January 2007

At least this election wasn't a fiasco.

The Denver Election Commission, its recent legacy being a series of gaffes that led to a systemic failure on the last election day, was voted out of existence by a 2-1 margin and will be replaced by an elected clerk and recorder, reports Lou Kilzer.

The new clerk and recorder will be elected in the municipal election May 1, when Mayor John Hickenlooper stands for re-election and all 13 City Council seats are up. The existing election commission will run that vote and a June runoff, if one is necessary.

Karen Morrissey, who had been running for a spot on the commission, lamented the election results.

"I'm very disappointed," she said. "The change, by itself, doesn't fix any problems."

City snowplows didn't clear the icy and rutted streets in the Crestmoor neighborhood so residents reached for their checkbooks, reports Daniel J. Chacon.

The Crestmoor Park Homeowners Association-Filing 2, an affluent neighborhood in east Denver, gave up on city government and hired an independent contractor to clear some of their streets.

The neighborhood expects to pay up to $10,000 for the work. The money will come from the $75-a-year dues homeowners pay to the association.

So is this what it's come to? Those who can afford to clear their own streets drive unimpeded, the rest of us bounce along on a moonscape.

Rep. Tom Tancredo and Pat Buchanan may have a lot in common on issues, especially immigration, but the Colorado Congressman says he won't break from the Republican party to launch a third-party presidential bid, reports M.E. Sprengelmeyer.

"From the beginning, we've had no intention to run as a third-party candidate, ever, and we'll never consider that because he's a Republican, period," said T.Q. Houlton, spokesman for the newly formed Tancredo for a Secure America Exploratory Committee.

Tancredo, R-Littleton, filed paperwork creating the committee last week so he can raise money and decide whether to follow through with a long-shot run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

McAlpin, also known as "K.C.," is prominent in the immigration-reform movement that has made Tancredo famous. He has served as a deputy director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, and is executive director of the group ProEnglish, which advocates making English the official language of the U.S.

McAlpin is not the only Reform Party veteran on "Team Tancredo." Shelly Uscinski, who will lead Tancredo's exploratory bid in the early primary state of New Hampshire, helped lead Pat Buchanan's Reform Party presidential bid in the state in 2000.

Todd Helton has the shortest journey to the field of any Rockies player: from the dugout it's just a few strides to his position at first base. He'll likely be making it in Coors Field for the rest of his career after trade talks broke off with the Boston Red Sox, reports Tracy Ringolsby:

Rockies managing general partner Charlie Monfort said Monday night the team broke off talks with the Boston Red Sox about dealing Helton to the American League team, virtually ending the possibility the franchise's all-time leader in almost every offensive category will be dealt.

Helton, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, which goes through 2011, had said if a deal weren't made this week, he would not approve one. He also indicated he is not inclined to revisit trade possibilities at a later date.

Boston was unwilling to add a prospect to the package of third baseman Mike Lowell and right- handed pitcher Julian Tavarez, veterans headed into the final years of contracts the Red Sox want to unload. Lowell is guaranteed $9 million and Tavarez $3.1 million.

If you're one of those technoholics who just must be the first one to have whatever new product pops up on the computer marketplace, Tuesday is your day, reports Rocky Tech editor Darrell Proctor.

Vista, Microsoft's new operating system, will be on retailers shelves on Tuesday; some of the stores are staying open late tonight, ready to rack up Vista sales at the stroke of midnight and offering loss-leaders beginning a couple of hours before.

Reviewers says Vista looks better than previous versions of Windows, has better security, more parental controls, is more efficient at organizing files and multitasking. On the other hand, it's an absolute resource hog and runs best on new, high-performance PCs.

The Nuggets have the pieces. How they put them together for a second-half and playoff run will determine if Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony can combine be a formidable force for victory or merely a two-headed scoring machine.
Optimism is rampant, reports Nuggets beat writer Chris Tomasson in his midseason report:

Now, the Nuggets figure it's time to just play basketball. There is talk of duplicating the 32-8 close Karl fashioned when he took over two years ago.

"Once we start clicking the way we're supposed to, I think it's possible," said Anthony, who is No. 1 in the NBA in scoring with a 31.5 average but had his first half marred by one punch.

Dylan Davis was a "duped dad. Friends told him they believed his twin children weren't his and, after divorcing his wife, a paternity test proved he wasn't the father. Still, he is required under Colorado law to pay child support, reports Julie Poppen.

"I felt I had been duped and . . . lied to, and the state didn't care," he said. A bill that would undo that law and allow a man to get out of paying child support if he can prove the child is not his is expected to be voted on today by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Davis, who has become one of the faces for what has become known as "duped dad" syndrome, will be there to try to persuade legislators to come around to his point of view.

Davis, who works for a start-up company and lives in a downtown Denver apartment, still pays $663 a month in child support, but he has no contact with the children, who live out of state.

He was able to reduce the amount of support after he was laid off from his job as a software engineer at Sun Microsystems. However, he owes his ex-wife $32,000 in back payments after having fallen behind schedule.

His ex-wife declined to comment for this story.

Georgia, Florida, Maryland and Ohio have laws that protect men who prove they are not biological fathers, he said.

A similar effort in Colorado two years ago failed to garner the necessary support. But Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, the bill's sponsor this year, said the vote was close. The organization Citizens Against Paternity Fraud estimates that 1 million men nationwide are in Davis' predicament.

Should a man who isn't a child's biological father be required to pay child support? What if the man had raised the child as his own for several years before discovering the deception? Or had willingingly accepted the child as his own knowing he wasn't the father? How should the child's best interest be balanced against the fairness for a "duped dad"?

What keeps you coming back to your favorite grocery store? Price? Convenience? Service? Selection?

More than 150 readers responded to the Rocky's call to tell us about their favorite grocery store reports Janet Simon.

