Colorado
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5:01 p.m.
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The 2012 special session of the Colorado General Assembly ended today after passing bills on three of the subjects it was convened to consider. Bills on the other items before the state legislature, including civil unions, were killed. [T]he civil unions proposal failed in a Republican House committee, and many of the additional bills Hickenlooper asked lawmakers to consider pe...
Wash Park Prophet - 3:49 p.m. - 4 clicks 
This is just sad. As you may remember from a couple days ago, the Colorado House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee killed a bill that would legalize civil unions. It had already been approved by the Senate and, if passed in the House, would have been signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper. The move would have signified a shift for gay and lesbian Coloradans from third-cl...
DailyKos (Colorado) - 1:51 p.m. - 7 clicks
Gov. John Hickenlooper's full statement on the end of today's special session. DENVER - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - Gov. John Hickenlooper today thanked the General Assembly for using the special session to successfully address unfinished business that died last week without debate or consideration by the House of Representatives. Lawmakers this week passed a water projects bill that will create...
Colorado Pols - 1:51 p.m. - 8 clicks
If you've ever fancied yourself as a member of Gov. John Hickenlooper's cabinet and you know a thing or two about energy, you might be in luck. The Governor's office announced today that Tanuj "TJ" Deora has resigned as Director of the Colorado Energy Office in order to accept a position in the private sector with IHS in Englewood. Full press release after the jump. Gov. Hickenlooper annou...
Colorado Pols - 12:46 p.m. - 6 clicks
by Michael Lund, Big Media Blog When was the last time a sitting president greeted Denver on the airwaves of a Spanish language radio station? This was the first question that popped into my head when I saw KBNO Fernando Sergio's Facebook post that he'd be interviewing President Obama Tuesday morning at 10 am. Obama spoke to Colorado Hispanics ... in English. And what did he...
Colorado Pols - 11:47 a.m. - 8 clicks
POLS NOTE : Yeah, we know the title is cheesy, but would you rather see another "Bain of His Existence" pun? Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been taking some hard shots (again) from his time as CEO at Bain Capital, and information is now leaking out about how Colorado was negatively impacted by Bain's business model. You might recall that prominent Republicans we...
Colorado Pols - 11:04 a.m. - 9 clicks
I've been reading about fights breaking out at GOP conventions and thinking that the GOP needs to sign up for anger management therapy. Most of the fighting seems to be between Ron Paul supporters and Mitt Romney supporters. According to the Daily Paul website, "In Oklahoma, in a scene that has been called "contention at the convention", a Romney supporter (believed to be almost 80-years-old) pun...
Colorado Pols - 9:52 a.m. - 11 clicks
9NEWS' Kevin Torres reports , though most following the story of the killing of civil unions legislation at the hands of Colorado House Republicans are already well aware of this sidebar: When a Republican representative from Montrose voted against the bill to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples on Monday evening, many people dubbed him the "man who killed it." After hi...
Colorado Pols - 8:07 a.m. - 10 clicks
Our colleague Lotus has initiated some fruitful correspondence on the subject of the still-impending fracking of the Pikes Peak region. In light of the City’s abrupt cancellation of the May 17 public hearing, we’ll present excerpts of his emails and telephone notes here. Are Colorado Springs Citizens Being Gagged On Fracking Issue? The fracking hearing [...]...
Not My Tribe - 1:27 a.m. - 12 clicks
This is a quick diary. I had to write about this because it is absolutely a case of predictability given the circumstances. Two Denver Public Schools are being investigated for cheating on state standardized tests. Tying teacher pay to student outcomes makes this a scenario predictable and likely to occur again and again. http://www.ednewscolorado.org/... ...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Tue 4:51 p.m. - 13 clicks
The Denver City Council supported a measure, called a "camping ban," a euphemism for the criminalization of the fact that someone is homeless and living on the streets (i.e. a vagrant) by a 9-4 margin in a preliminary vote a couple of weeks ago. I am deeply disgusted (but not tremendously surprised) to learn today (the efforts of the Denver Post to prominently make clear who is and isn't suppor...
Wash Park Prophet - Mon 7:06 p.m. - 14 clicks
No one could describe the events of the last several days better than Jace Woodrum, Deputy Excecutive Director of One Colorado: http://www.one-colorado.org/... ...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Mon 3:28 p.m. - 14 clicks
Journalists, like Denver Post Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard, speculated that House Majority Leader Amy Stephens' primary fight against Rep. Marsha Looper might play a role in the fate of the civil unions bill. Stephens would want to show voters in her El Paso County district that she's the uncompromising conservative that she claims to be, versus Looper, who reportedly supports civil u...
