http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/co-news/ en-us Sun, 5 Jul 2009 18:59:30 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286038/posts Two Colorado organizations have launched another petition drive to put a personhood amendment on the 2010 ballot. Colorado Right to Life and Personhood Colorado are joining forces to gather the signatures for the 2010 Colorado Personhood Initiative. Right to Life spokeswoman Leslie Hanks says they are energized for the campaign. "People are really beginning to see that the God-given right to life of the preborn child is something exciting to fight for," she explains, "and we've really stood idly by for too long, allowing horrible human rights abuses to go unchallenged in so many ways in this country." In 2008, Colorado's Personhood Amendment garnered... OneNewsNow http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286038/posts#comment Sun, 5 Jul 2009 18:59:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285688/posts Denver Capitol Tea Party You Tube (Jenny Hatch Channel) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285688/posts#comment Sun, 5 Jul 2009 00:37:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285568/posts LONGMONT — Free Marijuana in Longmont is collecting signatures to ask voters in November to change city pot laws. But even some members of the group aren’t confident they’ll get the question on the ballot. The group wants to legalize possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana for adults and reduce city penalties for public consumption of marijuana and possession of some types of drug paraphernalia. Volunteers have been walking neighborhoods, knocking on doors and visiting local bars and hangouts as they try to collect the 3,485 signatures they need to put the question before voters. Free Marijuana volunteers... Longmont Times Call http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285568/posts#comment Sat, 4 Jul 2009 19:06:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283840/posts U.S. 'ready' for N. Korean missile Pyongyang expected to test ICBM By Bill Gertz July 2, 2009 COLORADO SPRINGS | U.S. missile defenses are prepared to try to knock down the last stage of a Taepodong-2 missile that North Korea is expected soon to launch if sensors detect the weapon threatens U.S. territory, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command told The Washington Times. "The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I'm very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I've... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283840/posts#comment Thu, 2 Jul 2009 03:58:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283733/posts Former congressman Scott McInnis took the first major step in his gubernatorial bid Wednesday, filing paperwork with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office to create his campaign committee and begin raising funds. “We need to strengthen taxpayer protections, not tear them apart,” he said. “And we need a climate where Colorado is once again a magnet for small business and entrepreneurs, not a state that demonizes companies that offer family-sustaining jobs — and revenue.” Denver Business Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283733/posts#comment Thu, 2 Jul 2009 00:48:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283521/posts All eyes will be on Chief Denver District Judge Larry Naves on Wednesday as he takes arguments at an all-day hearing for and against giving ousted professor Ward Churchill his job back at the University of Colorado. The hearing is the culmination of a lengthy dispute between CU and the controversial professor, who was fired two years ago. The judge has the option of ruling from the bench at the end of the hearing or issuing a written decision later. Neither the judge’s clerk nor the attorneys in the case would hazard a guess as to when Naves might announce... DailyCamera http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283521/posts#comment Wed, 1 Jul 2009 20:09:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282673/posts Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- Although they were not successful in getting their states to sign off on state constitution amendments for personhood for unborn children, pro-life advocates in Colorado and Montana are giving the effort another try. A large majority of Colorado voters rejected one amendment while Montana voters never had a chance to vote on the proposal there.Backers of the amendments will host kickoffs in both states on measures they say will recognize the rights of all citizens, including children who haven't been born. In Montana, pro-life state Rep. Wendy Warburton is working with the Montana Pro Life Coalition... Life News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282673/posts#comment Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:12:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281935/posts Coloradans whose license plates expire in July will have to pay new fees to get their plates renewed starting Wednesday. The size of the fees varies by the weight of the vehicle... Late fines are going up, too, and there will be a $2 daily fee on rental cars. The fees come from Senate Bill 108, the first new funding source for Colorado highways since the last time the gas tax increased nearly two decades ago. Democrats led by Gov. Bill Ritter pushed for the law, which should raise $200 million to $250 million a year to repair roads and... Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281935/posts#comment Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:18:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276780/posts Like other green-leaning Colorado cities, Boulder finds good intentions aren't enough to meet greenhouse-gas goals. Even for Boulder, an icon of earthy urban planning, saving the planet doesn't come easy. Faced with a looming deadline and lagging results in its efforts to cut carbon-dioxide emissions, city leaders recently vowed to redouble their efforts. The City Council earlier this month voted to raise the city's "carbon tax" — a charge based on how much electricity one consumes — to the maximum $21 per year for residences and $94 per year for businesses. And Boulderites aren't pikers. Many of the 20 or... Denver Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276780/posts#comment Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:01:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276414/posts A piece of legislation is before the U.S. House that could drive up your electricity bill by 47 percent. The proposed bill would put a cap on carbon dioxide emissions output for all electricity companies. As part of a national effort alerting rate-payers, Grand Valley Power is sending a letter to their customers. they know their customers are hurting in this economic climate, and urges them to speak up. KJCT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276414/posts#comment Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:47:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275452/posts Easy money, sleepless nights lure users, cultural expert says Western Colorado is far from immune to the looting such as that alleged by federal agents after the arrests last week of 24 people in southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. There’s a modern twist, however, to the looting that western Colorado and other officials have noted of late: methamphetamine. Law enforcement officials declined to elaborate on incidents in which they have noted the connection between looted sites and meth use, but archaeologists and law enforcement officials said they are aware of the connections. Looting and methamphetamine use have more in common... Grand Junction Sentinel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275452/posts#comment Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:28:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275003/posts A man shot a bear to death after it broke into his home in Colorado Springs. The bear broke in through the back door of a home on Columbia court around 8 p.m. Friday night. Colorado Springs police say the homeowner loaded his gun, after a roommate yelled that the bear had broken in. The bear roared at the homeowner several times, and went to a part of the house where it couldn't get out. The man shot the bear 4 times, and it died. Division of Wildlife investigated, and say the homeowner was justified in the shooting. koaa http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275003/posts#comment Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:38:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274835/posts 6/18/2009 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) -- After a brief stop in America's Heartland, an Air Force Reserve C-130 Hercules aircrew from here took another step in a long journey for a special load of cargo headed for Iraq. On June 11, reservists from the 302nd Airlift Wing flew to Sioux City, Iowa, where they received four pallets of children's wheelchairs. The 115 wheelchairs, donated by Hope Haven International Ministries of Rock Valley, Iowa, will be handed out to children in the Baghdad area by Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C. "It really gives... Air Force Link http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274835/posts#comment Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:32:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274833/posts Shawna Forde and members of Minuteman American Defense — an anti-illegal immigration vigilante group charged in the double homicide of an Arizona man and his 9-year-old daughter and the attempted murder of the man’s wife — shared a stage, if not their vigilante streak, with former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo. Colorado Indepdent http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274833/posts#comment Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:30:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273286/posts Imagine you're at Focus on the Family to watch founder James Dobson formally step down from the board after three decades. The newly powerful ministry president—the micro-managerial Dobson is now officially powerless—steps to the mic and says: "What we want to see are more families like Barack Obama's."Would never happen, right?Well, it already has. The Denver Post reports on Focus's newish CEO, Jim Daly, who wants to trade Focus's image as a Christian right group in for one of as a family-focused ministry. After all, apolitical, family-focused work still absorbs the vast majority of Focus's resources.A few key graphs... US News and World Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273286/posts#comment Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:09:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271150/posts Former CU professor will appear on 'Stories from the Edge of Free Speech' on June 29. The controversial academic-misconduct case surrounding Ward Churchill will be prominently featured in an upcoming documentary about free speech that is scheduled to air later this month on HBO. Key players in the case, including Churchill, are interviewed for the documentary, called "Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech." CU system Ken McConnellogue, in an interview, said that the school fired Churchill because he did not meet academic standards. DailyCamera http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271150/posts#comment Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:07:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2270971/posts El Marco's new photo essay exposes how the Denver Art Museum is promoting LSD and radical revolution to today's generation of children. This in-depth study uncovers how a public institution is undermining the city it is supposed to serve. The shocking history of the Psychedelic Movement in San Francisco is juxtaposed with real tragedy in today's recovery community in Denver. http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2009/06/drugs-and-revolution-to-children-at-dam/ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2270971/posts#comment Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:53:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2268042/posts Union Pacific officials say boxcars, locomotives