Happy Earth Day, Earth. Let’s Get More Smarter; if you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.
*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website
*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov
*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com
*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
► Cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Colorado, as Meg Wingerter reports for The Denver Post:
The seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases continued trending down Wednesday, while the percentage of tests coming back positive remained high, indicating the state isn’t detecting some infections.
The state health department reported 722 active outbreaks as of Wednesday. An outbreak is at least two coronavirus cases linked to the same location or event, and isn’t considered over until four weeks have passed with no new cases.
The settings with the biggest increases compared to last week were K-12 schools, with 18 more outbreaks; nursing homes, 13; manufacturing facilities and warehouses, seven; offices and restaurants, six each; and assisted living facilities, five.
Meanwhile, as The Washington Post reports, we may be reaching a tipping point in the battle to get more Americans vaccinated:
About 3 million people are getting shots every day, down from a high of about 3.3 million last week. That rate is still sufficient for vaccinating a large portion of the U.S. adult population by the summertime, when many hope life will return to normal.
But there’s been a 9-percent decrease in the average number of daily shots administered over the past week..
…Some health experts are expressing concerns the declines will continue, reflecting the substantial pool of Americans who are skeptical of the vaccine and either don’t want to get it right away or don’t want it at all.
Get those shots, people! Coloradans can now get a COVID-19 vaccine at one of three locations without a prior appointment:
♦ Ball Arena in Denver, 9am to 7pm, Monday through Friday.
♦ The Ranch in Loveland, 10am to 6pm, Monday through Saturday.
♦ Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo, 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
Remember, friends: Employers are REQUIRED to provide paid leave for employees who need time off work to get vaccinated.
► India set a new daily record for COVID-19 infections, reporting nearly 315,000 new cases in a 24-hour period.
► As The Washington Post reports, President Biden is pushing the United States toward a more ambitious goal of reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions:
President Biden on Thursday will commit the United States to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions as much as 52 percent by the end of this decade, a pledge that would require fast and far-reaching changes to American life, from how people power their homes to the cars they drive.
The highly anticipated announcement roughly doubles a target set by President Barack Obama in 2015 as part of the Paris climate accord, by vowing the nation will reduce its emissions between 50 and 52 percent by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. Biden plans to formalize the goal in a submission to the United Nations, the White House said.
The move comes as Biden convenes 40 world leaders for an Earth Day summit aimed at fueling similar ambition around the globe.
Biden is pushing climate change goals that the United States can meet with our without help from Congress.
► Let’s check in on the state legislature:
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation that would add “gender expression” and “gender identity” to the list of those protected by the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
As Evan Wyloge reports for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman, lawmakers are working on finding solutions to Colorado’s redistricting problems, which stem from the fact that the 2020 U.S. Census won’t be completed on time.
A Senate committee moved along SB-200, this session’s big climate change-related bill.
Lawmakers are advancing updates to police reform legislation passed last Spring.
Former inmates in Colorado correctional facilities will now be issued a State ID upon their release that lawmakers hope will cut down on recidivism cases.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports on an usual move by House Speaker Alec Garnett to add Republican Rep. Marc Catlin as Vice-Chair of the House Agriculture, Livestock, and Water Committee.
More political (and coronavirus) news is available right after the jump…
► The suspected shooter in the Boulder King Soopers massacre faces 43 new charges of attempted murder and weapons violations. Elsewhere, we delve into the story of the shooters’ access to expanded gun magazines.
► The New York Times looks at how the COVID-19 pandemic did, and did not, change where Americans are moving.
► Senate Republicans are making the same half-assed efforts to negotiate on an infrastructure bill that they made in trying to reach an agreement on a COVID relief bill.
► Colorado Public Radio has more on Congressional efforts to designate Camp Amache — the site of a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II — into a national historic site.
► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) named Jess Smith as his new Chief of Staff. Bennet’s previous COS left the office last month for a job in the Treasury Department.
► As The Associated Press reports, the Biden administration is pausing sales of oil and gas leases on public lands through at least June.
► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) is pledging not to accept corporate donations from big tech firms, which he probably wasn’t going to receive anyway.
► As The New York Times reports, Republicans around the country are trying to figure out ways to criminalize public protesting:
Republican legislators in Oklahoma and Iowa have passed bills granting immunity to drivers whose vehicles strike and injure protesters in public streets.
A Republican proposal in Indiana would bar anyone convicted of unlawful assembly from holding state employment, including elected office. A Minnesota bill would prohibit those convicted of unlawful protesting from receiving student loans, unemployment benefits or housing assistance.
