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<p>ASPEN, Colo. -- Federal forest officials are thinking of using hand saws to break up the carcasses of frozen cows that died inside a cabin at 11,000 feet near Aspen.</p> <p>The U.S. Forest Service had been exploring whether to burn the cabin or blow it up with explosives to get rid of the cabin and the cows. But a plan explored this week involves using hand saws to cut up carcasses of six cows frozen inside the cabin and four or five buried in the snow outside.</p>

Michelle Obama wows Aspen crowdFirst lady delivers fundraising speech at home of Jim and Paula Crown Scott Condon The Aspen Times Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado Tuesday, July 26, 2011 **SNIP** She touted her husband's accomplishments, highlighting that he took over an economy “on the brink of collapse” and nurtured it into “one starting to grow again.” The audience, the majority of which was female, broke into the first applause during her speech when she noted that her husband's administration is working to help women get equal pay for equal work. The crowd cheered again seconds later, when Obama noted her...

ASPEN — First Lady Michelle Obama will speak in Aspen Tuesday at a private fundraiser organized by the Democratic National Committee, the White House press office announced Wednesday. Few details about her trip were immediately available. “It's going to be at the home of Jim and Paula Crown,” Blanca O'Leary, chair of the Pitkin County Democratic Party, said regarding the fund raiser. Roughly 100 people are expected, she said. O'Leary said Obama will likely speak on the accomplishments of her husband's administration as well as the challenges ahead. She said she was unaware of any public appearances scheduled by the...

On the eve of President Barack Obama's address to the nation on U.S. military action in Libya and a recent story about a local Florida reporter who was locked in a storage closet during a fundraiser he attended for Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, Vice President Joe Biden can only be found vacationing in the ritzy resort city of Aspen, Colorado, reports the Aspen Times. According to the Aspen Times' article published on Friday, Mr Biden was described as "vacationing" in Aspen by a local sheriff after the Vice President flew in from headlining two fundraisers for Sen.Nelson in Florida:...

Gore brings his global warming fight to AspenFormer vice president calls it a ‘moral issue' By Andre Salvail The Aspen Times Monday, February 21, 2011 ASPEN — He may have been preaching to the choir, but... **SNIP** Their objective, he said, was to transform global warming into a theory rather than a fact. And so the opponents of the effort to recognize climate change embarked upon a “dedicated, cynical, lavishly funded strategy,” utilizing conservative talk radio, commentator Rush Limbaugh and his many imitators, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Fox News and other right-wing outlets. It didn't help, Gore said,...

ASPEN — It's been more than a year since Daniel Fordham got in trouble for an episode in which he called an Aspen police officer a “douche bag.” And those two words have sparked a war of words between the District Attorney's Office and Fordham's lawyer, Lauren Maytin of Aspen. Fordham is due back in Pitkin County Court on March 8, during which time Maytin is scheduled to argue for a special prosecutor to handle a case stemming from a Jan. 23, 2010 incident in downtown Aspen. Early that morning, Fordham was arrested outside of Rubey Park for disorderly conduct...

A Swiss bank that used its Cayman Islands’ branch to engage in what a US federal judge has branded “predatory lending practices” is being investigated by the US authorities. Senior officials of Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second largest bank, are facing claims that they pocketed millions of dollars by dishing out loans that were impossible to repay. On Tuesday, 15 September, 31 of the bank’s officials received subpoenas demanding that they hand over internal documents that explain why they loaned $375 million to the now bankrupt Yellowstone Club in 2005. The Yellowstone Club, founded by American tycoon Tim Blixseth, was once...

From www.takebackthememorial.org Today's Must Read From 9/11 Familes for a Safe & Strong America: Forsaking the public trust at Ground Zero: Bernstein to move IFC 20 feet east, take artifacts from the memorial site, and use 9/11's heroes as drawing cards The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has repeatedly failed the trust the American people placed in it. Either knowingly or with a lack of due diligence, the LMDC allowed a political ideolog to become a key member of the boards overseeing the 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero. Further, the LMDC has allowed him to turn the gateway cultural center to...

The Elite Turn Against ObamaJuly 14,2010 by Lloyd Grove You’d think the well-heeled and enlightened eggheads at the Aspen Ideas Festival—which is running all week in this fashionable resort town with heady panel discussions and earnest disquisitions involving all manner of deep thinkers and do-gooders—would be receptive to an intellectually ambitious president with big ideas of his own. In a way, the folks attending this cerebral conclave pairing the Aspen Institute think tank with the Atlantic Monthly magazine might even be seen as President Obama’s natural base. Apparently not so much. “The real problem we have,” Mort Zuckerman said, “are...

