|
TOP STORIES
Effective and Ethical Government
Transportation and Infrastructure
Effective and Ethical Government
|
NOTE: some news sites require free registration in order to read their stories. Follow these and other news stories at http://www.progressnowaction.org.
To subscribe to the daily news digest, click here.
Today’s digest archive: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/071007.htm
TOP STORIES
National
Gonzales Was Told of FBI Violations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902065.html
As he sought to renew the USA Patriot Act two years ago, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales assured lawmakers that the FBI had not abused its potent new terrorism-fighting powers. "There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse," Gonzales told senators on April 27, 2005. Six days earlier, the FBI sent Gonzales a copy of a report that said its agents had obtained personal information that they were not entitled to have. It was one of at least half a dozen reports of legal or procedural violations that Gonzales received in the three months before he made his statement to the Senate intelligence committee, according to internal FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. The acts recounted in the FBI reports included unauthorized surveillance, an illegal property search and a case in which an Internet firm improperly turned over a compact disc with data that the FBI was not entitled to collect, the documents show. Gonzales was copied on each report that said administrative rules or laws protecting civil liberties and privacy had been violated.
Democrats Seek GOP Support in Votes on Iraq War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901890.html
With Republican support for the Iraq war cracking, Democratic leaders in the Senate are seeking to attract GOP support to force President Bush to begin withdrawing combat troops. In a new series of votes on Iraq expected to begin today, Democrats will attempt to break the united Republican front that has sustained Bush and make their toughest push yet to enact firm dates for bringing the war to an end. So far, antiwar Democratic leaders appear unwilling to look for much compromise. They are even skeptical of a proposal that just months ago would have seemed a daring challenge to Bush: to turn the Iraq Study Group's recommendations into official policy and call for removing troops from combat in 2008. The plan, sponsored by Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), has attracted support from several GOP senators. But Democratic leaders are reluctant to allow it into the mix because it does not include specific terms for a withdrawal of U.S. forces.
RELATED: Anti-war pressures mount on Senate GOP
RELATED: GOP Iraq critics get a White House shrug
More Iraq war news in NATIONAL/GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL/FOREIGN POLICY, NATIONAL/MILITARY, COLORADO/MILITARY
New Privilege Claim by Bush Escalates Clash Over Firings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070900101.html
President Bush's move yesterday to block congressional testimony by two former aides provoked immediate condemnations from Democratic lawmakers and escalated a confrontation between the White House and Capitol Hill over the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys. White House counsel Fred F. Fielding informed lawmakers in a letter yesterday that Bush was asserting executive privilege for the second time in two weeks regarding requested testimony by former counsel Harriet E. Miers and former political director Sara M. Taylor about the prosecutor firings.
RELATED: Hearings on firings likely to get silent treatment
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-09-congress_N.htm
RELATED: Congress, Bush near a court fight
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/07/10/congress_bush_near_a_court_fight/
RELATED: Bush Won’t Deliver Aides in Prosecutor Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/washington/10attorneys.html
For Democrats, Pragmatism On Universal Health Care
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902029.html
While the war in Iraq dominates the campaign, polls show that Democratic primary voters rank health care as their top domestic concern after the economy. To many liberals, the health-care system is just as bad as it is portrayed in Michael Moore's new documentary, "Sicko." To move toward universal coverage, Edwards, Clinton and Obama have approaches that borrow from the Massachusetts model. That plan, regarded as one of the nation's most innovative, took key elements of the 1993 Clinton plan and made them practical politically -- so practical that the plan was enacted in 2006 by a Democratic legislature with support from a Republican governor, 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The original Clinton plan envisioned creating public agencies in states and nationally to oversee health care, and setting guidelines about how much insurance companies could charge and what benefits they would offer. Edwards and Obama are proposing to create similar entities, but they would mainly provide coverage for the uninsured. Clinton is likely to adopt a similar policy, according to health-care experts who have spoken to her campaign.
More 2008 presidential race news in NATIONAL/ELECTION
Colorado
Guardsmen deal with simulated terrorism at Pepsi Center
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622340,00.html
The Colorado Civil Support Team invaded the Pepsi Center on Monday morning after a simulated report said three employees were dead. The training scenario: A terrorist biochemical attack was suspected. Wearing full face masks and HazMat suits that made them look remarkably like scuba-diving astronauts, two team members entered the venue's atrium in slow motion, taking random air samples with handheld chemical agent detectors and looking for "casualties." Not even an R&B remix from Britain's Amy Winehouse broke the National Guardsmen's concentration, the gravity of the situation unaffected by the fact that the victims were mannequins. For three days, said Capt. Michael Odgers, the 22-man, full-time Guard unit will put its chemical detection and analysis skills to the test alongside teams from Wyoming, Utah and Arizona. In all, 150 people will participate.
More DNC preparation news in COLORADO/HEALTH
Foreclosure czar proposed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5622223,00.html
Denver should create an ombudsman to deal with the record foreclosures rocking the city, a task force is recommending. "I would describe it as a foreclosure czar or a housing czar," said Michael Hancock, City Council president. An ombudsman is one of the recommendations released late Monday by the Foreclosure Task Force. Other recommendations include programs that help people understand loans, as well as requiring more warning that an enforcement action will be taken and strengthening laws on predatory lending. Hancock launched the task force in January to address foreclosures in the city. Since 2002, the city has experienced an estimated 400 percent increase in the number of foreclosures. In 2006, a total of 5,162 foreclosures were reported, a 14 percent increase from the prior year, the report said.
More housing news in COLORADO/HOUSING
Larimer commmissioner quits, cites harassment
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5621437,00.html
Larimer County Commissioner Karen Wagner resigned today, citing "harassment and verbal abuse" from fellow Commissioner Glenn Gibson. In a letter to county voters, Wagner also accused Commissioner Kathay Rennels of failing to intervene in the alleged mistreatment. The letter was posted on the Fort Collins Coloradoan Web site today. Gibson disputed the allegations and said he treated others with dignity. "I have no apologies in how I'm working," he told The Associated Press. "It's part of the politics. You voice your opinion, you take a vote and the majority wins." Rennels described Gibson as outspoken and Wagner as sensitive.
RELATED: Larimer County official resigns, cites harassment
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336407
RELATED: Gibson denies role in Wagner's resignation
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/NEWS01/707100331/1002
Threats by religious group spark probe at CU-Boulder
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336193
University of Colorado police are investigating a series of threatening messages and documents e-mailed to and slipped under the door of evolutionary biology labs on the Boulder campus. The messages included the name of a religious-themed group and addressed the debate between evolution and creationism, CU police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley said. Wiesley would not identify the group named because police are still investigating. "There were no overt threats to anybody specifically by name," Wiesley said. "It basically said anybody who doesn't believe in our religious belief is wrong and should be taken care of." The first threat was e-mailed to the labs - part of CU's ecology and evolutionary biology department housed in the Ramaley Biology building - on Friday. Wiesley said Monday that morning staff members found envelopes with the threatening documents slipped under the lab doors. Wiesley said police will have increased patrols in and around CU science buildings.
Election
Shafroth raises almost $300K
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/10/shafroth-raises-almost-300k-congressional-race/
Boulder environmentalist Will Shafroth raised about $55,000 more than state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald in the 2nd Congressional District race's second-quarter fundraising period, bringing in $293,500 to Fitz-Gerald's $236,700. Both Democratic contenders — who released their fundraising numbers Monday — came in behind former Colorado State Board of Education vice chairman and fellow Democrat Jared Polis, who last week revealed that he raised $301,500 between April 1 and June 30. But Shafroth, who has been overshadowed by his two higher-profile rivals in the early months of the race, showed surprising vigor in a race that could see campaign expenditures creep ever upward as November 2008 approaches. No Republicans have announced a run for the seat, which is being vacated by U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, who is running for Senate. "Of the three candidates, the one with the highest burden to showhe's not an afterthought and in equal standing with the others is Shafroth," said political analyst Eric Sondermann. "Anyone paying attention now would say it's a three-person race."
RELATED: Shafroth and Fitz-Gerald post fundraising totals
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/09/shafroth-brings-nearly-300000/
Paccione reports $100,000 in bank
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/NEWS01/707100306/1002
Reporting more than $100,000 in the bank and a donor list topping 400 in her second quarterly filing, Fort Collins resident Angie Paccione is eager to talk about campaign finance and remains confident she is the best Democrat to challenge Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in 2008. With $20,585.19 on hand at the end of April, Paccione raised nearly $91,000 in the last three months before expenses. "We will have cash on hand at right around $106,000 with 78 percent of our contributions coming in at $100 or less," Paccione said Monday. "We still have the momentum that we built in 2006; the grass-roots network is still alive and well and we have support from average citizens." Paccione lost to the two-term incumbent Musgrave in 2006 by less than 3 percent in a three-way race that included reform candidate Eric Eidsness, who took 11.3 percent of the vote. Predicting an expensive race early, Paccione began fundraising in May - three months earlier than she did during the 2006 election cycle - by sending a letter to supporters asking for donations.
"Whirlwind campaign" in Boulder at end
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336680
The Boulder City Council special election ends tonight when all the mail-in ballots are counted and a winner is named to fill a four-month term. "It's been a whirlwind campaign," said Eugene Pearson, one of those vying for the open seat. "It's been a 60-day sprint. I'm looking forward to the four-month marathon." Fourteen candidates have spent the last two months vying for the seat that opened when longtime Councilmember Tom Eldridge died in May. The city mailed out 44,800 ballots, of which about 8,400 have been returned. City Clerk Alisa Lewis said she expects more than 10,000 ballots to be turned in by the 7 p.m. deadline today. "I think we're doing pretty darn good, all things considered," Lewis said. Still, the number is far fewer than in most elections, including the last time a special election was held, in 2005. Lewis said the short time frame for the election and the fact it is taking place in the summer, when many voters may be on vacation, accounts for the low turnout. Pearson said voters also may be flummoxed by the large field. "A lot of people have been overwhelmed by the amount of candidates and the short period of time to make that decision," he said.
RELATED: Last day to vote
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/10/council-vacancy-election-wraps-up-tonight/
RELATED: Election Day etiquette
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/07/09/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
RELATED: Rumblings from the Hill
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/07/09/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt
City Council joins school districts in all-mail election
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1184075606/2
Pueblo City Council approved an ordinance Monday clearing the way for the second all-mail election in the city's history. Council unanimously approved an ordinance to hold a coordinated election with Pueblo City Schools and School District 70 Nov. 6. The decision to make the election an all-mail election was actually made by Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert Ortiz, a former member of the council. Council's action puts the city's measures on the same ballot as the area school districts, rather than holding a separate election on the same day. The coordinated election also allows the districts and the city to share the cost of administering the election. But the decision wasn't made without some discussion on security measures for such elections and concerns over additional postage needed from voters to return their ballots. City Clerk Gina Dutcher told council she believed there were adequate measures in place to prevent voter fraud.