The responses included how a King Soopers in Evergreen helped customers cope with last month's big snowstorm, and readers' choices in a variety of categories including best produce (Whole Foods), service to non-affluent neighborhoods (Safeway), service to the homebound (King Soopers Home Shop program) and best single-store independent groceries (several).

Panhandling in Denver and the suburbs appears to be in declilne over the past year as a result of new ordinances to curb street begging, reports Stuart Steers.

The courts have ruled that panhandlers have a right to ask passersby for money, but cities can restrict when and where they can beg.

That's what Denver did a little over a year ago, when tough new ordinances went into effect to curb panhandling. It just might be working. Business owners say they see fewer panhandlers on downtown sidewalks, and the number of arrests on the 16th Street Mall, the city's ground zero for street begging, are dropping.

Rocky Mountain News reporter Jim Sheeler and photographer Todd Heisler spent the past year with the Marines stationed at Aurora's Buckley Air Force Base who have found themselves called upon to notify families of the deaths of their sons in Iraq. In each case in this story, the families agreed to let Sheeler and Heisler chronicle their loss and grief. They wanted people to know their sons, the men and women who brought them home, and the bond of traditions more than 200 years old that unite them.

Though readers are led through the story by the white-gloved hand of Maj. Steve Beck, he remains a reluctant hero. He is, he insists, only a small part of the massive mosaic that is the Marine Corps.

Time was, celebrities slithered off to rehab under court order or just collapsed in the lobby with spittle on their coat and a cigarette dangling from the corner of their mouth.

Today, rehab has become merely one of the steps to image restoration, the latest being Grey's Anatomy co-star Isaiah Washington who is undergoing rehab counseling after using a harsh anti-gay slur against a fellow cast member. The incident happened a couple of months ago but Washington revived it during an interview after the Golden Globes.

Brian Crecente talks about the coveted 'Golden Crecente' video gaming awards, John Lehndorff explains why he loves a tiny restaurant on Federal Blvd. (it starts with perfect pot stickers) and Mary Chandler explains what's going on for the 30th anniversary of one of Denver's venerable art galleries in The Other Weekend Update, our weekly podcast featuring the Rocky critics.

Listen/download here.

As ice-encrusted snow banks clog side streets in Denver and the burbs, some enterprising residents have cleared parking spaces in front of their homes.

Question is, do they have squatter's rights on their little parking island? And if you put a lawn chair or other obstacle in 'your space' should your neighbors respect it?

The law is clear, report Rosa Ramirez and Daniel J. Chacon, . You can't block access to public right of way.

Denver's right-of-way enforcement division hears about it "all the time," said Ann Williams, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works.

"Have they received any complaints lately? No," she said. "But it's not something that necessarily happens with the snow, although you could see why it would happen more. Apparently, there's a lot of competition for parking spaces in town."

An Arapahoe County jury didn't need much deliberation to make history when it convicted a man with a history of dangerous driving of first degree murder with extreme indifference, reports Ivan Moreno.

When Jason Reynolds wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel of his Jeep Wrangler, he might as well have picked up a loaded weapon.

That notion was not a tough sell to jurors who only deliberated six hours before they returned a groundbreaking decision - Reynolds committed two counts of first-degree murder when his road rage caused an accident that killed two men.

Seems like half the people in town are hacking and sneezing around with a cold. I thought I'd shaken mine, but it's back.

Anybody have some home remedies they'd like to share?

Jake Plummer is like that old sofa in the living room that still has some use in it but has been supplanted by that spiffy and expensive new couch. Can't just toss it out because it has some value, but, really, who needs two big couches in the same huddle - that is, room.

The Broncos wouldn't mind keeping Plummer around as a reliable backup/tutor but know he believes he can be a starter. They'll try to respect his wishes but the team comes first, reports Jeff Legwold.

Is a college scholarship to the granddaughter of a state employee an illegal "gift"?

That's the issue with which Colorado lawmakers will wrestle as they debate enabling legislation on Amendment 41, the "ethics in government" issue passed overwhelmingly last November. It prohibits gifts of over $50 to government employees and their families as well as prohibiting state elected officials from lobbying for two years after they leave office.

Amendment 41 supporters say scholarships shouldn't fall under the law but some legislators say it can't be weakened, reports Lynn Bartels.

Caught in the crossfire is Kaela Mattson, a high school senior and award-winning volunteer whose $900 scholarship is in limbo because her grandfather, who is her legal guardian, works for the state Department of Revenue.

Remember when soaring gas prices meant nobody was going to ever buy an SUV again?

That's so last year.

SUV sales are back with a vengance, reports Gargi Chakrabarty.

With many residential streets turned into swatches of rugged and jagged frozen snow and gas prices heading to $2 a gallon and below, SUV prices and demand are up.

Colorado voters didn't seem to think Amendment 41 was broken when they passed it overwhelmingly last November. The measure restricts gifts to public officials and barring state elected officials from lobbying for two years afer they leave office.

Now those favoring the bill have put together a team to fix what they call unintended consequences of the bill and the other side is considering a lawsuit to challenge the Amendment, report Myung Oak Kim and Lynn Bartels..

Backers say the amendment was meant to curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests in places like the state legislature. But critics say the law is so sweeping that it prohibits children of public employees from receiving college scholarships or University of Colorado professors from receiving Nobel Prize money, for example.

Democratic and Republican legislative leaders don't want to touch the law even though they don't like it. They say it represents the will of the voters and oppose any attempt to soften its impact.

The mom-and-pop taverns who claim the statewide indoor smoking ban is snuffing their business could get some relief, reports April M. Washington.

In exchange, the watering holes would pay an extra $500 for their liquor licenses - half of which would go to the state and half to local governments to help offset the costs of smoking.

"These are adult establishments," said Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, who wants to modify the indoor smoking ban that went into effect July 1. "This bill would include all places that have a liquor license: the small mom-and-pop bars, private clubs such as the Elks, the Moose."

Tochtrop, who argues that the issue is fairness, said she would introduce her bill today.