Gen. Casey: America may be in Iraq and Afghanistan for another decade Posted: July 10th, 2010 11:49 AM ET From CNN Audience Interaction Producer Eric Kuhn Aspen, Colorado (CNN) - The United States may still be in Afghanistan and Iraq for another ten years, according to Gen. George Casey. America could be in conflict in the region for another "decade or so," Casey, the army's Chief of Staff, said Friday night at the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival. Earlier this week in Aspen, the United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the U.S., Yousef al-Otaiba, stated he thought the United States should use...

Ferguson called for what he called “radical” measures. “I can’t emphasize strongly enough the need for radical fiscal reform to restore the incentives for work and remove the incentives for idleness.” He praised “really radical reform of the sort that, for example, Paul Ryan [the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee] has outlined in his wonderful ‘Roadmap’ for radical, root-and-branch reform not only of the tax system but of the entitlement system” and “unleash entrepreneurial innovation.” Otherwise, Ferguson warned: “Do you want to be a kind of implicit part of the European Union? I’d advise you against it.” This...

Lloyd Grove at the DB writing from the Aspen Ideas thingamajig where Obama's economic policies are apparently being lambasted by Niall Ferguson and Mort Zuckerman: “We are, without question, in a period of decline, particularly in the business world,” Zuckerman said. “The real problem we have…are some of the worst economic policies in place today that, in my judgment, go directly against the long-term interests of this country.” Zuckerman added that he detects in the Obama White House “hostility to the very kinds of [business] culture that have made this the great country that it is and was. I think...

DENVER -- This should be the golden season across the West, when aspen paint hillsides in shades of fall.But a mysterious ailment -- or perhaps a combination of factors -- is killing hundreds of thousands of acres of the trees from Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona through Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and into Canada, according to the U.S. government and independent scientists. The aspen die-off comes on the heels of a pine-beetle invasion that has destroyed millions of acres of evergreens. Foresters expect to lose virtually every mature lodgepole pine in Colorado -- five million acres of them.

Mueller Claimed Sheen Threatened Her with Knife Dec 27th 2009 Brooke Mueller told cops Charlie Sheen threatened her with a knife ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ. As we have already reported, one of the two felonies for which Charlie Sheen was arrested is felony menacing -- a threat involving a deadly weapon. Our law enforcement sources say Mueller told cops Charlie was in possession of a knife and threatened her with it. As we first reported, Mueller has recanted much of her story ... so her credibility has clearly come into serious question. In addition, as we also first...

Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Jim Hoft A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero. Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques. At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards...

ASPEN, Colo. — A Pomeranian has been kicked out of a Colorado resort town after getting in trouble for biting and other bad behavior. Municipal Judge Brooke Peterson told the dog's owner, Melinda Goldrich, that if the dog is seen again in Aspen, it will be rounded up by animal control officers and put to death. . . .

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - It's out of town or else for Gizmo, a Pomeranian with a bad reputation in Aspen. Municipal Judge Brooke Peterson told Gizmo's owner, Melinda Goldrich, that if the dog is seen again in town, it will be put to death. Goldrich was in court Wednesday on a charge of keeping a vicious dog. An employee at an Aspen fitness club says Gizmo, who was tied to a fence, bit her in August. The dog served 10 days in an animal shelter. Goldrich had been under a court order to not leave Gizmo unattended after he bit...

ASPEN, Colo. — A man was attacked by a large black bear in his Aspen home in the latest in a string of violent encounters with the animals this summer in the mountain community. Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said the man had gone to the first floor of his home to check on his three barking dogs when the bear struck him in the head.

Wildlife officers with the Colorado Division of Wildlife are searching for a bear involved in an attack Thursday night in Aspen. A man ...was attacked in his home by a bear shortly after 8 p.m. the homeowner's three dogs began barking loudly in the ground floor of the house... When the homeowner went downstairs to check on the dogs, he was confronted by a large, black bear. The victim of this attack is being treated at an area hospital.

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- It's nearly 2 a.m. and authorities have found the suspect in a string of break-ins into multimillion-dollar homes. His nose led him right to their trap - a cage filled with barbecue-scented cantaloupe and peaches. It's a 550-pound black bear....