RELATED: District 70 board member to seek re-election
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1184075606/6
Effective and Ethical Government
Domenico looks forward to working on what she loves
http://www.timescall.com/Local-Story.asp?id=2321
After more than two decades in the Boulder County assessor’s office, Cindy Domenico says she’s ready to apply and broaden that experience in her new post as county commissioner. “Now, my world opens up,” said Domenico, who joined the assessor’s staff in 1984 and has headed that office since January 1997. “Now I get to work on other things I really love,” she said in an interview, promising to bring her “passion for county government to the commissioner’s office.” Last Monday night, Domenico won a majority of the Boulder County Democratic Party’s vacancy committee votes to succeed Commissioner Tom Mayer, who died June 22. She’ll officially join Ben Pearlman and Will Toor on the Board of County Commissioners this morning, when she’s sworn into her new post.
Post seeks case files in Manzanares charges (Local news briefs)
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336190
The Denver Post filed a complaint in Jefferson County District Court on Monday asking a judge to open the case file in the investigation of former Judge and Denver City Attorney Larry Manzanares. Last week, the district attorney's office rejected a request from The Post to open the file and shed light on the decision to charge Manzanares with three felonies in connection to a stolen computer that was tracked to his home. District Attorney Scott Storey's office said releasing more details on Manzanares was against the public interest. In the complaint, The Post said it is concerned with the conduct of the district attorney and other public officials, not Manzanares. Manzanares took his own life last month.
Merritt elected to municipal league board
http://postindependent.com/article/20070710/VALLEYNEWS/107100032
Glenwood Springs City Council member Dave Merritt was elected to the board of a state organization serving Colorado's cities and towns. The Colorado Municipal League (CML) announced Merritt was among those selected to serve on its executive board at its 85th annual conference held June 26-29 in Snowmass. The board comprises 19 elected officials and municipal staff members who are elected by the membership at the annual business meeting for two-year overlapping terms. The board is responsible for overall finances, management and policy affairs of the CML.
Council erupts over ’08 budget shortfall
http://www.gazette.com/articles/budget_24643___article.html/city_fines.html
Finger-pointing and gavelbanging erupted Monday as the Colorado Springs City Council threw out ideas on covering a projected $15 million shortfall in the 2008 budget. The shortfall is partly due to declining sales tax revenues. It’s also due to a projected $7.2 million in fines next year, the same as this year, even though revenue from fines have been higher in the past. The decline in revenues from fines this year stems from traffic officers being assigned to guard the Castle West Apartments round the clock for a month after the complex was destroyed by arson, taking them away from enforcing traffic laws. Saying fines “play a role in running the city,” Councilman Jerry Heimlicher questioned why budget officials think fines will remain at their 2007 level next year. To that, Councilman Tom Gallagher said, “I’m very uncomfortable with a budget plan that looks at my Police Department as a revenue generator.”
Greeley proposes change to how it informs residents of new law language
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107090109
Greeley is proposing changes to its charter that would change how residents learn about new laws in the city. The change would allow the city to publish only the titles of new ordinances without having to publish the full text of the ordinance. Currently, the city must publish the full text of the ordinance before it comes up for a final vote. Any change to Greeley's home-rule charter must be passed by voters.
Lowry project draws fire
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336408
There's no transportation plan, no plans for water or how to get rid of it. And as of now, no infrastructure of any kind for the new urban development at the former Lowry bombing range. That has Aurora city officials worried that the 13,000 residential units and all the people who come with them will tax the city's resources. "We don't see anything good about it at all," said Aurora City Councilman Bob Broom. "What happens in 20 years? They'll come knocking to Aurora."
Frankstown is history
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622568,00.html
Officially, Frankstown never existed. That's the message a Douglas County district judge handed down Friday. "No town of Frankstown was ever properly formed and incorporated," Judge Nancy Hopf said in a ruling, referring to the town with an S, as Franktown originally was known more than 140 years ago. The ruling, made public Monday, potentially dooms the efforts of 15 residents who petitioned Douglas County to let them govern themselves and protect against what they see as an impending annexation by the nearby towns of Castle Rock and Parker. Douglas County officials also feared that if the incorporation petition went through, a handful of people would have control over the rest of the residents who call Franktown home.
1,200 property owners protest assessments
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1184075606/7
Almost 1,200 property owners protested their property-tax assessments, Assessor Frank Beltran told Pueblo County commissioners Monday. Beltran and his staff have made a ruling on each protest, but taxpayers have until Sunday to decide whether to appeal to the commission- ers, acting as the county Board of Equalization. Beltran said only one or two people have notified him that they intend to pursue an appeal.
Civil Liberties and Equality
Stabbing may have involved race
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/jul/10/stabbing_may_have_involved_race/
An alleged stabbing at a Steamboat Springs bar on Friday is the subject of an ongoing investigation, and police say the crime may have been racially motivated. The incident occurred Friday night at Sunpie’s Bistro on Yampa Street. The victim, Alfred Turner, said he was talking and flirting with two women when a man confronted him and told him to “leave our white women alone.” Turner, who is black, said the man who confronted him referred to himself as a Nazi. Turner said he and the other man, who is white, then got into a physical altercation. Turner said the man hit him repeatedly with a beer bottle and stabbed him several times in the thigh. Turner said he doesn’t know whether he was stabbed with a knife, a broken beer bottle or some other object.
7-Eleven fires clerk
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107100040
Bruno Kirchenwitz was fired Monday from his job at the Basalt 7-Eleven. The firing came nearly two weeks after Kirchenwitz may have been the target of a person or persons who fired five shots from a rifle into the store. Kirchenwitz said a 7-Eleven official who called to inform him of his dismissal claimed it was unrelated to the shooting incident. He isn't buying it. Kirchenwitz believes he was fired because his presence as a clerk at the store could be bad for business. He is an outspoken critic of illegal immigration. "Freedom of speech takes a back seat to profits," he said.
Immigration
Refugee, asylee office opening in Fort Morgan
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107100073
An influx of Somalian and other African refugees to Greeley and Fort Morgan is spurring the formation of a refugee and asylee office. In the course of about a year, about 150 refugees have moved to the Fort Morgan and about 40 to Greeley. The refugees migrated here from other states, including Minnesota, primarily to pursue jobs in the meatpacking industry, said Paul Stein, Colorado state refugee coordinator. With about 40 more refugees expected to move to the area, Lutheran Family Services announced a new office in Fort Morgan Monday. There, case manager Abdullahi Aden, a native of Somalia fluent in English, Somali and Swahili, will help refugees find nearby English classes, medical screenings, employment services and housing. Aden will visit Greeley once a week. The office is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services office of Refugee Resettlement, through the Colorado Department of Human Services' Refugee Services Program.
Immigration laws slowing business for some
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6332966
It could be a Colorado landscape, this mural spray-painted on an exterior store wall: Purple mountains soar above green foothills, rising over a pristine blue lake. In a nearby field, a lone boy kneels before a miraculous spectacle. To the left of his head hangs a sign that reads "El Mercadito," or "little market." To the right is the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the traditional Mexican incarnation of the Virgin Mary. She clasps her hands in prayer above an empty asphalt parking lot. No one comes or goes from the entrance to the little market on the side of the painted mural. Today, it appears, she may be praying for more customers. This small grocery store and restaurant on Federal Boulevard in Denver that targets Latino immigrants has weathered a recent drought in customers. A clerk, who was hesitant to reveal her name, says they've cut their staff in half because business has been so slow.
Health Care and Public Safety
Access to Dem convention stymies disabled
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336534
Vivian Stovall remembers the last time she was left in the dark by the Democratic Party. She was stranded one night outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, waiting for some kind of ride that could accommodate her and her wheelchair. For hours, she watched thousands of able-bodied conventiongoers hop on buses to be whisked back to their hotels. "They would pack the buses, and you would be left sitting there," Stovall said. Now, Stovall and other Colorado advocates for the disabled say they are once again being left in the dark as Democrats plan for next year's national convention in Denver. "We can't get anyone to talk to us. That's what's so frustrating," said Julie Reiskin, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado Cross-Disability Association.
CU to host stem-cell research lectures
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/10/cu-to-host-stem-cell-research-lectures-on-campus/
Four stem-cell experts will speak this week at the University of Colorado, highlighting the advantages of stem-cell research as well as discussing the ethical questions created by the scientific work. Sponsored by CU's Biological Science Initiative, the three-day event is part of a K-12 teacher-education workshop that welcomes science teachers and anyone in the general public. The teacher workshops are not new to the university — they've been held for nearly 20 years. However, stem-cell research was the topic of choice because of its timeliness. "One of our goals is to really help science teachers keep pace with current advances, and stem cells is obviously at the forefront," said Julie Graf, director of the Biological Science Initiative. "The better we can help prepare teachers with the science behind the topic, the better they are (prepared) to answer students' questions."
Rural fire districts struggle with fewer volunteers, more coverage, lower budgets
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107060123
Rural fire departments face a multitude of challenges these days with an increase of calls, lower budgets and the need to hire full-time staff members for growing communities. As a result, many departments struggle with recruitment and retention, community growth and an increased volume of calls. According to Sgt. Dave Mathis of the Weld County Regional Communications Center, there are 11 volunteer fire departments and 10 departments that combine paid and volunteer staff throughout the county. And as towns have continued to grow, fire calls have doubled. Some growing towns have decided to budget for full-time staff members to respond to the calls during the day.
No state-paid evaluation for defendant
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622587,00.html
A judge on Monday refused to order a state-paid mental evaluation for a hermaphrodite accused in a supermodel scam, saying arguments that psychologists failed to specify which personality they evaluated wasn't enough. Storme Shannon Aerison, 42, was born with male and female genitalia and identifies herself as female, according to her attorney. Experts have testified she suffers from dissociative identity disorder, once known as multiple-personality disorder. Aerison has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of theft, fraud and jumping bail.
RELATED: State won’t fund new mental appraisal
http://www.gazette.com/articles/aerison_24649___article.html/state_colt.html
Climber Boskoff’s body found on China peak
http://telluridegateway.com/articles/2007/07/10/news/news01.txt
High on a peak in China, near the place where the love of her life was found buried in the snow, the body of Norwood’s Christine Boskoff was discovered last week. Boskoff was one of the world’s best climbers, twice seeing the top of Everest, as well as five other 8,000-meter peaks. She and her partner, Charlie Fowler, were on their way to the treacherous Genyen Peak in Sichuan Province, near Tibet, a summit no one had ever climbed. Sometime between Nov. 13 and 22, believes rescuer Ted Callahan, they were caught in an avalanche that came roaring down from up above them. Boskoff was 39 years old.
Crime and Penal Reform
Aurora's Sector A confronts police, residents
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622559,00.html
The houses were new when Richard White moved into the Del Mar neighborhood 52 years ago. A train track literally ran through his backyard, transporting goods between the Buckley and Lowry Air Force bases. The sounds of children playing filled the air. But that was a lifetime ago. Now, homeless people squat in vacant homes, gunshots ring out at night and police are left to sort out who belongs there - and who doesn't. White, a 79-year-old grandfather, refuses to close his doors at dusk and hide. Instead, he's made it his personal campaign to make his neighborhood safer. He and his wife, Rosemary, police the streets where their three children were raised. Other residents have joined them. Theirs is a difficult mission. Despite a citywide decrease in crime, this northwest part of Aurora, called Sector A by police, has seen little relief from violence.
