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TOP STORIES
National
Rice Meets With Syrian Counterpart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050300716.html
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met here Thursday with her Syrian counterpart in the first high-level talks between the two governments in more than two years. Rice characterized the 30-minute session, held on the sidelines of a two-day international conference on Iraq at this Egyptian Red Sea resort, as "businesslike" and "very constructive." Senior Bush administration officials said that she would not hold a widely anticipated meeting with Iran's foreign minister, but that the United States plans to hold direct talks with Tehran in the near future. Conversations will be limited, as were the talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, to the subject of Iraq, they added. Officials said the decision to end the U.S. isolation of Syria and Iran -- which the administration accuses of facilitating insurgent and militia violence in Iraq -- was made in Washington in the days leading up to the conference. President Bush has long rejected calls from administration critics and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group to begin talks.
RELATED: U.S. and Syria are talking
RELATED: U.S. and Syria Discuss Iraq in Rare Meeting
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/world/middleeast/04diplo.html?ref=washington
RELATED: U.S.-Iranian contacts brief, awkward in Egypt
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-05-04-rice-iran_N.htm
Projectile Bomb Attacks Hit Record High in Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302530.html
Attacks in Iraq involving lethal weapons that U.S. officials say are made in Iran hit a record high last month, despite efforts to crack down on networks supplying the armor-piercing weapons known as explosively formed projectiles, according to a senior U.S. commander. The number of attacks with the projectiles rose to 65 in April, said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who oversees day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq. "The overwhelming majority" were in predominantly Shiite eastern Baghdad, Odierno said in an interview this week. Officials have said the projectiles are used almost exclusively by Shiite fighters against U.S. military targets.
RELATED: Pentagon: 300 Iraqi Troops Killed in April
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301561.html
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/ELECTION, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/MILITARY
Bush Wants Phone Firms Immune to Privacy Suits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302323.html
The Bush administration is urging Congress to pass a law that would halt dozens of lawsuits charging phone companies with invading ordinary citizens' privacy through a post-Sept. 11 warrantless surveillance program. The measure is part of a legislative package drafted by the Justice Department to relax provisions in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that restrict the administration's ability to intercept electronic communications in the United States. If passed, the proposed changes would forestall efforts to compel disclosure of the program's details through Congress or the court system. The proposal states that "no action shall lie . . . in any court, and no penalty . . . shall be imposed . . . against any person" for giving the government information, including customer records, in connection with alleged intelligence activity the attorney general certifies "is, was, would be or would have been" intended to protect the United States from terrorist attack. The measure, which has not yet been filed, is contained in a proposed amendment to the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill.
FBI May Probe Use of Force by L.A. Police at Immigration Rally
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302363.html
The FBI will open a civil rights inquiry into the Los Angeles Police Department's actions at an immigration rally where officers cleared a city park by wielding batons and firing rubber bullets, the bureau said Thursday. The preliminary inquiry seeks to determine "whether the civil rights of protesters taking part in the May 1st immigration rally were violated," according to an FBI news release. Police Chief William J. Bratton said earlier Thursday he planned to meet next week with the head of the FBI's Los Angeles office, Assistant Director in Charge J. Stephen Tidwell, to determine whether Tuesday's clashes at MacArthur Park were "something the bureau would become involved with."
RELATED: LAPD cut back forces at park rally
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd4may04,0,3944742.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RELATED: Action by Police at Rally Troubles Los Angeles Chief
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/04immig.html?ref=us
More immigration policy news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/ELECTION
Colorado
Schaffer reportedly announces Senate run
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070504/NEWS01/705040332/1002
Former Congressman Bob Schaffer made his long-expected Senate announcement during the weekend in tiny Teller County. Or maybe he didn't. "He was invited as our speaker (at a Republican dinner) and said he had decided to run and that a formal announcement would follow but that he wanted us to be the first ones to know," said Mark Sievers, the chairman of the Teller Republican Central Committee who was among the 100 people who attended. "I think Bob has been thinking about a run for a long time and maybe he decided on his way down that this was the right time and place to do it." Schaffer said he hasn't announced whether he'll be a candidate to replace Sen. Wayne Allard, in Teller County or elsewhere.
RELATED: Schaffer: Dems are vulnerable
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16136
Colo. elections IT mgr. selling "voter data" to GOP candidates
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/5/3/213841/7860
An IT manager for Colorado's state-wide voter database has been selling "targeted voter data" through a "GOP Campaign help" web site at PoliticalLiveWires.com. According to his online resume, Dan Kopelman is currently "Elections Technology Manager" with "oversight and guidance of the State Wide Voter Database" in the office of Colorado's newly elected Republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman. Returning ePluribus Media's request for information, a spokesperson for Colo. Secretary of State Mike Coffman confirmed Kopelman's employment, but said the office was unaware of his "side business" selling voter lists and other web-based campaign tools. Furthermore, after learning about the IT manager's "conflict of interest," Deputy Secretary of State William A. Hobbs met with the Kopelman and directed him to take down his campaign web site immediately.
Ritter signs Pinon Canyon, school safety bills
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5519077,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter signed House Bill 1069 today that withdraws consent given by the state to the federal government to acquire land through eminent domain that would be used for military training. The bill is meant to block an expansion of the 238,000 training site southwest of La Junta by adding 418,000 acres, and destroying a number of ranches in the area. "The military is a very important part of Colorado," Ritter said. "It's a tremendous economic engine for our state ... (but) the goal for any expansion of a military base or training site must be a win for the military and a win for the community." Ritter said his conversations with the Army have all focused on the desire to expand Pinon Canyon without the use of eminent domain.
RELATED: Ritter says "no" to Army move
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5810613
RELATED: Ritter signs bill against Piñon
http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill_21887___article.html/ritter_colorado.html
RELATED: Ritter signs bill aimed to stop Army land condemnation
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/1
'Pro-environment' session pleases greens
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518746,00.html
Colorado green activists celebrated what one called "the most pro-environment legislature in Colorado history" today, citing passage of more than 20 bills related to renewable energy, more tightly regulating oil and gas exploration and protecting the state's water. "My how times have changed in the Colorado legislature," said Will Coyne of Environment Colorado, reflecting on more difficult times getting their issues through the legislature and past Republican Gov. Bill Owens over the past eight years. Too often in recent years, environmentalists ended the session with "a sigh of relief (from bills they stopped) or sense of disappointment, or both," said Elise Jones, of the Colorado Environmental Coalition. "What a wonderful change of pace."
RELATED: Conservation advocates praise Legislature’s work
http://www.gazette.com/articles/energy_21915___article.html/water_renewable.html
Election
Top candidates back Iraq war, vow victory
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813954
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., was cut off by the debate moderator for taking too much time when he tried to make the point that the Iraqis must summon the strength to defend themselves. He subsequently made the point in a post-debate television interview on MSNBC. By luck of the draw, Tancredo stood at the end of the line of 10 candidates and acknowledged that he could not vigorously press his signature issue: illegal immigration. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., near center stage, did a more effective job representing the anti-illegal-immigration forces and also led the other candidates in vigorous denunciations of Iran.
RELATED: Fast format hurts Tancredo
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5519969,00.html
Caucuses close in on earlier date
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813139
Colorado's presidential caucuses would be moved from March to February in hopes of attracting more candidates to the state under a bill nearing final legislative passage. The Senate tentatively approved the caucus change Thursday, over objections from critics that it would cause confusion and decrease participation. Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, said moving the caucuses from the third Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in February every four years would force campaigns to start raising money at Christmastime.
RELATED: State caucus proposal advances
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/state-caucus-proposal-advances/
You gotta fight for your right to hold office?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/04/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
What's the most exciting part of turning 21? For some, it's getting the legal right to run for office. On Tuesday the Colorado State Senate approved putting on the November 2008 a proposal that would lower the age at which a person can run for state office from 25 to 21. Colorado voters must pass the measure for it to go into effect. The measure, which passed the Senate 29 to 5, was approved by the Colorado House of Representatives a month ago. “I think 21-year-olds are adults,” said Colo. Sen. Steve Johnson, 47, the senate sponsor of the bill. “I think they have a valuable perspective and they shouldn't be excluded.”
Candidates say 'return to sender'
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040086
After confusion over state and local rules governing campaign contributions, Aspen mayoral candidate Tim Semrau and City Council candidate Dwayne Romero returned funds to corporate donors Thursday. The city of Aspen has no rules against corporate contributions, according to City Attorney John Worcester; any alleged violations are out of city jurisdiction. But officials from the Colorado Secretary of State's office confirmed Thursday that the state constitution prohibits contributions from corporate entities to candidate campaigns.
RELATED: Candidate profiles: Pick an initiative
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040079
Effective and Ethical Government
Veto could reverse Ritter
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813251
State lawmakers plan to close the 2007 session with a bang - a veto-override vote on Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter's handling of the state budget. After huddling with lawyers Thursday, top legislative Democrats decided Ritter cut parts of the budget that he is not allowed to veto. Ritter on Wednesday signed the $17.8 billion annual state budget, announcing he had eliminated seven "headnotes" and 81 "footnotes" with his power to line-item veto the bill. Headnotes and footnotes generally give the executive branch instructions on how to handle money lawmakers allocated to programs. The vote is the latest chapter in a long- running dispute between the legislature and the governor's office. In 2003, a Republican- controlled legislature sued Republican Gov. Bill Owens over the same issue. "It's a legal deal," said Evan Dreyer, Ritter's spokesman. "It's nothing personal, nothing ideological. We're just trying to find the authority and purview that each branch of government has over the budget."
Lawmakers OK health, methane-study bills
State lawmakers passed two bills of interest to La Plata County in the waning days of the Legislature's session. Under the first bill, the state will kick in $4.5 million in the next three years to study the methane seep in La Plata and Archuleta counties. The second bill makes it easier for proponents of special health-care districts to jump through the legal hoops. The House approved the methane-seep bill 62-2 on Wednesday, and the Senate gave its final blessings Thursday on a 28-6 vote. The bill, Senate Bill 198, was sponsored by Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, and Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango. The money will come from a tax on oil and gas production. The study will try to determine what effect, if any, drilling has on the underground seep of methane near the Fruitland outcrop. Many gas companies are participating in the study as well. Roberts also sponsored House Bill 1219, which sets up an easier process for elections to create a health-care district. Roberts carried the bill after last year's failed attempt to create a health-care district in La Plata County. Under the law at the time, the backers of that election had to take their idea to the county planning department.
House bill addresses computer flops
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5519595,00.html
House Democrats passed a bill Thursday to boost oversight of private vendors and stop the state's string of multimillion-dollar computer- project fiascoes. Republicans opposed Senate Bill 228, saying vendors would be excessively monitored under the bill, and that it would drive expert firms from working for the state. "Accountability and transparency are noble goals," said Rep. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs. "But, frankly, the onerous provisions of the bill are creating hurdles that I think will inhibit private business from wanting to bring their resources, their value and their expertise to help this state." The bill passed on a party-line 38-26 vote. Democrats were surprised by GOP opposition to the bill, given the recent series of costly state computer-system blunders, ranging from a new highway department computer that shortchanged workers' pay to a welfare benefits system with numerous flaws. Now the state is on the hook to the federal government for at least $11 million in food stamp overpayments. Democrats ran a similar bill last year, but it was vetoed by then-Republican Gov. Bill Owens, under whose watch many of the ill-fated projects were launched.
