid $188,694, is not being forced out, Councilman Randy Purvis said.
Archuleta’s financial woes worsen
The financial outlook in Archuleta County - La Plata County's neighbor to the east - is in "much worse shape than initially thought," with layoffs possible and significant budget cuts planned, said the county administrator. This week, all department heads were ordered to slash their budgets by 20 percent, and employees were informed that layoffs are possible, said Bob Campbell, county administrator. He said that as many as 20 employees may lose their jobs. "We don't know for sure," he said. "I'm guessing 10 or 15 - maybe as many as 20." The county already has instituted a temporary hiring freeze, pulled back on travel and training expenses, and suspended capital purchases such as vehicles and computer systems.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Hearing reset for affirmative action ballot measure
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517757,00.html
A hearing scheduled last week for a 2008 ballot measure challenging affirmative action in Colorado was rescheduled to give sponsors time to review questions posed by the Legislative Council. Sponsors of the "Prohibition on Discrimination and Preferential Treatment by Colorado Governments" ballot measure said they got only 24 hours notice about the Legislative Council's questions because of an e-mail problem. The questions were actually sent 48 hours in advance. Valery Pech Orr, executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, said sponsors wanted their "allies and lawyers" to have a chance to review what the council was asking. The hearing, originally was slated for April 26, has been rescheduled for May 14. Legislative Council officials said the hearing is designed to help sponsors look at how the measure interacts with current laws and if there might be any problems with its wording.
Gay GOP group in Denver this week
http://www.gazette.com/articles/gay_21856___article.html/colorado_republicans.html
A national convention of gay Republicans begins today in Denver, where members hope to build on what some see as an opening for more support of gay rights in the GOP. The Log Cabin Republicans National Convention runs through Saturday. It will feature talks by prominent party members and political strategists including former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio. A few hundred people are expected to attend, said Log Cabin spokesman Scott Tucker. Democratic gains nationally during last November’s election might signal an opening for gay Republicans to take a stronger role in the GOP, said Adam Crowley, president of the group’s Colorado chapter. Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. In Colorado, Democrats strengthened their hold on the Legislature and captured the governor’s office. The Republican Party has “vilified gay people as a political move to gain votes and pander to the religious right,” Crowley said. “The religious right is not winning elections anymore. It still has some strongholds such as in Colorado Springs, but it’s definitely not the mainstream of American society.”
Immigration
Should immigration protests only be on weekends?
Immigration protestors should be in school or at their jobs rather than demonstrating on the streets, Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday. “I think there’s a way the point could be made without people having to miss out on (jobs and work),” Salazar said in a conference call with reporters. Referring to yesterday’s nationwide immigration rallies, the Colorado Democrat said he endorsed the demonstrators’ message that Congress should act quickly on the issue, but expressed doubt that their protests would push the immigration debate forward. Thousands of people demonstrated during simultaneous immigration rallies in Chicago and other cities, although the turnout was smaller than last year’s event. In Los Angeles, police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of demonstrators, prompting a city review of use of force by law enforcement. Meanwhile, Salazar predicted that a comprehensive immigration bill would be introduced in Congress by the middle of May, despite ongoing differences between lawmakers over guest worker programs and border security.
Push made for guest workers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5517623,00.html
A group of Colorado businesses Wednesday said they will urge Congress to change federal immigration laws because they can't find enough American workers to fill job openings. With the number of unemployed Coloradans at its lowest level in six years, hotels, landscapers and businesses in a range of industries have banded together to lobby for an expanded guest- worker program, among other reforms. "We are not in favor of illegal immigration," said Kristen Fefes, a spokeswoman for the new coalition calling itself Colorado Employers for Immigration Reform. "But . . . the current system is unworkable." At a news conference announcing the group's official launch, an owner of Arapahoe Acres Nursery described his difficulty in getting enough seasonal workers this spring after he discovered his application to a federal visa program had gotten lost.
RELATED: Biz owners want more worker visas
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5802490
ID-theft charges dropped by Weld
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5804491
Weld County authorities have dropped identity-theft charges against six illegal immigrants swept up in a raid on a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in return for their cooperation in a federal investigation. The six agreed to assist in a grand jury investigation being conducted by the U.S. attorney's office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck. Buck referred questions about the investigation to the U.S. attorney's office, where a spokesman would not comment.
17 detained after traffic stop
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70502034
A man driving 16 illegal immigrants in a van was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 70 Monday afternoon after he was speeding, according to an Eagle County Sheriff’s Office report. A woman was found lying on the passenger seat floor, her legs resting between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat, and another person was sitting in the front passenger’s seat, the report states. The driver, 30 -year-old Oscar Aguirre-Garcia, said he was being paid $2,000 to drive the passengers from Mexico to New York, the report states.
Health Care and Public Safety
Tests to explore work link delayed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518136,00.html
Some ill nuclear weapons workers who have been waiting for the government to rule on whether their illnesses are related to their work will have to wait longer. The government is about to run out of money to complete "dose reconstruction" for the rest of this fiscal year. Dose reconstruction is a process in which scientists attempt to re-create the work environment and radiation levels to estimate the likelihood that someone's illness is lined to that exposure. "It's not fun news to deliver," said Larry Elliott, director of the office of compensation analysis and support at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
RELATED: Ex-Flats workers beg federal panel for help
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805565
Tornado victims eligible for loans
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517759,00.html
The Small Business Administration has approved nearly $1.2 million in low-interest loans to help rebuild 21 homes and one business damaged by the Holly tornado on March 28, the federal agency said Wednesday. SBA spokesman Richard Jenkins said loans of up to $200,000 are available to replace or repair houses. Loans of up to $40,000 are available to repair or replace personal property. Businesses also can apply for loans to help pay bills because of lost business, whether or not their property was damaged.
Senate approves plan to keep victims' addresses confidential
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020064
The Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would allow victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking to withhold their real addresses from public records. The measure (House Bill 1350) would establish the Address Confidentiality Program in hopes of preventing perpetrators from tracking down their victims. It passed 33-1 and now goes back to the House for consideration of amendments. Lawmakers said perpetrators can find their victims' addresses in readily available public records including voter and school registrations, motor vehicle information and tax filings.
Turkey recalled
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518143,00.html
Some turkey products bought at Whole Foods Markets may be tainted with listeria and should be discarded, the state health department warned Wednesday. Diestel Turkey Ranch, of Chinese Camp, Calif., issued the recall of 6,907 pounds of ready- to-eat turkey products, said Daniel Rifkin, Wholesale Food Program manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Consumer Protection Division. Eating food contaminated with listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease. Healthy people rarely contract listeriosis. However, it can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea. Listeriosis also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women. And it can cause serious infections in those with weakened immune systems.
Fliers on cars promote methamphetamine
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5800467
The fliers read "METH" in capital letters, followed by the claim "One man's risk is another man's benefit." They even promote that the highly-addictive drug methamphetamine has been "trusted and used since 1887." Grand Junction police and other authorities were investigating Tuesday to learn who had placed such fliers on windshields and in windows of vehicles at Mesa Mall, Wal-Mart, Grand Junction High School and Fruita Monument High School. The fliers began appearing Tuesday afternoon.
RELATED: Fruita High students admit to distributing pro-meth fliers
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/03/5_3_1B_Meth_fliers.html
Breathalyzer tests to be given at prom, after prom
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/may/03/breathalyzer_tests_be_given_prom_after_prom/
Steamboat Springs High School principal Mike Knezevich hopes this year’s prom will be a night to remember for all the right reasons. That’s why Knezevich, with the support of some parents and students, will issue random Breathalyzer tests at prom and after prom. “Honestly, I hope we don’t catch one kid,” Knezevich said. “The bottom line for me is the kids’ safety. If this can be a deterrent to kids drinking, it’s a good thing.”
Downloadable map helps track avian flu
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517754,00.html
Avian flu has less of a chance to sneak up on a continent, a country or a city, thanks to a new "supermap" created by researchers from Colorado and elsewhere. The downloadable map traces the spread of H5N1 avian flu from the mid-1990s in Guangdong, China, to southeast Asia, Africa, the Philippines and Europe - a unique visual record over space and time. Different colors show the mutations and the animals infected, helping scientists predict which mutations might make the virus an efficient transmitter to human beings.
Crime and Penal Reform
Police will talk about handling of protests
http://www.gazette.com/articles/police_21877___article.html/arrested_protests.html
Colorado Springs police will discuss how they handle protests in a town hall meeting Friday, part of a court-ordered settlement in a federal lawsuit filed by 12 peace activists arrested in 2003 outside Peterson Air Force Base. The panel discussion will be aired on the city’s Channel 18, and police must use the tape as a training tool in crowd control, according to the agreement reached late last year. The point of the meeting is to discuss both police and demonstrators’ perspectives, Colorado Springs assistant city attorney Tom Marrese said.
DA accused of trying to intimidate judge
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517758,00.html
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers is being accused of a "blatant attempt to intimidate" a judge, a charge that puts her back on the radar of a panel that investigates lawyer misconduct. The allegation is outlined in a letter written by James O'Connor, the head of the district's public defender's office. Chambers wrote several e-mails that O'Connor said were "veiled threats" against a judge. In the e-mails obtained by 9 News, Chambers writes to the district court administrator that "if a judge shows overt hostility" to her prosecutors, "there absolutely will be docket control problems in that division." O'Connor said in his April 20 letter to Arapahoe County Chief Judge William Sylvester that Chambers' e-mail is a threat to "remove cases wholesale to the trial divisions" and avoid having them heard by Judge Valeria Spencer.
