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TOP STORIES
Effective and Ethical Government
Transportation and Infrastructure
Effective and Ethical Government
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
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Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/050707.htm
TOP STORIES
National
Democrats' Momentum Is Stalling
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402262.html
In the heady opening weeks of the 110th Congress, the Democrats' domestic agenda appeared to be flying through the Capitol: Homeland security upgrades, a higher minimum wage and student loan interest rate cuts all passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. But now that initial progress has foundered as Washington policymakers have been consumed with the debate over the Iraq war. Not a single priority on the Democrats' agenda has been enacted, and some in the party are growing nervous that the "do nothing" tag they slapped on Republicans last year could come back to haunt them. "We cannot be a one-trick pony," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who helped engineer his party's takeover of Congress as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "People voted for change, but Iraq, the economy and Washington, D.C., [corruption] all tied for first place. We need to do them all."
RELATED: Boehner says GOP will want results in Iraq
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/ELECTION, COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/MILITARY
Troops at Odds With Ethics Standards
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402151.html
More than one-third of U.S. soldiers in Iraq surveyed by the Army said they believe torture should be allowed if it helps gather important information about insurgents, the Pentagon disclosed yesterday. Four in 10 said they approve of such illegal abuse if it would save the life of a fellow soldier. In addition, about two-thirds of Marines and half the Army troops surveyed said they would not report a team member for mistreating a civilian or for destroying civilian property unnecessarily. "Less than half of Soldiers and Marines believed that non-combatants should be treated with dignity and respect," the Army report stated. About 10 percent of the 1,767 troops in the official survey -- conducted in Iraq last fall -- reported that they had mistreated civilians in Iraq, such as kicking them or needlessly damaging their possessions.
RELATED: Survey sheds light on battlefield ethics in Iraq
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-04-battlefield-ethics_N.htm
Attempts to Curb Illegal Immigration Prove Costly
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501063.html
As cities across the United States spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against lawsuits and other challenges to their ordinances enacted to keep out illegal immigrants, some groups are warning that their communities are risking financial disaster. Dozens of cities and counties have proposed or passed laws that prohibit landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalize businesses that employ undocumented workers or train police to enforce federal immigration laws. Approval of these ordinances has generated criticism, demonstrations and lawsuits in Valley Park, Mo.; Riverside, N.J.; Escondido, Calif.; Hazleton, Pa., and the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch.
More immigration policy news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/IMMIGRATION, NATIONAL/CIVIL LIBERTIES, NATIONAL/RELIGION, COLORADO/ELECTION, COLORADO/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/CIVIL LIBERTIES, COLORADO/EDUCATION
Resisting Sin City, candidates give in to Nevada
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/07/resisting_sin_city_candidates_give_in_to_nevada/
The Strip dazzles like a giant fishing lure, dangling promises of easy money, sex, and margaritas-by-the-yard inside grand hotels that make up America's most notorious adult theme park. It could also be a potential minefield this campaign season for stressed-out candidates and their staff members, who must maneuver through a difficult political landscape while resisting the temptations of Sin City. After all, the current governor, Jim Gibbons, won election last year despite allegations during the heat of the campaign that the Mormon politician shoved a casino cocktail waitress against a wall when she refused his sexual advances. Gibbons said he was just helping her keep from falling. Yet candidates don't dare duck the state. Since Nevada brought forward its presidential caucuses to next January, the Silver State has become one of the must-visit states for candidates hoping to secure an early victory and gain momentum going into the Feb. 5 slew of primaries.
RELATED: California Gains Clout With Earlier Primary
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/us/politics/07campaign.html?ref=us
RELATED: National Parties Uneasy as States Rush Primaries
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050401087.html
More 2008 presidential race news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, COLORADO/ELECTION
Colorado
Session wraps up early
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5522108,00.html
A legislative session that began on a historic note ended on one Friday, with lawmakers finishing a record five days early and overturning the first gubernatorial veto in almost two decades. Republicans and Democrats duked it out over the Iraq war, labor union legislation and a property tax freeze that the GOP ripped as a tax hike. But they agreed on much, from doubling renewable energy standards to fixing mortgage fraud problems to making prescription drugs more affordable for the working poor. "It was a fairly peaceful session, and we were able to end early because of that," said House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker. Food and flowers were everywhere on Friday, as lawmakers mixed business with pleasure. The House adjourned at 3:23 p.m. The Senate followed at 3:42 p.m. Lawmakers capped their final day by overriding Gov. Bill Ritter's veto of their instructions on how to spend next year's budget. The issue has been a long-standing tug of war between the executive and legislative branches.
RELATED: Ritter's spending plan veto overridden
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5521878,00.html
RELATED: Session ends 5 days early
RELATED: Session wraps up early as Dems declare victory
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5828127
RELATED: Legislature rebuffs Ritter
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5819417
RELATED: Tapia leads override of Long Bill notes
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178344800/15
RELATED: Legislative session ends, but controversy lingers
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178344800/4
More session’s end news in COLORADO/GOVERNMENT, COLORADO/ENERGY
A Senate without Fitz-Gerald at the helm?
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5829416
Pollster Floyd Ciruli said he was unsure Fitz-Gerald would have to take the drastic step of resigning her seat, given her stature in the party. "I think you'll have to see how it develops," he said. "She walks into this with some advantages, the first being a sense of reward, that she is one of the people that has helped to engineer the Democratic takeover (of the legislature). She also has a powerful track record to run on." Still, Polis and a third candidate in the race, William Shafroth, have the potential to be formidable opponents. Polis is an Internet entrepreneur who spent $1 million just to get elected to a state board of education seat. He also bankrolled the troubled Amendment 41, which brought 2nd Congressional District politics to the Capitol this year as lawmakers scrambled to clarify the broad ban on gifts to lawmakers and government workers. Shafroth, executive director of the Colorado Conservation Trust, is an active resident in the 2nd CD. "I think just like with Hillary and Obama, it's hard to find room for him. But he is very qualified," Ciruli said. Fitz-Gerald is not the only state senator looking at a potential congressional run. Standing with her last week at a podium for Gov. Bill Ritter's signing of a law seeking to prevent the Army from taking more southeastern Colorado ranchland was Sen. Brandon Shaffer.
Inquiry eyes election worker
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5521831,00.html
Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Friday his office is investigating whether one of its employees violated department rules by not disclosing he was operating a political Web site as a side business. The decision to launch the investigation into Dan Kopelman came after a blogger notified the Secretary of State's Office this week that he was operating a Web site, "Political Live Wires," while working in the elections division, Coffman said. Kopelman was told to remove the Web site, which he did on Thursday, Coffman added. Kopelman, who started working in the Secretary of State's Office in January, is on leave unrelated to the investigation, and his future employment is expected to be determined when he returns Tuesday, Coffman said. Kopelman could not be reached for comment Friday.Pat Waak, chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party, demanded he be fired.
Ritter may wait for studies before signing off on leasing
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/05/5_5_1a_Ritter_oil_shale.html
Gov. Bill Ritter may not give a thumbs-up to commercial oil shale leasing in the Piceance Basin until the cumulative environmental impacts of both oil shale and natural gas development are made public, Colorado Department of Natural Resources Assistant Director Mike King said Friday at the “Fueling Thought” energy symposium in Craig. “The stakes are really high here,” said King, who sits on the federal Strategic Unconventional Fuels Task Force, which will soon recommend to Congress how oil shale production can be expedited. “There are so many unanswered questions, you got to get it right.” The Bureau of Land Management may be listening.
RELATED: Less dependence
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26451
RELATED: Presenters at summit give wide range of energy perspective
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26450
RELATED: Energy boom to have downside, official says
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/06/5_6_3a_Boom_drawback.html
More energy policy news in NATIONAL/ENERGY, COLORADO/ENERGY
Election
Giuliani's bid is favored by many in gay GOP group
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5522125,00.html
Rudy Giuliani emerged as a favorite among many members of the GOP's largest gay organization; they cited his record on social issues, taxes and defense. However, delegates to the Log Cabin Republicans annual convention in Denver said Friday they also fear that the former New York mayor, in his bid to capture the Republican presidential nomination, might be waffling as he reaches out to the more conservative GOP voters who hold sway in the primaries. "Mainstream Republican voters and moderate voters are going to vote for you. Don't tilt to the right," said Frank Ricchiazzi, who helped found the Log Cabin group 30 years ago. Ricchiazzi, who wore an "I Love Rudy" button, cited Giuliani's remarks on abortion during the GOP presidential candidates' debate Thursday night.
CREATE FIRST, EVOLVE LATER (Extra!, May 7)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524449,00.html
"Evolution explains changes in life. Creationism explains its origin." Rep. Tom Tancredo, amending his position following a debate last week in which he raised his hand when asked who among the Republican candidates didn't believe in evolution.
RELATED: Tancredo's man on the ground
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5521877,00.html
RELATED: Tancredo: Abortion view not sure to derail Giuliani
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834865
A few get the news: Schaffer in Senate race
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5521830,00.html
Bob Schaffer has announced that he will run for U.S. Senate in 2008. But for now, the former Republican congressman has told only about 100 people. He let the cat out of the bag as he delivered the keynote speech a week ago at the Teller County Republicans' annual Lincoln dinner, people who attended the dinner confirmed. Contacted Friday, Schaffer tried to stuff the cat back in. "I don't have any comment on my conversation with the Teller County Republicans," he said.
Candidates go down to wire
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070506/NEWS/105060081
Aspenites stuck at home this weekend might want to consider turning off the lights and not answering the phone or knocks at the door. With two days left until Election Day, mayoral and City Council candidates have been out in full force in their last-ditch efforts to sway voters. Most candidates and their teams of volunteers are hitting the pavement this weekend, knocking on doors, handing out campaign literature and making phone calls to reach as many voters as possible. Even ordering a Dominos Pizza will throw residents into the election campaigning onslaught. At least one council candidate is attempting to penetrate voters through their stomachs - Andrew Kole has had campaign flyers on all Dominos pizza boxes from Friday through Sunday.
RELATED: Mayoral hopefuls show their colors
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070506/NEWS/105060080
RELATED: Next for the entrance: another vote
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070505/NEWS/105050042
City Council winners not richest
The final financial reports from April's Durango City Council election illustrate one telling point: Money can't always buy an election.
Mountain Village government in transition
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/05/07/news/news01.txt
As the Town of Mountain Village approaches build-out and hopes to fill executive positions, it does so amid distinct political uncertainty. Four of the town council’s seven seats will be open this summer, and of the four incumbents, only two have declared their intent to try and hold on to their seats. The seats currently held by Jonathan Sweet, Jonathan Greenspan, Dan Garner and Rube Felicelli, the current mayor, will be up for grabs. Felicelli, who is termed out, is the only member who is sure he will not return.
French citizens cast ballots in Colorado
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/home/article/0,1299,DRMN_1_5522724,00.html
The election pits a left-right choice between Sarkozy, a conservative, and a socialist, Royal, who could become France’s first female leader. For this election the French government has increased voting centers throughout the world to accommodate its compatriots living abroad. In previous elections French citizens living in Colorado and other states previously were forced to travel hundreds of miles to their embassy or consular offices to vote. The voting center for French nationals living in Colorado was at France’s consulate office in Los Angeles. "This is great major progress from previous elections," said Jean-Francois Duclos, executive director of the Alliance Francaise de Denver, a French cultural and language center. "What triggered the decision to create more voting centers is the fact that in the last several years French expats have doubled mostly moving to European countries."
Effective and Ethical Government
Salazar wants timetable in Iraq spending bill
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178344800/14
Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., said he has urged House Democratic leaders to keep a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops out of Iraq in the defense supplemental bill that is being negotiated with the White House - even though President Bush vetoed the legislation last week over that same issue. "We must have accountability, to give the Iraqi government a timetable for taking responsibility for their own country," Salazar said Friday. Responding to White House comments that any timetable is a "surrender" to terrorists, Salazar said the bipartisan Iraq Study Group also called for giving Iraq a schedule of steps to be accomplished that would be matched by a drawdown in U.S. forces. "We're talking about requiring the Iraqi government to step up and get serious about taking control of their country," he said. "We can't force democracy down their throats. If they aren't willing to do that, our troops shouldn't stay there."
The good, the bad and the Sanjayas
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5524221,00.html
Just like a season of American Idol, every legislative session offers winners, losers and Sanjaya-style surprises. And so it is with the 2007 session, which wrapped up Friday. It opened Jan. 9 on an historic note: A Democrat was in the governor's seat, and Democrats were in charge of both houses of the legislature, a trifecta not seen in Colorado since 1962. Here's a look at this year's session, based on observations and interviews with lawmakers and Capitol regulars.
RELATED: Legislation to brag about
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5522106,00.html
RELATED: Dems tout 2007 wins: Lawmakers cite victories on drugs, oil and gas, energy
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/06/2007-session-dems-tout-2007-wins-lawmakers-cite/
RELATED: A look back at Legislature 2007
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5823617
RELATED: 2007 MEASURES
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178427600/9
First-year legislators cut teeth at Capitol
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/NEWS01/705060352/1002/NEWS17
Being a freshman never is easy. It doesn't matter if a person is starting the first year of high school, college or a career serving as an elected official, being the newbie always is tough. Democratic representatives John Kefalas and Randy Fischer, Fort Collins' freshmen lawmakers, know first-hand the struggles that come with learning a new system and working to fit in with people their senior. "I have been surprised by the volume of information we are hit with and how quickly things really do move down here," Fischer said Friday from the Capitol during the year's last legislative day. "I have routinely spent 10 to 14 hours a day down here just trying to keep my head above water. I don't know if that was first-year thing or if it will ever go away, but it's been surprising." Kefalas said he was surprised by the little things that initially seemed unimportant but were significant, including giving proper titles to bills to help ensure their passage.
RELATED: [Springs] Area lawmakers win and lose
http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill_21999___article.html/bills_colorado.html
RELATED: Grand Junction lawmaker on fast track to top, but politics could derail his progress
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/05/5_5_1a_Speaker_Buescher.html
RELATED: Victories plentiful for Isgar, Roberts
RELATED: Both parties mark success of year's legislative session
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178427600/8
Court hears Amendment 41 suit on free speech question today
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5524175,00.html
A court hearing begins in Denver today on a claim that voter-approved Amendment 41's limits on gifts to state employees and elected officials unfairly infringes on their First Amendment guarantees to freedom of speech. A group called First Amendment Council is seeking an injunction in Denver District Court to block the provisions of the law immediately until a trial on the issues can be heard. At least three days of testimony is anticipated, and about 15 people will testify against the law, including several of the individuals who brought the lawsuit, among them: former state Sen. Norma Anderson; Rep. Anne L. McGihon, D-Denver; and David Getches, dean of the University of Colorado Law School. On Sunday, Getches said he initially was skeptical about the approach of attacking the constitutionality of Amendment 41 on First Amendment grounds. But as he read the cases cited by the lawyers in the case, it made sense.
LIFE ON THE LEDGE (EXTRA!, May 5)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5522109,00.html
A nine-year legislative tradition died Friday. Normally, on the last day of the session, Sen. Shawn Mitchell crawls out the second-floor Senate window to walk the narrow ledge outside. The Broomfield Republican said he didn't do it this year because it causes "emotional distress" to Senate secretary Karen Goldman. Capitol veterans tell hair-raising stories about years past, when lawmakers might have a nip or two - or three or four - and then try to navigate the narrow ledge.