Lawmakers vote to raise their expense stipend
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/lawmakers-vote-to-raise-their-expense-stipend/
Lawmakers voted Thursday to raise their daily expense allowance after the sponsor of an amendment limiting their perks said lawmakers deserved to be paid for doing their jobs. Legislators said they haven't had a raise in the expense allowance, called the per diem, since 1989, despite increased costs.
10 Owens appointees will lose their jobs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813140
Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter's administration has notified 10 top state workers - all appointees of his Republican predecessor, Gov. Bill Owens - that their jobs will expire June 30. Those workers are among the 55 in "senior executive service" whose contracts are negotiated annually. To discontinue their service in that role, the Ritter administration was required to give them written notice by May 1. Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Ritter, declined to comment on the contracts or notices of nonrenewal. Among the contract workers who will not be returning to their high-level appointments are: Mike Acree, deputy executive director of the Department of Public Safety.
3rd witness weighs in on ethics charge
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5519596,00.html
Three ethics committee hearings. Three major witnesses. Three very different stories. The latest person to testify in the saga over controversial phone calls in Democratic lawmakers' districts was Rob Nanfelt, a top official with the Colorado Association of Home Builders. He told the three-member legislative ethics committee Thursday that he advised lobbyist William Mutch against calls that were part of a campaign against a home buyers' protection bill. "I was concerned about negative fallout," Nanfelt said. He offered a detailed timeline and e-mails to bolster his statements. During much of Nanfelt's testimony, Mutch's attorney, Jeff Springer, sat quietly on the side, shaking his head in disbelief. "I think Mr. Mutch is the one who has been entirely candid," was all Springer would say afterward.
RELATED: Panel asks Romanoff to testify (Under the dome, 5/4)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813141
Here's MUD in their 'ayes'-dubious distinctions of '07
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5519671,00.html
The 2007 session opened in January with a Democrat in the governor's office and Democrats in charge of the legislature - a phenomenon not seen in Colorado since 1962. But no matter who's in charge, an interesting array of characters have always called the Capitol home. With that in mind-and with the session winding down, ending as early as today or Monday-we dole out the fifth annual Medals Under the Dome or MUDs.
RELATED: IS IT A WRAP? (Roll Call, May 4)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5519631,00.html
Citizen legislator: Marsha Looper
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5519630,00.html
Rep. Marsha Looper made a name for herself in 2005 when, as a community activist, she rallied support to defeat the "Super Slab" toll road proposal on the plains. A first-term Republican from Calhan, she fights for property rights and lower taxes. Looper, 48, owns a cattle ranch in Calhan with her husband, Lynn. She also owns a real estate company and remodeling firm. The Loopers have a daughter, Rachelle, and twin sons, Travis and John.
Following a $10 million fraud trail
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813249
A state employee accused of stealing up to $10 million helped create a computer tax-accounting system that she used to carry out the scheme, prosecutors allege in court documents. Michelle Cawthra is being held on $10 million bail and is scheduled to be in court today to hear charges against her. Cawthra worked at the Colorado Department of Revenue for nine years. In the job, court records say, she worked on creating a computer accounting system known as PHIL, for Paperless History With Interfacing Technology. "Michelle Cawthra helped create the PHIL system and as such had a thorough knowledge of how it worked," Richard Giardini, a Revenue Department taxpayer supervisor, told investigators.
Commissioner out, takes job
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/21
Las Animas County Commissioner Robert Valdez resigned his seat earlier this week to become county planning and land use director. Valdez will replace Robert Lucero, who recently left the position to become the county’s oil and gas inspector after the retirement of Vince Vigil. County Democrats have 10 days to replace Valdez.
Protests season opens at County Assessor's Office
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070504/NEWS01/705040333/1002
Let the protests begin. Reaction to notices of value sent to more than 140,000 county property owners - as in protests of the values - began before the notices hit the owners' mailboxes Wednesday, Larimer County Assessor Steve Miller said. Some owners noted values were posted on the office Web site last week and filed protests first thing Tuesday, the beginning of a monthlong protest period.
Montrose County 'perfect' in vital audit of records
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/04/5_4_Montrose_audit.html
Montrose County was among 14 counties that had “perfect results” in a recent audit by the state Office of Vital Statistics, according to a news release. Last year, only seven counties got perfect scores. The audit looked at the way the county handles records of vital statistics such as births and deaths, said County Clerk and Recorder Fran Long. “They want to make sure death records and birth records are correct, so we can catch potential fraud, such as identity theft, or prevent it,” Long said. “They wanted to make sure the procedures are tightened, and obviously we are getting there. It’s a good feeling for our recording team to know all their hard work is paying off.”
Ready ... set ... develop!
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040085
After 13 months, nearly $300,000 and close to 100 meetings, Aspen's elected officials are inching their way toward lifting a year-long moratorium on commercial development.
Civil Liberties and Equality
2 black firefighters end Denver's long dry spell
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519831,00.html
A nearly seven-year streak of no blacks being hired at the Denver Fire Department is about to end. Kendry Jackson and LaDon Williams, friends from high school who are both black, are among the 22 recruits graduating from the firefighter academy today. "I hope this is just a small portion of what's to come," Chief Larry Trujillo said Thursday. "I see (the department) becoming more and more diverse as people see that their peers and role models are in these positions within the fire service," he said. "It can do nothing but help build this department to reflect its community one day." The last time Denver hired a black firefighter was Sept. 1, 2000. Since then, Trujillo and others have been advocating for changes in the city's hiring process to diversify the ranks.
Free Tibet protesters describe incident
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/free-tibet-protesters-describe-incident/
Unfurling a banner calling for Tibetan independence at the base of Mount Everest was just the beginning of the international intrigue that landed five American protesters — including three with Boulder ties — in Chinese custody, and spread their story around the world. The Students for a Free Tibet activists were detained by Chinese authorities and interrogated for two days before their release to Nepal last week. The group included Boulder resident Kirsten Westby; Jeff Friesen, who once worked for Free Speech TV and Alternative Radio in Boulder; and Shannon Service, who produced and hosted programs for Free Speech TV before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area.
A community celebration
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/may/04/community_celebration/
Cinco de Mayo is more widely celebrated in the United States than in Mexico, said Summer Laws, executive director of Comunidad Integrada (Integrated Community). “In Puebla, Mexico, it is a major holiday, but in the rest of Mexico, it’s just a bank holiday,” she said. “It’s more celebrated in the U.S. and nobody knows why. I liken it to all other festivals that celebrate heritage.”
Intertribal Voice sets cultural day
A Cortez American Indian organization has its sights set on a hoped-for July Fourth multicultural event. Southwest Intertribal Voice has a 10-member committee working to develop a Cultural Appreciation Days celebration highlighting the area's diverse cultures, including Hispanic, farming and ranching cultures and various American Indian cultures, said Art Neskahi, SWIV president. "We're trying to build bridges between the cultural communities in the county, and get people together and (let them) get to know each other more," Neskahi said.
Marriage and Family Issues
Casino pots may boil for deadbeats
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5519594,00.html
Lady Luck isn't smiling on gamblers who owe back child support. Littleton Republican Sen. Steve Ward hit the jackpot Thursday when the Senate initially approved a bill to force casinos to withhold the winnings of deadbeat parents. House 1349 would require the Department of Revenue to create a registry of deadbeat parents and a hotline that casinos and racetracks would call to see if a winner owes child support. "It's simply wrong to let someone win a large jackpot and collect a lot of money and then neglect their obligations to their children," said Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins. Some Republicans and Democrats cried foul after working hard to kill a similar bill last month. Casinos in Black Hawk, Cripple Creek and Central City complained that such measures would force them to become debt collectors for the state.
Denver stay-at-home mom worth $144,837
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5810730
The salary for the many duties of stay-at-home moms would equate to $138,095, according to an annual survey. This is a 3 percent increase over 2006. Denver moms average even more, $144,837. Based on 10 typical job functions - from computer work, to laundry to driving - the survey calculated pay based on hours worked by more than 40,000 stay-at-home moms. A significant chunk of the $138,000 valuation is based on overtime, which adds up to an average of 52 hours a week for moms.
Health Care and Public Safety
Flats workers strike out in aid try
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519829,00.html
Former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons workers were left furious and tearful Thursday when a federal advisory board decided their cancers would not automatically qualify them for aid. The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health recommended that only certain workers who were exposed to one kind of radiation from 1952 to 1958 be grandfathered into a program providing medical care and compensation. Three other groups will get further consideration by the board next month on whether they should also get automatic approval for the aid program because their records are too poor to prove that radiation on the job caused their illnesses. The board, which is appointed by the president, officially delayed a decision on the remaining workers with the 22 types of cancer recognized as caused by radiation. But it signaled that most who started work after 1970 would be out of luck.
RELATED: Rocky Flats: "Just not right"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813605
Lawmakers fight to keep FDA lab in Colo.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519434,00.html
They test the food that makes dogs sick. They analyze the spinach that gives people E. coli. They examine animals for mad cow disease. They are the 52 scientists and staffers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Denver District Laboratory, and they are about to lose their lab. In an effort to slash costs, the FDA has proposed closing all seven of its field labs across the United States, including its lab at Denver's Federal Center. Administration officials want to move the scientists and testing equipment to five "mega labs" in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Jefferson, Miss. They say the consolidation will allow scientists to work more closely together while allowing the agency to invest in state-of-the-art equipment.
Ritter to decide on 2 health care bills
http://www.gazette.com/articles/health_21916___article.html/bill_small.html
Two bills have landed on Gov. Bill Ritter’s desk that could have a substantial impact on the number of people insured in Colorado, and he is coming under pressure to veto one of them. The Legislature earlier this week sent House Bill 1355 to the first-year Democrat, asking him to remove current health and claims history from the conditions under which small-business insurers can increase or decrease the rates they charge companies. And Thursday, it sent him Senate Bill 211, which sets up a commission to examine how to get health care to the state’s 180,000 uninsured children. The children’s health measure, which originally carried a $61 million price tag in its second year, was watered down during the legislative process. Committees removed provisions that made families at higher income levels eligible for state and federal health care programs, and a revised fiscal note assumes that no new children will get insurance directly because of this bill. Sponsor Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, referred to it as “a terrific bill that’s going to start working on a problem. It just can’t solve the problem yet.” HB1355, however, is rousing both supporters and opponents to campaign to the governor.
Breathalyzer busts a move
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813248
The theme of this year's Steamboat Springs High School prom is "007." But this prom will feature a challenge the martini-sipping James Bond probably hasn't dealt with - Breathaly zer tests. High school officials will be taking the unusual step of administering random Breathalyzer tests at the gala prom at the Steamboat Grand hotel - as well as at an all-night after-prom party at the high school. "It's an additional thing we can do to prevent a tragedy from happening," said Steamboat Springs police Capt. Joel Rae, whose department is loaning the portable alcohol-testing devices to the school for the prom.
Town on the rebound
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/6
Recovery operations in this tornado-torn town have reached a one-month milestone but lives of many residents remain disrupted as they work to put their small town back together again. Town officials say the community is quickly rebounding, but the deadly twister left scars that serve as a reminder of its destruction. Prowers County Administrator Linda Fairbairn said Wednesday that it's too soon to know the total cost of the devastation. The twister damaged or destroyed an estimated 164 homes.
