Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Celebrating the Fourth with festivals, fireworks
Primary night with The Colorado Independent
Mail-in ballots are due. Polls close in mere hours. After months of campaigning, the Colorado primary ends tonight.
In the run-up to tonight's election, The Colorado Independent has kept you informed about who's who and what's what. We've given you the lowdown on the GOP primary race for U.S. Senate, including scandal, bad-mouthing and the complete lack of polling. We've covered the Denver DA race (and one of its surprising donors).
Our pencils are sharpened and our team of political reporters will be in the field bringing you the results.
Join us here for continued coverage, ballot returns and analysis all evening.
#Brexit unlikely to cause global recession – #brexitrecession
Dems vying for Denver DA each calling for reforms post-Morrissey era
This year's Denver district attorney's race is far higher profile than any in memory, yet the three Democrats sparring in today's primary bemoan that most voters aren't paying attention.
“There are still people who don't even know this race is going on,” said state Rep. Beth McCann, one of the Dems vying for that party's nomination. “It's not a position that draws a lot of interest, really. I mean, we're constantly hearing registered Democrats saying they don't even know if they got a ballot.”
Much has changed since McCann, Kenneth Boyd and Michael Carrigan each started contemplating bids for district attorney. That was pre-Ferguson, pre-Baltimore and pre-Black Lives Matter. It was also before a federal jury awarded $6 million to the family of Marvin Booker, a homeless street preacher whose death at the hands of sheriff's deputies in Denver's jail was deemed by longtime District Attorney Mitch Morrissey to be unworthy of criminal prosecution.
Those developments, plus amplified national conversations about racial profiling, police excessive force and over-incarceration, have shined a light like never before on Denver's District Attorney's office and its practices. There have been far more debates, forums, mailers and ads in this year's DA race than in any other in Denver's history.
Morrissey has run the office since 2005. Under fire for not prosecuting wayward law enforcement officers, he dodged an unsuccessful recall effort last year.
Carrigan, a corporate lawyer and University of Colorado regent, has sniped at Morrissey's record of not prosecuting killer cops and not addressing problems of racial disparities in the justice system. Carrigan has pledged never to seek the death penalty, not to keep Morrissey employed in the office and to work toward lowering bail amounts “to make sure we stop putting people in jail because they're poor, not because they're dangerous.”
“Voters deeply want a new direction, a new approach to criminal justice here in Denver,” he said Monday. “I think it's a reflection of national trends and that people aren't happy to have career prosecutors, career government lawyers as their elected DAs.”
Years ago, Carrigan worked briefly as a Denver prosecutor and is now a partner at Denver's Holland & Hart law firm. He says he has distinguished himself from his competitors by courting votes from throughout Denver, not just affluent, white parts of the city. He has snagged endorsements by several groups representing communities of color and by prominent Democrats such as Mayor Michael Hancock and former mayors Wellington Webb and Federico Peña.
He also has raised the most money in the pack – about $590,000 in contributions and loans. And he has benefitted from an independent expenditure committee financed by personal injury lawyer Frank “The Strong Arm” Azar. That dark money group, called Citizens for a Strong and Fair Public Advocate, recently produced a mailer featuring an unflattering, yellow-tinted picture of McCann looking rather, let's say, dour.
“The Wicked Witch of the West,” is how McCann refers to the doctored photo of herself. “I was just very disappointed. I think it was un-called for.”
The mailer triggering gripes from women voters who've decried what they say are unnecessarily below-the-belt campaign tactics. It remains to be seen whether the mailer will backlash against Carrigan by turning off enough older white women who are known to be the make-or-break voting block in any Denver Democratic primary.
Carrigan, for his part, distances himself from the nasty flier mailed on his behalf.
“I obviously can't have any communications with that group,” he said of Azar's independent expenditure committee. “I don't care for the approach they took. But by law I can't even complain to them.”
Carrigan said outside money from Azar's committee is “no different” than support for McCann from a group called the Colorado Blue Flower Fund. But McCann countered that the two funds “aren't comparable at all.” Azar's Texas-based committee was formed solely to get Carrigan elected, she noted, while Blue Flower is Colorado-based and accepts small donations from women throughout the state in support of a variety of female, pro-choice candidates.
“These are women who have worked for years to get women elected. Because of Citizens United, it's important for women to have their input heard,” said McCann, who has raised about $360,000 in contributions and loans and garnered endorsements from several of her fellow Democratic lawmakers, including Colorado House Majority Leader Representative Crisanta Duran.
Years before being elected to the Statehouse, McCann used to serve as former Mayor Wellington Webb's safety manager. Like Carrigan, she has embraced a reform platform by calling for far more transparency in the DA's office than Morrissey has allowed and by pledging not to keep him employed by the office.
McCann has hedged on the issue of the death penalty. At times, she has said she wouldn't seek it. At others, she has said she would.
Boyd – a senior deputy district attorney who has worked in the DA's office for nearly a decade – has tried to distinguish himself from his Democratic rivals by saying he has vastly more experience as a prosecutor. Boyd is the nephew of former DA-cum-governor Bill Ritter, who has endorsed him. Morrissey, Ritter's successor, also has endorsed Boyd, who has hinted that he may keep his boss on staff after Morrissey is term-limited in January.
Throughout the primary race, Boyd has defended the office's decisions not to prosecute sheriff's deputies for the 2010 Marvin Booker killing and for the 2015 killing of inmate Michael Marshall – both of whom were in jail custody. He also has defended the office's record of not pressing charges against killer cops.
McCann and Carrigan both have said that, if elected, they won't re-prosecute Clarence Moses-EL in connection to a 1987 rape for which Moses-EL served 28 years before a judge overturned his conviction late last year. Boyd, for his part, hasn't commented about Morrissey's insistence on re-trying the case despite the fact that another man confessed .
Other than a few minor procedural changes, it has been unclear what exactly Boyd means by his promise to take the D.A.'s office in “a new direction.”
Boyd, who has far less political experience than his Democratic challengers, has raised significantly less: about $200,000 in contributions and loans. He decries the negative mailers sent on behalf of Carrigan, whom he notes “ironically has done the most talking about keeping the race positive.”