Sponsors of the smoking ban vow to fight the proposal - and do away with the exemption for casinos.

President Bush, politically weakened by low poll standings and a rebuke of his party in the mid-term elections, delivered his State of the Union speech before a Congress whose view of his policies ranges from skeptical to hostile.

Facing a political showdown with Democrats and Republicans alike, Bush was unyielding on Iraq in his annual State of the Union address. He also sought to revive his troubled presidency with proposals to expand health insurance coverage and to slash gasoline consumption by 20 percent in a decade.

Democrats — and even some Republicans — scoffed at his Iraq policy.

The Electoral College is the biggest punching bag in politics and some Colorado legislators have laced up their gloves.

The Colorado Senate approved a bill that would give Colorado's electoral votes - and those of several other states - to the Presidential candidate who carries the national popular vote, regardless of who Colorado voters preferred. The bill wouldn't take effect unless legislatures in states representing a majority of Electoral College votes passed similiar measures.

The measure sparked a partisan fight in the legislature, reports Lynn Bartels.

Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, said the current system is antiquated and causes presidential candidates to target only a handful of states.

But Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, called Gordon's proposal a "sneaky, backdoor" way to change the voting process, a "Utopian scheme" and "end-run" around the U.S. Constitution. And Mitchell questioned why Gordon would bring back a measure similar to one voters rejected in 2004.

The Rocky's editorial says the legislature shouldn't neuter the Electoral College.

"Dreamgirls" picked up eight Oscar nominations but was passed over for best picture.

The sweeping ensemble drama "Babel" was close behind with seven, including best picture and acting honors for two newcomers to U.S. audiences, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

Other best-picture nominees were the bloody crime saga "The Departed," the World War II spectacle "Letters From Iwo Jima," the road-trip comedy "Little Miss Sunshine" and the monarchy-in-crisis chronicle "The Queen."

The Rocky's print edition has changed beginning with today's edition:

Slightly smaller size, new page 1 flag, stories that don't "jump" from one page to deep into the paper, a more convenient grouping of features, a redesigned Spotlight section.

Let us know what you think, with comments here and with direct feedback to editor John Temple, who'll be online at 10:30 a.m. to talk about the changes. Join the chat here at 10:30 a.m.

Carmelo Anthony's 15-game suspension ends tonight when the Nuggets host the reeling Memphis Grizzlies, who have lost nine consecutive road games.

Anthony's return gives Nuggets fans their first glimpse of the long-anticipated tandem of Anthony and guard Allen Iverson, who are averaging 60 points between them and will answer the question of whether they can combined to be greater than the sum of their parts.

Clay Latimer examined other NBA star duos, including Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell and Bob Cousy.

Columnist Dave Krieger says Anthony and Iverson can have an enormous off-the-court influence by getting involved in activities that spread the anti-gang message to inner-city kids.>

Sen. Hillary Clinton says she is "in it to win" and become the first woman and former First Lady to be elected president.

Clinton, speaking publicly for the first time since declaring her candidacy on her Web site, said Sunday she decided to run after doing a "thorough review" of the challenges facing the country. She said she is the best candidate for the job and is eager to begin campaigning.

"It'll be a great contest with a lot of talented people and I'm very confident. I'm in, I'm in it to win and that's what I intend to do," she said.

She is one of 18 declared candidates in both parties and leads her Democratic challengers in most polls. Her long-expected entry into the race has jump-started the 2008 race less than three months after the mid-terms. While many Democrats support her strongly, many also doubt she can win.

Clinton is a complicated package. Her constituents and Senate colleagues generally view her as smart and hard-working. On the challenge side of the ledger, there's her personality (perceived in some quarters as chilly), her vote on Iraq (she supported the war) and her gender (are Americans ready for a female president?).

Then there's that husband of hers. Could there be a more complicated marriage in America?

Peyton Manning and the Colts' offense vs. Rex Grossman and the Bears' defense in the Super Bowl.

Jeff Legwold reports Manning will get a chance to win the one award that has eluded him: a championship.

Who wins?

We're looking for a few good comments. Beginning Tuesday, RockyTalk Live will have a presence in the Rocky Mountain News print edition.

A half-dozen or so of the day's best - pointed, provocative, funny, serious - will be printed each day on the columnists' page. Only caveat is that, to be considered for print, a comment must have a screen name, e.g. Tree, Hogar, associated with it.

We'll aim for a mix of viewpoints and styles.

The steamiest thing about Grey's Anatomy is no longer when the hot docs slip between the sheets. It's the slur-that-won't-go-away, uttered by co-star Isaiah Washington to T.R. Knight last October.

"We are greatly dismayed that Mr. Washington chose to use such inappropriate language at the Golden Globes, language that he himself deemed `unfortunate' in his previous public apology," ABC said in a statement. "His actions are unacceptable and are being addressed."

During a backstage interview Monday at the Globes gala, Washington denied involvement in a heated on-set incident in October during which an anti-gay remark was reportedly uttered. "No, I did not call (co-star) T.R. (Knight) a faggot," Washington told reporters. "Never happened, never happened."

As if you're surprised, Oprah is the richest woman in show business.

Is your street still an icy rutted mess? Have you seen a snow plow since the first of the year? Do you expect to get any relief before the spring thaw? And how many of your neighbors still have their Christmas decorations up?

Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert visited each other's realm last night in a frenzy of self-mocking - at least from Colbert's side.

O'Reilly, seemed a trifle uncomfortable at the start of his visit to Colbert's show, probably because he's playing himself while Colbert is playing himself playing O'Reilly playing himself.

Hank Brown, a strong leader who piloted the University of Colorado through a number of scandals, is stepping down next year.
The former U.S. Senator plans to teach political science and perhaps law at CU's Denver campus, where he is tenured, reports Berny Morson.

"I love this place," Brown said. "I went here (to) undergraduate and graduate school, and after the Navy came back and went to law school here. This is the greatest spot on the face of the Earth."

