Early Bird Special: Cops return pot to clinic, Aurora cops tow lawyer’s car
Here's our daily roundup of some of the news around Colorado that caught our attention:
• Boulder police returned two 20-gallon drums of marijuana that...
Sugary corn industry leader sets us straight about high fructose goodness
In swift response to half of a phrase buried in a sentence in the brief item that was part of this post, the president of the Corn Refiners Association begs to differ.
The other day, we noted Boulder Valley schools are considering adopting a new "wellness policy" that would discourage cupcakes on birthdays and replace chicken nuggets with roast chicken on lunch menus. We also quoted Beth Cooper, the nutrition services director for the school district, who told the school board, "We're eliminating trans fats and high fructose corn syrup."
Early Bird Special: Unions picket Ritter, Colorado to get tourism bump
A daily roundup of some of our favorite news from around Colorado.
• Dozens of union members -- including some who flew in from Colorado -- picketed Gov. Bill Ritter on Wednesday outside two fundraisers the first-term Democrat attended in Washington, D.C., 9News' Adam Schrager reports. Firefighters and grocery workers are angry with Ritter for vetoing two bills this year. "It's a matter of integrity and I believe he's failed in that category," said an Aurora firefighter. The governor supprts firefighters, but "sometimes leadership means having to say no to your friends," Ritter's campaign manager wrote in an e-mail to Schrager.
Early Bird Special: Coyote hunt on ice, Littleton family ‘Shanghaied’ in China
Here's our daily roundup of some of our favorite news from around Colorado.
• There will be no coyote hunting inside the Colorado Springs city limits, The Gazette reports. The city council "put a bullet between the eyes" of a proposal to issue permits to shoot the critters, citing more pressing concerns for the town government. Officials received an unusually high number of calls -- most in opposition -- about the plan, which would have restricted coyote season to certain times of day and required completion of a hunter safety course.
Coulter says Kansas abortion doctor was ‘terminated in the 203rd trimester’
Ann Coulter doesn't "really like to think of it as a murder," discussing the killing of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor Monday. "I like to think of it as terminating someone in the 203rd trimester," the conservative personality says.
Sen. Bennet speeches looking good, on paper
Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet has staked his claim in the health care debate, stressing "patient-centered care" and making solid arguments based on programs he says are working in Colorado. But it's already campaign season on the ground in the state and Bennet's senate floor speeches aren't likely to ease doubts about his stump skills.
Obama tackles Medicare’s prescription doughnut hole
President Obama today made official an $80 billion deal with the pharmaceutical industry to cut prescription drug costs for the nation’s seniors.
As it is, Medicare patients are forced to pay the full cost for their prescription drugs when annual expenses fall between $2,700 and $6,154. Under the new agreement, drug companies would pick of 50 percent of the tab for some of those patients falling into Medicare’s so-called doughnut hole.
Chaput, Polis push ‘mutual interest’ in immigration reform
In a case of the world's strangest bedfellows, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput set aside their vast political differences to join forces Saturday to promote federal immigration reform at a Northglenn church Saturday.
Those competing world views weren't lost on the Catholic News Agency's awkwardly worded press release citing Polis as "openly homosexual and a supporter of abortion rights" in which the archbishop and Boulder congressman "would disagree 'vigorously' on ‘some very serious social issues.’"
David Brooks: Why reform health care if we’re all doomed?
New York Times columnist David Brooks Friday outlines the cultural revolution the country will have to undergo in order to survive. It's not upbeat. It's not very hopeful. It's a little like something cranky grampa would be muttering to himself under a blanket on the porch. First: No more buying; only saving. Second: Politicians must make themselves unpopular, partly by not reforming health care because there's just no way to pay for it, dagnammit.
Abortion clinic violence prosecution cratered under Bush Administration
Scott Roeder, the 51-year-old accused of murdering abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in his Wichita, Kans. church, had a long history of ties to a violent right-wing extremist group, had previously threatened another abortion provider, and had just that week vandalized Tiller’s clinic.
Just as federal law specifically penalizes hate crimes, the law also makes it a federal crime to threaten or commit violence against abortion providers, or to vandalize their clinics. Yet as The Washington Independent revealed last week, the criminal law was not being enforced.
Just as federal law specifically penalizes hate crimes, the law also makes it a federal crime to threaten or commit violence against abortion providers, or to vandalize their clinics. Yet as The Washington Independent revealed last week, the criminal law was not being enforced.