Police chief’s plan doesn’t light a fire under council
http://www.gazette.com/articles/myers_24622___article.html/officers_plan.html
The new police chief’s plan to transfer several neighborhood officers to patrol, and other organizational changes, got a cool reception Monday from his bosses. But Colorado Springs City Council members conceded they hired Chief Richard Myers to run the Police Department and will judge him by how it works. Myers, who came here in January from Appleton, Wis., after Chief Lou Velez retired amid a lost-evidence debacle, said his analysis found duplication of effort, separation of functions and other problems. To address those, he’ll shift personnel and add top managers, including a deputy chief, while eliminating lower-level managers and assigning some tasks to civilians. “Your plan is contrary to all the organizational management I grew up with,” Vice Mayor Larry Small said during the briefing for the council. “I get very concerned when we’re removing these levels of support for line staff and we’re adding to upper-level management. But it’s your department. Clearly, you didn’t want our opinion before you did it. Frankly, I don’t think I buy into it.”
53 Jeffco inmates suffer intestinal illness
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336683
Public health and sheriff's officials are investigating the cause of an intestinal illness that has struck at least 53 inmates at the Jefferson County Jail. Nine inmates were treated at hospitals, with one inmate still hospitalized. "We have an inkling, but we don't have a definite diagnosis," Dr. Mark Johnson, executive director of Jefferson County Public Health and Environment, said of the "small outbreak" that began Friday. Johnson added, "We're leaning toward food-borne illness based on the symptoms." The number of inmates complaining of abdominal cramping, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, bloody stools and malaise grew over the weekend, with the latest case reported Monday morning. To narrow the source, officials are trying to identify foods that those who were sickened may have eaten in the five days before symptoms began. Kitchen workers and the food supplier are being questioned, and testing is being conducted on blood and stool samples, as well as samples of each meal served in the prior five days. Johnson said the cause could be found in the next few days. The state lab, he said, has made it "a priority."
Economy
Microsoft draws crowd downtown
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5622228,00.html
Apple's iPhone had its day. Now it's Microsoft's turn. Microsoft loyalists from all over the world have converged on Denver this week to attend a worldwide event for the company's business partners. Number expected at the Colorado Convention Center: more than 10,000 people. Economic impact: more than $20 million. "Anytime you're above 10,000, it's a major citywide (event)," said Richard Grant, spokesman for the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. No announcements of Windows Vista magnitude are expected at the event, which runs through Thursday. But attendees are hoping to learn about new technologies and partner programs, and get a glimpse of the company's vision from senior executives, such as colorful CEO Steve Ballmer, who will give a keynote address today.
RELATED: Di-worse-ifying: Microsoft losing focus
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6336165
Fuel costs boosting food bills
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6336532
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, at the start of the year, had forecast a 2.5 percent jump in food prices for 2007. By May, it had raised the bar to 4 percent, with a very sharp 17 percent jump forecast for eggs. Even that may prove too low. Through May, food and beverage inflation was running at 3.9 percent year over year, compared with overall inflation of 2.7 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Michael Swanson, an agricultural economist with Wells Fargo in Minneapolis, estimates retail food prices could rise 5 percent or more this year based on the even sharper increases seen in wholesale food prices. If current increases hold, consumers will have to swallow the biggest jump in food prices since 1990. And no major food category appears safe from inflation's finger. A variety of factors are pushing food prices up, including rising oil prices, the diversion of corn to produce ethanol and rising food exports overseas.
Retail economy hums along in May
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107100047
The May closure of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport apparently didn't hamper local retailers, who rang up $16.6 million in sales, an 8.9 percent spike over May 2006, according to a report released Monday by the city of Aspen's finance department. Sales tax collections in May also were strong, outpacing May 2006 by 15.3 percent, data shows. Year-to-date figures for the first five months of 2007, meanwhile, showed Aspen retailers posting $214.7 million in sales, a 4.4 percent boost over the same period last year. Lodging taxes also were ahead of pace, up 5.3 percent in May over May 2006, as well as 8.9 percent ahead for the first five months of this year compared to the same period in 2006, the city reported.
Rifle population at or near Glenwood's
http://postindependent.com/article/20070710/VALLEYNEWS/107100031
Since 2000, Rifle's population has grown about 24.5 percent compared to 13.3 percent for Glenwood Springs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau's annual population estimate was released in late June. It's the best guess for how many people lived in the cities as of July 1, 2006. The estimate is not as comprehensive as the full-blown census survey conducted every 10 years, nor does it include other types demographic information.
Ginn sued over Florida resort sales
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070709/NEWS/70709038
Close to 100 people are suing Ginn Resorts for allegedly misleading property buyers from Michigan, according to a lawsuit. Ginn Resorts wants to build a private ski resort with 1,700 homes south of Minturn. The company sold several properties at its Florida resorts multiple times to generate more profits for investors and broke federal laws, says the lawsuit, which was filed in a Michigan federal court five weeks ago. “We believe that the claims are meritless and we will defend them to the full extent of the law,” said Bobby Masters, executive vice president of Ginn Resorts. The allegations made in the lawsuit are “not based on fact,” Masters said. Real estate brokers who sold the properties were not working for Ginn, Masters said. The lawsuit contends that Ginn real estate agents told the plaintiffs that “as soon as the property was purchased, the agents could immediately sell the properties at a substantial profit.” If Ginn loses the lawsuit, the company will have to repurchase the properties, said John Hindo, an attorney for the plaintiffs, who live Michigan.
Shane Co. sues competitor over use of 'friend' slogan
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5622050,00.html
Is it possible to have too many friends in the diamond business?
Housing and Homelessness
How, exactly, will Basalt grow?
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107100044
Basalt residents will get an opportunity Wednesday to determine how large their town grows over the next decade and whether or not it adopts tough new regulations for affordable housing.
Bigger buildings may mean cheaper homes
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070709/NEWS/70709036
“Generous” and “unprecedented” is how a developer proposing a new complex on 5 acres at the center of Edwards describes his plans for affordable housing. But the size of the buildings in the “West End” proposal — which a county lawyer said would be comparable to those in Riverwalk — has a nearby neighborhood association saying it’s too bulky and would create “wear and tear” in the neighborhood. And the neighbors say they are worried the county is “fast-tracking” the proposal.
Commissioners prepare for debate on structure sizes
http://www.timescall.com/Local-Story.asp?id=2320
Boulder County’s soon-to-be newest county commissioner says she’s “looking forward to what people have to say” at Tuesday night’s public hearing on possible conditions and restrictions about building new homes in unincorporated areas. “I’m hoping to hear the dialogue,” Cindy Domenico said last week.
Media
EchoStar may be partner in Dow Jones bid
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6336162
EchoStar Communications, the nation's No. 2 satellite-television operator, may be part of a joint bid for Dow Jones & Co., a revelation that surprised analysts Monday. Such a move would once again pit EchoStar founder and chief executive Charlie Ergen against longtime rival Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch's News Corp. has offered $5 billion for Dow Jones, owner of The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and Dow Jones Newswires. Douglas County-based Echo Star is part of a team led by My Space co-founder Brad Green span that is expected to submit a proposal today, according to The Journal.
WOO-HOO! (EXTRA!, July 10)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622571,00.html
The votes have been cast. The big moment is almost upon us - voting ended Monday night. Will Colorado's town of Springfield win the opportunity to host the premiere of The Simpsons Movie? In the meantime, Extra! is keeping busy making our very own Simpsons character (maybe it looks like us, and, then again, maybe not). We also voted (at USAtoday.com) from every computer in the newsroom for Springfield to win the movie premiere.
Education
Higher education panel rethinks standards
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/10/higher-ed-panel-rethink-standards/
Commissioners on the state's higher-education board are holding a special meeting today to reconsider the tougher college admission standards that are otherwise planned to go into effect in 2008. The public meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Colorado School of Mines in the Ben Parker Student Center. It is expected to last up to five hours, officials said Monday, and the board is expected to take some kind of action on the matter. Department spokesman John Karakoulakis said public comment will be heard after commission staff members make their presentations, but it's unknown what time that will be.
RELATED: Penry: Keep school admission tough
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/07/10/7_10_3a_admission_requirements.html
Assistance League of Greeley awards $29,000 to single parents attending college
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070710/NEWS/70709006
The Assistance League of Greeley awarded 15 scholarships totatling $29,000 to single parents attending Aims Community College and the University of Northern Colorado.
Online academy aids 30 students in area
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/NEWS01/707100309/1002
When 9-year-old Robby Johnson works on his reading assignments at his desk at home, above him hangs a photo of him with his third-grade teacher, Mrs. Flowers. The picture is not only proof of a good student-teacher relationship, but also a reminder he will have to answer to someone if he doesn't get his work done. Johnson is one of 30 students in Northern Colorado who attend Colorado Connections Academy, a virtual public school that offers an individualized education from the comfort of their own homes.
City Schools to look at plan implementation
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1184075606/5
There will be a new feature on tonight’s agenda when the Pueblo City Schools’ Board of Education meets: an update on how the strategic plan is being implemented. Approved at the board’s last meeting two weeks ago, the plan calls for major changes in the way students are taught and board members admit it could take several years to implement all of its action plans. Superintendent John Covington said that every meeting will have an update on how that is being done. The board also is expected to be asked to approve the last four appointments in Covington’s reorganization of the top administration posts, associate superintendent, assistant superintendent for human resources, director of public relations and director of technology.
School board to appoint new member
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070709/NEWS/70709027
A new school board member will be appointed Wednesday to represent Avon, Eagle-Vail, Beaver Creek and Wildridge. Pat Donovan, who participated in his last board meeting on June 27, resigned to travel the world with his family.
Suspended CU student can return to classes
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336194
A Boulder student who was barred from attending classes at the University of Colorado because of statements he made after the Virginia Tech massacre has been allowed to return to school. A Boulder County judge ruled Friday that Max Karson, a 22-year-old junior, can return to classes and lifted a no-contact order that was a condition of his bail. The judge made the ruling after reviewing a letter sent by the CU, which says Karson can return to campus and that his suspension has been put off. Karson continues to face a misdemeanor charge of interfering with staff, faculty or students of an educational institution. He has pleaded not guilty. "We are extremely pleased that the university recognized that Max never intended to make anyone afraid or uncomfortable and, for that reason, it has decided to hold his summary suspension in abeyance," said Karson's lawyer, Daniel Wil liams. "It is critical that when professors ask students questions during class discussions, the students are permitted to express their views and are not hauled off to jail just because those views are unpopular."
RELATED: Max Karson allowed back at CU
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/10/max-karson-allowed-back-at-cu/
Athlete in car shot, killed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622267,00.html
A 19-year-old Western State College football player was driving in Colorado Springs early Monday when someone from another vehicle shot and killed him. Colorado Springs Police said that when officers arrived they found a vehicle that had gone off the road at the northeast corner of Printers Parkway and International Circle. Brenton Illum, assistant head coach at Western State, identified the victim as Diontea Forrest-Jackson. Illum said the college recruited Forrest-Jackson about a year ago from Wasson High School in Colorado Springs. "He was our top running back signee when we first got him here at Gunnison. He had a tremendous high school career, with phenomenal stats as a high school football player," he said of Forrest-Jackson, who was expected to play for Western State this fall. "He had a tremendous future."
