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Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/051507.htm
TOP STORIES
Opinion: Where is the outrage over Democrat's conflict?
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/05/15/5_15_Norton_edit.html
A Denver-based liberal advocacy group wants a federal investigation into the relationship between Royal Dutch Shell and former Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, now a Shell employee. ProgressNowAction.org accuses Norton of using her influence while Interior secretary to approve oil-shale leases on federal lands in Colorado, thereby assuring herself of a job with Shell when she left her government post last year. Oh, please. If liberal gadfly groups like ProgressNow want a true conflict-of-interest scandal, they should examine the record of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and companies run by her husband, Richard C. Blum.
National
Senators Prepare for Vote On War Funding Legislation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051401392.html
The Senate will vote this week on cutting off funding for the Iraq war and on bringing troops home by next spring, but neither outcome will be the final say in the standoff between Congress and the White House. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday that those questions will be tacked on to unrelated water-resources legislation. They may also carry only symbolic value. The votes would allow debate on the issue without tying up a separate $124 billion war funding bill, which Democrats hope to pass before the Memorial Day holiday.
RELATED: Senate to vote on funds for Iraq war in 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-14-senate-iraq_N.htm
RELATED: Details of Iraq benchmarks yet to be decided
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-14-iraq-benchmarks_N.htm
Justice Dept.'s No. 2 to Resign
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051401071.html?hpid=topnews
Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty announced his resignation yesterday after 18 months on the job, becoming the fourth senior Justice Department official to quit amid the controversy surrounding the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys last year. In a one-page letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, McNulty said he will leave his post in late summer because of the "financial realities" brought on by "college-age children and two decades of public service."
RELATED: No. 2 at Justice Department resigns
RELATED: Gonzales’s Deputy Quits Justice Department
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/washington/15attorney.html
Red Cross report faults Israel on humanitarian law
The International Committee of the Red Cross, in a confidential report about East Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, accuses Israel of a "general disregard" for "its obligations under international humanitarian law -- and the law of occupation in particular." The committee, which does not accept Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem, says that Israel is using its rights as an occupying power under international law "in order to further its own interests or those of its own population to the detriment of the population of the occupied territory."
RELATED: Red Cross Report Says Israel Disregards Humanitarian Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/world/middleeast/15jerusalem.html?ref=world
Bush Calls For Cuts In Vehicle Emissions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051400243.html
With gasoline prices spiraling to record highs last week and a recent Supreme Court ruling requiring executive action to restrict global warming gases, President Bush yesterday ordered four federal agencies to draw up regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks by the end of his administration. But Democrats, environmentalists and some energy experts said the president was simply delaying measures that he has the power to impose now. During a brief event in the White House Rose Garden, Bush said he was asking for rules to "cut gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles." The regulations, he said, should be consistent with his previously announced plan to reduce projected gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next decade.
RELATED: Bush calls for rules to reduce emissions
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Gay adoption is law
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5537407,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter signed bills into law Monday allowing gay couples to adopt and requiring science-based sex education standards at school districts offering human-sexuality courses. Some religious groups, including Catholic Charities, had urged Ritter to veto House Bill 1330, the so-called second-parent adoption bill. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson also called on his Christian radio show listeners to voice opposition to such legislation, saying "liberals have declared war on traditional morality and traditional family values in this state." But in signing a flurry of 26 bills into law Monday, Ritter said the second-parent adoption measure provides more children the emotional and financial security that comes with having two parents.
RELATED: Gay couples OK’d to adopt; abstinence-only sex ed cut
http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill_22409___article.html/children_sex.html
Kids Count report grades Colo. a C
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5537438,00.html
Flanked by cardboard dolls made by children, the head of the Colorado Children's Campaign on Monday gave the state a C for how it takes care of its children. "Resources have to be allocated if we want to see improvements in education, early education and health," said Megan Ferland, the campaign's president. "Kids have to be a priority." There's good news and bad in the 14th annual KidsCount report, officially released at the state Capitol. Colorado's immunization rate is improving, and fewer women are smoking during pregnancy. But one in three young people do not graduate from high school, and 14 percent of the state's children lack health insurance coverage. Gov. Bill Ritter said many of his policy goals overlap with issues singled out in the report.
RELATED: KidsCount statistics
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5536195,00.html
RELATED: One in three Colorado kids will not graduate from high school if current course continues
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS01/705150354/1002/NEWS01
RELATED: State's care of children earns "C"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5896060
RELATED: Teen deaths, pregnancies fall in Weld
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070515/NEWS/105150086
Taylor, White disagree about education tax law
http://craigdailypress.com/section/localnews/story/26575
Al White supports a new tax law that will boost local funding for school districts across Colorado even though that position places him at odds with many in his Republican Party. "Most of my party is not on the Joint Budget Committee," White said Saturday in Steamboat Springs. White is a Winter Park resident who has represented Northwest Colorado at the Capitol for seven years. He recently ended his first year as one of two Republicans on the state's powerful, six-member Joint Budget Committee, which oversees Colorado's finances. White said serving on the committee gave him a firsthand look at a dire financial forecast for K-12 education in Colorado. As a result, White disagrees with state Republican leadership about one of the hottest topics to come out of the 2007 legislative session -- the School Finance Act recently signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat.
RELATED: Plan to freeze levies splits lawmakers
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/05/15/5_15_1B_Leg_event.html
RELATED: Schools expect more funds
Affirmative-action ban proponents refuse questions
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5894323
Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban affirmative-action programs in Colorado government declined today to address several questions posed by nonpartisan legislative legal experts. The amendment, which supporters hope to put on the November 2008 ballot, would prohibit the state from considering race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in employment, education or contracting decisions. Officials from the Legislative Council and the Office of Legislative Legal Services provided four pages of questions seeking more information about terms in the amendment. Specifically, officials suggested that backers define terms, including "preferential treatment," "public education," "public employment," "normal operation" and "federal program." In most cases, amendment backers declined to elaborate. Manuel Klausner, a California lawyer working on behalf of the proponents, told officials, "We don't believe any further clarification is necessary."
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/051507.htm
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