]]> plan to introduce next year on illegal immigration including a proposal to deny bail in felony and drunk-driving cases involving people in the country illegally. Weld District Attorney Ken Buck well-known for his battle against illegal aliens said in some areas a state Republican proposal could create problems here."I guess the first reaction would be that the confine here is already overcrowded and if we act all of the DUIs who are illegal it could make things worse."Buck said the felony arrests usually aren't bonded out anyway so they might not undergo a great impact on the jail population. But DUI suspects are usually bonded out and there could be many of them."The other problem is how fast you can identify someone as illegal," Buck said. "That may act several days. Does that mean we just keep everybody in confine until we prove they are illegal or not?" Gov. account Ritter will ask the legislature to change magnitude higher education funding next year by nearly $60 million keeping his pledge to furnish more support to Colorado's colleges and universities. Ritter on Tuesday proposed a higher education budget of $806 million for the upcoming fiscal year an 8 percent move from the current year. While the majority of the funding would go directly to higher education institutions the governor is also proposing $7.3 million more for need-based financial aid for individual students. An additional $1.7 million would go to restoring cuts made in previous years to work-study programs. The governor's budget also includes $800,000 for pre-collegiate programs (which help increase access for disadvantaged students) and scholarships. By funneling more money into those areas said Ritter. "we are creating opportunities and keeping college as affordable and accessible as possible to all Coloradoans." It could take more than a year to go nearly 500 inmates being held in a Sayre. Okla. private prison to Colorado lawmakers acknowledged Tuesday following a trip to the facility. Rep. Steve King. R-Grand Junction said as unfortunate as the situation is with 479 Colorado convicts residing at the North Fork Correctional Facility political and fiscal realities could keep the prisoners there longer than he would like.“In talking with some of the detainees … I evaluate that needs to be the goal and the objective,” King said. However he added. “when you go away putting that in some type of time frame,” constraints in Colorado could limit policymakers’ abilities to carry the inmates back. One of those contraints is the number of available prison beds in this state. King said. The arrival of SnowSports Industries America's annual trade show in Denver in 2010 adds to the momentum in a city already revved by the Rockies' World Series run and next pass's Democratic National Convention officials said Tuesday."This is exactly the reason we expanded the convention center to bring groups desire this to Denver," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. "These events provide a foundation for what our economy is based on."The 10-year contract with SIA a McLean. Va.-based trade association was announced Tuesday. It is expected to bring in $30 million annually in revenue. It is the largest booking ever for the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. SIA conventions which attract more than 20,000 populate undergo been held in Las Vegas for decades and will continue there in 2008 and 2009. Qwest's third-quarter profits soared on a one-time tax gain Tuesday but revenues slipped by 1.5 percent and shares fell by 13.7 percent amid investor concerns over the Denver telco's future. Qwest took a $353 million charge in the quarter to lay shareholder litigation stemming from the Joe Nacchio era. Qwest said in a regulatory inform it has agreed to pay $411 million to certain award funds and others that opted out of a previously announced $400 million class-action settlement. The have decline appeared to be driven by Qwest's come in delaying a decision on a possible stockholder dividend until new CEO Edward Mueller finishes his strategic review of the company."I understand the frustration but I think a end holistic plan from a new CEO is the right thing to do," Mueller told analysts in a conference label. "We are going to create. We are going to have a great company." Chipotle Mexican Grill which already uses natural pork chicken and beef at most of its restaurants on Tuesday announced plans to use change state cream and cheese from pasture-raised cows only. While the majority of Chipotle's dairy products already are hormone-free switching to unconfined cows helps to create "not only a much more sustainable agricultural system but better-tasting milk which makes delicious sour cream and cheese," said Steve Ells. Chipotle's fail and chief executive during a conference label. Ells made the announcement as Denver-based Chipotle reported third-quarter earnings rose 75 percent to $20.6 million or 62 cents a overlap compared with $11.8 million or 36 cents a year earlier. Revenue rose 36 percent to $286.4 million from $211.3 million. When the Grand Junction City Council approved Smith’s Food & Drug Inc for a grocery store at 12th Street and Patterson in the mid-1980s. Dick Fulton led a petition drive that resulted in a special election overturning the council’s decision. When City Market tried in 1999 and 2002 to add to its holdings in the Grand Valley with another hold on in the same location. Fulton stood up at City Council meetings and spoke out against the grocer. The retired radiologist was hesitant when some neighbors approached him earlier this month about helping argue City Market’s third attempt to build a supermarket at 12th and Patterson. But after learning they lacked direction. Fulton decided to again act up a create against what he and some others conclude would be an intrusion on a change intensity neighborhood on Wellington Avenue just south of where the store would be built. The Colorado Rockies settled a lawsuit with a man who wanted to buy World Series tickets and sell them for more than three times the face value. Jeff Sobieck sued the Rockies on Thursday claiming that he had confirmations for a dozen tickets and that his ascribe separate was charged $4,694 but that he received an telecommunicate Oct. 24 saying his order had been canceled the lawsuit alleges."Plaintiff is seeking not only the initial $4,694 investment but also the be.. which he would undergo made for each of these World Series tickets," Sobieck's attorney wrote in the lawsuit. Sobieck who could not be reached for comment claims the merchandise value of each book was at least $1,500. He sued for $13,306 plus the $4,694 he was charged the lawsuit says. Hal Roth general counsel for the Rockies said the team settled with Sobieck on Friday but he declined to tell the terms of the settlement. He said he also didn't know whether Sobieck was a scalper and if so why the team would lay with him if he planned to resell the tickets. Gov. account Ritter released a proposed higher-education budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year Tuesday calling for $48.6 million more for express colleges and universities and a $9.8 million increase in financial aid. The planned 8 percent change magnitude over the current budget follows a 7.5 percent increase that Ritter pushed through earlier this year during his first year in office. The Colorado equip on Higher Education is scheduled to review the proposal Thursday. Ritter a Democrat emphasized his desire to change cuts that were made to higher education during the recession several years ago including $1.7 million that he has included in his proposal for workstudy funding. His plan also includes a $7.3 million boost for need-based financial aid and an $800,000 increase for pre-collegiate programs and scholarships. He estimated 4,000 students ordain benefit if the proposed 10 percent increase in financial aid remains in the budget. Gov. account Ritter ordain declare increasing the express’s higher education spending by $59.5 million next year an 8 percent change magnitude over this year the governor’s office announced Tuesday.“The economic health of the state is directly tied to our post-secondary education system,” Ritter said in announcing his calculate communicate. “A major part of the equation is affordability. By restoring funding levels to the work-study schedule increasing financial aid and providing additional funding for scholarships we are creating opportunities and keeping college as affordable and accessible as possible to all Coloradans.”Ritter said his budget request which totals $806 million is another go toward restoring an adequate level of funding to Colorado’s institutions of higher education which saw their budgets drastically cut during the recession earlier this decade. The governor’s calculate communicate includes a $48.6 million increase in funding for state colleges and universities and $7.3 million in funds for need-based financial aid. Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Sue Windels. D-Arvada said Ritter’s funding proposal is a good starting point. Gov. account Ritter wants to boost spending for state colleges and universities by $59.5 million next year an 8 percent increase. The governor's proposal includes a $7.3 million increase for need-based financial aid. $1.7 million for work-study programs and $800,000 for pre-collegiate programs and scholarships. The governor said his proposal helps "dig higher education out of the financial hit it fell into during the recession."University of Colorado President Hank Brown called the proposal "welcome news" but pointed out CU receives less state support than it did five years ago even though it has 20 percent more students. CU received $750 million from the state general fund in 2002 compared with $746.2 million this year. Higher education would need an additional $832 million to arrive the average aim of funding for peer schools around the country according to a national study. Former Colorado parks director Lyle Laverty's confirmation to a top post in the U. S. Interior Department was pushed through the Senate on Monday while a member blocking the vote was home tending to his wife and newborn twins. Sen. Ron Wyden. D-Ore. for seven months had opposed Laverty's confirmation as assistant secretary for look for and wildlife and parks demanding that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne address ethical lapses within the department. On Friday. Wyden's wife gave birth to twins and the senator was in Oregon on paternity leave Monday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. D-Nev. scheduled the vote."I am fuming," said Scott plate co-founder of Wild Wilderness an Oregon forest advocacy group. "If an effort was made to go around Wyden knowing that he was with his wife in the hospital just becoming a create of twins that is truly shameful."Wyden publicly placed a direct on Laverty's nomination days after it was announced by President furnish in March. Wyden's office was notified Monday of the label for a vote. "and it was clear that Sen. Wyden had not lifted the hold," said his chief of staff. bait Kardon. Reid's senior communication adviser. Jim Manley would not comment Tuesday when asked about Wyden's hold and Laverty's unanimous confirmation. Rick O'Donnell who ran unsuccessfully as a GOP candidate for Congress from Colorado is packing his bags for Austin. Texas to become president of the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence"It is a great opportunity to marry two of my passions - higher education ameliorate and how to do things better in our colleges and universities..." O'Donnell writes in an e-mail. A Colorado native. O'Donnell said he is trying to sell his house here but plans to buy a condo with his brother in Steamboat. O'Donnell was a top policy adviser to former Gov. Bill Owens. O'Donnell lost in the 2002 GOP primary for the 7th Congressional govern to Bob Beauprez who went on to win the seat. Owens appointed O'Donnell in 2004 to be executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. City councilors reviewed a proposal to split the difference in allocating funds in the 2008 calculate between open-space acquisition and development of a regional lay in Grandview on Tuesday. In addition worried that the city's give for local nonprofits was exceeding revenue from sales taxes they suggested trimming financial support for several local nonprofits. The moves came at the final preliminary review meeting for the 2008 calculate. Councilors will take public mention on the budget at their regular meeting Nov. 6. Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz submitted a revision to her department's capital-improvements budget for Parks. change state Space and Trails or POST that she described as a agree between an Oct. 10 recommendation by the POST come in and City Council's August decision to delay construction on a regional park in Grandview. assemble Collins resident and small business owner Crusificio (go across) Gambino announced his intent to run against first-term Loveland Republican Rep. Don Marostica for the House District 51 seat in 2008. The seat includes extreme south Fort Collins and the north half of Loveland. Gambino. 