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FIRST UP…
► The abortion pill mifepristone will remain available — for now — to women in Colorado. As Colorado Public Radio reports:
The abortion drug mifepristone will remain available in Colorado and many other states, according to state Attorney General Phil Weiser.
A pair of conflicting rulings created uncertainty about the drug’s approval status with the Food and Drug Administration, but neither will immediately impact access in Colorado and many other states.
In Washington, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, ruled last week that the FDA cannot alter access to the drug while a lawsuit against the agency, brought by a coalition of 17 state governments and the District of Columbia, moves forward. The coalition of attorneys general, which includes Weiser, wanted to force the FDA to lift regulations that they said restrict access to mifepristone.
Rice’s decision means mifepristone will be accessible in states that are party to that suit, even if an appeals court upholds a decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a federal judge in Texas, to invalidate the drug’s FDA approval.
► Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert (R-ifle) represents a district (CO-03) that should be safe for a Republican (Donald Trump carried CO-03 by 9 points in 2020). But Boebert’s constituents have bored of her social media addiction and her persistent yelling at Democrats while she accomplishes nothing for her district…which is how she ends up beginning the 2024 election cycle in a dead heat with Democrat Adam Frisch.
Colorado Newsline has more on the “Mountaineer” poll from ProgressNow Colorado and Global Strategy Group. Boebert, meanwhile, remains clueless about the downsides of her right-wing angertainment celebrity; bringing Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to Colorado for a fundraising event isn’t going to help.
► As The Washington Post explains, there are signs that inflation is finally on the wane in the United States:
New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday showed that prices rose 5 percent in the year ending in March, the smallest 12-month increase since May 2021, and down from the 6 percent rate notched in February. Compared to February prices, March prices rose 0.1 percent, driven by steep rent costs. The data seemed to cement expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon pause its 14-month long campaign to raise interest rates.
But economists emphasized the need to stay cautious and not to treat all sources of inflation as equal.
► Republican State Rep. Richard Holtorf — never one to shy away from making racist and tone-deaf statements — was at it again on Tuesday. As Kyle Clark reports for 9News, Holtorf compared disabled people to folks who get hurt participating in the annual “Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona, Spain.
►The Colorado Sun reports on changes to legislation making it easier to sue firearm manufacturers:
Major sections of a Democratic measure making it easier to sue the firearm industry in Colorado were removed from the bill last week in an early-morning committee meeting at the behest of Gov. Jared Polis.
Rules intended to further require gun sellers to block children and criminals from obtaining weapons were stripped from the legislation, as was a provision forcing the industry to take steps to prevent people intent on harming themselves or others from buying weapons. Instead, the bill would govern the industry under the same laws that apply to all other businesses in the state.
The amendments to Senate Bill 168, part of a package of gun bills brought by Democrats this year, were made by an ad hoc panel of three senators and three representatives, called a conference committee, that was created to reconcile amendments made in the House and Senate to the measure. But instead, the legislation was changed in a more significant way, including to remove a section requiring the gun industry to adhere to a so-called code of conduct specific to firearms sellers and manufacturers.
Three more gun safety related bills are on their way to the desk of Gov. Polis: 1) Raising the minimum age for gun purchases; 2) Expanding Colorado’s red-flag laws; and 3) Creating a three-day waiting period for gun purchases.
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Check Out All This Other Stuff To Know…
►The Colorado Times Recorder fact checks Congressman Doug Lamborn, which is never a particularly difficult exercise:
► Congressman Jason Crow (D-Aurora) talks with Colorado Public Radio on a variety of subjects, including the recent leaks of intelligence information on America’s allies and enemies alike.
► As The Colorado Sun reports, legislation sponsored by Senate President Steve Fenberg aimed at reforming some of Colorado’s election rules has run into problems from Secretary of State Jena Griswold:
The measure, Senate Bill 276, represents a rare open disagreement among two powerful, rising Democratic stars in Colorado and it hinges on the sensitive issue of election conspiracies and misinformation. Colorado law requires that mandatory recounts be conducted in races that are decided by an extremely small margin — when the number of votes separating the leading two candidates is less than 0.5% of the number of votes cast for the leading candidate. So, for instance: If Ronald McDonald had 1,000 votes and the Burger King had 999 votes, the one-vote difference would be 0.1% of McDonald’s votes, triggering a recount.
For races where the margin between candidates is larger, a recount can be requested by a campaign and is conducted if they pay for the work.
Griswold wanted to prevent those so-called permissive recounts by candidates who lose by more than 2 percentage points to prevent election workers across the state from having to duplicate their work in contests with a clear outcome. In 2022, for instance, then-Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters paid more than $100,000 for a recount in her GOP primary loss in the secretary of state’s race after alleging fraud and malfeasance but providing no evidence. There was no shift in Peters’ 14-percentage-point loss after the votes in each of Colorado’s 64 counties were tallied for a second time.
But Fenberg, who lives in Boulder, worried that limiting permissive recounts would decrease confidence in Colorado’s elections.