and employees are being idled until this country’s economic engine chugs back to life. “Times are tough with us and really the entire freight-rail industry because of the recession,” said Mark Davis, Union Pacific spokesman. System-wide, Union Pacific said it has 1,900 locomotives and 66,000 freight cars in mothballs. In addition, the company has 5,200 employees who have been furloughed, Davis said. The railroad depends on the production of goods. Without that production of everything slows. “For the first quarter (of 2009) we were down 21 percent system-wide,” Davis said. The amount of coal... Daily Sentinel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2268042/posts#comment Tue, 9 Jun 2009 15:39:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2267093/posts The thick-muscled man with close-cropped hair who called himself Rick Duncan seemed right out of central casting as a prop for a Democratic candidate running against Bush administration policies last fall. A former Marine Corps captain who suffered brain trauma from a roadside bomb in Iraq and was at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attacks. An advocate for veterans rights who opposed the war. An Annapolis graduate who was proudly gay. With his gold-plated credentials, he commanded the respect and attention of not just politicians, but also police chiefs, reporters and veterans advocates for the better part of two... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2267093/posts#comment Mon, 8 Jun 2009 13:00:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265568/posts As Colorado's Democrat governor effectively signed away a long-standing policy limiting the growth of the state's budget, a key legislative ally called today for rolling back other restraints on taxing and spending. Incoming Senate Democrat leader John Morse welcomed the enactment of controversial Senate Bill 228--diverting billions of dollars away from transportation projects in coming years--by promising that the fight "is just beginning" to retool the state's other constitutional taxing and spending limits. That double-punch left Republicans incredulous, and they pointed out that only months ago, Colorado voters soundly rejected a ballot proposal that would have gutted the perennially popular... Colorado Senate News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265568/posts#comment Fri, 5 Jun 2009 15:52:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265522/posts Program could create door-to-door energy consultants. It’s time for an in-your-face approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Boulder City Council decided Thursday night. The council unanimously approved increasing the city’s voter-approved carbon tax from its minimum to its maximum level beginning Aug. 6, providing an additional $810,000 annually toward meeting the city’s carbon-cutting goals. The tax, built into utility bills, is expected to help the city reach 95 percent of the Kyoto Protocol — which calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels — before the tax ends in 2013. Kara Mertz, an environmental affairs manager... DailyCamera http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265522/posts#comment Fri, 5 Jun 2009 14:59:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265320/posts Blinded by a dust storm kicked up by helicopter rotor wash and grenade explosions, all Sgt. 1st Class Michael Lindsay could see was shadowy figures scurrying about in the dim light, grabbing weapons. // In the ensuing firefight inside a remote rural compound in Samarra, Iraq, Lindsay was seriously wounded. But he and his fellow Army Green Berets kept firing. When it was over, 11 insurgents were dead - including the target of the predawn raid, a man described by the Army as a high-value terrorist who had been financing weapons and roadside bombs with profits from a kidnapping and... The Virginian-Pilot http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265320/posts#comment Fri, 5 Jun 2009 10:28:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265182/posts The push to put a widely used oil and gas drilling process under federal oversight could gain ground with a new administration in place and concerns about the development of huge gas fields in the East. Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and Maurice Hinchey of New York plan to reintroduce a bill that would repeal a ban on regulating the process, called hydraulic fracturing, under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption was part of the 2005 energy bill and followed an Environmental Protection Agency report that found there was little or no threat to underground drinking water... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2265182/posts#comment Fri, 5 Jun 2009 03:33:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2264947/posts The University of Colorado’s flagship campus will cut $12.9 million from its budget, partly by eliminating 75 faculty and staff positions, trimming its investments in long-term plans and slowing down the pace that it replaces its computers and campus technology. There are smaller budget-trimming chores, too — employees are even being asked to take out their own trash to save on garbage services. CU-Boulder’s operating budget is about $500 million. DailyCamera http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2264947/posts#comment Thu, 4 Jun 2009 22:21:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2263753/posts The phone calls usually come in the evening after the machinery goes silent on farms across the country. The callers speak of dwindling cash flows, crumbling marriages. Some admit they're holding a loaded gun. Across a wide swath of rural America, increasing numbers of farmers are considering taking their lives. The nation's largest network of crisis hotlines for agricultural workers reports a spike of 2,000 calls through May compared with the same period last year — a 20 percent increase. In Colorado, the number of suicides among farmers and ranchers has risen in the past five years: Fourteen took their... The Denver Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2263753/posts#comment Wed, 3 Jun 2009 14:35:45 GMT