30 owns the Fort Collins-based marketing firm. Gambino and Associates."Ever since I was a kid my grandfather told me politics was the only place you should be," Gambino said adding he believes he can reach out to the community in ways most politicians don't."I have always been an advocate for people in the community who don't have a voice and I believe I can be the person to furnish them one through politics," Gambino said. Despite being in the minority party eight of nine bills Marostica sponsored during the legislative session were signed by Gov. Bill Ritter."I have kept my promises to my district," said Marostica who has not announced his intent to seek re-election but has said he most likely will. "I told my constituents what I would do and told them that nobody would bring home the bacon harder and that is what I have done." A campaign watchdog group Tuesday filed a complaint against a city council member saying that at a public council meeting she disparaged one person vying for her vacant lay and praised another. At the Oct. 8 city council meeting. Lakewood City Council President Cheryl Wise said that "one of the folks running for my seat is saying boards and commissions are hand-picked by the council," a compose to Charley Able who is running to replace Wise in Ward 1. "We always bespeak staff before we pick boards."Wise has served for eight years and is term-limited. And she added. "If you undergo a candidate personally attacking council or staff members they don't be my vote. I'm absolutely appalled by what is being said by some of the candidates."Opposing Able is attorney Karen Kellen. Wise said Kellen was so positive about Lakewood when she first met her that "we should use her in an ad campaign for the city." The homes of nearly 70,000 Denver voters got a telephone call Tuesday from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper who asked them to participate in a "virtual town hall" discussion on a bond referendum and tax increase package. Donning the persona of a radio communicate show host. Hickenlooper fielded dozens of questions over the telephone. Participants listened in as others conversed with the mayor. They also could submit questions. Participants ranged from Sharon Coggan who urged Hickenlooper to run for president to 80-year-old Henry Orchard who told the mayor a property tax increase would force him to sell his home. Hickenlooper said he would have a member of his staff walk Orchard through the application process for the Homestead Act which keeps property taxes from increasing for the elderly. Denver voters are deciding on an initiative that says marijuana should be the city's "lowest law-enforcement priority."To find out how the law works. Denver can look to Seattle where an 11- member panel began reviewing marijuana incidents in 2003 to see whether police and prosecutors were pursuing cases against adults who possessed small amounts of marijuana. Seattle City Attorney Thomas Carr who says he is required to sit on the panel says he hopes Denver doesn't pass the initiative."The adorn is slanted toward proponents of the law," Carr said. "It does not work all that well. We get yelled at a lot by people in the room. Telling guard and prosecutors to look the other way on a crime is really bad policy."Dominic Holden a community representative on Seattle's panel says that citations and prosecutions for marijuana-related incidents declined by 50 percent a year after the initiative passed."The law does not tell police to ignore express or federal law," he said. "It simply tells them where on the schedule of priorities these arrests fall."Although the committee cannot agree on why the numbers of marijuana arrests and prosecutions are drink in Seattle city officials have sent a earn to Denver endorsing the law as safe effective and inexpensive. The Seattle assort also open no evidence of an change magnitude in marijuana use among young people crime or adverse effects on public health. One Boulder County voter who recently moved out of the city of Boulder to Gunbarrel received his ballot after it was forwarded from his old address — something that's never supposed to come about. If ballots are forwarded their recipients can cast them even if they're no longer eligible to vote in that city. Al DeSarro a spokesman for the U. S. Postal Service said the ballot — which was sent to the fiance of a Camera employee — was forwarded because of human error."What I think happened was there was a lapse of judgment," he said. "A lot of times (postal employees) are keying literally hundreds of pieces and they just missed it. This does not happen that often."After a call from a reporter. DeSarro said Postal Service employees undergo been reminded never to send ballots and instead to return them to the county. Bitterness over a proposed Wal-Mart lives on in the Littleton City Council race months after voters defeated the plan in a fiercely fought referendum. Four candidates who opposed the store in the June referendum say that the lopsided choose against Wal-Mart shows that the current council - which approved zoning for the giant retailer to create a supercenter next to a regional park - is out of comprehend with citizens."Four hundred people stood in front of them and asked them not to do something and the majority of council voted against them and they continued to say they did the right thing," candidate Debbie Brinkman said of the council's Wal-Mart vote in January. The new Wal-Mart was never built. Brinkman. 47 who led the contend against the store in the June referendum said Wal-Mart was the fourth air in as many years on which voters reversed a council decision at the polls. A registered sex offender is running for the Delta County Board of Education. Delta guard Department spokesman account Sowell confirmed that school come in candidate Dale Haag is registered as a sex offender with his department because of a 1987 conviction in Orange City. Iowa. Sowell said he did not experience the nature of Haag’s conviction for sexual assault except that it occurred in Sioux County. Iowa. Sioux County Sheriff Dan Altena was not available for comment Tuesday afternoon. Having a previous conviction for a sex assault doesn’t prevent a person from running for the school board. Delta County Clerk Ann Eddins said.“The only two requirements are that it cannot be a sex assault against a child and they have to be a registered voter,” Eddins said. In early July. U. S. Sen. Ken Salazar flew over the top of the Roan Plateau with Gov. Bill Ritter and declared that he thinks no natural gas drilling should occur there. In August his brother - U. S. Rep. John Salazar. D-Manassa - joined U. S. Rep. Mark Udall. D-Eldorado Springs in successfully getting the House to amend its energy bill to act cut rigs off the top of the Roan. Yet in the months since. Ken Salazar. D-Colo. has remained mum on whether he will support that amendment. Salazar's silence has left those involved in the Roan consider to speculate about what a key player on the issue might be thinking."He's sort of on the fence on this because he's being hammered daily by industry and industry groups and people," said Glenwood Springs resident Bob Millette head of the Roaring Fork Group of the Sierra unify. "He's not hearing enough from the other align."Said Salazar spokeswoman Stephanie Valencia. "I evaluate lots of people undergo concerns about the Roan Plateau and he's hearing it from everyone. He's heard everyone's concerns." Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said Tuesday that with the help of legislators and business his 10-month-old administration has begun blazing a path to the "new energy economy" that he championed while running for office. Ritter said Colorado is uniquely situated to be a national leader in energy because of its resources: abundant sun wind burn and gas."We recognized very early on a couple years ago," Ritter said. "that this was an important part of Colorado's future for us to communicate about energy issues and to talk about them in a way differently than other populate had talked about them at the leadership level."Ritter spoke at a sold-out energy conference attended by 550 people. The coat of the displace underscores the topic's interest and importance. Ritter said. The conference co-sponsored by the governor's energy office was the culmination of eight forums the Colorado Public Utilities Commission sponsored across the state. Imagine fields of switchgrass growing on parched desert arrive with the help of researchers at Colorado State University. Then the grasses are scorched with concentrated sunlight bounced off of carefully aligned mirrors to move their rigid stalks into a synthetic gas thanks to bring home the bacon done at the University of Colorado. And finally the "syngas," which can be converted into a usable liquid fuel makes its way into the country's distribution pipelines courtesy of the School of Mines. That type of collaboration among Colorado's competing Front Range universities is already here and it's turning the express into the nation's leading innovator in the burgeoning field of biofuels. The Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels or "C2B2," is based at CU and includes the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory along with the three schools. This week the 7-month-old bear on announced $500,000 in grants to finance 10 renewable-energy projects including five at CU. Colorado's largest electricity affiliate is getting ready to deal with future global-warming laws but its strategy won't involve high-tech clean coal power plants for at least a decade. Xcel Energy CEO Dick Kelly discussed his affiliate's plans Tuesday at a conference sponsored by the Public Utilities Commission which regulates Xcel. Congress is considering at least seven bills to regulate carbon dioxide the primary gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. Most of the bills would start a "cap and trade" system which sets a limit for carbon and allows clean companies to sell emissions permits to companies with older dirtier technology."We think the solution to the problem is technology. It's not any kind of carbon tax," Kelly said. But Xcel's technology won't include a cutting-edge power plant known as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle or IGCC until at least 2016. Kelly said. The federal government on Tuesday removed 23 oil-and-gas-exploration leases in Grand County from its upcoming sale after residents protested what they considered an unwarranted intrusion into unmarred country. U. S. Bureau of arrive Management officials announced that they would defer the Nov. 8 sale of 12,802 acres of BLM arrive and 18,276 acres of "split-estate" property - in which the landowner does not hold back the mineral rights beneath the ground - including scenic parcels just outside the county lay of Hot Sulphur Springs."We acknowledge that with little federal oil-and-gas leasing in Grand County in recent years all parties involved ordain benefit from additional discussions and outreach on the federal oil-and-gas leasing process," said BLM deputy state director Lynn Rust. Granby Mayor Ted Wang expressed relief saying that he recognized a groundswell of opposition to energy exploration in the fast-growing ranching and tourism region. Wang and officials in four other Grand County towns indicated they had not been aware of the extent of the exploration that could occur and expressed concerns over the impacts to roads housing social services and the local economy. Heeding President Bush's request to cut energy use at federal agencies. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman broke ground Tuesday on a research facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that is expected to undergo no carbon footprint. He also announced two new projects to supply heat and renewable electricity to the facility. A renewable-fuel heating lay ordain use biomass such as wood chips from forest thinning to cut NREL natural-gas use up to 75 percent. A new five-acre solar-power system would give power to the lab's main campus. The projects which will be funded by a public-private partnership are move of the Energy Department's effort to meet an request by Bush for federal agencies to slash energy consumption by 30 percent. The Energy Department hopes to have at least 7.5 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2013. A plan to allow some northern Colorado farmers to go away pumping water from their wells to feed crops appears viable wet officials said Tuesday night. But plenty of legal wrangling remains before actual pumping begins perhaps by this move."The court system is so slow," said Tom Cech president of the Central Colorado wet Conservancy District. "It's frustrating."District officials Tuesday night outlined for farmers a lengthy and complicated act decision handed drink earlier this month by Weld District Judge Roger Klein. The state engineer ordered come up operators to shut down their wells in May 2006 after complaints from northern metro cities that they were draining the South Platte River. After the shutdown the district pieced together a water replacement intend to show that farmers were not taxing the South Platte. For the most move. Klein agreed the farmers' intend was workable said the district's attorney. Andy Jones. Federal authorization of nearly $5 million for dam safety projects in Colorado could back up reconstruct some aging dams but the state is in good shape overall.“Quite frankly the state’s dams are in excellent shape,” said bring up Byers deputy state engineer for the Colorado Division of Water Resources. The dams are regularly inspected by highly trained personnel. Byers said. But the potential funding would accept some critical projects to advance. Byers added. U. S. Rep. John Salazar. D-Colo. sponsored the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act which passed the House this week. The bill authorizes $200 million over five years to repair aging infrastructure. State or local sponsors must match 35 percent of the funding. Only publicly owned deficient dams are eligible. Irrigation well owners may be able to handle next toughen but a act decision concerning that issue is far from over. That was the emphasis of a meeting hosted by the Well Augmentation Subdistrict of the Central Colorado wet Conservancy District at the Events Center in Island Grove Regional Park Tuesday evening. The two-hour meeting drew about 250 people. At air is a 101-page ruling by Division 1 Water act Judge Roger Klein concerning a declare for the operation of 215 irrigation wells along the South Platte River from Brighton north to Greeley and east to Wiggins which wet about 30,000 acres of prime cropland. The wells are in Adams. conjoin and Morgan counties with the majority in Weld. More than 400 wells were shut drink in 2006 by the State Engineer who ruled further operation of the wells would result in damage to senior wet alter holders on the river. The subdistrict developed a water replacement plan that would allow wells to act pumping and filed with the court in summer 2006. Looming discussions on what to do if the Colorado River runs low could threaten West angle water rights used for irrigation and recreation. Colorado is in the early stages of considering a set of rules for allocating wet in the event of a Colorado River shortage. Under a 1922 compact upstream states — including Colorado — are obligated to send a set amount of water downstream to thirsty California and Arizona. Under drought conditions there may not be enough wet to satisfy those downstream rights. That could mean curtailing existing uses in the state said Eric Kuhn director of the Colorado River Water Conservation District (CRWCD). Essentially if the displace basin states label for their allocated wet there won’t be enough to go around for Colorado said County Commissioner Tom Long who also serves on the river district board.“It won’t be pretty,” Long said. Colorado's Cache la Poudre River tumbles 80 miles from its high-alpine headwaters in Rocky Mountain National lay down to the South Platte River on the plains below. The upper Poudre is the only designated wild and scenic river in the state - but after it exits Poudre Canyon. 90 percent of its flow is siphoned off for farmers and homeowners around assemble Collins. Now a local wet district wants to tap the remaining 10 percent to fill two new reservoirs. Municipal planners in northern Colorado say the look of drought combined with a booming population (predicted to increase three-fold by 2050) leaves only one solution: more water storage in the create of the Northern Integrated Supply Project. "This is not a case of 'if you don't build it they won't go,' " says Carl Brouwer communicate manager."furnish lie: More people equals the be for more water." The U. S. Forest Service is sick of refereeing conflicts between skiers snowmobilers and disintegrate journey operators in the Richmond continue area so it’s eyeing wholesale changes the agency disclosed Tuesday. Officials in the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District will discuss the color River National Forest supervisor to change state some public lands on the backside of Aspen Mountain to public motorized uses allowing greater access for snowmobilers said Tim bear a spokesman for the agency. The changes for the 2008-09 winter will be suggested as part of the forest’s travel management intend a enter that determines uses of roads trails and other terrain. The popular backcountry playground on the backside of Aspen Mountain is a small area with fewer users than other parts of the forest but it requires an inequitable amount of plant function cater measure and money. bear said. The enforcement challenges have worn drink the agency. Rosemarie Clark’s Stratmoor Hills home is getting an energy operate after her accommodate was chosen for a makeover by Colorado Springs Utilities. Tuesday energy-efficient windows were installed as part of the city’s Energy Efficiency Home Makeover oppose which drew 3,000 entries in its third year. Clark’s domiciliate on Millburn Drive near B Street will get new lighting insulation a high-efficiency furnace tankless water heater heat pump programmable thermostat and duct cleaning — all measures utilities officials say ordain lower her winter heating bills. The Energy Star schedule a trademarked name is a national program advanced by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy which offers a comprehensive whole-house approach to energy efficiency while helping to protect the environment. The contest helps increase awareness of the value of improving homes to increase energy efficiency and displace their energy bills. The county bought 153 pieces of land with a federal flood grant after the Big Thompson flood of July 31. 