“Michael made it very clear from the start that he was willing to buy the election and do what it takes to win,” Boyd said.
His tone Monday intimated he has come to terms with his status as an underdog in the Democratic primary. “I think we've done everything we could,” he said.
Boyd has made his extended family a main feature of his campaign messaging, noting in most of his speeches and ads that one of his brothers in law is a white cop and another is black and an ex-con. Apparently, by highlighting his family members, he has hoped to send a message of racial inclusion. But the oft-repeated talking point about his black brother-in-law has been derided by some in Denver's black community.
Yeah, yeah, we've heard it before, some have chided. Some of his best friends are black.
Whichever Democrat wins today's primary won't necessarily snag the DA's job in November's general election. The winner will face off against Helen Morgan, a chief deputy Denver district attorney and 22-year veteran of that office.
“Tomorrow will be fascinating for me, but it's not the end. You'll certainly be seeing much more of me,” said Morgan, who plans to take a leave of absence from the office later this summer so she can run full-time in a campaign that so far has raised about $320,000 in contributions and loans.
Morgan is a lifelong Democrat who's trying to petition onto the ballot as an independent after “making the decision that party politics shouldn't have anything to do with being DA.” Although she does not have the endorsement of Morrissey, her boss, she's careful “not to take pot shots” at a D.A.'s office where she says “so many people do such excellent work.”
Having distinguished herself with her work on addiction and mental health issues, Morgan is lauded both by longtime veterans of the DA's office and members of the criminal defense bar as exceptionally fair, thoughtful and smart.
Morgan has by far more prosecutorial experience than whichever Democrat wins the primary. She looks forward to campaigning one-to-one and to “having more detailed policy debates” than took place in most of the primary season forums.
While her three Democratic counterparts fret that Denverites haven't focused closely enough on the D.A.'s race, Morgan is confident voters will take notice before the general election.
“It's just now getting started,” she said. “This race isn't over. Not even close.”
Monday, June 27, 2016
Friendly Wild Seal Asks Diver For A Belly Rub
Valor grad nearly claims match-play title
Origin Builder bonus update with new Origin Builder review
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Let's look at the hype:
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The issue with a lot of other landing page developing software application on the marketplace today even They're truly remarkable is that they just have design templates pre-configured for web marketing and generate income online offers.
Truthfully, I'm actually delighted to inform you about because origin Builder and sturdily promote
Now, it's quite much the only software application on JVZoo that will enable you to develop industry-standard landing pages and professional-looking sites with outright drag n' drop simple.
When you have a have your genuine company you have to promote such as yard mowing
business, juicing brand name, electronic shop, steak home, dining establishments, swimming pool cleaning & laundry services, car service, legal company and so on, Since utilizing web marketing, you'll be stuck design landing pages for offers in those specific niches will make your projects flop.
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In our research, we discovered that themes and templates are highly restrictive in what they can allow you to do, most of the recently released themes and template plugins such as InstaBuilder, ProfitBuilder, OptimizePress which are all super amazing (and I also personally use them) tend to constrict people to create only IM-oriented pages.
And businesses such as clinics, law firms, restaurants, beauty salons etc. are left to struggle looking for installing new theme every other day trying to find something to make their website and content publishing look professional.
And even with the internet marketers, most of the multi-theme and template plugins they have constrain their design to the exact structure of the template/theme they're using thus not allowing their creative skills to come to play and everybody's website look like that of his neighbours.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Builders_of_the_Future
Wikipedia
Builders of the Future is the eighth studio album from American rock band Powerman 5000. … “Hey, All You People” (Best Buy bonus track), Spider One, Rodaniche, 3:24. Total length: 34:20 … “Builders of the Future – Powerman 5000 | Release Information, Reviews and Credits”. AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
Origins (Eluveitie album) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_(Eluveitie_album)
Wikipedia
Origins is the sixth full-length album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. The album was … Upon its release, Origins received generally positive reviews from music critics. … [show]The Call Of The Mountains (Mailorder Bonus CD). No.
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Roblox, stylized as RŌBLOX, is a massively multiplayer online game created and marketed … Players who have created an account may purchase either Builders Club, Turbo Builders Club, or Outrageous Builders Club, otherwise known by users as …. Some assets were uploaded without being reviewed by the moderators.
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Sunday, June 26, 2016
Report finds many people in Colorado lack easy access to healthy living environments
A new survey from the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Colorado in 2015: A ULI Survey of Views on Housing, Transportation and Community, reports that a significant number of Colorado residents face barriers to a healthy and active lifestyle due to community design and land use patterns that make walking, cycling, and recreational opportunities difficult. Despite Colorado's reputation as one of the healthiest states in the nation, 52 percent of the survey's respondents said that it is too far for them to walk to shopping and entertainment, and 42 percent said that the bike lanes in their communities are insufficient. In addition, 34 percent said that their communities lack outdoor spaces for exercise.
The survey identified low-income and Latino residents as the demographic groups most likely to experience these barriers and feel a sense of dissatisfaction with their communities. Nearly half (49 percent) of Latinos reported that their neighborhoods lacked outdoor recreational spaces (compared with 31 percent of white respondents), while 58 percent of Latinos responded that their neighborhoods lacked sufficient bike lanes (compared with 40 percent of white residents). Among respondents making less than $25,000 per year, 47 percent said that their neighborhoods lacked outdoor spaces while 54 percent said more bike lanes are needed in their communities.
The results stand in contrast to what Coloradans say they value and want in terms of housing, transportation, and community amenities. For example, 52 percent of respondents said they would prefer to live in a place where they would not need to use a car often. In addition to a car-optional lifestyle, other community attributes that respondents said were either a high or a top priority included: the quality of the environment (87 percent), access to healthy food (79 percent), green space (64 percent), and walkability (58 percent).
The report was discussed today by ULI Chief Content Officer and Executive Vice President Kathleen Carey and the Colorado Health Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Karen McNeil-Miller at Healthy Places, Healthy People: Building a Healthier Colorado in 2015 and Beyond, a program sponsored by ULI Colorado, which serves ULI members throughout the state. “This report demonstrates that even in states like Colorado, which is known throughout the world for its outdoor recreational opportunities and natural beauty, there is a significant gap between the healthy lifestyles people desire and their everyday reality. Such gaps can create barriers to walking, cycling, accessing fresh food, and other forms of health-promoting activity,” Carey said. “These findings can serve as a wake-up call and guide to public and private sector leaders across the state to use community design and land use as tools to improve the health outcomes of all Coloradans, regardless of income, age, or ethnicity.”
