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TOP STORIES
National
Guantanamo Ruling Renews The Debate Over Detainees
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060500294.html
The decision by U.S. military judges on Monday to dismiss the war crimes charges against two detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has reignited a debate over how to try those accused of terrorism, prompting members of Congress to challenge the Bush administration over a legal system that they say denies proper rights to detainees and has yet to bring a single case to trial. In dismissing the charges against detainees from Canada and Yemen, the judges ruled that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 lacked jurisdiction because that law limits cases to those who are deemed "unlawful enemy combatants." Because a tribunal had officially deemed both men "enemy combatants," the letter of the law did not allow the detainees to go to trial, the judges determined. Prosecutors say they hope to try about 80 of the 380 detainees at Guantanamo, but all such cases are now on hold -- one more setback in a five-year effort to bring even one case to trial.
RELATED: Failed terror trials raise new questions
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-05-gitmo-trials_N.htm
RELATED: Democrats Hope to Expand Rights at Guantánamo
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/washington/06gitmo.html
In the West Wing, Pardon Is A Topic Too Sensitive to Mention
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501275.html
The sentence imposed on former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby yesterday put President Bush in the position of making a decision he has tried to avoid for months: Trigger a fresh political storm by pardoning a convicted perjurer or let one of the early architects of his administration head to prison. The prospect of a pardon has become so sensitive inside the West Wing that top aides have been kept out of the loop, and even Bush friends have been told not to bring it up with the president. In any debate, officials expect Vice President Cheney to favor a pardon, while other aides worry about the political consequences of stepping into a case that stems from the origins of the Iraq war and renewing questions about the truthfulness of the Bush administration.
RELATED: Letters Cast Light on Cheney's Inner Circle
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502715.html
RELATED: Libby gets prison, Bush may face dilemma
RELATED: Libby Given 30 Months for Lying in C.I.A. Leak Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/washington/06libby.html?ref=washington
Ex-Prosecutor Says He Didn't Think Charges Would Affect Election
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502352.html
A former interim U.S. attorney appointed by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales defended his decision to bring a controversial indictment before last year's elections, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had no idea Missouri Republicans would use the case as part of their campaign against Democrats.
RELATED: Indictments may have bent Justice's rules
RELATED: Ex-prosecutor says firing cleared way for another
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-05-fired-prosecutors_N.htm
McCain Sets Self Apart in Debate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501085.html
Sen. John McCain of Arizona found himself isolated Tuesday night as he staunchly defended controversial immigration legislation against a barrage of criticism from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, who argued that the bill is deeply flawed and should not be approved by Congress. The Senate will begin voting on Wednesday on the fragile compromise, which has the support of President Bush but is opposed by a majority of Republicans and has become a flash point in the contest for the GOP nomination. "The problem with this immigration plan is it has no real unifying purpose," former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said. "It's a typical Washington mess. It's everybody compromises. . . . And when you look at these compromises, it is quite possible it will make things worse." Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney joined in attacking the bipartisan bill McCain helped write.
RELATED: GOP rivals argue for right to mantle
RELATED: Immigration, Bush in crossfire
RELATED: Republicans throw jabs in N.H. debate
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-06-05-gop-debate_N.htm
RELATED: GOP hopefuls spar, rip Bush
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/06/gop_hopefuls_spar_rip_bush/
More 2008 presidential race news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, COLORADO/ELECTION
Colorado
Allard fails to derail accord
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069831
The fragile compromise on immigration reform held together Tuesday as the Senate marched toward its first vote on legislation that would allow an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to stay in the country legally. Senators voted on amendments and, by a wide margin, rejected one from Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., that would have stripped out extra consideration given undocumented workers and agricultural workers applying for permanent residency. Allard's amendment failed on a 62-31 vote, a tally that could indicate where the Senate stands on the larger bill. The Colorado Republican targeted one of the most controversial issues in the legislation, legal status for illegal immigrants. "We should not reward those who have broken the law," Allard said. "And we certainly should not punish those that have abided by the law." Allard's amendment sought to eliminate the points given to all illegal immigrants in the bill's new green-card system, including a category to deal with agricultural workers that Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., worked to insert into the bill.
RELATED: Allard immigration plan fails
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/06/06/6_6_immigration_bill.html
RELATED: Immigration deal in peril
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/immigration-deal-in-peril/
RELATED: Allard loses bid to rewrite immigration bill
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/1
More immigration policy news in NATIONAL/IMMIGRATION, COLORADO/ELECTION, COLORADO/IMMIGRATION
Salazar, Udall among group pressuring Bush on Iraq
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5571755,00.html
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Denver, and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, were among a bipartisan group of congressmen today that introduced identical bills in each house that would force President Bush to implement the recommendations made months ago by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. "The American people expect us to find a solution to the situation in Iraq," Salazar said. "This legislation sets us on the right track diplomatically, economically and militarily to do so." The bills would require Bush to include the cost of the war in his annual budget request. The bills also would set conditions that could lead to redeployment of U.S. troops as early as the first quarter of 2008, as long as security, diplomatic and infrastructure benchmarks are met. "As a piece of legislation it’s a message about the sentiments in the House," Udall said. "I think it ushers in a new era about where we go next."
RELATED: DeGette co-sponsors Iraq war bills
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6067288
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/ELECTION, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/MILITARY
Salazar: Flats' ill workers deserve hearing
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6070029
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar wants a Senate hearing examining how the government is handling the medical claims of former workers at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons depot. Salazar, D-Colo., signed a letter along with 13 other Democrats and Republican senators, asking the chair and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to hold a hearing. "Nuclear-weapons workers with work-related diseases in 20 states are not being compensated," the letter states, while federal law passed in 2000 "was designed to fairly compensate sick energy workers." Thousands of Coloradans worked at the plant 16 miles west of downtown Denver, making plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons. Other workers cleaned up contaminated buildings at the plant. Former workers at the Colorado plant and their surviving spouses have filed 6,212 claims, seeking compensation for illnesses. So far, 802 payments have been made.
WHO Faults Handling of TB Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502438.html
Top officials of the World Health Organization yesterday criticized U.S. health authorities' handling of the case of a 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis who defied official requests that he not take a long airplane flight. At the least, local health officials should have told airlines to keep Andrew Speaker from boarding a plane once they concluded he was likely to defy advice and go ahead with plans to fly to Europe to be married. "If his physician was aware that Mr. Speaker was going to travel, then he or she should have informed the public health authorities, and the public health authorities should have informed the airline . . . or put them [Speaker and his fiancee] on a watch list," said Paul Nunn, the head of WHO's office on drug-resistant tuberculosis.
RELATED: Spread of TB from patient unlikely, test show
RELATED: TB patient's third phlegm test negative
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572810,00.html
RELATED: Lawyer's TB not readily spread
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069833
Election
Richardson schedules appearance in Pueblo
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/2
Two fundraisers are scheduled for the Democratic New Mexico governor and presidential hopeful. ± New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is scheduled to bring his campaign for the White House to Pueblo for two fundraisers Friday. The form- er congressman and U.N. ambassador during the Clinton administration formally declared his candidacy for president earlier this month. Sponsored by a list of local Democrats, Richardson will appear at an 11 a.m. reception at Koncilja Law Offices, 125 B St. He then is scheduled to speak at an 11:30 a.m. lunch at the Olde Carriage House on the Riverwalk, 102 S. Victoria.
Tancredo to change direction of his campaign
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5572777,00.html
Rep. Tom Tancredo plans to change direction in his long-shot presidential campaign so he can pressure fellow Republicans into rejecting an immigration reform plan he considers "amnesty." Before a debate [last night] on CNN, Tancredo, R-Littleton, told reporters he soon plans to scale back his weekly visits to the early caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. He's going ahead with previously scheduled events, including a four-day trip to Iowa starting Thursday. But after that, Tancredo said he would spend more time traveling to Republican-held congressional districts around the country. There, he hopes to pressure GOP incumbents in their own back yards, threatening to work for their defeat unless they help block the immigration reform bill now pending in the U.S. Senate.
RELATED: Tancredo launches effort against immigration bill
http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_6069990
Runoffs add trio to City Council
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6070500
Carla Madison managed a come-from-behind victory Tuesday night to join Chris Nevitt and Paul Lopez as the newest members of the Denver City Council. All three won runoff elections to fill vacant council seats. Nevitt, in District 7, and Lopez, in District 3, managed comfortable victories with more than 60 percent of the vote. Both were their districts' top vote-getters in the May 1 election. Madison defeated Sharon Bailey for the District 8 seat with 52 percent of the vote. Bailey garnered 36 percent of the vote in the first round to Madison's 28 percent in a four-person race.
RELATED: Denver voters lean toward labor in runoff races
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5572809,00.html
RELATED: Shifting demographics of traditional black district reflected in historic vote
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5572811,00.html
Voters pick Mick for mayor
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106060034
Mick Ireland hoisted a bottle of Brut champagne while his posse of supporters merrily drank from plastic cups inside his employee-housing unit. Tim Semrau and his wife quietly moseyed into an upscale downtown restaurant, ordering a waiter to tell the press he would not be giving interviews. And as of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday - and $90,000 in campaign fundraising later - Semrau and Ireland had yet to speak to each other. "I understand it can hurt to lose," Ireland said, publicly acknowledging his respect for Semrau and his candidacy. So it went in the mayoral runoff election, as Aspen voters picked granola over growth, casting 1,209 votes for Ireland as he dismantled Semrau's spirited and aggressive bid to reverse his fortune from the May election. Instead, Semrau reeled in 913 votes, or 43 percent, shy of what the mayoral hopeful needed to claim a seat that pays some $27,000 a year.
RELATED: Skadron handily defeats Kronberg
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106060033
RELATED: Kronberg goes out fighting
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106060036
RELATED: Runoff more trickle than torrent
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070606/NEWS/70605008
Former member plans race for City Council
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/9
Former City Councilman Ted Lopez Jr. plans to formally announce his campaign for an at-large spot on council on Thursday. Lopez, who last served as District 4 councilman in 2003, will seek support from the entire city this year, running for the at-large seat currently held by Councilwoman Vera Ortegon, who was appointed in March. Lopez lost to current District 4 Councilman Ray Aguilera in 2003 in a recall election spurred by council passing an ordinance banning smoking in all public places, including taverns.
Effective and Ethical Government
Coloradans headed to D.C. for Allard event
http://blogs.denverpost.com/washington/2007/06/04/coloradans-headed-to-dc-for-allard-event/
Colorado’s senior U.S. Senator today announced the names of 13 people from Denver who will be in Washington, D.C., for the 10th annual Allard Capital Conference later this week. The event, co-hosted this year by the University of Colorado and Fort Lewis College, gives those who attend “an unparalleled opportunity to interact with public policy makers, members of Congress, and President Bush’s Cabinet to gain a better understanding of how our government functions,” Sen. Wayne Allard’s office said in a release.