Missing state money now put at $10 million
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5522107,00.html
The amount Department of Revenue supervisor Michelle Cawthra allegedly stole from state coffers is now up to $10 million, double the initial estimate, lawmakers learned Friday. Cawthra's supervisor, Janet Swaney, was placed on administrative leave Friday as the investigation continued into how such a large amount could have been diverted without anyone noticing. The new dollar amount was revealed by Roxy Huber, executive director of the Department of Revenue, during testimony before the Joint Budget Committee on Friday. "We have been questioned by a number of people: "How could this have happened?" Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, committee chairman, said at the start of Friday's session. "What steps are in place so that this doesn't happen again?"
Republicans aim to open ‘big tent’
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070506/NEWS/70504032
By the end of May, the Eagle County Republican Party hopes to be the “big tent” party that the Democrats say they became after overcoming it’s inter-party turmoil two years ago. This according to leaders and members of the party who have taken steps to “realign” their goals and values so that every member of the party is on the same page. “If you don't have opposing sides within the party you won’t have as good a discussion or direction to take the party,” said Henri Stone, member of the county’s executive committee for the party. “Through the alignment process we want to come together and move ahead clear in what we value and want to achieve.”
Mileage reimbursement sparks controversy in Fort Lupton
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070506/NEWS/105050128
Fort Lupton City Councilwoman Wendie Dietrich spends from 25-30 hours a month attending meetings and researching city business. Last month, she spent an extra 30 hours traveling to Dallas to see a rail yard. "You take the 30 regular hours, plus the 30 hours in Dallas, and divide it by my stipend of $250," said Dietrich. "You don't even make minimum wage." And that doesn't count the wear and tear on her vehicle, Dietrich said. Throughout Weld County, city councils and town boards vary in their policies on mileage reimbursement. The Fort Lupton City Council recently voted to reimburse its members. That puts them among the majority of cities and towns in Weld that pay its elected leaders for mileage on top of a monthly stipend. The measure was brought forth by Fort Lupton Councilman Jimmy Dominguez after he attended a meeting in Hudson. When he was told the city had nothing specified in its code for mileage reimbursement, he decided to bring it before council members. The initial request was for 25 cents per mile, but Fort Lupton Councilman Robert McWilliams suggested the rate to be increased to the IRS allowance of 48.5 cents. Board members eventually passed the 48.5-cent allowance.
Liss heading south
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/07/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
Josh Liss, Boulder County's elections coordinator, has accepted a new job with Jefferson County but will take memories of an interesting two years in Boulder with him when he leaves. Liss' last day in Boulder County will be May 17, and he will start as Jefferson's Deputy Clerk and Recorder in charge of Elections on May 21. He said last Friday that he will earn slightly more in Jefferson than the roughly $64,000 per year that he earned in Boulder, but said money was not the reason that he decided to change jobs.
Williamsburg mayor Turley resigns
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=6875
Facing yet another controversy, as well as angry town residents — some of whom without water to bathe with at their homes — the mayor here Thursday resigned his position, effectively immediately, during a special board of directors meeting. Oscar Turley opened the meeting by reading a statement, announcing his “retirement.” After the announcement, Turley walked toward the exit and left a meeting where several citizens were set to voice complaints regarding water loss caused by a deal Turley made without the consent of the board.
State announces perfect score for Montrose County
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/05/06/local_news/3.txt
Montrose County Clerk and Recorder Fran Tipton-Long finished off her first quarter in office with a clean bill of health for her vital statistics department.
West Greeley annexation highlights tensions between city, residents
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070507/NEWS/105060164
Carmen Laws moved to the Knaus Subdivision just outside Greeley in 1989 set to live a rural lifestyle that she says is now threatened due to a possible annexation in to Greeley's city limits. Laws and many of her neighbors are fighting the annexation of their neighborhood into Greeley citing lifestyle preference and an increase in taxes as their main concerns. "Most of these properties are acreages," said Laws, who added that many people like to keep large animals or storage on their property or run businesses out of their homes. "If we're annexed, we have the potential to lose a lot of that," Laws said. "And our property values will go down."
Latest property values based on location, location, location
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524174,00.html
The rich got richer, while some neighborhoods saw significant declines in property values in recent assessments. Colorado counties sent out notices last week to most property owners telling them what they think their property is worth. Those valuations are used in determining how much property tax they'll have to pay. Some of the biggest increases were in wealthy neighborhoods such as Cherry Hills Village or Denver's Hilltop. More modest neighborhoods that have been hit with a wave of foreclosures saw declines in value. "Residential property was up an average of 6 percent across the city," said Denver Assessor Paul Jacobs.
RELATED: Home values defy listless market
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5834393
RELATED: Property owners can appeal estimates
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16185
Civil Liberties and Equality
Actor Cheadle takes up Darfur
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5521834,00.html
Don Cheadle never pictured himself as a human-rights activist. Cheadle, the actor who spent nearly seven years in Denver before graduating from East High School, figured he would do something important, like raising two daughters with his wife. Then he starred in the film Hotel Rwanda.
Weather no damper to spirits at Cinco fest
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524276,00.html
Wearing masks of bearded Spaniards and long colorful gowns, the Comparza Morelos of Denver troupe showcased a dance created by indigenous youngsters some 137 years ago in Mexico. The dance, known as "brinco del Chinelo," or the "jump of the Chinelo," is believed to have been born after a group of youths, frustrated with their exclusion from the yearly carnival, wore old clothes and masks representing Spaniards and began dancing and whistling in the streets. The dance, which features small side-to-side movements of the hips and feet, is popular in the Mexican state of Morelos. The "brinco del Chinelo" was among the many efforts to showcase Mexican culture during the 20th annual Cinco de Mayo celebration in downtown Denver.
RELATED: Rain helps dampen Cinco de Mayo enthusiasm
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834471
RELATED: Food, dance at [Longmont] Cinco de Mayo
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/06/food-dance-at-cinco-de-mayo/
RELATED: [Pueblo] Cinco de Mayo marked with gusto
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178427600/2
RELATED: Chilly [GJ] Cinco doesn't dampen annual festival
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/06/5_6_1b_Cinco_de_Mayo.html
RELATED: Snow shows at [Durango] Cinco de Mayo festival
[Larimer] County Latino task force moves into final stretch
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/NEWS01/705060359/1002/NEWS17
Time is running out for a county-appointed task force charged with studying issues facing the local Latino community. The tenure of the Latino Issues Task Force is scheduled to run out June 30 after two years of work. County Commissioner Karen Wagner, who pushed for creating the advisory board soon after taking office, said she is not likely to recommend extending the life of the task force.
Cause vs. HOA covenants: Boulder woman fights rules prohibiting signs
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/07/cause-vs-hoa-covenants-boulder-woman-fights-in/
Rachel Amaru made a small retreat in her dispute with her homeowner's association, but she has vowed she will concede no more. The 40-year-old Boulder resident moved a "Darfur: End the Genocide" sign about 20 feet — from a common area in front of her home to a spot next to her garage door — after the Meadow Glen Resident Association told her last week she was violating community covenants that prohibit most signs in the east Boulder neighborhood. Amaru, who has lived in Meadow Glen for five years, said her sign represents a cause that transcends politics and raises vital awareness about a mass slaughter that has claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 people in the Darfur region of western Sudan over the last few years. "I see people having issues with political signs, but I don't know how you can have issues with genocide and Darfur," she said, sitting at the kitchen table of her home on Racquet Lane on Sunday evening. "When it's something this important, it overrides homeowner restrictions and regulations."
Immigration
Immigrant groups plan Western Union protest
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5521728,00.html
Several immigrant organizations plan to rally outside the Western Union Co.'s shareholders meeting next week in New York to protest fees the company charges to deliver money to foreign countries. Organizers also want Western Union to become a "good corporate citizen" by reinvesting revenue into immigrant communities in the United States and abroad, said Francis Calpotura, executive director of the Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action, a rally co-sponsor. The rally was planned after Western Union turned down a request from TIGRA to put a resolution before shareholders that, if approved, would have required the global money transfer giant to issue a report on its pricing structure and research community reinvestment programs, Calpotura said.
A Swift shift to net bigger fish
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5833607
The government's dismissal of identity- theft charges against six former Swift & Co. workers suggests that a grand jury is investigating where the illegal immigrants got their false documents, legal experts said Friday. "I don't think you are looking at some one-time seller of fake IDs in the park. This has to be a bigger operation," said Christina Fiflis, a Boulder immigration lawyer who is handling some of the cases stemming from the raid on the Swift meatpacking plant in Greeley on Dec. 12. Most of the 261 people swept up in the raid Dec. 12 had phony identification. Simultaneous raids at Swift plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Utah led to 1,282 arrests overall. Swift spokesman Sean McHugh said the government is probably trying to make cases against people involved in identity theft, not Swift.
Threat spurs immigration discussion
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070507/NEWS/105070037
What if the writing on the wall really is "the writing on the wall?" In the wake of threats on a portable toilet wall at the Snowmass Base Village construction site - something that provoked a weeklong security increase for area law enforcement officials - members of the Latino community in the Roaring Fork Valley say it is not just about graffiti. Someone wrote a time and date - 2:15 p.m. Friday, May 4 - to shoot Mexicans on the site, according to workers. Police would not comment about the content of the message but reacted in force, heightening patrols through the week and all day Friday. "An event like that is unsettling," said Karen Sherman Perez of Montrose. Perez is a member of the Western Colorado Justice for Immigrants Committees, which advocates immigrant rights and legislative reforms in communities across the Western Slope.
Health Care and Public Safety
Leaders of Flats workers' group try to figure out their next move
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524187,00.html
It came as a shock to sick Rocky Flats workers last week when federal officials rejected their pleas for automatic compensation and medical care. They'd been hoping to persuade officials that records from the demolished nuclear weapons plant near Denver were so faulty the workers can't prove radiation caused their cancers. At a hearing Thursday, a federal board didn't explain its reasoning for rejecting the workers' argument. But in interviews later, officials admitted some data were missing in nearly all the 1,000 Rocky Flats claims they processed, and said they filled in the blank spots with estimates of radiation exposures. Workers maintain those blank spots prove the records are faulty and therefore should not be used to deny compensation.
Platte edges over banks
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524453,00.html
The South Platte River pushed over its banks Sunday in downtown Denver, covering bike paths and small trees with water. To die-hard kayakers, it was a beautiful thing. Kasey Ankney, 33, of Vail, came to the lowlands over the weekend to take advantage of the "epic" spring flow. Sunday afternoon, she prepared to put her kayak into the South Platte at the Union Avenue chutes for the second day in a row. "I got throttled in one of these holes (Saturday)," Ankney said. "I just fell into it. I almost got served." But not everyone sees the raging waters so positively. With temperatures expected to climb this week, authorities are concerned that less experienced people may attempt to tube or kayak, or simply put a toe in, and get swept away or otherwise injured. The risk of flash flooding is also elevated. Since more than 250,000 people live in Colorado's floodplains, that's a concern.
Stay home in event of wildfire?
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070507/NEWS/105070041
It may seem counterintuitive. But the best course of action for some local residents might be to stay in their homes when a wildfire threatens. That's according to the consultants who prepared a Community Wildfire Protection Plan for the Glenwood Springs Fire Protection District. Boulder-based Anchor Point Fire Management Group suggests the idea in the case of several Glenwood-area neighborhoods that have limited access and could easily be cut off by fires in drainages below homes. These include Glenwood Highlands, Oasis Creek, upper Canyon Creek, upper Mitchell Creek, Canyon Creek Estates, Three Mile, Black Diamond, Oak Meadows and north No Name. "In addition to improved access/egress, consideration should be given to developing 'shelter in place' areas that are designed as alternatives to evacuation through hazardous areas," the report says.
RELATED: Residential areas in the danger zone
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070507/NEWS/105070043
Aurora's pit-bull ban wins 2nd round
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5823239
The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against the city of Aurora over its pit-bull ban. Brighton resident Khristina Villani, who owns property in Aurora, brought the suit against the city in Arapahoe County District Court, saying that her constitutional rights were violated by the ban. Villani, who represented herself, had asked for the appeal after a judge dismissed the case because the court did not receive a response she was later found to have sent. The dismissal was promptly vacated. But in the end, the Court of Appeals found Thursday that she did not prove her case. Villani could not be reached for comment Friday.
County inspectors make sure recalled food gets tossed
http://www.gazette.com/articles/food_22000___article.html/mydlowski_inspectors.html
First, there was the spinach E-coli scare of September. Less than a month later, a smaller recall was issued for a specific brand of carrot juice for possible botulism contamination. The first couple of months of 2007 brought a nationwide peanut butter recall for salmonella, and stores also have yanked meats potentially tainted with Listeria. “We’ve had at least eight (recalls) since September,” said Don Mydlowski, the program director in charge of food safety for the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment. The most recent, which occurred last week, involved turkey that could be at risk for carrying Listeria, a rare but dangerous bacteria.
State watching probe of boy's death
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/05/5_5_1a_Dead_boy_folo.html
The Colorado Department of Human Services has concerns about Alternative Youth Adventures, a wilderness-based program for at-risk children that oversaw an outing where a 15-year-old Utah boy died Wednesday, according to the agency. “We have great concern for the kids in the program, and we’re monitoring the investigation,” said Liz McDonough, a spokeswoman for the state agency. McDonough said the state has a long-term contract with Alternative Youth Adventures, and 26 Colorado teens currently are enrolled in its program.
Crime and Penal Reform
Push for more U.S. courts
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834100
After the murder of Prisllena Lopez's brother Tracy on Ute Mountain Ute land in southwest Colorado in 2005, the killer was to be sentenced in Denver. Lopez and other grieving relatives packed into a van, pitched in for gas and drove seven hours to the federal courthouse - only to find the sentencing had been postponed. Later, relatives listened to the sentencing by telephone hookup from Durango. "We couldn't see anything," said Lopez, 40. Missing the sentencing, she said, means a lack of closure, "like a cut on your leg you will always remember." Difficult access to Denver's federal courthouse leaves people in outlying areas of Colorado "frustrated and discouraged," Lopez said.
Colo. tribal officers deputized to help enforce federal laws
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834109
About a fifth of federal criminal cases the U.S. attorney's office handles in Colorado involve the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute reservations in the state's southwest corner, hundreds of miles from Denver. U.S. Attorney Troy Eid has been cross-deputizing tribal police and sheriff's officers to help enforce federal laws. More than 40 law enforcement officers on the Southern Ute reservation, in Archuleta and La Plata counties, and in Durango have been deputized as federal officers under a pilot program, Eid said. Training in Cortez this month, involving the Colorado State Patrol and Montezuma County officers, will lead to more federal deputies cleared to write federal citations. "We expect we're going to get more cases as a result," Eid said.
Bill creates new judgeship for 14th Judicial District
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26438
Craig resident Robert Aaberg has spent six years on the 14th Judicial District Nominating Commission, a board tasked with selecting potential replacements for outgoing judges. In his tenure, he's helped replace five judges. Soon, he'll begin working on what could be his last search for a new jurist, lucky number six.