Brown, who will be 66 in February, said he's stepping down Feb. 1, 2008, because the reforms he put in motion - from personnel changes to a new accounting system - will be completed. One year is enough time for CU's Board of Regents to find a new president, he said.

Democrats are moving to make it easier for unions to turn a workplace into a closed shop where membership is mandatory - and businesses are alarmed, reports David Milstead.

House Bill 1072 essentially repeals the Colorado Labor Peace Act, a 64-year-old law that puts Colorado somewhere between an anti-union right-to-work state and a state where unions can easily force the firing of workers who don't become members. The bill repeals election rules that make it harder for unions to turn a workplace into a "closed shop," where union membership is mandatory.

Rep. Michael Garcia, D-Aurora, the bill's sponsor, said the idea for the bill dates to 2001, when he and then-Rep. Dan Grossman, a fellow Democrat, "were dreaming about what we'd do if we had all three components of the legislative process."

The bill is shaping up as the first clash between business and interests and Gov. Bill Ritter, who said he supported such legislation during the campaign.

When Carmelo Anthony returns from his 15-game suspension next Monday night, should Denver Nuggets fans rise to welcome him back or sit and let him know they don't appreciate how his absence has hurt the team?

Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Bill Walton wonders why Denver fans would rise and cheer, reports Chris Tomasson.

"Why would the fans give him a standing ovation?" Walton said. "I don't understand. He hurt his team by getting suspended."

Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican who has long clashed with the administration over Iraq, is supporting a Democratic resolution opposing President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

"To feed more American troops into this bloodbath is wrong," Hagel said Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America." In the end, he said, Iraqis must determine their own future.

In addition to putting the Senate on record against more troops, the resolution calls for the U.S. military mission to switch from major combat to training Iraqi troops, counterterrorism and keeping foreign fighters out of Iraq.

They do it on 24 all the time, but Coloradans couldn't be required to have a microchip implanted in their bodies under a bill introduced in the legislature, reports Bill Scanlon.

Rep. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, said she introduced House Bill 1082 as a "proactive measure" at the urging of Adams County's head librarian. He fears that "microchipping" people could become the next Big Brother tactic of a federal government whose use of warrantless telephone eavesdropping and the Patriot Act in the war on terror has alarmed civil libertarians.

Obviously some punchlines leap to mind but is this a serious issue?

Columnist Mike Littwin says Tom Tancredo's entry into the Republican presidential nomination race is all about pushing his anti-illegal immigration agenda, despite his attempts to portray himself as a "common sense" conservative.

Whatever Tancredo says now - and he actually has the nerve to call himself a "common sense" conservative - he's not in it to win.

He's in it to bring attention to his cause - which we might describe thusly: America for real Americans.

The Denver police gang unit's caseload has increased 83 percent since 2001, report Daniel J. Chacon and Bianca Prieto.

While the figures don't include homicides, Chief Gerry Whitman said about one-third of the city's 58 homicides last year were tied to gangs.

In Denver, attention to gangs has been heightened in the wake of the drive-by shooting death of Broncos player Darrent Williams and the suspected gang connection.

The latest police estimate - from 2003 - said there were 220 gangs with 14,000 members in Denver.

Is global warming a greater threat to the planet than terrorism?

Stephen Hawking says so and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists concurred, moving the so-called Doomsday Clock forward by two minutes, from 11:53 to 11:55.

It was the fourth time since the end of the Cold War that the clock has ticked forward, this time from 11:53 to 11:55, amid fears over what the trans-Atlantic group of scientists is describing as "a second nuclear age" prompted largely by atomic standoffs with Iran and North Korea.

Archbishop Charles Chaput is criticizing Gov. Bill Ritter for his decision to restore state funding to Planned Parenthood for its family-planning programs, reports Jean Torkelson.

In this week's column in the Denver Catholic Register, Chaput praised Ritter's commitments to health care, education and creating "a better future for our children and our children's children."

However, Chaput added, "It's hard to have a future 'for our children and our children's children' without children, and Planned Parenthood specializes in the business of preventing them."

His remarks suggested that a potential showdown looms between an archbishop known nationally for challenging Catholics to bring their faith into public life, and a new Catholic governor who has stated he wouldn't work to change abortion rights and who favored a referendum to create same-sex unions, both issues contrary to Catholic teaching.

In his State of the State speech, Ritter vowed to rescind a ruling by his predecessor, Bill Owens, to bar family-practice funds to Planned Parenthood because the organization also provides abortions. At issue is about $350,000 but the issue may be moot because Planned Parenthood would have to create an independent unit for abortion services to comply with the state constitution's ban on public money flowing to abortion providers.

Is Chaput right to criticize Ritter for not hewing to church dictates in his public policy?

I do it. You do it. The guy in the sedan next to you does it. So does the lady in the SUV. All around us, people driving big hunks of steel, often on slick streets, make telephone calls for business or pleasure.

Even if you're on a hands-free set, you're paying at least equal attention to your call than to what's going on around you.

Perhaps Colorado has had enough. The State Patrol is tracking the role of cell phones in crashes, whether they are serious accidents or merely fender-benders, reports Deborah Frazier.

He's not just that immigration guy anymore.

At least that's the message Rep. Tom Tancredo is pitching as he explores a run for the presidency, reports M.E. Sprengelmeyer.

Popping from one national talk show to the next, he sounded conservative themes that go beyond his trademark crusade against illegal immigration.

"If you're running a serious campaign, you have to let people know there's more to you than that," he said in an interview. "It's certainly an arrow in my quiver - which is certainly more than most of my opponents have."

M.E. Sprengelmeyer will be online at 11 a.m. discussing Tancredo's run for the Presidency as well as the scramble to replace Sen. Wayne Allard. E-mail questions/comments in advance and join the chat here at 11 a.m.

The echoes of Sen. Wayne Allard's announcement that he wouldn't seek a third term had barely faded from the state Capitol before would-be successors were gearing up for the 2008 race.

