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October 02, 2015 12:50 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (Oct. 2)

  • 2 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

MoreSmarterLogo-300x218Uh, anybody seen Tim Neville? 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…

► Is Colorado the future? Newsweek magazine seems to think so, and is devoting its next cover issue to the idea that Colorado is a microcosm of the future of politics (we know, we didn’t realize Newsweek still printed a magazine, either).

► The debate over whether or not Silverton should receive a Superfund Site declaration, which would free up funds to help clean up scores of polluted mines, continues to center around the idea that Silverton has a reputation to uphold anyway. There are about 629 residents of Silverton, but clean up polluted mines could protect tens of thousands of people downstream. You can probably guess where Rep. Scott Tipton comes down on the matter.

Over at POLITICO Pro (behind the paywall), an increasingly bleak assessment of GOP chances at winning Colorado’s 2016 U.S. Senate race after the party’s top choices have all bowed out:

“Not a single person in the current field has a snowball’s chance of defeating Bennet or even giving him a serious challenge,” said one prominent Colorado Republican, but still expressed hope that a “credible candidate” could still be recruited…

But a very long list of possible candidates circulated through Denver this week — including, Ryan Frazier, who lost a 2010 congressional bid, state Senate President Bill Cadman, state Sen. Kevin Lundberg, state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, state Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith. “It’s literally back to the drawing board,” said Laura Carno, a local GOP activist.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that he will step down from his cabinet position in December. Duncan is one of the few remaining original cabinet members in the Obama Administration, but we’re getting to that point near the end of a President’s second term when many veterans of the Administration start looking for their next job.

► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) says he will support California Rep. Kevin McCarthy as the next Speaker of the House. McCarthy probably has some work to do with the rest of the chamber.

Three jurors on the Aurora Theater Shooting Trial voted against the death penalty for James Holmes, which is a much different story than the one peddled by Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, who has long said that the outcome came down to just one single juror.

► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) introduced legislation on Thursday that he says will strengthen President Obama’s foreign policy deal with Iran. From Mark Matthews at the Denver Post:

Surrounded by a phalanx of Democratic co-sponsors, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet on Thursday introduced new legislation meant to add safeguards to the nuclear deal the U.S. reached this summer with Iran.

The bill requires the administration to report regularly on Iran’s nuclear development while also directing more aid to Israel, including the accelerated development of a missile defense system.

It “ensures that Israel can defend against nuclear and conventional threats,” said Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Politico magazine takes a feature look at Roger Milliken, one of the people most responsible for driving the Republican Party toward its current state of affairs.

► Will the debate over gun safety finally change after Thursday’s mass shootings in Oregon? Probably not, says the Washington Post.

► Denver is one of 11 cities nationwide that is not meeting federal smog standards, which means new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Bruce Finley reports for the Denver Post:

The Environmental Protection Agency has dinged Denver and 10 other cities as failing to meet federal smog standards — and Thursday tightened the national limit — driving Colorado back to the drawing board to ensure healthy air.

EPA leaders’ long-delayed decision ratcheting the current 75 parts per billion ozone limit to 70 ppb foists even heavier challenges on high-growth metro Denver and other cities exceeding the standards.

“We’ve got to reduce ozone,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said. “This is not something people are just thinking is harmful. There’s quite a lot of science that says these pollutants, long-term, cause asthma, diminish peoples’ health. … We want to make sure we don’t lose funding or suffer other punishment.”

State-run air monitoring shows persistent ozone pollution in metro Denver and along the northern Front Range at harmful levels, despite cleaner vehicles and industry. Ozone averages 80 ppb near Golden and 76 ppb in western Fort Collins. Even in Rocky Mountain National Park, ozone hits 74 ppb.

This news will no doubt spur yet another round of complaints about the EPA from Republican politicians, but how can you really argue over breathable air? Should we just follow China’s lead and just tell people to wear paper masks whenever they go outside?

► There’s a new ground zero in the fracking debate in Colorado – and it’s located just 11 miles North of the State Capitol. Residents of the Wadley Farms neighborhood in Adams County are not pleased that they may be forced to live next to gigantic oil and gas drilling operations.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The Colorado Independent is hosting the first debate forum among the candidates running for Denver District Attorney. The event is scheduled for Oct. 20, which is a little less than 9 months from the Democratic Primary that will essentially decide who becomes the next DA.

► “Gravity, where did it come from?” This is an actual quote from an actual leading contender for the Republican Presidential nomination. Who said it? Ben Carson, baby!

ICYMI

► More Americans are killed by gun violence in this county than are killed by terrorists – and it’s not even close.

Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!

Comments

2 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Friday (Oct. 2)

  1. Rocky Mountain National Park and its surrounding communities have long downplayed the effects of stuffing hundreds of thousands of cars through the park every year. The park receives comparable visitation to Zion National Park, which allows only minimal traffic through its super-popular Zion Canyon section during tourist season. Everything in Zion is fed from Springdale and the visitor parking lot at the edge of town, where buses depart on a frequent basis. The RMNP shuttle service is minimal in comparison, and serves only the hiking areas between the Glacier Gorge lot and the Fern Falls and Bear Lake trailheads. There is no service aside from tour companies over the Trail Ridge Road, where pollution often lingers with the traffic.

    Estes Park is currently proposing re-routing town traffic for greater throughput. Significantly expanding shuttle service to include the town and hotels in the area, as well as to other destinations within the park would be a much better investment.

  2. Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) says he will support California Rep. Kevin McCarthy 

    Makes sense for Buck as a fellow sufferer of Foot-in-Mouth Disease.

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