Drug court gets people's lives back
http://postindependent.com/article/20070506/VALLEYNEWS/105060042
There's a black, 1,000-pound telephone sitting on the rail between the audience and the court. It actually weighs only a couple pounds, but the fake barbell on the phone with "1,000" written on it gives people a simple reminder: It's hard for anyone to pick up the phone and say, "I need help." That's what drug court is all about - getting help. "We want people to reach out because one of the biggest risk factors for addicts is isolation," probation officer Terry Shanahan said.
FBI agent: Arrested in gang raids, suspect no stranger to weapons
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5521793,00.html
One of the men arrested in last month's massive gang takedown once answered the door wearing two guns, practiced shooting at a local firing range and robbed another suspect of 100 pounds of marijuana, leaving him "gurgling" and asking for an ambulance, an FBI agent testified Friday. Charles Littlejohn, of Denver, had "one of the most serious collections of weapons I've seen," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Rhodes told a judge. Among the weapons seized were a machine gun, a .50-caliber handgun and a shotgun. Defense attorney Wade Eldridge argued that Littlejohn has no previous felonies and that the government has no proof that the weapons belong to him. But Magistrate Boyd N. Boland ordered Littlejohn held without bail.
Medical pot case defense: Search illegal
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070505/NEWS01/705050344/1002/NEWS17
The attorney for a couple who said they grew marijuana for medical reasons tried to establish Friday that authorities illegally searched their home last year. James and Lisa Masters face cultivation and possession charges stemming from an Aug. 2, 2006, visit paid to their home by Larimer County child protection workers and Fort Collins police officers following up on an anonymous tip received by the county's Department of Human Services.
Samaritan graffiti: As art, it can be good
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5522126,00.html
Alejandro Casillas is quite familiar with the spray-painted letters and other markings that designate the neighborhood gang in the Globeville section of Denver. The 15-year-old knows that "tagging" is a crime, and an unwanted presence on fences, walls and buildings. But recently, Casillas and other neighborhood young people were introduced to the idea of graffiti as a cultural art form.
Officer wants to walk beat as Mrs. Colorado
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524300,00.html
Commerce City cop Lanissa Blevens wears her police badge on the left side of her navy blue uniform and at least 20 pounds of equipment wrapped around her waist, including her sidearm. This week she hopes she'll be walking down the runway of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver dressed in a long black gown decorated with rhinestones, with a crown on her coiffed hair and a sash draped from her right shoulder that says: Mrs. Colorado 2007.
Economy
Ritter: Heritage tourism is ‘a great economic opportunity'
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26461
Economic development happens on more than the Front Range. So said Gov. Bill Ritter Saturday to an audience of an estimated 60 people at the Craig Holiday Inn, during the regional meeting of the Northwest Colorado Cultural and Heritage Tourism Regional In-itiative. Because economic development happens across Colorado, "we're traveling the state," Ritter said, "and this is a great opportunity to put an exclamation point on that because Heritage Tourism is one part of economic development for places like Moffat County." Ritter, in his first appearance in Moffat County since being elected, talked about opportunities in Moffat and Rio Blanco counties in regard to heritage tourism -- a branch of tourism oriented toward the historical or cultural heritage of the tourism location.
RELATED: Exclusively online: Q-and-A with Gov. Ritter
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26472
Crocs leads state to record
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5521563,00.html
An index of Colorado stocks rose to a record this week, led by Crocs Inc. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. The Bloomberg Rocky Mountain News Index, a price-weighted list of companies based in the state, rose 7.19, or 1.7 percent, to 432.70. Advancing stocks outnumbered those that fell, 65 to 42, with three unchanged. The index rose as high as 433.35 Friday.
Feds dispute Nacchio's bid for new trial
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5521732,00.html
Federal prosecutors argued Friday that it's too late for former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio to seek a new trial based on grounds an error may have been made by the court in initially winnowing the prospective juror pool from 1,000 to 78. In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Denver, prosecutors argued that such a motion was required to have been made before jury selection on March 19. They also said Nacchio has no legal right to get the responses to the 1,000 pretrial questionnaires but that it's up to the court whether to release them. Nacchio's attorneys requested the responses last week, saying they intended to seek a new trial in part on grounds an error may have been made by the court in narrowing the pool.
Newmont's record as good as gold
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5522121,00.html
After five years of The Colorado 50, it's possible to crown an all-time champ: Newmont Mining. Newmont, the very first champion in 2003, has finished in the top 10 every year since, with top-three finishes in 2004 and 2007. More specifically, its average score over the five years of The Colorado 50 is better than any other company included in all the reports. Each year, companies are ranked from first to last in five financial categories, and the scores are averaged. The lower the number, the better - 1 is perfect, a first-place finish in every category. Newmont has averaged an 11.01 over the past five years, just ahead of First Data, a company that's finished No. 2 in three of the five years but never ascended to the top.
RELATED: Qwest fought back to recapture top spot
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5522166,00.html
RELATED: How the top 50 list was designed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5522122,00.html
Retail zones envisioned downtown
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5833606
When RedPeak Properties began renovating the downtown high-rise now known as 1600 Glenarm Place, attracting the right ground-floor retailers was a critical part of the planning. "We were trying to provide support for our residents and the lifestyle we were trying to create here, 'the building never sleeps' type of thing," said Michael Zoellner, the group's president. "We were trying to create an 18-hour activity center that would make our building a real hub of traffic and activity." Instead of the furniture and kitchen stores RedPeak envisioned, "all we saw were restaurants and clubs," Zoellner said. The group ended up actively recruiting the tenants they wanted and structuring the deals so they would be successful.
Colo. marriage records off Web
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/07/colo-marriage-records-off-web/
A state-run Web site that featured a searchable database of marriage and divorce records has been pulled down because of concerns over identity theft. Since 2003, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment allowed visitors to search by name for anyone who had received a marriage license or who had been divorced within Colorado. But late last year, officials started to wonder whether that made sense, said Ronald Hyman, the state registrar of vital statistics.
Satellite mission has local impact
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5823781
Local aerospace companies Ball Aerospace and Starsys are playing key roles in an experiment that could extend the lives of orbiting satellites. If it succeeds, the $300 million Orbital Express mission could show that it's possible to robotically connect two satellites in space for refueling and servicing.
Mars spacecraft begins 1st stage of trip
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834104
NASA's Phoenix lander - built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Inc. - is set to begin its year-long journey from Jefferson County to Mars today. The size of a kitchen table, Phoenix should settle its three feet down near Mars' north pole next May, stretch out a 7-foot arm and dig in martian soil for signs of life.
4 questions for Peter Chapman, executive director of Seedco Financial Denver
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5522111,00.html
Dressed in a navy pinstriped suit, Peter Chapman looks every bit the Wall Streeter he briefly was at the start of his career. But the Manhattan native has spent two decades since then in a much different line of work that he describes as far more "brain teasing": urban development and renewal. The highly educated Chapman grew up the son of a New York City homicide detective. He's writing a screenplay - "a dramatic comedy" - about his experience being black at a predominantly white prep school. At 42, he soon will leave his post as policy adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper. His next job entails running a financial nonprofit aiming to turn around Denver's most impoverished neighborhoods.
Judge: Quiznos stores can stay open
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5819988
A group of Quiznos franchisees at odds with the Denver sandwich chain earned a modest legal victory this week, when a judge in Denver upheld a temporary injunction that blocks the company from terminating their franchise agreements. The ruling by U.S. District Judge John L. Kane means the dispute will be settled at trial. The issue stems from a decision last year by members of a Quiznos franchisee group to post online a suicide note left by a California franchisee. In a two-page suicide note, Bhupinder "Bob" Baber angrily accused Quiznos of mistreating franchise owners.
Education
Charters vs. small communities
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5524170,00.html
Laura Reed and her friends have dreamed of opening a charter school in Sterling since 2005. Although she acknowledges she doesn't have a lot of background in education, Reed, the mother of a second-grader in Sterling public schools, says she believes "what I am doing is best for the kids." Sterling school officials take a different view. They have refused three times to approve the Sterling Charter Academy, saying the application doesn't cover operational details, such as the cost of supplies or providing services to at-risk students. "Of course, they look at it from a parent's perspective, as they should," Superintendent Betty Summers said of the charter group. "And we, as professional educators, are looking at it from our vantage of being educators and often spending many years in this profession." Fourteen years after a charter school bill was passed by the Colorado legislature with bipartisan support, parents and school officials around the state remain deeply divided over when citizens should be allowed to open their own schools with public funds.
Donor weighs in on scholarship flap
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5522123,00.html
Tim Marquez and his wife, Bernadette, were just trying to do some good. In November, the couple announced a $50 million gift to create the private Denver Scholarship Foundation. The goal: Help every graduate of Denver Public Schools go to college. The premise is simple. Every DPS graduate must apply for financial aid and scholarships. Their families are expected to make a contribution, based on income guidelines. Subtract those amounts from the costs of tuition, fees and expenses such as books and what's left is "unmet need." That's where the Denver Scholarship Foundation comes in. For the spring graduates of three Denver high schools - Abraham Lincoln, Montbello and South - the foundation has promised to meet that "unmet need." Only it's a little more complicated than that. In fact, Marquez said, it's downright complex. The foundation calculated it would take about $3,000 per student to cover the costs. And they've been negotiating with Colorado colleges and universities to discount tuition, fees and expenses for foundation students. Then this week, after news of a $3,000 "cap" began circulating at the high schools, some families got mad. The Denver Scholarship Foundation, some students and parents claimed, was reneging on its promise.
RELATED: Aid limit fails students' dreams
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834394
Funding 'essential programs'
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070506/NEWS/105060079
One of Aspen's many nonprofit organizations is devoted exclusively to an idea that local taxpayers might find difficult to believe - the proposition that Aspen does not spend enough money on educating its children. The Aspen Education Foundation, founded in 1991 to provide help to the Aspen School District in offering "creative and innovative programs" for local students, has graduated to a point where "we are now funding what I consider essential programs," said AEF Director Lisa Chiles.
Bible finding spot among school texts
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5828711
When a self-professed pagan priestess and a devout Christian emerge from the same high school Bible literature class equally challenged but all smiles, teacher Chris Hartman knows he's doing his job. "Is it my job to teach you your faith?" Hartman shouts. "No!" the class shouts back. "Whose job is it?" "Ours!" In this popular Wasson High School elective, for which there is a waiting list, students from different backgrounds and religions say they can think deep thoughts about the Bible and even share them. And no one on the right or left has complained about the class, Hartman says. In contrast, other school districts across the country that have added Bible-based courses, or tried to, have attracted scrutiny and controversy.
Liberty, Traut third-graders are 'perfect' CSAP readers
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070505/NEWS01/705050364/1002/NEWS17
Empowered parents and stellar instruction helped Traut Core Knowledge School and Liberty Common School land perfect scores on this year's Colorado State Assessment Program, or CSAP, reading tests for third-graders, school leaders said. All third-grade students at Traut and Liberty scored at least "proficient" on this year's CSAP reading test, according to results released this week. Nine other schools statewide accomplished the feat.
BVSD considers gender identity policy
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/07/bvsd-considers-gender-identity-policy/
Boulder Valley is considering becoming only the second school district in the state to include gender identity and expression in its nondiscrimination policy. The school board is scheduled to vote on the change at its Tuesday meeting. When school board members discussed the change at their last meeting, they generally were supportive.
East closure could spark D-11 shake-up
http://www.gazette.com/articles/committee_21996___article.html/school_bishop.html
The closure of East Middle School could open the door for widespread changes in Colorado Springs School District 11. How grade levels are grouped, school boundaries, building use and which programs help student achievement are among the topics a committee will consider this summer. It’s a broad agenda, but Superintendent Terry Bishop says it’s needed to ensure the district uses resources wisely to help students do better in class. The board hasn’t signed off on the specifics, but the committee will likely have 20 to 30 people and make recommendations by the end of the year.
Poudre High wins national title, spends time with President Bush
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070507/NEWS/105060166
They walked into the Oval Office with their knees shaking and their hearts pounding. This was the White House, for heaven's sake, and the guy behind the desk was the leader of the free world. Jack Lundt still can't believe it. His experience Monday with five Poudre High School students is a story for the ages. Lundt, 55, the science bowl teacher at Poudre High School in Fort Collins, and his team just finished winning the 17th 2007 U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl for high school students at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Washington, D.C., when they were whisked off to the White House to meet President Bush. "The White House was really awe-inspiring. The President of the United States is in there to talk to you and congratulate you," Lundt said. "You don't know what the heck to say." Lundt, a veteran teacher at Poudre, coached juniors Sam Elder and Logan Wright and seniors Patrick Chaffey, Winston Gao and Sam Sun, the team captain, to the national title.
RELATED: Ritter helps cheer science winners
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070505/NEWS01/705050361/1002/NEWS17
Civics taught hands-on
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070507/NEWS01/705070331/1002
The Legislature came alive for 10 Laurel Elementary School students Friday as they walked the halls of the state Capitol, visited with lawmakers and got a Civics 101 class on government. Participating in the "Journey in Government" program the school does every two years, the students' visit to the state's most important building was the second stop on a weekslong, hands-on tour of government.
Group seeks to add middle school to Dual Immersion
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/06/5_6_Dual_Immersion.html
A task force of parents, teachers and administrators from Dual Immersion Academy wants to expand dual-language educational opportunities for their students by adding a middle school component to the program. Dual Immersion Academy currently serves kindergarten through fourth grades and will add a fifth grade next school year. Members of the task force proposed the middle school at a School District 51 Board of Education meeting last week. Principal Jose Melendez said the school’s learning format, which integrates a second language, either English or Spanish, into core academic classes, is one that has been proven to work well, particularly for minority students whose second language is English.
Diplomas in hand
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178427600/1
Members of Colorado State University-Pueblo's Class of 2007 were told Saturday morning that the world is ready, waiting and in need of their newly acquired education. "We need you to be an active part of the local, state, national and world community," commencement speaker Sandra Madrid told the nearly 600 graduates during the ceremony at the Colorado State Fair Events Center. "Our racial, cultural and religious differences have always been a strength of this country, but now there seems to be a disconnect," said the 1974 graduate of CSU-Pueblo's predecessor, Southern Colorado State College.
RELATED: PCC grads told to make a difference
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178341200/1
RELATED: ASC grads challenged to improve the world
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178427600/13
RELATED: Seventy-five [CMC] students began new chapters Saturday
http://postindependent.com/article/20070506/VALLEYNEWS/105060044
Pitches for campus security products up
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/05/va-tech-shooting-pitches-for-security-products/
The University of Colorado and other colleges across the country are being deluged with sales pitches from high-tech companies offering campus security systems. The increased interest from colleges and increased marketing by companies come in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre, which left 33 people dead, including the gunman. Dennis Maloney, executive director of information-technology services for CU, said anytime there is highly publicized school violence, the university receives a slew of safety pitches."We get inundated," he said. "Anybody with an idea or product gives us a call."
Events add more urgency to school safety seminar
http://postindependent.com/article/20070505/VALLEYNEWS/105050037
When Glenwood Springs police chief Terry Wilson last year helped pick the topic of school safety for a law enforcement training conference this weekend, he had no idea how much recent news events would give the conference added weight.
