It's kind of surreal to find these two headlines in the same edition of the Denver Post: Colo. jobless at 21-year high: "The unemployment rate hasn't been this high since April 1988, when it was at 6.7 percent. It is also higher than the 6.3 percent rate reached during the depths of the dot-com bust from 2001 to 2003." Doubling FasTracks sales tax gets nod: "On Wednesday, a majority of the Metro Mayors Caucus tentatively approved a plan to salvage FasTracks by asking voters for another 0.4 percent sales tax. The mayors, hoping to see the entire $6.9 billion expansion finished by 2017, are gambling that voters will maintain support for the project despite higher costs and some of the weakest economic conditions in the past … [Read more...]
RIP, Rocky Mountain News
Update (3:15 PM): Here is a hot-off-the-presses iVoices podcast, with Jon Caldara and Dave Kopel discussing the end of the Rocky Mountain News era: Only one more edition of a 150-year-old Denver journalistic institution before the axe falls. We knew the day was coming, but the sudden realization is still striking. More often than not, the Rocky's editors have provided a sensible, Rightward-leaning balance to the liberal Denver Post. That will be missed. It's a sad day for many good people - some of whom I have agreed with much more than others - who only have left the guarantee of one day of work and two months of pay. Here's wishing them all the best in landing on their feet somewhere soon. Even as we reflect back, the local … [Read more...]