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TOP STORIES
Bush approval hits 'rough stability': 34%
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-07-bush-poll_N.htm
Americans by nearly 2-1 disapprove of the job President Bush is doing, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. He scores a net disapproval rating in every area of the survey, including the economy and terrorism. His lowest ratings — 30% approval, 67% disapproval — were for his handling of the situation in Iraq. The telephone survey of 1,010 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush's overall standing continuing in the doldrums, at 34% approval, 63% disapproval. The poll's margin of error is +/—3 percentage points. However, Bush hasn't dropped to his lowest ratings ever, as he did in a Newsweek Poll released over the weekend. That survey, taken Wednesday and Thursday, put his approval rating at 28%.
September Could Be Key Deadline in War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/07/AR2007050701689.html
Congressional leaders from both political parties are giving President Bush a matter of months to prove that the Iraq war effort has turned a corner, with September looking increasingly like a decisive deadline. In that month, political pressures in Washington will dovetail with the military timeline in Baghdad. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commanding general in Iraq, has said that by then he will have a handle on whether the current troop increase is having any impact on political reconciliation between Iraq's warring factions. And fiscal 2008, which begins Oct. 1, will almost certainly begin with Congress placing tough new strings on war funding.
RELATED: House Democrats May Seek Short-Term Financing of War
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/washington/08cong.html?ref=washington
Christians seek border changes
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/05/08/christians_seek_border_changes/
A new coalition of more than 100 largely evangelical Christian leaders and organizations asked Congress yesterday to pass bills to strengthen border controls but also give illegal immigrants ways to gain legal residency. The announcement spotlights evangelical leaders' increasingly visible efforts to push for what they say is a more humane policy in keeping with biblical injunctions to show compassion for others. The new group, Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, includes members such as the Mennonite Church USA and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which said it represents millions of Latino evangelicals. It includes individuals such as Dr. Joel C. Hunter, pastor of Northland, a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., and Sammy Mah, president of World Relief, an aid group affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals.
For Democrats, New Challenge in Age-Old Rift
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/washington/08trade.html
Almost nothing rouses as much passion, anger or history for the Democrats as the issue of trade. Defining the rules of engagement in a fiercely competitive global marketplace, trade policy cuts to the heart of the Democrats’ identity, how they view their party’s past and envision its future. It can divide them along regional and economic lines — Midwest vs. Pacific Rim, manufacturing vs. agriculture, Main Street vs. Wall Street. Nobody knows this better than Representative Sander M. Levin, chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade and a 24-year veteran of the House from the suburbs of Detroit. Mr. Levin is one of the newly empowered Democratic leaders trying to find a trade policy that can unite their party and heal a painful rift between those who see a globalized economy as inevitable and good and those who see the cost under current policies, in lost jobs and unsettled lives, as simply too great.
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Governor lists achievements of his first legislative session
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5525571,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter said his plan to freeze property tax rates to help public schools faced Republican opposition inside the Capitol, but he's buoyed by "great support from the business community" outside the Dome. "What's, I think, heartening to me is that outside of this building . . . there was bipartisan support for it," a relaxed Ritter said Monday as he ticked off his first legislative session achievements topped by a host of bills to make Colorado a renewable energy powerhouse. "The business community really understood this mill levy stabilization," he added, referring to the school property tax freeze. "They really appreciate, I think, the relationship between higher education and economic development and the impact of going forward without stabilizing the mill levy."
RELATED: Ritter pleased with legislative success
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5841746
RELATED: Ritter proud of renewable-energy push
http://www.gazette.com/articles/ritter_22064___article.html/energy_money.html
RELATED: Analysis: Ritter, Penry succeed in '07 legislative session
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/08/5_8_1b_Session_Wrap.html
RELATED: Bills in hand, Gov. Ritter now considers vetoes
Backing grows to shield park
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5525676,00.html
A long-running effort to designate Rocky Mountain National Park as a wilderness area leaped forward Monday when Colorado's congressional delegation reported it had reached a compromise on the matter. A statement issued jointly by four members of the delegation - two Republicans and two Democrats - promised all the details at a news conference next Monday at a park campground. Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall, both Democrats, and Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, both Republicans, plan to participate. The quest to make the park a wilderness area dates back three decades, to the Nixon administration. Rep. Mark Udall has carried a bill on the issue every year since 1999. But a variety of hang-ups have prevented the measure from taking effect.
RELATED: Park-protection deal inked
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5840928
RELATED: Lawmakers reach deal on Rocky wilderness designation
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070508/NEWS/105080073
RELATED: Legislators reach accord on park's designation
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070508/NEWS01/705080352/1002
Chief says he regrets conflict with war protesters
http://www.gazette.com/articles/police_22066___article.html/myers_protesters.html
Colorado Springs police are reviewing policies for handling crowds and civil disobedience after the arrest of seven war protesters, Chief Richard Myers said Monday. Decisions by the protesters and organizers of a St. Patrick’s Day parade resulted in police being “thrust into the middle” of a dispute, the chief said. Myers offered the analysis during a meeting of the Colorado Springs City Council, nearly two months after the March 17 event. “I deeply regret that this incident happened,” Myers said. “It’s not the goal of the police department to be in conflict with any part of this community.” The arrests sparked angry reaction from activists who oppose the U.S. military action in Iraq, including the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission.
Eligible patients may lose access
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5842319
Up to 320,000 clinic patients nationally may be losing Medicaid coverage they are entitled to because of federal rules designed to keep illegal immigrants from getting benefits, a study has found. George Washington University researchers surveyed 300 Medicaid clinics around the country to assess the effect of the 2005 law requiring applicants to prove citizenship before receiving benefits. In Colorado, 15 nonprofit groups operate 115 clinic sites that serve Medicaid and uninsured patients. The Colorado clinics saw a total of 392,000 patients in 2004, the last year for which figures are available. The George Washington study does not estimate the number of those Colorado patients who might lose their Medicaid coverage as a result of the law. Medicaid is a state-federal partnership to provide health care to the very poor, disabled and elderly.
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/050807.htm
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