RELATED: School shooting is a hard thing to forget
http://postindependent.com/article/20070505/VALLEYNEWS/105050038
Student leader worries about safety
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/07/5_7_3a_Rangely_student_safety.html
Colorado Northwestern Community College’s student body president, Cory Sullivan, said he was told that college President John Boyd cancelled Sullivan’s upcoming commencement speech because Sullivan had talked to The Daily Sentinel about student safety concerns. A faculty member, the Rangely’s police chief and Sullivan all think student safety should be a higher priority of the college administration, particularly after last month’s tragic campus shootings at Virginia Tech University. Boyd said the concerns are overblown, and security and student safety are always prime concerns at the college. Boyd could not be reached for comment Friday, but in an interview earlier in the week, he said Sullivan “did not speak for all students” and “always wants to be the center of attention.”
The courage to change: CU recovery center offers hope
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/06/the-courage-to-change-cu-recovery-center-offers/
Davis was an Eagle Scout, a high-school valedictorian who went away to the University of Colorado a year early. As an upperclassman, he ran a popular campus safety program. He was a model student for the university; a polished photo of him was included in the glossy brochures sent to potential applicants. But he was also working 60 hours a week — sleeping just three a night — and taking 21 credit hours, plus two shots of Jack Daniels in the morning and sometimes a line or two of cocaine. The one-time honors student would spend the next 4½ years in prison for vehicular homicide. Davis, 27, now has been out of prison for a year. He'll graduate this week with a degree in communication — and the burden of disclosing his felon status on job applications. His return to CU — where he had little other than the pride compelling him to finish his degree — came at a fortunate time: the campus had just launched the Students in Recovery Program, designed to help people like Davis overcome their once-crippling addictions and succeed on campus.
SVVSD taking suicide seriously
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16170
School officials are talking to students at Longmont High School about suicide risks in the wake of 15-year-old Kristen Worthen’s taking her own life Tuesday.
'Displaced Aurarians' recognized
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524188,00.html
Most of the heartbreak associated with being forced out of their homes 33 years ago to make way for the Auraria campus has subsided - but not all of it. Former residents and their offspring gathered Friday in a park that was once part of a bustling Hispanic neighborhood to see a new monument in their honor and to get updates on scholarships offered to their descendants. A small slice of the area once called Westside is now a living museum - a row of preserved Victorian cottages on Ninth Street, built between 1872 and 1906 and now used for academic offices. A noticeable sense of nostalgia hung over the ceremony as campus leaders shared words of thanks before removing a tarp covering a large rock in Ninth Street Historic Park. On it is a plaque and quote by composer Daniel Valdez: "They come to the park to sit down and talk of the Westside of Denver; they still reminisce of the places they missed."
Appeals court to hear arguments in '01 CU rape case
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524171,00.html
Two women who alleged they were sexually assaulted by University of Colorado football players and recruits will take their case to the U.S. Court of Appeals today. The women's attorneys will present arguments that their combined lawsuit, which accuses CU of violating the federal gender equity law known as Title IX, was improperly dismissed in March 2005 by U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn. This afternoon's hearing, scheduled for 30 minutes before a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, is the latest chapter in a saga that began the first weekend of December 2001.
Military
Veterans discuss life after war
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/05/veterans-discuss-life-after-war/
After serving in the war in Iraq, David Mann, of Boulder, said he was upset by his community and by a parade that greeted him and other soldiers when they returned to Fort Carson. Mann said the parade celebrated heroism, but he did not feel like celebrating and did not feel like a hero. He said his time in the war was "pointless and frivolous." "I wasn't fighting for freedom," Mann said. "We already had that." Mann was part of a panel discussion hosted by Naropa University students Friday night. The discussion, which took place at the university's administration building in Boulder, was organized to give war veterans and their family members a chance to discuss their experiences with the community.
Rachers triumph over land battle with the feds... for now anyway
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070506/NEWS/105050129
It's sort of like robbing Peter to pay Paul, as the old saying goes. But in this case, Peter is a rancher and Paul is the U.S. Army. Gov. Bill Ritter and most Colorado lawmakers have taken Peter's side, and are hoping to stop the Army from using eminent domain to expand a military training site in southern Colorado. Ritter signed a bill Thursday that removes the federal government's option to use eminent domain to obtain land for military purposes. The hope is that it would prevent the Army from condemning land to expand its Piñon Canyon training site by 653 square miles -- almost triple the land the Army already has. The expansion would absorb dozens of ranches. With Ritter's signature on House Bill 1069, the state is basically saying "no" to the federal government.
Combat stress has Pentagon under siege
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178548180/1
As the war in Iraq enters its fifth year, the Pentagon is under siege from within and without over how it handles the growing numbers of soldiers and Marines suffering from combat stress. Only last Thursday, the Defense Department's Task Force on Mental Health delivered its preliminary report that said 38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of Marines report mental health issues ranging from post-combat stress to severe brain injuries - and those numbers are likely to worsen as troops return to Iraq for multiple deployments. The numbers are even worse for the part-time soldiers who have been fighting in Iraq, members of the National Guard. The task force found that nearly 50 percent of Guard members reported mental health issues after deployment.
Physical therapy
http://www.gazette.com/articles/going_22012___article.html/one_yards.html
A dozen men lay in various stages of sleep, each sprawled on his own section of the high jump pit at the indoor track at the Air Force Academy’s Cadet Field House. With their stomachs satiated from a sack lunch, these members of the U.S. Paralympic Military Program showed exhaustion from a morning of athletic drills. Just 30 minutes before sitting down to eat, 37-year-old John Gierke, one of 16 Iraq veterans in the program, pushed through the pain and awkwardness of a three-week-old prosthetic leg. Justin Laferrier of San Antonio’s Center for the Intrepid, a military rehabilitation hospital, and Troy Engle, the U.S. Paralympic track and field coach, showed little mercy in taking Gierke and his comrades through the rigors of improving their sprinting techniques. The program introduces injured soldiers to a multitude of activities. It shows the soldiers the benefits of sports in helping rehabilitation.
Dad accepts soldier's diploma
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5828128
Half a world away from Denver, Army Capt. Joel Parker sat in a military camp outside Baghdad on Saturday and watched his graduation ceremony from Regis University via the Internet. A virtual graduation was fitting for Parker, since he has been completing his master's of business administration degree online while fighting on the front lines.
Disabled vets get tax break
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178548180/6
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.
AFA chief: Minority recruit goals missed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524301,00.html
The Air Force Academy will miss its goals for admitting blacks and Hispanics for the Class of 2011 despite an emphasis on minority recruiting, Lt. Gen. John Regni, the academy superintendent, said. Regni told the academy's Board of Visitors on Friday that the school could face new challenges in recruiting minorities, too. The Defense Department wants to strip military academies of their ability to favor minority recruits by granting waivers to academic entrance requirements, he said. He also warned that a recent audit will recommend slashing 100, or about half, of the slots from the Air Force Academy's Preparatory School.
Religion
Pie thrower targets pastor
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524176,00.html
A service at a breakaway Episcopal parish was disrupted Sunday when a man threw a pie at the pastor, police said. Marcus Hyde, who was arrested in the incident, faces potential misdemeanor charges, a police report said. Witnesses told police a man entered a side door of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish during a Sunday service and tossed the pie at the Rev. Donald Armstrong III. Parishioners chased the suspect and were holding him in front of the church when officers arrived, police said. The suspect said he was passing judgment on Armstrong for his fellow parishioners, according to a police report.
RELATED: Parishioners nab suspect after pie thrown at preacher
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834473
RELATED: Grace Episcopal pastor faces a big slice of criticism
http://www.gazette.com/articles/church_22024___article.html/hyde_armstrong.html
Inaugural Jewish fest provides fun for all
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834472
After four years in Denver, Shaul Amir is returning home to Israel next month. As the Israel director for Denver's Allied Jewish Federation, Amir says he has worked to bring the "heart of Israel to Colorado." Sunday, home was closer already. The first Denver Jewish Festival brought together 1,500 people from across the Front Range in a celebration of all that it means to be Jewish. "This is thrilling to me," Amir said. "So many have come together to collaborate through this event." Dozens of Israeli flags flew high, bands like Rocky Mountain Jewgrass performed onstage, and food - strictly kosher - was served on the grounds of the Denver Academy of Torah.
Vandals hit Cortez church
Vandals entered the Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church, scrawled satanic graffiti on walls, cabinets and a painting of Jesus, and wrote "Book of Lies" on the cover of the pulpit Bible.
Energy Policy
State legislature kind to energy measures
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5522042,00.html
It's been a banner year so far for energy legislation. The Democratic-controlled Colorado House and Senate, which wrapped up the legislative session Friday, heard at least 50 bills related to energy development. And the legislature passed nearly two dozen of them - some aimed at minimizing the impact of oil and gas drilling on the environment, wildlife and human health, and others focused on boosting the generation of power from renewable sources such as sun, wind and plant and animal waste. A key bill overhauls the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the state agency that regulates the energy industry. The bill expands the commission to include environmental oversights and no longer guarantees industry a majority representation.
Ritter unsure of severance tax measure
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/06/5_6_1b_Democrat_event.html
Gov. Bill Ritter said the fate of a bipartisan measure that could double the amount of severance tax dollars directly returned to energy-impacted communities remains uncertain. Ritter, who attended the Mesa County Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson Jackson dinner Saturday, said he will continue talks with the bill’s stakeholders before deciding whether to veto or sign it into law. “We’re still in that process where some bills, like (House Bill 1139), rise to a different level and will take a conversation with me before I get to a place that I’m comfortable signing it or I think it’s the right thing to veto it,” Ritter said. House Bill 1139 would double the proportion of severance tax dollars the Department of Local Affairs directly distributes to energy-impacted communities.
Film examines effects of newest energy boom
http://postindependent.com/article/20070505/VALLEYNEWS/105050036
When Joe Brown heard a radio program about oil shale a couple years ago, the University of Colorado senior decided other people needed to know about it. He decided to make a film about what he felt was an under-reported energy boom in the state and its effects on people and the land. "I'd never made a film before," the history major said. But he had a friend who was a filmmaker who could advise him, and on a very low budget, about $10,000, he shot the 87-minute film over the course of about two years. He started spending time on the West Slope, attending meetings on oil shale, seeing first hand the effect of a booming oil and gas industry on this part of the state.
Oil and gas well-ness checkup
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5828712
Dee Hoffmeister awoke at 3 a.m. early in March with her head spinning. The oversized red numbers on the alarm clock were a blur. She couldn't get out of bed without her husband's help. It was a familiar feeling. A gas well a stone's throw from the Hoffmeisters' retirement home south of Silt was on fire, and the area was steeped in oily smoke. Hoffmeister, 69, who has suffered intermittent mysterious ailments since that well was drilled in 2005, ended up at the emergency room. Hoffmeister and hundreds of others believe their aches and pains - and more serious ailments - are directly related to some of the 31,522 wells that dot vast stretches of the Piceance Basin and other oil-rich areas of the state. So do some doctors who treat them. But in this state and others, there are no studies proving a connection. And no agency has been charged with documenting all health concerns, leaving sick residents in limbo. Some energy companies have been willing to help - but without acknowledging a connection between illnesses and wells. Bill Barrett Corp. offered to pay for Hoffmeister to stay in a motel or apartment for six months. It also added controls to minimize emissions. Hoffmeister's condition improved.
Palisade residents invited to watershed drilling meeting
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/06/5_6_water_meetings.html
Palisade residents have a final opportunity to suggest how to manage drilling in the watershed above Palisade by Genesis Gas and Oil. A meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Palisade Community Center in Palisade Park, 120 W. Eighth St., for the public to suggest the best ways to drill on Bureau of Land Management lands in the watershed. The meeting is not to discuss whether drilling should occur in the watershed. “They (the BLM) have chosen to lease those properties,” said Tim Sarmo, Palisade’s town administrator. “What we are talking about now is what is the best way to protect those properties if and when drilling occurs.” At this point, the plan is only a draft. It was prepared by stakeholders, including the town, Grand Junction, Genesis Gas and Oil, the BLM and private property owners. Public input is invited and encouraged, Sarmo said.
Doctors describe local air quality
Area physicians have weighed in on a proposed coal-fired power plant south of Shiprock, N.M., citing reports on regional emissions' hazardous health effects. During a Wednesday night meeting that San Juan Citizens Alliance sponsored, three doctors described the medical effects that pollutants from coal-fired power plants can have on area residents. Dr. Marcus Higi, a Cortez family physician who’s also practiced on the Navajo Reservation, said he opposes Sithe Global’s plan to build a 1,500-megawatt, coal-fired power plant, known as the Desert Rock Energy Project, on the tribe’s land about 20 miles south of Shiprock.
Residents voice concern about uranium mining
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070507/NEWS01/705070327/1002
Residents near Nunn got the chance Sunday to talk with lawmakers about the proposed areas to be mined by Powertech Uranium Corp. in the prairie east of Wellington. Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, and Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, met with concerned residents who say the uranium mining will contaminate the area's groundwater and, as a result, negatively affect the health of livestock.
Metal-munching microbes could help clean up uranium mill sites
http://postindependent.com/article/20070506/VALLEYNEWS/105060043
The Department of Energy (DOE) has a new weapon it's hoping will help clean up heavy metal contamination at the sites of two former uranium mills in Rifle. It's testing a form of bacteria, Geobacter sulfurreducens, which actually reacts with uranium and removes it from groundwater. The "bioremediation" project at the two former Union Carbide uranium and vanadium mills has been going on for a few years now but recently DOE's Office of Science awarded Pacific Northwest National Labs $13 million over five years to continue with the research. The grant, which totals over $27 million, will also fund research at the Hanford nuclear waste facility in Washington. Union Carbide Corp. operated vanadium and uranium processing mills at two sites in Rifle, from 1924 through 1983, with some inactive years in between. The mill was originally located about one third of a mile east of town and in 1958 it was moved to a new site three miles west of Rifle.
City frowns on Smiley solar effort
Charles Shaw has been hailed locally as a pioneer of sorts when it comes to sustainable energy, but the co-owner of the Smiley Building has ruffled feathers from Durango to Denver with his latest project. Shaw, who owns the Smiley with his wife, Lisa Bodwalk, added 120 solar panels to the former school building in February, effectively removing the structure from the power grid. However, Durango officials say Shaw neglected a key step in the process - obtaining a building permit - and that omission could cost Shaw thousands of dollars.
Gas: $3 a gallon and rising
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5823632
Surging gas prices are rippling through Colorado's economy, raising transportation costs for everyone from real estate agents to grocers and causing consumers to tighten their belts. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Colorado passed $3 last week, a hike of more than 40 percent from just three months ago. It was the earliest in the year that gasoline passed that threshold, including the past two years, which have been marked by high prices at the pump. The fast rise - up from $2.09 in late January - has many Coloradans wondering how high gas will go this summer.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Early FasTracks spending appears behind schedule
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524454,00.html
An army of private contractors and consultants is busily at work on FasTracks, earning more than $23 million so far - a down payment on outside services that will exceed a half-billion dollars. But that $23 million actually should have been higher by now, a reflection of how the ambitious rapid-transit expansion project is lagging. Engineers, planners, architects, appraisers and a host of others are swelling the ranks of the $4.7 billion project. They represent 94 firms from the Denver area and around the country. Some have key personnel working full time in FasTracks offices, but most others are on retainer, called in periodically and paid on an as-needed basis.
