Coyote Gulch

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Wi-Fi
San Francisco Chronicle: "In the coming weeks, the city of San Francisco will request proposals for a plan for a community broadband network -- a network that can provide the people of San Francisco a blisteringly fast connection to the Internet at a fraction of the cost of Comcast and SBC."
Thanks to Ed Cone for the link.
10:14:09 AM

blogher
Here's a short interview from the New West Network highlighting Lisa Stone, one of the forces behind BlogHer. "For me, blogging means expressing myself creatively through writing, design, user interface and, at rock-bottom, code. The only way I've found to get better at writing and all these other things is to (a) do it every day, (b) read other people who are doing it well every day and (c) get feedback from other people who do (a) and (b)."
8:18:45 AM

Bolton and Filibusters
Senator Chuck Hagel is wavering in his support for John Bolton, according to the Denver Post [April 16, 2005, "2nd GOP senator wavering on Bolton"]. From the article, "A committee vote is scheduled for Tuesday, and the outcome no longer is guaranteed. Republicans control the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a 10-8 margin. All eight Democrats oppose Bolton. Until Friday, the only Republican believed to be wavering in support of President Bush's U.N. nominee was Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who has said he is inclined to vote for Bolton but has not yet made up his mind."
Stygius: "Steve Clemons has reproduced in-full an Economist piece on the John Bolton nomination hearings. The question left widest open is that of Bolton's honesty. His comments before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on a variety of subjects, raises the most basic doubts about Bolton's reliability, not to mention his manifest unprofessionalism."
Senator Bill Frist is on the hotseat for his decision to participate in a telecast purported to cast Democrats against people of faith for blocking judicial nominees. The Moderate Voice writes, "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has reportedly now not only decided on the 'nuclear option' on filibusters but he is apparently ready to help instigate a political BIG BOOM that has the potential of enmeshing the GOP in charges that it's ushering in a new, dangerous area of theocratic McCarthyism."
Bull Moose: "Pastor Moose alerts his parishioners that the Right Reverend Bill Frist, M.D.'s Amazing Salvation and Medicine Show may be soon coming to a mega-church near you."
Category: 2004 Presidential Transition
7:16:57 AM

Colorado Water
HB 1177 made it through the Colorado Senate Agriculture committee this week, according to the Rocky Mountain News [April 16, 2005, "Utilities, W. Slope back plan to hold water roundtables"]. From the article, "Front Range water utilities and the Western Slope stepped forward this week to back a proposal that would create public roundtables for negotiating water deals. House Bill 1177, already approved by the House, won unanimous approval from the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee."
Here's an editorial from the Denver Post asking the Interior Department (and Gail Norton) to hold back releases from Lake Powell to Lake Meade in an effort to bank upper Colorado River Basin water in this very wet year for the lower basin [April 16, 2005, "Save Lake Mead water for now"]. From the opinion piece, "Heavy rains and snows struck California, Arizona and Nevada this winter - after years of intense drought. One of the Colorado River's two biggest reservoirs, Lake Mead, now is about two-thirds full - far higher than its managers predicted just months ago. Mead, located near Las Vegas where Nevada and Arizona touch, supplies water to Las Vegas, San Diego, suburban Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tucson and thousands of farms. But snowfall was uneven in the upper basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. So while runoff will be slightly higher than normal into the river's other great reservoir, Lake Powell, that lake on the Arizona-Utah border remains shockingly low, at just one-third its usual level. In normal years, the U.S. Interior Department sends water from Powell to Mead. But this year's disparate reservoir levels led Interior officials to consider releasing less than the 8.23 million acre-feet of water usually delivered from Powell to Mead. An interstate pact obligates the upper basin to give the lower basin 75 million acre-feet of water every 10 years, but in the past decade the upper basin actually delivered 100 million acre-feet. So Interior legally could put the lower basin on a water diet. A decision is expected May 1. Lower basin states argue they should get their usual 8.23 million acre-feet because by year's end Powell is expected to be 48 percent full while Mead is forecast to be 58 percent full."
Category: Colorado Water.
6:59:01 AM

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