RELATED: Northern Colorado residents head to D.C. for conference
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106050089
County to cover Congrove attorney
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6067385
Outside counsel paid for by taxpayers will represent Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove as an individual in a lawsuit filed in late May by a former Arvada bank employee. The county board as a whole will be represented by county attorneys, Deputy County Attorney Ellen Wakeman said Tuesday. State law requires representation under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, which protects government officials "when acting within the scope of their duties," Wakeman said. The lawsuit filed by Lori Stille names the board, a private investigator and Congrove as defendants. Congrove is accused of harassing and threatening Stille and her daughters shortly after he took office in 2005. Stille contends Congrove was upset about Stille's relationship with county critic Mike Zinna, who has sued the county and commissioners several times, and what he knew about Congrove's finances.
Cultural funding process assailed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572778,00.html
Denver City Council President Michael Hancock is blasting the process used to determine which cultural facilities get funding as recommended by the Infrastructure Priorities Task Force. Hancock said facilities such as the Boettcher Concert Hall and Denver Botanic Gardens would be funded at the level they request because their supporters - usually middle- to upper-class people - are more likely to vote. But the Denver Public Library, which he said serves working families, stay-at-home moms and people who can't afford to shop at Borders, would get only one-third of the money it requested under the task force recommendation.
RELATED: Council president raises fairness issue
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6070623
Archuleta assessor sues commission
Archuleta County Assessor Keren Prior is suing Archuleta County commissioners, saying they failed to follow proper procedures for reducing this year's budget and unfairly targeted her office during budget reductions. It is the latest twist in a county budget crisis that has resulted in 22 employees being laid off, several employees receiving pay cuts and numerous county services being suspended.
County weighs budget cuts
http://www.gazette.com/articles/county_23274___article.html/million_services.html
El Paso County commissioners are expected Thursday to indicate what cuts they want to make to cover a projected $7.5 million shortfall in the 2008 budget. The commissioners have previously indicated they will not lay off workers or trim the county’s largest spender, the Sheriff’s Office, to cover the shortfall. Instead, they are looking to make cuts in individual departments and say they will apply those savings to pay for $7.5 million in what bureaucrats call mandates, such as health care and food for jail inmates, or critical expenses such as fuel, postage and health benefits for employees.
RIVERA WANTS TO REVITALIZE SPRINGS’ CORE
http://www.gazette.com/articles/city_23260___article.html/rivera_areas.html
Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera wants to revitalize the city’s core, areas that have wilted as Powers Boulevard to the east has blossomed. In his State of the City address Tuesday during a Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Antlers Hilton hotel, Rivera said although development is booming east and north, some central areas are deteriorating.
Boulder weighs how to spend extra cash
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/boulder-boulder-weighs-how-to-spend-extra-cash/
Elected officials have made their lists and checked them twice, and Tuesday they requested that a redeveloped mobile-home park, more after-school programs for kids and a study on the effects of "pop-top and scrape" redevelopments have a chance to get onto next year's budget. Boulder expects to bring in 5.2 percent more money in sales-tax revenue this year over 2006, and it's projected to grow by another 3.9 percent in 2008. That could free up an extra $2 million — half one-time money and half ongoing revenue — for those projects.
Palisade mayor resigns, plans to move to Utah
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/06/06/6_6_1a_Edwards.html
Palisade Mayor Doug Edwards has resigned and plans to move to Utah, citing family reasons for his decision. Edwards, 54, has headed the Palisade Town Council during its efforts to fend off drilling in the town’s watershed on Grand Mesa and during the negotiations to build a whitewater park in the Colorado River. After serving seven years on the town board, Edwards said he is disappointed about leaving before his term is complete, “but anyone who knows me knows that my family comes first.”
Mortensen resigns
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=7164
Cañon City’s lone councilwoman announced Monday she soon will be leaving her post, creating a vacancy on the seven-member body.
Glenwood council to consider several changes to charter
http://postindependent.com/article/20070606/VALLEYNEWS/106060041
Springtime in the Rockies could become election time in Glenwood Springs in one of several municipal charter changes to be considered by City Council Thursday. Council is scheduled to discuss several possible charter changes, including moving city elections from November to April or May. Some other possible changes include revising the city's legal notice requirements, clarifying the process for citizen election initiatives, changing annual city budgeting deadlines, and removing gender-specific charter language so it no longer assumes that all council members and other city officials are men.
Appraisal increases are about normal
http://postindependent.com/article/20070606/VALLEYNEWS/106060040
Garfield County residential properties appear to have increased about 20 to 40 percent on average over the two years leading up to June 30, 2006, according to County Assessor John Gorman. Commercial properties' assessed valuations are expected to have increased around 25 to 50 percent during the same period.
County sees fewer appeals of land values
About 3 percent of La Plata County homeowners plan to protest their assessed property values, said Craig Larson, county assessor. The Assessor's Office mailed 33,000 tax notices May 1, and 1,234 property owners are protesting the valuations, Larson said. The deadline to protest tax notices was Thursday.
Democrats invite people to dance
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106050088
It's not quite clear who the "stars" will be, but Weld County Democrats are hoping residents will dance with them next week. The party is holding a "Dancing With the Stars" fundraising event Friday, June 15, set to the music of the Colorado Sunshine Band.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Commissioners laud house concerts
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/commissioners-laud-house-concerts/
Two of Boulder County's three commissioners told residents Tuesday that they favor amending the county's land-use code to allow for house concerts. But they couldn't agree on exactly when that change might take place. Last summer, the Boulder County Land Use Department shut down a series of house concerts at a home in the foothills near Nederland, claiming that they were an illegal commercial venture because they involved taking donations at the door. Greg and Debbie Ching, who had long hosted folk-music performances in the living room of their Magnolia home, appealed the cease-and-desist order to the Boulder County Board of Adjustment in February but were turned down.
Immigration
Bill divides business, conservatives
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6069457
Business groups known for conservative stands on tax cuts and other issues have taken a sharp turn away from their conservative allies when it comes to proposed immigration reform. Telephone lines to conservative talk-show hosts have been burning up with condemnation of the proposal, which would offer a path to citizenship for the 11 million or more undocumented workers now in the country and create a new guest-worker program. While the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups say the bill would provide labor for jobs that Americans don't want, many conservatives call it corporate welfare and amnesty for lawbreakers. "We don't understand how the political elites in the Republican Party can be so out of touch with what the American people want and need," said Dan Stein, head of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Aurora, laborers still at odds
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069900
Day-laborer advocates and city officials met Tuesday after several weeks of tension over the workers' gathering place. Advocates asked for a moratorium on enforcing zoning codes at the site, in the parking lot of Aguila Express convenience store at East Colfax Avenue and Dayton Street. But city officials said it's unlikely enforcement will be halted, and citations may be issued. The advocates asked assistant city attorney Tim Joyce to relay their desire to work with the city to find a storefront location for a center and for a transition period allowing workers to continue using the parking lot. Joyce initially refused. Later he agreed to relay the request to Councilwoman Deborah Wallace, who represents the area. "The activity at that location of them trying to obtain work is illegal based on zoning codes," he said. "The best way would be to set up a storefront and meet all the codes and get licenses." Harold Lasso of El Centro Humanitario para los Trabajadores, a nonprofit worker center in Denver, said a storefront takes time.
Open dialogue about immigration issues
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106060087
Congregations Building Community is hosting a forum today to open the dialogue of immigration to Greeley residents. The meeting is at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Peace Church, 1311 3rd St. According to the press release, guest speakers include Mayor Tom Selders, Police Chief Jerry Garner, Father Bernie Schmitz, Latino business owners and members of the CBC. Families who were affected by the raid will also be there to give their testimony. For information contact the CBC at (970) 686-1068.
U.S. citizenship led to suspect's release
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069898
An attempt by Denver police to hold a man wanted in Guatemala in an $8.6 million robbery was thwarted by the fact the suspect is a U.S. citizen, authorities said Tuesday. As a result, police had to release the suspect - Diego Alejandro Diaz Sanchez, 23 - after an officer pulled over the car he was riding in early Monday for failing to use a turn signal. Denver police spokesman John White said a warrant was issued in Guatemala for Diaz Sanchez's arrest. But police were told he could not be held in the U.S. on that warrant, and he was released Monday. An official of Interpol, the international police organization, said the fact that a suspect wanted in another country is a U.S. citizen complicated the matter.
Marriage and Family Issues
Needed: a few good dads
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/14
In Pueblo County, there are 10,219 single-parent households. Of those, 2,405 have a male head of household and 7,814 are headed by women. Dan Chavez is struggling to combat these statistics, which come courtesy of City-Data.com. He works as a case manager for the prenatal program, Moms on Medicaid, at Parkview Medical Center. Although his job title involves mothers, he is looking to help fathers as well. That's where the Good Dad's Program comes in.
Health Care and Public Safety
Which Weld towns have tornado sirens to warn residents?
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106060084
The clouds turned dark and low in May, the wind started to blow as the clouds swirled above, heavy raindrops followed by hail fell to the ground followed by thunder and lightning. The tornado siren went off in Ault, notifiying residents to take cover. Four miles away, residents in Pierce had no warning. No calls to the fire chief and no calls to the town hall. Residents were puzzled. "Why weren't we notified?" said Margaret Barber, the town clerk. "Who makes the decision to who you call? Purcell got a warning, and Pierce is closer to them."
Food stamps again welcome at farmers' markets
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/food-stamps-again-welcome-here/
When Colorado swapped food stamps for electronic benefit cards nearly a decade ago, low-income households dependent on federal assistance waved good-bye to local farmers' markets, which didn't have wireless technology that could scan the new cards. But this summer, food-aid recipients and local growers are getting reacquainted, thanks to a federal grant enabling farmers' markets statewide to get advanced card-swiping machines.
RELATED: Greeley market accepts Food Stamps
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070606/NEWS/70605006
Firefighter accused of stealing drugs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6067387
An Aurora firefighter has resigned amid theft and drug-related charges after colleagues alleged he stole painkillers from a medical supply box, authorities said today.
A safe haven
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/06/05/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
Boulder County residents who find themselves victims of domestic violence will have a new place to turn once a new alternative housing shelter, constructed by Safe Shelter and HomeAid Colorado, is completed in Longmont. Unlike Boulder-based Safe House Progressive Alliance, which is designed to provide shelter, education, and advocacy for victims of interpersonal violence, Longmont-based Safe Shelter provides emergency services for women and children living with domestic abuse. As the two domestic violence programs currently in place in Boulder County, Boulder and Longmont are the only cities to offer shelter for the temporarily homeless.
Recalled meat was sold in GJ
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/06/06/6_6_ground_beef_recall.html
Certain varieties of ground beef and hamburger patties sold from Albertsons grocery stores in late April and early May are being recalled after a meat-packing company notified stores their products might be contaminated with a dangerous strain of E. coli bacteria.