Higher passenger numbers spur airport improvements
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524448,00.html
Denver International Airport's underground train system is getting improvements that will allow it to carry nearly 2,000 more people an hour, a response to record passenger counts. Starting in November, new computer programming will allow the automated system to run six trains simultaneously instead of five today. It means passengers will wait less time for the next train and be more likely to find room on it. "This new software will give us the most we can get out of the system as it is now," said Greg Holt, DIA's manager of maintenance and engineering. Running six trains with four cars each will bump up the carrying capacity of the system to 16,800 passengers an hour from today's 14,934.
RELATED: New voices coming for DIA trains
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524450,00.html
Door cracking open for I-70 mass transit?
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070505/NEWS/105050073
Could the door be cracking open for the monorails talked about for the last decade on Interstate 70? Don't hold your breath, but something slightly more tangible is now afoot than in the past. Metropolitan Denver's Regional Transportation District has agreed to review competing proposals from three companies to build trains between Denver International Airport and the city's downtown. All three propose to use mag-lev technology, which use electrically charged magnets to power rail-based vehicles.
Trying to fill the gaps
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/05/5_5_1b__Lake_tunnel.html
Motorists on Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon will face an additional delay of up to 25 minutes beginning Monday, a Colorado Department of Transportation official said. That’s when a major resurfacing of portions of the eastbound lanes, from the No Name overpass to the Grizzly Creek rest area, begins. Motorists also have a detour to deal with because of the closure of the eastbound Hanging Lake tunnel, where a large crack in the tunnel’s concrete is being repaired.
Forget road work; it's foggy here
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5521794,00.html
Between the near whiteout conditions, walls of snow 18 feet high along the narrow, twisting road and the thick layer of fog hanging over the valleys, little was working the way Rocky Mountain National Park officials had planned Friday.
Aspen the namesake for new hybrid SUV
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070507/NEWS/105070040
Chrysler executives are joining the city of Aspen's Canary Initiative - kind of. The next edition of the Chrysler Aspen will be a hybrid, but it will gain only a slight increase in efficiency.
Environment and Conservation
Congress speeding up on global warming
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5823542
Ending 20 years of indecision on global warming, Congress is speeding toward sweeping energy legislation that targets everything from utility plants to light bulbs. Lawmakers said there's renewed urgency to act boldly, with Friday's release of an international scientific panel's report containing stark climate- change data. Three from Colorado have major roles in the effort. Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver will shepherd legislation coming out of a powerful House committee. Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar is pushing a slate of energy measures.
Park fees headed up
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5828126
The cost of annual passes to national parks in Colorado could increase anywhere from 43 percent to 167 percent by 2009 in a rate-structure alignment being implemented by the National Park Service. The federal agency is seeking more fee uniformity across the nation's park system, said Kathy Kupper, spokeswoman for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. "There used to be 17 different fees, depending on the park and what the park decided," Kupper said. "Now, there is a synchronized plan for four different fees." Annual passes will cost between $20 and $50, depending on the park's size and popularity. Vehicle fees will be between $10 and $25.
RELATED: Park Service Plans Higher Fees at a Third of the Parks Through 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601199.html
5 questions for climate adviser Heidi VanGenderen
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524360,00.html
In April, Gov. Bill Ritter installed Heidi VanGenderen as his "climate czarina," with the formal title of senior policy adviser on climate change and energy. It's the first such position in Colorado. VanGenderen has worked in natural resources for more than 20 years, most recently as senior associate to the Wirth Chair in Environmental and Community Development Policy at the University of Colorado.
Colo. mountain snowpack 68% of average
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5823627
Colorado's mountain snowpack has shrunk from maximum levels reached in March and April. As of May 1, the statewide snowpack was 68 percent of average - close to what it was a year ago. River basins east of the Continental Divide fared better than those in the west, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Snowpack percentages in the South Platte, Arkansas and Rio Grande river basins were near last month's or increased slightly. Declines were recorded in the Yampa and White River basins in northwestern Colorado - dropping from 69 percent of average on April 1 to 42 percent of average on May 1.
RELATED: Officials say despite moisture, danger of wildfire still present
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178427600/7
RELATED: Snowpack dips to 52% of normal
Mercury warnings issued for two lakes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5521792,00.html
Two popular northern Colorado lakes have been added to the state's growing list of sites with advisories warning anglers of elevated mercury levels in fish. State health officials this week issued warnings for Boyd Lake and Carter Lake, both in Larimer County. They bring the number of lakes in Colorado with mercury warnings up to 16. At both places, scientists found mercury accumulations in walleye tissues at levels greater than one-half part per million, the amount at which regulators say people should limit their consumption.
Health department: Stay out of the water
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178344800/3
Increasing levels of E. coli bacteria in Pueblo's waterways caused the City-County Health Department on Friday to warn people to stay out of the water. Water samples taken this week from Fountain Creek, the Arkansas River and Wildhorse Creek revealed the rising levels of E. coli bacteria. Recent storms have caused the level of local waterways to rise significantly, and the health department's testing program has shown that rising water often means rising bacteria counts. Storm runoff into creeks and rivers often carries animal waste and other pollutants into the waterways, and increased water flow also releases bacteria from sediments in the streambeds.
$1 million billing mistake mars water numbers
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/05/water-revenue-billing-mistake-mars-numbers/
Someone in Boulder recently got a water bill that was a tad too high — $1 million too high. It turns out that overcharge is responsible for the unanticipated gush of new revenue that Boulder's utilities department logged on its books during the first quarter of the year, officials said Friday.
Collbran struggles with water; public works supervisor resigns
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/05/5_5_1b_Collbran_water.html
A recent study of Collbran’s water system showed it needs more than $1 million in repairs to patch up existing leaks, but a former supervisor said the town lacks the “political will” to solve the problem. “Just to sit and spin my wheels is very frustrating when you know what has to be done, and you cannot get anything done due to the fact the political will is not there,” said Mark Sullivant, Collbran’s former public works supervisor. “There is just not the political will by the board of trustees to act on these issues.” Nor is there money to make repairs, said Sullivant, who added a study of the town’s water system by the Geotechnical Engineering Group revealed the need for $1.1 million just to fix the current leaks.
Why are bighorn sheep struggling in Rocky Mountain National Park?
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070507/NEWS01/705070328/1002
After a century of parasites, disease and a pneumonia outbreak in the 1990s, bighorn sheep are in danger across the West. Herds of bighorn sheep have dwindled from thousands and thousands across Colorado at the turn of the 19th century to pockets of hundreds, said Michael Schwartz, conservation genetics team leader and research ecologist for the Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Local Beekeeper weighs in on bee 'collapse'
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1178344800/5
Pueblo beekeeper Leroy Neal's hives haven't been affected by a mysterious malady that is causing bee colonies to disappear across the country, but he has some ideas about what could be happening. Neal, a retired teacher, keeps about 350 hives of bees and places them in fields along Fountain Creek and the Arkansas River, from Pueblo east to Avondale, with some in clover fields in the Wet Mountain Valley. Although his bees don't travel very far, Neal goes to California every winter with a friend from Wyoming who takes truckloads of bees to pollinate the burgeoning almond crop. Last winter, he saw some beekeepers who were experiencing "colony collapse disorder" - an occurrence that has been prominent in the news the last few weeks.
Exotic wildlife sanctuaries call $100,000 bond plan unbearable
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5524186,00.html
Owners of Colorado's exotic wildlife sanctuaries are yowling over proposed rules that would require closure bonds to cover going-out-of-business costs. "Coming up with the bond of $100,000 could put us out of business," said Pat Craig, director of The Wild Animal Sanctuary in rural Weld County. Craig's facility, home to 150 lions, tigers, bears, leopards, wolves and other large carnivores, is part of why the Colorado Wildlife Commission drafted the rules. In 2005 and 2006, Craig said the nonprofit facility would close because donations didn't cover costs of feeding the critters who eat 50 pounds of meat apiece a day. It wasn't the first time that Craig nearly ran out of money.
RELATED: Bond rules could strap state animal shelters
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/NEWS01/705060353/1002/NEWS17
No dumping
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/05/07/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
Boulder may be bustling with activity these days, but come CU-Boulder's graduation May 11 - and the exodus of thousands of students shortly afterward - it will soon be a much quieter place. There may also be a bit more junk lying around the city, as well. According to Lilly Wallace, each year when CU students start the annual move-out at the end of the spring semester, excess garbage becomes a major problem for local non-profits that accept used furniture, appliances and clothes. Although they accept the gently-used junk, too much too fast can be overwhelming, said Wallace, owner of Boulder-based branch 1-800-GOT-JUNK.
Local residents plant 1,300 trees for wildlife habitat
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/05/06/local_news/4.txt
You can call them hunters, but you can also call them conservationists. Western Slope residents Dave Huerkamp, wife Mary Lou, brother Tom and partner, Rick Saxton, have spent the last 15 plus years turning their 60-acre property north of Olathe into a habitat for wildlife — and this weekend they added even more.
Volunteers gather to wipe out weeds
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/07/volunteers-gather-to-wipe-out-weeds/
The Mediterranean sage plant doesn't look particularly pernicious sprouting out of the ground on a patch of Boulder County open space land off U.S. 36 and Nelson Road. About a foot across, with furry, green leaves, it looks much like other plants. But trained eyes recognize it as a smelly interloper, and it has to die. Ed Self plunges a shovel through its roots and flips the plant over. Eradication effort 1, invasive weeds — well, still several thousand points ahead. But Self, who heads a group called Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, is hoping to even the score a little by enlisting more than 100 volunteers to scour several north Boulder parcels Saturday for the plant.
History beyond Old Town Lafayette: City to survey rural properties
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/07/history-beyond-old-town-lafayette/
A new state grant will help the city identify properties that could be worth saving but may have been overlooked because they're not in the historic Old Town district.
Development violations could lead to jail time in Breck
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070506/NEWS/105060056
Developers who knowingly violate their permits could be facing mandatory jail time under a tough new ordinance. The code change is aimed at boosting compliance with development permits, especially with regard to preservation of the town's historic components. "There are some council members who feel we don't have enough teeth (under existing law)," said spokesperson Kim DiLallo. "We spend a lot of time and energy making Breckenridge as historically rich as it is ... This is a step to get compliance with permits."
Opinion
Carman: Vietnam vet lost in jungle of red tape
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5828125
Robert E. Lee is 60 years old - "a young 60," he said - and grinning proof that a sense of humor is the last thing to go. The skinny Vietnam vet with an American flag on the wall in his southwest Denver house puts his thumb on the hole in his misshapen neck when he needs to speak. With each word huffed through the plastic voice box in his mouth he displays the scrawling, garish Marine Corps tattoo on his right forearm. Once a tough guy, now half an hour of conversation leaves him exhausted. For all those driving around with a decal on the SUV, this is your man. He's a walking, artificially talking testament to the brutality of war and its bitter aftermath. He illustrates what it really means to "support our troops." Or not.
RELATED: Quality care for all veterans
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5812931
Spencer: Amend. 41 foes trying hard to be inconvenienced
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5834110
Just when you thought it was over, here comes another act in the theater of the absurd known as Colorado ethics reform. Today, a group of politicians, nonprofits and public servants will ask a judge to suspend enforcement of a constitutional amendment approved by 62 percent of the voters.
Brown: Voters may thaw on "freeze"
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5812927
Some Republicans, including several in the legislature, supported Referendum C. But now legislative Republicans seem unified in their opposition to the freeze. The heretics have returned to the fold. Republicans tend to define "tax increase" overly broadly. Accepting the language of TABOR, you're suffering a tax increase if you opt to buy a Cadillac Escalade instead of a Honda Civic. The logic: The Escalade costs much more, therefore you pay much more in taxes. It's a tax increase because the state gets more sales tax revenue, even though the government has done nothing to change the tax rate or otherwise actively seek more revenue. Republican supporters of Referendum C did not accept this distorted definition of "tax increase." They even were willing to point out that the state had, in fact, actually reduced tax rates. Now, however, all the GOP seems to be on board with the idea that a steady ("frozen") tax rate equates to a tax "increase." Why? Because property owners' tax rate will not decline as it would have otherwise.
RELATED: That 'tax increase': Let's debate the underlying issue
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/may/06/that-tax-increase/
Noel: Farm life toughens guv's hide
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/spotlight_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23962_5521488,00.html
Gov. August William Ritter Jr. allows that he has gotten off to a somewhat rocky start. While the media appear often to fawn over Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Ritter had a four-day, not a four-year honeymoon. But the new governor says heavy criticism is not new to him.
Four months at the Capitol
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5521944,00.html
We've argued that some of the green measures will raise energy bills and result in questionable subsidies. But there's no denying the fact that in passing the new laws, Democrats fulfilled campaign pledges that proved popular in last fall's electoral rout.
RELATED: Lawmakers' session efficient, productive
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5833274
RELATED: Fischer: Legislature fulfills vows
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070507/OPINION04/705070304/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
RELATED: Legislature made inroads on clean energy
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/OPINION01/705060345/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
Haley: Family ties continue in 2nd District
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5833277
Political bloodlines run deep in Colorado's 2nd Congressional District. It's well known that the current representative, Mark Udall, hails from a powerful political family. His father, Morris "Mo" Udall, was a longtime congressman and onetime presidential candidate from Arizona. And his cousin, Tom Udall, is a New Mexico congressman. But Will Shafroth, director of the Colorado Conservation Trust, who announced last week that he's running to replace Udall in the 2nd, has a political pedigree as well. His great-grandfather, John Shafroth, was Colorado's governor between 1909 and 1913, and also served in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Shafroth will face at least Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald in what could be next year's best primary race. Internet entrepreneur Jared Polis is still considering a run.
Sorry story for Flats workers
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5833280
The agonizing experience of many former Rocky Flats workers makes you wonder if it would be easier for an intruder to infiltrate a nuclear bomb lab than it is for a sick or dying nuclear worker to get a little compensation. Most of the former workers seeking financial help from the government had their hopes dashed last week when a federal review committee issued a complex ruling that granted easier eligibility to a small number of workers, left others up in the air and seemingly left still more without any hope.
State's Medicaid challenge
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5812930
The poor, elderly and disabled don't have an easy time getting government-funded health care in Colorado. The state ranks in the bottom 10 states nationally when it comes to opening its Medicaid program to needy people, according to a report released last month by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, which did a state-by-state comparison of Medicaid programs. State Sen. Bob Hagedorn, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, says that a separate ranking from the nonprofit Families USA puts Colorado at No. 42 for children's access to coverage, an equally dismal statistic. We've known for some time that Colorado's eligibility rules are burdensome and that its scope of services is unduly limited, so it wasn't surprising to find the state ranked so low in those categories. But we were surprised to find it ranked low in quality of care.
Parents: Another school choice
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5814342
The proponents of school choice like to frame the debate this way: Let the "educational market" reign with its array of options, or be stuck with the lousy school in your neighborhood. Rarely will you hear that parents have another choice: They can get involved in their neighborhood school, making it the best possible place for their children to learn. Because of national efforts to commercialize public education in the name of improving quality, a dear price has been paid in terms of community investment. By encouraging choice, we are fostering educational "commuters," akin to voluntary busing. When we divest from our neighborhood schools through choice, we are divesting from our community as a whole. Such divestment has even led to the death sentence for vibrant neighborhoods: school closures.