RELATED: DA Chambers may face more than wrist slap
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805006
Alleged victim has sued Vail Resorts
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70502032
Vail Resorts employed rape-trial defendant David Lorenzen to teach children how to ski despite a public criminal record of arrests and convictions, according to a lawsuit filed by the alleged victim and her mother. The 18-year-old woman, whose name is being withheld, has accused former Beaver Creek Ski instructor David Lorenzen, 44, of raping her in January 2006. The second day of the criminal trial began Wednesday. “Vail knew or should have known of Lorenzen’s prior and continuing criminal and antisocial history when he was hired,” the lawsuit states.
RELATED: ‘You raped me, you hurt me,’ woman said
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70502033
Police steal cue from 'Knight Rider'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518138,00.html
Aurora Police Lt. Troy Edwards lacks David Hasselhoff's long, curly hair. His Ford Crown Victoria isn't as sleek as the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that Hasselhoff's 1980s TV character, Michael Knight, knew fondly as KITT. But Edwards is pretty close to living the Knight Rider dream, thanks to a new gizmo that turns cruisers into artificial intelligence machines. As Edwards handed one man a ticket during a traffic stop this week, the two cameras mounted to the roof of his patrol car scanned the license plates whizzing by. When Edwards returned to his driver's seat, the laptop in his passenger seat sounded a siren and flashed a red bar next to a photo of a green Kia up ahead.
Economy
Hickenlooper ally to head Seedco Financial in Denver
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5804483
Peter Chapman has been named executive director of Seedco Financial's Denver office. Chapman, a key economic development adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper, has nearly 19 years of urban development experience. He also oversees city and quasi-municipal agencies such as the Office of Economic Development, the Denver Housing Authority and the Office of Cultural Affairs. New York-based Seedco, a finance company specializing in loans to impoverished neighborhoods, is opening a Denver office in hopes of revitalizing some of the city's most-ignored areas.
Denver to host sports confab
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5517725,00.html
Denver has scored in an effort to attract international sports events - perhaps the Winter Olympics - to gain a little global respect and to spur the economy. Representatives of the world sports federations, top officials of the International Olympic Committee and hundreds of other decision makers from the athletic world will converge in Denver in March 2009 for the convention known as SportAccord. It's the first time a North American city has played the role of host. "Even if only a handful of them like our city and, ultimately, because of that experience, decide to bring their events to Denver, what's the multiplier effect?" asked Rob Cohen, founder of the Metro Denver Sports Commission, the group that snared the event after a roughly two-year pursuit. "If we're successful, then this has a huge economic impact."
Denargo Market to be revitalized
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5804487
As plans take shape to redevelop 30 acres surrounding the historic Denargo Market, the Texas company working on the $1 billion project is lobbying for a transit stop at the site north of Coors Field. Cypress Real Estate Advisors plans for up to 2,500 residential units and 200,000 square feet of retail space as demand for downtown housing marches north from the Central Platte Valley. If the stop is approved, the community could become one of the region's largest transit-oriented developments.
Few takers for [Lafayette] Wal-Mart project
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/03/few-takers-for-wal-mart-project/
The city's dream of turning a faded strip mall into a civic center with a park, shopping and housing has moved into the slow lane. The 17-acre Wal-Mart shopping center at the northwest corner of South Boulder and Public roads is home to a vacant Albertsons building and a soon-to-be empty Wal-Mart store. The city owns the Albertsons building and wants to redevelop the area, but has received few offers from developers.
Notebaert not saying much about Nacchio
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5515513,00.html
Qwest has been paying Nacchio's legal expenses. Some of the money, at least initially, came from insurance. Notebaert said the company is continuing to examine the possibility of trying to recover some of its money, but no decisions have been made. Experts have said appeals will need to run their course. Qwest said its expenses in the first quarter included a $40 million charge related to securities litigation. But Notebaert said those expenses stemmed from Qwest's various settlement efforts of lingering civil lawsuits, which also stem from the Nacchio era.
RELATED: Report sees Qwest as a buyout lure
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5804490
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
IBM cuts local jobs
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16109
IBM announced job cuts of more than 100 people at its Gunbarrel facility Tuesday, according to local spokesman Dan Willis. Willis said the employees were notified their jobs would be eliminated in 30 days. The affected workers can apply for other jobs within the company or at the end of the 30-day period receive severance pay based on years of service. Willis said the employees came from the Integrated Technology Delivery organization within IBM Global Services, the largest employee group at the Gunbarrel facility.
Housing and Homelessness
Home prices on the rebound
http://www.gazette.com/articles/april_21869___article.html/homes_month.html
The supply of homes for sale in the Pikes Peak region ballooned to more than 6,000 last month, one of the few times listings have broken that barrier and another sign of the area’s ongoing housing doldrums. Sales, meanwhile, tumbled again by a double-digit percentage last month. One piece of good news: Prices rebounded. April’s listings soared to 6,052, a 26.1 percent jump over the supply of homes for sale in the same month last year, according to a report Wednesday by the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors. Monthly listings most recently topped 6,000 in August; April’s number fell short of the record of more than 6,200 in June 1988. The listings include only homes being marketed by association members. Homes listed for sale by private owners aren’t included.
Three renters city rule ignored by some
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS01/705030396/1002
Some college students are filling houses with more than three unrelated renters months after the city enacted a rule that makes doing so an offense punishable by fines up to $1,000 per day. The city has had 86 complaints since the rule went into effect Jan. 1 - less than the city anticipated - said Mike Gebo, codes and inspections administrator for the city's Neighborhood and Building Services Department.
Media
Qwest defends lack of investing in TV plan
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5517726,00.html
AT&T Inc. is spending $5.1 billion over five years to ready its network for TV service. Verizon Communications has earmarked $23 billion over seven years. At Qwest Communications, Chief Executive Officer Dick Notebaert waits for proof that people want television from their phone company. "Is it possible that our model is OK?" Notebaert, 59, asked a reporter in an interview with Bloomberg News. "We don't have to knee-jerk. The only reason you think I should spend more is because someone else is spending more," he said.
MediaNews shuffles in Denver, Detroit
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5804489
Denver-based MediaNews Group on Wednesday announced three management changes, including naming veteran newspaper executive David J. Butler the company's vice president for news. Butler, 56, is currently editor and publisher of The Detroit News. He will be replaced at the News by Jonathan Wolman, who currently oversees the editorial page at The Denver Post. Dan Haley, an editorial-page writer at The Post, will take over as editorial-page editor. The changes are effective June 15.
Talk radio host drops lawsuit
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517760,00.html
Denver lawyer and radio talk show host Dan Caplis dropped a lawsuit against a community activist who had given a speech that made reference to a confrontation that occurred when Caplis was a student at the University of Colorado. Glenn Spagnuolo, who criticized Caplis in a speech supporting controversial CU professor Ward Churchill, said Caplis had been in a fistfight "with students of color." He went on to say, "It is no surprise the three stooges of Clear Channel, (Peter) Boyles, (Craig) Silverman and Caplis, would attack the ethnic studies Department." Silverman is Caplis' co-host on KHOW radio. Churchill taught in CU's Ethnic Studies Department and is appealing a committee recommendation that he be fired for alleged violations that included plagiarism. Caplis filed a lawsuit calling Spagnuolo's comments "slanderous lies and attacks." Caplis confirmed Tuesday that he has dropped the lawsuit because Spagnuolo has not repeated the allegation, which Caplis called "complete garbage." "I was the victim of violence by left-wing student radicals" who were upset over a bill he pushed through while he was active in student government, Caplis said.
Education
Ritter says many in GOP back disputed tax freeze
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805065
Gov. Bill Ritter defended his proposal to freeze property-tax rates from partisan attacks Wednesday by noting that several high-profile Republicans outside the Capitol support the plan. Ritter's proposal to prevent property-tax rates from automatically decreasing was tagged this week by Senate Republicans as a tax increase that would be a campaign issue next year. "It's unfortunate that in the state Senate particularly, this became largely a Democratic idea with the Republicans opposing it, because outside of this building, we had great bipartisan support," Ritter said after signing the state budget. "Hank Brown, Kay Norton, Tim Foster - those people are all Republicans, and they all knew the vulnerability of higher education if we didn't fix this," he said. Brown, a former U.S. senator, is president of the University of Colorado System; Norton is president of the University of Northern Colorado; and Foster, a former state lawmaker, is president of Mesa State College. Their support goes to the heart of Ritter's reason for proposing the property-tax rate freeze to benefit public schools.
Ritter's decision on Metro board sets up fight
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5517800,00.html
Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter declined to reappoint GOP powerhouse Bruce Benson to Metropolitan State College's board, setting the stage for a divisive Education Committee meeting today. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, said Republicans might vote against Ritter's Democratic nominee at today's hearing as a form of protest. "Ask anyone at Metro State and they will tell you that Bruce Benson is one of the best friends that college has," Penry said Wednesday. Benson said he was disappointed, as he has served as chairman of Metropolitan State College of Denver's Board of Trustees since it was created in 2002. The Senate confirms gubernatorial appointees, and traditionally lawmakers support a governor's choice. Ritter might have been in a tough spot, with the Democratic-controlled Senate rejecting his nomination if he chose Benson. Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald said some Democratic colleagues told the governor they couldn't support him.
Law sets path for grad standards (Under the dome, 5/3)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805061
Gov. Bill Ritter signed a law Wednesday that will require high school students in Colorado to meet minimum graduation standards. House Bill 1118 was the legislature's compromise on a months-long battle over graduation requirements. The measure creates a council to work with the state Department of Education to establish minimum graduation guidelines by July 2008. School boards must set their graduation requirements - which could be stricter than the statewide guidelines - by July 2009.