Report details events in fatal zoo attack
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572975,00.html
Denver zookeepers made heroic efforts to save colleague Ashlee Pfaff moments after she was attacked by a rogue jaguar that sprang at her through an open exhibit door, a newly released report on the February tragedy shows. They yelled at the animal, named Jorge, and sprayed it with a fire extinguisher before shooting it as it moved toward another zoo staffer.
Crime and Penal Reform
Bacon to try again with Ritter on criminal records bill
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS01/706060320/1002/NEWS01
A Fort Collins senator said he expects a compromise with the governor next year on a bill that would allow some criminals to seal their records. Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed a similar bill Friday. The bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Bob Bacon, said he thinks the sides can work out the concerns next session. "Some of his staffers that talked to me said he would be willing to work with me next year to put a bill through that would satisfy his concerns," Bacon said.
Thiebaut suspends chief trial deputy
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/13
A prosecutor with a rocky record in recent years has been suspended from the district attorney's office. Karl Tameler, one of two chief trial deputies at the district attorney's office, was placed on 30 days of paid leave effective May 25. District Attorney Bill Thiebaut would not comment on why Tameler was suspended. “It's strictly an internal personnel matter,” Thiebaut said. Tameler and Robert Case each hold the title of chief trial deputy at the district attorney's office. In Tameler's absence, Cathy Mullens will fill in as the second chief trial deputy. Prosecutors will share Tameler's caseload until he returns, Thiebaut said. During a seminar for prosecutors in September 2005, Tameler was arrested in Aspen for driving under the influence of alcohol. Tameler's blood-alcohol content at the time of his arrest was 0.151, almost twice Colorado's legal limit of 0.08. A police officer clocked him driving 53 mph in a 25 mph zone.
Attorney finalist for judgeship
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=7165
Fremont County Attorney Brenda Jackson is one of three finalists to fill a new district court judgeship. “I’m extremely honored and would be delighted to serve,” Jackson said this morning.
Serra to seek up to 12 percent increase in funding
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/06/05/local_news/1.txt
District Attorney Myrl Serra was before the Montrose County Commissioners Monday with the news, intended as advance information for a 2008 budget request he will make in September. Serra said he would be seeking a 10 to 12 percent increase in contributions from Montrose, and is also seeking more funds from Ouray, San Miguel, Delta, Hinsdale and Gunnison counties. He anticipates requesting approximately $500,000 from Montrose County as its contribution to a budget of more than $1 million. The DA's budget is based on population. Montrose County has 42 percent of the 7th Judicial District's population, he said, along with 40 percent of the district's caseload. The state pays 60 percent of the DA's salary; the remaining 40 percent is paid by counties, based upon their percentage of the judicial district's caseload.
Ex-cop gets 5 years for child porn
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/06/06/6_6_1a_child_porn.html
A former Mesa County Sheriff’s Department deputy has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for possessing nearly 300 images of child pornography and posting some of them on the Internet. Harry Oxford, 57, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in a plea agreement in which a second charge of transporting child pornography was dismissed. He must report to prison June 25, according to court records.
Inmate charged in slaying sues, claims 'inhumane conditions'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572981,00.html
A man who police say shot and killed a Boulder businessman has filed a suit against the county claiming that he is living under "cruel and inhumane conditions" at the Boulder County Jail, including being strapped naked in a chair for hours and being denied pain medication for an aching tooth. Ryan Barry, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 18 homicide of Sergio Libman. Police arrested Barry in Kansas two days later and he has been held without bond ever since.
RELATED: Judge dismisses suit against jail
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/05/judge-dismisses-suit-against-jail/
JonBenet's dad: Relationship rumors 'greatly exaggerated'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5571281,00.html
Ramsey, 63, called "tabloid rumors" about his relationship with Twitty, 46, "greatly exaggerated. I have great respect for Beth and how she's handled her terrible situation," he told 9News.
Economy
FTC Seeks to Block Whole Foods Deal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501861.html
The Federal Trade Commission is to file a lawsuit to try to prevent natural-foods grocer Whole Foods Market from acquiring competitor Wild Oats Markets, the companies said Tuesday. The lawsuit, expected to be filed in federal court in the District, will argue that the marketplace is defined by natural and organic food stores and not the broader supermarket industry, said John Mackey, chairman and chief executive of Whole Foods. The FTC confirmed late Tuesday that it will seek to block the deal in court. It said that if the deal is allowed to proceed, Whole Foods is likely to raise prices and reduce quality and service.
RELATED: FTC: Grocer's basket too full
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5572553,00.html
RELATED: FTC sour on merger: Agency files suit challenging Whole Foods- Wild Oats deal
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/ftc-sour-on-merger/
RELATED: FTC sues to halt Wild Oats buyout
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6069459
First Data Corp. buyout by KKR approved
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6068117
Credit- card transaction processor First Data Corp. won European Union regulatory permission Tuesday to be acquired by private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for about $27 billion in cash. The European Commission cleared the deal automatically after identifying no antitrust problems and receiving no complaints from rivals. The deal comes amid a flurry of public-company buyouts orchestrated by private-equity groups. The First Data deal would rank behind a proposed $32 billion buyout of the Texas utility TXU Corp. by a group including KKR and Texas Pacific Group. If that deal is completed, it would be the largest private takeover of a public firm in U.S. corporate history. First Data, based in Greenwood Village, was formed in June 1971.
Newmont Mining CEO Murdy to retire
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/energy/article/0,2777,DRMN_23914_5572703,00.html
Denver's Newmont Mining Corp., the world's second-largest gold producer, on Tuesday announced that Chief Executive Officer and President Wayne Murdy will retire July 1. Murdy, 62, will continue as chairman through the end of this year. He cited a recent health issue and family considerations in his decision, the company said. He will be succeeded by Richard O'Brien.
RELATED: Newmont CEO Murdy set to retire
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6069458
Longtime Notebaert ally to retire
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5572580,00.html
Qwest Executive Vice President Barry Allen, recruited in August 2002 by friend Dick Notebaert to help turn around the Denver telco, is retiring June 29, the company announced Tuesday. Allen and Notebaert had worked together in top executive posts at Ameritech, which was acquired by SBC.
RELATED: Second top Qwest exec to retire
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6069461
Retail sales show modest gains
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106060031
Aspen retail activity during the month of April edged upward 4.4 percent despite the closure of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport a week before the chairlifts shut down April 15. For the first four months of 2007, retail sales were up 4 percent over the same period last year, according to figures released Tuesday by the city of Aspen finance office.
Boulder City Council embraces wireless
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/boulder-city-council-embraces-wireless/
Boulder could start to see a citywide wireless network within a year following the City Council's endorsement of the idea Tuesday, which came with questions about WiFi's economic feasibility and possible health impacts.
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
500 downtown jobs will dissolve
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5572579,00.html
More than 500 downtown Denver jobs will be lost when Fiserv closes the sale of part of its business to TD Ameritrade later this year. The Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv employs 900 in its Investment Support Services division in the Manville Plaza. The business serves as a custodian and provides back-office support for 300,000 investment and retirement accounts worth $46 billion. Fiserv is selling most of that business to Omaha-based TD Ameritrade for up to $375 million, depending on its performance. Bob Beriault, president of the division, will buy the remainder of the business for $50 million. Fiserv spokeswoman Melanie Tolley said Beriault thinks he'll need between 300 and 400 employees for his chunk. But the Fiserv employees who work with the customers acquired by TD Ameritrade will see their jobs disappear early next year after a transition period.
Housing and Homelessness
Area home-sales strength lies at upper end
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5572576,00.html
The Denver-area home sales market is flat overall, with two exceptions: sales of foreclosed homes and homes priced at more than $1 million.
RELATED: Home sales get boost in May
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6069456
RELATED: Garfield County housing market's as hot as ever
http://postindependent.com/article/20070606/VALLEYNEWS/106060045
Boulder County looks at limiting house size
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572803,00.html
Boulder County is considering house-size restrictions that could be waived only if the homeowner bought development rights to preserve open space or agricultural land in the county. If adopted, the plan would put Boulder County among a handful of counties nationwide that have put caps on the size of new homes. The proposal would limit new houses in unincorporated Boulder County to 4,000 square feet on the plains and 2,600 square feet in the mountains. Michelle Krezek, manager of special projects with the Boulder County Land Use Department, said the proposed limits are "just a starting point" in the discussion on the burgeoning sizes of homes in the county.
RELATED: Plan limiting home sizes may be modified
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/plan-limiting-home-sizes-may-be-modified/
Aspen's McMansions bigger than the rest
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070605/NEWS/70605002
Aspen and Pitkin County are 25 years ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to the size of their McMansions. The average size of a new house built in the U.S. topped 2,400 square feet in 2005, the Associated Press reported recently, citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Aspen was truly ahead of its time. New houses built in Pitkin County topped that level 25 years ago, according to data from the Pitkin County Assessor’s Office.
Non-profits excluded from linkage fees
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/jun/06/nonprofits_excluded_linkage_fees/
Non-profits are excluded from sweeping new housing policies adopted by the city of Steamboat Springs on Tuesday night. Capping nine months of research and preparation, the Steamboat Springs City Council approved a vastly revised inclusionary zoning and linkage ordinance, voting, 4-2, to change how the city will provide affordable housing for local workers facing Steamboat’s booming real estate market. Council members Paul Strong and Loui Antonucci voted against the ordinance, citing what they said are excessive fees for commercial developers. City Council President Susan Dellinger was absent from the meeting, which continued past 11 p.m. in a crowded Centennial Hall.
Houses blue, yellow and built-green
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/house-of-a-different-color-houses-blue-yellow/
The developers of Eagle Place hoped their "built-green" and affordable townhouses would get attention, but they weren't counting on so much of it being focused on yellow and blue paint. The new, 60-unit development, approved by the City Council in April 2006, is causing a stir in national building circles for being energy-efficient, permanently affordable and the result of unique public and private funding partnerships. Yet it's also been getting attention from some area residents for its bright color scheme — something developers did to purposefully avoid the "builder beige" so prevalent in many suburban communities. On a tour of the 12-building development Tuesday, developer Amory Host said he hopes the color issue will be "put to rest."
Education
Boulder High families pushing back
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6070026
The controversy surrounding a frank and provocative panel discussion about sex and drugs at Boulder High School continues to churn, nearly two months after the discussion took place. In the past month, 10 state senators have sent a letter to the Boulder Valley School Board asking that key school administrators be fired over the panel, and media pundits locally and nationally have blasted the school for hosting the panel, which critics say was too graphic and permissive in tone. "Some of the things said to those kids was flat-out dangerous," Denver radio host Dan Caplis said Tuesday. "... Kids at that age, not all of them but some of them, are struggling with these issues." At the same time, a growing number of people in Boulder are pushing back against the criticism. Boulder High sophomore Jesse Lange told the City Council on Tuesday night that much of the media attention has been misleading and comments were taken out of context.