Congressmen current and former, state office holders and even a radio talk show host have not yet thrown their hat into the ring but have done some headgear speed and velocity tests.

Rep. Mark Udall is presumed to be in on the Democratic side and may not face primary opposition.

Babel won the Globe for best drama last night during a televised ceremony that was, as usual, looser and more fun than the Oscars.

Seen Babel? Is it a favorite to win the Oscar?

Rocky film critic Robert Denerstein in his Film Clips blog says he isn't sure he'd bet the rent that Babel follows up its Globe with an Oscar.

O.J. Simpson says he didn't kill his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman as described in a leaked chapter from his unpublished book.

"I'm saying it's a fictional creation," Simpson said Sunday in a telephone interview. "It has so many (factual) holes in it that anybody who knew anything about it would know that I didn't write it."

His comments came as Newsweek published a story for its current issue paraphrasing the chapter, called "The Night in Question," which the magazine said it had obtained from an anonymous source.

Meanwhile, ABC News reports Simpson is shopping another book, this one about life with Nicole.

Martin Luther King's legacy is all around us, says the Rocky's editorial today.

At a time when Sen. Barack Obama is considered one of two leading candidates to become the Democratic nominee for president - at a moment in history when this black man is greeted by ecstatic crowds that are mostly white - it's easy to overlook the significance of another man, a giant whose legacy is recalled today.

Martin Luther King Jr. was admired during his lifetime, too, but he was also hated - hated not only by cranks and mossbacks but by a broad swath of citizens who saw him as an agitator against a settled way of life.

Here's a roundup of Martin Luther King Day events in the metro area.

Talking about plot developments in last night's 24 premiere. Haven't watched it yet? Don't read further.

Did nearly two years in a Chinese prison take the edge off Jack Bauer? "I don't know how to do this anymore," he says, after prematurely curtailing his interrogation/torture of a terrorist.

Oh but he does. Our fearless secret agent was released from Chinese custody just in time for his grateful government to trade him for a terrorist who is actually trying to stop a series of bombings that have hit U.S. cties.

Ramp up the paranoia and strike up the fear. The best show on broadcast TV roared back last night. If the first two hours of 24 lacked the explosiveness of last season's premiere - when a former President was assasinated - it more than made up for it in texture and plotting. Do we suspend disbelief? Of course. Would police have arrested a suspected terrorist and left his nearly-adult son at home? Not a chance. Do we care? Not a bit, because what matters most in 24 is the intricate plotting, the tension in every scene, the compelling characters and, mostly, Keifer Sutherland's performance.

Casinos are one of a handful of public places in Colorado where smoking is allowed, but two state legislators are ready to snuff smoking for gamblers, reports Joanne Kelley.

Rep. Anne McGihon and Sen. Ken Gordon, both Denver Democrats, will introduce a bill that would add casinos to the long list of workplaces where smoking has been prohibited since July.

The Colorado legislature last year approved a smoking ban for bars, restaurants, offices and most workplaces, but it exempted casinos

"There's no principle upon which you can give them an exemption," said Gordon, who last year voted against excluding casinos from the ban. "They don't deserve one," he said.

Michelle Manhart is on her way to becoming the most famous Staff Sgt. in the Air Force.

For duffing her duds in the February issue of Playboy, the 12-year veteran has been relieved of her duties as a trainer at Lackland Air Force Base.

Manhart is married with two children and did a tour in Kuwait in 2002. She says she did nothing wrong. The Air Force says her Playboy appearance "does not meet the high standards we expect of our airmen, nor does it comply with the Air Force's core values of integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do

Up to five men are being sought by Denver police for questioning about the murder of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, reports Charlie Brennan.

Police gave the names and pictures of five men to officials at Broomfield and Centennial airports.

CBS4 reports the confrontation at the Shelter nightclub that preceded the shooting may have involved Broncos rookie receiver Brandon Marshall. The station also reports that Willie Clark, who was arrested last week for alleged parole violation, was in the SUV from which the fatal shots were fired. The vehicle is owned by Crips gang member Brian Kenneth Hicks.

Clark has a lengthy criminal record in Colorado and Texas.

So-called "internet neutrality" legislation introduced in Congress this week would prevent telecommunications companies from favoring one content provider over another.

Companies such as Microsoft and Google support the legislation. Qwest CEO Dick Notebart said the legislation is "nuts" during an internet conference at Denver's Cable Center, reports Jeff Smith.

Notebart said no telcom would ever block or degrade someone's service .

Telcos and cable companies such as AT&T, Qwest and Comcast counter that they, too, want the Internet to be open and would never block it. But they say customers such as an online movie service should have the choice in a free-enterprise system to pay an additional fee for "expedited" delivery of their content.

Need an escape from the cold into a nice warm movie theater, concert hall or restaurant? Listen to Rocky entertainment critics talk about the weekend's best bets including new movies and, for the stay-at-home set, the Sunday night premiere of the new season of 24 on The Other Weekend Update, our weekly Spotlight podcast.

Just in: the Jamie Foxx show scheduled for Saturday night has been postponed until April 4.

Download or listen to the podcast here.

Gov. Bill Ritter wants to lead Colorado in developing new approaches to energy, education and health care in a wide-ranging and ambitious State of the State address, reports Lynn Bartels.

"We will invest to save in the long run," Ritter said, in what likely will become the mantra of his administration.

A good education cuts down on crime, reduces prison populations and stimulates the economy. Health care for all Coloradans is costly, but not nearly as expensive as treating the uninsured - and at the expense of higher education.

"Fulfilling the Colorado Promise is not something we can do overnight, not something we can do in a single legislative session, not even something we can do in a four-year term," Ritter said.

He got a standing ovation from both sides of the legislature when he proposed cutting the dropout rate in half, but Republicans were silent when he promised to restore state funds for family planning and pregnancy prevention, which were cut off during the Bill Owens administration.

