Every day is seeking to rise to the challenge, 'neath the shadow of the mighty Rockies.
The Spelling Bee is Back
Spelling geeks of the world, re-unite: The finals of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee appears on network television tonight for the 2nd consecutive year. The 2006 edition must have been enough of a ratings success to bring back an event once confined to the popular shadows. Returning for his fifth and final year of bee eligibility, 13-year-old Samir Patel of Fort Worth, Texas, occupies most of the spotlight with the expectations that this might finally be his year. By the same token, there are several top-notch spellers from the United States and Canada with a legitimate chance to win the 80th annual Scripps Howard event. For its part, the Rocky Mountain News focuses our attention on 14-year-old Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan, the … [Read more...]
“You touch my grandchildren, and I get really angry”
Yesterday at an Independence Institute women's luncheon, State Sen. Nancy Spence told the crowd (including my wife and several other Institute colleagues) the latest on the investigation re the threatening email she received in April: A state lawmaker who received an e-mail containing a threat to her grandchildren said Tuesday it was sent from a computer at a metro-area hotel. Agents from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reviewed the hotel's security tape but couldn't determine the e-mail's author, said Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial. The security tape had been improperly inserted, Spence said Tuesday at a political luncheon. She has vowed to press charges if authorities catch the culprit, who was upset over an education … [Read more...]
My Brother the Hero
My big brother the police officer has been recognized for his heroism above and beyond the call of duty (please read the whole article): A Jefferson County police officer is being hailed as a hero for going beyond the call of duty and saving the life of a woman trapped inside a sinking car. Brad Degrow become a police officer for the excitement, but never expected a March call that brought an experience he never imagined. "One of the things that drew me to this job," Degrow said, "you never know what's going to happen today or tomorrow." My brother is mostly embarrassed at all the attention, which is why it's my job to shine a little more light on his heroic deed. The Colorado branch of the DeGrow clan are all proud of you, … [Read more...]
Big Government Health Care Looming for Colorado
Colorado, get ready for Hillarycare, Bill Ritter-style. The Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Healthcare Reform has narrowed its proposals for changing the state's healthcare system down to four. As the Rocky Mountain News reports, all would bring increased taxes and government control: "We're disappointed," Lin Zen-ser, of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine, said at a news conference announcing the four plans. "They take away the freedoms of individuals and doctors." The presence of a lone dissenting voice on the commission was not enough to bring forward any proposals that would have promoted freedom: Commissioner Linda Gorman, from the free-market Independence Institute in Golden, disagreed with the four selected plans, and … [Read more...]
Friday One-Two Punch on Dems Blockading Education Reform
In an opinion piece today for the Denver Post, two Republican state lawmakers - Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, and Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Golden - recap the recent direction of education reform in the Colorado legislature. Among other things, they criticize the Democratic majority for enacting new detailed sex education standards (signed by Governor Ritter this week) while being unable to set even modest standards for math, science, and English proficiency (as I also wrote about many weeks ago): It is not as though meaningful reforms weren't proposed. Senate Bill 73, by Chris Romer, D-Denver, and Michael Garcia, D- Aurora, would have required students to be proficient in English to receive a Colorado diploma. And Senate Bill 131, which we … [Read more...]
Mount Virtus On National (Internet) Airwaves
Readers who want to hear me share developments in Colorado labor policy and politics with a national audience, please tune in to Rightalk.com on Wednesday, May 16, 2:45-3:00 PM Eastern (12:45-1:00 PM Local). House Bill 1072, the Labor Peace Act, the coming Democratic Convention, Ritter's executive order and other favors to union leaders are all fair game. … [Read more...]
New Colorado Education Blog
This may not be of interest to all my readers, but check out a new Colorado education blog with some diverse viewpoints and provocative thinking: Head First's Schools for Tomorrow. And tell them Ben sent you. … [Read more...]
Ritter’s Tax-Hike Supporters Standing on Weak Arguments
Mike Littwin's Saturday column for the Rocky Mountain News highlights the tenuous ground occupied by supporters of the governor's official endorsement of the $1.7 billion+ property tax increase. Their best argument apparently is that some opponents mistakenly voted for a similar proposal three years earlier. Meanwhile, Littwin typifies the rhetorical distortions made by the tax-and-spend crowd. (I omitted the partisan cheapshots that are standard fare for Littwin columns and not to be taken seriously, anyway. Instead, I wish to tackle some of the subtle and salient points about the issue itself that readers are supposed to accept at face value.) 1. The use of the term "property-tax freeze," as though the change in law were going to … [Read more...]
Denver Union Leaders Should Tout Past Successes
Is the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) a victim of its own salary-negotiating success? Why does the union that represents teachers in Denver Public Schools (DPS) not want to embrace how well it has done to increase compensation for its rank-and-file? Because it's time for DCTA to negotiate for even more money. As the Rocky Mountain News editors highlight today, the district's teachers have not been shortchanged nearly as much as some have touted: The district's figures show a cumulative salary increase of more than 21 percent for teachers who will have worked for DPS for four years, from 2004-05 to 2007-08. To be blunt, that has come in part at the expense of other DPS unions (who have received 11.5 percent) and school … [Read more...]
Schaffer’s In … No, Really, This Time (I Think) … Check Back Later
Update: Yes, he's in. Key graf: "Republicans have lost elections because our leaders have not been bold enough in proposing innovative solutions in Washington and have drifted from our long-held claim to the mantle of fiscal responsibility," Schaffer said. "Republicans have not fought hard enough for children and public education reform, especially in the inner city where the need has reached crisis status." The race is on. It looks like some of us - me included - jumped the gun on the Bob Schaffer announcement that he would be joining the U.S. Senate race for Colorado's open seat in 2008. For reasons I explained in my previous post (as well as others), I've had a good sense that this announcement was inevitable. It's just … [Read more...]
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