Measured approach to redistricting tried

Kabuki or Kumbaya?
Republican and Democratic leaders in the Colorado General Assembly on Thursday announced plans to seat a joint select committee that will guide the usually contentious process of redrawing Congressional Districts. During a briefing at the Denver Press Club to preview the upcoming legislative session, Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, House Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, Minority Leader Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, and Pace said keeping congressional redistricting out of court ...

Why the Census may be bad news for Missouri Democrats
WASHINGTON — The Census will make clear on Tuesday what has been speculated about in Missouri political circles for a while: The state could lose a Congressional Seat effective the 2012 Elections. Democrats could be most at risk. Going into the 2011 Congress, they will hold only three seats in the nine-member House delegation because the party just lost Rep. Ike Skelton's district in the November Midterm Elections. But they might have trouble keeping that many. It depends on how the Rep...

Colorados House reps divided on tax cuts
Colorado’s U.S. House delegation split last night on the late vote on extending Tax Cuts for two years — with Republican Doug Lamborn joining Democrats Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter voting against the cuts and everyone else supporting them. Lamborn was one of only 36 Republicans who didn’t support the bill. DeGette said she wanted a middle-class Tax Break, but didn’t support breaks to the Estate Tax. “While I support an extension of both Unemployment Insurance and ...

What do civil unions, a plywood cow and daylight saving have in time? Read on
Rep. Jeanne Faatz back in 1988. A Colorado congressman in 1988 introduced a bill to give states the authority to stay on daylight saving time, but the bill didn’t go anywhere. “It never saw the time of day,” said the sponsor, Republican Hank Brown, then a congressman from the 4th Congressional District. “I thought it was a matter of state control, but that was not a widely shared view.” Brown, who went on to become a U.S

South, West expected to pick up House seats after census
WASHINGTON — Sun Belt states and those in the West are expected to gain even more political clout when the Census Bureau announces on Tuesday which states will gain Congressional Seats and which will lose them. Among the likely winners are Washington State, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, South Carolina and Utah. The likely losers are such Rust Belt states as Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Ohio. While it may be an insider's game, the political st...

Springs police arrest Aurora cop on suspicion of child porn
An Aurora Police Officer who lives in Peyton was arrested today by Colorado Springs police on suspicion of possessing Child Pornography. Sgt. Morgan Sellman, 39, was booked into the El Paso County Jail on suspicion of Sexual Exploitation of a child, a felony. His name did not appear in an online jail directory Friday afternoon, suggesting he may have been released on bond; An El Paso County Sheriff's spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for confirmation. The charge carries a maximum sent...

Black segregation in US drops to lowest in century (AP)
WASHINGTON – America's neighborhoods took large strides toward racial integration in the last decade as blacks and whites chose to live near each other at the highest levels in a century. Still, segregation in many parts of the U.S. persisted, with Hispanics in particular turning away from whites. A broad range of 2009 Census data released Tuesday also found a mixed economic picture, with the Poverty rate swinging wildly among counties from 4 percent to more than 40 percent as the nation...

Patrick Kennedy leaves public life, and an era ends
WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick Kennedy stepped carefully around a clutter of half-packed cardboard boxes, overstuffed luggage, and several open bags of Potato Chips at his Capitol Hill apartment. It seemed more like a scene of a College Student heading home than the end of a 64-year political legacy. But Kennedy’s upcoming Retirement will break a bond between the nation’s capital and Camelot. When the new House is seated in January, it will mark the first time since 1947 ...

As era nears end, Patrick Kennedy embraces new opportunities
WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick Kennedy stepped carefully around a clutter of half-packed cardboard boxes, overstuffed luggage, and several open bags of Potato Chips at his Capitol Hill apartment. It seemed more like a scene of a College Student heading home than the end of a 64-year political legacy. But Kennedy’s upcoming Retirement will break a bond between the nation’s capital and Camelot. When the new House is seated in January, it will mark the first time since 1947 ...

LAST TICKET: Wyden has prostate cancer; congressman tweets in Morse code (The Ticket)
Here are the stories we took note of today but didn't give the full blog treatment: • Senator Ron Wyden has early-stage Prostate Cancer. (The Oregonian) • Sarah Palin's poll numbers are worse than Nancy Pelosi's. (First Read) • Greg Walden announced his House telecom subcommittee chairmanship by posting a Twitter message in Morse code. (Daily Intel) • Could "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" save Joe Lieberman? (The Fix) • Rob Simmons thinks the National Republican Senatorial Committee

Arizona Republicans Claim Religious Discrimination In Redistricting Panel
Republican lawmakers are challenging some of the early decisions of the political redistricting process - a process that was designed to exclude legislative influence. On Tuesday, the lawmakers reiterated their call for reconsideration of three nominees to the Independent Redistricting Commission. And they worried about the "chilling effect" of a Tucson man being dropped from the list, for what the lawmakers say were concerns about his Christian faith. The redistricting commission, created by th...

Redistricting panel's work questioned
by Mary Jo Pitzl - Dec. 14, 2010 06:08 PM Republican lawmakers are challenging some of the early decisions of the political redistricting process - a process that was designed to exclude legislative influence. On Tuesday, the lawmakers reiterated their call for reconsideration of three nominees to the Independent Redistricting Commission. And they worried about the "chilling effect" of a Tucson man being dropped from the list, for what the lawmakers say were concerns about his Christian faith. T...