RELATED: Western State tailback slain in Springs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336806
Canon City lawsuit brews over school assault probe
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1184075606/10
A notice of intent to file a $1 million lawsuit was served by attorneys for Royal Gorge Academy against city and county entities whose employees allegedly slandered the school during an assault investigation involving the former academy co-director. The intent letter, filed by the law firm of Gradisar Trechter Ripperger Roth & Croshal of Pueblo, was sent to Canon City Police officials, City Manager Steve Rabe and Attorney John D. Havens, as well as Fremont County Attorney Brenda Jackson, County Commissioners Larry Lasha, Ed Norden and Mike Stiehl and Fremont County Department of Human Services Attorney Rocco Meconi and Director Steve Clifton. The letter alleges that employees of the Canon City Police Department, including Detective Jeff Worley and employees of Fremont County Department of Human Services, including Michelle Harris, interfered with the operation of the business of the academy during the first week of January, "without permission, entered onto the physical premises of the Royal Gorge Academy, and, without probable cause, seized property of the academy including but not limited to computers, computer files and student files.”
Punter's talk to cops OK at trial
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622577,00.html
A Weld County district court judge ruled Monday that the statements made by former University of Northern Colorado punter Mitch Cozad to police without an attorney present can be used at his trial. The judge, though, upheld a motion by Cozad's attorney that a taped recording of Cozad's cell phone conversation with his mother was not admissible. Cozad, 21, of Wheatland, Wyo., has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and second-degree assault in the September stabbing of UNC football player Rafael Mendoza, 21, of Thornton.
RELATED: Statements in UNC stabbing case fit for trial
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6337173
RELATED: Judge: Jurors can hear Cozad's statements to police
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107090110
Military
Carson GI killed, dad says
http://www.gazette.com/articles/lill_24648___article.html/eric_father.html
A Fort Carson soldier who decided to join the Army after 9/11 was killed by a roadside bomb last week during his second tour in Iraq, his father said Monday. Spc. Eric Lill, 28, of the Chicago area, was riding in a vehicle as a gunner when he was killed about 11 a.m. Friday in Baghdad, said his father, Anthony Lill, of Lawrenceburg, Tenn. His son had been helping train the Iraqi police force with the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. An interpreter was also killed in the blast. Eric Lill was transferred to Fort Carson from an Army base in Germany after his first deployment, his father said. Eric Lill hoped the move would allow him to spend more time with his two children, 4-year-old Mikayla and 6-yearold Cody, who live in western Illinois with his ex-wife.
Marine says brother's spirit protected him
http://postindependent.com/article/20070710/VALLEYNEWS/107100039
On the day Jeremiah Sherman was injured by a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq, his brother, Zachariah, was on his mind. The date - Friday, July 6 - was the four-year anniversary of 18-year-old Zachariah's death from a car accident on Highway 133 near Redstone. If Jeremiah, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marines, could do one thing for his parents, Roger and Tammy Sherman, it would be to stay safe.
Groups continue efforts to stop waste shipment
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1184075606/8
Environmental and community groups will go to court Monday to ask a federal judge in Indiana for an injunction blocking the Army from shipping nerve agent wastewater to Texas, but opponents are hoping that local and federal officials will step in, too. The Community In-Power Development Association of Port Arthur, Texas, last week delivered petitions to the Washington office of Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, asking him to intervene on behalf of the group. The group also is asking help from Texas state Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Port Arthur, and the city’s mayor, Bobby Prince. Last month, the Port Arthur association along with Citizens Against Incineration at Newport, an Indiana group, the Sierra Club and the Chemical Weapons Working Group, filed suit to stop the Army’s shipments of VX hydrolysate from the Newport, Ind., Army Depot to the Veolia Environmental Services plant in Port Arthur for incineration. The Army had already shipped out in tanker trucks about 360,000 gallons of the 2 million gallons of wastewater from Newport’s neutralization plant at the time the suit was filed. The Army’s Chemical Materials Agency voluntarily suspended shipments until the matter could be heard in court.
'The loss of a great person'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622579,00.html
Friends of Lynn Scutellaro said the 28-year-old Colorado National Guard captain was passionate about the work she did. Whether she was flying helicopters in Iraq or working with troubled kids in the Boulder County juvenile detention center, Scutellaro approached each job with a focus and intensity that was a joy to watch, they said. That made the news that Scutellaro had been killed Saturday after she was hit by a trolley bus in Breckenridge all the more difficult to comprehend. "I've been just devastated all day," said Stacy Mallicoat, a criminal justice professor at California State University in Fullerton, who was a graduate student and teacher when she first met Scutellaro at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "It's the loss of a great person," Mallicoat added. "She was just a person who had a lot to contribute to society, and for that to be gone is just really sad."
RELATED: Details emerge in trolley fatality
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070709/NEWS/70709003
Construction worker killed; three injured
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622269,00.html
The partial collapse of a building under construction at Fort Carson on Monday left one worker dead and three others injured, one of them critically, an Army spokeswoman said. The accident occurred at 12:50 p.m. near Titus Boulevard and Barkeley Avenue at a company operations center being built for the 4th Infantry, which is being transferred to Fort Carson from Fort Hood, Texas. Eight workers were at the construction site.
RELATED: OSHA probing fatal Ft. Carson accident
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336681
Religion
Former priest lured 3 boys to fun-filled home, jury told
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622226,00.html
Former foster parent and Episcopalian priest Donald Shissler sexually assaulted three young boys he lured to his home by turning it into a "Disneyland" full of fun, games and candy, a prosecutor told a Denver jury Monday. The boys had the run of his home in the Baker neighborhood, which contained a pool table, hot tub, computer games, Nintendo, drawers full of candy and framed photos of naked young boys, prosecutor Kerri Lombardi said. "This Disneyland he created came at a high price. The cost of admission was their innocence and a sense of shame that would last a lifetime," she said. "They were mostly young Hispanic boys who were just on the cusp of their sexuality."
Energy Policy
Uranium company battling state over environmental rules
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/07/10/7_10_1a_Uranium.html
A battle over how state environmental regulations apply to western Colorado uranium mines is heating up in Montrose County’s West End, where Cotter Corp. plans to re-open four uranium mines sitting dormant since 2005. The state is requiring three of Cotter’s mines on U.S. Department of Energy land to comply with state environmental regulations not written with uranium mining in mind. “The controversy is over whether or not these mining operations need an environmental protection plan,” Energy Minerals Law Center attorney Travis Stills said. “Cotter says uranium mining operations don’t need environmental protection plans.” The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board christened three of Cotter’s dormant mine sites near Naturita as “designated mining operations,” or “DMOs,” requiring Cotter to comply with strict environmental regulations and create an environmental protection plan.
Council postpones vote on power lines
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622586,00.html
The Denver City Council pulled the plug, for now, on a request by Xcel Energy to install taller power lines through Ruby Hill Park. After a highly charged public hearing Monday, council voted 6-5 to postpone until July 30 a decision on an amendment to the park's view plane ordinance, which aims to preserve panoramic mountain views by limiting building height. If the council grants Xcel an amendment, a group of residents plans to file a referendum to repeal the decision. At issue are five existing transmission towers that Xcel wants to replace with single-column towers between 7 and 26 feet taller. The existing towers already pierce the park's view plane. The new towers are part of a $19 million project to update nine miles of existing transmission lines, which the utility says are at capacity and could lead to blackouts if they aren't updated. "The core of why we're here is an issue of reliability," said Jerome Davis, Xcel's area manager for community and local governmental affairs. "That's an issue that seems to get lost a little bit."
Transportation and Infrastructure
Northwest line gets noisy kickoff
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622585,00.html
People along the proposed FasTracks rail line from Denver to Boulder and Longmont want RTD to consider rail alternatives ranging from electrifying all 41 miles (expensive) to not building it at all (cheap). Concerns over noise, cost, safety and pollution were voiced by many in the crowd of about 180 at Monday's kickoff of the environmental study for the $685 million Northwest Rail corridor. "What's the acceptable level of train horn noise?" said Boulder resident Lucinda Spencer, whose home is close to the tracks RTD plans to use. "Where do you get to the question of whether we go forward with this plan as proposed?" said Bob Greenlee, of Lafayette, to a smattering of applause.
RELATED: Public is frustrated with proposed rail line
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/10/public-is-frustrated-with-proposed-rail-line/
RTD weighing costlier rides
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622570,00.html
You may be digging deeper into your pockets come January for more than just keeping your hands warm. RTD is contemplating a fare increase. Clobbered as much as everyone else by rising fuel costs, a stagnant economy and rising demands, the transit agency staff is proposing a hike of a quarter in the local, express and regional fares, and a dime for senior, disabled and student fares. Express and regional fares for seniors, disabled and student riders would go up 15 cents. That would put the price of a local bus or light-rail ride at $1.75, up from $1.50. Express buses and light rail would go to $3 and regional service to $4.
RELATED: Boost in RTD fares urged
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6337125
Environment and Conservation
Fire burns 1,526 acres
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5622334,00.html
A fast-moving wildfire destroyed a house and blackened 1,526 acres in southwest Colorado, but no injuries were reported, firefighters said Monday. The fire, about 11 miles south of Mancos and 240 miles southwest of Denver, was reported Sunday on farmland and forests left vulnerable by pine beetle damage and prolonged hot, dry weather. Wind-whipped flames reached 100 feet high, said Eric La Price, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. "It was really getting after it," incident commander Ron Klatt said. "It hit the fields out here with lighter fuels, and finally we were able to do something about it. If it had hit some trees, it would still be going." Klatt said the fire was caused by lightning, and it was 50 percent contained by late Monday afternoon. Officials hoped for full containment by 6 p.m. Wednesday.
RELATED: 1,000-acre fire levels home
RELATED: Firefighters say they can handle big Western blaze
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336228
RELATED: BLM, Sheriff’s Office fighting [Moffat County] fire
http://www2.craigdailypress.com/news/2007/jul/10/blm_sheriffs_office_fighting_fire/
RELATED: Fire threatens structures near Hotchkiss
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/07/10/7_10_1a_hotchkissfire.html
RELATED: [Garco] Sheriff: Residents of fire area won't evacuate if flood occurs
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/07/10/7_10_1b_Burn_aftermath.html
RELATED: Flaming crow ignites grass fire
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107100042
RELATED: Dry conditions lead to fire restrictions
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/jul/10/dry_conditions_lead_fire_restrictions/
Why the dirty air?
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/07/09/news/c_u_and_boulder/news3.txt
A new study by a CU-Boulder sociologist finds that “environmental racism” - the greater impact of pollution on blacks and Hispanics - isn't as directly linked to segregation or social class as most scholars think. Assistant Professor Liam Downey studied 61 U.S. cities, looking at three factors: air pollution, housing segregation, and income inequality. He found a weak correlation between the three. In some cities, blacks live in the most polluted neighborhoods; in others, Hispanics live in the most polluted places. In most areas either blacks or Hispanics shoulder the greatest pollution burden, though in a few cities whites do so. Neither income nor segregation decides who lives in the most polluted places, he found.
