Coyote Gulch

Friday, April 21, 2006

2008 Dem convention in Denver?

DemNotes: "... this evening was about the Western Caucus. One of Colorado's DNC Members, J.W. Postal, who is the Vice-Chair of the DNC's Western Caucus, did a great job promoting Denver's 2008 Convention bid to Westerners. At least half of the room was wearing Denver 2008 buttons - probably close to 2/3 of the room. We continue to be highly visible here in terms of promoting Denver for the 2008 convention. Only one other city is doing much in New Orleans to promote itself - Minneapolis. Both Denver and Minneapolis have booths in the registration area, and Minneapolis is hosting a breakfast for delegates on Saturday. Denver is hosting a party tomorrow (Friday) night, and the buzz has already started about how great our promotional effort has been (California's Christine Pelosi - yes, she has a kinda'-famous mom - mentioned to me tonight that she still uses the Denver pen that we handed out in Phoenix in December). Orlando's folks had originally scheduled a reception for this evening, but backed out of that at the last minute."

Category: 2008 Presidential Election

5:13:12 AM

HB1400

Cortez Journal: "The new group that seeks answers for Colorado's water problems is asking the Legislature to approve its charter. Legislators have three weeks to consider House Bill 1400 (Concerning Interbasin Compacts, and, in Connection Therewith, Approving the Interbasin Compact Charter and Altering the Boundaries that Define Certain Western Slope Basin Roudtables), which ratifies the charter of the Interbasin Compact Committee, a 27-person group drawn from across the state...

"[Jim] Isgar and [Josh] Penry sponsored the bill last year that set up the system of nine roundtables that cover the state's major river basins. Southwest Colorado belongs to the San Juan/Dolores roundtable. The central interbasin committee oversees the whole process. The central committee's charter sets up a voluntary system for considering new water projects. Project backers are encouraged, but not required, to use the IBCC process to consider new projects. In the IBCC system, every basin roundtable whose waters are affected by a project has to sign off on the project before it goes forward."

Category: Colorado Water

5:00:57 AM

Snowpack

Here's a short report about Colorado snowpack from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "Though there is plenty of water in the state's reservoirs, thanks to abundant high-country snows and strong stream runoff forecasts, lower elevations of the state remain dry and fire-prone. Despite the bleak forecast, Colorado's drought recovery continues. Just 13 percent of the state is now classified as being in a drought, down significantly from the scorching summer of 2002, when more than 85 percent of the state was bone dry, according to state climatologist Roger Pielke...

"This spring, for instance, the snowpack is 94 percent of average. The good news is that Colorado's recovery from the drought continues, with reservoirs 98 percent full, according to the Colorado Division of Water Resources."

Category: Colorado Water

4:43:43 AM

Holtzman for governor?
From today's Denver Post: "A day after saying the state Republican convention might be rigged against him, gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman filed papers Thursday that would let him petition his way onto the August primary ballot. Holtzman stopped short of launching a petition drive but said he wants to keep that option open in his campaign against Rep. Bob Beauprez for the GOP nomination to succeed term-limited Gov. Bill Owens. The state party insisted it wants a fair election and sent both sides five pages of proposed guidelines that include having a uniformed sheriff's deputy in the tabulating room, privacy booths for voting, and a ban on cellphones and other electronic devices."

Here's an article from yesterday's Denver Post with background about Holtzman's convention worries. They write, "Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman on Wednesday threatened to spurn his own party's convention, saying he doesn't trust the candidate-selection process. For weeks, Holtzman has accused party leaders of backing his primary opponent, Bob Beauprez. On Wednesday, he sent GOP party chair Bob Martinez a letter citing 'grave concerns' over the 'potential for widespread fraud and manipulation' at the state convention next month. If a list of 10 election process requirements included in the letter are not met, Holtzman's spokesman Dick Leggitt said, the campaign might go around the party process and petition the secretary of state's office to get on the ballot."

Category: Denver November 2006 Election

4:29:22 AM

CloudSat launch today

We're up early this morning monitoring the launch of CloudSat.

Some background here from Space.com.

Update (6:02AM EDT): Bummer - "The countdown was halted just inside T-minus 1 minute due to a problem. This effectively scrubs the liftoff for today. The available launch window was just one-second long, leaving no margin for any delays."

Category: Colorado Water

4:16:38 AM

Watering down reality

Here's the link for the final report from the Global International Waters Association on world freshwater problems. They write, "The aim of GIWA is to produce a comprehensive and integrated global assessment of international waters, the ecological status of and the causes of environmental problems in 66 water areas in the world, and focus on the key issues and problems facing the aquatic environment in transboundary waters."

Coyote Gulch recommends this article from the Guerilla News Network. It summarizes the message that didn't get out from the recent 4th Annual World Water Forum.

Category: Colorado Water

4:10:10 AM

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