Must be playing all that hardball by President Barack Obama’s administration. Attorney General Eric Holder becomes the second Cabinet official to miss travel after breaking something. Holder, the country’s top law enforcement official, cracked a tooth last night and missed a trip to Aspen, Colorado, where he had been scheduled to attend the “Aspen Ideas Festival” on the eve of a long weekend for the Fourth of July holiday.

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo., March 30, 2009 – Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki opened the 23rd annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic here last night, encouraging more than 400 participants he said had found their way “to the top of the mountain in search of miracles.” Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, center, chats with participants in the 23rd annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic at Snowmass Village, Colo., during a March 29, 2009, “Taste of Aspen” celebration that kicked off the six-day event. Among participating veterans are, left, retired Army Cpl. Allen Babin, an 82nd Airborne...

more than 400 severely injured veterans – 34 of whom hail from Colorado – will take part in the 23rd National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic from March 29 through April 3. It is the largest adaptive event of its kind in the world. Hosted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and co-sponsored by the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), the clinic teaches veterans with disabilities in adaptive alpine and Nordic skiing, and introduces them to a number of other adaptive recreational activities and sports. It’s open to U.S. military veterans with traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, orthopedic...

The owners of an Aspen movie theater now hold the rights to Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's catalog after an eight-year legal dispute with a Scandinavian media group that raised tricky questions about international business deals.

ASPEN — A man who left bomb threats and homemade bombs around Aspen on New Year's Eve shot and killed himself in his car a few hours after his threats cleared much of the resort town, Aspen Police said. Assistant Aspen Police Chief Bill Linn said James Chester Blanning, 72, walked into two Aspen banks Wednesday afternoon and left packages wrapped in holiday paper along with notes saying the boxes contained bombs. The notes threatened "mass death" and demanded $60,000 cash, along with criticisms of President George Bush, Linn said.

<p>ASPEN — A man who left bomb threats and homemade bombs around Aspen on New Year's Eve shot and killed himself in his car a few hours after his threats cleared much of the resort town, Aspen Police said.</p> <p>Assistant Aspen Police Chief Bill Linn said James Chester Blanning, 72, walked into two Aspen banks Wednesday afternoon and left packages wrapped in holiday paper along with notes saying the boxes contained bombs. The notes threatened "mass death" and demanded $60,000 cash, along with criticisms of President George Bush, Linn said.</p>

ASPEN, Colo. (Fortune) -- Palm Beach and New York may have been hardest hit by the Bernard Madoff scandal, but residents in Aspen, Colo., are quietly tallying up massive losses. The upscale resort community has a population base of under 6,000, but reports over the past week reveal that dozens of residents have been undone by the $50 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly perpetrated by Madoff. According to local asset managers and lawyers, these families have lost upwards of $1 billion. Some have seen up to 95% of their life savings disappear in the past few days -- both long-time locals...

ASPEN — The snow in Aspen just keeps on coming, but it may be too cold to enjoy it by Saturday. A winter storm that dumped up to a foot of snow on local ski slopes over the past two days has moved out, but another system is headed for Aspen Friday night. So are plummeting temperatures and a brutal wind chill. On the heels of the winter storm warning that expired Friday morning, the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for the northwest mountains of Colorado, including Aspen and Snowmass, starting Friday evening. It extends until...

Joining us now from Chicago is a woman who knows all about Barack Obama's Chicago gang, Sugar Rautbord, who actually introduced the Senator to George Soros. Wow. Why did you do that? SUGAR RAUTBORD, OBAMA SUPPORTER: Well, because he was a Democrat, and he is rich, so that kind of makes sense. And when he was running, Barack, for the U.S. Senate, Paula and Jim Crown from the very important billionaire Chicago Crown family that owns Aspen, owns a lot of companies, very generous, very philanthropic, we were all working with Barack to run for the Senate, and I was...

One of the political left’s favorite conceits is that Americans — particularly the “red state” fly-over variety — hate their government. We’re not discerning enough to distinguish between the bad elements of government — those increasingly annoying pre-emptions of our privacy and choices — and government’s ability to protect us from tainted groceries, terrorism and nuclear attacks from rogue states. We don’t split hairs. We dissenters simply hate our government with a blind fury — monuments, bridges, highways and all. The word “hater” is now routinely misapplied to anyone who questions any government initiative — whether it be the public...

We here at Comic Book Resources are very sad to report that artist Michael Turner has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 37. Aspen Comics’ Vince Hernandez told CBR News Saturday morning that Turner passed away Friday night at 10:42 Pacific Time at Santa Monica Hospital in Calfiornia. The news spread quickly at Wizard World Chicago, during what would have otherwise been a riotous night at the hotel bar, the mood suddenly turned somber with remembrances of Turner from friends and acquaintances. A minute of silence will be observed during Wizard World Chicago Saturday afternoon. Turner is...