RELATED: Think tank report to criticize CWA panel (6/5)
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/05/think-tank-report-to-criticize-cwa-panel/
Test scores rise since No Child law in '02
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069899
Reading and math scores for Colorado public school students have shown slight to moderate gains since 2002 - the year the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect across the nation, according to a study released Tuesday. But researchers with the Washington-based Center on Education Policy, which ran the 18-month study, caution that the sweeping education law may not necessarily deserve all the credit. "Colorado has its own school-reform initiatives that could also be raising test scores," said Jack Jennings, CEP president.
New school chief all business
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069832
Dwight Jones has a strong track record as a successful, charismatic superintendent of a small district, but those hoping the state's new education commissioner will lead Colorado toward sweeping, statewide education reform will have to wait. "There is no magical program out there," Jones said. "For me to blindly come in and say there is would be irresponsible. "Educational change for the sake of change is not something I support."
DPS pension board rejects plan for funding as criticism mounts
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/money/article/0,2777,DRMN_23908_5572577,00.html
The Denver Public Schools pension board has rejected a J.P. Morgan proposal to shore up its funding, just as a citizens group is pressuring the district to cut its annual retirement costs. The J.P. Morgan proposal essentially called for a $375 million loan to boost returns. But the pension board rejected the deal after its consultants said the pension would be taking on significant risk with little upside. The DPS plan serves about 13,000 active and retired members. With about $2.8 billion in assets, it has about 88 percent of what it needs to cover its future liabilities. That underfunding means the DPS needs to put in more money each year.
CSU fights to retain top research talent
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/CSUZONE01/706060344/1002
Colorado State University lost ground this year in its fight to prevent competing universities from poaching its top talent, officials said. Until last year the university had done well with retention of critical faculty - its top researchers renowned in their fields - despite lower-than-average salary offerings, in part because Fort Collins is such a desirable place to live, said Tony Frank, provost and senior vice president.
Schools' strategic plan ready to move off drawing board
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/6
An ambitious plan calling on Pueblo City Schools to impose higher academic standards, individualize education and target social ills is nearing completion. The work of more than three months of almost weekly meetings and a lot of independent research and thinking by a broad group of volunteers was presented Tuesday night to a core steering group that will present a strategic plan to the Pueblo City Schools Board of Education in two weeks.
If test scores rise, so could D-2 paychecks
http://www.gazette.com/articles/teachers_23281___article.html/district_money.html
Harrison School District 2 teachers might get a little extra cash if test scores show improvements when released this summer. District officials accepted a check for more than a million dollars Tuesday afternoon to reward teachers for continuing their education, improving student achievement and earning the district’s title of distinguished teacher. The money comes from the federal Department of Education’s Teacher Incentive Fund and was presented in the form of an oversized check by Patricia Chlouber of the Education Department. Harrison will use the money in several ways, said Superintendent Mike Miles. The first expenditure might come this summer when Colorado Student Assessment Program test scores are released.
District 6 seeks $5.3 million in federal grants
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106050091
The public is invited to review Greeley-Evans School District 6's application for grants from the federal government. Comments can be made through June 11. The district is submitting one consolidated application for five grant programs, seeking a total of $5.3 million. Most of the applications, for $4 million, are for Title I grants, which provides funding for schools with the greatest need. A draft application may be viewed at the district administration building, 1025 Ninth Ave., at the main reception desk. The document can also be viewed at the district Web site, www.greeleyschools.org.
D70 eyes reserves to balance budget
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/10
The [Pueblo] District 70 school board is again eyeing its reserves in an effort to balance the proposed 2007-08 budget.
Board OKs staff pay package
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/jun/06/board_oks_staff_pay_package/
Attracting and retaining educators in Steamboat Springs has been an uphill battle due to the area’s high cost of living, Steamboat Springs Middle School Assistant Principal Jerry Buelter said. But the Steamboat Springs School Board’s approval Monday of a new compensation package for certified and support employees may better position the district to compete for staff.
CU's high-flying corps
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069773
Steve Swanson, who will lift into the air with the space shuttle Atlantis on Friday, said high school in Steamboat Springs and college in Boulder helped prepare him for the journey. It was in Colorado that the 46-year-old Swanson said he developed his engineering expertise - and his love of fishing, hiking and camping. "The way I look at this spaceship, it's like a camping trip," Swanson said in a telephone interview. "It's a small volume without the comforts of home," he said. "We're inside a tent for a long period of time with some good friends, away from home, enjoying a great view."
Schools' calls, not bells, ringing
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572980,00.html
Ask Mark Edgar about the free lunch program being offered at various public schools in Aurora. He knows all about it. Around 5 p.m. Tuesday, the school district placed an automated phone call to the Edgars' home phone number, informing them of the program. A few minutes later, they got an identical call, and then another, and another, and another and yet another. At first, the calls were routed to his wife Katherine's cell phone. She was in the middle of a criminal justice class she takes at Westwood College when she took a break to call her husband. "Stop," she said. "Make it stop!" Edgar went home and turned off the call-forwarding feature. When he checked back an hour or so later, his home phone voicemail had logged about 20 more calls. Aurora school officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. The extent of the phone glitch was unknown.
Military
Last goodbye for 'stubborn' soldier
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572960,00.html
Mande Nantkes did her hair, put on her makeup and wished she were doing it for a reason - any reason - other than what she was facing. "I couldn't believe I was getting ready for my brother's funeral," she said. "You just wish and wish and wish you're getting ready for a wedding, or to see his daughter." Sgt. Ryan John Baum was her brother. He was killed May 18 in Iraq, a day shy of going on leave to Pennsylvania for the birth of his daughter, Leia. Nantkes said the tragedy is that her brother never got to hold Leia, who will never get to experience "the full Ryan treatment."
RELATED: Medic killed in Iraq honored
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069769
Army will discuss Piñon expansion Thursday
http://www.gazette.com/articles/army_23292___article.html/expansion_piñon.html
The Army will try to placate critics Thursday during a meeting on the future of Fort Carson’s Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site. The Army wants to expand the site by 418,000 acres, a plan that has raised fears among ranchers that the government would seize their land and kill off the already troubled cattle industry in southeast Colorado. During the meeting at Trinidad’s Aultman Hall, 137 W. Cedar St., Fort Carson leaders are expected to clarify the proposed expansion process and outline administrative steps, giving critics their say along the way. At the 6 p.m. meeting, the Army will unveil a revised map narrowing the area the Army is interested in. One official familiar with the plans said by narrowing its land choices, the Army thinks it will tone down opposition.
Hayden reservist trains Afghans
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/jun/06/hayden_reservist_trains_afghans/
When an instructor asked a room full of people hoping to become Defense Department contractors who train police officers overseas if any of them could break down an AK-47, only one hand rose to the air. It was the hand of Rachelle Redmond, a 47-year-old mother of two. Redmond, a reservist with the Hayden Police Department, has a knack for weapons. As a result, she was the only woman deployed with a group of about 40 to Kabul, Afghanistan, where she trains police officers to use their guns.
For The Veterans
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?id=7163
As Fremont County Veterans Service Officer, Hanawalt offers help in navigating the world of paperwork and red tape veterans and their families often find confusing.
Religion
Girl testifies about alleged affair with Boulder pastor
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572785,00.html
Both sides agree that Pastor Michael Peters crossed a line with a 17-year-old sexual assault survivor he'd been asked to counsel. But now a Denver jury will have to decide whether the relationship between the two was fantasy or reality. On Tuesday, the girl, now 21, told jurors that sexually explicit exchanges over the Internet led to physical encounters, many of which occurred while she was baby-sitting Peters' three children. "It was kinda weird, but also exciting," she said. The girl said she had a crush on Peters, who served as a youth pastor and directed the youth choir at Second Baptist Church in Boulder. That crush became more, prosecutors say, after the girl's father arranged for Peters to counsel his daughter about a sexual assault by a family member that took place when she was about 8 years old.
RELATED: Woman testifies she had sex with minister at age 17
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069901
Energy Policy
A nuclear reaction to global power
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6066495
Inspecting his equipment at the mouth of the Pandora Mine on the southern slopes of the La Sal Mountains, Jick Taylor is double checking everything while he waits for the final approval from the Mining Safety and Health Administration to begin mining for uranium. It is late November, and in the three months it has taken to fully permit the southeastern Utah mine, the price for uranium has gone up from $48 a pound in August of 2006 to more than $63 a pound. By late April, the price has risen to $113 a pound. Uranium prices have soared in recent months due to a worldwide 80-million-pound production deficit of uranium used for nuclear reactors. For the last three decades, uranium supplies to fuel nuclear reactors have been filled with stockpiled uranium and reprocessed nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War. As energy demands continue to grow around the world, most notably in China and India, the demand for nuclear power has grown.
Tri-State flies to town on a private plane
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/06/06/news/news01.txt
On the wings of a private turboprop airplane, a senior vice president of Tri-State energy flew into Telluride to discuss conservation, coal plants and global warming. He came to town last Saturday to defend the massive power association and its plans to build two new coal plants, and to convince a skeptical crowd that Tri-State Generation and Transmission is concerned about the environment, emissions and conservation.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Transit officials keep fingers crossed on U.S. 36 tolls
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572978,00.html
Colorado transportation officials are hoping that U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters will give her blessing today to their proposal to add tolls to a stretch of U.S. 36. Peters is expected to announce a major initiative "to fight traffic congestion in the Denver region," federal transportation officials said. The transportation secretary is scheduled to visit the Safeway distribution center, which sits along Interstate 70, east of Colorado Boulevard, where she will make her announcement, officials said. In December, Peters encouraged local transportation officials throughout the country to submit proposals and work with the U.S. Department of Transportation to reduce traffic congestion in large metropolitan areas, under a project called the Urban Partnership Agreement.
Life-saving leap punctuates DOT road-work safety push
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6070025
Leaping off a 21-foot bridge shattered Gerald "Jerry" Buchanan's ankles and heels, and he's had seven surgeries - so far. The fall left the CDOT worker on crutches nine months later and still unable to work. He says jumping off the Interstate 25 overpass near Pueblo into a gully last Aug 30. may have been the best decision he's ever made. "If I had paused long enough to think about what to do, I wouldn't be here," he said Tuesday. A semi truck smashed into construction machinery that day in a work zone along I-25, killing the Colorado Department of Transportation worker next to Buchanan. To highlight and hopefully prevent such tragedies the state on Tuesday kicked off its annual "Slow for the Cone" campaign to educate the public and crack down on unsafe driving in work zones.
RELATED: Patrol sets sights on motorists in construction zones
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572801,00.html
RELATED: ‘Give us a little room,’ CDOT workers ask
http://www.gazette.com/articles/mather_23279___article.html/work_cdot.html
Law to muffle rowdy cycles
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572941,00.html
As more people move into downtown Denver's sparkling new high-rise condos and lofts, more complaints about city noise are being logged. Among the chief culprits: loud motorcycles. But it's the increase in complaints - not more loud bikes - that led to Monday night's Denver City Council crackdown on noisy hogs, police say.