“We know health goes well beyond visits to a doctor's office. It is greatly influenced by our environment and the conditions we face on a daily basis,” noted McNeil-Miller. “The Colorado in 2015 report gives Coloradans across the state the opportunity to share what's important to them and their families in terms of where they live, work and play. It also underscores the fact that community design both contributes to and can reverse troubling health trends. Findings from the report provide a unique insight that can help guide our state's leaders in health and land use in making thoughtful and informed decisions that can positively impact the health of Coloradans for generations to come.”
Colorado in 2015 is based on interviews with 700 Colorado adults that were conducted in January and February to produce a companion to America in 2015, a national survey of community, housing, and transportation preferences released by ULI in March. Colorado in 2015 was undertaken to better understand current lifestyles, preferences, and aspirations among different generational, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups within Colorado in order to provide stakeholders and decision-makers accurate information to better serve, retain, and attract residents.
Survey responses were grouped according to the generational cohorts of Millennials (18-36 year olds), Generation X (37-49 year olds), baby boomers (50-68 year olds), and the war/silent generation (69 and older), as well as by income groups, ranging from those who make less than $25,000 per year to those making over $75,000 per year. Distinct community types (rural, small-town, suburban, medium-size cities, and big cities) as well as geographical regions-the West, Southeast, North, Adams/Arapahoe Counties, Western suburbs of Denver, and Denver County-were also analyzed in the report.
Colorado in 2015 and related reports were supported by the Colorado Health Foundation, which has partnered with ULI on other initiatives focused on improving health outcomes through land use decision-making. These initiatives include a series of health-focused Advisory Services panels held in Colorado in 2013, which focused on rural, suburban, and urban communities.
“Our partnership with the Colorado Health Foundation has yielded actionable research and thought leadership that can vitally serve decision-makers as they increasingly use health as a lens through which to make their cities, towns, and neighborhoods more livable, economically competitive, and sustainable for future generations,” Carey said.
Among other significant findings in the report related to housing and community choice and satisfaction:
· Millennials in Colorado are more likely to move than the population as a whole, with 70 percent saying a move is somewhat or very likely within the next five years. Twenty-nine percent of Coloradans said they were very likely to move.
· Thirty-two percent of Coloradans currently live in the suburbs, but only 22 percent would choose to live there in five years if they could live anywhere.
· Renters expressed the highest rate of dissatisfaction with their housing options, with 26 percent saying there were somewhat or very dissatisfied, compared with 15 percent of all Coloradans.
Vintage Suzuki Team Launched
Friday, June 24, 2016
Littwin: As dawn breaks upon a new world, Trump thinks only of himself
If I read my Twitter feed correctly, the lesson that Americans should take from Brexit is not that the European project has been turned on its head - I mean, who cares about old Europe? - but that the American project could be next.
The message is at least twofold:
One: We should take Donald Trump's anti-establishment, anti-globalization, anti-elite, anti-immigrant campaign very seriously. Xenophobia has clearly won the day in Britain, just as it did in the Republican presidential primary. Why not in November?
Two: It is impossible to take anything about Donald Trump seriously. And this, I fear, may be the more dangerous message.
Trump didn't know what Brexit was a few weeks ago. Yet as the dawn breaks upon a new world, he is in Scotland, not to celebrate the movement to which he has attached himself, but to cut ribbons at two golf courses he has purchased. In the middle of a chaotic presidential campaign, Trump took time out for a business trip. And if that's never happened before, get used to it. A lot of things are happening that have never happened before.
If you think Trump should put his business interests in some sort of trust, as presidential candidates tend to do, you might as well ask him to erase the name “Trump” emblazoned across his helicopter. Trump is his business interests.
“Basically, they took back their country,” Trump said of the Brexit vote from the ninth hole of venerable Turnberry golf course - that traditional news-conference destination - where there were several bagpipers there to greet him. “That's a good thing.”
Asked why people voted for Brexit, he said, “People are angry. All over the world they're angry … They are angry over borders, they are angry over people coming into the country and taking over and nobody even noticing. They are angry about many, many things.”
When asked where the anger is greatest, he said, “U.K. U.S. There's lots of other places. This will not be the last.”
He's right, sort of. The anger is everywhere.
Working class people are getting the shaft in a globalized world, making the market just right for a politician/demagogue to come along selling anger and fear. Or rather, in the case of the Donald, selling a venerable golf course and its formerly run-down hotel - which, he explained, the Trump family has gone to great expense to restore to its former grandeur. Making Britain's golf courses great again.
When asked about the pound's plunge as the financial markets have really taken the Brexit vote seriously, Trump came right to the point: “When the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly.”
Yes, he did.
He thus made the pivot from a brief statement about Brexit to a discourse on Turnberry's new watering system and renovations. He didn't mention that, though the watering system is improved, Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay in the European Union and may now move toward another vote to leave the United Kingdom.
It wasn't just Scotland that voted to stay. Northern Ireland voted to stay. Young people voted to stay. Londoners voted to stay. As the “remain” people had put it, Great Britain could go back to being Little England.
Nobody really knows what will come of Brexit. The move from the EU will go slowly and may not be nearly as dramatic as the vote itself. Members of Parliament are largely in the “stay” camp and are likely, if Europe goes along, to want to keep ties as close as possible. But it could also mean other EU countries line up to leave. What we know is that things are different now. The economists pretty much uniformly predicted economic disaster for Britain if it voted to leave. The majority of voters either didn't believe the experts or didn't care.
Voting against the experts - you know, like the ones who believe the sea levels might rise sufficiently to damage Trump's Scottish investments - is Trump's recommended course of action, no matter what impact it has, say, on your retirement account.
Trump's campaign may be in disarray. His poll numbers may have plummeted. The risk that the British economy might tank could put the Trump project at risk. And yet he scoffed at the idea that he needed advisers to help him work through the ramifications of Brexit. When asked by reporters if members of his foreign policy team were traveling with him, he said, according to the Washington Post, that “there's nothing to talk about.”