Colorado Pols - Mon 3:28 p.m. - 14 clicks
More than 230,000 people stopped being eligible for unemployment insurance benefits over the weekend—not because they got jobs, but because the emergency extended benefits program providing their benefits was cut as part of the payroll tax deal earlier this year. The number of weeks of benefits available in states drop as unemployment drops, which hit California, Colorado, Connecticut, Flo...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Mon 1:29 p.m. - 17 clicks
May 9th marked the end of the 2012 General Session of the Colorado Legislature. We said in January that this session was about creating jobs -- and the conservation community delivered by creating an estimated 2,500 jobs and keeping thousands of tons of hazardous electronic waste out of our landfills with the passing of the bipartisan Electronic Recycling Jobs Act. We helped Colorado c...
Colorado Pols - Mon 1:02 p.m. - 16 clicks
UPDATE 8:10PM: The special session civil unions legislation, HB12S-1006 , dies in the House State Affairs Committee on a party-line 5-4 vote. ----- UPDATE #5: LGBT philanthropist and major Democratic funder Tim Gill is personally attending today's hearing on civil unions legislation, reports Nic Garcia of Out Front Colorado. ----- UPDATE #4: With all eyes fixed on the Colorado ...
Colorado Pols - Mon 11:10 a.m. - 17 clicks
Overall, we've got to call this a good outing for Gov. John Hickenlooper on CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley yesterday. Beginning with a detailed and convincing round of praise for President Barack Obama and his decision last week to support same-sex marriage, Hickenlooper does a great job explaining the issues around the special session of the legislature he called, broad s...
Colorado Pols - Mon 11:10 a.m. - 15 clicks
CBS4's Shaun Boyd should let her viewers know that Mitt Romney is misrepresenting an interview Boyd had with Romney when he was in Denver May 10. In an interview last week , a radio host asked Romney: "I saw that you got a little testy with one reporter who wanted to talk about marijuana and same-sex marriage yesterday. Has this been a real curve ball for ya?" Romney replied: "She asked ...
SquareState - Mon 10:29 a.m. - 12 clicks
CBS4's Shaun Boyd should let her viewers know that Mitt Romney is misrepresenting an interview Boyd had with Romney when he was in Denver May 10. In an interview last week , a radio host asked Romney: "I saw that you got a little testy with one reporter who wanted to talk about marijuana and same-sex marriage yesterday. Has this been a real curve ball for ya?" Romney replied: "She asked ...
Colorado Pols - Mon 10:29 a.m. - 12 clicks
The Colorado General Assembly is back for its first day of the 2012 special session called by Governor Hickenlooper after the Republican state house majority went into recess for the last few hours of May 8, 2012 (the last day before the end of the regular session and deadline for passage of bills on second reading), in order to kill a civil unions bill that had cleared three committees and had th...
Wash Park Prophet - Mon 9:50 a.m. - 14 clicks
A press release from the group, Colorado Conservation Voters, declares a successful year on the environmental lobbying front. Colorado's conservation community praised a productive 2012 legislative session, which they entered with priorities to create jobs and clean up our air and water. Conservationists accomplished precisely that, highlighting two major bipartisan bills passed with wi...
Colorado Pols - Mon 12:04 a.m. - 15 clicks
GOP Rep. Spencer Swalm shares a decidedly cynical view of the legislative special session convening tomorrow morning--writing in this weekend's Centennial Citizen: In this country, elections are the usual method for resolving important public policy issues. However, given Gov. Hickenlooper's decision to convene a special session to deal with what he must believe is a civil unions "...
Colorado Pols - Sun 9:28 a.m. - 10 clicks
There will be miniscule rights payments to the state or other owner, the profits will most likely be going out of state, but the effects will be right here in our very own back yard: Who you gonna trust - Governor John Hickenlooper or your lyin' eyes ? In Hickenlooper's home state, there has been tension over how much local communities can regulate drilling within their borders...
SquareState - Sat 8:02 a.m. - 16 clicks
The details are available at the Defense Tech blog. The laser melts down or ignites fuel in the opposing boat's engines. Unlike Star Wars, however, the laser beam has to stay on target quite a while to do the job. Copyright Andrew Oh-Willeke (2012) ...