"How did McConnell go from uncertain to cocksure in two days?"
"A confluence of facts and events helped McConnell convince senior appropriators in his own party -- people who, like he..." ... like he... "... don't fundamentally oppose the earmarking process -- to back off the omnibus, according to a Republican leadership aide. Part of it was that, though Bipartisan, the bill itself included funding for key Democratic priorities that in the current political environment no Republican supports, or wants to be accused of supporting. The omnibus included $1 bi...

Tax Cut Deal May Bring Republicans To Center
Bipartisan Compromise on a Tax Cut deal will engender future Bipartisan Compromise on Spending programs, but expect the fights to get really, really ugly between Republicans and Democrats. That would be because there's a Limit on the Debt ceiling that's set to run out in the next few months, and the Tax Cut deal Cuts that margin by another month, according to the Wall Street Journal. In order for the government to continue administering programs and pay its bills, the two parties will have to come to an

Obama Signs Tax Deal, Hails Bipartisan Effort
President Obama today signed into law an agreement to extend Bush-era Tax Cuts into 2011, ending with the stroke of his pen a bitter schism in his own party and heading off what could have been a major standoff with Republicans. More Video ...

Bennett's Advice To Hatch
Outgoing Sen. Bob Bennett (R) knows first-hand the dangers facing his in-state colleague, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), in 2012 at the Utah state GOP convention. Bennett stunningly lost the Republican nomination at the GOP convention to Sen.-elect Mike Lee (R) this year despite an otherwise conservative record. In a brief interview on Thursday, Bennett said it's too early to predict if Hatch will suffer the same fate but acknowledged overcoming a conservative challenge could be difficult. "He wil...

New 'bipartisan' tax deal: Reaganomics redux
The tax deal passed Thursday night embodies the essence of Reaganomics: reduce taxes on the wealthy and shrink government (except for defense)....

Here And Now
The Tax Cut bill passed late last night in a Bipartisan vote of 277-148 after the Liberal Democrats failed in a final attempt to modify (Read more...) ...

House Does the Deal
A massive Bipartisan tax package preventing a big New Year's Day tax hike for millions of Americans is on its way to President Barack Obama for his signature. The measure would extend Tax Cuts for families at every income level, renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and enact a new one-year cut in Social Security taxes that would benefit nearly every worker who earns a wage. In a remarkable show of Bipartisanship, the House gave final approval to the measure just before midnight Th...

Morgan Sellman, Aurora Police Officer, Arrested On Suspicion Of Child Porn
Colorado Springs Gazette: An Aurora Police Officer who lives in Peyton was arrested today by Colorado Springs police on suspicion of possessing Child Pornography. Read the whole story: Colorado Springs Gazette Get HuffPost Denver On Twitter and Facebook! Know something we don't? E-mail us at [email protected] ...

Non-profit Pushes Education for Afghan Girls
Santa’s night sleigh ride through Afghanistan could leave a lot more than toys and fruitcakes if a Colorado firm tasked with building 1,000 Community Centers in the war-torn country gets its Christmas wish. The non-profit Morning Star Development is seeking $100 via eBay to pay for one young girl’s full year education in an initiative seen by Washington as a good way to build community relations. “This Holiday Season you can make a difference and give an Afghan girl a future ...

POS in the News 12/17/2010
Glen Bolger was quoted by The Hill regarding messaging on Social Security reforms. Bill McInturff was quoted in U.S.… Posted on December 17, 2010, 10:45 am, by Public Opinion Strategies, under POS in the News. Bill McInturff is quoted in The Wall Street Journal’s latest poll showing support for Compromise. A Public Opinion Strategies’ poll was cited in The Colorado Springs Gazette regarding the Memorial Health System....

Memorial poll finds support for turning hospital into a nonprofit
Memorial Health System contracted with polling firm Public Opinion Strategies to conduct a poll of 500 Likely Voters on Nov. 14-16 to gauge public opinion about the Hospital and attitudes toward turning the health system into an independent nonprofit (an option recommended by the Memorial citizens' commission and Memorial's board and leadership). - 87 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of Memorial (althoguh that number drops to 78 percent when the question is phrased as "Memorial Hea...

House Republicans Block Bill Aiming to Prevent Child Marriage
ABC News’ John R. Parkinson  & Matthew Jaffe  report: You'd think preventing Child Marriage would be an issue both parties in Congress could agree on. You'd be wrong. This week, House Republicans blocked passage of a Bipartisan bill to protect women and girls in Developing Countries from child marriages. The bill needed a two-thirds majority of the House to pass, but fell short by the count of 241-166. The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage A...

Mexican unmanned drone crashes in backyard of El Paso (Texas) home
Source: El Paso Times Mexican unmanned drone crashes in backyard of El Paso home By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times Posted: 12/16/2010 12:08:45 PM MST An unmanned drone belonging to the Mexican government crash landed Tuesday in El Paso's Lower Valley, officials confirmed today. "I was told that it crashed in somebody's back yard, and that no one was injured. I was paged at 6:28 p.m. on Tuesday, so it happened shortly before that. We were told it was not a police matter," said Detective ...