RELATED: Graduation guideline bill becomes law
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/03/graduation-guideline-bill-becomes-law/
Some worry how to explain school closings
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5517908,00.html
Some members of a citizens' panel weighing closings in Denver Public Schools publicly wrestled Wednesday with how they will explain their decision in minority and poor neighborhoods. Lonnie McCabe, a black DPS parent and member of the A+ Denver subcommittee, worries that those communities will be disproportionately affected if schools are closed. "I want to know what I say to my constituents in northeast Denver," she told other panel members in a morning meeting. "How do I tell them it's not racially motivated?" The group is expected to finish drafting its criteria for closings next week and will seek public input in community meetings across the city.
College awards capped at $3,000
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805039
Officials from a college-scholarship program that promised a free education to eligible graduates of three Denver high schools have now decided to cap those awards at $3,000 annually. The Denver Scholarship Foundation said its research shows "the vast majority of students" would be helped with that much money. "It's our belief they'll all be OK with $3,000," said foundation executive director Janet Gullickson. In November, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Mi chael Bennet and major benefactor Tim Marquez stood in the South High School auditorium and promised a Colorado college education to eligible graduates of South, Abraham Lincoln and Montbello high schools.
CSU hoops scholarships in limbo
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/CSUZONE01/705030395/1002/NEWS01
Colorado State University's men's and women's basketball teams could both lose scholarships next year due to academic underachievement. The NCAA on Wednesday announced Academic Progress Rate scores for every Division I school, including CSU. The score tracks a school's ability to keep athletes eligible and on course to graduate within five years of entering school. The scores released Wednesday are the average of figures collected the past three years, with the most recent reporting period the 2005-06 academic year.
CSU-Pueblo gets OK for master's in education degree
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178200793/2
Kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers soon will have another option for obtaining a master's in education degree without having to leave the area. The Board of Governors of the CSU System unanimously approved CSU-Pueblo's request for the master's degree in education program at Wednesday's board meeting held at CSU-Pueblo. The proposal still must be approved by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education before it can be implemented. University officials are hoping they can begin offering the program in the fall.
Aims has a new focus: Allied health, aviation and biotechnology
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070503/NEWS/105030081
Four years ago, 36-year-old Robert Lovett of Greeley was ready for a change -- one that included a college education. Feeling a little too old for the "scene" at the University of Northern Colorado, he enrolled at Aims Community College in Greeley to pursue his dream of becoming a nurse. "Aims offered the comfortable setting I needed," Lovett said. Beginning this year, officials at Aims are hoping to attract more students like Lovett to their campus by expanding their trade and technical opportunities offered at the school. This includes the allied health field, aviation, biotechnology and bioscience fields.
Sew what?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/02/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
A dozen anti-sweatshop activists picketed outside CU's Regent Administrative Hall on Wednesday before meeting with the campus chancellor to discuss fair-labor protection. The protestors, all members of the CU student group Coalition Against Sweatshop Abuses (CASA), said they are incensed over the March closing of a Dominican Republic factory they say served as a model for workers' rights. On Wednesday afternoon they asked Boulder Chancellor Bud Peterson to write a letter to the Nike Corporation, with whom CU has an apparel contract, asking for an investigation into the factory closure. “What we're trying to emphasize in our meeting with the chancellor is the implications of this factory shutting down,” CU senior Virginia Cutshall said.
Ratified winners: East High tops in Constitution contest
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518159,00.html
Twenty-eight East High School students came home from Washington, D.C., this week champions of a national competition testing their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The East team of juniors and seniors edged out high schools from California and Oregon on Monday night to capture first place in the "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" contest. "We were holding hands and praying under our breaths," Katrina Sondermann, 17, said, recalling the anxious moments in a banquet room at the Omni Shoreham Hotel when the judges picked the three finalists. "It was nerve-racking."
School staff accused of giving booze to students
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517755,00.html
Two Pueblo City Schools employees and a former school employee were facing criminal charges after they allegedly held parties for students and provided them with alcohol. Joseph Borjon, 24, and Amanda Tilley, 35, turned themselves in this week after authorities issued arrest warrants for them. Borjon, a security guard, and Tilley, a teacher, both were placed on administrative leave from Pueblo South High School. "I felt that the situation was serious enough that the two that are charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor should be taken into custody," Bill Thiebaut, Pueblo County district attorney, told KOAA-TV.
RELATED: DA: Teachers partied with students
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5800876
Glenwood students expelled for 'hit lists'
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/03/5_3_3a_Hit_list.html
Two Glenwood Springs Middle School students were recently expelled after school officials found supposed “hit lists” the two had made of fellow students, Principal Brad Ray said Wednesday. School officials, along with the school resource police officer, quickly determined the seventh-grade students did not pose any immediate threats to anyone, so a lockdown was not ordered, Ray said. Parents of every student on the lists were immediately notified, he said.
CSU athlete accused of menacing with gun
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517761,00.html
A Colorado State University basketball player and his teammate were arguing about religion after a night of drinking beer when one player pulled out a gun, pointed it at the other and fired a shot into a sofa, according to a court affidavit. Xavier A. Kilby, 21, is accused of menacing, a felony, and prohibited use of a weapon, a misdemeanor, in the April 22 incident. According to an affidavit filed in Larimer County Court, Kilby got into a verbal argument with teammate Ronnie Aguilar over religion.
‘Pops’ at high school mistaken for gunshots
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/05/03/news/news01.txt
A series of pops behind the Telluride Middle/High School set off alarms yesterday morning, as faculty and staff alerted the police that there may have been gunshots fired. The sounds turned out to be coming from the school’s utility boxes, what police called a “gas pop off valve.” But the school was put on lockdown for an hour and a half while police investigated the noises.
Military
Chairman Klomp steps down from chem demil commission
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178200793/4
After nine years of helping to represent the community in dealings with the Defense Department and its plans to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile at the Pueblo Chemical Depot, John Klomp said Wednesday night he believed the process had acquired enough momentum and it was time for him to do other things. Klomp, chairman of the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission, said Wednesday’s meeting of the commission would be his last. The commission named Irene Kornelly, a Colorado Springs resident who is a national expert on military base closures, interim chair of the commission.
VA planning to put clinic in Burlington
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178200793/9
The Veterans Administration will establish a new Community-Based Outreach Clinic in Burlington to serve veterans who live on the Eastern Plains. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., announced the VA decision Tuesday. He had sent a letter to VA officials in April asking that they locate a planned new clinic in Burlington. There are 11 other VA clinic around the state.
Religion
Rev. Phillips, sued for alleged fraudulent insurance claims, has yet to find a lawyer
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517752,00.html
Rev. Acen Phillips, connected in a lawsuit to more than $1 million in alleged fraudulent life insurance claims, cannot find an attorney to represent him, he told the federal court this week. In a three-page filing Monday, Phillips said he is trying to raise money and asked for a 30-day extension to file a response to the lawsuit. "I have contacted many attorneys who have asked for substantial funds for representation, which I do not presently have," said Phillips, who recently preached at New Birth Temple of Praise Community Baptist Church in Denver. U.S. District Court Magistrate Michael Hegarty gave Phillips 15 more days Tuesday - until May 17.
Energy Policy
Nunn residents express health concerns from uranium drilling
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070503/NEWS/105030091
Water and health hazards were the top concerns voiced by Nunn residents Wednesday during a meeting about plans to begin uranium drilling in the area. Late last year, Powertech Uranium Corp. began approaching residents of Nunn to buy their land because the company wanted to drill for uranium in the area. To answer questions about the drilling, several property owners living in and near Nunn hosted a presentation to talk about what uranium drilling is and the dangers it poses. "Basically, it's about the water," said Daryl Burkhart, who helped organize the event. "We use it, we need, and we depend on it." They fear that radiation and other harmful chemicals brought out during the mining would contaminate their water system and set up other health risks.
RELATED: Uranium critics speak to crowd in Nunn
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS01/705030393/1002
The power of Earth
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26410
With rising gas prices, fear of too much dependence on foreign products, and the view of better protecting the environment, natural resources and renewable energy are being looked at more and more. And it is a subject likely to be touched on at the Fueling Thought: Trends in Energy forum, held today and Friday at the Holiday Inn of Craig. The forum is meant to be an educational opportunity for people in the area to learn about current energy trends, so informed decisions can be made about the Yampa Valley's future.
RELATED: Craig symposium tackles energy issues
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/03/5_3_3a_Craig_Energy_Symposium.html
Energy Expo returns to Rifle for a fifth year
http://postindependent.com/article/20070503/VALLEYNEWS/105030044
EnCana's Energy Expo was bigger and arguably better than ever. The fifth annual Expo brought together over 80 exhibitors from the oil and gas industry to the Garfield County fairgrounds in Rifle Wednesday. The Expo is a showcase for oil and gas operations in Garfield County, which leads the state in drilling activity and is second to La Plata County in gas production. Last year alone 4,000 permits were issued for oil and gas drilling in Garfield County alone. As a whole, Colorado is fifth in the nation in natural gas production. The Expo is an opportunity for operators and ancillary companies to explain their operations to the public. It's also a job fair of sorts, giving an opportunity for operators and contractors as well as job seekers to connect.
Energy companies aided local college programs
http://postindependent.com/article/20070503/VALLEYNEWS/105030046
Colorado Mountain College's brand new academic building at the Garfield County Airport will open Sept. 10 thanks in part to the oil and gas industry. "We've had generous gifts from industry," said CMC Rifle campus dean Pam Arsenault. Two of the top oil and gas producers in the region gave top dollar. EnCana Oil and Gas (USA) gave $3 million and Williams donated $1 million to the new West Garfield Campus. Shell, which is conducting research into an underground oil shale retorting process in the Piceance Basin near Meeker, also has contributed to the building, Arsenault said, although she would not reveal the amount.