Crime and Penal Reform
Prison bill moves to next House vote
State lawmakers are about to make it a little harder to go to prison. The House on Thursday gave its initial OK to Senate Bill 260, which raises the threshold for many crimes of theft to be considered a felony. For example, stealing a car worth at least $15,000 is currently a Class 4 felony. The bill would raise the threshold to $20,000. Sponsors tried unsuccessfully to reduce sentences for convicts who escape. Almost all escapes are from community corrections and halfway houses. Escapees draw a mandatory sentence that begins once their original time has been served. Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, wanted to give judges discretion over escape sentences to keep minor criminals from going back to prison.
DA to open files on cop shootings
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813130
Denver's district attorney has decided to allow the public to view files on recent shootings by police, departing from an agreement to keep them sealed until administrative reviews of those cases are completed by the city's manager of safety. District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced this week that he won't wait for Manager of Safety Al LaCabe, who oversees the Police Department, to complete detailed reports on several officer-involved shootings in 2005 and 2006. LaCabe has said he is trying to deal with the backlog of unfinished reports while overhauling the review system and has shifted personnel to do it. "We respect the fact that Al is trying to resolve it," said Chuck Lepley, first assistant district attorney, "but it's in the best interest of the community to get these things open." When someone is shot by a police officer, Morrissey's office determines whether there was any criminal wrongdoing. LaCabe's office investigates whether proper police tactics were used and whether department policy was followed. A series of controversial shootings by police led to a 2005 city ordinance mandating that the manager of safety make his findings public.
Parents of missing man sue
http://www.gazette.com/articles/fish_21917___article.html/lawsuit_lynn.html
The parents of an ex-federal agent missing from Fremont County for nearly three years sued the agent’s wife Thursday, claiming she’s responsible for his death. The lawsuit, filed in 11th Judicial District Court in Cañon City, also claims a former neighbor, charged with unrelated crimes in North Carolina, is tied to the man’s disappearance. Bill and Agnes Fish of Fultonville, N.Y., both in their 90s, claim their only child, Eugene, 56, did not voluntarily leave his Fremont County home in June 2004 as his wife, Lynn, told authorities.
Fallen officers to be honored
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5518604,00.html
Three police officers killed in the line of duty will be honored in a ceremony Friday. The names of Agent Michael D. Thomas of the Aurora Police Department, and Detective Jared S. Jensen and Officer Kenneth C. Jordan, both of the Colorado Springs Police Department, will be added to the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial. Gov. Bill Ritter has proclaimed the day Colorado Law Enforcement Day. All Colorado law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty will be honored at 10 a.m. at the Colorado State Patrol Academy, Camp George West, 15055 South Golden Road in Golden.
Economy
Governor to pay Craig visit
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26431
Regular visits to the state capitol, "relentless" conversations and e-mails to Gov. Bill Ritter's staff, and at times the governor himself, has paid off for the Northwest Colorado Cultural Heritage Tourism group and its regional director, Shelly Flannery. "For two months now, I've been stalking the governor and waiting for the restraining order," said Flannery, who's also the Moffat County Tourism Association director. Ritter, who made a campaign stop in Craig last year, is scheduled to speak at 3:45 p.m. Saturday during the CHT's regional meeting at the Holiday Inn.
State stocks continue record run
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5519312,00.html
The Bloomberg Rocky Mountain News Index, a price-weighted list of companies based in Colorado, rose to a record Thursday. The index increased 2.55, or 0.6 percent, to 429.73. Two companies led the index with 52-week highs. Liberty Media Corp.-Capital rose $3.50, or 3 percent, to $118.95. Emergency Medical Services, an ambulance operator and medical-staff contractor, climbed $3.39, or 10 percent, to $36.86. The company's stock has more than tripled in the past year. Sirenza Microdevices, a maker of components for wireless communications, had its biggest increase in more than a year. Shares rose 19 percent to $10.92.
'Free' chat lines cost Qwest
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5519557,00.html
Some adult chat lines are "free" these days - but they're costing Qwest Communications a bundle. The Denver telco has filed a formal complaint with federal regulators against a rural Iowa telco that allegedly engaged in a billing scam in concert with free calling services. Qwest and AT&T have made similar allegations in federal lawsuits filed against several other Iowa telcos, but this is believed to be the first time the issue has been taken to the Federal Communications Commission. Qwest didn't disclose how much money it believes it was overbilled. Company executives, however, indicated this year that "inappropriate" traffic on Qwest's network overall had cost the company $10 million to $15 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 alone.
Crocs' profit in 1st quarter quadruples
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5519296,00.html
Crocs, maker of the colorful plastic shoes, reported a nearly fourfold increase in profits in the latest quarter and gave its chief executive a significant raise. Crocs, based in Niwot, recorded first-quarter net income of $24.9 million, or 61 cents a share, compared with $6.4 million, or 17 cents a share, in the comparable period of last year. The company, which makes shoes from a proprietary closed- cell resin material, had revenue of $142 million in the three-month period, up significantly from $44.8 million a year ago.
Towns face abandonment issues
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/05/04/news/news02.txt
A city wants a park. So they offer a landowner what they think is a fair price. He turns them down. The town uses its powers of eminent domain to take the case to court. A jury says the land is worth more than twice what the town offered. The city doesn't have the money. So it abandons the effort. And so today, Fort Worth, Texas, has one fewer park. This was in 1929, and the town couldn't come up with the $81,000 a jury awarded the landowner. It was a precedent-setting case in eminent domain law. It helped establish the fact that governments have the right to abandon cases for any reason, at any time. In Colorado, it's enshrined in the statutes. It could happen in Telluride next week. Fundraisers still need $2 million in private donations. And this town is full of affluent and generous people. But if donors don't come through by Friday, May 11, Telluride will have to give up its eminent domain taking of 570 acres at the last possible moment. It will have to pay the lawyers and throw in the towel.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Who will plant Vail’s flowers?
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070503/NEWS/70503010
The town of Vail needs more people like Josh Thompson. “I’ve got a bunch of part-time jobs, but I needed a full-time job,” said Thompson, a Vail resident and seasonal worker for the town. Thompson took a job as a summer landscaper, which complements his other jobs at the George and at Red Sky Golf Club. The town is having trouble hiring all of the summer workers it needs, and is even thinking about recruiting worldwide for summer workers.
Housing and Homelessness
Warmer weather breathes life into home sales
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5519298,00.html
Home sales picked up in the Denver area in April as the market heads into its big selling season. And while no one is predicting a gangbuster year - considering the meltdown in the subprime mortgage markets and rising foreclosures - brokers said rising gas prices could help create pockets of strength for homes near downtown and close to light rail. There were 6,173 previously owned homes sold in the Denver area in April, a 6.2 percent increase over the 5,813 homes placed under contract in April 2006, according to reports released Thursday by independent broker Gary Bauer and Coldwell Banker Residential.
RELATED: Warm weather brings out home buyers
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5810467
Martha Stewart moves into Denver
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5813604
Martha Stewart Living will soon take on a whole new meaning for some Stapleton residents. The famed domestic doyenne and KB Home, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, today will unveil plans to collaborate on homes in the popular Denver urban-redevelopment neighborhood beginning this fall. "Her brand recognition and her name are extremely popular all over the country, and it's definitely popular here in Denver," said Rusty Crandall, president of KB Home's Colorado division. "We think Stapleton is a perfect fit for this product." The celebrity homemaker is equally well-known for spending five months at a federal prison camp in West Virginia after her 2004 conviction on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements in connection with the sale of her shares of biotech company ImClone Systems in 2001.
RELATED: Stapleton getting Stewart homes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5519555,00.html
Media
Media attorneys launching local Levine Sullivan office
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5813147
Denver media attorneys Tom Kelley, Steve Zansberg and Chris Beall are leaving Faegre & Benson to launch the Denver office of an East Coast firm specializing in First Amendment law. The three will join Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, which has offices in Washington, New York and Philadelphia. Also working in the new Denver office will be Levine Sullivan partner Ashley Kissinger. "We had this opportunity to join ... some of the nation's leading attorneys in the area of law we practice," Zansberg said. "It was an opportunity we didn't think we could pass up." Among the clients represented by the Faegre & Benson trio are The Denver Post and the Colorado Springs Gazette. Denver Post Editor Greg Moore said Thursday that the paper will stay with Kelley and Zansberg as they move to the new firm.
Goodtimes delivers Goodpoems
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/05/04/news/news03.txt
On the cover of his new book of poems, Art Goodtimes looks like a kook. Take a look. Judge for yourself. The top hat. The lightning in his hand. The mushroom staff. The grizzly bear. Yup, you might think. Grade-A wackjob. But he isn't. If you read the poems inside his new collection “As if the World Really Mattered,” you'll find not a loon but a thoughtful and extremely learned poet whose biggest recurring themes are a dedication to nature and an investigation of nature's spiritual side.
Education
Despite tiff, panel OKs Ritter nominee
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519861,00.html
Republicans decided Thursday not to vent their anger at Gov. Bill Ritter on Antonio Esquibel. Ritter nominated the retired Metropolitan State College of Denver professor and administrator to replace GOP powerhouse Bruce Benson on the Metro Board of Trustees. Some Republicans wanted Benson to have another term and threatened to vote against Esquibel's confirmation. But after meeting him Thursday, Republican members of the Senate Education Committee agreed Esquibel is qualified for the job. All three Republicans joined the unanimous committee in voting for Esquibel. The nomination now goes to the full Senate. "Bill Ritter is the governor of Colorado, and he is entitled to appoint his people," said Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita.
RELATED: Ritter's pick for Metro State board gets OK
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813138
State's third-graders make slight progress in their reading skills
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5519874,00.html
Colorado's third-graders made a slight gain this spring on standardized reading tests, according to unofficial test results released Thursday. Seventy-one percent of the third-graders were reading at the proficient or advanced level this year, compared with 70 percent last year. Individual districts in the metro area showed larger gains or losses, with the Five Star district (Northglenn-Thornton) and Sheridan gaining the most and Commerce City declining the most.
RELATED: Denver schools see erosion of performance
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5519875,00.html
RELATED: Attention to "detalles" boosts Munroe
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813137
RELATED: Slight jump in children rated at least proficient
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813135
RELATED: Third-grade reading improves
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5809846
RELATED: Boulder Valley third-grade scores steady
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/boulder-valley-third-grade-scores-steady/
RELATED: Windsor third-graders score record high on CSAP
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040123
RELATED: Weld schools post mixed results on reading test
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040128
RELATED: District 6 scores edge upward on third-grade reading CSAP
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040124
RELATED: No new chapter in 3rd-grade testing
http://www.gazette.com/articles/percent_21908___article.html/school_district.html
RELATED: City schools post strong CSAP showing
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/2
RELATED: Beulah Elementary third-graders tops in reading
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/3
RELATED: Reading skills at third-grade level drop
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/04/5_4_1A_CSAP.html
RELATED: Steamboat CSAP scores return to 2005 levels after dip last year
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/may/04/steamboat_csap_scores_return_2005_levels_after_dip/
RELATED: Third-graders keep stable reading scores
RELATED: Tests show reading is improving
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/05/03/local_news/2.txt
RELATED: Summit ahead of state on first CSAP results
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070503/NEWS/70503007
RELATED: Language gap means achievement gap
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070503/NEWS/70503037
RELATED: CSAP scores: Find out how your school did
http://cfapp2.rockymountainnews.com/education/index.cfm
Instructor leaving CU post
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/instructor-leaving-cu-post-phil-mitchell-says/
A University of Colorado instructor said this week that his political and religious beliefs have finally cost him his job, two years after he first accused the school of trying to force him out. Phil Mitchell said in a letter that he will lose his teaching position at the end of the school year because of his Christian beliefs and conservative views. In 2005, Mitchell claimed CU would not renew his contract because he was "proselytizing students," but his contract was extended for the next two years. CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said Thursday that Mitchell was not reappointed because he did not meet specific criteria on the most recent evaluations by faculty members. "It has absolutely nothing to do with Dr. Mitchell's politics or religion," Hilliard said. "We don't make decisions on personnel based on those things." Mitchell has taught history in the Sewall Residential Academic Program for 23 years. In the letter posted on Westword's blog site Wednesday, he wrote that his student evaluations are among the highest in the department and at the university.