Of course, people can talk of little else. The Supreme Court non-decision on Barack Obama's immigration reform plan ensured that immigration would be at the heart of the presidential campaign. The fact that Britain went all Tom Tancredo on immigration can hardly be ignored. It is more important even than the tanking of stock markets. The fact that the British “leave” campaign was based in racism is more important than Trump's made-for-SNL-mockery business trip.
In a statement before his news conference, Trump wrote this: “Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today's rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by, and for the people. I hope America is watching, it will soon be time to believe in America again.”
He hopes America is watching.
You should hope so, too.
Photo credit: Trump Documentary TV, Creative Commons, Google Images
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Game of Thrones: where have all the baddies gone?
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Fun ways to help preschoolers with math
All aboard
Backed by Ted Cruz in Colorado's Senate race, Darryl Glenn is a Tea Party flashback
COLORADO SPRINGS - This week, Ted Cruz was back in Colorado where Republicans overwhelmingly favored him over Donald Trump in April, handing him all the elected delegates to next month's national convention.
Why the Centennial State? Cruz has chosen Colorado to mount his political comeback by trying to help Darryl Glenn, another anti-establishment ultra-conservative, win the GOP primary for Colorado's U.S. Senate race. Like Cruz, Glenn also won big in an April stunner at the Republican Party state convention following a game-changing speech. The once obscure El Paso County commissioner and Colorado Springs City Councilman earned 70 percent of the vote among about 4,000 GOP delegates that day and and knocked six of his rivals out of the race.
Related: Colorado's U.S. Senate GOP primary: What you need to know
Since then, Glenn- a lawyer and retired Air Force officer- has firmly planted himself as the conservative's conservative in the race against four other much better-funded Republicans who petitioned onto the ballot. He has said he is not concerned with raising money. His campaign uses only volunteers, a move Roll Call described as “an unusual practice for any candidate, much less one vying for the Republican nomination of a marquee Senate race.”
If he makes it to the U.S. Senate, Glenn has vowed to brush off calls to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats, saying Republicans just need to lead. He wants to lower corporate and property taxes, and he says Democrats have declared a “war on coal.” He believes government policies should allow charities and community programs do the work of alleviating poverty. Believing the United States might have to consider closing military bases to “become more lean and efficient,” Glenn says as the only candidate to serve on a Base Closure and Realignment Commission he has the experience to help. The former weightlifter who was once on the cover of Powerlifting USA magazine in the '80s talks a lot about God and his faith. And he has promised to vote against Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as the Senate's majority leader, allying himself with Senate rebels like Cruz.
As for his campaign strategy, in an interview Glenn said he believes his primary bid here in Colorado can harness the votes of those who supported presidential candidates Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. He calls his effort “the one campaign that can consolidate the conservative base.” But he also said he believes he can convince unaffiliated voters and conservative Democrats to vote for him in the general election.
In recent weeks, Glenn's candidacy has made up for what it lacks in fundraising and campaign infrastructure with big-name endorsements among the far-right base. In addition to Cruz, who is campaigning with him in Colorado this week, Sarah Palin has come out in support of him. The Senate Conservatives Action PAC, which helps to elect anti-establishment underdogs around the country, is running a TV ad for him. This week, a PAC for the Tea Party group FreedomWorks endorsed him.
“We need more people in Washington willing to boldly take on the establishment and fight for limited government,” said FreedomWorks PAC chairman Adam Brandon in a statement. “That's what Darryl Glenn will do, and we encourage Colorado primary voters to support him.”
In a way, the Glenn situation looks like a throwback to the Tea Party candidacies of six years ago in Colorado and elsewhere, when former U.S. Senate iconoclast Jim DeMint traveled the country backing primary candidates who couldn't win general election votes.
That worries Republicans in Colorado like Ryan Call, former chairman of the state GOP.
“The problem is that we've tried that before in Colorado,” Call says, characterizing these outside groups as waging a proxy battle in this U.S. Senate race to advance a larger anti-establishment war nationwide.
In 2010, Republican primary voters here nominated hard-right Republicans - Dan Maes for governor and Ken Buck for the U.S. Senate - for statewide primaries, only to see them lose big in the general elections during a year that was good for Republicans.
“I understand that some of them want more Tea Party and right-wing [candidates], but they are ignoring the political realities on the ground,” Call said of the national groups trying to air-drop some influence on Colorado's Senate race.
Those realities include 2016 being a presidential year when more Coloradans will turn out to vote than they did in 2010, increasing the chances that moderates and center left unaffiliated voters will have more of a say in the November contest in this battleground state. And if an underfunded underdog with an unconventional campaign wins in the primary, Call says it could be a devastating pyrrhic victory for the party.
But Jeff Crank, a conservative talk radio host in Colorado Springs, former congressional candidate and ex-state director of Americans for Prosperity, doesn't exactly buy the that line on Glenn's candidacy.
“If you're trying to win a primary and you win it without [spending money on ads and consultants and staff] then wasn't it a good use of your resources?” he asks rhetorically.
Crank is friends with Glenn, but says he doesn't have a dog in the fight.
Now in its final week before the primary, the election become a test of what kind of Republican campaign can work in Colorado: a year-long grassroots effort or a compressed air war played out largely during the commercial breaks on TV screens.
“I think in Colorado we're unique in that way that it's easier to be a grassroots candidate in Colorado and go through the process of the caucus and the assembly and build a campaign off of it,” Crank offers.
Glenn is the only candidate on the June 28 ballot who built a grassroots base. His four rivals- businessman Robert Blaha, ex-lawmaker Jon Keyser, former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier and former NFL quarterback Jack Graham- gathered signatures to qualify for the primary ballot. All but Graham had to file lawsuits to stay viable because the GOP Secretary of State initially said they didn't collect enough signatures. The process tipped the Republican race into turmoil, generated scandal, and Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet's name slid from the “toss up” category on national handicapping sites.
Related: What's up with this messy U.S. Senate GOP primary in Colorado?
Bennet's name appears unopposed on ballots that are out right now. Green Party candidate Arn Menconi and Libertarian Lilly Williams were nominated by conventions in their own parties and will appear on the November ballot, too.