Avon: Elephant or a squirrel, energy-wise?
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70502028
When it comes to carbon footprints is Avon a toddler or a sasquatch? Town leaders are hoping to find out. They’ve hired the consulting firm Schmueser Gordon Meyer to pick apart the town’s energy use, track down its carbon emissions and measure Avon’s carbon footprint. When leaders see how big that footprint is, whether it’s comparable to a squirrel or elephant, they want to shrink it down, and shrink it down aggressively. And hopefully, after setting the good example, Avon hopes to encourage its residents to shrink their own carbon footprints as well.
Board rejects Xcel's bid for taller towers near Ruby Hill Park
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517906,00.html
The Denver Planning Board dealt Xcel Energy a major blow Wednesday, rejecting the utility's request to build taller transmission towers near Ruby Hill Park. Xcel had sought a variance from the park's "view plane" as part of a $19 million project to update nine miles of existing transmission lines, which the utility says are at capacity. Denver's 13 view plane ordinances limit building height and aim to preserve and protect panoramic mountain views from parks and public spaces. The utility wanted to replace five existing structures, which already pierce the park's view plane, with single-column towers from 7 to 26 feet taller.
Tourists driven to stay on road
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5804488
Executives at several Colorado mountain destinations are projecting brisk drive-in business from tourists this summer despite already-high gas prices. Tourism offices in Aspen, Grand Junction and Durango - all of which have offered gas vouchers of up to $90 per visit over the past two summers - said they're not planning similar programs this year because summer bookings are strong. "We've found that $3 gas didn't limit travel as expected," said John Cohen, executive director of the Durango Tourism Office, which recorded a 13 percent increase in visitors last year.
RELATED: Milestone for GJ, but hold the champagne
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/03/5_3_1a_gas_prices.html
Transportation and Infrastructure
CDOT begins Glenwood Canyon I-70 resurfacing Monday
http://postindependent.com/article/20070503/VALLEYNEWS/105030045
Interstate 70 traffic restrictions in Glenwood Canyon will increase starting Monday when major resurfacing begins on eastbound lanes between the No Name and Grizzly Creek exits. The work will result in traffic being reduced to one lane in each direction from the No Name to Hanging Lake tunnels. It also will force the closure of some exit and entrance ramps, resulting in some detours involving the No Name, Grizzly Creek and Shoshone interchanges. It comes as traffic already is reduced to two lanes at the Hanging Lake tunnels because of work being undertaken to repair a crack in the eastbound tunnel. The Colorado Department of Transportation is proceeding with the resurfacing project despite the emergency work being done at Hanging Lake.
Environment and Conservation
5 questions for global warming activist Laurie David
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5517888,00.html
Global warming guru Laurie David, producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth starring Al Gore, pops into town tonight to speak at the Colorado Convention Center. She's here to wrap up a month of "green" events sponsored by the Denver Public Library and Greenprint Denver, the city's program of environmental initiatives. The event is sold out.
House approves plan to allow water district to charge fees
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/70502011
The Senate approved and sent to Gov. Bill Ritter a plan that would allow a Rio Grande Water Conservation subdistrict to charge fees that opponents say would drive some farmers in the San Luis Valley out of business. Lawmakers said without the fees, the state water engineer might have to shut off 5,000 wells because of the recent drought. They said one way or the other, the valley will be forced to idle 40,000 acres of farmland. Rep. Rafael Gallegos, D-Antonito, said the water district petitioned lawmakers to allow them to impose the fees rather than facing a shutdown of the wells and the state should grant their wishes.
State refiles objections, renews ire
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/03/5_3_1a_Black_Canyon.html
Western Slope water managers are worried the state may have stoked agitated tempers in the Black Canyon water dispute, which will determine water availability for a national park and thousands of Gunnison-area families, businesses, stock growers and farmers. The State Attorney General’s Office on Monday filed a motion in Montrose Water Court that restates objections to stipulations benefitting Gunnison Basin water users by giving their water priority over those of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The state withdrew its objections last week in the case, which is attempting to determine how much Gunnison River water Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park has a right to.
'Mistrust' of feds drives mine waste talks
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070502/NEWS/105020058
As hard as they try, federal officials just can't seem to completely dispel concerns that a proposed mine waste cleanup is primarily intended to set up a lucrative land trade. "I think what really came out is that there's a general mistrust of the federal government," said Breckenridge town manager Tim Gagen, referring to a May 2 informational meeting on the plan to move about 6,000 to 8,000 cubic yards of toxic mine waste from the 35-acre national forest Claimjumper parcel to a storage site near the Wellington Neighborhood in French Gulch. Gagen said about 30 citizens attended the session at the rec center. Concentrations of arsenic and especially lead are so high in the Claimjumper rocks that the EPA has targeted the area for cleanup at the earliest possible date, citing a potential health risk with prolonged exposure to the materials.
Homeowner complains about Boulder County burn
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16116
A Parks and Open Space Department crew violated Boulder County’s own prescribed-burning permit restrictions when it burned a slash pile on county open space in late March, a Nederland-area resident complained Monday. “They left the pile burning overnight,” Cathy Greenwald told Commissioners Ben Pearlman and Will Toor of the March 29-30 incident she said occurred on the county’s Mud Lake Open Space property about a mile from her home. Greenwald charged that by leaving the fire unattended and still smoldering the next morning, county employees had potentially endangered the safety of private properties, neighbors and wildlife in the area north of Nederland.
The WASTE effort
New-building contractors in La Plata County can walk away from the waste they produce, leaving the cleanup to a company that recycles materials that often end up in landfills. "We've been well received," Alex Arribau said recently of Phoenix Construction Recycling, the 10-month-old business she and her husband, Mark Thompson, spun off from their residential recycling business. "There is a lot more awareness now than a year ago about the value of recycling." Construction recycling is particularly valued by "green building" contractors, Arribau said, because they earn points for recycling from environmental organizations such as Built Green and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
No charges in prairie dog burrow destruction
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518135,00.html
A city employee supervising a massive road-improvement project in east Boulder won't face criminal charges for destroying prairie dog burrows, possibly harming the animals and damaging wetlands without the proper permits. But a personnel investigation is under way, and officials are considering sanctions against him, Boulder's city attorney said Wednesday. Boulder police investigated whether Alex May, project manager for the construction work at Foothills Parkway and Arapahoe Avenue, broke laws protecting wetlands and wildlife while trying to widen the Bear Creek channel at the northeast corner of the intersection in late March. During the course of that work, 20 prairie dog burrows were destroyed, though officials said it's not clear if any prairie dogs were killed.
Retracting the clause
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5804518
Colorado's 13 nonprofit wildlife sanctuaries, which rescue big cats, bears and wolves, would be required to have closure plans and bonds under a proposed state regulation. The Colorado Wildlife Commission meets today in Grand Junction to consider the rule, which state officials say is designed to protect hundreds of animals in sanctuaries struggling during lean economic times. "Our biggest concern is for wildlife," said commission chairman Tom Burke. "They don't have the ability to fend for themselves." Operators of wildlife sanctuaries say the regulation could close facilities because of the costs of bonds - estimated to require $100,000 in collateral.
Opinion
A debt to nuke workers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5517297,00.html
Apresidential advisory panel meeting in Denver has the opportunity to right a long-standing wrong by granting some Rocky Flats workers compensation for certain radiation-related cancers without their having to prove their illness was caused by their work. That status has already been given to workers at 21 other atomic weapon sites around the nation. It would be unconscionable to deny it to those who labored at Rocky Flats. The petition to the president's Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health has been pending for more than two years, although petitions elsewhere were granted on average in about nine months. If the board rules in favor of the petitioners' request to declare Rocky Flats workers a "special exposure cohort" and the secretary of health and human services agrees, those who develop any of 22 specific kinds of cancer will be automatically eligible for $150,000 in compensation as well as reimbursement for medical costs.
Give troops quality mental health care
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/OPINION01/705030364/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
Relying on experiences found at Fort Carson, Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar are correctly urging the Defense Department to take a broader look at mental health practices when treating U.S. troops. Colorado's U.S. senators have written a letter asking the Government Accountability Office to broaden its review of Department of Defense screenings, diagnoses, referrals and treatment of service members and provide recommendations for legislation or administrative action to improve DOD mental health care and to capitalize on existing "best-practices," according to a written statement.
[Sen. Bob] Bacon offers support for tax stabilization
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/OPINION04/705030365/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to stabilize local property tax funding of school districts is good public policy. It does not address the complicated and competing tax policy problems in our state constitution, but it shores up local property tax support for schools. In particular, there are short-term and long-term benefits for our community in Ritter's plan. Whether we like it or not, as more and more of the responsibility for funding public education falls to the state, state lawmakers make decisions in Denver that rightfully belong to the locally elected school board. I should know, I'm there serving as your state senator. I've also served on the local school board. I know from personal experience that our local community is much better off if decisions that affect the education of our children are made in our own community.
Carman: Can a watched pot of gold save Telluride meadow?
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5805060
Hilary White stopped at the bank Wednesday morning hoping for good news. With eight days to go, the project director for the Valley Floor Preservation Partners in Telluride is checking the organization's bank balance constantly. It's not there yet. After 11 weeks of nonstop fundraising, the group is still $2 million short of its goal to raise $50 million to buy 570 acres of wetlands, old mining land and pasture at the entrance to town. That comes to $250,000 a day in a place where the locals already have sold household possessions, put second mortgages on their homes and donated days of pay toward what has become a highly emotional campaign. Folks in Telluride began trying to preserve the Valley Floor more than 10 years ago. The land, which was purchased by Neal Blue of the San Miguel Valley Corp. for $7 million in 1983, was valued at $50 million by a jury in Delta in February after the town sought to acquire the property through condemnation. Appraisers for Telluride had established the land value at $26 million, which was close to what the town had on hand in bonds, money set aside for land preservation and donations.