A volatile DA
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5523948,00.html
It's not good when a district attorney is the focus of controversy more often than the cases he or she may be prosecuting. And there's no question that Carol Chambers, chief prosecutor for the district covering Arapahoe and three other suburban counties, frequently turns herself into a lightning rod, embroiling herself in needless trouble. Most recently she has been accused of trying to intimidate a judge, a charge that will be investigated by the Colorado Supreme Court's Attorney Regulation Counsel. It's the second time in less than a year that she's drawn the attention of the ARC. Last December it publicly censured her for abusing her office to help out an acquaintance. Chambers was never expected to win her job. She upset Eva Wilson in the 2004 Republican primary, although Wilson boasted a wide array of endorsements (including this newspaper's). Almost immediately Chambers made headlines by threatening to fire any deputy DAs who spread rumors about her during the primary.
Brown: A lesson of Columbine
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/speakout/2007/05/post_52.html
Love your children. Don't abuse them. Don't belittle them. Teach them to be kind. Teach them not to be a bully, and don't abuse your children. Find out if your son is being bullied and defend him. Help him. Protect him. Don't laugh at his fear. Don't make fun of him because he is afraid. Don't tell him to "toughen up", he is afraid. If you are being bullied, find a non-violent way to let other people know. Find a non-violent way to be heard. Maybe now we will listen. That is one of the lessons of Columbine.
Kelly, Rosen: The failure of electricity deregulation
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5828031
When economic orthodoxy trumps the public good and violates due process along the way, we're in deep trouble. That is precisely what has happened with the nation's misguided experiment in electricity deregulation, which has today left consumers in many states struggling to pay bills as much as 100 percent higher than in recent years. If we trace the long road of electricity deregulation to its source, we find the main culprit is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). For nearly two decades, this little- known executive agency has been steadily and stealthily undermining the consumer- friendly electricity regulatory framework built during the New Deal. The problem traces to the era of President Bush I in the late 1980s, when the FERC for the first time allowed a utility company to charge market prices for wholesale power. Avoiding the sunlight of public rule-making, the commission over the years relied upon case-by- case decisions as it gradually shifted much of its regulatory authority from the settled practice of cost-of-service regulation toward a new, market-based framework.
Bull: Green-building movement gains momentum
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5521729,00.html
In a growing number of municipalities, including Denver, building green is becoming a requirement in the new office sector and is even making its way into the hospitality and housing sectors in which I work. We seem to have hit a tipping point where the "radicals" who have been preaching green since the 1970s and before are no longer the fringe but rather the thoughtful voice of reason. There has been an important shift to developers now having to answer the question: "Why are you not building green?"
It's time to get serious about Black Canyon deal
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/05/06/5_6_canyon_edit_5_6_07.html
The most charitable explanation of the feint-left, feint-right antics of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in its filing of objections to a 2003 deal brokered essentially between former Department of Natural Resources Director Greg Walcher and former U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton to quantify water rights for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is that the right hand of the fledging administration of Gov. Bill Ritter doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Or, its left hand doesn’t know what its right hand is doing. Your guess is as good as ours.
Johnson: Failure no option for black fire recruit
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5521939,00.html
The moment when it nearly all came crashing down - his hopes and dreams, and those of silent thousands of others - differs, depending upon whom you ask. His wife, Dionne, says it was the day about half way through the academy, when he had to strap on hundreds of pounds of equipment and climb 45 flights of stairs in a downtown high-rise. Twice. In the same day. "He told me it was just grueling, that he didn't know if he could do this," she recalls. "I told him, 'You better finish!' I don't think he thought I was serious." For LaDon Williams, it was the tower drill - same thing, done in one day, only this time inside the academy's fire tower - 25 times up and down in full gear, the equivalent of ascending and descending 125 flights of stairs.
Depoliticize Justice
Sometimes there comes along a suggestion that is so timely, with a fit that is so appropriate, that it begs to be implemented. Such is the possibility of transforming the U.S. attorney general's term into one that would span multiple presidents and would fill the 93 subordinate attorney positions with individuals from both major political parties. Arnold I. Burns, the deputy attorney general in Ronald Reagan's second presidential term, made such suggestions in an opinion piece in Thursday's New York Times.
Quillen: The judgment of politicians
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_5812928
"Members of the House and the Senate passed a bill that substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders. ... American commanders in a combat zone would have to take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C." "Sounds like good old plain common horse sense to me," Ziegler said in an avuncular drawl that made me suspect he was secretly working for Fred Thompson's unannounced presidential campaign. "What's your problem with it?" "But isn't the military supposed to take directions from politicians in Washington, D.C.?" I asked. "Isn't that what civilian control of the military means? And isn't the president a politician in Washington, D.C., one who is supposed to be the commander in chief of our military?"
RELATED: Mayfield: What's to celebrate on the 4th anniversary of 'Mission Accomplished!'?
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070504/COLUMNS/105040072
RELATED: 623 days and counting
http://vaildaily.com/article/20070506/EDITS/70504020
Election
How Big a Stretch?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601255.html
Obama's political future rests in part on the complicated answer to that question. In separate interviews, 10 white supporters who attended the Tampa fundraising rally talked about their perceptions of the dicey realm of race and its impact on Obama's electability. Though they admire his character, achievements, charisma and political philosophy, many expressed fear that racial prejudice might stymie his campaign. They discussed, haltingly in some cases, their own racial beliefs and perceptions as well as the cues they pick up from Obama to learn something of his racial philosophy. They listen to the timbre of his voice and the substance of his message to discern whether he is speaking to "us" and not just to "them."
Clinton Steps Up Appeals to Female Donors
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501163.html
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton is increasingly banking on politically active women to keep her on pace with Sen. Barack Obama in the ongoing sprint for campaign cash. Clinton is rolling out a series of events tailored to women, a group her campaign believes has great untapped fundraising potential, beginning last month with a New York waterfront concert headlined by singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton and continuing last week with a luncheon in Los Angeles. Her effort is being coupled with a fresh push by Emily's List, the nation's largest political action committee, which recently mailed its supporters and appealed to them to contribute to Clinton's campaign.
On Poverty, Edwards Faces Old Hurdles
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601322.html
As he makes his second bid for the White House, the former senator from North Carolina is sounding a clarion call of a sort not heard on the presidential campaign trail since Robert F. Kennedy's run in 1968. A millworker's son who became a multimillionaire trial lawyer, Edwards brings to the subject a hard-edged rhetoric and a host of proposals culled from the University of North Carolina's poverty center, which he started and ran after his losing campaign for vice president in 2004. Advocates and researchers praise Edwards for focusing on an issue they say too many have shied from over the years. "It's so refreshing," said Peter Edelman, a former aide to Kennedy who quit the Clinton administration in protest over its welfare overhaul and now teaches at Georgetown Law School. "It's a wake-up call for a lot of people in this country." But Edwards's plan to "end poverty in 30 years" also underscores the challenges of tackling poverty in the political arena, of the intractability of the problem and of the seeming timelessness of the debates over solving it.
A Split Emerges as Conservatives Discuss Darwin
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/us/politics/05darwin.html
Evolution has long generated bitter fights between the left and the right about whether God or science better explains the origins of life. But now a dispute has cropped up within conservative circles, not over science, but over political ideology: Does Darwinian theory undermine conservative notions of religion and morality or does it actually support conservative philosophy? On one level the debate can be seen as a polite discussion of political theory among the members of a small group of intellectuals. But the argument also exposes tensions within the Republicans’ “big tent,” as could be seen Thursday night when the party’s 10 candidates for president were asked during their first debate whether they believed in evolution. Three — Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas; Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas; and Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado — indicated they did not.
Romney Reaches to the Christian Right
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501081.html
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) did not discuss his Mormon faith as he continued his outreach Saturday to conservative Christians in a graduation speech at Regent University, the school founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. Instead, Romney, who is intensely courting this key segment of the Republican base in hopes of winning the party's 2008 presidential nomination, expounded on conservative themes such as the importance of child-rearing and marriage and the presence of evil in the world. "There is no work more important to America's future than the work that is done within the four walls of the American home," Romney said. He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life.
Private Giuliani tests public tolerance
Rudolph W. Giuliani's first inauguration as mayor here was a family affair. His 7-year-old son, Andrew, mugged for the cameras as Papa Rudy toasted his television hostess wife, Donna, as "my partner, my inspiration and my lover." Then daughter Caroline, 4, hid behind her hat as the couple kissed that Jan. 2, 1994. Thirteen years later, that familial unit is nowhere to be seen in the Giuliani presidential campaign. The once rambunctious Andrew, now a burly Duke sophomore, has indicated that he has no plans to stump for his father — he's too busy working on his golf game. Neither he nor Caroline, now poised to enter Harvard, are even mentioned on the campaign's website, JoinRudy2008.com. And the woman shown now with Giuliani is not their mother, but wife No. 3, nurse-by-training Judith Nathan Giuliani, who recently volunteered to New York tabloids that this was her third marriage as well.
McCain Derides Idea Of Repealing War Support
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501322.html
Republican Sen. John McCain criticized Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's move to repeal congressional authorization for the Iraq war, saying it's "the worst possible idea that anybody could have." Speaking to reporters after a town-hall meeting Saturday in Reno, McCain (Ariz.) said the new war strategy announced by President Bush in January is beginning to show "some success" and should be given a chance to succeed.
Thompson's Politics Much Like McCain's
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050500284.html
Fred Thompson fervently backed the Iraq war, railed against an expanding federal government, took stands that occasionally annoyed his party and rarely spoke about his views on social issues during his tenure as a senator from Tennessee or in his writings and speeches since leaving office. In short, the man some in the GOP are touting as a dream candidate has often sounded like the presidential hopeful many of them seem ready to dismiss: Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). With some in the party clamoring for an alternative to their current field of presidential contenders and Thompson's allies hinting strongly that he will run, 400 conservatives flocked to Newport Beach, Calif., on Friday night to hear the actor-turned-politician-turned-actor address the annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group that credits itself with pushing Ronald Reagan to run for governor of California in the 1960s. Thompson delivered a vision of cutting taxes, reducing the size of government, overhauling Social Security and staying in Iraq until "there is some semblance of stability."
RELATED: Fred Thompson calls for continued presence in Iraq
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson5may05,1,6736669.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
Effective and Ethical Government
Antiwar Groups Use New Clout to Influence Democrats on Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/washington/06left.html
Over the last four months, the Iraq deliberations in Congress have lurched from a purely symbolic resolution rebuking the president’s strategy to timetables for the withdrawal of American troops. Behind the scenes, an elaborate political operation, organized by a coalition of antiwar groups and fine-tuned to wrestle members of Congress into place one by one, has helped nudge the debate forward. But there are tensions in the relationship between the groups, which banded together earlier this year under the umbrella of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and the Democratic leadership. The fissures could be magnified in coming weeks as the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, struggle to cobble together a strategy after President Bush’s veto of the $124 billion Iraq spending bill that tied the money to a timetable for withdrawal. On Thursday, leaders of the liberal group MoveOn.org, including Tom Matzzie, the group’s Washington director who also serves as the campaign manager for the coalition, sent a harshly worded warning to the Democratic leadership.
Teaching Recent History From Opposite Perspectives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050600952.html
On Douglas Feith's first day as a visiting professor at Georgetown last year, he dropped in on another new professor down the hall. George Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, was friendly and welcoming, Feith recalled. Feith, who as the No. 3 at the Pentagon had served in the Bush administration with Tenet, suggested they get together for lunch. Not long afterward, Tenet moved his office, four floors down. He told friends he wanted to be as far away as possible from Feith. The tale of the two professors is shaping up as a reproduction in miniature of the Bush administration's titanic struggle over Iraq.
RELATED: Tenet says U.N. speech was his fault
Bush Aide to Leave No. 2 National Security Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402226.html
Deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch II, who helped spearhead the recent policy review that led President Bush to send more U.S. troops to Iraq, announced yesterday that he will step down early next month, becoming the latest key aide to depart the White House at a critical juncture. Crouch, the No. 2 official at the National Security Council, has been a pivotal figure on a series of difficult issues, including Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran and the detention policy for terrorism suspects. And it was his interagency group meeting at the White House complex for many weeks last winter that resulted in the ongoing troop buildup in Iraq, which has become the defining decision of the year for Bush.
Rove saw coaching of prosecutor witness
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-04-rove-coaching_N.htm
A senior Justice Department official who testified about performance shortcomings of several fired U.S. attorneys has told congressional investigators he was coached the day before at a White House meeting attended by political adviser Karl Rove. The witness, Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella, said he was urged during the dinner hour meeting on March 5 to publicly specify reasons for the dismissals, according to a transcript of the investigators' April 24 interview with him. Until the March 6 hearing before a House Judiciary subcommittee, Justice Department officials had said publicly only that some of the firings were based on performance, offering no specifics. At the hearing, Moschella laid out detailed criticism of each of five fired prosecutors' specific performance.
Madam Story Keeps Mum On Clientele
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402097.html
During several weeks of calls to possible clients of the woman dubbed the D.C. Madam, Brian Ross of ABC confirmed that some fairly important people had used her escort service. But when he put together last night's segment for "20/20," the network's chief investigative reporter decided against outing anyone beyond the two people who already had been identified. "Their names won't mean anything to our audience," Ross said in an interview. "They just weren't newsworthy enough." Instead, he said, "what we really wanted to do is demonstrate the range of official Washington" involved with the escort service.
RELATED: Lawyer: Military women worked for 'madam'
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-05-dc-madam-military-women_N.htm
Governor Thought He Might Not Live
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050500466.html
In excruciating pain from injuries suffered in his April 12 auto accident, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) feared his life was nearly over. "I was wondering if I was going to make it," he said Saturday in an interview. "I was wondering if I was going to live and trying to keep my balance, find out whether the other people were hurt."
RELATED: Corzine to resume duties Monday
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-06-corzinework_N.htm
Civil Liberties and Equality
English-only workplaces spark lawsuits
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2007-05-06-english-only-usat_N.htm
Some companies are adopting policies that require employees to speak only English on the job, spurring a backlash of lawsuits alleging that such rules can discriminate against immigrants. The English-only policies are coming as the number of immigrants in the USA soars: Nearly 11 million residents are not fluent in English, according to U.S. Census data, up from 6.6 million in 1990. Nearly 34 million residents are foreign-born, according to 2003 U.S. Census data. That's up from 24.6 million in 1996. "This is becoming a much bigger issue," says Amy McAndrew, an employment lawyer at Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton. "Employers want to have policies because of safety and customer service, but they have to be careful not to be discriminatory." Employers may legally adopt an English-only speaking rule if they can show it is a business necessity, such as the need for communication with co-workers and customers or safety-sensitive situations where use of a common language could prevent an emergency, she says.
Somali Held at Guantanamo Denies Al-Qaeda Link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402185.html
A Somali man accused by U.S. officials of belonging to a group affiliated with al-Qaeda acknowledged to a U.S. military tribunal that he trained in Afghanistan for holy war in his homeland but denied any link to al-Qaeda. Gouled Hassan Dourad, allegedly a member of al-Ittihad al-Islami, an organization listed by the United States as a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, is one of 14 so-called high-value detainees who were transferred in September to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after being held by the CIA in secret prisons abroad.
They flew for the CIA, but not really
Former Air America crews are trying to gain recognition -- and federal pensions.