In the Republican primary, “by and large, Darryl Glenn has gotten most of the lion's share of the Tea Party [support] in Colorado,” says Regina Thomson, a Tea Party leader on the Front Range. “They see him as being the most constitutionally conservative in the group.”
But Glenn's lack of a traditional campaign is worrisome to her, too.
“He's definitely a powerful little candidate,” she says. “He packs a punch and he articulates his message well, but that fact that he doesn't have an infrastructure and fundraising is a legitimate question. … that concerns me as someone who is around politics a lot and as someone who knows what it takes to win campaigns.”
That Cruz has planted a flag in Colorado with his endorsement of Glenn is hard to overstate. The move is his first in a quest for a political comeback since he dropped out of the presidential race on May 3. In an interview with The Denver Post, Cruz said Colorado represents “one of the best pickup opportunities across the country to replace a liberal Democrat with a principled constitutionalist conservative,” adding, “In this race we are blessed to have an extraordinary candidate.”
Colorado does not have runoff elections for U.S. Senate primaries. So with five names of the ballot, the largest vote getter could still win with a relatively small percent of the vote. If the Cruz effect and other factors mean a nomination for Glenn, then next week will be an unconventional end to what has already been a very unconventional race.
“To me it's fascinating to watch,” Thomson said, “because it's nontraditional.”
Genes can have up to 80% influence on students' academic performance
Brian Byrne, University of New England; Katrina Grasby, University of New England, and Richard Olson, University of Colorado
Research shows that a student's genetic makeup can have a strong influence on their academic performance.
Some interpret this as meaning there is little that can be done to help those who struggle academically – and that spending extra money on these students to help them succeed is pointless.
But is this the case?
A major misconception is that genes are destiny. This is wrong because genes are never the full story.
This is because environmental factors (“nurture”) also play a role in levels of academic achievement. Well-designed and well-delivered remediation can also help struggling students even in cases where genetic factors (“nature”) may be the source of the difficulties.
What we know about genetic influence on learning
We know about strong genetic influences on academic skills primarily through the use of the twin method.
This is where the genetic makeup of identical twins is compared with non-identical twins.
Evidence of genetic influence emerges if identical twins are more alike in terms of academic performance than non-identical (“fraternal”) twins.
Identical twins share all their genes, “fraternal” twins share half of their genes, but both types share homes and schools.
So researchers can estimate the degree to which genes affect academic achievement over and above the effects of homes and schools: that is, they can estimate how much ability is inherited. And because non-identical twins can be opposite-sex, researchers can also identify if nature and nurture play out differently with males and females.
For the most part the same genes appear to affect boys and girls, and in general gender effects are in danger of being exaggerated in public discourse.
Studies with twin children have been conducted worldwide, including in Australia, the US, the UK, continental Europe, Asia, and Africa, with an emphasis on the core areas of literacy and numeracy.
Estimates of genetic influence vary somewhat among subjects and locations, but range from near 50% to as high as 80%. The studies have used standardised tests as well as school-administered tests.
Less is known about creative and technical subjects, where particular talents clearly exist.
from www.shutterstock.com
What about environmental influence?
Twin studies can also parse environmental influence into factors that twin children mostly share, such as home socio-economic status (SES) and school attended. There are also those that are unique to each child in a twin, such as illnesses and, often enough, separate teachers.
Contrary to many people's expectations, some shared factors such as family SES and school attended are relatively minor influences on student differences once genetic endowment has been taken into consideration.
It is important to note, however, that some groups may show lower average levels of achievement due to adverse environmental circumstances such as poorer rates of school attendance and retention.
Other groups may be affected by unusual environments, such as heavy metal contamination from mining and metals processing, which can be associated with lower NAPLAN scores.
Educational interventions
What works are well-designed, well-delivered and timely interventions that can help struggling children to reach or more closely approach normal-range levels.
These interventions are usually designed for individuals or small groups but have proven successful when implemented at school district level.
We do not claim that compensating for genetic disadvantage is easy, but with the right frame of mind and sustained help with an emphasis on how the alphabet represents the sounds of speech, plus supported reading practice, progress is real and rewarding.
Funding implications
This is why the conclusion that strong genetic influence makes additional spending pointless is too pessimistic.
It could be argued that if some children struggling with literacy or numeracy are doing so because of constraints on learning with biological origins, then extra funding delivered to these children is exactly what is needed.
This is especially so if we wish to counter increasing gaps between the best – and worst -performing students.
Implications for the teaching profession
Some teachers have been reluctant to acknowledge the role of genes in school performance, perhaps because of an aversion to biological explanations – so-called “biological determinism” – and perhaps because of the false impression that if genes matter, teachers don't.
Among other consequences, this has meant an overemphasis on the role of teacher skill and dedication in determining why some students prosper and others struggle.
There is direct evidence from twins that teacher differences are not responsible for much in the way of student differences in literacy. So teachers do matter in that they are the reasons why children know more at the end of the year or even the day. But our teachers are more uniformly effective than many give them credit for.
The Colorado story
It is unfortunate that in some education systems, such as in Colorado in the US, teacher employment and remuneration are tied to evaluations that give undue weight to student progress.
This ignores the fact that some students struggle because of biological constraints on learning that can be overcome to an encouraging degree, but only with special and adequate resources.
In the US, teacher morale is at an all time low, and in other places, including Australia, teachers are blamed by many in the media and politics.
What is needed
We need a more nuanced understanding of the factors that influence academic achievement, including the role that genes play.
At the same time, we need to avoid the unwarranted pessimism that can accompany acknowledgement of genetic influence, a danger that applies not only to attitudes toward academic development but to mental and physical health as well.
We need to take comfort from the existence of scientifically-grounded interventions, which in the hands of teachers with sufficient resources, can make a difference to the prospects of students who initially find the going in particular subjects tough.
Brian Byrne, Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, and Emeritus Professor, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England; Katrina Grasby, PhD, University of New England, and Richard Olson, Professor of psychology and neuroscience director, Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Centre, University of Colorado
Monday, June 20, 2016
Retired judge takes the hot seat
Despite boost, Colorado school funding is still below pre-recession levels
If there's any topic that is almost as important to lawmakers as the budget, it's education. So what will be different for Colorado's rural schools in the coming academic year?