Wash Park Prophet - Thu 3:10 p.m. - 11 clicks
There was a diary published this morning by BCO Gal that got 6 comments and 10 recs -- now 11, including mine. I think that when you read it, you'll understand why the fact that this hasn't gotten greater coverage, unless I somehow missed it, is amazing. So, yes, this is one of those " go read that puppy and rec it if you like it " diaries -- and I think that you will like it. (B...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 9 - 17 clicks
BREAKING, per Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post via twitter: Governor Hickenlooper to call for a special session; the agenda includes civil unions. What a difference 12 hours makes! Meanwhile, President Barack Obama just announced he now favors gay marriage. When it rains, it pours. From the Huffington Post . From Colorado's State Constitution, Article IV, Section 9 (thank you, David Hend...
SquareState - May 9 - 14 clicks
BREAKING, per Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post via twitter: Governor Hickenlooper to call for a special session; the agenda includes civil unions. What a difference 12 hours makes! Meanwhile, President Barack Obama just announced he now favors gay marriage. When it rains, it pours. From the Huffington Post . From Colorado's State Constitution, Article IV, Section 9 (thank you, David Hender...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 9 - 11 clicks
Mitt Romney promised to sit down with real-life reporters (yes, they're still out there) during his visit today to Colorado, according to a report yesterday by Fox 31 political correspondent Eli Stokols . Stokols, you recall, called Romney out for NOT meeting with real-life Denver reporters last time Romney came to Colorado, preferring the cozy confines of conservative talk radio . So you hav...
SquareState - May 9 - 16 clicks
On Election Day, 1992 I was in downtown Denver, celebrating the fact that Bill Clinton had just been elected President. I remember the joy I felt as I left that ballroom, feeling satisfaction that the hard-fought race had been won. When I left the hotel I noticed an angry group gathered outside the hotel. They were angry that Amendment 2 had passed, which prohibited government protection of LG...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 9 - 17 clicks
Republican leaders in Colorado's State House have killed SB2, the Civil Unions bill in Colorado's General Assembly, as well as thirty other bills including a bill funding $20 million in water projects, by calling a recess of the state house two hours before the midnight deadline for passage of the bill that was coming up for a debate on the House floor where it had the support of 37 of t...
Wash Park Prophet - May 8 - 19 clicks
Good news on an otherwise bleak day. In a quick and under-the-radar way, Colorado's Republican led legislature has just one step left to make Colorado the 11th state to have civil unions/same sex marriage in the law, and that is to take it to a vote. Three different Republican legislators crossed the aisle to keep the bill from dying in committee. The final hurdle is to get the...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 8 - 13 clicks
SB 163, which would initially have reduced the penalties for a number of drug crimes in Colorado that are now minor felonies to misdemeanor status and downgraded moderately serious felony drug crimes to minor felony sentence, passed in the House Judiciary Committee yesterday without amendment from the Senate version, clearing its path to the House floor for consideration on the merits in a sec...
Wash Park Prophet - May 8 - 11 clicks
Colorado Law regulates our medical marijuana industry. Forty-eight businesses that were legal under Colorado's Medical Marijuana Law, were taxed under Colorado Medical Marijuana Law, and paid more $400,000 in licensing fees as they were winding their way through Colorado's regulatory schema were bullied into closing by US Attorney Walsh. Now, more threatening letters are on the way and US At...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 8 - 10 clicks
After an editorial from the Denver Post yesterday , urging Governor Hickenlooper to call a special session on civil unions (essentially same sex marriage in all but name), if the House doesn't finish considering Senate Bill 2 (SB2) , the Civil Unions bill in Colorado, by the end of the legislative session tomorrow, the state house is moving forward to consider the bill. The House Appropriatio...
Wash Park Prophet - May 8 - 7 clicks
Colorado's Civil Unions bill (SB 2) could go either way this legislative session, which ends on Wednesday. The bill would make it possible for same sex couples to have a union which would carry all rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law, but not the name (something that can't be done without a state constitutional amendment). It would be a major step forward for Colorado, which ...
Wash Park Prophet - May 7 - 4 clicks
The temptation to accept the slowly crumbling conventional wisdom regarding "austerity" in DC must be enormous for our rookie senators. (I emphasize rookie and give no credit to Bennet's jury-rigged first session.) The citizens of Greece and France have had their say in recent elections by rejecting the all pain, no gain plans designed by the same geniuses that created the conditions of ...