Scholarships in Denver program capped at $3,000
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5519968,00.html
Students from three different high schools who plan to attend state universities and certain private colleges likely can expect aid from the Denver Scholarship Foundation to be capped at about $3,000. Janet Gullickson, the foundation's executive director, said Thursday that the foundation believes $3,000 will meet the needs of most students who plan to attend state universities, the School of Mines and some private colleges. Under the pilot program, graduating seniors from Montbello, Abraham Lincoln and South high schools are eligible for the foundation's financial aid as well as a free computer.
RELATED: Cap on college aid tossed
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813607
Colleges battle
The San Juan Basin Technical College Board of Control will send a delegation to Denver on Friday to oppose a Pueblo Community College request for "full vocational authority" for a five-county region in Southwest Colorado. The SJBTC board also is asking community leaders to send e-mails to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) in support of a request to table PCC’s proposal. The impact of PCC receiving vocational authority would be “nothing short of devastating,” Shannon South, SJBTC’s interim president, said during an emergency board meeting Monday evening.
Opening new doors: Colorado Mountain College 2007 graduation
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070503/NEWS/105030068
A husband, four children and a full-time job is more than enough to keep a mom busy. Then, when you add going back to school after 20 years and earning a degree with honors, you have what Eileen Morrison recently accomplished.
RELATED: Conquering Colorado Mountain College
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070503/NEWS/70503006
CU's Pace wins prize
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/04/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Norman Pace has been awarded the 2007 Abbott-American Society for Microbiology Lifetime Achievement Award, the society's highest honor, for his groundbreaking research in microbial ecology. A professor in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department, Pace pioneered the use of molecular genetic techniques to rapidly detect, identify and classify microbe species using nucleic acid technology. “Today's discoveries and advancements in microbiology are directly built upon the foundations established by this influential microbiologist,” according to an ASM statement.
City teachers get state awards
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/12
Four Pueblo City Schools teachers who go well beyond the day-to-day work of the classroom were honored Thursday afternoon with Colorado Teacher Awards. Donna Ecklund, a fifth-grade teacher at Beulah Heights Elementary School; Nancy Groves, a 12th-grade language arts teacher at East High School; Bessemer Academy physical education teacher Earl Wade Kliesen; and Sandy Kochenberger of Sunset Park were honored with a reception and $400 awards after being selected by a committee of local business and civic leaders.
Military vet wins Threlkeld Prize at CSU-Pueblo
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/15
When Brandon Schoch enrolled in classes at Colorado State University-Pueblo, he was a military veteran, husband and father of three young children. But that didn't stop Schoch from eagerly diving into his studies and extracurricular activities at the university. "Coming in, I knew I was a nontraditional student but I didn't let that hold me back from getting involved," Schoch, 31, said in a recent interview. "You need nontraditional students to be involved, especially on this campus where there are so many nontraditional students." In the three years he's been at CSU-Pueblo, Schoch has been an active member of the university's Veterans Fraternity, Beta Sigma Iota Alpha. He is the outgoing president of the club.
Cheyenne Mountain heading to national Science Olympiad
http://www.gazette.com/articles/third_21918___article.html/second_first.html
The following is a list of first-, second- and third-place winners in the 2007 Colorado Science Olympiad held April 21 at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Cheyenne Mountain High School will compete in the nationals May 18 and 19 at Wichita State University in Kansas.
Lawmakers recognize 'Mr. Baseball,' JUCO
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/04/5_4_10b_JUCO_Suplizio.html
The Colorado House recognized deceased Grand Junction businessman Sam Suplizio and the National Junior College Baseball World Series, which he organized, Thursday morning.
‘They will never leave our side’
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16132
Three Longmont High School students died this week in unrelated incidents, leaving students and staff reeling.
Judge stands by decision in School Board case
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/may/04/judge_stands_decision_school_board_case/
A judge has affirmed his decision that the Steamboat Springs School Board did not violate the law during a meeting in January, as the Steamboat Pilot & Today alleged. The newspaper asked visiting Senior Judge Thomas Ossola to reconsider his original ruling in a lawsuit the newspaper filed in February. In a decision issued this week, Ossola did acknowledge that he erred in his original ruling when he ordered the newspaper to pay the School Board’s attorney fees. He amended his judgment to lift that requirement. Ossola made his original ruling in March.
Grade-tampering claim led to charges in school scandal
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/4
Grade-tampering allegations sparked the investigation that led to the suspension of three Pueblo City Schools employees, who now face criminal charges for allegedly providing alcohol to students.
Student threatens elementary teacher
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=6864
A seventh-grade student was escorted from Cotopaxi school by authorities Wednesday after threatening a teacher. The junior high student was passing an elementary teacher and class, when the comments were made.
Broomfield referee, coach faces sex, drug charges
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/broomfield-referee-coach-faces-sex-drug-charges/
A former National Hockey League ice maker who worked at Boulder County arenas as an ice keeper, hockey coach and referee has been formally charged with 17 felony counts. John Daniel Steele, 52, was charged Wednesday with seven counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, seven counts of attempted sexual contact on a child and three counts of providing marijuana.
Military
Victims of Iraqi bombs recalled
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519456,00.html
Maj. Douglas Keeler looked out at the congregation Thursday and asked everyone to realize one thing about the three soldiers whose helmets, rifles and boots stood in the chapel sanctuary. "Each of these soldiers entered active military service with the nation already at war," Keeler told the filled pews at Fort Carson's Soldiers' Memorial Chapel. "Each of them did this freely. Each of them took that oath and obligation with great distinction and conducted themselves with great honor," he said.
RELATED: Bravery, pranks, a smile recalled
http://www.gazette.com/articles/gibson_21914___article.html/crawford_polo.html
Army depot exhibit opens tonight
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/16
People who have worked over the years at what’s now the Pueblo Chemical Depot and those who know of it only from news stories about its soon-to-be-destroyed weapons stockpile can get a look at the history of the once-bustling military base through a display at the Southeastern Colorado Heritage Center.
Tax break available for disabled vets
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/19
A new property-tax exemption for disabled veterans will be available this year, but Pueblo County Assessor Frank Beltran said Thursday that state officials are still tinkering with the language and the deadline. Because of that, some of the information that went out with new valuation notices this week is incorrect. The deadline to file an application for the veterans' exemption is July 1, two weeks earlier than the notice said. The other issue is definition of total disability. The purpose of the legislation was to give a 50 percent property-tax break to people who are completely disabled as a result of their military service, but there are layers of legal jargon to put that concept into effect.
Flag comes home
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16135
Matt Talafuse does not take lightly the meaning of the U.S. flag he sent home from Iraq to Longs Peak Middle School. In an e-mail from Iraq — where the Longmont man serves in the U.S. Army helping to maintain helicopters and volunteers time to unload Medevac helicopters — he said the flag represents the country’s freedoms.
Religion
Ritter joins faithful in National Day of Prayer
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519459,00.html
Music, prayer and a governor on the state Capitol steps - it was a combination that thrilled organizers of Thursday's annual National Day of Prayer celebration. "We should be prayerful in all things, and mindful of the importance of prayer for all men and women who serve abroad, and for their families that wait here for their return," Gov. Bill Ritter told several hundred Christians on the Capitol lawn. "This is huge," said the Rev. Phil Eberhart, one of the organizers, about the impact of Ritter's presence. He's the first governor in the organizers' memory to attend the National Day of Prayer Capitol event, though Gov. Bill Owens was a frequent attendee at other prayer observances.
RELATED: Faithful Christians bless Greeley on prayer walk
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040129
RELATED: National Day of Prayer unites residents and faiths
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/may/04/national_day_prayer_unites_residents_and_faiths/
Energy Policy
Salazar tackles ‘oil addiction’
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/05/03/local_news/5.txt
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., discussed his support of bills to increase energy independence and evaluate the Department of Defense’s mental health care in a media teleconference Thursday morning. “I believe that energy security for our nation is one of the three most important signature issues of the 21st century,” Salazar said. “We currently import about 60 percent of our oil from foreign countries — it creates great instability in terms of our formulations and would compromise our national security by essentially neglecting the reality that we need to get ourselves to energy independence.”
Bill aims to boost schools' energy efficiency
http://postindependent.com/article/20070504/VALLEYNEWS/105040054
A bill that would provide up to $500,000 a year in severance taxes to improve the energy efficiency of Colorado's public schools has been sent to the desk of Gov. Bill Ritter. The Colorado House of Representatives on Thursday concurred with a version of the bill that had passed the previous day in the Senate and sent the measure on for consideration by Ritter. If Ritter signs the bill into law, it will require oil and gas companies to pay severance tax on a monthly rather than the current quarterly basis. The tax rate would not change. Rather, state Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, one of the bill's sponsors, said in a news release that the change will result in increased interest earnings for the state.
Colo. woman tweaks energy giant
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5813210
A Lakewood woman has drawn the ire of a Canadian energy giant after creating a website that sheds an unfavorable light on the environmental impacts of the company's oil-sands production. When Liz Moore, 85, toured Syncrude's plant in Alberta, Can ada, last summer, she said she was appalled by the lack of land restoration after the company extracted oil from tar sands. So she spent nine months and $3,600 to put together a website, www.oilsandsofcanada.com, featuring photos she took from the trip to draw attention to what she perceived as "environmental degradation." The site launched in mid-April, and just days later, Moore received an e-mail from a Syncrude paralegal demanding that the photos be removed. "I was astonished. Just astonished," Moore said of the request. After being told that she signed a release prior to her tour that gave Syncrude the copyright to her photos, Moore agreed to remove nine of the 73 photos that were on her site. "We see this as an issue of copyright, accuracy and quality," a company spokesman told the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper.
Industrialization affecting Colorado
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26425
State geologist Vince Matthews said the ravenous appetite China and India are showing for energy and minerals will directly affect Colorado. "China is growing at a much faster rate than the United States," said Matthews, who is the Colorado Geologic Survey director. "In 2005, they built 70,000 new supermarkets, and in 2006 they became the number three car manufacturer in the world." All of the industrialization comes at a cost to Colorado and America, as prices soar on not only energy commodities but on minerals as well, Matthews said Thursday night at the Northwest Colorado Energy Producers Association meeting. While oil production is down in the U.S. after peaking in 1970, China's consumption is steadily increasing, with effects on a global scale and in Colorado.
$3: Where does it go from here?
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5813190
The average price of regular unleaded gasoline hit $3 a gallon in Colorado on Thursday, far sooner this year than last, according to AAA. The average price a year ago May 3 was $2.84 a gallon, and it didn't climb to $3 a gallon until August, well into the summer driving season. Nationally, AAA reported the average price of regular unleaded gas was $2.99 on Thursday, up nearly 30 cents from a month ago. The average price for a gallon of unleaded regular was $2.96 in the Denver metro area.