Littwin: Mr. Tancredo, YouTube is waiting
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5517892,00.html
The big question as we head to the Republican presidential debate tonight at the Reagan Library is whether anyone will pull a "Mike Gravel." And by anyone, of course, we mean "Tom Tancredo," the man best suited for the job, not that the handicappers can entirely ignore, say, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter or Jim Gilmore. There will be 10 Republicans on stage for a 90-minute debate, meaning, if nothing else, you have to talk either quickly or loudly or both to get a word in. The boys at YouTube - I assume they have their scorecards ready - are waiting.
No major surprises in Denver elections
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5802653
In case most Denverites didn't notice, there was an election Tuesday, and Mayor John Hickenlooper cruised to an easy re-election victory. That was one of many non-surprises in this week's city election. All incumbents seeking re-election were returned to office.
Kamau: Dealing with mental illness
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5802660
America has suffered through many school and workplace massacres. The common factor among most of them has been young men, guns and mental illness. After each massacre, the nation has gone through its breast-beating introspection and public mourning. The pattern is now well-established, but nothing changes. We are so powerless, it seems. Gun ownership is a quintessentially American phenomenon that the civilized world can't fathom. Given the NRA's and the gun lobby's stranglehold on American politics, there's little chance for a change in the easy access to and number of guns an individual can purchase. Truly, the only thing we can readily affect is mental illness.
Carlisle: You can control your credit, but don't bank on it
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070502/COLUMNS/105020060
In June 2006, a Carlisle, or at least a data entry in a computer, took out a loan from Bank X (the editor did change the bank's real name) to buy a car in his home state of Tennessee. According to the bank, this Carlisle quickly fell into arrears, and after four missed payments, Bank X repossessed the car, and placed "potentially negative information" in the file of the Tennessee Carlisle. Meanwhile, in Colorado, this Carlisle, who's never lived in Tennessee, never bought a car in Tennessee, never financed a car through Bank X, and has never applied for credit of any kind at any time from Bank X, began to receive notices from the credit reporting agencies alerting him to a unspecified negative entry from an unnamed source.
Election
Obama Reaches Out With Tough Love
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202813.html
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is delivering pointed critiques of the African American community as he campaigns for its votes, lamenting that many of his generation are "disenfranchising" themselves because they don't vote, taking rappers to task for their language, and decrying "anti-intellectualism" in the black community, including black children telling peers who get good grades that they are "acting white." As he travels around the country in his effort to become the nation's first black president, Obama has engaged in an intense competition for black voters -- a crucial Democratic Party constituency that accounts for as much as half the electorate in some key primary states such as South Carolina. But the first-term senator, who has sought to present himself as an agent of change eager to challenge political convention, has taken the unusual route of publicly criticizing his own community.
RELATED: Obama Campaign Asks: Is It MySpace or Yours?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202556.html
RELATED: Careful steps, looking ahead
RELATED: State pork to Obama's district included allies, donors
Edwards taps YouTube fans for a lift
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/03/edwards_taps_youtube_fans_for_a_lift/
John Edwards has had his problems with YouTube, the popular Internet video site. A clip that shows him fixing his hair, to the music of "I Feel Pretty," had been viewed more than 600,000 times as of yesterday, while one of him talking about Iraq had been viewed fewer than 4,000 times. But yesterday, Edwards embarked on a unique effort to try to turn YouTube to his advantage that could have wide repercussions in the 2008 presidential campaign. Edwards asked voters to upload videoclips of themselves supporting his position on the Iraq war for an advertisement that would appear on YouTube and on his website.
Fred Thompson: Actor, politician, candidate?
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson3may03,0,4515297.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Fred D. Thompson never took an acting class, performed in summer stock or dreamed of Hollywood fame. But one day a big-name director, preparing a film about political corruption that Thompson had exposed, asked him to play himself in the movie. A star was born. Thompson, then a lawyer, went on to make 23 movies, countless television programs and millions of dollars. Now, the accidental actor is being urged to take another role he has not been gunning for, as a growing crowd of conservatives clamors for him to run for the Republican nomination for president. Other candidates have been refining their game plans for years, but the former senator from Tennessee has glided almost without effort to a strong position in the early polls, even though most voters know him only as a district attorney on television's "Law & Order."
GOP Presidential Hopefuls To Face Off in the New West
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202725.html
As 10 Republican presidential hopefuls gather here for their first debate Thursday, their political advisers are rewriting decades-old strategies about how to campaign in the nation's most populous state. With the state's primary looming as the biggest prize in the massive national battle developing for Feb. 5, California has shed its status as a non-factor in recent nominating contests, say top campaign advisers and the state's veteran GOP activists. New rules adopted by the state party, meanwhile, have scrapped winner-take-all voting for a system that awards three delegates to the victor in each of the state's 53 congressional districts. That change, coupled with the state's decision to move its primary date, has scrambled the GOP contest here 10 months before it takes place.
RELATED: In GOP debate, a chance to stand out
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/03/in_gop_debate_a_chance_to_stand_out/
RELATED: In G.O.P. Debate Today, Which Tack for Giuliani?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/politics/03giuliani.html?ref=washington
Effective and Ethical Government
In Veto Signature, a Tribute
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202410.html
When President Bush vetoed the war spending bill, he used Bob Derga's pen. "It was just a plain old black rollerball," Derga said. "Just a $2 pen." Cpl. Dustin A. Derga, a reservist with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, was killed in a May 2005 assault just east of the Syrian border. For a grieving father, the pen remained a link to what he considers a young life lost for a good cause, and he wanted Bush to use it for a purpose.
White House Panel Investigates Inspector General for Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202714.html
The inspector general who uncovered cases of waste, fraud and abuse in the U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Iraq is under investigation by a presidential panel, according to the White House. Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is under investigation after complaints were made by former employees about his work habits and work he required employees to perform. The investigation is headed by the integrity committee of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, which is made up of inspectors general appointed by the president.
Kennedy takes recovery 'one day at a time'
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-02-kennedy-recovery_N.htm
Rep. Patrick Kennedy says he is tackling his prescription drug addiction one day at a time, a year after crashing his car into a Capitol barricade in the middle of the night. In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, the 39-year-old son of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said he has been more vigilant about reducing stress and reaching out to friends and colleagues for support. "I'm much more aware of the stresses in my life and minimize it where possible and connect with people whenever I do have it, so I have social support systems there when I need them," said Kennedy, a Democrat from Rhode Island now in his seventh term.
Foreign Policy
Rice Presses Maliki on Eve Of Conference on Iraq Aid
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050200546.html
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki here Wednesday that he needs to work harder to convince Iraq's Arab neighbors of his commitment to heal sectarian divides and ensure more participation by minority Sunnis, as she redoubles her efforts to persuade those governments to be more understanding and supportive of Iraq. On the eve of an international conference the Bush administration hopes will lead to increased financial and political backing from the region for Baghdad, Rice told Maliki in a 90-minute meeting that "progress has to take place as rapidly as possible" toward political reconciliation among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups, a senior administration official said.
RELATED: Draft Oil Measure Sent to Parliament
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202553.html
RELATED: Iraqi Blocs Opposed to Draft Oil Bill
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html?ref=world
RELATED: Iraq Reconstruction Is Doomed, Ex-Chief of Global Fund Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/world/middleeast/03rebuild.html
RELATED: U.S. lowers expectations for Iraq conference
Iraq on Watch List of Nations That Violate Religious Rights
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202445.html
For the first time since the U.S. invasion in 2003, a high-level advisory panel has placed Iraq on a watch list of countries that violate religious freedom, saying the government there engages in extrajudicial killings based on religious identity. In its annual recommendations to the State Department yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stopped short of naming Iraq a "country of particular concern" -- a label reserved for the worst perpetrators. Iraq had been designated as a country of particular concern from 1999 to 2003, when it was ruled by Saddam Hussein. That designation was dropped after U.S. forces seized control of the nation.
Leader of Iraqi Insurgent Group Reported Killed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050300420.html
U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni insurgent umbrella group that has claimed responsibility for some of the deadliest and most shocking attacks in Iraq, news services and Iraqi television reported today. "Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed north of Baghdad by Iraqi and American forces. He died as a result of wounds sustained in clashes. The Interior Ministry has his body to carry out further checks," said Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister, according to Reuters.
RELATED: Trainers say Iraqi forces would collapse without U.S. support
RELATED: 3,700 U.S. troops arrive in Baghdad
RELATED: Green Zone attack kills 4 working for U.S.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-05-03-green-zone_N.htm
Lawmakers Decry Iran-India Alliance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202484.html
Key congressional supporters of closer ties with India have signed a toughly worded bipartisan letter to the Indian prime minister warning of "grave concern" that India's ties with Iran "have the potential to significantly harm prospects" for a nuclear cooperation deal that President Bush reached with India in 2005. The letter is noteworthy for its tone and because it was signed by the Democratic as well as Republican leaders of the key congressional panels involved in the issue. It was sent yesterday, one day after Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon publicly dismissed reports of closer military cooperation with Iran.
