October 15, 2015 11:01 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Oct. 15)

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’re already halfway through October? Dang. 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…

► Ballots for the 2015 election should be arriving in your mailbox this week. Go to GoVoteColorado.com to check your voter registration status or to print out a sample ballot. You can also check out JustVoteColorado.org for more information. [*NOTE: We’re going to keep this item at the top of the page on Get More Smarter for the next week or two]

► We’re less than two weeks away from the Oct. 28 Republican Presidential debate at Coors Events Center in Boulder. As Sarah Kuta reports for the Boulder Daily Camera, several groups are using that time to plan local protests/rallies:

Latino leaders on Wednesday announced that they plan to host a large-scale event with some 8,000 to 10,000 people on Oct. 28, the same day Republican presidential hopefuls will spare on live television at the Coors Events Center…

…Also that day,  activists from a range of causes are hoping to draw 10,000 people to a march from Boulder’s Central Park to the events center on the afternoon of the debate.

Kuta also notes in her story that “CU isn’t expecting a large audience for the televised debate,” which is both odd and hilarious; of course, the reason CU officials don’t expect a large audience is because they won’t let anybody into the building.

► Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was interviewed by 9News reporter Brandon Rittiman following Tuesday’s debate in Las Vegas. Among other questions, Clinton was asked about how she would handle legalized marijuana in Colorado if elected President:

“I really believe it’s important that states like Colorado lead the way so we can learn what works and what doesn’t work. I would certainly not want the federal government to interfere with the legal decision made by the people of Colorado.”

► State Sen. Morgan Carroll raised $377,000 in her first full fundraising quarter as a candidate for Congress in CD-6. Incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) has averaged about the same amount in his two previous fundraising quarters. Coffman, meanwhile, continues to generate press over alleged violations of House Ethics Rules.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) and Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) spoke Wednesday to the American Gaming Association at a roundtable discussion in Wheat Ridge. The Gaming Association says that there are no imminent plans for expansion of gambling in Colorado, and that this was just an event to promote the industry in advance of the 2016 elections.

► State Rep. Angela Williams wants to do more to address “rogue cops” in Colorado. As Christopher Osher reports for the Denver Post:

State Rep. Angela Williams said she plans to push legislation during the upcoming legislative session aimed at reducing cases of second-chance police officers finding employment at agencies in Colorado.

“There are still some loopholes that allow an officer who may have some unfavorable entries in their personnel files to go to a different police force,” Williams said. “I’m going to focus on how to close those loopholes.”

► A coalition of immigrants rights groups is upset that Colorado is not spending necessary funds to deal with a relatively new law that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for a driver’s license in Colorado. Republican legislators opposed to the idea have used the budget process to strangle the program.

► Cathy Proctor of the Denver Business Journal reports on the ongoing discussions over new oil and gas regulations in Colorado:

A packed room with lots of tension marked the first day of public comments Wednesday on a new set of proposed rules designed to smooth controversy over oil and gas operations near homes in Colorado.

The proposed rules aim to carry out two major recommendations from Gov. John Hickenlooper’s 21-member oil and gas task force, which spent months in 2014 and early 2015 traveling the state listening to complaints and praise about how the multibillion-dollar industry operates in and around local communities.

The group in February issued nine unanimously supported recommendations, including that the state draft rules that would require increased communication between energy companies and local communities about where and how drilling operations would be conducted.

► The Colorado Department of Transportation announced costs for toll lanes on U.S. 36, which max out at about $16 if you don’t have an ExpressToll transponder. Elsewhere, a planned express lane on I-70 will cost about $40 for travelers going East at the Eisenhower Tunnel during the ski season.

► A Snowmass Town Council member has been recalled after causing damage to a jail cell following a DUI arrest. Click here to see the guy’s fantastically-fitting mugshot.

► Denver Mayor Michael Hancock introduced Patrick Firman as the new Denver Sheriff this morning. Firman now gets to dive into a host of excessive force cases surrounding inmates at Denver’s jails.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► One local political pundit repeated some of the same oddly-sexist remarks about Hillary Clinton during Tuesday’s Democratic Presidential debate.

► Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson is putting his campaign on hold in order to focus on a book tour and raising money. Carson will apparently stop making public campaign visits until Oct. 28, the day of the next Republican Presidential debate. Maybe a little rest with make Carson slightly less crazy.

► Nobody wants to become the next Speaker of the House, and even former Speakers are having trouble. Ex-Speaker Denny Hastert is expected to enter a guilty plea with federal prosecutors stemming from an investigation into some odd banking habits.

ICYMI

► Former Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is moving along to the American League Championship Series after his Toronto Blue Jays pulled off a very strange Game 5 victory over the Texas Rangers.

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