SquareState - May 7 - 3 clicks
I didn't see this issue diaried anywhere, so I thought I would give you some information from the wild west. It is now clear that civil unions will be the law in Colorado next week!! Considering this state passed an anti-gay marriage Constitutional Amendment several years ago by a wide margin. But Colorado's exterme libertarian bent is showing up again. And the most amazing thing, th...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 5 - 2 clicks
The hideous Simpson-Bowles budget proposal that failed at its mission and was not supported by its commissioners refuses to die . Pete Peterson has spent years going after Social Security. He's not going to quit now as the smell of fresh blood within the DC beltway wafts anew. (OK, that was horrible a metaphor, but you see what I'm saying. No? - z) The fiscal summit, sponsored by Peterson...
SquareState - May 5 - 4 clicks
(UPDATE: The Social Security Kill Team, i.e. Pete Peterson Foundation's 2012 Fiscal Summit will meet next week. See below the fold for details.) The Conventional Wisdom found in Washington, DC is a constant threat to our democracy and an easy out for politicians who don't have the guts to do their jobs. The Iraq War was a result of that failed wisdom. Social Security has been a constant tar...
SquareState - May 4
Just want to keep you guys updated as I progress. Got packed, moved out...well, moved into my car =) Have different couches to sleep on for a few days while I say my goodbyes in L.A. and head to Boulder Monday. In case you know of anyone whose couch I could crash on in Vegas on Monday night, or Grand Junction, CO on Tuesday night, those are my planned stopping points for this 1,000 journey...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 3 - 3 clicks
Denver was spoiled last time out with a wonderful convention and a winning presidential candidate. The Democratic National Convention for the same winning President will be held in North Carolina , a right-to-work-for-less state with the requisite right-wing Republican wackos Virginia Foxx and Patrick McHenry , and endangered Blue Dog Democrats like Heath Schuler . Convention sites ar...
SquareState - May 3
Dear Women of Colorado (And The Men Who Love Them), While you've been busy raising your children, going to work, and caring for everyone around you, Tea Party crazies have been trying to take away women's rights and plunge us back into a previous century. In 2010, Tea Party extremists gained power in Washington DC, and in many parts of this country. They've presented more than 1100 separate legi...
SquareState - May 1
Dear Women of Colorado (And The Men Who Love Them), While you've been busy raising your children, going to work, and caring for everyone around you, Tea Party crazies have been trying to take away women's rights and plunge us back into a previous century. In 2010, Tea Party extremists gained power in Washington DC, and in many parts of this country. They've presented more than 1100 separate...
DailyKos (Colorado) - May 1
On April 28th, on a beautiful day at 10:00am, people gathered from the four corners of Colorado to protest against the War on Women. It was a grassroots led campaign that was the idea of a woman in Michigan. This is the uproar from women angry at the policies and legislation being proposed all over the United States. Colorado is the home of Focus on the Family. The first personhood amend...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Apr 30
Two thousand Colorado men and women participated in "We Are Women" events on Saturday, which included a Rally, a March/Parade, pre- and post-event concerts, and a flashmob at the Colorado State Capitol. Denver's main newspaper had nothing to say about it. Meanwhile, Denver's Channel 9 News did mention the women's events briefly while also making time for another important breaking story, "Stude...
SquareState - Apr 29
Thousands of Colorado men and women participated in "We Are Women" events on Saturday, which included a Rally, a March/Parade, pre- and post-event concerts, and a flashmob at the Colorado State Capitol. Denver's main newspaper had nothing to say about it. Meanwhile, Denver's Channel 9 News did mention the women's events briefly while also making time for another important breaking story, "Stu...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Apr 29
If you live in one of the sixteen states (and D.C.) that have legalized the use of medical marijuana, or if you live in one of the twelve states where similar legislation is pending, you may be wondering how such laws work. My state (Colorado) came to legalize medical marijuana by way of a ballot amendment approved by 54% of the voters on November 7, 2000, and the new law went into effect on...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Apr 28
The power grab is dead ... at least for now. The proposed legislation drafted by the 'we know best' Jefferson County Commissioners to create a 'Beltway Completion Authority' won't be introduced in this session of the Colorado legislature after all.......
Dave Chandler - Apr 27
The pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action and the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund have spent $1 million in a television and online ad buy in two states—Colorado and Nevada—to air this ad focusing on Mitt Romeny's ties to big oil. "Big oil's fingerprints are all over him," the ad says, pointing to reports that conservative groups - including Americans for Prosperity, back...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Apr 25 - 2 clicks
Fracking in Colorado and all around the Country has been speeding up at an alarming pace. I had the chance to talk with Activist Sonia Skakich Skirma about some of the terrible things that have been happening to residents in Colorado, but also some good news for the November Ballot. ...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Apr 21