RELATED: Ordinance may annoy riders but isn't expected to hurt sales
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572493,00.html
RELATED: Biker group bashes new rule
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572491,00.html
Council passes on RTA
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS01/706060338/1002
A divided Fort Collins City Council seemed to close the door on a regional transportation plan that would have relied on sales tax to fund transportation and transit in Northern Colorado. The timeline was too tight for some council members - the plan would have gone to the ballot in November - and didn't do enough for road congestion, automobile emissions and transit to appeal to others.
Council to look at Bolt options
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=16740
[Longmont] City leaders will discuss three options tonight as bus service to Boulder faces getting cut in half.
Environment and Conservation
Wet spring a green dream
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5572779,00.html
It's a good year for ladybugs - and for people who like the color green. A wet spring has turned the Front Range and other parts of the state into the ideal picture of springtime, with swaths of green grass carpeting parks, and gardeners admiring their robust plants. Because it's been chilly and the rains have pummeled breeding areas, there aren't even many of the type of mosquito that reproduces in stagnant water and carries West Nile virus. There are, however, aphids, tiny insects that also seem to love this weather. John Smith, manager of Paulino Gardens, a Denver garden center and nursery, said his store is selling about 100 bags of ladybugs per week.
RELATED: Snowpack melting quickly; levels still better than last year
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/8
Ban sought on some cleaning chemicals
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069897
Environmental, laundry workers and fishermen's groups Tuesday asked for a federal ban on widely used chemicals in cleaners - saying that when they slip into streams, the compounds feminize male fish and may threaten human health. Nonylphenols - synthetic chemicals found in many household cleaners and industrial detergents - mimic the hormone estrogen, said Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club's environmental quality program. Scientists have found nonylphenols and related compounds in natural waterways below Denver's and Boulder's wastewater treatment plants. In both places, they've also found sucker fish with both male and female organs and other sexual deformities.
RELATED: Groups seek ban on cleaning chemicals
PFA program to gauge properties
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS01/706060323/1002/NEWS01
Poudre Fire Authority will conduct a pilot program survey in July that could lead wildland firefighters to defend fire-ready homes first. PFA hopes the program makes foothills and mountain properties safer while allowing firefighters to respond to wildland fires more efficiently, officials said.
11 spills added to Utilities suit
http://www.gazette.com/articles/spills_23286___article.html/colorado_springs.html
A federal magistrate Tuesday added 11 more sewage and chlorine spills to an already lengthy list of spills for which Colorado Springs Utilities is being sued. Pueblo-area district attorney Bill Thiebaut sued Colorado Springs in 2005, saying repeated sewage spills into Fountain Creek violated the federal Clean Water Act. The suit seeks fines of as much as $32,500 per day. Since the original filing, officials for the district attorney’s office and the Sierra Club have amended the complaint several times to include nearly every spill of wastewater, nonpotable water or chlorine that the utility has reported to state officials. Tuesday’s additions, which include incidents from April 2006 to March, bring the total number to several dozen. John Walsh, representing Colorado Springs Utilities, argued against the additions, noting all the alleged incidents came after the legal discovery process and said that the court has to stop such amendments and get on with the case. But John Barth, speaking for the plaintiffs, argued the continuing spills show a pattern of ongoing violations that counters the utility’s arguments that it is fixing the problem.
RELATED: Judge allows additions to Fountain case
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/3
RELATED: Corps of Engineers to hold interviews on Fountain Creek study
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1181140101/11
City shrugs off Pueblo’s criticism of pipeline
http://www.gazette.com/articles/pueblo_23275___article.html/colorado_springs.html
Pueblo officials came to Colorado Springs on Tuesday night to explain their beefs with the city’s water pipeline project, but their criticism mostly fell on deaf ears. “I think it’s a snow job,” said Dan Henrichs, superintendent of the Highline Canal Co., which handles water in the Avondale area downstream from Pueblo. “I don’t know that it’s accomplishing anything.” The meeting at Colorado College drew roughly 150 people, about half of whom were Colorado Springs Utilities employees, according to a Colorado Springs official. Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera and Utilities CEO Jerry Forte sat in the front row.
Trees set for beetle boosters
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS01/706060321/1002/NEWS01
Hoping to get out in front of a spreading mountain pine beetle infestation, U.S. Forest Service officials have hired a contractor to spray trees in two popular Poudre Canyon campgrounds to protect them from the insects. Crews are expected to spray insecticide on approximately 1,500 trees in the Chambers Lake Campground and 800 trees in the Tunnel Campground over the next few days, said Reghan Cloudman, spokeswoman for the Canyon Lakes Ranger District.
Greeley cuts free recycling program after business asks to be paid for providing service
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070606/NEWS/106050094
Greeley has cut a recycling program which allowed residents to recycle for free, but officials are hopeful the program will return when the city approves the 2008 budget. The program, which was run through Waste-Not Recycling, a Loveland-based business, had to be cut after the company told Greeley that it could no longer provide the service for free. Anita Comer, owner of Waste-Not Recycling, said she sent the city information on keeping the services intact but never got a reply. "We can't haul things for free," Comer said. "The material didn't even cover the cost of gas."
Opinion
Udall: Changing course in Iraq
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_6067985
Congress recently passed the seventh in a series of supplemental appropriations bills to fund American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. For some opponents of the war, these votes to fund the military are the equivalent of supporting the war. For some on the other side, failure to support the Bush administration is the equivalent of supporting terrorism. Both arguments are simplistic, and neither help to secure the broad public support necessary for bringing our troops home. The bumper-sticker debate will not help us resolve what is best for our country, particularly when each side accuses the other of moral cowardice. Opponents of the war claimed moral high ground by voting against funding, knowing all the while that a presidential veto saved them from the consequences of actually scaling back the equipment and medical supplies that sustain our soldiers, while advocates of the war shed tears and thumped their chests about defeating "terrorists" without ever explaining how deploying our soldiers to referee a civil war does anything but weaken our national security.
Back to drawing board on tribunals - again
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/editorials/article/0,2777,DRMN_23964_5572492,00.html
The Bush administration could have saved itself a lot of grief, and the United States a lot of embarrassment, by adhering to the Geneva Convention and other treaties on the treatment of prisoners of war. But, instead, the administration decided that prisoners taken in the war on terror, principally in Afghanistan, would be tried by a special process. The first try was a fiasco. Since then, the system has been through several refinements and, five years later, it still doesn't work. There has been only one conviction, a plea bargain leading to the defendant's serving a nine-month sentence in his native Australia.
RELATED: Military tribunals plan dealt big setback
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_6067980
Spencer: Be careful what you protest for
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6069772
In a country where greatness depends on tolerating dissent, the protest pen at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was an abomination. Thick wire fencing rose 10 feet above concrete jersey walls. Rolls of razor wire covered the top. Stuffed beneath an elevated train track by Boston's Fleet Center, the protest pen looked like a prison. Demonstrators inside appeared dangerous. A bit of graffiti scrawled in chalk said it all: "America - for shame." Razor wire is not the image Denver wants to project when the city hosts the 2008 Democratic convention. But a group calling itself "Re-create 68" is hardly the answer.
Dale: Colorado Boosts National Space Leadership
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/speakout/2007/06/colorado_boosts_national_space.html
Forty-five years ago, on May 24, 1962, the nation stood still as Colorado’s first astronaut, Boulder native Scott Carpenter, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard a Mercury-Atlas rocket. On his eventful three-orbit Aurora 7 mission, Carpenter became the second American to orbit Earth — following John Glenn — and proved during a dramatic re-entry sequence that human pilots could succeed in space when automatic systems fail. The Rocky Mountain News hailed Carpenter’s flight with a souvenir edition, and he was greeted upon his return to Boulder with a hero’s parade. Carpenter was the first of several heroic astronauts with Colorado ties who have blazed trails of exploration and discovery in space.
Rip-off at the gas pumps
http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/06/06/6_5_gas_theft_edit.html
This sort of incident was probably inevitable once gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon this spring and stayed there: A woman in Salt Lake City reported she had been accosted by a man with a gun Sunday morning while she was filling her vehicle with gasoline. The attacker didn’t want money. He wanted gas.
Littwin: Hopefuls trade on the border
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5572958,00.html
John McCain and Tom Tancredo got what they wanted Tuesday night. They got each other. And whether you think McCain or Tancredo got the better deal tells you a lot about how you think the Republican debate went. The issue, of course, was the immigration bill, or, as most Republicans like to call it, the McCain-Kennedy-Bush immigration bill. For days now, Mitt Romney and McCain have been sparring long distance on immigration. And CNN has been hyping the Tuesday matchup as if it were Mayweather-De La Hoya. We could only wish.
RELATED: Compromise critical to immigration deal
http://www.gazette.com/opinion/iran_23269___article.html/immigration_united.html
RELATED: Munoz: Amnesty ... shamnesty in the immigration bill
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070605/COLUMNS/106050054
Meredith: Words still matter
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_6067986
The path taken by public discourse in this country and abroad is turning many of us off to what we should be interested in hearing. Daily, we face issues relating to the economy, immigration, terrorism, war, land use, affordable housing, water rights, education, energy. Too often, discourse about these issues turns into shouting matches and true meaning is lost, mired in the muck of buzzwords, propaganda, political mantras, and "gotcha journalism." What can we do? In the Western Slope town of Gunnison, a group of individuals are convinced they can set an example and begin to make a difference within their own sphere of acquaintances, business relationships and personal lives.
Let them desecrate the flag
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jun/06/let-them-desecrate-the-flag/
A member of the bizarre Kansas church that protests U.S. soldiers' funerals has been arrested in Nebraska because her young son stomped on an American flag. At a funeral in Nebraska Tuesday, 10-year-old Jonah Phelps-Roper stood on the flag. His mother, Shirley Phelps-Roper, was arrested, the Associated Press reported. She and her infamous Westboro Baptist Church contend that soldiers' deaths are God's retribution for a nation that harbors homosexuals. Phelps-Roper's church has protested more than 280 military funerals in 43 states. Most of those states have — in response to this small lunatic-fringe group — passed laws restricting protests at funerals. It would be a shame if Phelps-Roper's latest stunt propelled the misguided attempts to pass a constitutional amendment banning flag mutilation.
Election
Ron Paul's One-Man Band in the Granite State
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502787.html
"Two days was not enough," Jared Chicoine says, standing in the lobby of a Holiday Inn Express on the eve of Tuesday's third Republican presidential debate. Unshaven and dressed in a blue Ralph Lauren oxford shirt and khakis, Chicoine could easily pass for a hung-over fraternity brother. Instead, the 25-year-old is the non-drinking, nonsmoking New Hampshire campaign coordinator for Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.). That makes him the lone paid political operative working in a key state for a Republican presidential candidate whose candor has earned him plenty of buzz of late. The presidential debates are the kind of spotlight every candidate relishes, and especially one like libertarian Paul, who isn't exactly considered part of the GOP mainstream.