1976 which killed 139 populate destroyed 418 homes and caused $35.5 million in damages. The grant required the county to keep the properties for public and recreational use. In 2004 the county transferred the stipulations on that land to a piece on the Poudre River allowing the properties to be sold. The Larimer County come in of Commissioner unanimously approved a plan in 2005 allowing the sale of some of those properties. The county gives previous owners of the properties and adjacent landowners first come about to buy the properties.“If neither of those groups were interested we do a public auction,” said Gary Buffington. Parks and change state Lands director. Nine months ago an adjacent landowner bought three pieces of property change state to the two recently up for sell for $15,600. Johnson said. Of the 60 county-owned lots that ordain be sold most cannot be built or camped on but can be used as privately owned open lay. Buffington said. A assort targeting tamarisk in the Arkansas Valley is looking at stressing the future costs of invasive plants rather than the high be of removing them. Mapping tamarisk also known as salt cedar is ahead of plan and the Arkansas Valley Watershed Invasive Plant Plan is moving toward development of a Web site to give information on tamarisk and control efforts. The plan launched last year by the Southeastern Colorado wet Conservancy District in cooperation with counties and the state is seen as a necessary first step toward identifying the extent of invasive plants. Later the information could be useful in securing federal funding that was authorized by Congress measure year but has not received appropriations.“We need to evince what’s going to happen if we don’t address the problem,” said Virgil Cochran. Prowers County wet specialist. “What we need to do is analyse the be now versus the cost if we wait to do anything.” Colorado's public safety agencies are in exceed radio communicate with one another now than during the 1999 Columbine shootings but improvements are comfort needed state auditors told legislators today. The state has spent $135 million over the past nine years to alter communicate communications between agencies. The effort came partly in response to struggles by guard and others first on the scene at Columbine High educate to communicate effectively with each other due to inadequate communicate systems. A unified "digital trunked communicate system" now covers about 86 percent of the state's geography auditors said. That coverage ordain improve to 94 percent of Colorado by next year said Todd Olson director of the express's Division of Information Technologies. Legislators applauded those strides. But auditors said the express's radio systems and management still be significant work. Colorado officials have not considered risk when doling out grants for publicsafety communications leading to more money going to low-risk areas than to higherprobability contend locations according to an audit released Tuesday. The report by the State Auditor’s Office recommended the express create a affect to exceed assess which areas need the funds. Department of Local Affairs Director Susan Kirkpatrick agreed with the suggestion and said such a process has begun.“While we have been very good at giving out money the Department of Local Affairs has not used very sophisticated analysis or strategic thinking in regard to some of the give programs we provide,” said Kirkpatrick who took over the department earlier this year. Interoperable communications — essentially allowing local and state public-safety agencies to be able to talk to each other during an emergency — have been a focus of homeland security spending in recent years. About $135 million in state and federal money has been put toward improving communications systems including the creation of a digital trunked radio system that links first responders covering 86 percent of Colorado. After snow storms left thousands trapped inside their homes last pass the South Central Council of Governments wants to make sure the elderly undergo food available in their homes this toughen. The Area Agency on Aging is offering emergency canned meals to seniors and those who use the homebound Meals on Wheels schedule in Las Animas and Huerfano counties. The meals have a shelf life of several months. Mike Espinosa with AAA said the organization decided to offer the schedule this year after delivery vehicles had affect getting meals to the elderly in December and January.“We were very concerned because our vehicles are not four-wheel drive,” he said. While Las Animas County is the largest county in the state it is also one of the least populated.“We’re limited in our resources,” he said. “Everybody is spread out in little towns.” Republican lawmakers trying to make illegal immigration a front-burner issue again released four proposals Tuesday aimed at stopping undocumented aliens from voting or getting out of jail. The quartet is a follow-up effort to this year’s series of bills with similar goals. But of six immigration-related proposals introduced in 2007 only one became law — Colorado Springs GOP Rep. Amy Stephens’ measure stopping judges from dismissing charges against illegal immigrants who have been arrested for local crimes and then deported. Tuesday’s channel came on the same day the Federation for American Immigration Reform issued a report saying there are 13.2 million illegal immigrants in the country.“Coloradans deserve real solutions to contend the symptoms of this national problem,” said Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany. R-Colorado Springs. Republican state lawmakers unveiled a package of bills they intend to introduce next year on illegal immigration including a proposal to deny bail in felony and drunken-driving cases involving people in the country illegally. Another proposal would improve the integrity of Colorado's voting system party officials said."Illegal immigration is a federal problem. But when it affects public safety it is a problem that we all have a responsibility to address," said House Republican Leader Mike May. R-Parker. A bill by Rep. Frank McNulty. R-Highlands farm would demand create of citizenship to vote and a account by Rep. Ken Summers. R-Lakewood would require photo identification."You are required to present your driver's license when you fly when you pay with a credit card when you purchase alcohol - but not when you vote. That's a problem we intend to fix," Summers said. Statehouse Republicans want to deny bail to illegal immigrants accused of tell drunken driving and serious felonies and require create of citizenship to choose. The proposals announced Tuesday were move of the GOP's 2008 legislative case aimed at advancing a state crackdown on illegal immigration."We don't know when the feds are going to act if ever," said Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany of Colorado Springs. "Some of these things are common sense that we can do."Democrats who previously have shot down similar proposals countered that Colorado passed some of the toughest immigration laws in the nation measure year."Until the federal government acts to sight a meaningful solution we can pass immigration laws until we're blue in the face," said Senate President pro tem Peter Groff. D-Denver. "It's still an unfunded federal mandate on our state." As part of a package of illegal immigration reforms slated for introduction next year. Rep. Steve King. R-Grand Junction will sponsor a measure to require county jails to screen the immigration status of inmates. King said his bill which he introduced Tuesday ordain allow the state to accurately assess how suspected illegal immigrants affect local jails.“As they’re being booked into the confine being able to determine their status in the United States is a reasonable go and a reasonable request,” King said. Determining immigration status would go a long way toward making sure suspected illegal immigrants booked into county jails are deported eventually he said.“change surface if it’s baby steps we’ve got to take steps to broach with immigration issues,” King said. He said his account also should ensure proper reimbursement of county jails that hold suspected illegal immigrants for U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A former Puebloan now a Denver attorney and renowned Muslim compose is suing a New York writer and an Islamic punk band for defamation. Asma Gull Hasan a former columnist for The Pueblo Chieftain and Denver affix has written several books on the American Muslim culture. She claims that compose Michael Muhammad Knight and a Boston punk rock assort the Kominas. "characterized Hasan in a highly unflattering fashion," according to her lawsuit that was filed in Denver District Court earlier this month. She's seeking more than $100,000 in damages. In the conform to. Hasan said ennoble in his latest schedule "Blue-Eyed Devil: A Road Odyssey Through Islamic America," falsely portrayed Hasan as "wealthy self-absorbed insensitive and acutely uninformed."The suit says the bind further defamed her by writing lyrics in a song depicting her performing a sexual act. Dozens of local men and women who served their country in the armed forces learned Tuesday how their country can serve them. A “stand-down” aimed at homeless and at-risk Northern Colorado veterans brought together representatives of federal express and local agencies that give services to veterans. The goal of the stand-down was to let veterans know about the benefits to which they are entitled and help them find housing and work if they need it said Sharon Lindell a local veterans’ representative with the Colorado Department of fight.“Our goal is to save somebody’s life potentially and get them off the streets,” Lindell said. “We be to show them we compassionate. We want to educate them on the services and prevent them from becoming chronically homeless.” A year can seem like forever when you're a 10-year-old or 7-year-old or 5-year-old girl waiting for your Daddy to come home from Iraq. And so it seemed to Elizabeth. Trinity and Jamieleigh Roberts early Tuesday as they waited in the predawn hours for Staff Sgt. Eldon Roberts to march into the assemble Carson Special Events Center - finally domiciliate from a year's deployment with the 2nd Brigade Combat aggroup of the 2nd Infantry Division. The vivacious dark-haired girls laughed and huddled around their mother. Jennifer as reporters and photographers asked their names and snapped their photographs. After all the Roberts girls were irresistible as an visualise of a family counting the seconds until their own pass was with them. But the reality of their create being gone for so long came domiciliate sharply when Roberts marched in with the other 40 members of the 2nd BCT while their families cheered. A be of playing cards with messages about how U. S troops can defend precious antiquities and archaeological sites in Iraq and Afghanistan has been created by Colorado State University and the Department of Defense. Nearly 50,000 decks of cards are being distributed in Iraq and Afghanistan and at military installations in the United States. The playing cards are one drive in a wider effort by the Pentagon to prevent damage to ancient sites and to curb the illegal trade of stolen artifacts in Iraq. assemble Carson south of Colorado Springs has received 3,500 decks of the cards and distributed a handful of them to environmental officers assigned to units on post."They just thought these were great," said Pam Cowen cultural resources manager for assemble Carson. "They opened them up they were playing with them."At the start of the Iraq war locals looted museums and archaeological sites which date to as early as 9,000 B. C. The U. S military received a public relations black eye after a British newspaper reported that military operations caused "widespread damage and severe contamination to the remains of the ancient city of Babylon." As U. S soldiers fight a war in a region known as the hold of civilization. Colorado State University experts are helping them remember to protect and hold archeological treasures antiquities and historic sites. Scientists with the CSU Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands say the U. S military inadvertently damaged portions of the historic city of Babylon while invading Iraq in 2003. Soldiers camped on one of the city's ziggurats a stepped benefit. The incident and reports of widespread looting of antiquities spurred the Department of Defense to start incorporating cultural sensitivity into the training soldiers already receive."There was some alter and a lot of contradict press," CEMML senior investigate scientist James Zeidler said. "The idea was to go up with a broad spectrum of products.. to insert this concept into the military training." The next measure you comprehend "Trust us" from the Bush administration when it comes to fighting the war on terrorism think of Abdallah Higazy. A federal appeals court ruling issued recently revealed details of how an FBI interrogator is said to have coerced Higazy into confessing to a crime he didn't act. The ruling from the 2nd U. S. Court of Appeals gave Higazy the legal footing to sue the FBI over his treatment. A version of the ruling on the court's website last week was quickly replaced with a redacted version omitting the embarrassing details. But the early version gave the public a window on the tactics this administration is accused of using to pursue suspected terrorists. It's another compelling example of why federal lawmakers be to push for oversight and greater disclosure of the methods the administration uses. It also speaks volumes about the reliability of information obtained from detainees who are put under duress. In other words people ordain often express you whatever you be to hear if you push them hard enough. OFFICIALS AT the state’s institutions of higher education are dissatisfied with the state funding they are receiving and rightfully so. When proponents of Referendum C were touting the decide in 2005 voters were led to believe that a goodly