The report of the election commission examining problems in counting Boulder County's vote in last year's November election says that a number of factors came into play and it was not any one person's fault. The full report is available here (PDF).
Mesa County is calling for public comment on moving to vote centers. Effectively, Mesa County would consolidate 82 precinct boundaries into 20 larger vote centers.
State Representative Mark Larson (R-Cortez) has filed papers to run for the Colorado Senate against Jim Isgar (D- Hesperus). The race is expected to be one of the most important in determining control of the Colorado Senate.
Denver is trying to buy out its election chief. Karon Hatchett is accused of mismanaging Denver elections, including working to ensure passage of the Jail issue favored by Mayor Hickenlooper.
Hoo doggies. Bill Owens took the Bush administration to task for pressuring Japan to accept US beef out of fear of BSE (Mad Cow disease) while it bans Canadian beef for the same reason.
It's this sort of hypocrisy that makes it very difficult for the U.S. to win any sort of
trade war," Owens said at the Western Governors' Association meeting.
Colorado's private prisons are a mess, a recent audit says. Nine inmates died because they were shifted to cheaper medication by doctors who never examined them, according to the Denver Post. Another inmate, a sexual offender was accidentally released three months early. Colorado's private prisons are a $53 million industry.
The revolving door. Former Durango Mayor Joe Colgan was named to the Animas La Plata Board only months after steering controversial legislation to buy 2000 acre feet of water from the ALP project.
Prayers go out to Sgt. Neil Prince and his family. Prince, stationed with the Second Infantry Division, was killed in Iraq yesterday by a roadside bomb.
Western Governors in Breckenridge this week were treated to a "hummer ride", whatever that means.
Colorado Springs takes a page out of Bush's playbook and airs some propaganda on an ABC affiliate. Shouldn't the government have to disclose when it is paying to produce television programming?
"Don't be ridiculous, Ralph. No one would believe it if the government did such things."
A Weld County agency that assists the developmentally disabled turned in signatures to get a $15 property tax increase on the ballot in November. Envision turned in approximately twice as many signatures as were needed.
A snowstorm closed Independence Pass, two lanes of I-70 and the road to the summit of Mt. Evans yesterday.
Betty Dick, of Grand Lake, thought she was signing a lifetime lease when she reluctantly signed a 25-year lease on her home inside Rocky Mountain National Park. Mark Udall is trying to get the NPS to sign another 25 year lease with her.
Diane Carmen is right on in today's column about the Air Force's handling of a rape case, in which a rape counselor may be jailed for not turning over her notes to a court martial. A federal appeals court blocked the effort by the Air Force yesterday.
Aspen must be the only town in Colorado with valet parking. I don't know it for a fact, but it's just stupid to consider it anywhere else...Craig? Kremmling maybe?
Volunteers are patrolling the streets of Glenwood, trying to head off problems between people and bears. Listen to "Bear Aware" folks, it's better than getting ticketed for you, and better than getting shot for the bear.
The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints, a breakaway sect of the Mormon Church, was arrested yesterday for facilitating child rape. Warren Jeffs is accused of arranging the "celestial marriage" of a 16 year old girl to a married man. The FCLDS is building a compound near Durango, Colorado.
The Denver City Council voted last night to increase penalties for Columbus Day protesters. In the past few years charges have been dropped against protesters because they clearly merely exercising their first amendment rights.
Jasper Colorado has a website with a picture, and it's "just in time for Christmas":
Thanks to SLV Dweller for the pointer.
There may be a settlement in a water dispute on the Upper Yampa.
It's not a full scale water war between Pueblo and Colorado Springs--yet. But there is definite saber rattling.
Must read water story in the Vail Trail. The crisis on the Colorado, caused mainly by Coloradan Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton, is coming to a head--very, very soon. Read this story and find out why Western Slopers are so worried about water.
More fish in the Eagle river this year.
Here fishy, fishy...
More fish in Monument Lake, too.
Folks in Pueblo are concerned about the timeline for cleaning up the Pueblo Chemical Depot--hey, two months ago the military wasn't going to clean it up at all.
Dog training in Dillon gives me a chance to post this picture:
Somehow, I suspect John Salazar is involved in this: Potatoes are being used to clean up the Summitville superfund site.
Three Ridgeway girls have summer jobs helping the environment--as goatherds.
Despite a spate of racial incidents in Boulder in recent weeks, CU failed to mention any of it in their freshman orientation yesterday. See, racism is like rapes, if you don't talk about it, it goes away.
CU's Norlin Library, unbelievably, rejected the personal papers and notes of Hunter S. Thompson. Asswipes.
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education is going to try to cut back on CU's 28% tuition increase because it looks really bad for their boss, Native Texan Governor Bill Owens. Owens made a deal with CU that the university could raise tuition but that it would get less money from the state. After moving to a risky voucher scheme that some lunatics call the "Bill Owens Scholarship" and cutting CU's state funded budget by almost 50%, Owens now wants to go back on his promise to CU.
Now that United employees have been screwed out of their pensions, the bankrupt company might be sold to a new group of investors. Wanna bet the old managers won't be selling at a loss? Huh? Wanna bet?
Your tax dollars at work: The Colorado Rockies wasted a draft pick on a player that wasn't eligible. So all you newcomers know: Coors Field wasn't built by Coors Brewing, it was built by taxpayers. Suckers.
KUNC, arguably Colorado's best classical radio station and home to favorites like Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion, faces a $250,000 budget cut if Congress has its way. Where is Marilyn "Mad Cow" Musgrave on this?
That's all the news from the Centennial State, where the mountains are high and the folks that live in them are generally higher.