Salazar Targets Gangs

US Senator Ken Salazar will be co-sponsoring a bill to target gang violence and increase criminal penalties for gang members.

In a press release Salazar specifically mentioned Colorado as a place where gang activity has increased, and said that the proposal would provide more than 1 billion over a 5-year period towards investigations, prosecutions, and local prevention programs. The bill will also increase federal penalties for those convicted of illegal gang activity, although specific information is not immediately available.

The proposal is called the Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007, and was introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. The bill is also co-sponsored by members from the other side of the aisle, including Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.

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