Israeli Premier Rebuffs Rebellion Within Party
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050200440.html
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to face down a revolt within his party Wednesday over his decision to remain in office after an investigative committee found "serious failings" in his management of the Lebanon war last summer. The most prominent former ally to call for his resignation was Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is next in line for his job. Speaking at a news conference here after meeting with Olmert, Livni said she told the prime minister that "resignation is the right option." But Livni, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said she would remain in Olmert's cabinet and oppose any effort in parliament to topple his government. Doing so would trigger new elections, and opinion polls show that their Kadima party has lost significant public support since winning a plurality in the March 2006 vote.
RELATED: Arab ex-lawmaker accused of giving information to Hezbollah
Turkish Premier Calls Vote to End 'Blockade' on Democracy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202394.html
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Wednesday for early parliamentary elections in Turkey, offering a plebiscite on his ruling party's brand of populist, religiously rooted politics, which the country's secular elite regards as an entry for political Islam. Erdogan's call to move elections to the summer from Nov. 4 capped a tumultuous week in which his choice for president was approved by a parliament that Erdogan's party dominates, in a vote annulled Tuesday by Turkey's highest court, a bastion of the secular establishment. Hundreds of thousands turned out for a protest in Istanbul, fearful that Erdogan's choice would represent a rollback for liberal individual freedoms, and the military, calling itself "the absolute defender of secularism," bluntly threatened to intervene.
RELATED: U.S., EU warn Turkish military to avoid politics
Court Issues Warrants For Darfur War Suspects
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050200488.html
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants yesterday for two men accused of war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan, but the Sudanese government vowed never to hand over any suspects. The court said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Ahmad Muhammad Harun, a former state minister of the interior, and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a leader of the Janjaweed militia, were responsible for killings, rape and other crimes against humanity in Darfur.
RELATED: Warrants issued in Darfur conflict
Zimbabwe Crackdown Has Affected Hundreds, Group Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202308.html
Zimbabwean authorities have arrested, abducted and tortured hundreds of political activists in a campaign that has grown worse since the vicious beating of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in March, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. In a report based on dozens of interviews in Zimbabwe, the New York-based rights group said the international outcry over the assault on Tsvangirai did nothing to curb President Robert Mugabe's brutality. The crackdown has reached deep into opposition ranks and affected many people who have no apparent role in politics, the report said. Journalists and human rights lawyers have also been targeted.
Japan Moving Toward Amendments To Pacifist Constitution, Official Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202590.html
Japan is on its way toward amending the antiwar provisions in its constitution, but a spirit of constraint and pacifism will not be abandoned in the new document, Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma told Washington Post editors and reporters yesterday. Sixty years after the constitution was written, lawmakers from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party have said that modifying it is one of their major objectives. The charter, which took effect on May 3, 1947, enshrined Japan's World War II defeat and imposed a ban on military adventures overseas.
France's Royal relishes the role of underdog
Here is what has been said about Segolene Royal, the first woman with a real chance to be president of France: She is cold, authoritarian and a bully. She's ambitious yet a lightweight without the gravitas to head a nuclear state. She is a "conduit without content," nicknamed Egolene, the aspiring Joan of Arc. And that is from her friends on the left. Even before her opponent on the right, Nicolas Sarkozy, could take her on, the leaders of Royal's Socialist Party were maligning her. On the eve of the first round of voting last month, two Socialist "elephants," as the barons of her party are called, stood behind Royal at a speech and could be heard snickering. But being attacked by the elites and establishment isn't the worst thing to happen to a candidate — especially to a woman who projects herself as the embodiment of change in a France troubled by a stalled economy and social unrest.
RELATED: Socialist is aggressive in presidential debate
[Romanian] Lawmakers approve bases for use by U.S.
Parliament on Wednesday approved an agreement allowing the U.S. to use four Romanian military bases and station up to 3,000 troops in the former communist country. Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu praised the agreement, saying that for decades many Romanians had "only one hope: that the American troops would come and free us from communism."
Uribe seeks to allay concerns
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe labored Wednesday to repair his country's reputation in the U.S. capital in the wake of allegations that members of his inner circle had ties to illegal paramilitary groups. Democrats in Congress have blocked a portion of the $700 million that the government in Bogota receives annually from the United States after reports that Colombia's army chief, Gen. Mario Montoya, had colluded with paramilitaries. "I have supported President Uribe for five years. I continue to support him, and I want him to succeed," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who has held up about $55 million in U.S. aid to the South American country until the Senate can fully explore "reports of paramilitary infiltration of the Colombian government and military."
Immigration
Lawsuit seeks asylum for Guatemalans
After four of his classmates disappeared during Guatemala's civil war, Luis Gonzalez fled his homeland and sneaked across the border into the United States in 1985. He applied for asylum in 1997 but an immigration judge said Gonzalez failed to prove he personally had been persecuted. Now Gonzalez, a Maywood resident, is facing deportation. Gonzalez, 40, who is married and has three U.S.-born daughters, is placing renewed hope in a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court last month against the U.S. government on behalf of thousands of Guatemalans who allege that their asylum petitions were unfairly denied. The lawsuit says that in many cases, immigration officials waited years, or even decades, before rejecting the asylum applications because the conditions in Guatemala had changed. There are about 800,000 Guatemalans in Southern California, and about 40,000 could be affected by the suit, according to the Guatemalan Consulate in Los Angeles.
Marriage and Family Issues
Domestic partners bill approved
A bill giving Oregon's gay and lesbian couples the benefits of marriage through domestic partnerships won legislative approval Wednesday. The Senate endorsed the measure 21 to 9, sending it to Gov. Ted Kulongoski. The governor supports gay rights, and he said he would sign the bill along with one passed earlier to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. The domestic partnership bill would enable same-sex couples to enter into contractual relationships that grant them the benefits that state law offers to married couples.
Health Care and Public Safety
Plights of uninsured stir efforts to sway lawmakers
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-02-uninsured_N.htm
Tamika Scott lost her 14-year-old son to cancer on March 1, less than a year after he lost his health insurance and was forced to go on clinical trials. Within a month of his death, Scott was in the nation's capital telling her story to members of Congress. It was too late to help her son, Devante Johnson, but not the nation's 47 million uninsured, including 9 million children. "When it touches home, everything changes," says Scott, 34, of Houston. "Then you're ready to change the world." As Congress and state legislatures grapple this year with how to help the uninsured, lawmakers are increasingly hearing not only from lobbyists and health care advocates but from people who have suffered without insurance.
Many low-income seniors don't get drug benefit
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-02-seniors-drug-benefit_N.htm
A year after the initial sign-up period for Medicare's prescription-drug program, low-income seniors remain most likely to be left out. while 6 million Medicaid beneficiaries were automatically enrolled, only 2.2 million more seniors and people with disabilities have qualified for low-income subsidies. At least 3.2 million more could qualify but have not gone through the process of seeking the subsidy and enrolling in a plan. As the House and Senate begin hearings on the program this week, advocacy groups representing the nation's 43 million Medicare beneficiaries say the government has failed to reach out effectively to the neediest seniors, including ethnic minorities with language barriers.
Virulent New Strain of TB Raising Fears of Pandemic
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202831.html
A virulent strain of tuberculosis resistant to most available drugs is surfacing around the globe, raising fears of a pandemic that could devastate efforts to contain TB and prove deadly to people with immune-deficiency diseases such as HIV-AIDS. Known formally as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the strain has been detected in 37 countries. It arises when the bacterium that causes TB mutates because antibiotics used to combat it are carelessly administered by poorly trained doctors or patients don't take their full course of medication. Rather than being killed by the drugs, the microbe builds up resistance to them. At least 50 percent of those who contract this strain of TB will die of it, according to medical experts. In trying to stop the spread of the disease, which can be transmitted through coughing, spitting or even speaking, health officials have imposed sometimes extreme controls on infected people.
FDA wants suicide warning expanded to young adults
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-04-26-antidepressants-adults_N.htm
Young adults beginning treatment with antidepressants should be warned about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior, U.S. government health officials said Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration proposed labeling changes that would expand a warning now on all antidepressants. The current language applies only to children and adolescents. The expanded warning would apply to adults 18-24 during the first month or two of treatment with the drugs, the FDA said.
RELATED: F.D.A. Expands Suicide Warning on Drugs
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/health/03depress.html
Once-a-year drug targets osteoporosis
A yearly 15-minute intravenous infusion of a new drug substantially reduces bone fractures in post-menopausal women, offering a new treatment option for women who have trouble taking existing bone-strengthening drugs, researchers reported today. Although drugs like Fosamax and Actonel are also effective at preventing bone loss and reducing the major health risks associated with fractures, up to half of women stop taking the medications within six months because of the complicated regimen required and the risk of side effects. The new drug, called zoledronic acid, "requires an encounter with the medical establishment only once a year, so there is no problem with compliance and adherence," said Dr. Robert R. Recker of the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha.
Jury: Baby murdered by vegan parents
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/05/03/0503metvegan.html
A vegan couple committed murder when they didn't make sure their newborn received proper nutrition, a Fulton jury decided Wednesday. The courtroom was so quiet after the judge read the verdict — the first of its kind in Georgia — that the clank of the handcuffs being fastened around the parents' wrists echoed through the room. The father, Lamont Thomas, 31, then called out "We're going to jail for no reason" as his girlfriend, Jade Sanders, 27, stared ahead, visibly stunned.