The Democrats are coming to Denver in 2008 to harvest what they believe is an independent base of voters who can be convinced to send a Democrat to the White House, report Stuart Steers and Daniel Chacon.

"The essence of a Democratic Party victory goes to the West," Democratic party chairman Howard Dean said. "At the end of the day, that was what tipped it toward Denver."Dean spoke in a teleconference with three of Colorado's leading Democrats: Gov. Bill Ritter, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. All of them spoke of the opportunity Democrats have to win the West and said the convention is a powerful symbol of the party's determination to turn the traditionally Republican-leaning Rockies Democrat blue.

"It speaks to the political environment here," Ritter said, noting that Democrats have won the governorship in a majority of the mountain states. "It's an acknowledgement for us here in the heartland."

Democrats have done well recently in the interior West. In the last election, they picked up a U.S. Senate seat in Montana and U.S. House seats in Colorado and Arizona. They've also boosted their ranks in state legislatures in the West. It's been almost half a century since Democrats last controlled the legislature and governorship in Colorado, as they do now.

A labor dispute involving the refusal of the local stagehands union to issue a no-strike pledge against the non-union Pepsi Center, didn't sink the deal, report Lou Kilzer and M.E. Sprengelmeyer.

Criticism is coming from both sides of the Congressional aisle to President Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.

During a series of Capitol Hill hearings Thursday on Bush's plan, top administration officials took a beating from Democrats and some Republicans who said they were not convinced the latest strategy represents a change in U.S. military policy in Iraq.

The new strategy was slammed as desperate and even dumb, and many expressed frustration that there was no stated time limit on the build-up or a defined threat that the U.S. would pull out if the Iraqis don't perform as promised.

"The idea that we should add more military force to enable a political solution that they cannot articulate and, frankly, we don't believe that they really intend to do, is just folly," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., told Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during an afternoon House Armed Services hearing.

The days when walk-up lift tickets for Aspen and Vail far surpassed other Colorado resorts have ended, reports Joanne Kelley.

While Vail and Aspen have long been known as the priciest places to ski on a moment's notice, more and more resorts have narrowed the gap. Even less glitzy spots such as Winter Park charge only a few bucks less for those who just want to buy a single-day pass.

"The trend has become fairly consistent among the large destination resorts," said Nolan Rosall, president of RRC Associates, a Boulder-based research firm. "Even the smaller ski areas are inflating their prices because the bigger ones are pushing $80 a day."

Ski industry officials estimate that only about 10 percent of skiers pay full price because the rest take advantage of discounts, package deals and cheaper passes offered early in the season.

Feel like dashing into your front yard, waving your fists and raging at the weather? Or just curling up into a little ball until baseball season starts? Maybe you're noticing that the liquor cabinet seems to empty quicker these days?

You could be one of an estimated 500,000 people in the U.S. who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), psychologist Mary Ann Watson tells Bill Scanlon.

SAD usually is caused by a lack of sunshine, but the staccato of storms that have hit Colorado over the past month have people here singing the blues as well, said psychologist Mary Ann Watson of Metropolitan State College of Denver. SAD can exacerbate depression, propelling more people to destructive behavior such as overdrinking, she said.

Does the end of your driveway look like a dump truck overturned? Do you think your accumulated trash might qualify as a Fourteener? Do you still have Christmas wrapping peeking out from your trash bin?

Trash companies have been hampered by the rough roads left in the wake of the back-to-back storms but some residents think enough is enough, reports Tillie Fong.

When a team goes from 5-1 to a 9-7 finish, somebody prominent is going to find their name tag gone for their office door. For the Broncos, it is defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, reports Jeff Legwold.

The Broncos led the league in scoring defense after six games. They were 5-1 and had surrendered 272 yards a game. By the end of the season, they had fallen to 14th in total defense, allowing 326.4 yards a game, including 359.2 yards a game during the last 10.

Bernie Lincicome says Coyer's downfall was the defense's inability to protect a lead at Mile High.

Here's a statistic that Coyer could not get over. Four times, at home, the Broncos lost from in front.

Whatever else the offense can be blamed for, and it can be blamed for much, had the defense done its job just half those times, the Broncos are a playoff entry and a championship contender, even with Shanahan's audacious audition of Jay Cutler at quarterback.

Driving through your neighborhood shakes you more than any ride at Six Flags. You bump, you lurch, you bounce. You can feel your vehicle's shocks groaning under the stress. Your mechanic and body shop guys are planning spring vacations to Cancun.

Potholes exacerbated by the snow and freezing temperatures have Denver crews scrambling to fill more than 800 potholes in 48 hours, reports Jeff Kass.

New Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter told the inaugural day crowd that government has a moral duty to care for the elderly, the disabled and "those who struggle mightily," reports Alan Gathright and Lynn Bartels.

Wearing a dark suit and his trademark cowboy boots before a crowd that included his sprawling extended family, Ritter urged Coloradans to set aside partisan differences and unite in "finding the common ground for the common good."

"Our task is to think big, to be bold and to take risks. To ask, 'Why not?' I believe that Coloradans are up to this task."

He invoked his own life's inspiration: growing up one of 12 children on a hardscrabble Arapahoe County farm. Despite adversity, the big, self-reliant clan pulled together under the guidance of his mother, Ethel, who looked on as her son assumed the state's highest office.

Former Congressman Duke Cunningham, who is in jail for accepting bribes, is still eligible for his federal pension.

Sen. Ken Salazar wants to change that, reports M.E. Sprengelmeyer.

As the U.S. Senate began debating a series of ethics reforms today, Salazar, was teaming up with former presidential contender, Sen. John Kerry, on a proposed amendment that would cut off pensions to former members of congress convicted of serious crimes, including bribery.

The lawyer for the man Denver police want to question in connection with the murder of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams says his client was arrested based on someone else's traffic infractions, reports Charlie Brennan.