And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed sweeping legislation this week that toughened existing laws governing public disorder and created a harsh new level of infractions — a bill he’s called “the strongest anti-looting, anti-rioting, pro-law-enforcement piece of legislation in the country.”…
…Republicans responded to a summer of protests by proposing a raft of punitive new measures governing the right to lawfully assemble. G.O.P. lawmakers in 34 states have introduced 81 anti-protest bills during the 2021 legislative session — more than twice as many proposals as in any other year, according to Elly Page, a senior legal adviser at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which tracks legislation limiting the right to protest.
► Some day, perhaps, Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert will take the time to learn about what her day job actually entails. In the meantime, she seems dead set on opining mostly about issues that she has nothing to do with.
You’d have a hard time finding someone who would disagree with you that “Lauren Boebert is a mess.”
► Since we’re on the topic of Boebert, the CO-3 Congressperson is basing her response to an ethics investigation into her conduct on one simple, absurd argument: I know you are, but what am I?
► Black lawmakers at the state capitol are sick and tired of hearing insensitive racist comments, such as last week’s “lynching joke” from Republican State Rep. Ron Hanks. We’re definitely sick and tired of Hanks in general.
► Proposed ballot measures to cut income and property taxes are moving forward after a hearing with the title board.
► Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order to give tenants more time to work out agreements with landlords before getting evicted.
► Douglas County Commissioners fired a member of the Tri-County Board of Health for being insufficiently subservient to conservative demands to stop paying so much attention to science and data.
► Axios explains where you can cast blame for your smelly home/neighborhood.
► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) is laser-focused on his job and not at all distracted by outside noise:
Why is LeBron James targeting police officers? Is this acceptable to the @NBA? https://t.co/Bw0f656SBr
— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) April 22, 2021
► In which former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo reminds you that he is still definitely very racist.
► Caitlyn Jenner may seek the office of California Governor even though she rarely bothers to vote herself.
► Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to lob rhetorical grenades at the “Green New Deal,” despite admitting THAT SHE HASN’T ACTUALLY READ THE BILL.
► The quest for statehood for Washington D.C. moves a step closer to reality today.
► Hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii discuss Rep. Lauren Boebert’s views on the “spirit realm” in this week’s episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast:
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I'm missing the grand moral distinction which obviously is inspiring Ken Buck to eschew PAC money from social media/tech companies. Something about "personal liberty can be threatened by corporate tyranny." Has he sworn off money from private incarceration companies, as they seem to undermine personal liberty, too. How about money from [nonprofit] corporate PACs with a point of view on restricting women's personal liberties to get various forms of reproductive services?
Mark Hillman had a decent piece on centrists in the Wray Gazette this past week.
How I came to respect centrists
If only his previous blog post on what a bang-up guy Rush Limbaugh was the week prior hadn't erased his credibility on the subject:
Remembering Rush Limbaugh
On representing Colorado's land mass . . .
Dirt is people, too!
Colorados' land mass is not an iceberg nor the surface of the moon. It is teeming with residents whose well being is critical to the health of our state. Mule deer, wapiti, moose, bear, trout, falcon, prairie dog…and all their kin. The cities pushed them out. Their world is facing profound pressure.
Too bad so many rural people who live among the critters keep electing Republicans who don't care about Bambi except as a target. It would be great if grouse and coyotes could vote. Things would be different.
No living creature will ever be safe from Republicans . . .
. . . Happy Earth Day!
…if only
whitelandownerswere allowed to vote, just imagine what Merika could be!!Here he said deference, others say 'respect' or 'to be heard.'
But what they really mean is their favorite minority deserves over-representation. For them it is not just ok, it is preferred that a minority of voters have more say than their minority would otherwise have. DC and Puerto Rico should not have statehood because they are not rich, white voters.
I am not being sarcastic, I am inferring what it appears is being implied.
Mark Hillman had credibility? When was that? I remember him as one of the latter-day House Crazies.
His political career started in 1997 and he stayed in the Senate until 2005 when he was a player in the musical chairs initiated by Gov Owens who appointed Hillman as State Treasurer when Green Zone Mike went off to war. A vacancy committee put Brophy in Hillman’s senate seat, and Gardner returned from DC to fill Brophy’s seat. After his defeat to be elected as state treasurer he moved on to the Republican National Committee. He now provides commentary from his farm in Kit Carson County.