First, funding.
Gov. John Hickenlooper finally signed the annual School Finance Act last week, which will boost the state's funding of public schools by $3.5 million in 2016-17. That equates to a per-pupil bump of about $112, to $6,367.90. That amount is still 11.5 percent less than what schools would be getting were it not for the “negative factor,” a budgetary device first used about six years ago, during the recession, to cut school funding to match what was available from the state.
But not every school will get that $6,367.90 per student. Some are being handed cuts, based on a last-minute compromise on the School Finance Act.
Ten rural school districts - seven on the Eastern Plains - are dealing with dwindling property-tax revenues from a downturn in energy and mining activity. The districts turned to the state to ask for help, but that assistance will be minimal, if they get anything at all.
Sponsors of the School Finance Act said the districts would have to absorb their share of the negative factor cut, meaning each district would be hit with an 11.5 percent cut to per-pupil funding.
Six of the ten districts that haven't sought state funding in the past will be able to tap into a $1 million contingency reserve fund to cover 25 percent of the cuts. Wiggins, in Morgan County, is among the six. The other four, including the Pawnee School District in Weld County, will have to manage the cuts on their own. (See the chart below for total funding.)
And while lawmakers didn't get everything they wanted in the proposal, a new law will help rural schools find new teachers, or help their existing teachers gain new credentials, which can lead to better pay. Hickenlooper signed Senate Bill 104, sponsored by Rep. Jon Becker of Fort Morgan, and Sens. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling and Nancy Todd of Aurora, on June 6. The new law has three components: an incentive to draw student teachers to rural schools, a “cadet” program to attract rural high school students to the teaching profession, and funding for a matchmaker program between teacher education programs and rural schools, hosted at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison.
Computer science and coding courses could be counted as math or science courses to graduation requirements under a bill passed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor in April. Under the new law, the State Board of Education must first adopt academic standards that include the knowledge and skills gained through computer science courses. That must be done by July 1, 2018. After that, local school districts can decide whether to adopt the standards.
Another new law will impact three northeastern school districts: Valley in Logan County, and Brush and Fort Morgan in Morgan County. This new law requires anyone running for the board of a school with 1,000 or more students to submit to the school district a biographical statement of 1,000 words or less. The statement must be accurate, according to the law, which was signed on June 10. Once received, the statement must be posted on the district website no later than 60 days before the election.
Also impacting school board candidates: campaign finance disclosure requirements. Under a law signed by Hickenlooper on June 8, those who run for school board seats must follow the same campaign reporting requirements that apply to certain elected officials - state House, Senate, and District Attorney candidates, for example. This means reporting the name and address of anyone who contributes $250 or more. Candidates also now must report how campaign funds were spent, if that spending hits $1,000 or more in a calendar year.
The General Assembly also approved several proposals tied to workforce development, including a bill creating a “Career Development Success Pilot Program” in the Colorado Department of Education.
The two-year pilot program, which will start off with $1 million in 2017-18, provides money to school districts to encourage high school students to participate in industry certificate programs, internships or apprenticeships, or take advanced placement courses.
The new law, signed by Hickenlooper on May 27, directs the Department of Education to rank the programs for funding purposes, with the certificate program getting money first, then the internships or apprenticeships and then the AP courses. Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES), the multi-district education service providers, also are eligible to seek funding.
The Department of Education, Department of Higher Education and the Colorado Workforce Development Council will collaborate to identify qualifying certificate, internship and apprenticeship programs.
Finally, the General Assembly made some changes in its law governing how students take medical marijuana during the school day.
Previously, state law allowed school districts to adopt policies that would allow a parent or medical professional to administer the medical marijuana to a student who is on school grounds.
But none of Colorado's 178 school districts adopted such a policy, fearing the loss of federal funds. The new law, signed by Hickenlooper on June 6, repeals the policy requirement and instead allows parents or caregivers to administer medical marijuana in non-smokable form.
The law does give districts an “out,” however: Those that fear they will lose federal money should be able to prove it, and should post a statement, conspicuous on the website, that details the district's reasons for not complying with the law.
Photo credit: Jameziecakes, Creative Commons, Flickr
Wet and wild summer
Friday, June 17, 2016
John Morse – Fix the assault weapon problem
Man dead, officer injured in incident
Ted Cruz endorses Darryl Glenn for U.S. Senate in Colorado
Ted Cruz, who swept Colorado's delegates in his unsuccessful quest for the White House, will try to channel his influence with Republicans here to affect the outcome of the U.S. Senate race. The Texas senator will endorse El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, according to Glenn's campaign.
“Senator Cruz is a true advocate for conservatives and has pledged to stand with Darryl Glenn as he takes on Michael Bennet in November,” wrote Glenn spokesman Jillian Likness in a statement.
The National Review was first to report the news. Cruz aides told The Dallas Morning News that Cruz will stump for Glenn in Colorado Monday. The paper reported the Glenn nod is Cruz's “first major endorsement since dropping out 6 weeks ago.”
The Cruz endorsement follows that of Sarah Palin and the Senate Conservatives Fund, a group run by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that aims to get hard-right conservative underdogs elected to the Senate. That group's Super PAC is paying for TV ads in support of Glenn, who hasn't raised much money for the race.
Related: What you need to know about Colorado's U.S. Senate race
This year's sprawling U.S. Senate primary once had about 15 Republicans running. But in April, Glenn bested six of them during the party's state convention when he took 70 percent of the vote from the roughly 4,000 GOP delegates in attendance after a rousing speech.
Related: Did Darryl Glenn's convention speech shift the U.S. Senate race?
Those delegates also overwhelming supported Cruz, who traveled to Colorado for a speech at the convention.
Since then, Glenn has crisscrossed the state focusing on his ground game.
A retired Air Force officer and lawyer who previously served on the Colorado Springs City Council, Glenn says Republicans shouldn't try to work with Democrats in the U.S. Senate.
He calls himself an “unapologetic Christian constitutional conservative pro-life, Second-Amendment-loving American,” and sees this election for U.S. Senate in 2016 as mainly about foreign policy and national security. He has said the United States might have to consider closing military bases to “become more lean and efficient.” And if so, as the only candidate to serve on what's called a BRAC- a Base Closure and Realignment Commission- he says he has the experience to help.