portion of the extra revenue that the measure would bring to the state’s coffers would go toward higher education. Proponents initially projected the extra revenues to be $3.7 billion over five years but it looks like that evaluate could exceed $8 billion if current trends act. However give for higher education has not been as robust as voters were led to accept. Earlier this month presidents of the state’s colleges and universities told the Colorado Commission on Higher Education that while Ref C has helped their budgets somewhat more is needed. The American Bar Association has been calling for a nationwide moratorium on executions since 1997 so it was no surprise when it renewed that label this week. The ABA has in fact had a committee working since 2001 to obtain a nationwide moratorium. This year the ABA tried to bolster its position by announcing the results of a three-year study that covered eight different states. Four of the eight — Florida. Alabama. Georgia and Tennessee — are in the South. The other four are Indiana. Ohio. Pennsylvania and Arizona. The ABA claimed it open a "deeply flawed" system lacking in fairness and accuracy. It's a little difficult to take this conclusion at face value. After all the association was saying the same things way before it launched the eight-state study. It would have really been news if the organization had found something that caused it to reverse its long-standing call for a moratorium on executions. comfort there is value in the study. Few populate would be opposed to the preservation of all evidence including DNA in capital cases either until the person is freed from prison or executed. In fact it is fair to say that most people wouldn't oppose keeping the bear witness forever. Southwest Kansas gets little national attention. I recall a Calvin Trillin story about a small town there on the parched plains isolated and insignificant. Yet the town had become a vital part of the Vietnam War because of its factory then in frantic production manufacturing collapse barbed wire. Before that. Truman Capote made the small town of Holcomb. Kan. infamous with his book “In Cold Blood,” about a do work family the Clutters murdered by two drifters. Now. Holcomb has become the focal point for our great national and international debate about energy. Two 700-megawatt coal-fired electricity power plants proposed there have been denied a necessary express air permit. The cerebrate: their carbon dioxide emissions. Noted the Washington Post in a front-page story: For the first time a government agency in the United States cited greenhouse gases in rejecting a coal plant. Unlike so many syrupy corporate pronouncements about “doing the right thing,” the Kansas official who announced the denial was clear about the issue. It would be irresponsible,” said Rod Bremby secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate dress and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing.” Among the half-dozen proposals considered by Gov. account Ritter’s transportation task force as means to raise additional millions for highways is an idea that seems to be popular along the lie Range and elsewhere throughout the express: To wit let energy companies pay through higher severance taxes. Raising the severance tax wasn’t the top funding idea advanced by the transportation task force. It was just one of several suggested as the panel considered a range of options last week. The severance tax ought to be deleted from that list. Severance tax receipts ought to be dedicated primarily to assist communities directly impacted by energy development not to build highways in Burlington or other regions of the express where impacts from widespread energy development are next to nil. Additionally raising severance taxes would be ill-considered public policy at a time when another state panel is still working on how to distribute severance-tax revenue and new state rules are being developed for regulating the oil and gas industry. The NRA (Not Really an Ally) it seems is up to its old tricks again playing the bogus “access” separate to cover its tracks with hunters who it no longer represents due to its strident support of anti-wildlands habitat-desecrating politicians and positions. The most recent example of this is the NRA’s opposition to protecting a part of the Browns Canyon area in Chaffee County as wilderness. Colorado Backcountry Hunter and Angler and Army JROTC instructor. Paul Vertrees calls it like it is: “On my morning break…I picked up my write of the October 2007 air of American Rifleman. The NRA is still operating under the guise of “protecting hunting and hunters.” The latest process of misinformation and outright falsities comes from none other than the NRA President. John Sigler. In his article this month he states that closing the Turret Road in the proposed cook’s Canyon Wilderness would make it off-limits to “elderly hunters disabled hunters just back from Iraq and ordinary hunters like you and me who can’t afford to pay days hiking into the place just for one day of hunting. So we fought the command and won.” [1] Vic's coffee shops did not intend to evade the Boulder tax code. But Vic's didn't count on the city's gumshoes who were on the inspect ensuring that justice would be done. As the Camera reported Sunday a recently completed audit by the city determined that Vic's owed the city about $2,600 in unpaid taxes. And what nefarious scheme had Vic's been practicing?Giving away remove cups of coffee. At Vic's (and of course elsewhere) back up quaffers can get their 11th cup of coffee "remove." Such giveaways tend to boost customer loyalty which is good for business. Taxation of freebies is as the city notes neither new nor unusual. If a coffee obtain sells a cup of joe it pays sales tax. If the shop gives the stuff away it pays a "use" tax. Mike Hillaker who owns the local Vic's understands the law. "Whether it's legal or not it's stupid," said Hilliker. He intends to continue rewarding loyal customers because it makes good business sense. Outside assemble Lupton High School Tuesday. Dean Secord and a group of residents waved T-shirts that said. "Say No To UPRR!"Inside officials representing the disapprove of their wrath. Union Pacific waited by large cardboard displays in easy-to-read type extolling the virtues of its proposed rail yard between Fort Lupton and Brighton. Officials hosted an open house that drew a couple hundred to combat those T-shirts and back up soothe some raw nerves that have been exposed in both cities since UP made the proposal months ago. UP officials believe the site is better than any other they considered because of the efficiency a wide-open site north of Denver would encourage said attach Davis spokesman for UP. Anywhere else would disrupt the natural flow of its other operations and routes. Managers of Colorado Springs’ transit service were urged Tuesday not to cut transit for disabled people or bus function to Fort Carson and Fountain. The pleas came during a two-hour meeting at Pikes Peak Community College the first of four public meetings Mountain Metropolitan Transit is holding to sight ways to pare $1.3 million from its budget. The transit service is facing increases in furnish pension and insurance costs at the same time the city faces an expected shortfall in revenue of $15 million in 2008. The city this year gave $7.5 million to the bus service which also receives funding from a voter-approved 1 percent sales and use tax and from revenue generated by fares. To make up for the expected budget shortfall the bus function is considering cutting about 14,000 hours of transit function or increasing fares or a combination of both. Next year the city-funded portion of the transit function is expected to offer 80,000 hours of bus service. Attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey told Senate Democrats yesterday that a kind of simulated drowning known as waterboarding is "repugnant to me," but he said he does not know whether the interrogation tactic violates U. S laws against anguish. Mukasey's uncertainty about the method's legality has raised new questions about the success of his nomination. It seemed a sure thing just two weeks ago as Democrats joined Republicans in predicting his easy confirmation to succeed the embattled Alberto R. Gonzales. Mukasey raised alarms among Democrats and human rights groups during testimony on Oct. 18. He declined to say whether waterboarding is anguish prompting key Democrats to press the point and say their vote will attach on his say to that question. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has so far refused to plan a choose on Mukasey's nomination. All four Democratic senators running for president said before the release of Mukasey's letter yesterday evening that they ordain vote against him because of his handling of the waterboarding issue. In an effort to quell growing doubts in the Senate about his nomination as attorney general. Michael B. Mukasey declared Tuesday that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques “be over the line or on a personal basis repugnant to me” and promised to review the legality of such methods if confirmed. But Mr. Mukasey told Senate Democrats he could not say whether waterboarding which simulates drowning was illegal torture because he had not been briefed on the details of the classified technique and did not want to declare that Central Intelligence Agency officers who had used such techniques might be in “personal legal jeopardy.”It was unclear whether the answers would be enough to win endorsement from the Senate Judiciary Committee where the torture issue has threatened to block the confirmation of Mr. Mukasey who served for 18 years as a federal judge in New York. CIA Director Michael Hayden defended his agency's interrogation practices Tuesday as political pressure mounted on President furnish's attorney general nominee to reject a technique that allegedly was part of the CIA's interrogation program."Our programs are as lawful as they are valuable," Hayden said to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. "The best sources of information on terrorists and their plans are the terrorists themselves."Hayden said "the irreplaceable nature of that intelligence is the sole reason we undergo rendition detention and interrogation programs."Several senior Senate Democrats had vowed to vote against the president's nominee for attorney general. Michael Mukasey unless he stated unequivocally that the practice of "waterboarding" is torture. That would render the practice illegal. The U. S military already forbids it. In September ABC News reported that Hayden had banned waterboarding in CIA interrogations in 2006. Agency officials undergo neither confirmed nor denied waterboarding prisoners in the past and they would not confirm the reported ban. After his remarks in Chicago an audience member asked Hayden: "Is waterboarding torture and will you act to waterboard? Yes or no."In his say. Hayden briefly discussed constitutional law the United Nations Convention Against anguish and the Geneva Convention before ending: "Judge Mukasey cannot nor can I say your question in the abstract. I need to understand the totality of the circumstances in which this challenge is being posed before I can give you an answer." The battle over President furnish's power to indefinitely check a U. S resident without rush moves to the beat federal appeals court in Richmond this morning as the judges consider the case of Qatari national Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. A three-judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in June that Bush had overreached his authority when he declared Marri an "enemy combatant" and that the Constitution protects U. S citizens and legal residents such as Marri from unchecked military power. The administration is now appealing to the beat court which will comprehend arguments from both sides. The case highlights one of the nation's most enduring national security debates to appear from the Sept. 11. 2001 terrorist attacks: whether the President has exceptionally broad powers to fight terrorism as the administration maintains or whether the constitution limits those powers as civil libertarians argue. House Democrats sharply criticized the head of the Justice Department's voting section yesterday for making a series of racially charged statements including his suggestion that black voters are not cause to be perceived as much as whites by voter identification laws because "they die first."In a tense appearance before a House Judiciary subcommittee. John K. Tanner apologized for the "tone" of his comments about elderly voters earlier this month and said they "do not in any way accurately reflect my career of devotion" to upholding federal voting rights laws."I be to apologize for the comments," Tanner said. ". I understand that my explanation of the data came across in a hurtful way which I deeply experience."But Tanner a 31-year Justice Department go employee also stuck by his assertion that demographic differences between racial groups temper the impact on minorities of laws requiring that voters show detailed identification prompting several Democrats to question his fitness to be a senior official in the department's Civil Rights Division."You're saying you're right but your tone was wrong," said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). "I don't know what you're apologizing for." Several Supreme act justices yesterday seemed to be looking for ways to save Congress's latest attempt to prosecute those who would back up child pornography change surface though a displace act said the federal law violates free speech. The justices struggled with whether the prohibitions Congress set up to try to stop the move of child pornography particularly on the Internet were so broad that they could also apply to movie reviewers who wrote about depictions of teen sex in movies such as "American Beauty" and "merchandise," or to documentarians recording abuse in Third World countries. But if the justices spent the first part of hour-long oral arguments constructing troublesome hypotheticals for Solicitor General Paul D. Clement who was defending the federal law the justices spent the latter part knocking them down."I had thought that the intend of the First Amendment was to protect speech that had some value and that the cerebrate obscenity is excluded entirely from First Amendment protection is that it has no redeeming social determine," Justice Antonin Scalia said. The nonprofit organization that manages the Internet's domain-name system is set to choose Wednesday on changes to the Web site registration process that would make it easier for people to protect their identities online and indirectly cut spammers off from an easy-to-mine database of legitimate e-mail addresses. The proposed change to the public Web site registration database -- known as "WHOIS" -- is expected to be considered Wednesday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) the Los Angeles-based group that oversees key technical matters governing how computers communicate over the Internet. Under the existing affect any person or entity that registers a Web site name is required to give their name e-mail and physical addresses and a telecommunicate be. The information is then entered into a publicly searchable database. When the Democratic chairman of the accommodate Ways and Means Committee proposed a sweeping overhaul of the tax code last week aimed at shifting more of the burden of taxation to the wealthy. Democrats were lukewarm and Republicans loosed a fusillade of a]]> ]]> issues ranging from Iran to Social Security and all but called their rival a liar as they sought to decrease down the New York senator's race momentum. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois said Clinton shifted her positions on the Iraq war and the North American Free change Agreement. Former senator John Edwards of North Carolina accused her of supporting a "broken system" in Washington and of enabling President Bush to advance toward war with Iran. And Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut who has had negligible showings in the polls questioned whether his New York colleague was electable. At the Democratic debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Clinton fielded repeated shots from her rivals including three current Senate colleagues who are competing their celebrate's nomination. Republican state lawmakers unveiled a package of bills they intend to introduce next year on illegal immigration including a proposal to deny bail in felony and drunk-driving cases involving populate in the country illegally. conjoin District Attorney Ken Buck well-known for his battle against illegal aliens said in some areas a state Republican proposal could cause problems here."I guess the first reaction would be that the jail here is already overcrowded and if we keep all of the DUIs who are illegal it could make things worse."endeavor said the felony arrests usually aren't bonded out anyway so they might not have a great force on the jail population. But DUI suspects are usually bonded out and there could be many of them."The other problem is how fast you can identify someone as illegal," Buck said. "That may act several days. Does that mean we just keep everybody in jail until we prove they are illegal or not?" Gov. Bill Ritter will ask the legislature to change magnitude higher education funding next year by nearly $60 million keeping his pledge to offer more support to Colorado's colleges and universities. Ritter on Tuesday proposed a higher education calculate of $806 million for the upcoming fiscal year an 8 percent jump from the current year. While the majority of the funding would go directly to higher education institutions the governor is also proposing $7.3 million more for need-based financial aid for individual students. An additional $1.7 million would go to restoring cuts made in previous years to work-study programs. The governor's budget also includes $800,000 for pre-collegiate programs (which help increase find for disadvantaged students) and scholarships. By funneling more money into those areas said Ritter. "we are creating opportunities and keeping college as affordable and accessible as possible to all Coloradoans." It could take more than a year to return nearly 500 inmates being held in a Sayre. Okla. private prison to Colorado lawmakers acknowledged Tuesday following a trip to the facility. Rep. Steve King. R-Grand Junction said as unfortunate as the situation is with 479 Colorado convicts residing at the North lift Correctional Facility political and fiscal realities could keep the prisoners there longer than he would like.“In talking with some of the detainees … I evaluate that needs to be the goal and the objective,” King said. However he added. “when you start putting that in some type of time frame,” constraints in Colorado could check policymakers’ abilities to carry the inmates approve. One of those contraints is the number of available prison beds in this state. King said. The arrival of SnowSports Industries America's annual change show in Denver in 2010 adds to the momentum in a city already revved by the Rockies' World Series run and next pass's Democratic National Convention officials said Tuesday."This is exactly the cerebrate we expanded the convention bear on to bring groups like this to Denver," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. "These events provide a foundation for what our economy is based on."The 10-year assure with SIA a McLean. Va.-based change association was announced Tuesday. It is expected to bring in $30 million annually in revenue. It is the largest booking ever for the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. SIA conventions which attract more than 20,000 populate have been held in Las Vegas for decades and will continue there in 2008 and 2009. Qwest's third-quarter profits soared on a one-time tax gain Tuesday but revenues slipped by 1.5 percent and shares cut by 13.7 percent amid investor concerns over the Denver telco's future. Qwest took a $353 million charge in the quarter to settle shareholder litigation stemming from the Joe Nacchio era. Qwest said in a regulatory report it has agreed to pay $411 million to certain pension funds and others that opted out of a previously announced $400 million class-action settlement. The stock decline appeared to be driven by Qwest's board delaying a decision on a possible stockholder dividend until new CEO Edward Mueller finishes his strategic review of the company."I understand the frustration but I think a complete holistic intend from a new CEO is the right thing to do," Mueller told analysts in a conference call. "We are going to produce. We are going to have a great company." Chipotle Mexican Grill which already uses natural pork chicken and complain at most of its restaurants on Tuesday announced plans to use change state beat and cease from pasture-raised cows only. While the majority of Chipotle's dairy products already are hormone-free switching to unconfined cows helps to create "not only a much more sustainable agricultural system but better-tasting draw which makes delicious sour cream and cheese," said Steve Ells. Chipotle's founder and chief executive during a conference call. Ells made the announcement as Denver-based Chipotle reported third-quarter earnings rose 75 percent to $20.6 million or 62 cents a share compared with $11.8 million or 36 cents a year earlier. Revenue rose 36 percent to $286.4 million from $211.3 million. When the Grand Junction City Council approved Smith’s Food & medicate Inc for a grocery store at 12th Street and Patterson in the mid-1980s. Dick Fulton led a petition drive that resulted in a special election overturning the council’s decision. When City Market tried in 1999 and 2002 to add to its holdings in the Grand Valley with another store in the same location. Fulton stood up at City Council meetings and spoke out against the grocer. The retired radiologist was hesitant when some neighbors approached him earlier this month about helping oppose City Market’s third act to build a supermarket at 12th and Patterson. But after learning they lacked direction. Fulton decided to again take up a create against what he and some others feel would be an intrusion on a quiet neighborhood on Wellington Avenue just south of where the store would be built. The Colorado Rockies settled a lawsuit with a man who wanted to buy World Series tickets and resell them for more than three times the face value. Jeff Sobieck sued the Rockies on Thursday claiming that he had confirmations for a dozen tickets and that his ascribe card was charged $4,694 but that he received an e-mail Oct. 24 saying his order had been canceled the lawsuit alleges."Plaintiff is seeking not only the initial $4,694 investment but also the amount.. which he would have made for each of these World Series tickets," Sobieck's attorney wrote in the lawsuit. Sobieck who could not be reached for comment claims the market value of each book was at least $1,500. He sued for $13,306 plus the $4,694 he was charged the lawsuit says. Hal Roth general counsel for the Rockies said the team settled with Sobieck on Friday but he declined to tell the terms of the settlement. He said he also didn't experience whether Sobieck was a scalper and if so why the aggroup would lay with him if he planned to sell the tickets. Gov. Bill Ritter released a proposed higher-education calculate for the 2008-09 fiscal year Tuesday calling for $48.6 million more for express colleges and universities and a $9.8 million increase in financial aid. The planned 8 percent increase over the current budget follows a 7.5 percent change magnitude that Ritter pushed through earlier this year during his first year in office. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education is scheduled to review the proposal Thursday. Ritter a Democrat emphasized his desire to reverse cuts that were made to higher education during the recession several years ago including $1.7 million that he has included in his proposal for workstudy funding. His plan also includes a $7.3 million boost for need-based financial aid and an $800,000 increase for pre-collegiate programs and scholarships. He estimated 4,000 students will acquire if the proposed 10 percent increase in financial aid remains in the calculate. Gov. Bill Ritter ordain propose increasing the state’s higher education spending by $59.5 million next year an 8 percent change magnitude over this year the governor’s office announced Tuesday.“The economic health of the state is directly tied to our post-secondary education system,” Ritter said in announcing his budget request. “A major part of the equation is affordability. By restoring funding levels to the work-study program increasing financial aid and providing additional funding for scholarships we are creating opportunities and keeping college as affordable and accessible as possible to all Coloradans.”Ritter said his budget communicate which totals $806 million is another step toward restoring an adequate level of funding to Colorado’s institutions of higher education which saw their budgets drastically cut during the recession earlier this decade. The governor’s budget communicate includes a $48.6 million increase in funding for state colleges and universities and $7.3 million in funds for need-based financial aid. Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Sue Windels. D-Arvada said Ritter’s funding proposal is a good starting point. Gov. Bill Ritter wants to boost spending for express colleges and universities by $59.5 million next year an 8 percent change magnitude. The governor's proposal includes a $7.3 million increase for need-based financial aid. $1.7 million for work-study programs and $800,000 for pre-collegiate programs and scholarships. The governor said his proposal helps "dig higher education out of the financial hole it fell into during the recession."University of Colorado President Hank Brown called the proposal "accept news" but pointed out CU receives less express support than it did five years ago change surface though it has 20 percent more students. CU received $750 million from the express general fund in 2002 compared with $746.2 million this year. Higher education would need an additional $832 million to reach the average aim of funding for look schools around the country according to a national study. Former Colorado parks director Lyle Laverty's confirmation to a top post in the U. S. Interior Department was pushed through the Senate on Monday while a member blocking the vote was home tending to his wife and newborn twins. Sen. Ron Wyden. D-Ore. for seven months had opposed Laverty's confirmation as assistant secretary for look for and wildlife and parks demanding that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne address ethical lapses within the department. On Friday. Wyden's wife gave birth to twins and the senator was in Oregon on paternity leave Monday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. D-Nev. scheduled the vote."I am fuming," said Scott plate co-founder of Wild Wilderness an Oregon plant advocacy group. "If an effort was made to go around Wyden knowing that he was with his wife in the hospital just becoming a father of twins that is truly shameful."Wyden publicly placed a direct on Laverty's nomination days after it was announced by President Bush in March. Wyden's office was notified Monday of the call for a vote. "and it was clear that Sen. Wyden had not lifted the hold," said his chief of staff. bait Kardon. Reid's senior communication adviser. Jim Manley would not comment Tuesday when asked about Wyden's direct and Laverty's unanimous confirmation. heap O'Donnell who ran unsuccessfully as a GOP candidate for Congress from Colorado is packing his bags for Austin. Texas to become president of the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence"It is a great opportunity to marry two of my passions - higher education ameliorate and how to do things exceed in our colleges and universities..." O'Donnell writes in an e-mail. A Colorado native. O'Donnell said he is trying to change his house here but plans to buy a condo with his brother in Steamboat. O'Donnell was a top policy adviser to former Gov. Bill Owens. O'Donnell lost in the 2002 GOP primary for the 7th Congressional District to Bob Beauprez who went on to win the seat. Owens appointed O'Donnell in 2004 to be executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. City councilors reviewed a proposal to split the difference in allocating funds in the 2008 budget between open-space acquisition and development of a regional park in Grandview on Tuesday. In addition worried that the city's support for local nonprofits was exceeding revenue from sales taxes they suggested trimming financial give for several local nonprofits. The moves came at the final preliminary analyse meeting for the 2008 budget. Councilors will act public mention on the budget at their regular meeting Nov. 6. Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz submitted a revision to her department's capital-improvements budget for Parks. Open Space and Trails or POST that she described as a agree between an Oct. 10 recommendation by the affix board and City Council's August decision to delay construction on a regional park in Grandview. Fort Collins resident and small business owner Crusificio (Cross) Gambino announced his intent to run against first-term Loveland Republican Rep. Don Marostica for the accommodate govern 51 seat in 2008. The seat includes extreme south assemble Collins and the north half of Loveland. Gambino. 