RELATED: Gasoline tops $3 a gallon
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5519577,00.html
Westmoreland Coal board fires its CEO
http://www.gazette.com/articles/company_21889___article.html/seglem_million.html
Longtime Westmoreland Coal chief Chris Seglem, who more than a decade ago oversaw the move of the company’s headquarters to Colorado Springs and led it out of a pair of bankruptcies, has been ousted by his board in a move a company spokeswoman described as “performance-related.” The move was part of Westmoreland’s announcement that it will seek to raise at least $85 million through a stock offering to existing shareholders. The cash will be used to bolster company finances, eliminate “near-term liquidity concerns,” expand mine capacity, pay for future growth and provide working capital, the company said.
Transportation and Infrastructure
RTD's parking-fee bill passes
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813142
The Colorado legislature has approved an RTD pay-for-parking measure, and on Thursday the bill was conveyed to Gov. Bill Ritter for his signature. Senate Bill 88 allows the Regional Transportation District to access Colorado motor vehicle registration information to determine whether park-n-Ride users live inside or outside the eight-county RTD district. RTD has yet to finalize the pay-for-parking scheme, but the agency has looked at charging those who live outside the district $4 a day from the first day of parking at its busiest lots. Residents of the district would not have to pay for the first 24 hours of parking, but they would be charged $2 a day for vehicles left additional days, according to the tentative RTD plan.
IT'S COLORADO, BABY! (EXTRA! May 4)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519830,00.html
1st The ranking of southern Colorado's Hinsdale County as the least-paved area in the continental U.S. The most paved? According to a study by Raymond D. Watts and colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey in Fort Collins, it's the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Big surprise, right?
RELATED: Hit the road? Not in remote Hinsdale
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813252
Environment and Conservation
Boulder: Climate progress affirmed
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/boulder-climate-progress-affirmed/
As delegates at a Thailand conference hammered out the final draft of their report on climate change — and what to do about it — Boulder's officials said they're already ahead of the curve. Last fall, Boulder became the first city in the world to approve a "carbon tax" and earmark the roughly $1 million annually it's expected to raise for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Earlier reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have focused on defining the problem of climate change. The latest report, which is due today, is expected to discuss ways of dealing with climate change. It's also expected to call on governments of every size, including local governments, to try to reduce emissions.
RELATED: Upfront or oceanfront?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/04/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
Coons: Policies must address climate change
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/04/5_4_1b_Coons_commission.html
Grand Junction City Council member and scientist Teresa Coons told a Senate committee Thursday that Colorado’s climate is changing, and policymakers should aim at reducing human effects on the environment. “I do think the climate is changing, and we play a role in that,” Coons told the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “But it’s not always an easy answer in how we deal with those changes.” Coons’s comments came as part of her confirmation to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission and in reply to questions from Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley. Each of the five commission nominees, who will replace three outgoing commissioners and fill two open seats, responded to the questions.
San Luis Valley group lauded
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5519017,00.html
The Friends of the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge received the Friends Group of the Year award today from the National Wildlife Refuge Association. The Refuge Association works on behalf of more than 500 National Wildlife Refuges and coordinates the efforts of over 250 Friends and Refuge support groups nationwide. The annual Friends Group of the Year is one of the most prestigious awards in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Projects along Fountain bring words of caution
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178290672/8
Pueblo County commissioners are urging their counterparts in El Paso County to take caution in approving four major industrial plants along the Fountain Creek just north of the county line. Commissioners Loretta Kennedy and Jeff Chostner are part of the Fountain Valley Vision task force, formed last year to seek a consensus about the future of the creek. The task force is made up of officials of communities along the Fountain and downstream communities on the Arkansas River. In a letter to El Paso commissioners, the Pueblo commissioners said they are "fully committed to (the task force) and pleased with the progress to date. Unfortunately, other events are moving on parallel tracks that may undermine our common goal."
Boyd Lake, Carter Lake fish contain mercury
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105030114
Health and wildlife agencies said Thursday that northern Colorado residents should not eat fish caught in two Larimer County lakes due to high levels of mercury found in the fish. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Division of Wildlife announced mercury advisories for Boyd Lake and Carter Lake. Samples taken from the fish at both lakes have more than the acceptable mercury level of 0.5 parts per million set by the health department.
County considers revoking wastewater company’s permit
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/04/5_4_1A__Mountain.html
Black Mountain Disposal Inc., is in jeopardy of losing its conditional-use permit from Mesa County. Donna Ross, Mesa County director of development services and code enforcement, said Mesa County commissioners could hold hearings to revoke Black Mountain Disposal’s permit because its owners failed to notify the county of a leak six years ago. In February 2001, one of the wastewater disposal company’s evaporation ponds, about five miles southwest of De Beque, leaked polluted water, according to county documents. The leak might not have been fixed to this day.
14er group stands behind ski challenge
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070504/NEWS/105040084
A group trying to protect Colorado's mightiest peaks from the onslaught of human visits believes Aspenite Chris Davenport's successful mission to ski the state's fourteeners helped, rather than hurt, its cause. The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative endorsed Davenport's effort to ski all 54 of the peaks higher than 14,000 feet within one year, said executive director T.J. Rapoport: "We think what Chris did is an amazing accomplishment." Davenport will discuss his feat as keynote speaker Friday in Denver at the organization's biggest fundraiser of the year, Fiesta for the Peaks. CFI expects a full house.
No one gets trashed at these prom parties
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/no-one-gets-trashed-at-these-prom-parties/
Parents of students at Boulder, Fairview and New Vista high schools are hoping the after-prom party they throw this weekend is going to be remarkable for what it's missing: trash. The parents have teamed up with Eco-Cycle to throw a "zero waste" party that will stretch from late Saturday until early Sunday morning.
Save the elk, says new Eagle group
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070503/NEWS/70503007
Set aside the clipboards and the door-to-door campaigning. The Eagle Valley Habitat for Wildlife citizens group is promoting their cause via cyberspace. They want citizens concerned about the future of the elk herd that winters on Brush Creek to do some electronic lobbying to drum up support for land conservation measures that would keep the herd around. Specifically, the group wants citizens to sign a letter to the Eagle Valley Land Trust, a nonprofit conservation group.
Sportsmen: Keep licenses in locals' hands
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/04/5_4_1b_DOW_protest.html
Some Western Slope hunters want Colorado residents to be able to get a larger share of the state’s hunting licenses and reduce the number available to nonresidents. A group of about 15 hunters gathered Thursday afternoon at the Colorado Division of Wildlife offices in Grand Junction to protest the agency’s current policy giving nonresidents 35 percent of the available hunting licenses. The hunters say they are going to propose a ballot initiative that will give 80 percent of all available deer, elk, pronghorn, bear and mountain lion hunting licenses to Colorado residents. They complained that too many hunting licenses are being issued to help outfitters make money instead of issuing hunting licenses for residents who hunt without making money off of it.
Mountain-lion hunter education course passed
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/mountain-lions-hunter-education-course-passed/
The Colorado Wildlife Commission unanimously approved a mandatory mountain-lion hunter education program on Thursday in Grand Junction. The program, which will go into effect July 1, requires hunters to take an education program before hunting mountain lions, something that hasn't been done in any other state. Boulder-based Sinapu was one of the main groups involved with getting the landmark policy passed.
RELATED: No course, no hunt, no lion: Test now required to pursue big cats
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/04/5_4_1b_Wildlife_Commission.html
Myrtle spurge already sprouting in county
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/04/its-weed-season-myrtle-spurge-already-sprouting/
"Right now it's a banner year for Myrtle spurge," said Therese Glowacki, a resource manager for Boulder County Parks and Open Space. "It's an early-season weed, and it benefited from all the moisture this year." Glowacki went before the commissioners to get the OK for the county's roadway weed-management program west of U.S. 36, which uses a combination of mowing, pulling and herbicide spraying to control a lengthy list of exotic weeds within 200 feet of county right-of-ways. Commissioners approved the plan. In an effort to protect Colorado's native vegetation from being overrun by rapidly reproducing invasive plant species, the state requires counties to have a management plan and control for certain weeds.
Opinion
Spencer: Die is cast for Flats stricken
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5813250
Buzz off and die. That's the printable version of the message the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health sent to former employees of Rocky Flats by a straw vote taken Thursday. The advisory board continued the government's shameless betrayal of workers at the contaminated nuclear weapons plant. Board members refused to recommend benefits for those with certain radiation-related cancers unless they worked at the plant from 1952 to 1958. Over the next 30 days, the board may consider extending benefits to those who worked at Rocky Flats from 1959 to 1970, those who worked in Building 881 or those exposed to thorium. Ex-employees say the board's moves do not cover 80 percent of those seeking help with cancers and lung problems that they believe are related to Cold War jobs making triggers for nuclear weapons. In other words, buzz off and die.
Troops depend on next step
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5812637
The days of a blank check and a compliant Congress are over. To support the troops, Bush needs to be willing to work with the other party. Democrats gave up on their timetable for troop withdrawal Wednesday after the House failed to override Bush's veto of a $124 billion measure that required troops to begin leaving Iraq as early as July. A majority of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of the war, and a recent poll even showed that a majority of Americans no longer believe a victory in Iraq is possible and support establishing a deadline to begin withdrawal. More importantly, voters last November gave Democrats control of Congress, in part to have a voice on Iraq.
Faulty funding leads to scrambling schools
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5812636
Armed with charts showing how strapped they are for money, Colorado's colleges and universities elbowed each other vigorously at the statehouse this year as they jockeyed for cash. And they've been spending record amounts of money - more than $1.8 million this year - to lobby state and federal lawmakers for better funding. Some lawmakers have decried the amount, saying it should be used to help keep a lid on tuition. The jaw-dropping lobbying tab may look unseemly, but it is a direct result of Colorado's ridiculous budgeting process, where the loudest interests are often the ones that get funded. Colleges and universities have no choice but to bludgeon one another as they scrounge for scraps.
Mostly Owens, but the new guy made his mark
On Wednesday, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law the first state budget of his administration. In doing so, he both continued the work of his predecessor and signaled new priorities for state spending. The $17.8 billion budget was largely complete before Ritter took office. As such, it is mostly the product of former-Gov. Bill Owens' administration. By working at the margins, however, Ritter was able to redirect some money and suggest the course future budgets might take. His principal tool was the veto. Like many governors - and unlike the president of the United States - Ritter has the ability to strike out specific portions of the budget without vetoing the entire bill. He used that to redirect a relatively modest amount of spending toward programs that reflect the values of his administration.
Littwin: Not always 'OK' to be different
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5519865,00.html
Rudy Giuliani is different. That's not necessarily a bad thing, unless you're standing alone in a crowd on a stage at the Reagan Library during the campaign's first Republican presidential debate. And unless the question is about abortion. And unless nine people on the stage adamantly oppose abortion, and you're the only one who is pro-choice. And unless, before you know it, moderator Chris Matthews is asking what kind of day it would be in America if Roe v. Wade were overturned - and you've got to come up with something to say.
Common sense on Va. gun law
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5812638
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine showed both political courage and common sense when he closed a loophole in state law that allowed the Virginia Tech killer to pass a gun-buyer's background check despite having a documented record of mental health problems.
