The Home Front: Beyond incumbents, no one wants to run for city council in Steamboat Springs, Colorado

“If nothing changes in the coming days, this fall’s Steamboat Springs City Council election won’t be a competition,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “And, the council may even have to appoint someone rather than see someone elected. With less than two weeks remaining until the filing deadline, only the three incumbents who are eligible to run again have submitted the paperwork they need to file for the election.”

“A group of five Buddhist monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastery in southern India have stopped in Grand Junction as part of a two-year-long fundraising tour through the United States,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “The monks, who arrived on Wednesday from Omaha, Nebraska, and will be here through Sunday, have spent most of their time at the Western Colorado Center for the Arts on North Seventh Street, where they are creating an intricate sand mandala for the Buddhist deity Green Tara, goddess of compassion.”

“The city will pay former teachers of the Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts more than $20,000 in back wages, but only if the governing arts council agrees to end its contract with the city and give up its building lease,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “If the organization does not accept the offer within the next week, the city may take legal action to go after the arts council and, “if appropriate, individual board members, to collect misappropriated public funds,” according to a prepared motion put forward by City Attorney Karl Hanlon and read by City Councilor Kathryn Trauger at the Thursday City Council meeting.”

“Officer Chris Darcy, the Windsor Police Department’s school resource officer, is only about a week into his new assignment, but he already has more discretion than some of his predecessors,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “In the past, if a school resource officer became aware of a teen couple sending nude photographs to one another — even if the exchange was consensual — that officer had to report the crime as sexual exploitation of a child, a heavy charge that labeled juveniles as sex offenders and barred them from applying for federal financial aid for college. Thanks to a new state law, which will take effect Jan. 1, though, Darcy will have more options. The law refers to “sexting” or sending a nude photograph or video of oneself or someone else through electronic means — usually by smartphone. Both adults and juveniles engage in sexting, and many times it’s a consensual exchange between two people. This is fine in an adult relationship, but when kids do it, even if it is consensual, they’re technically distributing child pornography.”

“In the wake of violent clashes between neo-Nazis and other white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, memorials to confederate Civil War soldiers and generals are being torn down by protesters or quietly removed by local governments,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “In Boulder County, memorials to Civil War soldiers are complicated by the Union Army’s involvement in the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. Longmont Museum Curator Erik Mason noted that Longmont was mostly settled by Union veterans rather than Confederate veterans. This is probably the reason why Longmont has Lincoln, Grant and Sherman streets, but no Davis or Lee streets, Mason agreed.”

“Colorado test results show high overall scores for Boulder County students in most areas compared to the state, but mixed results for improvement plus continued low participation rates in Boulder Valley,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “The state released district and school scores in language arts, math and science today, as well as PSAT and SAT scores. Only statewide results were released for social studies, with that test given to fourth- and seventh-graders in a sampling of schools. Altogether across the state, about 555,000 students, in grades three through 11, took the tests in the spring.”

“Colorado needs teachers. Thousands of them,” reports The Durango Herald, using a piece from Colorado Public Radio. “Colleges in the state are graduating 25 percent fewer licensed teachers than they did six years ago. The crisis is most acute in rural Colorado, where turnover is high. Which brings us to Dusty Mars of Ignacio. After spending years as an oil production foreman, where he oversaw a dozen operators and 1,000 wells, an even bigger challenge presented itself. He was tapped to teach middle school math on an emergency credential. Soon enough, he found himself with a teary student.”

“U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn further condemned hate groups Thursday in a visit to Cañon City, where he said he hopes people “know there’s no room in the Republican party for those kinds of groups,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Lamborn, who represents Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, was in Cañon City to learn about St. Thomas More Hospital’s newest additions, including the birth center and medical office building, which is currently under construction. After a tour of the hospital, he visited with the Daily Record about issues ranging from President Donald Trump’s tough talk on North Korea to the hate groups that filled Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend.”

“Spurred by the violence in Charlottesville, Va., the nation is once again in the middle of a heated disagreement over our past — or, more accurately, how the nation should remember its past,” reports The Denver Post. “Communities across the country are having difficult conversations as Confederate monuments are toppled by local governments and protesters worried that statues in the public square are venerating figures linked to painful chapters in our shared history. People in Colorado have already been forced into this conversation. But when it happened here in the 1990s, the problematic Civil War figures commemorated in bronze were Union fighters and their crimes were against American Indians.”

 

1 COMMENT

  1. Statues, shmatues! When you want a clear, concise and, above all, honest opinion of events that have blown way out of proportion by the mainstream media you can always count on former National Basketball Association player and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley to put things back in proper perspective. “Sir” Charles believes worrying about Confederate statues is “a waste of time” especially in light of far more serious issues. Via RealClearPolitics.com

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/08/21/charles_barkley_ive_always_ignored_confederate_statues_a_waste_of_time.html

    A Marist Poll for NPR and PBS conducted after Charlottesville “found that just 27 percent of adults queried believe Confederate monuments “should be removed because they are offensive.” About two out of three white and Latino respondents said they should remain, as did 44 percent of black respondents.” Via The Star Tribune

    http://m.startribune.com/trump-remarks-could-sidetrack-democrats-from-other-issues/441070523/?section=politics

    A Democrat state legislator is refusing to resign after she posted a Facebook comment calling for President Trump’s assassination. Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal said she will not resign and “And I refuse to shy away from the hypocrisy and chaos our country is enduring under (President) Trump.” Via The Kansas City Star.

    http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article167954397.html

    Iowa’s one remaining insurer announced it wants a 57 percent increase in premiums. Does this represent the competitive market Democrats promised with the passage of Obamacare? Via Investor’s Business Daily

    http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/obamacare-not-trump-is-causing-obamacares-massive-rate-hikes/

    For the 276th time President Trump has been pronounced dead and his administration over but as the title of the CNBC article suggests “Rumors of Trump’s demise are, once again, greatly exaggerated” Via CNBC.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/18/trump-can-rebound-politcally-and-probably-will–again-commentary.html

    Denver man stabbed by assailant who thought he was a neo-Nazi because of his haircut. Via New York Post.

    http://nypost.com/2017/08/19/man-stabbed-after-haircut-gets-him-mistaken-for-a-neo-nazi/

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