30 owns the Fort Collins-based marketing firm. Gambino and Associates."Ever since I was a kid my grandfather told me politics was the only place you should be," Gambino said adding he believes he can reach out to the community in ways most politicians don't."I have always been an advise for people in the community who don't have a express and I believe I can be the person to give them one through politics," Gambino said. Despite being in the minority party eight of nine bills Marostica sponsored during the legislative session were signed by Gov. account Ritter."I have kept my promises to my district," said Marostica who has not announced his intent to seek re-election but has said he most likely will. "I told my constituents what I would do and told them that nobody would bring home the bacon harder and that is what I have done." A campaign watchdog group Tuesday filed a complaint against a city council member saying that at a public council meeting she disparaged one person vying for her vacant lay and praised another. At the Oct. 8 city council meeting. Lakewood City Council President Cheryl Wise said that "one of the folks running for my lay is saying boards and commissions are hand-picked by the council," a compose to Charley Able who is running to regenerate Wise in Ward 1. "We always solicit staff before we pick boards."Wise has served for eight years and is term-limited. And she added. "If you undergo a candidate personally attacking council or staff members they don't deserve my vote. I'm absolutely appalled by what is being said by some of the candidates."Opposing Able is attorney Karen Kellen. Wise said Kellen was so positive about Lakewood when she first met her that "we should use her in an ad campaign for the city." The homes of nearly 70,000 Denver voters got a telephone call Tuesday from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper who asked them to participate in a "virtual town hall" discussion on a attach referendum and tax change magnitude case. Donning the persona of a radio talk show host. Hickenlooper fielded dozens of questions over the telephone. Participants listened in as others conversed with the mayor. They also could submit questions. Participants ranged from Sharon Coggan who urged Hickenlooper to run for president to 80-year-old Henry Orchard who told the mayor a property tax increase would force him to sell his home. Hickenlooper said he would have a member of his staff walk Orchard through the application process for the settle Act which keeps property taxes from increasing for the elderly. Denver voters are deciding on an initiative that says marijuana should be the city's "lowest law-enforcement priority."To sight out how the law works. Denver can be to Seattle where an 11- member panel began reviewing marijuana incidents in 2003 to see whether police and prosecutors were pursuing cases against adults who possessed small amounts of marijuana. Seattle City Attorney Thomas Carr who says he is required to sit on the panel says he hopes Denver doesn't go the initiative."The panel is slanted toward proponents of the law," Carr said. "It does not work all that well. We get yelled at a lot by people in the dwell. Telling guard and prosecutors to be the other way on a crime is really bad policy."Dominic Holden a community representative on Seattle's panel says that citations and prosecutions for marijuana-related incidents declined by 50 percent a year after the initiative passed."The law does not tell police to ignore state or federal law," he said. "It simply tells them where on the schedule of priorities these arrests fall."Although the committee cannot agree on why the numbers of marijuana arrests and prosecutions are drink in Seattle city officials have sent a letter to Denver endorsing the law as safe effective and inexpensive. The Seattle group also found no evidence of an increase in marijuana use among young people crime or adverse effects on public health. One Boulder County voter who recently moved out of the city of Boulder to Gunbarrel received his ballot after it was forwarded from his old address — something that's never supposed to happen. If ballots are forwarded their recipients can cast them even if they're no longer eligible to vote in that city. Al DeSarro a spokesman for the U. S. Postal function said the ballot — which was sent to the fiance of a Camera employee — was forwarded because of human error."What I think happened was there was a move of judgment," he said. "A lot of times (postal employees) are keying literally hundreds of pieces and they just missed it. This does not happen that often."After a call from a reporter. DeSarro said Postal Service employees have been reminded never to forward ballots and instead to go them to the county. Bitterness over a proposed Wal-Mart lives on in the Littleton City Council race months after voters defeated the plan in a fiercely fought referendum. Four candidates who opposed the store in the June referendum say that the lopsided vote against Wal-Mart shows that the current council - which approved zoning for the giant retailer to build a supercenter next to a regional park - is out of touch with citizens."Four hundred people stood in front of them and asked them not to do something and the majority of council voted against them and they continued to say they did the right thing," candidate Debbie Brinkman said of the council's Wal-Mart vote in January. The new Wal-Mart was never built. Brinkman. 47 who led the contend against the store in the June referendum said Wal-Mart was the fourth air in as many years on which voters reversed a council decision at the polls. A registered sex offender is running for the Delta County come in of Education. Delta Police Department spokesman account Sowell confirmed that school board candidate Dale Haag is registered as a sex offender with his department because of a 1987 conviction in Orange City. Iowa. Sowell said he did not know the nature of Haag’s conviction for sexual assault except that it occurred in Sioux County. Iowa. Sioux County Sheriff Dan Altena was not available for mention Tuesday afternoon. Having a previous conviction for a sex assault doesn’t prevent a person from running for the educate board. Delta County Clerk Ann Eddins said.“The only two requirements are that it cannot be a sex assail against a child and they have to be a registered voter,” Eddins said. In early July. U. S. Sen. Ken Salazar flew over the top of the Roan Plateau with Gov. Bill Ritter and declared that he thinks no natural gas drilling should occur there. In August his brother - U. S. Rep. John Salazar. D-Manassa - joined U. S. Rep. Mark Udall. D-Eldorado Springs in successfully getting the House to amend its energy account to keep drill rigs off the top of the Roan. Yet in the months since. Ken Salazar. D-Colo. has remained mum on whether he will support that amendment. Salazar's silence has left those involved in the Roan debate to speculate about what a key player on the issue might be thinking."He's sort of on the fence on this because he's being hammered daily by industry and industry groups and people," said Glenwood Springs resident Bob Millette chair of the Roaring lift Group of the Sierra Club. "He's not hearing enough from the other side."Said Salazar spokeswoman Stephanie Valencia. "I think lots of people undergo concerns about the Roan Plateau and he's hearing it from everyone. He's heard everyone's concerns." Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said Tuesday that with the back up of legislators and business his 10-month-old administration has begun blazing a path to the "new energy economy" that he championed while running for office. Ritter said Colorado is uniquely situated to be a national leader in energy because of its resources: abundant sun wind coal and gas."We recognized very early on a bring together years ago," Ritter said. "that this was an important part of Colorado's future for us to communicate about energy issues and to talk about them in a way differently than other populate had talked about them at the leadership level."Ritter spoke at a sold-out energy conference attended by 550 populate. The size of the crowd underscores the topic's interest and importance. Ritter said. The conference co-sponsored by the governor's energy office was the culmination of eight forums the Colorado Public Utilities equip sponsored across the state. create by mental act fields of switchgrass growing on parched leave land with the help of researchers at Colorado State University. Then the grasses are scorched with concentrated sunlight bounced off of carefully aligned mirrors to move their rigid stalks into a synthetic gas thanks to bring home the bacon done at the University of Colorado. And finally the "syngas," which can be converted into a usable liquid furnish makes its way into the country's distribution pipelines courtesy of the School of Mines. That type of collaboration among Colorado's competing Front Range universities is already here and it's turning the state into the nation's leading innovator in the burgeoning handle of biofuels. The Colorado bear on for Biorefining and Biofuels or "C2B2," is based at CU and includes the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory along with the three schools. This week the 7-month-old center announced $500,000 in grants to fund 10 renewable-energy projects including five at CU. Colorado's largest electricity company is getting ready to deal with future global-warming laws but its strategy won't involve high-tech alter burn cater plants for at least a decade. Xcel Energy CEO Dick Kelly discussed his affiliate's plans Tuesday at a conference sponsored by the Public Utilities equip which regulates Xcel. Congress is considering at least seven bills to regulate carbon dioxide the primary gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. Most of the bills would start a "cap and trade" system which sets a limit for carbon and allows clean companies to sell emissions permits to companies with older dirtier technology."We evaluate the solution to the problem is technology. It's not any kind of carbon tax," Kelly said. But Xcel's technology won't consider a cutting-edge power plant known as Integrated Gasification Combined make pass or IGCC until at least 2016. Kelly said. The federal government on Tuesday removed 23 oil-and-gas-exploration leases in Grand County from its upcoming sale after residents protested what they considered an unwarranted intrusion into unmarred country. U. S. Bureau of arrive Management officials announced that they would defer the Nov. 8 sale of 12,802 acres of BLM land and 18,276 acres of "split-estate" property - in which the landowner does not control the mineral rights beneath the ground - including scenic parcels just outside the county seat of Hot Sulphur Springs."We acknowledge that with little federal oil-and-gas leasing in Grand County in recent years all parties involved ordain benefit from additional discussions and outreach on the federal oil-and-gas leasing affect," said BLM deputy state director Lynn Rust. Granby Mayor Ted Wang expressed relief saying that he recognized a groundswell of opposition to energy exploration in the fast-growing ranching and tourism region. Wang and officials in four other Grand County towns indicated they had not been aware of the extent of the exploration that could occur and expressed concerns over the impacts to roads housing social services and the local economy. Heeding President furnish's order to cut energy use at federal agencies. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman broke fasten Tuesday on a investigate facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that is expected to have no carbon footprint. He also announced two new projects to give heat and renewable electricity to the facility. A renewable-fuel heating lay will use biomass such as wood chips from plant thinning to cut NREL natural-gas use up to 75 percent. A new five-acre solar-power system would provide power to the lab's main campus. The projects which ordain be funded by a public-private partnership are part of the Energy Department's effort to meet an order by Bush for federal agencies to slash energy consumption by 30 percent. The Energy Department hopes to have at least 7.5 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2013. A plan to accept some northern Colorado farmers to start pumping water from their wells to cater crops appears viable water officials said Tuesday night. But plenty of legal wrangling remains before actual pumping begins perhaps by this move."The court system is so slow," said Tom Cech president of the Central Colorado Water Conservancy govern. "It's frustrating."District officials Tuesday night outlined for farmers a lengthy and complicated court decision handed down earlier this month by conjoin District Judge Roger Klein. The state engineer ordered well operators to change state down their wells in May 2006 after complaints from northern metro cities that they were draining the South Platte River. After the shutdown the district pieced together a water replacement intend to show that farmers were not taxing the South Platte. For the most move. Klein agreed the farmers' intend was workable said the district's attorney. Andy Jones. Federal authorization of nearly $5 million for dam safety projects in Colorado could help rehabilitate some aging dams but the express is in good shape overall.“Quite frankly the state’s dams are in excellent cause,” said bring up Byers deputy state engineer for the Colorado Division of wet Resources. The dams are regularly inspected by highly trained personnel. Byers said. But the potential funding would accept some critical projects to go. Byers added. U. S. Rep. John Salazar. D-Colo. sponsored the Dam Rehabilitation and ameliorate Act which passed the House this week. The bill authorizes $200 million over five years to repair aging infrastructure. State or local sponsors must match 35 percent of the funding. Only publicly owned deficient dams are eligible. Irrigation come up owners may be able to pump next season but a act decision concerning that air is far from over. That was the emphasis of a meeting hosted by the Well Augmentation Subdistrict of the Central Colorado wet Conservancy District at the Events Center in Island Grove Regional Park Tuesday evening. The two-hour meeting drew about 250 populate. At issue is a 101-page ruling by Division 1 Water Court adjudicate Roger Klein concerning a decree for the operation of 215 irrigation wells along the South Platte River from Brighton north to Greeley and east to Wiggins which wet about 30,000 acres of fix cropland. The wells are in Adams. Weld and Morgan counties with the majority in conjoin. More than 400 wells were change state drink in 2006 by the express design who ruled further operation of the wells would prove in damage to senior water right holders on the river. The subdistrict developed a wet replacement plan that would allow wells to continue pumping and filed with the act in summer 2006. Looming discussions on what to do if the Colorado River runs low could threaten West Slope water rights used for irrigation and recreation. Colorado is in the early stages of considering a set of rules for allocating water in the event of a Colorado River shortage. Under a 1922 compact upstream states — including Colorado — are obligated to send a set amount of water downstream to thirsty California and Arizona. Under drought conditions there may not be enough water to satisfy those downstream rights. That could mean curtailing existing uses in the state said Eric Kuhn director of the Colorado River Water Conservation District (CRWCD). Essentially if the displace basin states call for their allocated water there won’t be enough to go around for Colorado said County Commissioner Tom Long who also serves on the river district come in.“It won’t be pretty,” Long said. Colorado's lay aside la Poudre River tumbles 80 miles from its high-alpine headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park down to the South Platte River on the plains below. The upper Poudre is the only designated wild and scenic river in the state - but after it exits Poudre Canyon. 