Residents: Improve upon our city's air quality
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/NEWS01/707100329/1002
The city of Fort Collins is within federal clean air standards and limits but a recent survey says residents think more can be done. According to survey results presented during an Air Quality Report to the community Monday night in City Hall, 81 percent of residents said they think something can be done to improve air quality with another 80 percent believing something should be done, said Lucinda Smith, a city environmental planner.
Boulder spews more CO2
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/10/boulder-spews-more-co2-report-emissions-up-4-cu/
As the city of Boulder embarks on a first-of-its-kind program to tax carbon and use the proceeds to cut greenhouse gases, a new report shows emissions across the city rose by 4 percent last year — the first time emissions have risen since city officials started counting carbon. Part of the increase comes from a decision by University of Colorado officials to stop burning natural gas to make electricity, and to instead buy it all from Xcel Energy's coal plants. With natural gas prices soaring, the decision saved CU about $1 million annually — but it raised the amount of carbon emitted between 2005 and 2006 by 51 percent, according to city figures.
Stewing over sewage fertilizer
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6336401
Traces of drugs, steroids and fragrances linger in sewage byproducts sold as home fertilizer for lawns and gardens long after they leave the wastewater treatment plant, according to a federal study. The question, some researchers say, is whether those traces in "biosolid" products put humans and the environment at risk. The study looked at products sold by nine sewage-treatment plants - including a $3 bag of Metrogro, a compost sold by Denver's Metro Wastewater Reclamation District. The same 25 contaminants were found in each of the nine products, including an antihistamine, an antidepressant, a fire retardant, steroids, disinfectants and detergents. Levels were measured in parts per billion. Wastewater-treatment officials say there should be no concern over chemicals from everyday products at such tiny levels. Still, it has yet to be determined whether traces can cause problems, said Chad Kinney, an Eastern Washington University professor and lead author of the federal study.
Lower Ark pushes study on Fountain Creek quality
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1184075606/1
A study of Fountain Creek water quality already is revealing new information and deserves more support, its primary sponsor said Monday. “The only way we’ll be able to make the right decisions on Fountain Creek will be to get the correct scientific information,” said John Singletary, chairman of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. The Lower Ark District so far has funded a Colorado State University-Pueblo study of Fountain Creek water quality with a $200,000 grant. The study, however, is envisioned as a $1 million, three-year effort. The Lower Ark grant was matched by university funds to purchase an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, a machine that can quickly analyze metals in water, plants or animal tissue.
City, county agree on water program for Yampa River
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/jul/10/city_county_agree_water_program_yampa_river/
City and county officials agreed Monday to fund ongoing studies of water quality in the Yampa River. While details of the funding have yet to be worked out, the agreement is a significant step forward in a process spearheaded by Routt County Environmental Health Director Mike Zopf. In March, Routt County and city of Steamboat Springs officials met with more than 15 representatives of local water interests for a presentation of water quality monitoring programs already operated by hydrologists with the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS monitors water quality in rivers including the Upper Gunnison, Eagle, Blue and Roaring Fork.
Council critical of fee for paying stormwater bill with credit card
http://www.gazette.com/articles/credit_24644___article.html/city_card.html
Rules for how Colorado Springs collects its stormwater fees hit rough water Monday when City Council members criticized charging people for using credit cards. Though several members opposed the $1 charge, the city’s stormwater enterprise will charge the fee after some members said they didn’t want the enterprise to absorb the cost. There was no formal vote because the business rules are decided by city staff, not the council.
Fees for Larimer County parks may be headed higher next year
http://www.timescall.com/Local-Story.asp?id=2322
The cost to play at Larimer County parks might increase next year. On Tuesday, Larimer County commissioners gave the nod for park officials to gather public input about increasing 11 of the 20 fees administered by the department. Parks and Open Lands director Gary Buffington said the commissioners will decide whether to adopt the proposed fee changes after a public forum. “We heard a lot from the master plan process that people want to have our nonresidents share a little more of the (cost) than the residents,” Buffington said. The plan calls for one decrease — off-season camping permits with electrical service — to encourage more visitation between October and March. But the proposal also calls for adding April to the months that apply to in-season rates. Now, in-season rates apply May through September.
Demolitions trigger emergency action
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107100049
The [Aspen] City Council tentatively passed an emergency ordinance late Monday night that would prevent the demolition of any building more than 30 years old without reviewing whether it's historically significant.
Hide your garbage from bears
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/07/10/7_10_1b_Shooting_bears.html
If you see a bear in your driveway rifling through your garbage, don’t shoot. After two illegal bear shootings in the Ridgway area in June, the Colorado Division of Wildlife is warning Coloradans that as bears descend from the rain-thirsty high country looking for food, a bullet in a bear could cost the shooter a fine of more than $1,300.
RELATED: Black bear surprises Steamboat resident with visit into home
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2007/jul/10/black_bear_surprises_steamboat_resident_visit_home/
Opinion
Littwin: Some supporters surging to exit Bush's sinking ship
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5622338,00.html
The question in Washington these days is no longer whether the ship that is the Bush Iraq policy is sinking. The question is what the rats still on board are planning to do. Some, of course, are in mid-jump - see: Dick Lugar, Pete Domenici, et al., who have suddenly discovered that the war isn't going so well. Other Republican senators, those who can also read polls, are apparently practicing their dive routines. Of course, by now, virtually everyone - even some working in the White House - must be looking for a soft place to land. Read the papers. It's all there. In White House discussions, Condi Rice is reported to be considering a redeployment plan. Colin "Now He Tells Us" Powell reportedly said at the Aspen Ideas Festival that he once spent 2 1/2 hours trying to talk George Bush out of attacking Iraq. And according to a Washington Post piece by Peter Baker, Bush himself has taken to inviting historians and philosophers to the White House to ask such questions as: "How will history judge what we've done? Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or is it just me they hate?"
RELATED: Iraq plan needed in case surge fails
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_6334468
CAMPOS: Nonsense about terrorism
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_5622100,00.html
When the subject is terrorism, people like Ignatius seem to have trouble grasping that political disagreement is real. Let me put it as plainly as possible: The reason Americans disagree about how to respond to the threat of terrorism is because they have radically different views on the matter. For instance, my view is that Ignatius and his ilk have helped create a fear of terrorism out of all proportion to the actual threat terrorism poses; that by doing so they helped drag America into a disastrous war with Iraq; and that they're now helping to create the conditions that may enable an even more disastrous war with Iran. Nothing better illustrates this than Ignatius' claim that the British car bombing plots "remind us of our vulnerability to terrorist attack." What they remind anyone not already in thrall to the cultural hysteria Ignatius promotes is that all the "terrorists" discovered in America over the past few years were, like the British would-be bombers, thoroughly pathetic figures, who collectively proved themselves incapable of blowing up a phone booth.
Thornton: Focus on energy efficiency
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_6334456
The good news: Legislators broke important new ground when they focused on renewable energy in the last legislative session. The bad news: They left much undone for an important part of the state's energy picture: energy efficiency.
Voters left with questions after resignation
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/OPINION01/707100320/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
Larimer County voters have been left somewhat in the dark and in a lurch with the sudden resignation Monday of Commissioner Karen Wagner. Wagner resigned her elected position Monday, citing escalating harassment and verbal abuse from fellow Commissioner Glenn Gibson. She also noted in a letter that Commissioner Kathay Rennels failed to intervene and "has chosen to tacitly condone (Gibson's) embarrassing and unprofessional conduct." Wagner, the lone Democrat on the Board of County Commissioners, wrote that, "Events reached their height on June 26, when Gibson launched two assaults of irrational histrionics not worthy of a county commissioner." Wagner concluded the letter by writing that she was saddened that she was unable to bring these issues to light except through resigning, and that she hoped her action would bring an improved work environment for her successor.
Quillen: How big is too big?
http://www.denverpost.com/opinionheadlines/ci_6334455
Some folks in the montane portion of Boulder County, comfortable in their small cabins, are annoyed because they're getting new neighbors who build immense mansions, and they'd like the county to take action. The people building the big houses argue that this is really none of the government's business. But house size has been the government's business for some time. In Chaffee County, where I live, county regulations specify a minimum dwelling size of 600 square feet. I know people who grew up in less than that, and if I think I can be comfortable in 500 square feet of house on rural property, what business is it of the government's? Governments do make it their business, though. They also specify the kind of construction. I might get a variance to live in a camping trailer for a year or two while a regular house is under construction, but the county won't let me occupy the trailer permanently.
Election
Thompson not always at GOP core
At the pinnacle of Fred D. Thompson's career in the Senate, a conservative activist was so disappointed in him that he put the Tennessee Republican on a "wanted" poster. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the GOP leader of the Senate, was fuming at him. Republican colleagues were steamed when Thompson threw his weight behind a campaign finance bill that conservatives loathed. "Has Fred Thompson Blown It?" blared a headline in a conservative magazine, accusing him of squandering an opportunity to use a set of 1997 hearings to nail Democrats for illegal fundraising. A decade later, as Thompson prepares to formally announce his bid for the 2008 presidential nomination, he is being promoted as a godsend for conservatives dissatisfied with the established field of Republican candidates.
Clinton Pollster Likes What He Sees
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901814.html
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) may be leading in the money chase, but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's pollster sent out a memo assessing her standing yesterday and -- guess what -- Mark J. Penn thinks she is doing spectacularly. "Hillary's electoral strength has grown in the last quarter and she is better positioned today than ever before to become the next President of the United Sates," Penn wrote. (Yes, he did write "Sates," though it appears he meant "States.") A new Gallup-USA Today poll suggests Penn's optimism has merit: It shows Clinton (N.Y.) ahead of her closest Democratic competitor, Obama, by 16 points, with non-candidate/former vice president Al Gore in third place, similar to the advantage she has enjoyed in Washington Post-ABC polls since February.
Step One: Assemble the Ingredients, Naturally
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901961.html
In the early evening of July 2, Sen. Barack Obama arrived at the end of a long gravel driveway belonging to Gary and Meg Hirshberg. In the back yard were 250 people -- potential supporters, potential donors -- waiting to hear from him. First, though, Obama had more important business--he handed Meg Hirshberg a card for her 51st birthday. In this state, where every voter is flattered, indulged and generally chased after, the Hirshbergs are particularly big game. Gary is the chairman and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, the organic yogurt and smoothie concern, a man who turned what had been a fledgling business based at a ramshackle farm into a $300 million behemoth that has been relentless in its support of environmental causes. Moreover, he and his wife have become "verifiers": a well-known couple who have studied the issues and met with candidates, and who can persuade undecided voters and independents to at least consider a particular candidate.
Effective and Ethical Government
Bush Plans To Stress Next Phase In Iraq War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902031.html
President Bush, facing a growing Republican revolt against his Iraq policy, has rejected calls to change course but will launch a campaign emphasizing his intent to draw down U.S. forces next year and move toward a more limited mission if security conditions improve, senior officials said yesterday. Top administration officials have begun talking with key Senate Republicans to walk them through his view of the next phase in the war, beyond the troop increase he announced six months ago today. Bush plans to lay out what an aide called "his vision for the post-surge" starting in Cleveland today to assure the nation that he, too, wants to begin bringing troops home eventually.