Foreign Policy
U.S. Fights Off Bid to Punish UNESCO Official
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050500913.html
The United States and its key allies last week fended off a campaign by developing countries to discipline UNESCO's highest-ranking U.S. official, Peter Smith, a former Republican congressman from Vermont. Smith resigned in March after an audit found he granted "preferential treatment" to a Chicago-based consulting firm that received $2.15 million in contracts -- often without competitive bidding. The move placed the United States -- which has long called for greater transparency and accountability at the United Nations -- in the awkward position of opposing an initiative to improve accountability and fiscal integrity in the global body. Louise Oliver, the U.S. representative to UNESCO, recently told foreign delegates it is time to put the matter to rest and implement reforms Smith put in place before he left the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
8 U.S. Troops Killed In Iraq Bomb Attacks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050600266.html
Eight American soldiers were killed in roadside bomb attacks Sunday, one of the highest single-day death tolls this year. They were among 12 U.S. service members whose deaths were announced on a day when car bombs killed scores of Iraqis across the country, threatening to deepen sectarian tensions. A senior U.S. commander said Sunday that the military was bracing for a rise in the casualty rate in the coming months, as an ongoing security offensive attempts to tame the devastating violence and stabilize Baghdad. "All of us believe that in the next 90 days, you'll probably see an increase in American casualties because we are taking the fight to the enemy," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Army's Task Force Marne, told reporters Sunday. "This is the only way we can win the fight."
RELATED: U.S. expects rise in troop casualties
Iraqis jail many innocents, U.S. says
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-05-06-iraqarrests_N.htm
U.S. officers here say they are increasingly troubled by the high number of innocent Iraqis being detained and held — in some cases for many months — by the Iraqi army. Several officers who serve as advisers to the Iraqis said at least half the people detained by the Iraqi army in Baghdad are innocent. And the advisers say their close association with the units doing the detaining is placing the Americans on the horns of an ethical dilemma: On one hand, they are forbidden from taking unilateral action in order to free the prisoners; on the other hand, by not freeing innocent detainees being held by their close allies, they feel complicit in what some termed "a war crime." In at least one case, a U.S. officer received a letter of admonishment from a general officer after taking it upon himself to free 35 prisoners he knew had been wrongly detained.
Afghan News Media Find Foes on All Sides
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601160.html
In recent months, the Afghan press -- a struggling institution that was virtually extinct less than six years ago but has gradually emerged as a powerful force for social and political change -- has come under attack from all quarters of this conflicted and confused society. The greatest physical danger comes from the insurgents, who regularly attempt to use local journalists as conduits for their declarations but also target them for kidnappings and bombings. The Taliban has repeatedly warned Afghan journalists or interpreters like Nakshbandi not to work for the foreign or government media. One Afghan reporter was killed by a suicide bomber last year.
RELATED: Afghan serviceman kills 2 U.S. soldiers
Study says Israeli security service abuses Palestinians
Israel's domestic security service, Shin Bet, routinely mistreats and sometimes tortures Palestinian suspects under interrogation despite a Supreme Court ruling that bars the use of physical force during questioning, two Israeli human-rights groups said in a report released Sunday. The study by B'Tselem and the Center for the Defense of the Individual is based on testimonies by 73 Palestinians arrested between July 2005 and January 2006, most of whom were interviewed in jail by a lawyer on behalf of the rights groups.
Hezbollah resists tribunal in Hariri assassination
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-05-06-hezbollah-hariri_N.htm
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday rejected the idea of U.N. intervention to create an international tribunal in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister. Nasrallah's comments indicated that the militant group wouldn't cooperate if the United Nations Security Council set up such a tribunal without an agreement between the government and the Hezbollah-backed opposition. "We consider that any resolution issued by the Security Council (on the tribunal) is illegitimate and illegal and has no value because it violates the Lebanese national interest," Nasrallah said in an interview with Iran's Arabic-language state television station, Al-Alam.
Turkey's Islamic-rooted party suffers new setback with presidential candidate
The Islamic-rooted government suffered another setback today when parliament failed again to reach a quorum to elect its presidential candidate in an ongoing rift between the ruling party and the secular establishment. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a close ally of the prime minister, withdrew from the presidential race today -- a sign that the government was giving up efforts to push Gul's candidacy through Parliament in defiance of strong secularist opposition. "There is no point in holding a new round of election," Gul said after the parliamentary session Sunday. "Parliament is deadlocked. The correct thing now is for the people to elect" the new president.
Chinese athletes are run into the ground
The many who don't make it big often end up jobless, even crippled.
Sarkozy Wins, Vows to Restore Pride in France
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050600216.html
Nicolas Sarkozy, the combative son of a Hungarian immigrant, was elected president of France on Sunday, promising a new generation of leadership to transform the country, restore its self-respect and reinvigorate ties with the United States and Europe. Sarkozy, a member of the ruling party and France's former top law enforcement officer, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal, who waged a determined battle to become France's first elected female head of state, by a 53 percent to 47 percent vote, according to final results. Voter turnout was a near-record 84 percent. In a victory speech before a jubilant crowd of supporters in Paris, Sarkozy said voters "have chosen to break with the habits and behavior of the past." He pledged "to give greater value to work, to authority, to respect, to merit."
RELATED: For supporters, the economy was key
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/05/07/for_supporters_the_economy_was_key/
Britain Rebukes Blair in Local Votes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402084.html
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party suffered considerable losses in local elections held Thursday, but the numbers fell short of the disaster that many analysts and polls had predicted. The setback, coming in the final days of Blair's decade-long tenure, was viewed here as a rebuke to the prime minister. In Scotland, the Labor Party, which has dominated for half a century, fell behind the surging Scottish National Party, which picked up 20 seats in the 129-member local assembly. The SNP, which has promised a referendum on independence from Britain, won 47 seats to Labor's 46.
Colombian President Defends His Government
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402186.html
At the end of a high-stakes trip to Washington, Colombian President ?lvaro Uribe yesterday defended his government against allegations of rights violations but said it remained unclear whether Congress would approve a free trade agreement with his country. "We have tried to do our best to put all the cards on the table, to answer all the questions, to respond to all the concerns," he said, adding that he "cannot say what will happen with the votes" on the trade pact.
Chávez Rattles Takeover Saber at Steel Company and Banks
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/world/americas/07venez.html
President Hugo Chávez is deepening efforts to assert greater control over the economy by dictating changes to the operations of a large Argentine-controlled steel maker and threatening to nationalize banks controlled by financial institutions from the United States and Spain. Markets here are reacting with distress to his latest moves. The main index of the Caracas stock exchange fell 2.7 percent on Friday, while Venezuela’s currency, the bolívar, also weakened about 3 percent, to 3,950 to the dollar in unregulated trading as rich Venezuelans rushed to take money out of the country.
Immigration
U.S. Targeting Immigrant 'Absconders'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402369.html
As Congress ponders a sweeping overhaul of immigration laws, the hard mathematics of eliminating the backlog of cases has become central to the debate. Conservatives say the White House has a credibility gap when it asks them to support a temporary worker program and a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants in return for a promised crackdown on the worst offenders. The failure to remove "low-hanging fruit" such as fugitives "may reflect the fact that there's a complete neglect for enforcement, or that even in egregious cases, they just can't get their act together," said Steven A. Camarota, spokesman for the Center on Immigration Studies, a group that advocates less immigration. Immigrant advocates and some former federal authorities counter that the growing backlog of fugitives -- who make up 5 percent of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants -- demonstrates the futility of relying on enforcement alone to stop illegal immigration.
20 Haitian Migrants Die at Sea; 58 Missing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402032.html
At least 20 Haitian migrants died and 58 were missing Friday after an overloaded sailboat capsized off the Turks and Caicos Islands. A U.S. Coast Guard cutter, accompanied by a helicopter and a C-130 plane, searched for survivors of the tragedy, which occurred during a dramatic upswing in illegal migration from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The Coast Guard said 704 Haitians were rescued at sea in April, nearly as many as were taken into custody in all of last year, when 769 rescues were recorded.
Officers in May Day melee off the street
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-06-immigration-rally_N.htm
Police Chief William Bratton said Sunday that up to 60 members of an elite squad that swarmed into a park and fired rubber bullets during a May Day immigration rally are no longer on the street. Bratton said he spent the weekend viewing video of the MacArthur Park incident and he said LAPD failures were widespread with officers from the top on down culpable. "I'm not going to defend the indefensible," Bratton told journalists groups during a meeting at a television studio in Hollywood. "Things were done that shouldn't have been done." Journalists were among those roughed up as Metropolitan Division's B Platoon moved through MacArthur and fired 148 rubber bullets to break up what had been a peaceful and lawful immigration rally.
RELATED: LAPD chief offers strongest apology yet
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bratton7may07,1,5376332.story?coll=la-headlines-california
'Shadow Wolves' Prowl the U.S.-Mexico Border
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050500771.html
High-tech has arrived at the border, but low-tech is very much in use by a special group of federal agents whose sign-cutting skills are being used in the fight against drugs. They are called Shadow Wolves, a small all-Native American group of drug interdiction officers that includes three women, including Satepauhoodle, 40. Her Kiowa name means "Kill the Bear" or "Fuzzy Bear," depending on the pronunciation and the context in which it is used. Since 1972, the Shadow Wolves unit has worked for the U.S. government in the Tohono O'odham Nation, a reservation the size of Connecticut that straddles Arizona and Mexico and includes 75 miles of border. The tribe originally gave the U.S. government permission to post these officers on its land with the stipulation that they be at least one-quarter American Indian and enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. The original Shadow Wolves unit was all Tohono O'odham, but today more than half a dozen tribes are represented.
Health Care and Public Safety
Healthcare reform's unlikely ally: big business
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-health7may07,0,4141456.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Abandoning the business lobby's traditional resistance to healthcare reform, a new coalition of 36 major companies plans to launch a political campaign today calling for medical insurance to be expanded to everyone along lines Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing for California. Founded by Steve Burd, chairman of the Safeway grocery chain and an ally of the governor, the coalition could boost efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to overhaul healthcare laws. It also formalizes a growing division over the issue among businesses. The coalition includes some of the nation's largest companies: PepsiCo, General Mills, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., The Kroger Co., a number of Safeway vendors and grocery item manufacturers such as Bumble Bee Seafoods LLC. It also includes insurers and drug firms that probably would benefit from mandated health insurance: Aetna, Blue Shield of California, Cigna HealthCare, Eli Lilly and Co. and PacifiCare.
Hard Sell Cited as Insurers Push Plans to Elderly
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/washington/07medicare.html?ref=washington
Insurance companies have used improper hard-sell tactics to persuade Medicare recipients to sign up for private health plans that cost the government far more than the traditional Medicare program, federal and state officials and consumer advocates say. Insurance agents, spurred in some cases by incentives like trips to Las Vegas, have aggressively marketed the private plans, known as Medicare Advantage plans. Enrollment in them has skyrocketed in the last year, and Medicare officials foresee continued rapid growth in the next decade.
Air controllers tie safety to workload
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/05/06/0507metairport.html
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association — the controllers union — and the FAA are involved in a long-standing contract dispute, but controllers say that is not the basis of their complaints. Controllers and the agency have a long and contentious past. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired thousands of union controllers who were on strike. Many of those controllers were replaced with new hires, and it is many of those specialists who are now reaching retirement age. Atlanta controllers say many of the veterans are being replaced by newly trained controllers, which increases the stress levels for remaining veterans. Bobby Smelley, a veteran controller at the Peachtree City TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) facility, said he's averaging two six-day weeks a month. The TRACON facility handles air traffic within 40 miles of Atlanta, home of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world's busiest airport. "We are much more fatigued and more tired than we have been in the past," Smelley said. "It's become a big deal to get two days off per week. You almost feel like you've had a vacation."
20 Million Chickens Given Tainted Feed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402191.html
About 20 million chickens being raised for human consumption in several states ate feed made with melamine-tainted pet food and are being held from market to keep them from entering the food supply, Agriculture Department officials said last night. The agency called for the "voluntary hold" late yesterday, pending completion of a government risk analysis to determine whether the animals would be safe for people to eat.
Crime and Penal Reform
A Liberal Case for Gun Rights Sways Judiciary
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/us/06firearms.html
In March, for the first time in the nation’s history, a federal appeals court struck down a gun control law on Second Amendment grounds. Only a few decades ago, the decision would have been unimaginable. There used to be an almost complete scholarly and judicial consensus that the Second Amendment protects only a collective right of the states to maintain militias. That consensus no longer exists — thanks largely to the work over the last 20 years of several leading liberal law professors, who have come to embrace the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns. In those two decades, breakneck speed by the standards of constitutional law, they have helped to reshape the debate over gun rights in the United States. Their work culminated in the March decision, Parker v. District of Columbia, and it will doubtless play a major role should the case reach the United States Supreme Court.
Economy
Buffett Looking for Big Purchase for Berkshire
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601386.html
Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett usually laments that his company has more cash than investment opportunities. Now he's envisioning an acquisition so big that he'd have to sell some stocks to free up funds. "I would hope something would come along where I would have to sell something that I like to buy something huge I like even better," Buffett, Berkshire's billionaire chairman, said at a news conference in Omaha yesterday. Buffett says Berkshire, which has about $46 billion in cash, is as prepared as it's "ever been" to buy a "big business outright," he told shareholders at the company's annual meeting Saturday.
RELATED: Buffett rebuffs efforts to rate corporate conduct
Panel to Find That Wolfowitz Broke Rules, Officials Say
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/washington/07wolfowitz.html?ref=washington
The World Bank committee investigating misconduct charges against Paul D. Wolfowitz, the bank president, failed to complete its review on schedule this weekend, but bank officials said the panel would eventually find that he violated bank rules barring conflicts of interest. The committee, made up of 7 of the 24 members of the bank’s board, indicated last week that it would reach a conclusion about Mr. Wolfowitz on Saturday and transmit its findings to him to allow him to prepare for a rebuttal this week. But no results were transmitted by early Sunday evening, though some officials said it was theoretically possible for the panel to finish later Sunday night.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Jobless Rate Increases to 4.5 Percent
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050400642.html
Unemployment edged up to 4.5 percent last month and job growth cooled, the government reported yesterday, showing how sluggish economic growth is starting to loosen the nation's tight labor market. Financial markets showed little reaction to the weak numbers, since the jobless rate remains low by historical standards. Also, many analysts, including those at the Federal Reserve, expect unemployment to creep to a level closer to 5 percent this year. That would fit with moderate economic growth, not a sharper downturn.
Housing and Homelessness
Pressure at Mortgage Firm Led To Mass Approval of Bad Loans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601402.html
New Century has become the premier example of a group of companies that grew rapidly during the housing boom, selling working-class Americans with questionable credit huge numbers of "subprime" loans with "teaser" rates that typically rose after the first two years. This business transformed the once-tiny New Century into a lending powerhouse that was held up as a model of the mortgage industry's success. But now, with home values falling and adjustable loan rates rising, record numbers of homeowners are failing to make their payments. And a detailed inquiry into the situation at New Century and other subprime lenders suggests that in the feeding frenzy for housing loans, basic quality controls were ignored in the mortgage business, while the big Wall Street investment banks that backed these firms looked the other way.
Fighting to Keep the Roof
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402686.html
Ernestine Witherspoon managed to hang onto her house in Northeast Washington even after she lost her job and fell far behind on her mortgage payments. Her lender, Countrywide Home Loans, was weeks away from seizing the house when Witherspoon called, explained her situation, and worked out a plan to repay the $9,800 she owed. She scraped together $3,600 -- only because she landed a new job -- and Countrywide then tacked $25 onto her monthly payments for the life of the loan to make up the difference.