Glenn is on the ballot along with five other Republicans. Those ballots have already been out since June 6. Republican voters in Colorado have until June 28 to turn them in.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
In Denver, LGBT people of color mourn Orlando their own way
They chanted, they sang, they shouted and they wept.
Dozens of LGBT people of color gathered in the Sunnyside neighborhood of northwest Denver Wednesday evening to grieve for the 49 people killed early Sunday at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. They also used part of the evening to blast Denver Police, who they said makes them feel less safe.
The gathering of around 75 people was in marked contrast to the much larger vigil at Tracks nightclub on Sunday attended by Mayor Michael Hancock and other elected officials, including Sen. Michael Bennet.
And that was deliberate.
The Wednesday gathering was supported by 19 mostly-LGBT groups, including Survivors Organizing for Liberation (SOL), 2Spirit People of Color and the American Friends Service Committee, and was intended as an alternative to the Tracks vigil, which some found troubling.
The service began with an altar, built by mourners outside the Survivors Organizing for Liberation office and covered with photos of the 49 Orlando victims.
“This is a vulnerable community on the front lines of a war” they didn't start, said David Young, who led the group in songs and prayers.
Young also took issue with claims the Orlando massacre was the worst in American history. Remember Wounded Knee? he said. Remember Sand Creek? ”We are here to remember the lives lost in Orlando, but not just those lives - lives lost over 500 years,” he added. “Indigenous people continue to be under assault…the people who lost their lives in Orlando are part of the ongoing perpetual violence we experience.”
He added, “This is not new to us.”
Some of those who attended Wednesday's memorial spoke of watching in horror as police patted down those who went to Tracks Sunday evening. This is a community that lives in terror of Denver Police, said one mourner. This is a community that remembers Jessica Hernandez, a transgender teenager killed by Denver Police last year.
Mimi Miriam Madrid of SOL said the idea for the gathering came from concerns that “there was a lack of space for queer young people of color, in the wake of the shooting,” to mourn. It was also to remind people “this isn't an isolated incident,” Madrid said, noting the murders of 25 trans women last year and 14 more this year. “It's genocide,” she said.
Mourners criticized the “corporate” feel of Sunday's memorial, and the politicians whom they said used the event for their own purposes.
“These were opportunistic politicians who used the shooting to push their political agendas,” Young told the crowd.
Vigil organizers turned down offers of protection for their event from Denver Police, saying they didn't want the police invading what they saw as a “safe space” for LGBT people of color to grieve.
“We refuse to accept suggestions that increased police presence in our queer and trans spaces will [decrease] risks of violence or increase any sense of safety,” organizers said in a statement. “Police violence continues to be a serious and legitimate concern for LGBTQI people of color.” In their statement, organizers cited concerns of police refusal to take complaints, harassment, discrimination, profiling, assault and sexual violence.
Mourners never spoke about the gunman by name, identified as Omar Mateen, who allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIL during the attack. But Islamophobia and homophobia “are part of the same monster known by different names,” organizers said. “Islamophobic sentiments, in light of the events in Orlando, situates Muslims in our community as vulnerable to heightened acts of violence.”
Following the altar service, the group, carrying photos of the Orlando dead, walked several blocks to “La Raza Park,” refusing to call it by the name on a sign on the park's 38th Avenue side - Columbus Park - due to the name's anti-indigenous historical roots. There, they shared stories, sang and listened to a powerful spoken-word performance by two mourners. They held hands in solidarity and sorrow and tears.
White people attending the ceremony were asked to don orange safety vests to escort the mourners to La Raza Park. Renee Morgan of Lafayette said she wore one because “even though I'm queer, I have a lot of privilege, being white, and I want to do what I can to create space for people to grieve.”
But as the group walked toward La Raza Park, they were reminded about the fear some say they experience on a daily basis.
A female Denver Police officer drove by, slowly, as the group walked down the street. She stared at the group, and dozens of faces stared back, with several people wondering aloud if she was going to come back.
She didn't come back.
Photos and videos by Marianne Goodland
LGBT people of color mourn Orlando their own way
They chanted, they sang, they shouted and they wept.
Dozens of LGBT people of color gathered in the Sunnyside neighborhood of northwest Denver Wednesday evening to grieve for the 49 people killed early Sunday at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. They also used part of the evening to blast Denver Police, who they said makes them feel less safe.
The gathering of around 75 people was in marked contrast to the much larger vigil at Tracks nightclub on Sunday attended by Mayor Michael Hancock and other elected officials, including Sen. Michael Bennet.
And that was deliberate.
The Wednesday gathering was supported by 19 mostly-LGBT groups, including Survivors Organizing for Liberation (SOL), 2Spirit People of Color and the American Friends Service Committee, and was intended as an alternative to the Tracks vigil, which some found troubling.
The service began with an altar, built by mourners outside the Survivors Organizing for Liberation office and covered with photos of the 49 Orlando victims.
“This is a vulnerable community on the front lines of a war” they didn't start, said David Young, who led the group in songs and prayers.
Young also took issue with claims the Orlando massacre was the worst in American history. Remember Wounded Knee? he said. Remember Sand Creek? ”We are here to remember the lives lost in Orlando, but not just those lives - lives lost over 500 years,” he added. “Indigenous people continue to be under assault…the people who lost their lives in Orlando are part of the ongoing perpetual violence we experience.”
He added, “This is not new to us.”
Some of those who attended Wednesday's memorial spoke of watching in horror as police patted down those who went to Tracks Sunday evening. This is a community that lives in terror of Denver Police, said one mourner. This is a community that remembers Jessica Hernandez, a transgender teenager killed by Denver Police last year.
Mimi Miriam Madrid of SOL said the idea for the gathering came from concerns that “there was a lack of space for queer young people of color, in the wake of the shooting,” to mourn. It was also to remind people “this isn't an isolated incident,” Madrid said, noting the murders of 25 trans women last year and 14 more this year. “It's genocide,” she said.
Mourners criticized the “corporate” feel of Sunday's memorial, and the politicians whom they said used the event for their own purposes.
