Tag: tom cronin
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Trends and challenges in higher education | Tom Cronin
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Americans are both proud and critical of our higher-education system. More American universities are highly ranked than those in other countries. More international students come here than to any other country. And basic research at U.S. universities has earned more patents and Nobel Prizes than elsewhere. Yet trust in colleges and universities has dramatically declined. Costs have dramatically increased and more parents are…
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Passenger train service from Denver to Fort Collins? | Cronin and Loevy
A “Joint Service” plan is being developed that would bring passenger rail service from Denver north to Fort Collins by 2029. The passenger trains would be paid for with existing funds from the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) and other Colorado agencies that are working to institute passenger train service in Colorado. No voter-approved tax…
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Lincoln – Pragmatic, persistent, partisan coalition-builder | Tom Cronin
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated 161 years ago this week, six days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lincoln was 56 years old. Lee was 58 years old. Lincoln, generally regarded as our best president, fascinates us still and teaches us still. A valuable new, well-written book has just…
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Home rule has protected Colorado cities for over 125 years | Cronin and Loevy
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Colorado is currently gripped by a political struggle between the governor plus the legislature in Denver and populous home-rule city governments, mainly on the Front Range, such as Colorado Springs. In the past few years, the legislature has been passing bills that applied to city government policies, which for many years had been the sole province of mayors and city councils. These new state laws have mainly…
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Mail-in ballots: Why the controversy | Cronin and Loevy
Most Coloradans enjoy the right to vote by mail at election time. Most Americans favor this process. But President Donald Trump is trying to federalize (nationalize) this practice and shift the supervision of voting from county clerks to the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Postal Service. He issued an executive order to this…
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Bill would allow large apartment projects in single-family neighborhoods | Cronin and Loevy
There is an old joke that goes something like this. “When the state legislature is in session, no person and their property are safe.” That is not a joke in the older, more traditional neighborhoods that surround the downtown regions of Colorado’s major cities. For the past two years, the annual sessions of the Colorado legislature have produced a steady stream of bills that attempt to take control of city planning and zoning functions away from city governments and put…
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Additional thoughts on State of the Union address/rally | Cronin and Loevy
The U.S. Constitution’s Article II states that “He (the president) shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient … “ On Jan. 8, 1790, our first president, George Washington, appeared at Federal Hall…
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What Gallup polls teach us about presidents | Cronin and Loevy
The Gallup organization, founded by George Gallup, announced on Feb. 11 they will no longer conduct their well-known polls that rate whether Americans approve or disapprove of the way presidents are handling their job. Gallup began these polls in the late 1930s, halting them only during World War II. The Gallup staff has said no…
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Elevate Downtown Plan eyes beautification opportunities | Cronin and Loevy
More plans and projects from the Elevate Downtown Plan, a major study of downtown Colorado Springs, were recently released by the Downtown Development Authority. The study area was bounded by Cache la Poudre Street to the north, the Shooks Run area to the east, the Mill Street and Lowell neighborhoods to the south, and Monument…
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World Series watch: Talent, money, ‘stat-geeks’ and coaches’ intuition
Coloradans mostly gave up watching baseball this year because the Colorado Rockies were not worth watching — and that’s being polite about it. But now sports fans have a World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays that will be widely watched. And it will be exciting, even if the wealthy,…