News Nuggets: 24 July 2009

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Dug up fresh, daily.

BUREAUCRATS GONE WILD: Boulder County management has had to have the talk with employees: “New policy requires county workers to get approval from department heads before sending “tweets” on Twitter — short text messages — or posting photos or other information on Facebook or similar sites.”

BITTER PILL: In local governments across Colorado, falling tax revenues are forcing officials to trim costs. Summit County employees are facing the prospect of shouldering 30 percent more of their health care costs. To lessen the blow, the county may throw in a perk: An on-site health clinic for primary care. The focus would be on “prevention and wellness,” which could translate to savings of $1 million annually. But there are fears. Couldn’t “voluntary health assessments” of “smoker status, cholesterol levels, body mass index and blood pressure” lead to meddling by the county into personal health decisions? Fiscal discipline meets the nanny state!

LOOK AT ME NOW: Yesteday Josh Penry said Gov. Ritter was weak. The Governor was having none of it yesterday: “Colorado’s Western Slope is no place for the federal government to deposit thousands of tons of mercury. The risks to ground and surface water are too great. The risks to our air quality are too great. The risks of transporting elemental mercury over long distances and on routes that run adjacent to or cross major water sources, such as the Colorado River, are too great.”

UTTERLY BORED?: Take a newspaper survey. They sprouted in Centennial State newspaperland today. Here. Here. Here!

Happy weekend.

Written and compiled with David O Williams.

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