“These were opportunistic politicians who used the shooting to push their political agendas,” Young told the crowd.
Vigil organizers turned down offers of protection for their event from Denver Police, saying they didn't want the police invading what they saw as a “safe space” for LGBT people of color to grieve.
“We refuse to accept suggestions that increased police presence in our queer and trans spaces will [decrease] risks of violence or increase any sense of safety,” organizers said in a statement. “Police violence continues to be a serious and legitimate concern for LGBTQI people of color.” In their statement, organizers cited concerns of police refusal to take complaints, harassment, discrimination, profiling, assault and sexual violence.
Mourners never spoke about the gunman by name, identified as Omar Mateen, who allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIL during the attack. But Islamophobia and homophobia “are part of the same monster known by different names,” organizers said. “Islamophobic sentiments, in light of the events in Orlando, situates Muslims in our community as vulnerable to heightened acts of violence.”
Following the altar service, the group, carrying photos of the Orlando dead, walked several blocks to “La Raza Park,” refusing to call it by the name on a sign on the park's 38th Avenue side - Columbus Park - due to the name's anti-indigenous historical roots. There, they shared stories, sang and listened to a powerful spoken-word performance by two mourners. They held hands in solidarity and sorrow and tears.
White people attending the ceremony were asked to don orange safety vests to escort the mourners to La Raza Park. Renee Morgan of Lafayette said she wore one because “even though I'm queer, I have a lot of privilege, being white, and I want to do what I can to create space for people to grieve.”
But as the group walked toward La Raza Park, they were reminded about the fear some say they experience on a daily basis.
A female Denver Police officer drove by, slowly, as the group walked down the street. She stared at the group, and dozens of faces stared back, with several people wondering aloud if she was going to come back.
She didn't come back.
Photos and videos by Marianne Goodland
Hidden bars – the growth of the speakeasy – BBC News
Image copyright Ricker Restaurants If finding the La Bodega Negra restaurant isn't enough of a challenge, you then have to brave walking inside.
Located on a street in London's Soho district, the historic centre of the city's adult entertainment industry, the entrance is designed to look like a sex shop.
Beside the recessed black door, neon lights proclaim “adult video”, “peep show” and “girls, girls, girls”.
In no way would a passerby guess that the venue was a Mexican restaurant – there is no restaurant signage whatsoever.
Instead you pass into a gloomy entrance area, and then walk down a dark stairway, until you then finally see the basement restaurant appear.
First opening in 2012, La Bodega Negra has been at the forefront of a growing global trend – the rebirth of the “speakeasy”, bars and restaurants that hide their location.
Image copyright Ricker Restaurants The word speakeasy was first coined in the US during the prohibition era, when the sale of alcohol was generally illegal from 1920 to 1933.
To avoid police raids and prosecution, bars that sold alcohol would keep a very low profile. And their customers were told to speak quietly (speakeasy) about them.
Fast-forward to today, and with alcohol legal and freely available in most countries, why do some venues want to hide themselves away? And in doing so, how do they, at the same time, go about attracting customers?
'Atmosphere of discovery'
Will Ricker, owner of La Bodega Negra, admits that “there is a fine line between keeping something exclusive and generating revenues”.
Yet the 44-year-old adds that “you've got to stand out” in London's competitive restaurant market, and he says that the sex shop frontage has certainly got people talking.
Mr Ricker has also been very successful in attracting celebrities to La Bodega Negra, with rock band U2 hosting a Halloween party in the restaurant a few years ago, and former footballer David Beckham hiring the venue for a party.
Image copyright Ricker Restaurants Such celebrity approval has helped La Bodega Negra become a fashionable place to be seen, and it is packed out most evenings with people happy to pay its premium prices.
Berlin cocktail bar Beckett's Kopf is another modern day speakeasy.
Located on a quiet side street in the hipster neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg, rather than have its name outside, the owners have simply hung a picture of Irish poet Samuel Beckett (from whom the bar takes its name) in the window.
“We wanted to create an atmosphere of discovery, and bring back the curiosity you have as a child,” says Oliver Ebert, 42, who opened the venue with his wife Christina in 2004.
With no name on display, and reliant solely upon word of mouth to build up business, Mr Ebert admits that it took three or four years to establish a strong customer base.
Now as many as 120 drinkers pour into Beckett's Kopf on weekend evenings.
'Huge cachet'
For New York-based marketing and branding expert Allen Adamson modern day speakeasies are all about selling exclusivity, which is increasingly desirable to higher-end consumers.
“Exclusivity still drives desire and premium-ness,” he says. “Part of effective luxury marketing is some sort of scarcity, or the need to dig deeper to find the story.”
Robert Jones from London-based brand consultancy Wolff Olins agrees, saying: “There's a huge cachet in rarity, obscurity, mystique. Inaccessible means desirable.”
In Toronto, Canada, the Libertine Speak is another speakeasy bar which thanks in no small part to its exclusivity is regularly packed out.
Instead of having the bar's name outside the venue in the city's West End district, there is a neon sign offering palm readings.
“From the outside it looks like a dive, or a place to get your fortune read,” says Philipp Dumet, who bought the bar last year.
“[The speakeasy model] caters to our target clientele – the influencers, the tastemakers, the sort of quote, unquote cool kids of the west end, who operate really solely through the internet.”
Image copyright Libertine Speak To engage with his customers, and promote the business, Mr Dumet, 29, extensively uses social media services Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Mr Adamson and Mr Jones both agree that the growth of social media in recent years has transformed a company's ability to create positive word of mouth, making it much easier, and cheaper, for would-be speakeasies to built up an exclusive customer base.
“Social media is the rocket fuel that has changed the marketing game,” says Mr Adamson, while Mr Jones says word of mouth has been “turbo-powered by social media”.
Image copyright Ricker Restaurants Meanwhile, fellow branding expert Rebecca Battman, says that word-of-mouth marketing “is now at its most powerful and effective” and affordable, thanks to social media.
However, Mr Adamson cautions that whatever the buzz a hidden bar or restaurant manages to create, it cannot forget the basic need to offer excellent service, drinks and food.
“In today's world, nothing will undo you more than a product that's disappointing,” he says.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36525805