August 28, 2015 12:10 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (Aug. 28)

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Tell your co-workers to have a nice Labor Day weekend, then count to see how many of them show up on Monday. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released documents detailing the moments before and after the Gold King minewater spill on Aug. 5. The EPA says the presence of metallic sediment in the Animas River is among their primary ongoing concerns related to the spill.

► The Aurora Theater Shooting Trial has ended, and Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler now has to decide if he wants to campaign for a U.S. Senate seat that virtually every other Colorado Republican has refused. If Brauchler decides against a Senate bid, which seems likely, the GOP will start picking names out of a hat to oppose Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in 2016.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► The Colorado Springs Gazette apparently has a new policy for accepting guest editorials. Submissions must be no more than 700 words and should include the author’s name, email address, and phone number for verification. Also, submissions will only be accepted if the content supports the opinions of the editorial board. You will NOT disagree with the Gazette!

► Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Jefferson County) announced on Thursday that he supports the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran that was negotiated by President Obama’s administration. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) remains undecided on potential support for the Iran deal.

► Has anyone ever seen Donald Trump and Mike Coffman in the same room at the same time? They’re really beginning to sound alike when it comes to policy positions.

► Famous rich person Donald Trump may be leading in the polls in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination, but that doesn’t mean people actually like him. The Washington Post explains:

As Donald Trump studied the crosstabs of a recent poll, his favorite hobby ever since he started leading in all of them, he was pleased, he said, to see that GOP primary voters perceive him as better equipped than any of his rivals to handle the economy, national security and even social issues…

…But one nugget in the survey nagged at the New York billionaire.

“The only thing I did badly on was: Is he a nice person? I was last in terms of niceness,” he said.

Campaigning deep in the Bible Belt, he once again spun this as not a liability – but an asset.

You’ve got to hand it to Trump when it comes to the art of the spin: Only Trump would suggest that people should vote for him because he is not likable. Maybe that’s been Mike Coffman’s secret all these years.

► Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is cozying up to Trump and will join His Hairness at a Washington event to protest the Iran nuclear deal. It’s not a bad strategic move when you think about it; if Trump fizzles out before next summer, some other candidate is going to benefit from the Donald’s endorsement.

► Republican Presidential candidates are coalescing around a new punching bag: China. Let the grandstanding begin!

► Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson made an appearance in Colorado Springs on Thursday — the second Colorado visit this month for the former surgeon.

► Another high-profile murder case in Colorado has concluded without a jury’s approval of the death penalty. Dexter Lewis was found guilty of murder (among 16 charges) in the slaying of five people in a Denver bar in 2012, but the jury recommended life in prison rather than the death penalty.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Former Congressman Tom Tancredo hates Chris Christie, and apparently he’s not a fan of JEB! Bush, either. Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) is pulling no punches in his criticism of a different Presidential candidate: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

► The Jefferson County School Board ratified a new 10-month contract for teachers.

► Colorado regulators are backing off a proposal to require “stop sign” labels on edible marijuana products.

ICYMI

► Are we seeing the final days of the “death penalty” as an option for Colorado prosecutors?

► The afterlife is going to need some new backboards. Rest in Peace, “Chocolate Thunder.”

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