Crime and Penal Reform
Exonerations Change How Justice System Builds a Prosecution
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202304.html
Jerry Miller is the newest poster child of the wrongfully convicted, the 200th to be exonerated by DNA evidence -- after he spent 25 years behind bars in Illinois for a rape he did not commit. But Miller, a black man, hardly stands out in the crowd of the exonerated. Of the 200 people whose convictions have been overturned as a result of DNA evidence since 1989, 60 percent have been black or Latino, according to the Innocence Project, a liberal organization that works to free the wrongfully convicted. Of those exonerated after a rape conviction, 85 percent were black men accused of assaulting a white woman. In contrast, black men are accused in 33.6 percent of rapes or sexual assaults of white women, according to a 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics study of victims. "What it says to me is that, ultimately, if you are a black man charged with sexually assaulting a white woman, the likelihood that you will be convicted, even if you are stone-cold innocent, is much, much higher," said Peter J. Neufeld, a co-director of the Innocence Project who asserted that the 200 exonerations "are the tip of the iceberg."
Nebraska high court halts electrocution
The Nebraska Supreme Court stayed an execution Wednesday over concerns about a new electrocution protocol in the only state that relies solely on the electric chair for capital punishment. Carey Dean Moore had been scheduled to die Tuesday for the 1979 murders of two Omaha cab drivers. The high court issued the stay after receiving a request for review of the protocol from state Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha. State Supreme Court Judge John Gerrard wrote that recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions "at least raised the question whether electrocution is constitutional."
Lawmakers OK $5M settlement in Fla. boot camp death
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-02-boot-camp-death_N.htm
A $5 million settlement for the family of a teenager who died after being roughed up by guards at a state-supervised boot camp won lawmaker approval Wednesday was sent to the governor, who is expected to sign it. Gov. Charlie Crist and black legislators had led the effort to compensate the family of Martin Lee Anderson, who died in January 2006 shortly after being kneed, struck and having ammonia tablets held to his nose at the military-style facility run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office in Panama City. The state has already paid Anderson's parents $200,000, the most allowed by law without legislative approval. The bill would pay the remaining $4.8 million of the proposed settlement. "While no dollar amount will return their son to his family, compensating them for this tragedy is the right thing to do," Crist said.
66 Workers at Agency Had Records, Inquiry Finds
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/03texas.html?ref=us
An investigation into sexual abuse and mismanagement at the Texas Youth Commission has led to the dismissal of 66 employees with records of felony charges or arrests, including one convicted of homicide and another who had pleaded guilty to attempted murder, the state official leading the inquiry reported Wednesday. The employees included guards, case workers and maintenance staff members, most of them in regular contact with hundreds of troubled youths. Officials said they had no information on whether any of the 66 were accused of harming youths in their custody.
Guns deep in the hearts of Texans
Much of the rest of the nation might have begun debating whether new gun-control measures are in order in the wake of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech last month. But here in Texas, a place where guns seem a part of the state's very DNA, folks have got some other ideas. The state's governor, Rick Perry, suggested the other day that Texans would be a lot safer if gun owners who hold concealed-weapons permits were allowed to carry their weapons in places where they are now prohibited, such as schools, churches, courthouses and bars.
Economy
Stocks and Bonds: Rise in Factory Orders Propels Dow to New High
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202351.html
Stocks jumped Wednesday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average above 13,200 for the first time after a strong reading on U.S. factory orders stoked investors' optimism about the economy. The Dow rose 75.74, or 0.58 percent, to 13,211.88, its second straight record close. The blue chips hit a fresh trading high of 13,256.33. The Dow has set 16 record closes this year and 39 since the beginning of October. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced 9.62, or 0.65 percent, to 1495.92. Wall Street has been monitoring the index, waiting for it to move back above 1500; it hasn't closed above that since September 2000. The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.31, or 1.04 percent, to 2557.84.
RELATED: Stocks due for spring fever, and not in a good way
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-05-02-mart-usat_N.htm
Committee Is Likely to Say Wolfowitz Broke Rules
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/washington/03wolfowitz.html?ref=washington
Members of a World Bank board committee investigating the conduct of Paul D. Wolfowitz, the bank president, are leaning toward finding that he violated the institution’s rules against conflicts of interest when he arranged a pay raise and promotion for his companion, bank officials said Wednesday. A conclusion that Mr. Wolfowitz broke the bank rules and the terms of his own contract, which bars conflicts of interest, would be likely to increase the pressure on him to resign despite his vow not to do so in the face of such charges. But it was unclear how harsh the committee’s judgment would be or what penalty would be recommended to the 24-member board of directors that will decide his fate.
I.R.S. Curtails Many Audits in Tax Havens
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/business/03tax.html?ref=washington
The Internal Revenue Service is curtailing audits of many people who use offshore tax havens, even when agents see signs of tax evasion, because agents fear they cannot meet a three-year deadline for finishing an examination, Congressional investigators have found.
AOL Ad Growth Brightens Poor Time Warner Quarter
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050200500.html
Time Warner said yesterday that the financial performance at AOL was one of the firm's highlights during the first quarter, even though revenue at the Internet company dipped 25 percent. Operating income for AOL, of Dulles, rose 27 percent during the three months ended March 31, but the firm continued to lose subscribers as it makes the transition to a business model based on advertising revenue from one based on selling subscriptions. AOL's advertising revenue rose 35 percent during the quarter.
Sprint Nextel Posts a Loss Amid Concern About Market Share
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/technology/03sprint.html?ref=business
The Sprint Nextel Corporation, the wireless carrier, reported a quarterly loss yesterday, fueling concern that the company was losing market share to its rivals as it struggles to achieve a turnaround. The company lost 220,000 monthly customers — who are valued because they sign long-term contracts — in the first quarter, most of them defections to rivals. It was the third consecutive quarter of post-paid subscriber losses.
Housing and Homelessness
Some in subprime industry adopt principles for borrowers
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-05-02-subprime-mortgage-principles_N.htm
Several major participants in the home mortgage market have agreed to adopt a set of principles for dealing with homeowners with high-priced loans who face possible foreclosure, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee said Wednesday. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., had urged such voluntary action by mortgage lenders and other players two weeks ago when he convened a meeting of their officials and federal regulators to discuss possible solutions to the crisis gripping the market for high-risk loans. Such industry initiatives are preferable, in Dodd's view, to any government bailout to cover mortgage loans in default.
Media
Dow Jones Rejects Murdoch's Offer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202507.html
The Dow Jones board of directors rebuffed Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion takeover bid last night. That could result in Murdoch raising his offer, other suitors entering a bidding war or shareholder lawsuits against the board if it eventually turns down all proposals, analysts said. Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has a dual-class stock-ownership structure, enabling the Bancroft family to hold 25 percent of company stock yet control 64 percent of the votes.
RELATED: Dow Jones family's power rests with Hub law firm
http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2007/05/03/dow_jones_familys_power_rests_with_hub_law_firm/
RELATED: Heavy Options Activity Stirs Suspicions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/business/media/03options.html
In Web Uproar, Antipiracy Code Spreads Wildly
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/technology/03code.html?ref=business
Sophisticated Internet users have banded together over the last two days to publish and widely distribute a secret code used by the technology and movie industries to prevent piracy of high-definition movies.
Education
House Votes to End Test Central to GOP's Shift on Head Start
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202650.html
The House dealt a blow to President Bush's chief early-childhood initiative yesterday, voting to end the standardized testing of 4-year-olds, which was at the heart of his efforts to refocus Head Start. Supporters of the legislation, which would boost spending on the program and includes provisions to improve teacher quality, said it was aimed at ending Republican efforts to shift the focus of the 42-year-old program from nurturing social and emotional development to emphasizing literacy.
Loan Firms Set to Regain Access to U.S. Student Data
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202428.html
The U.S. Department of Education moved yesterday to restore loan industry access to a national database with confidential information on millions of students, two weeks after it was shut down amid allegations of data mining and privacy violations. The agency also tightened security in an effort to prevent computer systems from mining the 60 million student records in the database. All users will now be shown a screen of random numbers and letters and asked to type them before logging in.
RELATED: Some Access to Student Finance Data Is Restored
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/education/03loan.html
Should states put brakes on charter school growth?
Ted Strickland is the governor of Ohio, and LaTeefah Appleberry is a diminutive 14-year-old parochial high school freshman with big dreams. The two have never met, but they share a trait: They come from humble origins and have a strong desire to do good things. They also hold passionate and conflicting opinions about the contentious issue of school choice -- vouchers and charter schools -- and together they help frame a noisy debate over Strickland's call to rein in the two alternative education programs that have gained footing in Ohio and across the nation in the past decade. Calling the performance of many of the state's 310 charter schools "pathetic" and "indefensible" and arguing that vouchers undermine public education for the benefit of the few, Strickland wants a moratorium on new charters and an end to Ohio's 2-year-old voucher program. Those recommendations amount to a declaration of war against those who argue that many public schools are fatally flawed and that the only way to prevent children from failing with them is to allow them to go elsewhere. Strickland, a Democrat, has sparked a furor among school choice supporters, including Appleberry, who is attending Archbishop Alter High School in the Dayton suburb of Kettering only because she has a state-paid voucher.
M.I.T. Dean Who Resigned Has a Degree After All
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/education/03mit.html
In an odd twist to an already strange story, Marilee Jones, the former admissions dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who resigned last week after admitting that she had lied about her academic credentials, turns out to have a bachelor’s degree, but not from the institutions she had named on her résumé. Instead, M.I.T. officials said, Ms. Jones earned a B.A. in biology at the College of Saint Rose, an independent college in Albany, where she grew up. Officials at the College of Saint Rose confirmed that they had awarded a bachelor’s degree to a Marilee Jones in 1973, when Ms. Jones would have been 21.
Accreditation Concerns Remain for Gallaudet
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202453.html
Gallaudet University's accreditation is still at risk months after protests shut down the campus in Northeast Washington for several days in the fall. An accreditation team visiting this week noted that progress has been made under the new administration but that serious concerns remain, according to President Robert Davila. The school has until November 2008 to achieve compliance, Davila said.