"I'm going to try to convince the DA's office that they have the wrong person," said lawyer Michael Andre.

Andre said the warrant for Willie Clark's arrest was based on traffic infractions committed Aug. 19 by a man named Stephen Futrell Howard. According to Andre, Howard is Clark's 24-year-old cousin.

Because Howard has "utilized" Clark's name in the past, Andre said, their two names "cross-referenced" and triggered an erroneous warrant for a parole violation.

Police haven't said why they want to question Clark but his attorney said Clark has no information about Williams' death, although he does know Brian Kenneth Hicks, a Crips gang member who owns the Chevy Tahoe linked to the shooting. Clark and Hicks grew up in the same neighborhood, said Andre.

Parole officials say Clark is being held because he isn't living where he was supposed to under his parole terms. He's being held without bail.

Stems cells harvested from amniotic fluid may avoid the ethical issues of those derived from embryos but they won't replace embryonic stem cells, researchers told Jim Erickson.

Wake Forest University and Harvard scientists announced Sunday that they have found stem cells in human amniotic fluid that appear to have many of the key benefits of embryonic stem cells while avoiding thorny ethical issues.

The stem cells, collected from fluid left over from amniocentesis tests on pregnant women, were able to transform into new bone, heart, muscle, blood vessel, fat, nerve and liver tissues, they reported.

Rep. Diana DeGette says the development won't affect her push to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, reports M.E. Sprengelmeyer.

R.E.M. and Van Halen are among five artrists elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, reports Mark Brown.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, the Ronettes and Patti Smith also made the cut but Iggy Pop, Joe Tex, the Dave Clark Five and Chic were left with noses pressed against the window.

Microsoft and Starz say they have a better idea for downloading movies over the Internet, reports Joyzelle Davis.

The agreement allows consumers with either Windows Vista Premium-based or Windows Vista Ultimate-based PCs to download movies onto their computers using Vongo and then view the titles on any connected TV.

The pact also lets consumers watch Vongo titles through Media Center extenders, such as Xbox 360 consoles that are connected to a home's network.

Get rich quick. Buy a ticket. Watch the numbers. Live the life of luxury without working another day.

Coloradans are listening to the siren song of Powerball, the seductive whispers of Lotto and the instant gratification of scratch tickets, reports Burt Hubbard.

Lottery sales in the state are up almost 25 percent over the past decade, as both Powerball with its mega-jackpots and scratch tickets with their instant payouts remain popular.

Sales of lottery tickets reached $454.2 million last year, up $88 million from 1997, according to lottery sales records.

Except for a couple of blips, sales have risen consistently over time. Revenue grew 4 percent between 2005 and 2006.

Busiest lottery outlet in Colorado: the Borlerline Cantina just south of the Wyoming border on U.S. 85 about 40 miles north of Greeley.

What better way to draw men to a bar than to pack it with women? So let the women in free, charge the guys and let the mingling - and the bar tabs - commence.

Not so fast. Steve Horner says "Ladies Nights" trample on his rights, reports Katie Kerwin McCrimmon.

A self-proclaimed "agitator" against feminism declared ladies nights at Colorado nightspots dead after prevailing in the first stage of a civil rights complaint against the Proof Nightclub in southeast Denver.

Colorado's Division of Civil Rights for the Department of Regulatory Agencies sided with him in his complaint that men were unfairly having to pay cover charges and higher drink prices than women at the Proof's ladies nights.

10 Zen Monkeys has put together a drug timeline for Paul McCartney.

The New York Post's Cindy Adams says Britney Spears' record company is dissatisfied with her latest album and has stopped recording. Britney's camp denies it.

Dwight Schrute's New Year's Resolutions are here.

President Bush is bringing new faces to his national security team, replacing the top two generals overseeing the Iraq war and may address the nation as early as the middle of next week to outline his new strategy.

Bush nominated an intelligence veteran, former National Security Agency Director Mike McConnell, to be the country's second national intelligence director. In a reshuffling of his national security team, Bush also chose his former top spymaster, John Negroponte, to be deputy secretary of state.

The moves come as part of the White House effort to chart a new direction on Iraq and reshape Bush's national security strategy with two years left in his presidency. The president plans to announce his new strategy for the war in a speech that could come as early as the middle of next week.

Part of the new course appears to be a renovation of Bush's intelligence and national security team. In addition to Negroponte's shift, Defense Secretary Robert Gates took over the Pentagon last month and is expected to bring in retired Lt. Gen. James Clapper as his undersecretary for intelligence.

Meanwhile, Democrats underscored their criticism of a troop "surge" in Iraq, sending a letter to the White House to instead begin bringing American soldiers home.

The snow's going to end, which makes this a perfect night for a movie.

Bob Denerstein's reviews of this weekend's new movies are here.

While you're there, check out Bob's Top 10 Movies of 2006.

A pair of state Republican lawmakers are taking aim at 527 campaign organizations that dominated much of the political advertising landscape during the past election, reports April Washington.

Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genessee, and Sen.-elect Josh Penry, R-Fruita, wrote to Democratic leaders, asking them to create a committee in the upcoming legislative session to draft a bill aimed at 527s.

"The last election had a proliferation of covert spending by 527 groups. We need to take a hard look at campaign finance," Witwer said.

Democratic and Republican 527 groups in Colorado raised more than $17 million for the November elections, according to a Rocky Mountain News analysis.

Did a signing statement attached to a postal bill indicate the government has plans to open citizens' mail without a warrant?

Privacy advocates, including the ACLU, say it does. The administration denies it.

The law requires government agents to get warrants to open first-class letters. But when he signed the postal reform act, Bush added a statement saying that his administration would construe that provision "in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances."

They won the election. Now they have to govern.

Led by the first woman to become Speaker of the House, the Democrats are pledging bipartisanship and a new era for Congress.

Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will exert vast influence over the congressional agenda and stands second in the line of succession to the presidency. In her first step as speaker, she orchestrated bipartisan 430-1 passage of a measure banning lawmakers from accepting gifts and free trips from lobbyists and discounted trips on private planes. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., cast the sole "nay" vote.

The vote, said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., amounted to "sweeping ethics reforms that begin to address some of the most egregious transgressions of the recent past."

Republicans were expected to support Democrats' efforts to require greater disclosure of lawmakers' earmarks. The Democratic effort largely mirrored a GOP plan passed last year in the wake of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandal, in which the former California GOP congressman pleaded guilty to corruption charges for channeling earmarks to defense contractors in exchange for $2.4 million in bribes. Lesser scandals have hit other lawmakers.

Colorado's new congressmen said all the right things on their first day of work, reports M.E. Sprengelmeyer.

Jonathan Rauch of the National Journal says the Democrats' best chance for real reform is "to end farm welfare as we know it."

Sales of homes in metro Denver plunged by $424 million in 2006 and experts believe it's the first time Denver has ever experienced a year-to-year drop in sales volume, reports John Rebchook.

"This is the first time we've seen a drop since we began tracking the market in 1985, and I think it is very likely it is the only time it has ever happened," said independent broker Gary Bauer, who released a report based on Metrolist data on Thursday.

The decrease was caused by two factors: The price of homes rose only modestly, and the number of homes that sold dropped.

The report shows that $14.5 billion in homes were sold by Realtors in the Denver area last year, compared with $14.9 billion in 2005.

Average selling price appreciated only 2.7 percent in 2006, rising to $288,916 in 2006 compared with $281,332 in 2005.

Rocky photographer George Kochaniec Jr. made this picture of good samaritan Charles Dacob and Denver Boot Patrol Officer Louis Gallardo pushing a car off the middle lane of Broadway at 13th Ave. while Denver Boot Patrol Officer Brandon Hammond (cq) stops traffic. The battery in the car went dead and the young woman driving the car did not want to give her name.

I like how my neighborhood looks under the amber streetlight after a fresh snowfall.

But enough is enough.

Metro Denver awoke again today to a storm that's expected to dump 3 to 9 inches, aggravated by swirling winds.

Let us know about your commute. Were the plows out? I heard on the radio that U.S. 36 between Boulder and Denver hadn't seen a plow as of 5:30. True? Were crews working on the major thoroughfares? And check in on our item about whether your residential street has been cleared.

Mike Rosen says let's not go overboard on snow removal.

A Russian rocket, first thought to be a meteor shower, roared across Denver's predawn sky Thursday morning, reports Jim Erickson.

Fox 31 helicopter pilot Rob Marshall and photojournalist Josh White got some pretty spectacular video.

Two weeks after the big blizzard, how is your city/county doing on removing snow? The main arteries are generally in good shape but have they gotten around to your street yet?

Mine neither.

As you drive across city/county lines do you notice a difference? For example, driving east on Coal Mine Road between Pierce and Platte Canyon, you cross the Jefferson/Arapahoe line at Sheridan. The Arapahoe side is much clearer.

Have you complained or just been resigned to a rutted, ice-jagged street?

He ogled the waitress all night. She slipped the waiter her phone number. He stopped the conversation in mid-sentence so he could listen to the voices in his head. She spent an hour on the phone with her ex-boyfriend, then sobbed for an hour.

Most of us have suffered through the Dates From Hell. You've told your friends about them, now tell us. Like a good bartender, the Rocky's Spotlight section wants to hear your horror stories and feel your pain. Read some of the submissions here, and e-mail your own story to spotlight@rockymountainnews.com or leave it as a comment below.

More than 19,000 homes went into foreclosure in metro Denver in 2006, a 35 percent increase over 2005, reports John Rebchook
.

Last year's numbers (19,425) topped the record set in 1988 by 13.45 percent. But the total foreclosure rate as a percentage of all homes still is lower than it was two decades ago because of a huge growth in population, housing construction and homeownership.

The 1988 numbers came on the heels of a bust in Colorado's energy industry.

The bizarre circumstances surrounding the execution of Saddam Hussein has taken another twist with the reported arrest of a man who secretly shot video of the hanging.

Iraqi state television broadcast an official video of Saturday's hanging, which had no audio and never showed Saddam's actual death. But the leaked cell phone video showed the deposed leader being taunted in his final moments, with witnesses shouting "Go to hell!" before he dropped through the gallows floor and died.

The unruly scene was broadcast on Al-Jazeera television and was posted on the Internet, prompting a worldwide outcry and big protests among Iraq's minority Sunnis, who lost their preferential status when Saddam was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003.

The video had been criticized by the international community including Britain ("unacceptable") and the Vatican (a "spectacle" that violated human rights).

As of Monday, employers who fail to take extra steps to verify the employment status of anyone they hire could face steep fines, reports Joanne Kelley.

even the Colorado Department of Labor has been sending mixed messages about how it interprets the new measure. For months following the passage of the law, its Web site indicated there would be no state-issued paperwork related to the law.

About two weeks ago, the department created a new form for employers to use. It's intended to help businesses meet the law's requirement that they "affirm" in writing that they have: Examined the legal work status of new employees; Kept copies of the documents required to verify employment; Neither altered nor falsified employee ID documents; Not knowingly hired an unauthorized worker.

What's going to happen this year?

We need your predictions:

What will happen in Iraq? With the Democrats running Congress? With the economy? In Colorado with a Democratic governor and legislature? With the potential presidential candidates gearing up for battle? Wtih immigration? With the housing market?

Despite a statewide ban on smoking in most public places, cigarette sales in Colorado were up almost 9.5 percent in the first 11 months of 2006, reports Felix Doligosa Jr.

Nearly 4.6 billion cigarettes were sold from January to November of 2006, up from 4.2 billion over the same time period in 2005, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

The upward trend reverses last year's sharp decline - 22 percent - which occurred after the state increased its tobacco tax by 64 cents.