Media
Major Dow Jones Shareholder Opposes Bid From News Corp.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601216.html
Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones & Co. ran into more resistance as a large Dow Jones shareholder said he strongly opposes the takeover of the financial news publisher, which owns the Wall Street Journal. Jim Ottaway Jr., a former Dow Jones board member, wrote in an opinion article published Monday on The Washington Post's op-ed page that a Murdoch takeover would diminish the "independence of a leading national editorial voice."
Senators ask FTC to probe Camel ads
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-04-camel-ads_N.htm
Five U.S. senators asked the Federal Trade Commission on Friday to investigate what they say are R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s attempts to appeal to teenage girls with ads for its sleekly packaged Camel No. 9 cigarettes. R.J. Reynolds launched the brand in February. It says the cigarettes are aimed at adult female smokers, a market segment where Camel has performed poorly. But anti-smoking groups and others have argued that the product — from its name, which recalls an upscale perfume, to the packaging to the ads — appears designed to lure teens or young women. The cigarettes come in black boxes with a border of teal or fuchsia. They're advertised in women's magazines under the slogan "Light and Luscious," on textured paper adorned with images of red roses and lace.
Hollywood Loves the Tiny Screen. Advertisers Don’t.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/business/media/07cell.html?ref=business
Superman has the power to leap tall buildings. But leaping onto a cellphone screen is proving a little trickier.
Education
Whistle-Blower on Student Aid Is Vindicated
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/washington/07loans.html
When Jon Oberg, a Department of Education researcher, warned in 2003 that student lending companies were improperly collecting hundreds of millions in federal subsidies and suggested how to correct the problem, his supervisor told him to work on something else. The department “does not have an intramural program of research on postsecondary education finance,” the supervisor, Grover Whitehurst, a political appointee, wrote in a November 2003 e-mail message to Mr. Oberg, a civil servant who was soon to retire. “In the 18 months you have remaining, I will expect your time and talents to be directed primarily to our business of conceptualizing, competing and monitoring research grants.”
Military
On Iraq, Gates may not be following Bush's playbook
President Bush has mobilized his administration, including his top general in Iraq, in a major push to win more time and money for his war strategy. But one crucial voice has been missing from the chorus: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates'. In fact, Gates' recent comments seem to run counter to the message from the White House. During a recent trip to the Middle East, Gates told the Iraqi government that time was running out and praised Democratic efforts in the U.S. Congress to set a timetable for withdrawal, saying it would help prod the Iraqis. He reiterated that point during a meeting with reporters last week. A spokesman for Gates insisted there was no distance between the Defense secretary's thinking on the timetable for Iraq and views held by the White House or Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. troops in Iraq.
U.S. brigade heading to Baghdad
The final troop contingent in President Bush's controversial plan to improve security, a brigade that includes 152 attack and transport helicopters, will arrive soon in the Iraqi capital, a U.S. commander said. With the arrival of the 3rd Infantry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade, based at Ft. Stewart, Ga., the addition of 28,500 troops begun in mid-February will be complete. The brigade will be based at Camp Victory near the Baghdad international airport, Maj. Gen. James Simmons, deputy commander of multinational forces, said in an interview Friday. As the buildup neared completion, violence continued in the capital. A suicide bomber in a line with police recruits outside an Iraqi base near the infamous Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad detonated an explosive vest Saturday, killing 15 and injuring 26 others, police said.
Resilient Infections Worry Military Doctors
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050401976.html
Like most patients in the infectious disease ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Jon Harris has an "A" written next to his name on the white board by the nursing desk. The 23-year-old Army specialist had a leg amputated below the knee after a roadside bomb attack in Iraq. But the capital letter indicates another medical problem that increasingly worries military doctors -- an infection from a resilient bug known as Acinetobacter.
Spread of disease tied to US combat deployments
A parasitic disease rarely seen in United States but common in the Middle East has infected an estimated 2,500 US troops in the last four years because of massive deployments to remote combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, military officials said. Leishmaniasis , which is transmitted through the bite of the tiny sand fly, usually shows up in the form of reddish skin ulcers on the face, hands, arms, or legs. But a more virulent form of the disease also attacks organs and can be fatal if left untreated. In some US hospitals in Iraq, the disease has become so commonplace that troops call it the "Baghdad boil." But in the United States, the appearance of it among civilian contractors who went to Iraq or among tourists who were infected in other parts of the world has caused great fear because family doctors have had difficulty figuring out the cause.
Humvee doors can trap troops
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-06-humvee-doors_N.htm
The Army is fixing the doors of every armored Humvee in combat in Iraq because they can jam shut during an attack and trap soldiers inside, Pentagon records and interviews show. The door trouble, the latest in a series of problems with the Humvees since the Iraq war began, is an unintended consequence of the Pentagon's effort to add armor to protect troops from makeshift bombs. Improvised explosive devices are the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq, causing 70% of injuries and deaths. Armored Humvees, the main troop-transport vehicle, are often targeted by insurgents who plant bombs on roads. One quick fix to the jamming problem was to weld D-shaped hooks to Humvee doors so another truck could rip them off with a cable. The hook is built into the latest version of armor added to the Humvee, known as the Frag Kit 5, said Lt. Col. William Wiggins, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon. "Every Humvee outside (a fortified base) will have a hook," Wiggins said. There are about 18,000 Humvees in Iraq.
Religion
In U.S., Hispanics Bring Catholicism to Its Feet
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601082.html
For a glimpse into the future of the Roman Catholic Church in America, peek inside St. Benedict's in Queens on a Sunday after the Matsons, Mays and Cassidys have all gone home and Joan Overton has shut down the pipe organ following the sparsely attended 8:30 a.m. Mass. That's when the pews fill up with the Durans, Lopezes and Fernandezes and the spiritual thermometer turns up a notch.
Is There Disdain For Evangelicals In the Classroom?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050401990.html
"On many campuses, if you're an evangelical Christian, you're going to have to go through classes in which you're told that much of what you believe religiously is not just wrong, but worthy of mockery," said David French, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, which sued Missouri State on Brooker's behalf. Such accusations have been leveled for years at the Ivy League and other elite private universities. But they are gaining new attention from politicians and educators because of the Brooker case, which took place at a public school in the Bible Belt, and because of two recent, nationwide surveys of professors' views on religion. The first, by sociologists Neil Gross of Harvard and Solon Simmons of George Mason University, found that college professors are less religious than the general public but are far from the godless horde that is sometimes imagined.
Ethanol surges in spite of questions about demand, environment, food
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-05-05-ethanol_N.htm
Ethanol, for decades largely an afterthought in the global fuels market, is in the midst of a booming renaissance, despite a host of questions. It is a hot topic from agribusiness boardrooms to Midwestern diners to world capitals including Washington. President Bush says the fuel additive distilled from mashed and fermented grain is a cheap-and-easy alternative to high-priced foreign oil, and some day it's already been an economic boon for moribund rural stretches. Yet skeptics wonder if the rush to ethanol makes sense given the murky outlook for demand. They worry, too, about ethanol's fuel efficiency — lower than traditional gasoline — and its effects on both the environment and food prices as corn chews up more farmland.
Cloudy Germany a Powerhouse in Solar Energy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402466.html
When it opened here in 2004 on a reclaimed mining dump, the Geosol solar plant was the biggest of its kind in the world. It is so clean and green that it produces zero emissions and so easy to operate that it has only three regular workers: plant manager Hans-Joerg Koch and his two security guards, sheepdogs Pushkin and Adi. The plant is part of a building boom that has made gloomy-skied Germany the unlikely global leader in solar-generated electricity. Last year, about half of the world's solar electricity was produced in the country. Of the 20 biggest photovoltaic plants, 15 are in Germany, even though it has only half as many sunny days as countries such as Portugal.
When Carbon Is Currency
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/business/yourmoney/06emit2.html?ref=science
AMID steadily increasing carbon emissions, and a federal government hesitant to take the lead on climate legislation, 10 states have joined to create the first mandatory carbon cap-and-trade program in the United States. They aim to reduce emissions from power plants by 10 percent in 10 years. Leaders of state environmental and energy regulatory agencies hammered out the detailed model for the program, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, over the course of three years. The program sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that the 10 states — as a whole — can emit. Starting in 2009, each state will receive a set amount of carbon credits for its power plants, and each plant must have enough allowances to cover its total emissions at the end of three-year compliance periods.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Broder: A War The Public Will End
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050401893.html
The gap between public opinion and Washington reality has rarely been wider than on the issue of the Iraq war. A clear national mandate is being blocked -- for now -- by constraints that make sense only in the short-term calculus of politics in this capital city. The public verdict on the war is plain. Large majorities have come to believe that it was a mistake to go in, and equally large majorities want to begin the process of getting out. That is what the polls say; it is what the mail to Capitol Hill says; and it is what voters signaled when they put the Democrats back into control of Congress in November. But it is not what will happen -- at least now. The failure of the House last week to override President Bush's veto of an Iraq spending bill that included a timetable for withdrawal made that certain. The Democratic leadership already has signaled its readiness to drop the timetable, and further concessions are likely as negotiations continue with the White House. The question that naturally arises is why the strongly expressed judgment of the people -- responding to news of increasing American casualties in a seemingly intractable sectarian conflict -- cannot be translated into action in Washington.
RELATED: Bring them home
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-iraq6may06,0,3257310.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
RELATED: Vennochi: Bush winning the political war
RELATED: The Soft Bigotry of Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/opinion/07mon1.html
Froomkin: Karl Rove's Coaching Session
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/04/BL2007050401202.html
Back on March 5, several top Justice Department officials were summoned for an emergency meeting at the White House. On the agenda: Going over "what we are going to say" about why eight U.S. attorneys had been summarily fired. The reason for the urgency: principal associate deputy attorney general William Moschella was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee the next day.
RELATED: A Scandal That Keeps Growing
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/opinion/06sun1.html
Fixing FISA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050600847.html
For one, the law could be read to impose the burdensome requirement of preparing a warrant and obtaining court approval to intercept phone calls or e-mails that begin and end entirely outside the United States but that, by technological happenstance, are routed through the United States. Everyone from civil liberties groups to spymasters seems to agree that this is silly. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) have proposed workable remedies for this unintended glitch. The Bush administration, however, is seeking far broader changes in the law -- on which we would urge Congress to proceed with extreme caution. The administration says that it simply wants to modernize the law to make it "technologically neutral," applying equally to communications that take place through the air and by wire. Sounds sensible, but the administration proposes to deal with that problem in a way that could dangerously expand the scope of surveillance that the government could engage in free from court oversight.
How Slow Can It Go?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/opinion/05sat3.html
Last week, when the government reported that the economy had slowed to a crawl in the first quarter of the year, any lingering hope for robust employment growth was tempered accordingly. But no one was quite prepared for a job report as weak as the one released yesterday. Only 88,000 jobs were created in April, the smallest gain in nearly two and half years and a sharp deceleration from job growth in the recent past. Predictably, the slowdown was reflected in Americans’ paychecks. Weekly earnings are up over the past year. But of late, the rate of increase has dropped significantly. A squeeze on jobs and paychecks is the last thing Americans need right now. Though the economy has been expanding for more than five years, wages and salaries for most workers have picked up in earnest only in the past year. And now hiring and pay increases appear to be slowing before many families have had the chance to rebuild their finances.
Social Insecurity Numbers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050600844.html
Federal agencies need to do a better job of protecting private information.
Putting switchgrass in your tank
CARS AND trucks are responsible in the United States for about one-third of the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming. Greater use of ethanol is a promising way to lower vehicles' carbon dioxide emissions and reduce reliance on oil from the Mideast, where Saudi Arabia recently arrested 172 terrorism suspects accused of plotting to attack its oil facilities. Congress is weighing bills to boost ethanol production in several ways, but the industry worries that on-again, off-again subsidies will subject it to the fate of the solar- and wind-power industries, which have seen federal support come and go. To ensure a long-term transition to ethanol and away from gasoline, Congress should mandate limits on carbon emissions, either through a tax or a cap and trade system. Ethanol needs this kind of a backup because, while corn-based ethanol can already compete with gasoline in the market, research must yet be done on cellulosic ethanol, which can be derived from agricultural wastes, sugar cane residue, timbering slash, and plants like switchgrass.
Ottaway: The Wrong Man for Dow Jones
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050600915.html
The sale of Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. global media giant would diminish the news quality and integrity of the Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones publications and Internet services, as well as the independence of a leading national editorial voice. The brand name, the major asset of Dow Jones, is based upon its reputation for, and daily practice of, accurate, objective and reliable business news reporting. It is this journalistic integrity that has created and will continue to create shareholder value. It would be damaged if Rupert Murdoch takes over Dow Jones.
Hoagland: Sarkozy's Dangerous Strengths
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050600917.html
Nicolas Sarkozy relied on vast stores of ambition, willpower and intelligence to win France's presidency yesterday. But as have many successful politicians, Sarkozy built his victory on strengths that could become crippling weaknesses in office if he cannot temper them. This is to take nothing away from the triumph that this election represents for Sarkozy -- a refreshingly unlikely president of the French -- and for France itself. Voters turned out massively in yesterday's runoff to reject the vision of passivity, self-doubt and negativism that has infected French policy and thinking in recent years and to endorse Sarkozy's call for action and accountability.
Tucker: U.S. can't risk a return to the McCarthy era
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2007/05/06/0506edtuck.html
When he announced his campaign, Georgia state Sen. Jim Whitehead said he was running for the congressional seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.). But Whitehead sounds as though he's running to replace U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the notorious Wisconsin Republican whose Commie-baiting smear tactics ruined lives and finally shamed his colleagues. Whitehead has aimed his demagoguery squarely at illegal immigrants — perhaps legal too, since he rarely bothers with fine distinctions — in a campaign designed to whip up the worst instincts and impulses of his constituents. No lie is too shameful to be left unspoken. Proclaiming "immigration is the No. 1 issue" in the 10th Congressional district, Whitehead contends that "left-wing political activists [are] intentionally registering illegal aliens to vote, including known al-Qaida terrorists," according to political writer Tom Crawford of capitolimpact.com. Wow. That is so outrageous it's hard to know where to begin pointing out the fallacies, but let's start with an obvious one: Since when do jihadists strike at us by voting?
After the Pet Food Contamination
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/opinion/07mon2.html
The purchase of toxic pet food ingredients from China is a chilling warning about the weakness of the nation’s defenses against tainted imported foods. Reports from pet owners indicate that the contaminated protein concentrate may have killed thousands of dogs and cats; it has also been found in farm animals. As the global trade in foodstuffs expands, the Food and Drug Administration must be given more legal authority, money and inspectors to ensure the safety of imported foods. It would be even more tragic if the next episode were to kill thousands of people before being detected and contained.
Muñoz: A high note for Venezuela
The nation's music education system produced the new director of the L.A. Phil.
Page: Tough questions for media, sports
A couple of new studies about race and gender bias got me to thinking about an age-old question: Is it possible to think in a racist way without being consciously racist? How about sexist? Stephen Colbert indirectly raises such questions when he declares on his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report," beaming with irony, that "I don't see race." Unless you are pitifully tone-deaf to irony, you can easily tell that Colbert is putting us on with his flip certainty. I don't care what race you are, asserting too casually that race isn't important is a risky invitation to be fooled by how differently the world looks to people of different races.
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