RELATED: Anti-war views on Iraq rise to record
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-09-bush-poll_N.htm
RELATED: White House: No debate about troop pullout
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-09-troops_N.htm
Kerry joins push to limit signing statements
Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts announced yesterday that he is joining a bipartisan congressional effort to roll back the Bush administration's use of signing statements to challenge laws. Kerry was the first cosponsor of a bill filed by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, titled the "Presidential Signing Statements Act of 2007." A Kerry spokeswoman said the lawmakers would propose the measure as an amendment to a defense-spending bill this summer. "The Bush administration's abuse of signing statements is clearly unconstitutional and renders the Constitution's system of checks and balances null and void," Kerry said. "With these statements, the president has effectively subverted the law and the legislative process without actually ever using a veto. No administration should be allowed to cherry-pick legislation this way."
Issue of Supervised Release for Libby Is Cleared Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/washington/10libby.html?ref=washington
A small but confusing issue about President Bush’s commutation of the prison sentence of I. Lewis Libby Jr. appeared to have been cleared up Monday. Both Mr. Libby’s lawyers and the prosecutors filed papers saying they saw no problem in having Mr. Libby submit to two years of supervised release as a form of probation. When Mr. Bush last week wiped out a 30-month prison sentence for Mr. Libby’s conviction on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, he specified that Mr. Libby would still have to serve the two years of probation to which he had been sentenced. Last week, after the sentence he had imposed was lifted, the judge, Reggie B. Walton of Federal District Court, said that the law did not allow for a sentence of supervised release unless the defendant had actually served time behind bars.
Lawmakers try to save their earmarks
After Democrats won control of Congress, they moved to fulfill their pledge to crack down on the controversial practice of lawmakers slipping projects in spending bills without public scrutiny. In February, they scrapped Republican-drafted bills loaded with earmarks and passed a bill that they boasted had none. Among those celebrating the achievement was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said that piecing together the $463.5-billion spending bill was difficult, "but we got it done without a single earmark." But the day after President Bush signed it, Reid wrote federal agencies to "strongly support the priorities" in the discarded GOP bills. "I believe they are essential to the nation and to my home state of Nevada." Reid was not alone in seeking to save his earmarks.
Deal sends Pa. employees back to work
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-09-penn-budget_N.htm
Thousands of state workers who were sent home without pay were allowed to return to their jobs Tuesday, a day after the governor and legislators hammered out a budget deal. Nearly 24,000 government employees were furloughed for a day and state parks, state-run museums and driver-license offices closed during a partisan deadlock that held up a state spending plan nine days into the new fiscal year. After weeks of sharp rhetoric and days of frantic negotiations, both Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican legislators claimed victory on their objectives as the deal was announced Monday night. Rendell outlined progress on issues ranging from health care and transportation to energy and education. Republican lawmakers boasted that they had beaten back seven proposed tax and fee increases.
Senator's Number on 'Madam' Phone List
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902030.html
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) apologized last night after his telephone number appeared in the phone records of the woman dubbed the "D.C. Madam," making him the first member of Congress to become ensnared in the high-profile case. The statement containing Vitter's apology said his telephone number was included on phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates dating from before he ran for the Senate in 2004. The service's proprietor, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 51, faces federal charges of racketeering for allegedly running a prostitution ring out of homes and hotel rooms in the Washington area. Authorities say the business netted more than $2 million over 13 years beginning in 1993. Palfrey contends that her escort service was a legitimate business. "This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter, 46, said in a statement, which his spokesman, Joel DiGrado, confirmed to the Associated Press.
Civil Liberties and Equality
NAACP buries the hated N-word
In a symbolic move to erase the controversial N-word from the English vocabulary, the NAACP held a mock funeral in Detroit on Monday, complete with a horse-drawn carriage and a pine box coffin that will be buried in a city cemetery and marked with a headstone. "Today, we're not just burying the N-word, we are taking it out of our spirit, we are taking it out of our minds," said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, speaking before hundreds of cheering supporters. "To bury the N-word, we gotta bury the pimps and the hos and the hustlers. Let's bury all the nonsense that comes with this." While two rap industry legends, Kurtis Blow and Eric B, pioneers from the 1970s and '80s, threw their support behind the effort, the movement to ban the N-word has not caught on among large numbers of young African Americans who have adopted the word, though rooted in slavery, as a term of endearment toward each other. At the same time, blacks have tried to keep the word strictly off-limits to whites because of the term's racist roots.
Foreign Policy
Iraqi Politicians Warn Against Pullout
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070900578.html
Politicians from Iraq's major parties and ethnic groups said Monday that Iraq's government could collapse, plunging the nation into full-blown civil war and sparking regional conflict, if the United States were to begin withdrawing troops too quickly. The warnings were issued as Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari also asserted that Turkey has massed 140,000 troops along its border with Iraq to stage a possible cross-border assault against Kurdish separatists. If true, the Turkish buildup would raise fears of another front opening up in a country already facing myriad conflicts. But State Department officials in Washington were skeptical about the assertion.
RELATED: U.S. has a duty to stay, Iraqi says
In Afghan effort, wins and losses recounted
The half-dozen US Army reservists in the initial team had not been given any special handbook or training. They were simply told "Do not fail -- Failure is not an option," recalled First Sergeant Daniel Gill, a juvenile-corrections officer from Minnesota. Gill's group went on to set up the first Provincial Reconstruction Team -- loosely modeled after the "Provincial Advisory Teams" of the Vietnam War -- a concept that has become a cornerstone of the US strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq. No comprehensive study has ever been done to assess the impact of PRTs, and no common criteria define them. But the history of this first team in Gardez, recounted in interviews with nearly a dozen former PRT members and independent analysts, illustrates both the successes and the failures of the model. Former members recall hard-fought victories, such as turning on the electricity for the first time in seven years and convincing local leaders to agree to open a special educational center for women. But they also recount seemingly insurmountable challenges, including language barriers, mistrust caused by US bombings, and Afghan bureaucracy that they had only begun to master by the time their tours of duty were up.
RELATED: Suicide blast in Afghanistan kills 17
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-07-10-afghanistan_N.htm
RELATED: As War Enters Classrooms, Fear Grips Afghans
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/world/asia/10afghan.html?ref=world
Scores Killed As Pakistani Commandos Storm Mosque
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070900964.html
Pakistani commandos stormed the Red Mosque at dawn Tuesday after last-minute negotiations broke down and President Pervez Musharraf gave the go-ahead for an operation aimed at ending the eight-day siege. At least 43 people were killed and the death toll was expected to climb. Loud explosions could be heard around the mosque and a thick plume of smoke rose above the site as extremists who had sequestered themselves in the compound's basement used automatic weapons, rocket launchers and grenades to try to fend off the assault from the elite government troops. Commandos breached the compound within an hour of the operation's start and were fighting the radicals from inside as they attempted to take over the mosque complex.
RELATED: Up to 50 Militants Dead as Pakistani Military Storms Mosque After Talks Fail
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/world/asia/10cnd-pakistan.html?ref=world
Slowdown Seen in Iran's Nuclear Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901779.html
After boasting of rapid progress for months, Iran has slowed expansion of a controversial uranium enrichment program that can be used both for peaceful nuclear energy and to develop weapons, according to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency. Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said yesterday that U.N. inspectors detected the change during a visit to Iran's underground enrichment facility at Natanz last week. "Without going into detail, you could say that there is a fairly marked slowdown. It is not a full-size freeze, but it is a marked slowdown" in launching new centrifuges that spin at high speeds to refine uranium into fuel, ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna. Explanations for the shift vary widely.
Its border crossings shut, Gaza faces economic ruin
Nearly a month after the Gaza Strip was violently taken over by Hamas, the territory's economy is facing collapse after border crossings to the area have been shut by Israel, according to aid officials and human-rights advocates. Aside from humanitarian aid, there is no import of goods to the impoverished territory, nor are there exports, forcing many factories to shut down and leaving farmers unable to market their produce outside Gaza. Tens of thousands of workers face layoffs, including those working in UN building projects, whose suspension was announced Monday because of a lack of supplies. The border closings are part of an Israeli policy to isolate and weaken the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip while allowing enough food, fuel and medical supplies into the area to avert a humanitarian crisis among the area's 1.5 million people.
RELATED: With Pressure Put on Hamas, Gaza Is Cut Off
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/world/middleeast/10mideast.html?ref=world
Man gets 6 months for 'honor killing'
A Jordanian court sentenced a man to 6 months in prison Monday for killing his pregnant sister -- an "honor killing" that the man said was necessary to uphold his family's reputation. The court justified the lenient sentence, saying it was warranted due to the "state of fury" that led to the woman's slaying. According to the court, when she told her brother she was pregnant with her former husband's child, he pulled on her scarf to strangle her. He then put a pillow on her head and sat on it until she suffocated.
Four Guilty In London Transit Bomb Plot
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070900528.html
Four immigrant men were convicted Monday of conspiring to bomb London's public transit system on July 21, 2005, in a failed attempt to duplicate an attack two weeks earlier by four suicide bombers who killed 52 bus and train passengers. After a six-month trial and seven days of deliberations, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London returned unanimous guilty verdicts against the four, who were charged with conspiracy to murder. Deliberations continued on verdicts for two other men. The defendants argued during the trial that they had merely intended to frighten people in a protest against the Iraq war when they carried homemade bombs in backpacks onto three London subway trains and a bus. But prosecutors argued that only poor bombmaking skills, hot weather or "good fortune" prevented the bombs, made of hydrogen peroxide and Indian chapatti flour, from exploding and causing death and injury on the scale of the July 7 attack.
RELATED: Interpol Chief Calls U.K. Lax In Terror Fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901758.html
Canada beefs up military in oil-rich Arctic
Canada announced plans Monday to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage -- a potentially oil-rich region the United States claims is international territory. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said six to eight patrol ships will guard what he says are Canadian waters. A deep water port will also be built in a region the U.S. Geological Survey estimates has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. "Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic. We either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this government intends to use it," Harper said. "It is no exaggeration to say that the need to assert our sovereignty and protect our territorial integrity in the North on our terms have never been more urgent."
FARC Leader Convicted in Taking of 3 U.S. Hostages
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901591.html
Colombian rebel leader Ricardo Palmera was convicted yesterday in federal court of helping hold three Americans hostage for years in jungle prison camps. He is the only person ever found responsible for their capture. Better known by his nom de guerre, Simon Trinidad, Palmera is the most senior commander ever captured from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Latin America's largest rebel group. He was extradited to the United States in 2004 and charged with hostage and terrorism charges. FARC's force of about 12,000 fighters has battled the Colombian government for four decades, and the U.S. government considers it to be a terrorist organization and a drug cartel.
In Brazil, Pan Am Games Gaffe Stirs Anti-American Sentiment
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/sports/othersports/10panam.html
The Pan American Games do not start until Friday, but the United States delegation has already found itself in a controversy after a phrase that Brazilians considered prejudiced and demeaning appeared on a message board at the American media center here. “Welcome to the Congo!” were the offending words written on a white board, photographed by a Brazilian journalist and published by the principal daily newspaper in Rio, O Globo, last week. The publicity has led to an outpour of anti-American sentiment, which has not been assuaged by an American press aide’s explanation that the comments were meant as a reference to a heat wave here and nothing more. “It’s really unbelievable,” the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, César Maia, said in a telephone interview Monday. “He’s scored a goal for the opposition, right at a time when the image of the United States and its government, for the reasons we are all aware of, is highly unpopular, and the United States is trying to improve that image through sports. The U.S. wants to show it is not an imperial country, and along comes this guy to exacerbate that image.”