Is U.S. Safer Since 9/11? Clinton and Rivals Spar
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/us/politics/06dems.html
The Bush administration’s efforts to thwart terrorism at home have created a fissure among the three leading Democratic presidential candidates, with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton coming under attack for saying that America is safer now than before 9/11 — contrary to a popular line of argument among some Democratic officials.
RELATED: Clinton Backs Change to Marriage Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/us/politics/06brfs-gay.html
RELATED: Clinton Overhauls, but Doesn't Exit, in Iowa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502455.html
Obama warns of black 'quiet riot'
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama declared the nation has failed to address a "quiet riot" of despair simmering in impoverished black neighborhoods across the country as he spoke Tuesday before one of the oldest and largest annual gatherings of African-American ministers. Obama offered an ominous portrait of hopelessness pervading many inner-city neighborhoods and its potential to erupt into uncontrolled violence, along with a call to the rest of society for a more determined effort to reduce pockets of endemic poverty.
Univision proposes Spanish-language presidential debates
The network, which has more viewers than CNN or Fox News, says a mass audience of Latino voters would be a draw for candidates.
Effective and Ethical Government
Bush aide admits hiring boasts
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/06/06/bush_aide_admits_hiring_boasts/
A Bush administration official admitted yesterday that he had boasted about hiring conservatives and Republicans at the Justice Department, but he nevertheless insisted that he broke no civil service rules against taking partisan affiliation into account when hiring government lawyers.
RELATED: Panel Asks Official About Politics in Hiring
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/washington/06justice.html
House Moves Against Embattled Jefferson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060500822.html
Monday's indictment of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) touched off an ethics battle in the House yesterday, with leaders from both parties moving quickly against Jefferson even as they accused each other of having no real interest in tighter ethics rules. In short order, the House last night approved a Democratic motion that would make an ethics investigation automatic upon the indictment of any House member and then approved a Republican motion that could lead to Jefferson's expulsion. The GOP resolution, offered by Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio), referred Jefferson's case to the ethics committee, demanding that the panel report back on whether his expulsion is merited. The Democratic rule change, introduced by Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), would give the ethics committee 30 days after an indictment to initiate an investigation or explain why it declined to do so.
RELATED: Ethics Panel to Investigate Congressman on Conduct
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/washington/06jefferson.html?ref=washington
RELATED: Fox News apologizes for video mix-up
Lobbyists United In Dismay Over Disclosure Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501900.html
The lobbying disclosure bill passed by the House last week hadn't been voted on yet when Kenneth Gross stood at the head of a block-long conference room in New York, supplying 148 lobbyists and lawyers with the new congressional definition of a friend. "Friendships have been breaking out all over Washington, because they bring the gift limit up from zero to $250," Gross, an ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said he told the group. The House ethics committee, he said, defines a lawmaker-lobbyist friendship as a long-term relationship featuring mutual gift-giving. The lobbyist must select gifts specially for that lawmaker, and not claim them as an expense or tax deduction.
Thomas replacement may have long-term impact
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-05-thomas-replacement_N.htm
Wyoming Republicans have just 15 days to choose possible replacements for the late Sen. Craig Thomas, a decision that could have an impact on the balance of power in the Senate in 2009. No Democrat has represented the state in the Senate since 1977. But Thomas' immediate successor will set in motion Democratic efforts to stage an upset next year, when voters will elect a permanent replacement for the senator. The vacancy gives Republicans one more seat to defend as they attempt to reclaim their Senate majority. Thomas died Monday night after suffering for months from leukemia. Lawmakers in Washington and Wyoming spent much of Tuesday eulogizing Thomas, who is survived by his wife, Susan, and four children. A public service is scheduled Saturday in Casper, Wyo., with burial set for Sunday in Cody, Wyo.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Coptic Christian Fights Deportation to Egypt, Fearing Torture
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/us/06coptic.html?ref=us
An Egyptian Coptic Christian who was permitted to stay in the United States because of the probable threat of torture back home is now fighting deportation on a murder charge in Egypt.
Foreign Policy
Staffing crisis at U.S. foreign service
The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have overstretched the U.S. foreign service, damaging its staffers' morale and threatening its performance around the world, a coalition of advocates for diplomats charged Tuesday. The Foreign Affairs Council, a group of 11 nonprofit organizations, said in a report that the State Department would need to hire 1,100 foreign service officers simply to restore the capabilities it had when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took her post at the beginning of 2005. "The foreign service is at the front end of a personnel crisis, and if something isn't done … we're going to have a very, very serious situation a year or so from now," said Thomas Boyatt, a retired U.S. ambassador and the council's president, at a news conference.
RELATED: State Dept. Faces Staffing Crisis, a Report Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/washington/06staffing.html
Praise at U.N. for a New U.S. Envoy’s Inclusive Tactics and Convivial Style
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/world/06khalilzad.html?ref=world
One by one, the ambassadors at an unusually jolly diplomatic dinner last month rose to pay tribute to the new American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad. He was a needed “breath of fresh air,” said one. Another described bonding with him on a Security Council trip the way a child might talk up a new friend at summer camp. A third said that while no one expected disagreements with American policy to end, he liked the “sensitive” way that policy was now presented. His turn to respond, Mr. Khalilzad stood and said, “I have discovered from your comments that the best thing I have done was to choose my predecessor.” Mr. Khalilzad, the former American ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, has been welcomed effusively since his arrival six weeks ago, and one frequently mentioned reason is that he strikes people as so different from John R. Bolton, the combative former American ambassador.
Iraq's leader can't get out of 1st gear
Iraq's government is teetering on the edge. Maliki's Cabinet is filled with officials who are deeply estranged from one another and more loyal to their parties than to the government as a whole. Some are jostling to unseat the prime minister. Few, if any, have accepted the basic premise of a government whose power is shared among each of Iraq's warring sects and ethnic groups. Maliki is the man U.S. officials are counting on to bring Iraq's civil war under control, yet he seems unable to break the government's deadlock.
Suicide Blast Kills 15 West of Iraqi Capital
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501929.html
A suicide car bomb exploded in a crowded market west of the capital Tuesday morning, killing 15 people, while a female suicide bomber in east Baghdad was spotted by police and killed by gunfire that set off her explosives before she could reach her target, U.S. and Iraq security officials said. The market bombing occurred about 10:40 a.m. in Amiriyah, a town in Sunni Arab-dominated Anbar province about 30 miles west of Baghdad, according to Maj. Jeff Pool, a U.S. military spokesman. He said a suicide attacker drove the car into the town's marketplace and exploded the vehicle, wounding 13 people in addition to the 15 fatalities.
RELATED: Guards kill a bomber in Baghdad
RELATED: Simultaneous bombs kill 7 in Shiite district
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-06-06-iraq-wednesday_N.htm
Firefight, drowning kill dozens of suspected Taliban
A gun battle and air strikes killed two dozen Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, while more than 20 suspected militants drowned when Afghan forces sank their boat as they crossed a river trying to elude an attack, officials said Tuesday. NATO's International Security Assistance Force, meanwhile, said one of its soldiers died in eastern Afghanistan during a clash with insurgents. The soldier's nationality was not released, but most soldiers in the east are Americans.
RELATED: 30 Taliban Reported Drowned as NATO Sinks Boat
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/world/asia/06afghan.html
Pakistan Arrests Hundreds From Opposition Parties
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501899.html
A government-led crackdown against the news media and the political opposition intensified here Tuesday, with hundreds of party workers arrested and television stations bracing for raids. The crackdown came as Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, moved to limit the political fallout from his decision three months ago to suspend the nation's chief justice. Critics have accused the president of authoritarianism and said his tactics are an indication of his slipping grip on power. The arrests were made early Tuesday, with police hauling away opposition party workers across Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, opposition leaders said.
RELATED: 2 arrested in killing of reporter Pearl
Iranian Warns Against Added Nuclear Sanctions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/world/middleeast/06iran.html
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that it was “too late” to stop Iran’s nuclear program and warned the United States and its allies not to push for new United Nations sanctions, comparing his country to a lion sitting quietly in a corner.
Living memory: The 1967 Six-Day War
In recent days, Israelis and Arabs have marked the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War, in which the Israeli military defeated armies from Egypt, Jordan and Syria and captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, populated mostly by Palestinians. Here are excerpts of interviews with an Israeli and a Palestinian who were part of history in 1967.
RELATED: Marking '67 occupation, Abbas laments infighting
RELATED: Anniversary of 1967 War Shows Lasting Divisions
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/world/middleeast/06mideast.html?ref=world
Russia Has 'Derailed' Its Reforms, Bush States
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060500148.html
President Bush declared Tuesday that Russia has "derailed" democratic reforms and that the United States would continue to press it on this issue. The remarks, his most pointed public comments about civil liberties in Russia, came at a time of heightened tensions with Moscow. "In Russia, reforms that once promised to empower citizens have been derailed, with troubling implications for democratic development," Bush said at a conference organized by current and former dissidents in Prague, scene of the 1989 Velvet Revolution that overthrew communism in what was then Czechoslovakia. "In areas where we share mutual interests, we work together," Bush said in comments that he applied to Russia and China. "In other areas, we have strong disagreements."
RELATED: Bush sells missile defense in Prague
Germany Taking Hard Line to Foil Disruption at G-8
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502475.html
The protesters, thousands of them, are packed into a soggy tent city next to a potato field. They have spent months honing tactics and discussing strategy, all for a particular goal: to disrupt the summit of the world's biggest economic powers that begins Wednesday. To do so, they will have to get past 16,000 police officers who are backed by helicopters and armored personnel carriers, not to mention a seven-mile-long fence topped with razor wire. The odds are not lost on many of the people who have traveled here from across Europe and North America to make political points but already seem resigned to an unsatisfying result. "The biggest concern is, will we be able to get our message out, or will we just be completely shut down by the police?" said Lisa Fithian, a 46-year-old protest organizer from Austin. "Will we have a chance to have our voices heard, or will we just be beaten, clubbed, tear-gassed and hit by water cannons?"
RELATED: Protesters Block Roads at G-8 Summit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060600459.html
ETA ends truce; Spain braces for new attacks
The Basque separatist organization ETA said Tuesday that the truce it called last year -- and insisted was in force even after killing two people with a car bomb -- is now formally over, setting the stage for a resumption of attacks. In an angry statement, ETA said the 15-month-old truce would end at midnight Tuesday. After that, it would be "active on all fronts to defend the Basque homeland." The statement crushed hopes for a swift end to Europe's last armed political militancy group, which wants to carve out an independent homeland in northern Spain and southwest France.