Election
Clinton Changes Tone on Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302393.html
As Democrats in Congress search for new ways to bring an end to the conflict in Iraq while producing a funding bill that President Bush will sign, the front-runner for the party's presidential nomination yesterday endorsed legislation that would revoke the administration's authority to wage the war. Amid a flurry of backroom negotiations yesterday afternoon, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) took the Senate floor to join Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.) in offering a bill that would sunset the 2002 authorization of military operations in Iraq. It would take away the president's authority to wage war in Iraq five years to the day after it was granted, meaning Bush would be required to convince Congress to reapprove it in October.
RELATED: Clinton: Revoke president's war powers
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-03-clinton-war-powers_N.htm
Secret Service Guards Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302509.html
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was placed under Secret Service protection yesterday, in the earliest such move for a presidential candidate who was not an administration veteran. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff authorized Obama's protection at the senator's request after consultations with House and Senate leaders in both parties, spokesmen for the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security said.
GOP Field United On War, Divided On Social Issues
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301047.html
Republican presidential hopefuls diverged sharply on abortion, stem cells and immigration in their first nationally televised debate Thursday night, with the three leading candidates all forced to defend current or past positions that are anathema to many in the party's conservative base. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani was the only candidate on the stage to equivocate over whether the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, and he restated his support for abortion rights.
RELATED: Differences emerge as Republicans debate
RELATED: 5 reasons the GOP faces an uphill climb in '08
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-05-02-gop-landscape_N.htm
Will Fred Thompson's racist role have political repercussions?
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-et-cause4may04,1,6372056.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
Ronald Reagan became president even though he worked with chimps in B movies. Arnold Schwarzenegger played a murderous robot, and that didn't keep him from becoming governor. So can "Law & Order" actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) become the first presidential candidate with this credit? Thompson played a white supremacist, spewing anti-Semitic comments and fondling an autographed copy of "Mein Kampf" on a television drama 19 years ago. His colleagues say that he was just an actor putting everything he had into playing the role of a charismatic racist, named Knox Pooley, in three episodes of CBS' hit show "Wiseguy" in 1988. "Do you call Tom Cruise a killer because he played one in a movie?" asked show creator and writer Stephen J. Cannell.
Meet the OPOs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302546.html
Howard Dean's cometlike campaign in 2003 was the first to integrate the Internet into a presidential race, and Joe Rospars was there, a 22-year-old working as an "all-around Web guy" until the campaign suddenly collapsed. Four years later, it's not just the upstarts, as Dean was, who have embraced online campaigning. And Rospars is part of a new generation of strategists who share a passionate belief that they can transform not just individual campaigns but also politics itself. Rospars, 26, today runs a staff of 11 at the Chicago headquarters of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Mathew Gross, 35, who blogged for Dean a few desks away from Rospars, serves as chief online strategist for Democrat John Edwards in Chapel Hill, N.C. Mindy Finn, 26, a veteran of the 2004 Bush campaign, does the same for Republican Mitt Romney in Boston. Every campaign has someone similar -- young, tech-savvy and committed to the transforming possibilities of the Internet.
Florida moves primary right behind N.H. vote
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/04/florida_moves_primary_right_behind_nh_vote/
Florida lawmakers, hoping to give their state more influence in US politics, yesterday moved up the state's presidential primary to the last Tuesday in January. Governor Charlie Crist, a Republican who has been building a reputation as a moderate in the mold of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, said he would sign the measure, which also orders most touch-screen voting machines to be replaced with equipment that will produce a paper trail.
RELATED: Florida Acts to Eliminate Touch-Screen Voting System
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/politics/04vote.html
Effective and Ethical Government
Phased funding for Iraq war may be Democrats' next move
Determined to keep up pressure on the White House and congressional Republicans to support a troop pullout from Iraq, House Democratic leaders have begun to coalesce around a plan to link continued funding for the war to progress by the Iraqi government. Under the proposal, which was still being worked out Thursday, the war funding bill would only guarantee money for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through July, according to Democratic sources familiar with the proposal. The plan would require lawmakers' approval for further funding after Congress got a report in July from the Bush administration on Iraqi government progress on benchmarks including militia disarmament and laws to equitably share oil wealth. The second measure would fund the war through September. The federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1, when war funding could be included in the new year's budget. The Democratic plan was coming together just days after President Bush vetoed a $124-billion emergency war spending bill that would have set a timeline for withdrawing troops.
Inspector of Projects in Iraq Under Investigation
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/washington/04bowen.html
A federal official whose investigations of waste and corruption in Iraq have repeatedly embarrassed the Bush administration is now being investigated himself by an oversight committee with close links to the White House and by the ranking Republican on the House Government Reform Committee. The investigation of the official, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., originated with a complaint put together by roughly half a dozen former employees who appear to have left his office on unhappy terms, said several officials familiar with the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on.
Former Supervisor Extols Fired Prosecutors
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301137.html
A former deputy attorney general lavished praise yesterday on most of the eight U.S. attorneys who were fired after he left the job, testifying that only one of them had serious performance problems. James B. Comey, the Justice Department's second in command from 2003 until August 2005, also told a House Judiciary subcommittee that although he was the "direct supervisor" of all U.S attorneys, he was never informed about an effort by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and his aides to remove a large group of prosecutors that began in early 2005.
RELATED: Ex-Justice Dept. Official Defends Ousted U.S. Attorneys
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/washington/04attorneys.html
Palfrey to Offer Internet Radio Interviews for Sale on eBay
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302210.html
The alleged Washington Madam has "an exclusive interview" to sell. In the latest marketing ploy by the woman who may or may not hold some of D.C.'s raciest secrets, Deborah Jeane Palfrey is turning to eBay. Next week, five one-hour interviews Palfrey did last month with an Internet-radio host are going up for bid. The starting price: $5,000. No names connected with Palfrey's former escort service are revealed, but Palfrey hopes that someone will be interested in her "insights" on her ordeal as the object of a federal racketeering and prostitution probe. The auction follows on the heels of ABC's "20/20" airing a much-awaited segment tonight about Palfrey and her voluminous phone records. It could deliver a bombshell or fizzle. Even before the broadcast, some parties have started reacting, reflecting fraying nerves as almost every day claims another casualty.
Civil Liberties and Equality
House Panel Approves a Record $48 Billion for Spy Agencies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302174.html
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has authorized U.S. intelligence agencies to spend an estimated $48 billion in fiscal 2008, the largest amount ever included in an intelligence bill, thanks to inclusion of funding efforts associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In approving the bill Monday evening, the panel's chairman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), said, "The single largest intelligence authorization bill ever written by the committee [is] evidence of how important intelligence has become to our national security." While the exact numbers in the measure are classified, intelligence experts estimate it has grown nearly 4 percent annually in recent years.
House Backs Expanded Hate-Crime Law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302337.html
Brushing aside a veto threat from President Bush, the House yesterday approved legislation that would extend federal hate-crime protection to gays and increase penalties against their attackers. The legislation was first given life in 1998, after James Byrd Jr., an African American, was dragged to his death outside of Jasper, Tex., and Matthew Shepard, a gay man, was beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in Wyoming. Although the proposal has passed the House or Senate several times since 2000, it has never cleared the entire Congress. But with Democrats in charge, advocates see the best chance yet of strengthening a federal hate-crime law that has existed since 1968 and focuses on race, color, religion and national origin. The bill passed with relative ease, 237 to 180, with 25 Republicans joining 212 Democrats. Fourteen Democrats opposed the bill.
RELATED: Hate crime bill veto is vowed
RELATED: House Votes to Expand Hate-Crime Protection
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/washington/04hate.html
Foreign Policy
U.S. Identifies Dead Insurgent As Group's Propaganda Chief
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050300420.html
U.S. troops killed a senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leader who military officials said helped orchestrate the kidnappings of Westerners, including American journalist Jill Carroll and slain Virginia peace activist Tom Fox, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Thursday. The death of Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri came during a pre-dawn raid Tuesday on four buildings west of the Iraqi city of Taji, north of Baghdad, said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell. He described Jubouri as "senior minister of information for al-Qaeda in Iraq," responsible for the insurgent group's propaganda arm. Jubouri was killed in a firefight, he said, and his body was later identified through photos and DNA testing.
RELATED: Militant's death spurs confusion
Olmert resolute in face of protests
Under a banner reading "Failures, Go Home," tens of thousands of Israelis from across the political spectrum joined Thursday night in demanding the resignations of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense minister for their performance during last summer's war in Lebanon. But the Israeli leader remained resolute, telling aides that the size and diversity of the crowd would not dissuade him from staying in office. Police said more than 100,000 demonstrators filled Rabin Square in front of City Hall and spilled into surrounding streets. A grass-roots coalition of army reservists, students and relatives of slain soldiers that organized the protest estimated turnout at between 150,000 and 200,000. It was the largest rally against Olmert's government in the 13 months it has been in office. "Ehud Olmert, you said you work for us," renowned fiction writer Meir Shalev said, addressing the protesters, who jeered every mention of the prime minister's name. "Olmert, you are fired!"
RELATED: U.S. sets deadlines for Israelis, Palestinians
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-05-04-israelis-palestinians_N.htm
Turks Find Much to Like In Ruling Party
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302052.html
A few minutes' drive from the Bosporus, beyond the majestic skyline that evokes Istanbul's imperial past, the roads narrow, lined by low-slung buildings of concrete and cinder block. Corrugated iron, occasionally painted, replaces the roofs of stately red tiles. The neighborhood is Umraniye, a telling locale in Turkey's struggle over power and identity. Umraniye is known as a gecekondu, literally "built in the night," recalling an Ottoman law that said no one could tear down a house begun at night and finished by dawn. Like the other poor, shoddily built settlements that swathe Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, Umraniye is part of the constituency courted by the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose populist, religiously resonant politics appeal to the millions of migrants who have flocked to cities prospering in Turkey's economic boom.
Berkshire wealth clashes with Gates mission in Sudan
In Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have perished in what the United States calls a genocide, the killing has been supported by profits from companies helping the government of Sudan tap its vast reservoirs of oil, according to services that research corporate conduct for investors. The firms include China's Sinopec Corp., Malaysia's Petronas, and Schlumberger, based in the Netherlands Antilles — whose investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation's most significant connection to the Sudanese oil industry, however, is through Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Bill Gates is a Berkshire director, and Berkshire's chairman, Warren E. Buffett, is a trustee of the Gates Foundation. Berkshire holds a $3.3-billion stake in PetroChina Co., a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, the biggest player in Sudanese oil. Buffett has pledged $31 billion worth of Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation in annual installments, beginning last year with $1.6 billion. In 2009 and afterward, the foundation expects Berkshire's wealth to fund about half of its charitable awards — which have included more than $34 million for emergency refugee and health services in Sudan, plus a share of at least $167 million more in regional health grants.
Japanese protest call to change charter
Thousands of people rallied here Thursday to mark the 60th anniversary of Japan's pacifist constitution by protesting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's calls for amendments to allow the military a wider role and revive national pride.
Sarkozy No Favorite in Paris Suburbs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302255.html
After an 11-year-old boy was killed here two years ago in crossfire between rival gangs, Nicolas Sarkozy, then France's interior minister, came to the underclass neighborhood of immigrant families outside Paris and promised to clean it up with an industrial power hose. That image of France's top cop spraying away "scum," as he later described violent youths in Paris's minority-heavy suburbs, has dogged Sarkozy ever since, fueling fears of divisiveness that remain his greatest liability going into Sunday's presidential election.