From Icecap.com's website: The Aspen Skiing Company said Monday that it will open up Aspen Mountain from June 13 to 15 for skiers and snowboarders. The company says record winter snowfall has left the mountain covered with snow, leaving behind an average of more than 3 feet of snow on the upper slopes. So, for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Aspen will open seven runs and about 45 acres of mostly intermediate terrain that is accessible by the Ajax Express chairlift. And Missoula, Montana’s water park is closing due to cold weather ‘to protect children from hypothermia’. In the Seattle...

Aspen Mountain will be open to skiers and snowboarders this weekend, according to Jeff Hanle, spokesman for the Aspen Skiing Co. “Yes, we are going skiing,” Hanle said, though he could not confirm the details. The Skico previously indicated it would consider opening the mountain this weekend, which coincides with the Aspen Food & Wine Magazine Classic. It's unusual but not unprecedented to have skiing on Ajax mountain this late in the season, after Independence Pass already has opened for the summer. But highway crews only last week re-opened the 12,093-foot pass after a particularly snowy winter. Arapahoe Basin, which...

One day, Aspen could be known for its golf courses, not its skiing. At least, that's one of the scenarios floated by Aspen officials studying global warming and how it could one day affect the lush Colorado city. "A lot of our economy is based on tourism and skiing," said Kim Peterson, global warming project manager for the city of Aspen. "So we've talked about what we do as a community. Do we put golf courses up?"

FORMER US secretary of state Colin Powell has revealed that he spent 2 1/2 hours vainly trying to persuade President George W. Bush not to invade Iraq and believes today's conflict cannot be resolved by US forces. "I tried to avoid this war," Mr Powell said at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. "I took him through the consequences of going into an Arab country and becoming the occupiers." Mr Powell has become increasingly outspoken about the level of violence in Iraq, which he believes is in a state of civil war. "The civil war will ultimately be resolved by...

THE former American secretary of state Colin Powell has revealed that he spent 2½ hours vainly trying to persuade President George W Bush not to invade Iraq and believes today’s conflict cannot be resolved by US forces. “I tried to avoid this war,� Powell said at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. “I took him through the consequences of going into an Arab country and becoming the occupiers.� Powell has become increasingly outspoken about the level of violence in Iraq, which he believes is in a state of civil war. “The civil war will ultimately be resolved by a test...

October 12, 2006, 1:38 a.m. George Soros’s Two Left HandsThe partisan squeeze on judicial seminars. By Edward Whelan In August 2004, according to this article in the liberal New Yorker, “a clandestine summit meeting took place at the Aspen Institute, in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The participants, all Democrats, were sworn to secrecy� and included five billionaires who “shared a common goal: to use their fortunes to engineer the defeat of President George W. Bush in the 2004 election.� The wealthiest of these “hard-core partisans� was George Soros, who had been a “leading crusader for campaign-finance reform.� Soros, through his...

Groups fund Durbin's trips to exotic places BY DORI MEINERT COPLEY NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON - In January 2004, Sen. Dick Durbin and his wife spent six days in Honolulu at the expense of the privately funded Aspen Institute think tank where he attended a conference on U.S.-China relations. Durbin and his wife, Loretta, traveled to Venice, Italy, where they spent 14 days in August of the same year for a conference on U.S.-Russia relations, also paid for by the Aspen Institute. The Illinois Democrat also visited South Africa on the tab of other private groups last year, according to his...

Speculation is mounting (except, of course, among the “professional” press), as to the identities of six of the eight individuals included in the Libby subpoena to The New York Times (see Clarice Feldman’s piece here). The Times deemed the identities of only two of the parties worthy of release, former CIA director George Tenet and former White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer. The names of the other six remain elusive

In new ads, ski company says global warming could dry up snow during the next century... The Aspen Skiing Co. hopes potential customers are ready for a snow job. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a new advertising campaign for the 2006-07 season that centers around the message that snow — and skiing — will disappear around 2100 if humans don’t take drastic action to slow global warming. Three full-page ads, which show a melting snowflake imposed over Highland Bowl, will run in SKI and Outside magazines in the next few months. One ad portrays a “certificate of death” for snow....