Grave of slain Jews reported in Ukraine
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/06/06/grave_of_slain_jews_reported_in_ukraine/
Pipeline diggers unearthed a mass grave believed to contain thousands of Jews killed in Ukraine during World War II, a Jewish community spokesman said Tuesday, a grim finding in a nation that one Holocaust expert described as "an enormous killing field."
Colombia Releases Jailed Rebels
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502679.html
President Álvaro Uribe has begun releasing dozens of Marxist rebels from jail in a bid to encourage the country's largest guerrilla group to liberate civilian hostages held in jungle camps, a risky move that has the support of Colombia's European allies. The hostages include Ingrid Betancourt, a Colombian politician with dual French citizenship whose freedom has become a priority for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and three U.S. Defense Department contractors whose relatives say they have been held longer than any other Americans in the world.
Immigration
Pressure on immigration bill persists
The Senate defeated a measure Tuesday that would have made it all but impossible for illegal immigrants to become permanent legal residents, a step toward citizenship, under the bipartisan immigration bill. The amendment would have required illegal immigrants to apply for permanent visas, or green cards, under the same point-based system the bill would establish for all future immigrants, a change that would have effectively kept them perpetually at the end of the line of green card applicants. The sponsor, Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), said the amendment would create a "level playing field" for all immigrants, but Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) countered that it would change the core framework of the bill.
RELATED: Reid Says He Will Seek to End Debate on Immigration Bill
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/washington/06immig.html?ref=washington
To Menendez, Bill Sells Families Short
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501894.html
Sen. Robert Menendez is a first-generation American in a family of Cuban immigrants, a man who has referred to his parents as the embodiment of the American Dream. The New Jersey Democrat says the country's broken immigration system must be fixed, and last year he backed an unsuccessful reform bill. Of the handful of senators who have been working on a new immigration bill, Menendez might be expected to be a key player.
City OKs ID cards for illegal immigrants
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-05-immigrant-id-cards_N.htm
[New Haven, CT] City officials approved a plan Monday to offer illegal immigrants identification cards that would let them open bank accounts and use other services that may be unavailable without driver's licenses or state-issued IDs. Supporters say the program, approved by the Board of Aldermen and believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, will help safeguard the city's estimated 15,000 illegal immigrants. If they can open bank accounts, immigrants will be less likely to carry large amounts of cash, a practice that makes them easy targets for robbers. Monday's vote stands in contrast to new laws or proposals in more than 90 cities or counties around the nation prohibiting landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalizing businesses that employ them or training police to enforce immigration laws. New Haven, a city of about 125,000 and home to Yale University, already offers federal tax help to immigrants and prohibits police from asking about their immigration status.
Reproductive Choice
For some, antiabortion is all or nothing
Those who want an all-out ban accuse some of the biggest groups in the movement of moral bankruptcy for focusing on incremental change.
Health Care and Public Safety
Study said to ease Avandia concerns
On the eve of a crucial congressional hearing, the makers of the widely prescribed diabetes drug Avandia launched a high-stakes effort Tuesday to refute evidence that their product increases the risk of heart attacks and death. Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline said interim results from a large ongoing clinical trial found no significant difference in heart-related hospitalizations or deaths between patients taking Avandia and those on older medications for Type 2 diabetes. "We believe these results are very reassuring to physicians and patients," said Dr. Ronald Krall, the company's chief medical officer. But the findings may not clear up the uncertainty about Avandia, because Glaxo itself acknowledged in a news release that "these data do not offer final conclusions." About 1 million patients in the United States are taking Avandia, which came on the market eight years ago.
New AIDS Cases in Africa Outpace Gains
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/health/06aids.html?ref=world
Four years ago, the region surrounding this somnolent seaport, Mozambique’s second largest city, offered hardly any AIDS-prevention advice to pregnant women. Today, two dozen health clinics give mothers-to-be H.I.V. counseling, tests and medicine to protect their newborns from catching the virus. Clinic workers persuade four in five women to be tested, and one in six tests comes back positive. Last year alone, the clinics identified 5,018 women who were poised to pass H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, to their babies. Beira might be regarded as a beachhead in Africa’s effort to halt the spread of AIDS, but for one hitch: more than half of those women never returned to the clinics for medicine to limit the risk of transmitting H.I.V. to their children. “After the test, the problems start,” said Alberto Baptista, the provincial health director. “We lose a lot of women.”
Crime and Penal Reform
Alleged plot talk hyped, some say
When U.S. Atty. Roslynn Mauskopf described the alleged terror plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport as "one of the most chilling plots imaginable," which might have caused "unthinkable" devastation, one law-enforcement official said he cringed. The plot, the official knew, was never operational. The public had never been at risk. And the notion of blowing up the airport, let alone the New York borough of Queens, by exploding a fuel tank was in all likelihood a technical impossibility. And now, with a portrait emerging of alleged mastermind Russell Defreitas as hapless and episodically homeless, Mauskopf's characterizations seem more questionable -- some say hyped.
Court: If time's up, offenders must go free
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-05-sex-offenders_N.htm
For the second time in eight months, New York's highest court ruled Tuesday that former Gov. George Pataki exceeded his authority when he tried to keep sex offenders locked up after completing their criminal sentences. In a 7-0 ruling, the Court of Appeals said the former governor erred when he tried to invoke a section of the state's mental hygiene law to transfer 10 offenders directly from prison to a mental-health facility after finishing their sentences. The prisoners, in fact, were still under the weight of the state corrections law, not the mental hygiene law, the court said, and, therefore, they should have, at minimum, been granted hearings to determine whether they were a danger to society.
Economy
Wall Street Retreats After Bernanke Comments on Growth, Inflation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060500507.html
Wall Street skidded lower Tuesday after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and a strong reading on the service sector suggested that the central bank has little reason to lower interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 80.86, or 0.59 percent, from Monday's record close to 13,595.46. Broader indicators also retreated. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 8.23, or 0.53 percent, from Monday's record close to 1530.95, while the Nasdaq composite index shed 7.06, or 0.27 percent, to 2611.23. Bernanke remarked that the economy will recover from its recent feeble performance, despite a housing slump that he said could drag on the economy for longer than anticipated.
RELATED: Fed Chief Dims Hopes for a Rate Cut
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/business/06fed.html?ref=business
Paulson: Small steps the way to Chinese currency reform
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-06-05-paulson-china_N.htm
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Tuesday that some agreements made in recent economic talks with China will help create the basis for moving toward a market-determined currency exchange rate, but stressed the effort is a long path of small steps.
Senator Seeks to End Dual Rules on Options
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501927.html
A multibillion-dollar gap between what public companies book as expenses for their executives' stock options and what they report to the Internal Revenue Service under two sets of rules is costing the Treasury billions of dollars in taxes, a senator seeking to end the discrepancy said yesterday. Companies are reporting deductions for stock options to the Internal Revenue Service that far exceed what they are disclosing to shareholders as expenses, Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's investigative subcommittee. Levin, the subcommittee chairman, is proposing that the gap be closed with legislation requiring uniform reporting rules for stock options.
RELATED: IBM Violated Rules on Options But Will Not Be Fined, SEC Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060500920.html
Worker's Rights and Corporate Accountability
Union Ranks Funds by Executive-Pay Votes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501862.html
AllianceBernstein Holding and Barclays Global Investors backed pay proposals of executives at companies in which they invest more frequently than other mutual fund firms last year, according to a union study. AllianceBernstein supported management 94.8 percent of the time on compensation plans, and Barclays 94.7 percent, according to the study released yesterday by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the largest union of public-service workers. Mutual fund managers vote on issues such as governance, mergers and salaries at thousands of companies on behalf of institutional and individual investors while managing a total of $11 trillion in assets. Nine of 10 institutions are concerned that corporate executives are overpaid, the union said, citing a 2005 study by consultant Watson Wyatt Worldwide in Arlington. "It concerns us when well-known mutual funds abdicate their role as watchdogs for their clients' money," Gerald W. McEntee, president of the union, said in a statement. "This report shines a bright light on those mutual funds that are complicit in excessive payouts to CEOs."
Housing and Homelessness
Many investors feel like running away from homes
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-06-06-real-stocks-usat_N.htm
Buying real estate seemed a no-brainer five years ago. Cheap loans were easy to get. Home prices were soaring. Stocks were dead money. How things have changed. For-sale signs are sitting ignored in some cities. Interest rates on exotic loans are doubling. Insurance premiums and property taxes are skyrocketing. Wannabe real estate tycoons stuck with properties they can't sell have been turned into landlords, forced to fix toilets and take tenant calls in the middle of the night. Many are "under water" — owing more on the mortgage than they could get by selling. Meanwhile, stock investors have been celebrating again as broad market indexes march to new highs. And that is prompting some real estate investors to make the switch back to stocks. Real estate "isn't as lucrative as it used to be," says Jack Patterson, a financial adviser in Coral Gables, Fla., who has been helping clients sell real estate and buy stocks.
Media
Journalists Seek Murdoch Alternatives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502467.html
The union that represents Wall Street Journal employees is working urgently to undercut Rupert Murdoch's bid for the paper by trying to drum up interest from other potential buyers. So far, the union's most hopeful prospect is a Southern California billionaire who is a two-time loser in bidding for newspaper companies over the past two years. Steven Yount, president of the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, said his union has written letters to supermarket magnate and billionaire Ronald W. Burkle, Berkshire Hathaway chief executive Warren E. Buffett and several other rich people, hoping to entice them to bid on the Journal and its parent, Dow Jones. It's a strategy that could be described as ABBR (Any Billionaire But Rupert).
RELATED: Dow Jones Union Seeks Billionaire’s Help in Finding Alternative Bidder to Murdoch
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/business/media/06dow.html?ref=business
Education
Scores Up Since 'No Child' Was Signed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502684.html
The nation's students have performed significantly better on state reading and math tests since President Bush signed his landmark education initiative into law five years ago, according to a major independent study released yesterday. The study's authors warned that it is difficult to say whether or how much the No Child Left Behind law is driving the achievement gains. But Republican and Democratic supporters of the law said the findings indicate that it has been a success. Some said the findings bolster the odds that Congress will renew the controversial law this year. "This study confirms that No Child Left Behind has struck a chord of success with our nation's schools and students," U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in a statement. "We know the law is working, so now is the time to reauthorize."
Business students top cheater pack
Donald McCabe says he has the research to prove it: Business students probably cheat the most. "Students in business already have a bottom-line mentality," said McCabe, founder of the Center for Academic Integrity and a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Parents seek to ban book on life in Cuba
A children's book about life in Cuba has parents and school board members demanding its removal from district libraries. To many in this heavily Cuban-American community, "A Visit to Cuba" is offensive because it doesn't criticize Fidel Castro or his communist government.