RELATED: French Candidate Steps Up Attacks
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-france-election.html
N. Ireland Protestant Group Vows to Renounce Violence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302321.html
The Ulster Volunteer Force, a Protestant paramilitary organization responsible for more than 500 deaths during Northern Ireland's three-decade sectarian war, announced Thursday that it was renouncing violence, a new step toward lasting peace in the troubled province. The surprise statement came five days before Protestant and Catholic legislators are scheduled to form a power-sharing provincial government in Belfast, Northern Ireland's capital. Next week, once-bitter rivals in a conflict that claimed more than 3,600 lives are to sit together to deliberate on local issues such as roads and schools.
RELATED: N. Ireland group laying down arms
Midterm Vote Could Give Blair a Last Hurrah, or a Swift Kick
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/world/europe/04britain.html?ref=world
Voters across Britain went to the polls on Thursday in midterm regional elections that are considered likely to set the tone for Prime Minister Tony Blair’s expected departure as prime minister in the coming weeks. The voting was for the 129-seat Scottish Parliament, the 60-member Welsh Assembly and about 10,500 seats in local councils in England. It will not directly affect the makeup of the British Parliament, in London, for which elections are not scheduled until at least 2009.
Queen celebrates Virginia's founding
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/04/queen_celebrates_virginias_founding/
Queen Elizabeth II arrived yesterday for the commemoration of Jamestown's 400th anniversary and praised the cultural changes that have occurred since she last visited America's first permanent English settlement 50 years ago. The last time the queen helped Virginia mark the anniversary of its Colonial founding, it was an all-white affair in a state whose government was in open defiance of a 1954 Supreme Court order to desegregate public schools.
Chávez Threatens Takeover Of Banks, Big Steel Producer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301948.html
President Hugo Chávez on Thursday threatened to nationalize the country's banks and largest steel producer, accusing them of unscrupulous practices. "Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost," Chávez said. "If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me, that we nationalize them and get all the banks to work for the development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits." It was not clear whether Chávez was referring only to Venezuelan banks such as Mercantil Servicios Financieros and Banco Provincial, or if he was also aiming the threat at major international banks with subsidiaries in the country, such as Citigroup and two Spanish banks, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and Banco Santander Central Hispano.
Hijacking by Renegade Cubans Is Foiled
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302511.html
Cuban police reportedly fought a gun battle Thursday with two renegade soldiers who tried to hijack a plane at Havana's José Martí International Airport. An army officer who had been taken hostage was killed on the plane before the soldiers were captured, according to a statement issued to the Associated Press by Cuba's Interior Ministry. The ministry said the soldiers had seized control of a bus taking passengers to a plane waiting on the tarmac.
Immigration
Unconventional welcome, hands down
Promoters from 64 countries vied this week to lure big-spending Arab tourists to their countries at the Middle East's largest tourism convention. But not a single promoter from the United States turned up. Instead, the U.S. government sent officials from the Department of Homeland Security to demonstrate its mandatory fingerprinting of Arab and other foreign visitors. The only other U.S. presence inside the Americas hall at the show came from a tiny boutique hotel in New York. "It's bizarre," said Sarah Wood, promoting Canada's Ontario and Niagara Falls at a nearby booth. "People ask us where the U.S. booth is, and we point them to the Homeland Security booth." A pair of U.S. Homeland Security officials at the show did their best to give details on America's tourist sights, such as the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, while explaining that being fingerprinted by U.S. immigration officials doesn't mean a person should feel like a criminal.
Reproductive Choice
Bush Warns of Vetoes Over Abortion Issue
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/washington/04veto.html?ref=washington
President Bush told Congressional leaders Thursday that he would veto any legislation that weakened federal policies or laws on abortion. In a two-page letter sent to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Mr. Bush said his veto threat would apply to any measures that “allow taxpayer dollars to be used for the destruction of human life.” Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life, characterized the president’s message as “drawing a bright line.” A statement from the group noted that many appropriations bills that Congress will take up include provisions to limit federal financing of abortion and that abortion rights groups have been urging Democratic leaders in Congress to change.
Health Care and Public Safety
Senate Likely to Back Drug Reimportation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301161.html
The Senate cleared the way yesterday for the likely adoption of a measure that would legalize the reimportation of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries, a move supporters say would save consumers $50 billion over 10 years. Ignoring a White House veto threat, lawmakers voted 63 to 28 to move to a final vote on adding the drug provision to a larger bill on the operations of the Food and Drug Administration. "There is a pricing problem with prescription drugs," said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), who co-sponsored the amendment with Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine). "The identical drug, FDA-approved, the same pill, put in the same bottle, made by the same company, is set virtually every other place in the world at a lower price. And the American consumer is told, 'You know what, we have a special deal for you: You get to pay the highest price in the world.' "
RELATED: Bid to allow drug imports advances
Bush taps Weems for Medicare chief
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-03-bush-medicare-chief_N.htm
Kerry N. Weems, a longtime federal health official, is President Bush's choice to oversee the Medicare and Medicaid programs. If confirmed by the Senate, Weems would succeed Mark McClellan, who resigned in October. Weems is deputy chief of staff to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. He also has served as an acting assistant secretary overseeing budget and technology issues. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is the agency that oversees federal health programs for the elderly, disabled and the poor. It accounts for about a fifth of all federal spending.
DNA defect tied to coronary risk
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2007/05/04/dna_defect_tied_to_coronary_risk/
Scientists using powerful new genetics-research methods have for the first time identified a snippet of DNA common to many people that dramatically increases the chances of developing heart disease.
Study finds more risks to unborn in epilepsy drug Depakote
One in four women who took the widely used epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant gave birth to children who were mentally retarded, double the rate among women who took other epilepsy medicines, researchers said Thursday. The report, presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Boston, was the latest to document the potential dangers of valproate to the unborn. Last summer, researchers reported that 1 in 5 women who took the drug, sold as Depakote by Abbott Laboratories, had pregnancies that resulted in fetal death or birth defects, including malformed hearts and genitals, cleft palates and artery deformities.
Pet Food Chemical Was From 2 Firms
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302153.html
The federal government's investigation into tainted pet food has grown to include tests of 700 samples, and all of the approximately 400 of those that have turned up positive for the chemical contaminant melamine came from just two companies in China, Food and Drug Administration officials said yesterday. All brands of Chinese imported vegetable proteins, the ingredient at the heart of the scandal, are being held by U.S. border officials pending tests to prove they are free of the industrial chemical. Authorities are looking into thousands of reports of pet illnesses or deaths that are suspected of being linked to melamine-tainted wheat gluten and rice protein.
Economy
Big Profits From Crop Insurance Criticized
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302235.html
Private companies are taking advantage of a poorly designed crop insurance program for farmers to reap "excessive" profits while taxpayers absorb most of the costs and risks, investigators told a House committee yesterday. Republican and Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee reacted with calls for major changes in the insurance program, which has paid out $26 billion over the past 10 years. It is rare for a panel other than the Agriculture Committee to take on a major farm program in an investigative hearing.
S&P 500 Tops 1500 On Strong Earnings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302265.html
U.S. stocks cleared another benchmark Thursday as better-than-expected economic data and strong corporate earnings pushed the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index past 1500 for the first time in more than six years. The performance of the broad market index, the most closely watched by investing professionals, underscores just how far Wall Street has come since the bursting of the tech bubble; the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; and the Enron and WorldCom corporate scandals.
Norway Keeps Nest Egg From Some U.S. Companies
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/worldbusiness/04norway.html?ref=business
For a people whose deep national pride is in bestowing the Nobel Peace Prize, Norwegians are developing a reputation for throwing some sharp elbows. And they are doing so in an unexpected way: by pulling investments out of Wal-Mart and other big companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin for what they say are ethical failings. Norway has amassed a fortune of more than $300 billion over the last decade, thanks to its profits from oil exports. Yet few countries are more ambivalent about their vast wealth than this modest, socially conscious society of less than five million people.
Wolfowitz Blames the Bank
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302045.html
World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz, struggling to preserve his job in the face of an ethics controversy, yesterday urged a committee investigating his conduct to clear him of wrongdoing and disregard accounts that he has not been truthful. In a 10-page statement addressed to the chairman of the investigating committee, Wolfowitz reiterated his assertion that he was merely following the instructions of the bank's ethics committee when he arranged a job transfer and substantial pay raise for his companion, Shaha Riza, shortly after arriving at the bank.
Wall St. Banker Jailed in Trading on 9 Deals
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/04trade.html?ref=business
Federal authorities arrested a investment banker yesterday and charged him with illegally leaking confidential information on nine deals, including the $45 billion buyout of the Texas energy giant TXU. The junior investment banker, Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem, 37, who worked in Credit Suisse’s energy banking group in Manhattan, is accused of calling an unidentified banker in Pakistan and tipping him about deals shortly before they were publicly announced.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Workers get more done in 1st quarter
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-05-03-productivy-jobless-ism_N.htm
Productivity showed better-than-expected — though still slow — gains earlier this year, according to a report Thursday. "This increases the likelihood the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged until the fall," says Peter Morici, business professor at the University of Maryland. Better productivity allows wages to rise without boosting inflation, which the Fed seeks to control by raising interest rates. David Rosenberg, North American economist at Merrill Lynch, warned, however, that productivity growth could still be in the midst of a cyclical slowdown.
Housing and Homelessness
Senators Seek to Provide Aid on Mortgages
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/04lend.html
Three Democratic senators yesterday proposed using $300 million in federal funds to help refinance troubled subprime mortgages and introduced a bill that would require brokers and lenders to act in the interest of borrowers. The proposal, which includes policies that the mortgage industry has opposed in the past, is the first major legislative push to deal with problems in home loans made to people with weak, or subprime, credit. Since the start of the year, the issue has been the subject of many hearings in Congress but few bills. It is unclear whether the legislation proposed by the senators, Charles E. Schumer of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, will become the legislative vehicle to address the issue. Some, though not all, of their prescriptions dovetail closely with ideas that have been discussed by Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who is expected to file a bill this summer to deal with predatory lending practices.
Loss Narrows at GM's North America Unit, but Housing Slump Hits Its Bottom Line
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301944.html
General Motors said yesterday that first-quarter profit fell 90 percent compared with the corresponding period a year earlier as the weakened housing market hit the automaker's bottom line. GM reported a profit of $62 million (11 cents a share), down from $602 million ($1.06) in the first quarter of 2006. GM said the loss at its North America division narrowed. While GM executives touted the North America results, analysts were less impressed, stressing that the automaker still faces a variety of threats to its recovery. Its exposure to the housing crunch through GMAC, the big mortgage lender it partly owns, only compounds the problems GM faces in its own industry.
Media
Reuters gets bid approach, shares soar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050400424.html
Financial news and information provider Reuters Group Plc <RTR.L> said on Friday it had received a preliminary takeover approach from an unidentified suitor, sending its shares up as much as 30 percent. Earlier, traders had reported market speculation of a 600-pence-a-share bid from Canada's Thomson Corp <TOC.TO> <TOC.N> or Rupert Murdoch's News Corp <NWSa.N>.
Murdoch on Owning The Wall Street Journal
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/media/04murdoch.html?ref=business
Like any close reader of The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch has his opinions.