Nowhere is the blurring of distinctions between industries more apparent than in the guest list of an exclusive, invitation-only summer retreat for corporate titans in Sun Valley, Idaho. Conceived in the early 1980s by banker Herbert Allen as a week-long mingling of Hollywood's elite, the 24th annual gathering kicks off this week with a group of executives unlikely to rub shoulders at other conferences.The informal event, which begins with presentations on Wednesday on topics ranging from healthcare to dependence on oil, was once dominated by media industry chatter. But this year's guest list suggests the topic du jour will likely...

ASPEN — Democrats should perform well in November if they focus on issues like climate change, former president Bill Clinton told an Aspen Ideas Festival audience Friday. “Historically, we should win,” Clinton said. “We might well win one or more houses.” In a wide-ranging, hour-long interview, Clinton discussed AIDS, Sudan, limits to executive power, climate change, Rwanda, oil, Iraq, Democratic Party strategies and GOP mastermind Karl Rove. The Republican strategy is weak, he said.

ASPEN, Colo. -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was briefly hospitalized Friday after he fell ill at a restaurant where he was dining with former President Bill Clinton and others.

Saying he was fine, former Secretary of State Colin Powell returned to a seminar Friday after being briefly hospitalized following a dinner with former President Clinton and others. Powell, 69, arrived on time for a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival and showed no signs that he had been sick the night before. "I'm fine. I look healthy, don't I?" he told the Aspen Daily News after the hour-long session. "I started hyperventilating a little and was feeling a little altitude sickness, I think. "I probably would have been OK but they said, 'Oh god, let's take a look...

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was sitting in an ambulance Thursday night after falling ill while having dinner with friends. Powell, 69, could be seen on Hopkins Avenue sitting up in an ambulance at 11 p.m. while his wife, Alma Vivian Johnson, and an aide looked on and two paramedics attended to his care. After sitting up for several moments, paramedics had him lie down inside the ambulance. The four-star general was having dinner at Campo de Fiori with a large entourage that included former President Bill Clinton and Aspen businessman Michael Goldberg. A source inside the...

ASPEN, Colorado (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was briefly hospitalized early Friday after he fell ill at a restaurant where he was dining with former President Clinton and others, police said. Aspen police Sgt. Bill Linn said the four-star general told him it appeared to be a combination of altitude sickness and something he ate. "He is conscious and in very good spirits," Linn said shortly before Powell was released from Aspen Valley Hospital at 1:45 a.m. Linn said Powell asked him to speak with reporters. Powell's Alexandria, Virginia-based secretary, Peggy Cifrino, did not immediately return a...

WESTWOOD ONE LAUNCHES THE MONICA CROWLEY SHOW --New Program to Air Saturdays, Noon - 3 p.m. ET-- Beginning Saturday, April 1, 2006 New York, NY Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - Westwood One (NYSE: WON) is proud to announce the national launch of The Monica Crowley Show, the three-hour talk program hosted by author and news personality Monica Crowley. The show begins Saturday, April 1, 2006, and will air from noon to 3 p.m. ET. The Monica Crowley Show will debut on major market stations across the country including: WABC-AM New York, WTKK-FM Boston and WTNT-AM Washington DC. The show will...

Coming soon to a congressional election near you -- something akin to the Republicans' Contract with America. As outlined by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean in Aspen on Saturday, the preliminary points to cover in the agreement will include: * A raise in the federal minimum wage; * "Real" stem cell research; * A balanced federal budget; * Ethics legislation; * No selling of public lands "for corporate benefits." Dean said the United States must link jobs to energy independence by shifting part of its workforce to retrofitting homes and businesses, and creating manufacturing jobs in the solar and...

Aspen - The war on drugs has turned into a nasty war of words in a town once renowned for drug use. It seems the Aspen of legend - a place where cocaine was openly snorted in restaurant bars in the 1970s - has evolved and become divided when it comes to illegal substances. This is still an Aspen where federal drug agents can be heckled in a public meeting, but it is also an Aspen where longtime residents express worry about what kind of message a laissez- faire attitude about drugs sends to kids. The change was evident Tuesday...

A dramatic drug bust at two Aspen restaurants busy with the après ski crowd has created a rift between the two major law enforcement agencies at one of Colorado's premier ski resort towns. Fifty-three officers from a number of law enforcement agencies, some with guns drawn, stormed into two Aspen restaurants during the busy after-ski time last Friday. The raids happened shortly after 4 p.m. and netted about 2 ounces of cocaine, $3,000 in cash, nine arrests for drug involvement and 11 for immigration law violations. Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, an opponent of the "war on drugs" who believes...