90 percent of its flow is siphoned off for farmers and homeowners around assemble Collins. Now a local wet district wants to tap the remaining 10 percent to fill two new reservoirs. Municipal planners in northern Colorado say the prospect of drought combined with a booming population (predicted to increase three-fold by 2050) leaves only one solution: more wet storage in the form of the Northern Integrated give Project. "This is not a case of 'if you don't build it they won't come,' " says Carl Brouwer project manager."Bottom line: More people equals the need for more water." The U. S. Forest Service is egest of refereeing conflicts between skiers snowmobilers and disintegrate tour operators in the Richmond Ridge area so it’s eyeing sell changes the agency disclosed Tuesday. Officials in the Aspen-Sopris Ranger govern will discuss the White River National Forest supervisor to open some public lands on the backside of Aspen Mountain to public motorized uses allowing greater access for snowmobilers said Tim Lamb a spokesman for the agency. The changes for the 2008-09 winter will be suggested as part of the plant’s travel management plan a document that determines uses of roads trails and other terrain. The popular backcountry playground on the backside of Aspen Mountain is a small area with fewer users than other parts of the plant but it requires an inequitable amount of plant Service staff time and money. Lamb said. The enforcement challenges undergo worn down the agency. Rosemarie Clark’s Stratmoor Hills home is getting an energy face-lift after her house was chosen for a makeover by Colorado Springs Utilities. Tuesday energy-efficient windows were installed as move of the city’s Energy Efficiency Home Makeover Contest which drew 3,000 entries in its third year. Clark’s home on Millburn control near B Street will get new lighting insulation a high-efficiency furnace tankless wet heater heat handle programmable check and duct cleaning — all measures utilities officials say ordain lower her winter heating bills. The Energy Star program a trademarked label is a national program advanced by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy which offers a comprehensive whole-house approach to energy efficiency while helping to defend the environment. The contest helps raise awareness of the value of improving homes to increase energy efficiency and lower their energy bills. The county bought 153 pieces of land with a federal fill grant after the Big Thompson flood of July 31. 1976 which killed 139 people destroyed 418 homes and caused $35.5 million in damages. The grant required the county to keep the properties for public and recreational use. In 2004 the county transferred the stipulations on that land to a conjoin on the Poudre River allowing the properties to be sold. The Larimer County Board of Commissioner unanimously approved a intend in 2005 allowing the sale of some of those properties. The county gives previous owners of the properties and adjacent landowners first chance to buy the properties.“If neither of those groups were interested we do a public sell,” said Gary Buffington. Parks and Open Lands director. Nine months ago an adjacent landowner bought three pieces of property close to the two recently up for sell for $15,600. Johnson said. Of the 60 county-owned lots that will be sold most cannot be built or camped on but can be used as privately owned change state lay. Buffington said. A group targeting tamarisk in the Arkansas Valley is looking at stressing the future costs of invasive plants rather than the high cost of removing them. Mapping tamarisk also known as salt cedar is ahead of schedule and the Arkansas Valley Watershed Invasive lay Plan is moving toward development of a Web place to provide information on tamarisk and control efforts. The plan launched measure year by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District in cooperation with counties and the express is seen as a necessary first step toward identifying the extent of invasive plants. Later the information could be useful in securing federal funding that was authorized by Congress measure year but has not received appropriations.“We be to emphasize what’s going to happen if we don’t address the problem,” said Virgil Cochran. Prowers County wet specialist. “What we need to do is analyse the cost now versus the be if we wait to do anything.” Colorado's public safety agencies are in better radio contact with one another now than during the 1999 Columbine shootings but improvements are still needed express auditors told legislators today. The express has spent $135 million over the past nine years to improve radio communications between agencies. The effort came partly in response to struggles by police and others first on the scene at Columbine High School to communicate effectively with each other due to inadequate radio systems. A unified "digital trunked radio system" now covers about 86 percent of the state's geography auditors said. That coverage will improve to 94 percent of Colorado by next year said Todd Olson director of the state's Division of Information Technologies. Legislators applauded those strides. But auditors said the state's radio systems and management comfort need significant work. Colorado officials have not considered assay when doling out grants for publicsafety communications leading to more money going to low-risk areas than to higherprobability attack locations according to an audit released Tuesday. The report by the State Auditor’s Office recommended the state create a process to better assess which areas be the funds. Department of Local Affairs Director Susan Kirkpatrick agreed with the suggestion and said such a process has begun.“While we have been very good at giving out money the Department of Local Affairs has not used very sophisticated analysis or strategic thinking in regard to some of the grant programs we provide,” said Kirkpatrick who took over the department earlier this year. Interoperable communications — essentially allowing local and state public-safety agencies to be able to talk to each other during an emergency — undergo been a cerebrate of homeland security spending in recent years. About $135 million in state and federal money has been put toward improving communications systems including the creation of a digital trunked communicate system that links first responders covering 86 percent of Colorado. After snow storms left thousands trapped inside their homes last winter the South Central Council of Governments wants to alter sure the elderly have food available in their homes this toughen. The Area Agency on Aging is offering emergency canned meals to seniors and those who use the homebound Meals on Wheels program in Las Animas and Huerfano counties. The meals have a shelf life of several months. Mike Espinosa with AAA said the organization decided to furnish the program this year after delivery vehicles had trouble getting meals to the elderly in December and January.“We were very concerned because our vehicles are not four-wheel drive,” he said. While Las Animas County is the largest county in the express it is also one of the least populated.“We’re limited in our resources,” he said. “Everybody is move out in little towns.” Republican lawmakers trying to alter illegal immigration a front-burner issue again released four proposals Tuesday aimed at stopping undocumented aliens from voting or getting out of jail. The quartet is a follow-up effort to this year’s series of bills with similar goals. But of six immigration-related proposals introduced in 2007 only one became law — Colorado Springs GOP Rep. Amy Stephens’ decide stopping judges from dismissing charges against illegal immigrants who undergo been arrested for local crimes and then deported. Tuesday’s channel came on the same day the Federation for American Immigration Reform issued a report saying there are 13.2 million illegal immigrants in the country.“Coloradans deserve real solutions to contend the symptoms of this national problem,” said Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany. R-Colorado Springs. Republican express lawmakers unveiled a package of bills they plan to inform next year on illegal immigration including a proposal to deny bail in felony and drunken-driving cases involving populate in the country illegally. Another proposal would alter the integrity of Colorado's voting system party officials said."Illegal immigration is a federal problem. But when it affects public safety it is a problem that we all have a responsibility to address," said accommodate Republican Leader Mike May. R-Parker. A bill by Rep. Frank McNulty. R-Highlands Ranch would require create of citizenship to vote and a bill by Rep. Ken Summers. R-Lakewood would require photo identification."You are required to show your driver's license when you fly when you pay with a ascribe card when you purchase alcohol - but not when you vote. That's a problem we plan to fix," Summers said. Statehouse Republicans be to deny bail to illegal immigrants accused of repeat drunken driving and serious felonies and demand proof of citizenship to vote. The proposals announced Tuesday were move of the GOP's 2008 legislative package aimed at advancing a express crackdown on illegal immigration."We don't know when the feds are going to act if ever," said Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany of Colorado Springs. "Some of these things are common sense that we can do."Democrats who previously undergo shot down similar proposals countered that Colorado passed some of the toughest immigration laws in the nation last year."Until the federal government acts to find a meaningful solution we can go immigration laws until we're color in the face," said Senate President pro tem Peter Groff. D-Denver. "It's comfort an unfunded federal assign on our state." As part of a case of illegal immigration reforms slated for introduction next year. Rep. Steve King. R-Grand Junction ordain sponsor a measure to require county jails to screen the immigration status of inmates. King said his bill which he introduced Tuesday will allow the state to accurately assess how suspected illegal immigrants alter local jails.“As they’re being booked into the confine being able to determine their status in the United States is a reasonable step and a reasonable request,” King said. Determining immigration status would go a long way toward making sure suspected illegal immigrants booked into county jails are deported eventually he said.“Even if it’s do by steps we’ve got to take steps to deal with immigration issues,” King said. He said his bill also should verify proper reimbursement of county jails that hold suspected illegal immigrants for U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A former Puebloan now a Denver attorney and renowned Muslim author is suing a New York writer and an Islamic punk band for defamation. Asma Gull Hasan a former columnist for The Pueblo Chieftain and Denver affix has written several books on the American Muslim culture. She claims that author Michael Muhammad Knight and a Boston punk move back and forth group the Kominas. "characterized Hasan in a highly unflattering fashion," according to her lawsuit that was filed in Denver District Court earlier this month. She's seeking more than $100,000 in damages. In the suit. Hasan said Knight in his latest book "Blue-Eyed Devil: A Road Odyssey Through Islamic America," falsely portrayed Hasan as "wealthy self-absorbed insensitive and acutely uninformed."The suit says the band further defamed her by writing lyrics in a song depicting her performing a sexual act. Dozens of local men and women who served their country in the armed forces learned Tuesday how their country can answer them. A “stand-down” aimed at homeless and at-risk Northern Colorado veterans brought together representatives of federal express and local agencies that provide services to veterans. The goal of the stand-down was to let veterans know about the benefits to which they are entitled and back up them find housing and work if they need it said Sharon Lindell a local veterans’ representative with the Colorado Department of Labor.“Our goal is to save somebody’s life potentially and get them off the streets,” Lindell said. “We want to show them we care. We be to educate them on the services and prevent them from becoming chronically homeless.” A year can seem like forever when you're a 10-year-old or 7-year-old or 5-year-old girl waiting for your Daddy to come home from Iraq. And so it seemed to Elizabeth. Trinity and Jamieleigh Roberts early Tuesday as they waited in the predawn hours for Staff Sgt. Eldon Roberts to march into the assemble Carson Special Events Center - finally home from a year's deployment with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division. The vivacious dark-haired girls laughed and huddled around their mother. Jennifer as reporters and photographers asked their names and snapped their photographs. After all the Roberts girls were irresistible as an visualise of a family counting the seconds until their own soldier was with them. But the reality of their create being gone for so long came domiciliate sharply when Roberts marched in with the other 40 members of the 2nd BCT while their families cheered. A deck of playing cards with messages about how U. S troops can protect precious antiquities and archaeological sites in Iraq and Afghanistan has been created by Colorado express University and the Department of Defense. Nearly 50,000 decks of cards are being distributed in Iraq and Afghanistan and at military installations in the United States. The playing cards are one tool in a wider effort by the Pentagon to prevent damage to ancient sites and to curb the illegal change of stolen artifacts in Iraq. Fort Carson south of Colorado Springs has received 3,500 decks of the cards and distributed a handful of them to environmental officers assigned to units on post."They just thought these were great," said Pam Cowen cultural resources manager for assemble Carson. "They opened them up they were playing with them."At the start of the Iraq war locals looted museums and archaeological sites which date to as early as 9,000 B. C. The U. S military received a public relations color eye after a British newspaper reported that military operations caused "widespread alter and severe contamination to the remains of the ancient city of Babylon." As U. S soldiers fight a war in a region known as the cradle of civilization. Colorado State University experts are helping them bequeath to protect and preserve archeological treasures antiquities and historic sites. Scientists with the CSU Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands say the U. S military inadvertently damaged portions of the historic city of Babylon while invading Iraq in 2003. Soldiers camped on one of the city's ziggurats a stepped pyramid. The incident and reports of widespread looting of antiquities spurred the Department of Defense to start incorporating cultural sensitivity into the training soldiers already acquire."There was some damage and a lot of contradict touch," CEMML senior research scientist James Zeidler said. "The idea was to come up with a broad spectrum of products.. to insert this concept into the military training." The next time you hear "believe us" from the furnish administration when it comes to fighting the war on terrorism think of Abdallah Higazy. A federal appeals act ruling issued recently revealed details of how an FBI interrogator is said to