Author: Dean Toda
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Democrats covet a possible golden egg
DENVER • A proposal to raid a semiprivate state worker’s compensation insurance fund – a golden egg that would ease much of the pain of $700 million in state budget cuts proposed for the 2009-10 fiscal year – survived its first legislative test Tuesday despite bitter Republican attacks. A bill to withdraw $500 million from…
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State colleges free to raise tuition to offset budget cuts
DENVER • Colorado’s state colleges and universities would be the biggest losers under the proposed 2009-10 state budget introduced in the Legislature on Monday. To deal with declining tax revenues in the midst of a recession, the legislative Joint Budget Committee drafted a $17.9 billion proposal that would trim $424.7 million from general-fund appropriations for…
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Army loses early round in shell game
MODEL • There are lonelier parts of Colorado, but the desert east of Trinidad is high on the list. Aside from a few head of cattle and fence-lined gravel roads every couple of miles, signs of human habitation are hard to find. But if you travel Las Animas County Road 48.0 in the afternoon, you…
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Major overhaul of education system has bipartisan support in Senate
DENVER • A bipartisan group of state senators announced Monday that they are working to create a $1 billion fund to remake the state’s education system by rewarding student and teacher performance. Supporters said the legislative package would put Colorado in a position to receive half-a-billion dollars from the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top”…
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New state oil, gas rules advance thanks to Dems
DENVER • After nearly two years of drafting and debate, rules imposing new environmental restrictions on gas and oil exploration in Colorado passed their last key test in the state Legislature with preliminary approval Tuesday by the Senate on a party-line vote. A pro-forma final Senate vote on the bill including the new rules will…
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Four teens injured in Springs rollover
Four Colorado Springs teenagers were hospitalized Sunday after a vehicle rollover on state Highway 115. The Colorado State Patrol said the car carrying the four teens was traveling north on 115 at about 1:30 Sunday morning when the driver, a 16-year-old girl, lost control of the vehicle, which struck a concrete culvert and rolled over.…
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Balink predicts chaos if Election Day drop-offs allowed
State lawmakers are set to pass a bill today that backers say will make it easier for Colorado residents to exercise their right to vote. El Paso County’s top election official says it will throw counting ballots into chaos. HB1186 would allow voters with mail-in ballots to hand them in at any polling place in…
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Colorado House OKs tougher drilling rules
DENVER – The state House voted Thursday to increase gas and oil companies’ obligation to respect the environment and the concerns of property owners when they drill in Colorado.After one more, pro-forma vote, a bill enacting new rules drafted by the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will go to the Senate, which is expected…
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Panel kills bill expanding beer sales
DENVER • Death (the penalty, that is) and taxes (or at least vehicle registration fees) have aroused passions in the state Legislature this year. But Coloradans being the kind of folks they are, no topic has prompted more citizens to beat a path to the Capitol than beer. The building was awash on Wednesday with…
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Talk of bipartisanship has been replaced by bickering
DENVER • State legislators began their session in January expressing the hope that 2009 could be a year when, facing a recession and a big state budget deficit, politics would be set aside and Democrats and Republicans could come together in a spirit of cooperation for the good of all Coloradans. Hah. The two parties…