Military
Marines balked at Haditha inquiry
"We had just lost a Marine, and our guys were stressed out," Kallop testified at a hearing for an ex-battalion commander accused of not launching an investigation of the Nov. 19, 2005, incident. "Guys on their second and third deployments were saying … 'Here we go again.' "We had to get ready the next day to go outside the wire again." Capt. Oliver Dreger testified that Marine officers rejected, without discussion, the demand a week later by the mayor and town council of Haditha for an investigation of the killings. The mayor presented officers with a petition in English calling the killings unjustified and saying some of the dead had been executed. But the mayor was suspected of having insurgent ties, in part because he had demanded that Marines release an Iraqi woman arrested with 30 passports for Jordanian men, cellphones and a large amount of cash, all considered indications of involvement with insurgents. The petition, Dreger testified, was seen as "posturing, political maneuvering" by the mayor. Dreger, a battalion intelligence officer, was in a position to hear and see how officers reacted to events. The testimony came as prosecutors sought to determine whether Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the former battalion commander, had asked questions about how 24 civilians had been killed, 19 in three houses and five earlier outside their car. "No," Dreger said.
Battling on 2 fronts, mother charged as AWOL
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/06/battling_on_2_fronts_mother_charged_as_awol/
In a rare legal clash pitting a mother against the US military, Specialist Lisa Hayes of the New Hampshire National Guard surrendered yesterday to Army authorities after being charged as a deserter for refusing to fight in Iraq until a custody case involving her 7-year-old daughter was resolved. The dispute, among the first of its kind in New England, underscores the tremendous strain the Iraq war has placed on the Guard and the nation's all-volunteer military, whose members often leave behind needy families and tumultuous personal lives as their combat tours are repeatedly extended.
Natural gas prices at highest since December
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-06-05-natural-gas-usat_N.htm
The cost at the pump isn't the only high gas price nowadays. Sparked by worries about hot weather and a busy hurricane season, natural gas prices have jumped in the last week to the highest since December. Tuesday, the price for natural gas trading in New York for delivery in July closed at $8.064 per million British thermal units. Although that was slightly lower than the previous day's close, it was 25% above the price seen a year ago.
Vatican pushes solar energy
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/06/06/vatican_pushes_solar_energy/
Some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the earth's resources, a Vatican engineer said yesterday. The roof of the Paul VI auditorium will be redone next year, with its concrete panels replaced with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity, engineer Pier Carlo Cuscianna said. The 6,300-seat auditorium is used for the pontiff's general audiences on Wednesdays in winter and in bad weather during the rest of the year. Concerts in honor of pontiffs are also staged on its sweeping stage.
Gas wells cause friction between neighbors in Texas
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-05-gas_N.htm
Drilling rigs are rising over golf courses, churchyards, even tree-lined neighborhoods of Fort Worth, which sits on one of the nation's largest natural gas fields. "If you don't have a gas well … get one!" a billboard urges commuters zipping along a busy interstate near downtown. Not everyone is celebrating the natural gas bonanza here, despite the 55,000 new jobs and extra $5.2 billion annually it is bringing to the economy. Once confined to the prairies, oil and gas exploration has gone urban. In Fort Worth, Los Angeles and other densely populated places, that sometimes pits neighbor against neighbor, forcing them to choose between preserving a neighborhood or cashing the monthly royalty checks a gas or oil well provides. In some cases, entire neighborhoods are organizing to keep the wells out.
From Turkey Waste, a New Fuel and a New Fight
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/science/earth/06manure.html?ref=us
For anyone curious about what thousands of tons of turkey litter looks like, piled high into an indoor olfactory-assaulting mountain of manure, this old railroad stop on the extreme edge of alternative energy production is the place to be. Thanks to the abundance of local droppings, Benson is home to a new $200 million power plant that burns turkey litter to produce electricity. For the last few weeks now, since before generating operations began in mid-May, turkey waste has poured in from nearby farms by the truckload, filling a fuel hall several stories high. The power plant is a novelty on the prairie, the first in the country to burn animal litter (manure mixed with farm-animal bedding like wood chips). And it sits at the intersection of two national obsessions: an appetite for lean meat and a demand for alternative fuels.
In Battle for U.S. Carbon Caps, Eyes and Efforts Focus on China
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502546.html
Supporters of limits on greenhouse gases are betting that the road to U.S. climate-change legislation runs through China. This year, China is expected to surpass the United States as the leading producer of greenhouse gases, and one reason the Bush administration has declined to enact emissions limits is its concern about leaving China unchecked. So a variety of lawmakers, environmentalists and business leaders are looking at ways to engage China in the battle against climate change -- or pay the price for doing nothing. Proposed strategies range from providing financing and technology transfers to imposing special carbon-based import tariffs or changing supply contracts.
Climate control is now a measure of Merkel
With the leaders of the major industrialized nations arriving at her doorstep today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure at home and abroad to persuade President Bush to accept strict measures to limit global warming.
Calif. sees sprawl as warming culprit
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-06-05-warming_N.htm
California is pioneering what could be the next battleground against global warming: filing suit to hold cities and counties accountable for greenhouse gas emissions caused by poorly planned suburban sprawl. The unprecedented action is being closely watched by states that have taken aggressive steps to combat climate change — including New York, Massachusetts and Washington. California Attorney General Jerry Brown has sued San Bernardino County, the USA's largest in land area and one of the fastest growing, for failing to account for greenhouse gases when updating its 25-year blueprint for growth.
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Meyerson: The Korean Analogy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501763.html
Early last year, Zalmay Khalilzad, then the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told Congress, "We have no goal of establishing permanent bases." But that was then. With public tolerance for the president's war in Iraq about at its end, the White House is compelled to come up with a less costly (in lives, limbs and dollars) way to keep our forces in Iraq. That way, apparently, is to concentrate our troops in a small number of vast, well-fortified, permanent installations. In 2005, Ackerman reported, planners designated four massive bases to which U.S. forces could be deployed: Camp Victory in Baghdad; a second base near the city of Balad in Anbar province; a third in the town of Rawah, near the Syrian border, and the huge air base at Tallil, south of Baghdad. The entire pattern of this war has been to deploy first and create a theory later to justify the deployment. Now that support for the war is at an all-time low, it's plainly time for the theory to justify the long-term presence of U.S. forces. Desperate times breed desperate analogies. Enter South Korea.
Gitmo: A National Disgrace
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/opinion/06wed1.html
Ever since President Bush rammed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 through Congress to lend a pretense of legality to his detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, we have urged Congress to amend the law to restore basic human rights and judicial process. Rulings by military judges this week suggest that the special detention system is so fundamentally corrupt that the only solution is to tear it down and start again.
Milbank: Standing by Their Man
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060502412.html
You knew Scooter Libby was in trouble at yesterday's sentencing hearing when his lawyer decided to read the judge a character reference -- from Paul Wolfowitz.
RELATED: Jail Time for Scooter Libby
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/opinion/06wed2.html
Brownstein: Don't sugarcoat climate change
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brownstein6jun06,0,1077583.column?coll=la-opinion-center
Calling out Bush's intransigence on emissions caps may be the best way for other G-8 countries to get the U.S. to budge on global warming.
Second-term blues
In many arenas of life, the secret of happiness is knowing when to stop. Eating, drinking, exercise and spending are fine activities up to a point, but overdoing any of them can leave you with pain and regret. When it comes to the presidency, though, the usual assumption is that if one term is good, two must be better. Four of the last six presidents have been re-elected. Yet as President Bush might attest right now, a second term may be one too many.
A Note on D-Day
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501838.html
WE DON'T always take notice of this day on the editorial pages, and every time we fail to do so we hear about it from people who have the date -- June 6, 1944 -- burned into their memories and who believe that what Americans and their allies did on D-Day must never be forgotten. They're right, of course, and in these times it seems particularly appropriate to recall one act that would serve today's leaders in every branch of government as lesson and example.
Page: Snitching on snitches has troubling root
Whosarat.com was launched by a guy named Sean Bucci in 2004, apparently out of personal rage. He had been indicted in federal court in Boston on marijuana charges based on information from an informant. At first the site was free, but it caught on. Now it charges $7.99 for a week of access or $89.99 for a lifetime membership and a free "Stop snitching" T-shirt. In case you haven't heard, "Stop snitching" T-shirts, DVDs, rap videos and Internet sites are all signs that the criminal underworld's values have gone mainstream, transmitted like a lethal virus through the culture and multibillion-dollar commerce of hip-hop.
No fines for fleeting expletives
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-fcc6jun06,0,380561.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
'OH FUDGE!" decent citizens exclaimed Monday, as a federal appeals court rejected the Federal Communications Commission's strict new enforcement policy on broadcasters that air "fleeting expletives." The court's decision, which dealt with several cases of isolated cusswords, prompted FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin to warn of a "significant impact on our ability to enforce our indecency regime." But it is the FCC that has crossed a line — by arbitrarily redefining its standards and taking an unrealistic view of barnyard epithets whose meanings and conjugations are familiar to most Americans.
RELATED: Expletive Policy Deleted
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/opinion/06wed3.html
Jackson: A debate goes nuclear
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/06/06/a_debate_goes_nuclear/
ON THE SEVENTH day, the Lord said, "Nuke 'em!" In the Republican debate last night, Duncan Hunter, Rudy Giuliani, Jim Gilmore, and Mitt Romney all said that a nuclear strike against Iran is on the table. Romney, Gilmore, and John McCain talked about reviving nuclear power to deal with energy independence. McCain said, "Nuclear power is safe. Nuclear power is green, does not emit greenhouse gases." There you have it from the Christian soldiers of the Republican Party, most of whom professed their faith, with McCain underscoring the piety by saying the United States is in a transcendent struggle of good and evil, with the evil of course being "radical Islam." Romney said, "We're going to have to have a strong military and an effort to combine with our allies in such a way, we combine for an effort to help move Islam toward modernity." Never mind that our good Christian commander in chief bombed innocent Muslims back into a primitive civil war. These candidates still think they are the ones to move Islam toward modernity. No wonder some Muslims think we're on a crusade.
The Republican big tent
THE VARIETY of opinions expressed by the Republican presidential candidates in last night's New Hampshire debate made for an engaging evening of aired differences. On Iraq war strategy, immigration, abortion rights, health care, trade, and English as the official US language, the ideological diversity on stage in Manchester last night was far broader than what the Democrats displayed two nights earlier. At one point Representative Duncan Hunter of California even accused the three top-tier candidates -- John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani -- of being "from the Kennedy wing of the Republican party," because of their more moderate stances on certain issues.
Marcus: The Democrats' Leap of Faith
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501857.html
You know it's a different kind of candidate forum when Hillary Clinton allows that she sometimes prays (no doubt, she says, to some divine eye-rolling) "Oh, Lord, why can't you help me lose weight?" and describes how "prayer warriors" sustained her through the public dissection of her husband's infidelity. When Barack Obama muses on the nature of good vs. evil. When John Edwards recounts that he "strayed away from the Lord" in adulthood, only to find that "my faith came roaring back" after the death of his 16-year-old son.
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