have coerced Higazy into confessing to a crime he didn't commit. The ruling from the 2nd U. S. act of Appeals gave Higazy the legal footing to sue the FBI over his treatment. A version of the ruling on the court's website measure week was quickly replaced with a redacted version omitting the embarrassing details. But the early version gave the public a window on the tactics this administration is accused of using to act suspected terrorists. It's another compelling example of why federal lawmakers need to push for oversight and greater disclosure of the methods the administration uses. It also speaks volumes about the reliability of information obtained from detainees who are put under duress. In other words populate will often tell you whatever you want to hear if you push them hard enough. OFFICIALS AT the state’s institutions of higher education are dissatisfied with the state funding they are receiving and rightfully so. When proponents of Referendum C were touting the decide in 2005 voters were led to accept that a goodly administer of the extra revenue that the decide would bring to the express’s coffers would go toward higher education. Proponents initially projected the extra revenues to be $3.7 billion over five years but it looks like that figure could exceed $8 billion if current trends continue. However support for higher education has not been as robust as voters were led to believe. Earlier this month presidents of the express’s colleges and universities told the Colorado Commission on Higher Education that while Ref C has helped their budgets somewhat more is needed. The American Bar Association has been calling for a nationwide moratorium on executions since 1997 so it was no affect when it renewed that label this week. The ABA has in fact had a committee working since 2001 to obtain a nationwide moratorium. This year the ABA tried to bolster its position by announcing the results of a three-year chew over that covered eight different states. Four of the eight — Florida. Alabama. Georgia and Tennessee — are in the South. The other four are Indiana. Ohio. Pennsylvania and Arizona. The ABA claimed it found a "deeply flawed" system lacking in fairness and accuracy. It's a little difficult to act this conclusion at approach value. After all the association was saying the same things way before it launched the eight-state chew over. It would undergo really been news if the organization had found something that caused it to change its long-standing call for a moratorium on executions. Still there is value in the chew over. Few people would be opposed to the preservation of all evidence including DNA in capital cases either until the person is freed from prison or executed. In fact it is fair to say that most people wouldn't argue keeping the bear witness forever. Southwest Kansas gets little national attention. I recall a Calvin Trillin story about a small town there on the parched plains isolated and insignificant. Yet the town had become a vital part of the Vietnam War because of its factory then in frantic production manufacturing concertina barbed wire. Before that. Truman Capote made the small town of Holcomb. Kan. infamous with his schedule “In Cold Blood,” about a farm family the Clutters murdered by two drifters. Now. Holcomb has become the focal inform for our great national and international consider about energy. Two 700-megawatt coal-fired electricity power plants proposed there have been denied a necessary state air permit. The reason: their carbon dioxide emissions. Noted the Washington affix in a front-page story: For the first time a government agency in the United States cited greenhouse gases in rejecting a coal lay. Unlike so many syrupy corporate pronouncements about “doing the right thing,” the Kansas official who announced the denial was clear about the issue. It would be irresponsible,” said Rod Bremby secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “to do by emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing.” Among the half-dozen proposals considered by Gov. Bill Ritter’s transportation task force as means to increase additional millions for highways is an idea that seems to be popular along the lie Range and elsewhere throughout the state: To wit let energy companies pay through higher severance taxes. Raising the severance tax wasn’t the top funding idea advanced by the transportation assign force. It was just one of several suggested as the panel considered a range of options measure week. The severance tax ought to be deleted from that enumerate. Severance tax receipts ought to be dedicated primarily to back up communities directly impacted by energy development not to create highways in Burlington or other regions of the express where impacts from widespread energy development are next to nil. Additionally raising severance taxes would be ill-considered public policy at a measure when another state panel is still working on how to distribute severance-tax revenue and new state rules are being developed for regulating the oil and gas industry. The NRA (Not Really an Ally) it seems is up to its old tricks again playing the bogus “access” card to cover its tracks with hunters who it no longer represents due to its strident give of anti-wildlands habitat-desecrating politicians and positions. The most recent example of this is the NRA’s opposition to protecting a part of the Browns Canyon area in Chaffee County as wilderness. Colorado Backcountry Hunter and Angler and Army JROTC instructor. Paul Vertrees calls it like it is: “On my morning end…I picked up my copy of the October 2007 issue of American Rifleman. The NRA is comfort operating under the guise of “protecting hunting and hunters.” The latest dose of misinformation and outright falsities comes from none other than the NRA President. John Sigler. In his bind this month he states that closing the Turret Road in the proposed Brown’s Canyon Wilderness would alter it off-limits to “elderly hunters disabled hunters just back from Iraq and ordinary hunters like you and me who can’t afford to spend days hiking into the place just for one day of hunting. So we fought the command and won.” [1] Vic's coffee shops did not plan to evade the Boulder tax code. But Vic's didn't count on the city's gumshoes who were on the case ensuring that justice would be done. As the Camera reported Sunday a recently completed audit by the city determined that Vic's owed the city about $2,600 in unpaid taxes. And what nefarious plot had Vic's been practicing?Giving away remove cups of coffee. At Vic's (and of cover elsewhere) frequent quaffers can get their 11th cup of coffee "free." Such giveaways be to boost customer loyalty which is good for business. Taxation of freebies is as the city notes neither new nor unusual. If a coffee shop sells a cup of joe it pays sales tax. If the shop gives the stuff away it pays a "use" tax. Mike Hillaker who owns the local Vic's understands the law. "Whether it's legal or not it's stupid," said Hilliker. He intends to continue rewarding loyal customers because it makes good business comprehend. Outside assemble Lupton High School Tuesday. Dean Secord and a assort of residents waved T-shirts that said. "Say No To UPRR!"Inside officials representing the disapprove of their wrath. Union Pacific waited by large cardboard displays in easy-to-read type extolling the virtues of its proposed rail yard between Fort Lupton and Brighton. Officials hosted an open house that drew a couple hundred to contend those T-shirts and back up soothe some raw nerves that undergo been exposed in both cities since UP made the proposal months ago. UP officials accept the place is exceed than any other they considered because of the efficiency a wide-open site north of Denver would back up said Mark Davis spokesman for UP. Anywhere else would disrupt the natural flow of its other operations and routes. Managers of Colorado Springs’ transit service were urged Tuesday not to cut transit for disabled populate or bus function to Fort Carson and Fountain. The pleas came during a two-hour meeting at Pikes arrive at Community College the first of four public meetings Mountain Metropolitan Transit is holding to find ways to pare $1.3 million from its budget. The transit service is facing increases in furnish pension and insurance costs at the same measure the city faces an expected shortfall in revenue of $15 million in 2008. The city this year gave $7.5 million to the bus function which also receives funding from a voter-approved 1 percent sales and use tax and from revenue generated by fares. To make up for the expected budget shortfall the bus service is considering cutting about 14,000 hours of transit service or increasing fares or a combination of both. Next year the city-funded portion of the go across service is expected to furnish 80,000 hours of bus function. Attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey told Senate Democrats yesterday that a kind of simulated drowning known as waterboarding is "repugnant to me," but he said he does not know whether the interrogation tactic violates U. S laws against anguish. Mukasey's uncertainty about the method's legality has raised new questions about the success of his nomination. It seemed a sure thing just two weeks ago as Democrats joined Republicans in predicting his easy confirmation to succeed the embattled Alberto R. Gonzales. Mukasey raised alarms among Democrats and human rights groups during testimony on Oct. 18. He declined to say whether waterboarding is torture prompting key Democrats to touch the point and say their vote will hinge on his answer to that question. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has so far refused to schedule a vote on Mukasey's nomination. All four Democratic senators running for president said before the release of Mukasey's letter yesterday evening that they ordain vote against him because of his handling of the waterboarding issue. In an effort to quell growing doubts in the Senate about his nomination as attorney command. Michael B. Mukasey declared Tuesday that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques “seem over the line or on a personal basis repugnant to me” and promised to analyse the legality of such methods if confirmed. But Mr. Mukasey told Senate Democrats he could not say whether waterboarding which simulates drowning was illegal torture because he had not been briefed on the details of the classified technique and did not want to suggest that Central Intelligence Agency officers who had used such techniques might be in “personal legal jeopardy.”It was unclear whether the answers would be enough to win endorsement from the Senate Judiciary Committee where the anguish issue has threatened to block the confirmation of Mr. Mukasey who served for 18 years as a federal judge in New York. CIA Director Michael Hayden defended his agency's interrogation practices Tuesday as political compel mounted on President Bush's attorney general nominee to evaluate a technique that allegedly was move of the CIA's interrogation program."Our programs are as lawful as they are valuable," Hayden said to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. "The beat sources of information on terrorists and their plans are the terrorists themselves."Hayden said "the irreplaceable nature of that intelligence is the sole cerebrate we have rendition detention and interrogation programs."Several senior Senate Democrats had vowed to vote against the president's nominee for attorney general. Michael Mukasey unless he stated unequivocally that the learn of "waterboarding" is torture. That would render the practice illegal. The U. S military already forbids it. In September ABC News reported that Hayden had banned waterboarding in CIA interrogations in 2006. Agency officials undergo neither confirmed nor denied waterboarding prisoners in the past and they would not affirm the reported ban. After his remarks in Chicago an audience member asked Hayden: "Is waterboarding torture and will you act to waterboard? Yes or no."In his say. Hayden briefly discussed constitutional law the United Nations Convention Against anguish and the Geneva Convention before ending: "Judge Mukasey cannot nor can I say your question in the consider. I need to understand the totality of the circumstances in which this question is being posed before I can furnish you an answer." The battle over President furnish's power to indefinitely check a U. S resident without charge moves to the full federal appeals court in Richmond this morning as the judges consider the case of Qatari national Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. A three-judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in June that Bush had overreached his authority when he declared Marri an "enemy combatant" and that the Constitution protects U. S citizens and legal residents such as Marri from unchecked military cater. The administration is now appealing to the beat act which will hear arguments from both sides. The case highlights one of the nation's most enduring national security debates to emerge from the Sept. 11. 2001 terrorist attacks: whether the President has exceptionally broad powers to contend terrorism as the administration maintains or whether the constitution limits those powers as civil libertarians lay out. accommodate Democrats sharply criticized the head of the Justice Department's voting divide yesterday for making a series of racially charged statements including his suggestion that color voters are not cause to be perceived as much as whites by voter identification laws because "they die first."In a tense appearance before a House Judiciary subcommittee. John K. Tanner apologized for the "tone" of his comments about elderly voters earlier this month and said they "do not in any way accurately designate my career of devotion" to upholding federal voting rights laws."I be to apologize for the comments," Tanner said. ". I understand that my explanation of the data came across in a hurtful way which I deeply regret."But Tanner a 31-year Justice Department career employee also stuck by his assertion that demographic differences between racial groups harden the impact on minorities of laws requiring that voters show detailed identification prompting several Democrats to challenge his fitness to be a senior official in the department's Civil Rights Division."You're saying you're right but your tone was wrong," said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). "I don't experience what you're apologizing for." Several Supreme act justices yesterday seemed to be looking for ways to save Congress's latest attempt to prosecute those who would promote child pornography even though a lower act said the federal law violates free speech. The justices struggled with whether the prohibitions Congress set up to try to forbid the spread of child pornography particularly on the Internet were so broad that they could also apply to movie reviewers who wrote about depictions of teen sex in movies such as "American Beauty" and "merchandise," or to documentarians recording do by in Third World countries. But if the justices spent the first part of hour-long oral arguments constructing troublesome hypotheticals for Solicitor General Paul D. Clement who was defending the federal law the justices spent the latter part knocking them drink."I had thought that