Military
Blogs Chronicle War from Soldiers' Perspectives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202253.html
When Capt. Danjel Bout lost three comrades in a single day while on an October 2005 mission in Baghdad, he stifled his grief and remained focused on what seemed to be the longest day of his life. The next day, he let it out. He went to his computer and wrote a detailed and emotional account of the losses in his blog, " 365 and a Wakeup." For Bout, blogging was a way to get some emotional relief from the hardships of war; it was an "online therapy session" of sorts. For the more than 750,000 viewers of his blog, it has been a way for them to read a firsthand account of the Iraq war, according to Bout.
RELATED: Army Stresses Consequences of Soldiers' Loose Lips on the Internet
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202732.html
Defense secretary pushes Walter Reed reforms
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that he had asked the department's top military and civilian leaders to meet weekly to carry out recommendations of groups that have examined failures at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Gates said his deputy, Gordon R. England, would lead a strategy and oversight group consisting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and health officials to see that reforms proposed by the Pentagon's Independent Review Group, a commission appointed by President Bush and other task forces were enacted. Gates vowed that the Defense Department would ensure that injured service members had the best care possible.
Bipartisan Panel Will Review Nuclear Posture
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202434.html
A House Armed Services subcommittee voted yesterday to establish a year-long, bipartisan commission to reevaluate the U.S. nuclear strategic posture for the post-9/11 world. The subcommittee voted to pay for it by cutting $20 million from the Bush administration's $88 million request to complete design and cost studies for the first of a new generation of nuclear warheads.
600 WWII vets getting their wish to see memorial
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-02-veterans-wwII-memorial_N.htm
World War II veterans begin arriving in Washington, D.C., today as part of the largest airlift to date by a volunteer group dedicated to making sure as many as possible see the National World War II Memorial before they die.
China seen as a roadblock to U.N. climate report
China, on pace to become the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has emerged as the major stumbling block in approving a United Nations report on how to stabilize global warming and generate the trillions of dollars needed for the endeavor. The report, to be released Friday in Bangkok, Thailand, is the third of four installments being issued this year by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The first two reports, on the causes and effects of global warming, were largely scientific documents. The new report outlines a specific strategy to charge polluters for their emissions. China, which is powering its industrial development with its massive coal reserves, has been pushing for wealthy nations to bear the bulk of the blame — and eventually the costs. At the same time, China has tried to downplay the responsibility of developing nations like itself, according to some delegates at the weeklong U.N. meeting in Bangkok.
Feeling Warmth, Subtropical Plants Move North
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/science/03flowers.html?ref=us
Forget the jokes about beachfront property. If global warming has any upside, it would seem to be for gardeners, who make up three-quarters of the population and spend $34 billion a year, according to the National Gardening Association. Many experts agree that climate change, which by some estimates has already nudged up large swaths of the country by one or more plant-hardiness zones, has meant a longer growing season and a more robust selection. There are palm trees in Knoxville and subtropical camellias in Pennsylvania.
Dam dispute heads to court
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/environment/2007-05-02-pacific-corp-usat_N.htm
Indian tribes and fishermen Wednesday sued MidAmerican Energy's PacifiCorp over toxic algae allegedly caused by the firm's dams on the Klamath River, while also hoping to win over MidAmerican's biggest shareholder: Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. Ending a week-long caravan from San Francisco, 60 tribal leaders, commercial fishermen and environmentalists hauling redwood dugout canoes will roll into Omaha on Thursday for the Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA)(BRKB) shareholders meeting Saturday at the Qwest Convention Center.
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: Can Bush Negotiate?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/02/BL2007050201418.html
With the public resoundingly against him, Republican support wearing thin, and -- most importantly -- Congress in Democratic hands, President Bush today finds himself in the unusual position of actually having to negotiate. The question is: Does he have it in him? A day after vetoing legislation that would have established a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, Bush has invited congressional leaders to the White House for a sit-down.
RELATED: Benchmarks for Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202480.html
Dery: Wimps, wussies and W.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-dery3may03,0,4825585.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
How Americans' infatuation with masculinity has perilous consequences.
Treaties apply to foreign prisoners, too
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-consular3may03,0,2326108.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
The Supreme Court should uphold a treaty granting consular visitation rights to foreigners on Death Row.
Another Guantanamo outrage
UNWILLING TO close Guantanamo, bring its prisoners to US soil, and let them fight their detention in US courts, the Bush administration now wants to shutter the one window the outside world has on the Kafkaesque conditions in the camp. It is proposing to clamp down on the prisoners' only nonmilitary contacts, their lawyers. The US Appeals Court in Washington should reject this shameful proposal out of hand.
RELATED: An Exit Strategy for Guantánamo
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/opinion/03thu2.html
Broder: Thankless Bipartisanship
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202006.html
[Sen. Lamar Alexander] pointed out that the bipartisan breakfast sessions that he and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut have been hosting regularly this year have included discussions of health policy. As a byproduct of the breakfasts, "10 of us, five Republicans and five Democrats, have written the president saying that we are ready to work with him on a bill that has two principles -- universal coverage and private markets. We hope he responds." Iraq looms as the supreme test, of course, and Alexander, a Bush supporter, nonetheless says "it was a mistake" for the president not to seize on the Baker-Hamilton commission recommendations as the basis for a bipartisan answer to the dilemma of the war. "It's still sitting there on the shelf," he said, implying that Bush will have to come back to Baker-Hamilton at some point. Meantime, Alexander has a gentle reminder for the press that our mind-set means that "unfortunately, bipartisan success, even on the biggest, most complex issues, has an excellent chance of remaining a secret."
Unwanted Folk
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/opinion/03thu4.html
Why was Joan Baez considered too objectionable to participate in a concert for injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center?
Driving while black?
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/05/02/0503edstops.html
Some African-Americans joke that law enforcement has created a special category of traffic violation for them — DWB or driving while black. Now, they have data to back it up. A new federal Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of traffic stops shows that although police stop black, white and Hispanic drivers at the same rate, minorities are much more likely to be searched and ticketed. Of drivers pulled over in 2005, the Bureau of Justice's Police-Public Contact Survey shows that police searched 9.5 percent of the black drivers and 8.8 percent of Hispanics, compared to 3.6 percent of whites.
Inexcusable conduct
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-riots3may03,0,2893965.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
THE IMAGES Tuesday of police firing projectiles at people trying to flee a mostly peaceful rally at MacArthur Park are glaringly out of place in the Los Angeles of 2007. At least, they were supposed to be out of place. The city has too much experience with police clashes and too painstaking a process of outrage, investigation, reform and trust-building to excuse this week's scenes of officers assaulting people — including families with young children — who had gathered in the park pursuant to a lawfully issued permit. Three probes are underway, as they should be, and there are still plenty of facts to gather, statements to investigate and video images to sift until it's clear exactly who gave what orders and whether they were properly followed. But it's not too early for outrage. If the police actions were completely within policy, then policy must change.
Bishara: Why Israel is after me
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-bishara3may03,0,2351340.story?coll=la-opinion-center
I AM A PALESTINIAN from Nazareth, a citizen of Israel and was, until last month, a member of the Israeli parliament. But now, in an ironic twist reminiscent of France's Dreyfus affair — in which a French Jew was accused of disloyalty to the state — the government of Israel is accusing me of aiding the enemy during Israel's failed war against Lebanon in July. Israeli police apparently suspect me of passing information to a foreign agent and of receiving money in return. Under Israeli law, anyone — a journalist or a personal friend — can be defined as a "foreign agent" by the Israeli security apparatus. Such charges can lead to life imprisonment or even the death penalty. The allegations are ridiculous. Needless to say, Hezbollah — Israel's enemy in Lebanon — has independently gathered more security information about Israel than any Arab Knesset member could possibly provide. What's more, unlike those in Israel's parliament who have been involved in acts of violence, I have never used violence or participated in wars. My instruments of persuasion, in contrast, are simply words in books, articles and speeches.
Bracey: A Test Everyone Will Fail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202004.html
By comparing the results of foreign students and American students on tests administered in both nations, and then examining the American students' scores on the U.S. NAEP, it is possible to reliably estimate how well foreign students would perform on the NAEP. And it turns out that only one-third of those high-flying Swedish kids would be considered proficient readers; the NAEP figure for U.S. fourth-graders was 29 percent. The great majority of the remaining countries would have fewer proficient students than the United States. Using the NAEP standard, no country comes close to having a majority of proficient readers. Under the NAEP standard, Singapore is the only nation in the world to have a majority of its students be proficient in science, and that by a scant 1 percent. Only a handful of countries would have a majority of students proficient in mathematics.
Borosage: Even Gipper can't pull this one out
As Republican contenders for the presidential nomination gather for their first debate Thursday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, they are caught between a rock and a hard place. The vast majority of Americans have given up on George Bush, the sitting conservative president. But the die-hards who still support him are loyal Republican primary voters that no Republican candidate can afford to offend. How can the contenders distance themselves from Bush's failures without alienating their own base? Expect them to invoke the conservative icon Ronald Reagan early and often. They'll call for a return to the faith, pledge to follow in the footsteps of the Gipper and "morning in America." But the Gipper can't save them. Each of Bush's signature failures -- the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, Enron and the corporate scandals, failed tax and trade policies, the attempt to privatize Social Security, the posturing around Terri Schiavo and stem cells -- can be traced back not simply to the conservative ideology and ideologues that sired them -- but to the basic concepts that Reagan championed.
Frazer: I'm sorry, Barack, we're through
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-frazer3may03,0,2489290.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Obama may make a good president, but he's a bad MySpace friend.
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