August 26, 2015 10:48 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (Aug. 26)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Another day, another violent shooting; when will our elected officials do something? 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…

► Colorado Republicans have decided not to select a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016. As the Denver Post first reported on Tuesday, a Republican Executive Committee has voted to skip the “preference poll” part of the 2016 caucus in order to make sure that delegates are not bound to support a weak candidate for President; we’re calling it “The Santorum Rule.”

► The town of Silverton is asking for federal assistance in cleaning up polluted mining sites after decades of fighting against EPA cleanup efforts. As the Denver Post reports:

The decision is a paradigm shift for the small town of about 650 year-round residents in the wake of a 3 million-gallon  wastewater spill Aug. 5 at the Gold King Mine in the mountains to the north.

Many in Silverton for years have sought to quash worries about the effects of its digging heritage, but now, after pressure brought on by the EPA-caused disaster, they are shifting their tone.

“I think it’s showing that we’re well-aware that we have a responsibility as a headwater county and as a county with leaking mines,” county commissioner Peter McKay said Tuesday.

Colorado Pols continues to cover the aftermath of the Gold King minewater spill.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► JEB! Bush was in Colorado on Tuesday for a town hall event and fundraiser in support of the former Florida Governor’s campaign for President. JEB! was greeted by protestors over his “anchor baby” comments, and then stirred up more controversy by telling a group of veterans that Planned Parenthood should not receive federal funding because “they’re not actually doing women’s health issues.” Sorry, JEB!, but that’s not actually correct.

The Jebster also spent a lot of time talking about the Aurora VA Hospital fiasco, telling a group of people at an Englewood VFW that the hospital must be completed even though the project is “a disaster.”

► Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson will make another campaign stop in Colorado when he visits Colorado Springs on Thursday. Carson showed up in Durango last week to shake his fist at the EPA.

► Colorado will NOT investigate Planned Parenthood in the aftermath of several “gotcha” videos released over the last few weeks by anti-choice groups. From 9News:

Colorado will not join at least 10 other states investigating Planned Parenthood over allegations by a pro-life group that the abortion provider illegally trafficked in fetal body parts.

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman says state law requires the investigation be conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, or CDPHE, which told 9NEWS Tuesday that it has no plans to investigate Planned Parenthood.

Coffman said Wednesday in a written statement that she views CDPHE’s decision as the “final response” to calls for investigation.

► The Aurora Theater Shooting Trial will reach its final conclusion today with the sentencing of convicted killer James Holmes (life in prison). The Colorado Independent considers the political future of Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, who acknowledges pressure to make a decision about a potential U.S. Senate bid before Labor Day.

► An award-winning teen pregnancy prevention program is getting some new funding in Colroado, as Jesse Paul writes for the Denver Post:

Roughly $2 million has been pledged in temporary funding to keep afloat a hot-button  Colorado program that provides long-acting reversible contraceptives to low-income and uninsured teenagers and women.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Tuesday announced the funding for the Colorado Family Planning Initiative in a news release. Officials say money for the initiative, which is aimed at reducing teen pregnancy and abortion rates, is coming from more than a dozen organizations.

Over the past seven years, a private foundation donated about $27 million to boost the program, but the grant money expired July 1. A push to use state taxpayer dollars to continue the program failed in the Republican-led state Senate earlier this year,  killed by ideological and fiscal objections.

► Famous rich person Donald Trump is a dragon slayer, according to a new billboard in Grand Junction.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Colorado Springs continues to debate instituting a new “sit-lie” law aimed at preventing homeless people from sitting down in public. The Fort Collins City Council heard a similar proposal and promptly dismissed the idea.

► The Presidential campaign of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is nearing its end. On Monday, Perry’s campaign announced yet another reorganization of staff in Iowa, which politicos seem to think is the last dying ember of whatever fire Perry had left. 

ICYMI

► Donald Trump has picked up a prominent endorsement — albeit an endorsement that nobody ever really hopes to receive. Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke is a big fan of Trump for President.

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