Lawyer Says Imus to Sue CBS, Accusing It of Breaking Contract
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/media/04imus.html
The lawyer for the ousted radio host Don Imus said yesterday that he would file a $40 million lawsuit against CBS next week, accusing it of breach of contract. The lawyer, Martin Garbus of Manhattan, said CBS violated a clause in Mr. Imus’s contract that specifically encouraged him to engage in what the clause called “extraordinary,” “irreverent” and “controversial” topics on his program.
Education
Student Loan Probe Expands to Include Alumni Associations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302159.html
The New York attorney general has broadened his investigation into the student loan industry to discover whether university alumni associations are steering graduates toward a major loan company in exchange for payments from the lender. The lender, Nelnet, said it has agreements with about 120 alumni associations across the country, including those affiliated with the University of Maryland and Old Dominion University in Virginia. Nelnet said it typically pays the associations in return for data used to mail marketing materials to graduates.
RELATED: Loan Inquiry Turns to Deals With Alumni Associations
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/04loans.html
Military
Better brain-injury tests planned for troops
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-03-brain-injury-tests_N.htm
The Pentagon must use computers to screen troops before and after they go to Iraq or Afghanistan to better determine whether they suffered traumatic brain damage in combat, according to a plan by a congressional brain-injury task force. The Defense Department should also develop more brain-injury research and improve specialized care for what experts are calling the signature wound of these wars, one that often goes undetected until returning troops have memory or behavior problems. Congress has authorized a record $450 million for brain-injury treatment and research in the Iraq spending bill being negotiated by Congress and the White House. Legislators say the Pentagon acted slowly on this issue.
Names are added to Vietnam War wall
The name of Army Sgt. Richard M. Pruett is now etched into the glossy black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial — nearly four decades after he was wounded during a combat mission in South Vietnam. His wife, Ann, wiped away tears as Pruett's name was added to the memorial Thursday. "He would be so honored. It is the ultimate honor, I think, to be on the wall," she said. Richard Pruett, who was from Sherman, Texas, died in 2005 from complications related to wounds received during the war, making him eligible for inclusion on the memorial on the National Mall. Also joining those honored on the wall are Navy Fireman Apprentice Joseph Gerald Krywicki of Holton, Mich., and Army Spc. Wesley Alvin Stiverson of Monticello, Ill.
Court Backs Pentagon In Killing Fighter Jet
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302069.html
A federal judge sided with the government yesterday over General Dynamics and Boeing in a 16-year saga over a canceled fighter-jet program. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims upheld the government's 1991 decision to terminate the companies' contract for the A-12 radar-evading plane, General Dynamics and Boeing said.
Religion
Anglican Church leaders engage in a war of words
Tensions between the Episcopal Church and its critics in the worldwide Anglican Communion have escalated with an exchange of strongly worded letters between the church's presiding bishop and the Anglican archbishop of Nigeria. The letters involve a planned visit by Nigerian Archbishop Peter J. Akinola to the United States this weekend, in which he is expected to install a bishop to lead congregations that have broken away from the Episcopal Church. The 2.3-million-member church is the American branch of the Anglican Communion and is at odds with much of the rest of the denomination over the U.S. church's more liberal views on homosexuality and other issues.
Average gasoline price tops $3 a gallon
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-05-04-gasoline_N.htm
That nationwide average price of gasoline topped $3 a gallon Friday for the first time since last summer and is rapidly approaching record levels. The U.S. average price for regular at the pump was $3.012 a gallon, up more than two cents from Thursday and 31 cents higher than just a month ago, according to motor club AAA. The average price is close to the nationwide record, not adjusted for inflation, of $3.057, set Sept. 5, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, according to AAA. Adjusted for inflation, the record high was in March 1981, when gasoline cost an average of $3.223 a gallon in today's dollars.
Growing wind farms need oversight, report says
A National Academy of Sciences report Thursday criticized "the lack of any truly coordinated planning" in the rapid growth of wind farms across the country, and called on federal, state and local governments to pay more attention to the effects of turbines on wildlife and scenic landscapes. Wind provides less than 1% of the nation's electricity, but it is one of the fastest-growing alternatives to fossil-fuelproduced power, a major contributor to global warming. In the last six years, U.S. wind capacity has more than quadrupled. And by 2020, the report predicts, it could offset as much as 4.5% of the planet-warming carbon dioxide that American utilities would otherwise spew into the atmosphere. But wind, the report notes, "is surprisingly controversial…. Not everyone considers [turbines] beautiful."
RELATED: Wind Farms May Not Lower Air Pollution, Study Suggests
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/science/earth/04wind.html
U.N. climate report accord reached
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-05-03-climate-report_N.htm
Delegates approved the world's first roadmap for stemming mounting greenhouse gas emissions Friday, laying out an arsenal of anti-warming measures that must be rushed into place to avert a disastrous spike in global temperatures. The report, a summary of a voluminous study by a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists, showed the world has to make significant cuts in gas emissions through the development of biofuels, increases in fuel efficiency, the use of renewable energy like solar power, and a host of other options. The document made clear that the world has the technology and money to decisively act in time to avoid a sharp rise in temperatures that scientists say would wipe out species, raise ocean levels, wreak economic havoc and trigger droughts in some places and flooding in others.
RELATED: Climate Panel Reaches Consensus on the Need to Reduce Harmful Emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/science/04climate.html?ref=science
Spy agencies to assess global warming's ripple effects
Stepping into the rancorous national debate over global warming, the U.S. intelligence community has launched an examination of the security threats that could be triggered by rising temperatures, officials said Thursday. The review was announced by the nation's intelligence director as congressional Democrats and Republicans sparred over whether it was appropriate for the beleaguered U.S. spy services to spend resources studying threats posed by the environment. The review is expected to identify security problems that could erupt if rising global temperatures cause flooding, food shortages, migration shifts and other disruptions in already volatile parts of the world. Republicans warned it could divert spy agencies' attention from terrorism and other targets.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Robinson: Lost in the Fog With Commander Guy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301641.html
Is George W. Bush even trying to make sense anymore? On Wednesday, speaking to the Associated General Contractors of America, Bush gave himself a new nickname. Responding to a question from the audience, he asked rhetorically whether "the Congress or the commanders" should decide how many U.S. troops are needed in Iraq. "And as you know," he went on, "my position is clear -- I'm the Commander Guy." That leaves me somewhat confused. If he's now the Commander Guy, does that mean I have to stop calling him The Decider? Or does he spend some days deciding and other days commanding?
Lehigh: The silence of George Tenet
WHEN RICHARD NIXON ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox, the Watergate special prosecutor, Richardson didn't do the dirty deed. Rather, he resigned in protest. And when the same command came to Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, Ruckelshaus didn't go dutifully along. He, too, refused the odious order, resigning even as the White House fired him. "There wasn't any question in his mind or mine," Ruckelshaus said, recalling the decisions he and Richardson made back in October of 1973 to defy the president.
Dionne: If Democrats Want to Help the Poor . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301549.html
Republicans once preached compassion, but then went off to war. Democrats waged a war on poverty, but then lost some elections. They decided the middle class is where it's at. But the poor are still with us, and their ranks are growing. One in eight Americans lives in poverty, which seems obscene given that the really rich are enjoying a level of privilege that makes the Gilded Age Vanderbilts look like abstemious Puritans.
EPA defiance poses a grave threat
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/05/03/0504edepa.html
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly made it clear that the Environmental Protection Agency is obligated to enforce the nation's anti-pollution laws. But so far, the justices are wasting their time, because the agency still refuses to do its job. For example, at the behest of the Bush White House and the power industry, the EPA has been trying to help electric utilities and other industries evade rules that require them to install the most effective pollution control devices available whenever they make "any significant change" that increases emissions from their facilities.
Cohen: The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri4.html
There is yet another United States attorney whose abrupt departure from office is raising questions: Debra Wong Yang of Los Angeles. Ms. Yang was not fired, as eight other prosecutors were, but she resigned under circumstances that raise serious questions, starting with whether she was pushed out to disrupt her investigation of one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress.
Stein: He'll take one MRE, hold the ambush
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein4may04,0,7350412.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Sampling the food that soldiers eat on the battlefield.
Skilled Masses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301882.html
THE IMMIGRATION reform debate has largely revolved around immigrants who do jobs Americans are not willing to do. But what about immigrants who do the jobs Americans are not able to do?
RELATED: Family Values, Betrayed
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri1.html
Dirty Tricks by Phone
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri3.html
The phone rings at 3 a.m. You pick it up, and a computerized voice seems to be pitching John Doe’s campaign. You hang up. It calls back 15 more times. Are you going to vote for Mr. Doe? Probably not. The automated telephone call, which can be a legitimate way for candidates to get their messages out, has become a favorite dirty trick. Robocalls were used across the country last year to mislead voters into thinking a candidate was harassing them, when the calls came from the other side. Members of both parties say they want to stop this deception, and there is a swarm of proposals about how to fix what one Florida legislator calls an “epidemic level” problem.
Brooks: Sweet Jesus I love Bill O'Reilly!
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks4may04,0,6093778.column?coll=la-opinion-center
POOR BILL O'REILLY! Members of the vast left-wing conspiracy really can't stand him. They denounce him, they mock him, and now the final indignity: They study him as a lab specimen. Three University of Indiana scholars just released a "content analysis" of O'Reilly's trademark "Talking Points Memo," the brief commentary with which he opens his daily Fox News show, "The O'Reilly Factor." The authors begin by informing us, with some consternation, that four in 10 Americans actually think O'Reilly is "a journalist." But after many charts and numbers, they conclude that he's really just a big right-wing bully. No, those aren't their words. Being scholarly types, they favor phrases such as "O'Reilly injects fear into his commentaries," and they punctiliously compare O'Reilly's rhetoric to that used by 1930s radio broadcaster Father Charles Coughlin, whose pro-fascist rants made him infamous. But O'Reilly leaves Coughlin in the shade.
Goodman: Facing the facts in Washington
I DON'T need to give the "D.C. Madam" a whole lot more attention. After all, editorial pages don't have sweeps weeks. And the client lists she's dropping into the media maw may have as many flaws as the beauty advice she gave her workers to use "fat cream for the thighs." Besides that, I try to heed the words of the Mother-of-us-all when judging the private lives of public people. Susan B. Anthony herself once said, "If a man's public record be a clear one, if he has kept his pledges before the world, I do not inquire what his private life may have been."But I do think even Susan B. would give me a dispensation on the subject of Randall Tobias.
The disappearing bee
Declines in bee populations are not rare, but generally scientists have been astute at determining the cause. Viruses and mites have wrecked regional bee populations in the past. Bees can succumb to bacteria, too. The problem in this case is that no one has been able to figure out the precise cause. Guesses range all the way from viruses to electromagnetic impulses from cell phones. No matter the cause, a summer without bees is unthinkable. A farm without bees is unthinkable, too, along with orchards, flower gardens, too many growing things to mention. It makes sense then to be very careful about the use of pesticides and lawn sprays as spring finally arrives and sets the stage for summer. Dandelions might seem like an unsightly pain to the person who wants a golf-course perfect lawn, but they are delights to honey bees. It might be prudent to let some of them live this spring. Be careful with anything else you might spray, too. It might help to remember that while it seems that these tiny laborers are striving only for the good of the hive, they work for us, too, and unlike other workers, are not replaceable.
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