► As The Durango Herald reports, the end of important federal benefits for low-income Coloradans is hitting hard in Southwest Colorado:
Drastic cuts in SNAP benefits are the result of the federal government whittling away at the temporary support beams intended to reinforce social welfare programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The standard eligibility renewal and disenrollment process for Medicaid will resume next month for the first time in three years, and COVID-19 vaccines and tests may soon become costly.
The SNAP allotment for which someone is eligible is dependent on their income. But for the past three years, every recipient has received the maximum allotment based on their household size…
…In the case of individuals who were already receiving the maximum amount, benefits increased by $95.
Those emergency allotments came to an end last month as the result of an appropriations bill signed by President Joe Biden in December. The average reduction in benefits was $90.
►Andy Kenney of Colorado Public Radio takes a stab at explaning the big land use bill coming to the state legislature:
Gov. Jared Polis and influential Democrats want to open up large swaths of Colorado’s cities to denser development and make fundamental changes to how growth happens in Colorado.
The bill, which is simply titled “Land Use,” is one of the longest pieces of legislation being debated at the capitol this year. We read through the 105-page draft and talked to experts…
…You’re going to hear the words “zoning” and “upzoning” a lot in this debate. “Zoning” is a set of rules that decides how different pieces of land can be used, and what can be built on it. Historically, zoning rules have been set by local governments, like cities and counties.
This bill is focused on residential zoning. In Colorado, most residential zones only allow one type of construction: the single-family home. That’s why there are so many neighborhoods that are entirely filled with freestanding houses, often surrounded by yards.
The bill proposes a big change to this system. It would force many cities to rewrite their zoning laws to allow denser kinds of housing. This is known as upzoning.
The idea, according to the sponsors, is to “cut red tape” and make it easier to build housing.
► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) took a break from his regular schedule of Tweeting out terrible things and blaming Democrats for them to look into whether there is a Chinese helicopter flying around Colorado’s Eastern Plains. Ken Buck is not a very serious person.
► Colorado is still the only state in the country with restrictive revenue collection and spending requirements, mandated by the 1992 TABOR ballot measures. There’s a reason for this: Colorado Republican lawmakers have regularly warned other states NOT to follow in Colorado’s footsteps because of all the problems TABOR has caused our state.
► The defamation trial between Denver-based Dominion Voting Services and Fox News Corp. will begin on Thursday in Delaware. As The Associated Press reports, Fox News attorneys got off to a bad start this week:
Attorneys defending Fox in a defamation case related to false claims about the 2020 election withheld critical information about the role company founder Rupert Murdoch played at Fox News, a revelation that angered the judge when it came up at a Tuesday hearing…
…The role of Fox executives is at the heart of the case. The company’s attorneys have sought to insulate members of the Murdoch family and to keep them from testifying live before a jury, arguing that their roles at the parent company, Fox Corp., put them at a distance from the Fox News shows that aired the bogus claims.
Fox Corp. had asserted since Dominion filed its lawsuit in 2021 that Rupert Murdoch had no official role at Fox News. In its filings, it had listed Fox News officers as Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace and Joe Dorrego. But on Easter Sunday, Fox disclosed to Dominion’s attorneys that Murdoch also is “executive chair” at Fox News. The disclosure came after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis wondered aloud during a status conference last week who Fox News’ officers were.
Davis was clearly disturbed by the disclosure, coming on the eve of the trial.
► South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott announced that he is probably eventually going to announce that he is seeking the Republican nomination for President in 2024. Scott’s team recently hired former Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner to help oversee a SuperPAC that will promote his candidacy.
► Don’t miss this story, including an unintentionally-hilarious quote from former Congressman Bob Schafer in response to former GOP gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl complaining about a lack of election help from the Leadership Program of the Rockies:
“The Leadership Program of the Rockies is a well-respected academic institution that helps civic leaders hone their craft,” wrote Schaffer. “It engages in neither partisan campaigns nor advocacy for the election or defeat of political candidates. After listening to the segment, it seems more likely to me Mrs. Ganahl was referring to a different organization with either the same or similar shorthand initials.”
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2 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Wednesday (April 12)”
Someone pity poor, poor Hidey — please! Everyone knows she only lost, by 17 points, because she didn’t get any of the support she didn’t deserve or didn’t earn — and, that’s the only reason.
(Well that and the media. And, the deep pocketed furry lobby, and the bad weather, and that massive coordinated lgbcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy conspiracy — the whole damn alphabet really, and all those jealous people, and that crappy appetizer menu at the diner, and Mars was in Scorpio, and no one told her she had a piece of spinach stuck in her teeth, and, and, and, and, and …)
April 12, 2023 11:35 AM UTC
2 Comments
Happy Birthday to David Letterman. Let’s Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (
Someone pity poor, poor Hidey — please! Everyone knows she only lost, by 17 points, because she didn’t get any of the support she didn’t deserve or didn’t earn — and, that’s the only reason.
(Well that and the media. And, the deep pocketed furry lobby, and the bad weather, and that massive coordinated lgbcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy conspiracy — the whole damn alphabet really, and all those jealous people, and that crappy appetizer menu at the diner, and Mars was in Scorpio, and no one told her she had a piece of spinach stuck in her teeth, and, and, and, and, and …)
This furry thingie is really odd for a older cat.