Afternoon News Nuggets: 16 July 2009

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Dug up fresh, daily.

BEHAVING: CSU Chancellor Joe Blake met with the editorial board of the Fort Collins Coloradoan yesterday and explained that openness was a new priority at the university. Yes, there have been troubles in the past. The Coloradoan, the Colorado Independent and the Pueblo Chieftan have sued CSU over open-meeting violations related to the hiring of Blake. Former Chancellor Larry Penley resigned amid allegations of corruption in November. In March, campus police chief Dexter Yarbrough also left after being investigated for misconduct. No full accounting of the circumstances of either departure has ever been offered.

But it’s different now. “You have to do it… You have to behave as much as you can in the open,” Blake told the Coloradoan. Why the change? Because as chancellor, Blake intends to maybe float a ballot initiative as part of a strategy to raise money for the school. Behaving in the open when you plan to ask people for money is “just good manners,” Blake said.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel was sold to the longtime newspaper publishing Seaton family. When the deal goes through, the Sentinel will join a “storied history of journalism” the paper’s Laurena Mayne Davis reported today and I guess she meant that as a good thing. But the phrases “longtime newspaper publisher” and “storied history of journalism” maybe have a different ring than she thinks they do.

FLY GUY: GOP “rising star,” state senator and candidate for governor Josh Penry has leaked his event soundtrack play list. It features the Top Gun theme. Top Gun theme? Yes. And so powerful evidence that Penry is not anti-gay!

PHASE TWO: Action man Cleve Tidwell is taking his campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Bennet to the next level. He’s a mystery man! He’s a rainmaker!

NAKED COLORADO: “Usually Alex’s state of undress is a non-issue.” Sometimes it’s an issue.

Written and compiled by David O. Williams and John Tomasic.

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