Immigration
Persecuted Gays Seek Refuge in U.S.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902027.html
Harassment and abuse of gay men and lesbians is becoming increasingly accepted as grounds for legal asylum in the United States, even at a time of conservative judicial activism, fear about HIV/AIDS transmission and increased scrutiny of asylum seekers. The government does not disclose a breakdown of reasons for granting asylum petitions, but legal advocacy groups in several major U.S. cities said they have won dozens of cases. Homosexuality, once a de facto condition for barring foreigners from entering the country, is now officially recognized by the U.S. government as a category that might subject individuals to persecution in their homeland, just as if they were political dissidents in a dictatorship or religious minority members in a theocracy. But although petitioning for asylum on the basis of sexual orientation has become far easier since 1994, when then-Attorney General Janet Reno ordered that a groundbreaking case involving a gay Cuban refugee be viewed as a legal precedent, such asylum cases are still extremely difficult to win, according to lawyers in Washington and elsewhere.
US lags on pledge to admit Iraq refugees
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-09-us-iraq-refugees_N.htm
Despite promising to admit 7,000 Iraqi refugees to the U.S. by the end of September, the Bush administration has allowed in just 133 over the past nine months. As Iraqis continue to flee their country in record numbers, adding to what is already the largest refugee population in the world, U.S. efforts to accept them are moving at a snail's pace. Officials predict that at most only 2,000, or less than 30%, of the 7,000 can be processed by Sept. 30. The delays are due to enhanced security vetting by the Homeland Security Department, which is overseeing the program to take Iraqis referred by the United Nations for resettlement in the U.S., officials said Monday. Iraqis are subject to more background checks than people from other countries and must undergo extensive individual interviews to qualify for admission due to fears that some seeking to enter the United States may be terrorists or other undesirables.
Mexican migrants fly home under voluntary repatriation program
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-07-09-mexico-migrants_N.htm
Constantino Hernandez considered it a blessing when U.S. authorities arrested him after walking for two days in the harsh Arizona desert. "I was rescued," said the 37-year-old Mexican migrant, who has been going to the United States illegally to work in restaurants since 1992. Hernandez was one of 74 migrants who flew to the Mexican capital Monday under a U.S. summer program, now in its fourth year, that gives participants free transportation all the way to their hometowns instead of simply deporting them back across the border. Washington touts the US$15 million (euro11 million) program as a way to reduce migrant deaths during the hot summer, but critics argue it does little to reduce total migration and only makes the journey harder and more expensive for those who participate.
Health Care and Public Safety
A State Finds No Easy Fixes on Health Care
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/health/policy/10health.html?ref=us
Gov. Edward G. Rendell, an unapologetic big-city liberal who campaigned as a health care reformer, might have been expected to propose a plan to cover the 900,000 Pennsylvanians who are uninsured. And he did so, after winning reelection last year in a landslide. But like other governors in the vanguard of health policy, Mr. Rendell also concluded that such a move would be unaffordable, and perhaps politically unattainable, without serious efforts to control costs. As a result, Mr. Rendell’s “Prescription for Pennsylvania” included a ban on smoking in public places, a reduction in the rate of hospitalization for chronic diseases and an expansion of the role nurses play in treating patients. He even framed his proposal to provide universal access as “a form of cost containment,” emphasizing that 6.5 percent of every health-insurance premium in Pennsylvania went to subsidizing care for the uninsured, often in emergency rooms.
Court to hear arguments in "light" smokes case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071000382.html
Several major tobacco companies are set to go to a U.S. appellate court on Tuesday to argue about whether a $200 billion lawsuit against them by "light" cigarette smokers should proceed as a class action. The hearing scheduled before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is the latest development in the closely watched case, which could potentially expose tobacco companies to hundreds of billions of dollars in liabilities. The defendants in the case include Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA unit; Reynolds American Inc.'s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco unit; Vector Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group; and British American Tobacco Plc's British American Tobacco (Investments) Ltd.
A Hole in the Food Safety Net?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901762.html
Consumer advocates are raising concerns about whether federal restrictions meant to stop the import of tainted Chinese seafood are strong enough. The Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert on June 28 requiring that five types of farm-raised seafood from China be tested for banned antibiotics before being allowed into the U.S. market. The restrictions require that the testing be conducted by a third party and that importers provide documentation that their seafood is safe. Certification, however, can come from a lab in any country, including China. "We had a problem with the fact that FDA is going to allow China to be one of the certifiers, since they have done such a poor job of certifying" the safety of seafood in the past, said Tony Corbo, lobbyist for Food & Water Watch. "We're not sure they can handle this."
RELATED: 700 Tubes of Toothpaste Are Seized in Connecticut
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/nyregion/10paste.html
RELATED: China executes former drug official
Crime and Penal Reform
State Supreme Court moves up Genarlow Wilson hearing
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/07/09/wilson0710.html
The Georgia Supreme Court has voted to hold a hearing more than two months earlier than originally planned in the case of a Douglas County man who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. A hearing is now set in Genarlow Wilson's case for July 20 at 10 a.m. In voting today, the court reversed an earlier decision to deny a speedier process, a ruling that would have delayed a hearing on the appeal until October. Attorney General Thurbert Baker is appealing a Monroe County Superior Court judge's decision to reduce Wilson's felony conviction to a misdemeanor and free him from prison. Baker said the judge overstepped his authority when he granted Wilson's habeas corpus last month. Wilson's attorney is arguing his 10-year prison sentence is cruel and unusual punishment. The court also decided to hold an expedited hearing on a Douglas County Superior Court judge's decision to deny bond for Wilson pending Baker's appeal.
Economy
Frenchman picked to head IMF
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-07-10-eu-imf_N.htm
The European Union on Tuesday chose France's Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the International Monetary Fund. Portugal, which leads talks between all 27 EU nations, said Europe would support Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, after Spain's Rodrigo Rato steps down in October. By tradition, Europe and the United States have carved up the top jobs at the world's two major financial institutions, with the EU picking the head of the IMF and the U.S. choosing who should lead the World Bank.
China’s Trade Surplus Hits New High
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-China-Trade-Surplus.html
China's politically volatile trade surplus soared to a new monthly high in June, the government said Tuesday, showing that demand for Chinese goods remains strong despite concerns about their safety. The surge came despite a series of safety-related recalls of Chinese-made products in the United States, as well as Beijing's efforts to cool booming export growth and demands by some U.S. lawmakers to impose punitive trade measures on China. The June trade surplus widened 85.5 percent from a year ago to $26.9 billion, the country's Customs agency said on its Web site.
Stocks & Bonds: Investors Give Market Cautious Nudge Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/business/10stox.html
Wall Street edged higher in an erratic session yesterday as investors were reassured by a drop in Treasury bond yields yet remained cautious as second-quarter earnings season kicks off this week.
Lobbyists Try to Quell Frenzy Over Private-Equity Fund Tax
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901763.html
Soon after Rep. Eric Cantor called a meeting of lobbyists two weeks ago, his aides had to find a larger room. Instead of the couple dozen they had expected, 75 showed up. Cantor, a Virginia Republican, convened the gathering to discuss how to defeat a set of fast-moving proposals that would vastly increase taxes on private-equity firms and hedge funds, the new money bags of Wall Street. The high-stakes bills emerged in a rush last month as Blackstone Group, a major private-equity firm, prepared to go public and its principals stood to reap billion-dollar profits. Top congressional tax-writers moved to block the windfall and, in response, the funds mobilized some of Washington's most heavy-hitting lobbyists. Dozens of lawyers, tax experts and public relations executives have been retained and together have begun to plot the defeat of the tax-increase measures. Their chief tactic: to persuade lawmakers that average citizens and run-of-the-mill businesses, and not just Wall Street fat cats, would be harmed by the legislation.
Guilty Plea Puts Pressure On Firm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901761.html
A former official at the Milberg Weiss law firm pleaded guilty yesterday to a conspiracy charge, significantly advancing a criminal investigation against one of the nation's largest class-action firms and its top partners. David J. Bershad, who oversaw financial operations at the New York-based firm, agreed to forfeit $7.75 million, pay a $250,000 fine and tell the government about how he and others allegedly obstructed justice and misled judges about secret payments to plaintiffs in scores of securities lawsuits.
Corporate Advisory Firm Invests in Salary Database
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901822.html
The Corporate Executive Board, a District firm that provides business advice to corporations around the world, and the Allen & Co. investment bank in New York yesterday announced a $8.8 million investment in PayScale, a major provider of online salary data. The move allows the CEB to provide salary information to its clients to help them set pay levels. "One of the decisions [clients] make on a very regular basis is how much should I pay somebody," said Thomas L. Monahan III, CEB's chief executive. "The key asset they need to have to make that decision is: What do other people like this make? PayScale's platform with 8 million unique salary profiles allows us to partner with them to bring the [human resources] executives the information they need to make those choices."
Education
College-loan warnings sent
In their most aggressive action yet in response to problems in the student loan industry, U.S. Department of Education officials said Monday that they have sent warning letters to more than 900 colleges and universities reminding them not to limit student choice in picking a lender. The letter was sent to campuses where 80 percent or more of the federal student loan volume in 2006-2007 was handled by one lender. Jeff Baker, policy liaison at the Education Department's federal student aid office, said a search of a student loan database showed that a vast majority of students at each of 921 campuses chose the same lender. "That was a little flag to us that perhaps the institution isn't quite being open enough to their students and parents," Baker told thousands of college financial aid officials gathered for the annual conference of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
Paid Event for Education Officials Sets One-on-One Sales Meetings
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/education/10summit.html?ref=us
The setting for a conference of university, school and hospital officials could not have been more luxurious: a resort in the high desert north of Albuquerque, with a championship golf course, swimming pools, a spa and views of distant mountain peaks. And for companies wanting to do business with the 200 or so officials attending the gathering, the Sustainable Operations Summit, there was an added benefit. For $18,500, a vendor was guaranteed 15 one-on-one sales meetings with officials at the conference, held here in June. A company that sent two representatives paid $25,500, with each promised 15 private sessions. The university officials and others who were attending were told flatly that they were required to go to the meetings.
Military
Report: Wars costing $12 billion a month
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-09-wars-cost_N.htm
The boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say. All told, Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults, roughly the same as the war in Vietnam. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion. The figures come from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, which provides research and analysis to lawmakers.
Army's Recruiting Goal Lags For Second Month in a Row
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901590.html
The U.S. Army fell short of its active-duty recruiting goal for June by about 15 percent, defense officials said yesterday. It is the second consecutive month the service's enlistment effort has faltered amid the American public's growing discontent over the war in Iraq. Army officials confirmed yesterday that the service missed its June target -- the first time its recruiters have missed their monthly mark twice in a row since they were hit hard in 2005 -- but declined to discuss specific numbers before a scheduled release today. Three defense officials said the Army fell short by about 1,400 soldiers, well shy of its goal of 8,400 for June. Because recruiters consistently exceeded their targets throughout the first half of fiscal 2007, the Army still remains above its year-to-date goal by about 700 recruits.
