Lessons learned
At a Saturday Aspen Institute event, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon shared their thoughts on two very different types of gun violence: Hick talked universal background checks after the Aurora theater shooting, while Nixon talked police body cameras after the Ferguson cop killing of Michael Brown. Via The Aspen Times.
Buy and dry
Third generation farmer Marc Arnusch shows The Denver Post’s Bruce Finley all the ways he’s trying to conserve water, but insists farmers shouldn’t succumb to pressure to sell water rights to municipal or industrial interests. Of Colorado’s water supply, 85 percent goes to agriculture, but state water planners doubt the shrinking farmers’ and ranchers’ share is realistic.
Unusual suspect
Thaddeus Murphy, the man who bombed the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP in what he said was not a hate crime but a revenge mission against a dead accountant, is expected to accept a plea deal today. Via The Gazette.
Good guy with a gun
A regular parishioner at a Boulder church was saying her prayers as her estranged husband throttled her neck, threatening to murder her in the parking lot. A passing church employee flashed his concealed gun, getting the attacker to flee. Police later nabbed the husband. Via The Daily Camera.
TABOR tour
Gov. Hickenlooper made his first stop on a statewide tour trying to rally voter support for exempting the hospital-provider fee from state-revenue collection. Doing so would let Colorado keep and spend around $200 million more on schools and infrastructure next year, rather than dole out taxpayer refunds. Via The Durango Herald.
Don’t need binoculars to see
Westword’s Joshua Zaffos spent a day cruising around the Pawnee National Grassland with bird-watching enthusiast Gary Lefko talking about the rise of oil and gas development. “A great day on the Pawnee is not seeing anyone,” Lefko said. But now, pump jacks, well pads and tank batteries dot the prairie. “That’s changed.”
Photo by Jenni Konrad, Creative Commons, via Flickr.