RELATED: Army Misses Its June Goal for New Recruits
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/washington/10military.html?ref=washington
Religion
A Blogger’s Blend of Prayer and Politics Gains Influence
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/us/politics/10brody.html
“I just pray for all of us, reporters, photographers and editors,” said David Brody, a reporter. “Give us the strength to get through the day. Bless our work, Lord. Give us the right words to say.” Mr. Brody, 42, writes a blog and covers politics for the Christian Broadcasting Network, the television station founded by Pat Robertson. With the three leading Republican presidential candidates in the early going each confronting his own serious obstacles in winning over evangelical Christians, Mr. Brody occupies a position of influence in the 2008 presidential campaign as a gatekeeper to a crucial constituency. CBN has about a million viewers a day on television, making it a big platform for Mr. Brody and the Republican candidates.
Rise in World Oil Use and a Possible Shortage of Supplies Are Seen in the Next 5 Years
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/business/worldbusiness/10oil.html
Despite four years of high prices and warnings about climate change, a new report Monday predicted that world oil demand would rise faster than previously expected over the next five years while production slips, threatening a supply crisis. In the report, the International Energy Agency, which is based in Paris and advises 26 industrial nations, said that global oil demand would rise by an average of 2.2 percent a year from this year to 2012, up from a forecast in February of 2 percent annual growth from 2006 to 2011. The share of world oil consumption represented by the developing world, including emerging industrial economies, will rise to 46 percent of global demand by 2012 from 42 percent, the report said.
Costs Surge for Building Power Plants
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/business/worldbusiness/10energy.html?ref=business
General Electric called in reporters yesterday for a briefing on a nuclear plant it is trying to sell in partnership with Hitachi, a plant it said can be built faster than before, operated reliably and have a vanishingly small chance of an accident. But what will it cost? After some hemming and hawing, company executives gave figures by the standard industry metric, dollars per kilowatt of capacity, but in a huge range: $2,000 to $3,000. “There’s massive inflation in copper and nickel and stainless steel and concrete,” said John Krenecki, president and chief executive of GE Energy. The uncertainty is not just in nuclear plants, he said; coal plant prices are now similarly unstable. As talk of building new power plants rises sharply, so does the cost. A new fleet of coal-fired power plants and a revival of nuclear construction after three decades are both looking tougher lately.
Refinery woes shoot gas prices up
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-07-09-gas-prices_N.htm
Gasoline prices are exploding in some regions, zooming as much as 20 cents in a day in the Midwest as a key Kansas refinery remains flooded and as gasoline stations recover big increases in wholesale costs they've been swallowing for at least a week due to problems at other refineries. Increases are beginning to spill into other areas, mainly along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as supplies of gasoline tighten due to problems not only in Kansas, but also at refineries in Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas and California, according to data from the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks prices daily, and from the government.
As Eagle Moves Off, A Growing Number Are in Line for List
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901588.html
The bald eagle left the list of threatened and endangered species just in time for Independence Day last week, but will things look as good for another symbolic creature come Easter? The New England cottontail rabbit, and a record number of others, are waiting for a chance at the protections that being placed on the endangered species list would bring. As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service celebrates the eagle's return, the list of "candidate species" -- animals and plants that biologists have determined merit protection but haven't made it onto the list -- is 278 species long, up from 182 in 1996.
Aral Sea's Return Revives Withered Villages
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902072.html
The Aral Sea, its sustaining rivers diverted to the irrigation of cotton fields, was for decades on an irrevocable course to death and desert. One of the 20th century's worst ecological disasters consumed more than half the sea's surface area and three-quarters of its volume, creating 13,000 square miles of dried-up wasteland. The shriveling sea bequeathed poisonous sandstorms, chronic health problems, dead fishing grounds and unemployment to this part of southern Kazakhstan. But now the sea, or at least a rump part of it, is coming back, retracing its destructive retreat and offering villagers such as Seytpembetov nothing less than renewed life.
Head of Hurricane Center Replaced
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901133.html
The embattled director of the National Hurricane Center was replaced here today after a brief but turbulent tenure in which he publicly criticized his bosses and then lost the support of much of his staff. Bill Proenza, who was director for just six months, has been placed on leave. Ed Rappaport, the center's deputy director, was named acting director, according to a memo to the staff from Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It has been a very difficult time for everyone," said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman and meteorologist at the center. "The staff is ready to move forward. We are building very quickly to the height of the season."
Editor’s note: the New York Times has converted to a subscription-based editorial section. We are no longer clipping their op-ed columnists.
Robinson: Resolute Amid the Wreckage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901398.html
Don't think it's over, folks. Even though Republican senators are coming to their senses about George of Arabia's tragic war in Iraq, and even though Democrats seem to have remembered why voters put them in charge of Congress, no one should be lulled into thinking there's any guarantee that sanity will prevail. This is the Decider we're talking about, after all. Pay attention to what White House spokesman Tony Snow said yesterday, knocking down a report that some presidential advisers were advocating troop withdrawals: "There is no debate right now on withdrawing forces right now from Iraq."
RELATED: Froomkin: Bush Tries Moving the Goalposts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/07/09/BL2007070900882.html
Lesser evils and an exit strategy
PUBLIC OPINION and the open dissent of more and more Republican senators are forcing the Bush administration to reconsider its military strategy in Iraq -- and its vague, dilatory timetable for troop reductions. The time has come for President Bush to face reality. The key decisions he must make now are not about staying the course, but about the best ways to reduce the numbers and the combat role of US troops. It is pointless for Bush to go on complaining that the commanding general in Iraq, David Petraeus, needs more time to make his clear-and-hold operations in Baghdad work, or that the electoral anxieties of congressional incumbents should not determine US policy in Iraq. A virtue of the democratic system Bush has sought to export to the Middle East is that, at regular intervals, it allows the people to call their representatives to account. Bush's war of choice in Iraq is now in its fifth year. The military cannot sustain current force rotations beyond next spring and the benchmarks for progress set out in legislation this past spring are not being met. The need to craft the least calamitous exit strategy cannot be postponed any longer. Indeed, the longer Bush refuses to start planning for the endgame in Iraq, the narrower the options and the more daunting the task.
Rethinking Guantanamo
The measure under discussion would split the 375 remaining inmates into three groups. Some would be transported to the United States to be tried in military courts, possibly getting legal protections greater than those offered by the current system of military commissions. Some would be repatriated to their home countries. The third group would consist of 24 to 50 prisoners who allegedly could not be put on trial without the exposure of vital secrets, and who instead would be held in military brigs in the United States indefinitely. This approach reportedly has drawn resistance from Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney but is being pushed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Gates says that "the biggest challenge is finding a statutory basis for holding prisoners who should never be released and who may or may not be able to be put on trial" -- because of the risk of disclosing intelligence sources and the like.
Canellos: It's time for US to win friends and influence people
The United States celebrated the Fourth of July last week by paying homage to the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the universality of their vision. "We hold these truths to be self-evident," a solemn Thomas Jefferson intones in the National Park Service film depicting the drafting of the Declaration of Independence -- a film that drew hundreds of tourists last week. But in recent years, America's virtues have been anything but self-evident to much of the world. The shadow over this year's Independence Day, as revealed by a mammoth 45,000-person global survey released just as the celebrations were beginning, was the pervasiveness of anti-American feelings around the world. The survey indicated that the erosion of faith in America goes way beyond rogue nations and Muslim factions; some of the most unfavorable rankings came from allies and trading partners such as Argentina (72 percent), Germany (66 percent), and Spain (60 percent). The negative attitudes extended not just to America's current leaders and the Iraq war, but to the NATO mission in Afghanistan and the US approach to the global war on terrorism.
Ending the Korean War
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-norkor10jul10,0,1766091.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
A possible resolution to Pyongyang's nuclear program -- and even to the peninsula's 57-year-old war -- looks closer than ever, thanks to a shift in U.S. policy.
Dionne: French Lessons for Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901235.html
Nicolas Sarkozy was a divisive figure during his campaign for the French presidency. But he's governing as a uniter, not a divider. George W. Bush ran for president in 2000 promising to ease partisan divisions. He has left our politics a wreck of recrimination, anger and polarization.
A Nominee’s Abnormal Views
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/opinion/10tue1.html
The Senate Health Committee will have to dig beneath the surface on Thursday to consider the nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to be surgeon general. Dr. Holsinger has high-level experience as a health administrator, but there are disturbing indications that he is prejudiced against homosexuals. Though routinely called “the nation’s top doctor,” the surgeon general is a midlevel official who oversees the 6,000 uniformed professionals in the Public Health Service. His main mission is to serve as “America’s chief health educator,” with potentially enormous capacity to shape public opinion.
Interior’s Incomplete Ethics Policy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/opinion/10tue3.html
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has described himself as a late-inning relief pitcher, sent in to clean up the department after the tumultuous and destructive reign of Gale Norton. Not the least of his problems has been the terrible ethical hangover left by Ms. Norton’s deputy, J. Steven Griles, who went to prison for lying to Congress about his ties to Jack Abramoff, a convicted former lobbyist. From his first day about a year ago, Mr. Kempthorne has stressed the importance of ethical behavior. He recently sent all employees a plan to transform his agency into what he called “a model of an ethical workplace” — including more ethics lawyers, stronger disciplinary procedures and new restrictions on meetings with lobbyists. This is good, but not enough. Almost no attention is paid to the most fundamental ethical failure of the Norton regime: the willingness to censor or tailor scientific findings to suit the ideological objectives of the White House and the wishes of industry and other special interests. Mr. Griles was among the worst offenders, carrying water for oil, gas, mining and grazing interests. But there were others.
Microsoft moves north
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-microsoft10jul10,0,3731138.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Unable to meet its hiring needs because of U.S. immigration policy, the software company is opening an office in Vancouver.
The Bank's Duty
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901622.html
The World Bank should reveal the data it has on the vast human toll from pollution in China.
Myths Spun by Lax Lenders
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/opinion/10tue2.html
Mortgage defaults are rising, and worse is yet to come. Between now and the end of next year, the interest rates on $660 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages will increase for the first time. Over half of that is in subprime loans — those made to borrowers with weak credit — and is at high risk of default as monthly payments rise. In a display of too-little, too-late, federal regulators recently tightened lending standards, requiring what should be obvious: that banks have evidence of a borrower’s ability to repay before making a loan. And yet lenders who hope to dodge even tougher oversight continue to defend reckless lending. Their arguments ring hollow on several counts.
PAPERS REVIEWED TODAY
|
COLORADO
Glenwood Springs Post-Independent
|
NATIONAL
|
ProgressNow.org
You received this mailing because you subscribed to the ProgressNow.org daily news digest list, which is strictly opt-in. We hope you have enjoyed this mailing; but if you have received it in error, or if you prefer not to receive any future news digest mailings, please visit http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/unsubscribe and your address will be removed from the list within 24-48 hours.
|