Colorado Rep. Jared Polis has been appointed to the House Judiciary Committee. He says he is looking forward to working on immigration reform.

What does he think of Arizona's law? He's denounced it.

[I]t is Congress that needs to act to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The people of Arizona want a solution. They have sunken to desperate and unconstitutional means and have sent a signal to us, here in the Capitol, to take action to fix this important issue. It should take no courage for members of Congress to support immigration reform. (my emphasis.)

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Cheers to Boulder, Colorado. The city council has suspended official travel to Arizona in protest of its immigration law:

The city of Boulder will immediately suspend sending any employees to Arizona on business, and may take additional action against the state, in a show of opposition to its wide-reaching new immigration law.

City Manager Jane Brautigam on Wednesday morning sent a memo to all department directors ordering them to cancel any plans to travel to Arizona for conferences or other city business, even if the tickets have been paid for.

“This action is being taken to demonstrate our opposition to Arizona's new public policy, embodied in recent legislation, to require documentation for all persons who may be suspected of being in that state without official status or approval,” Brautigam wrote. “Such a policy is contrary to our organization's commitment to diversity and is a violation of our core values.”

And, that's not all: [More...]

The Denver Post has some great photos of yesterday's rally against Arizona's SB 1070.

The one that says "Stop Ignorance" got me thinking. How do we do that? Usually the answer is education. Can that work with the prejudice against immigrants? It may be too late for adults, but can we reduce their success rate in passing their bigoted views onto the next generation? Should schools include in their curriculum, starting in kindergarten, classes and presentations that extol the contributions immigrants have made to this country and promote diversity? Something has to counter-balance what kids are hearing at the dinner table from ignorant parents.

Willie Clark, convicted of the murder of Denver Bronco Darrent Williams, was sentenced today to life in prison plus 1,152 years.

Clark got an additional 1,152 years in prison for the 16 attempted murder charges and the sentencing enhancements for his habitual criminal history.

"Mr. Clark, I will simply say from where I sit, barring a retrial of this issue, you are spending your life in prison and you too can be a good person and make a change and make a difference with your life however it turns out," Judge Christina M. Habas said.

If there's a point to such a sentence, it escapes me. Colorado law mandates life without parole for first degree murder, that wasn't in doubt. Clark asked to be absent from his sentencing and the judge refused, saying he had to listen to the victims' witness impact statements. Why? According to the Judge: [More..]

This was the Wednesday night open thread post, which I had called Thursday by mistake. I was fixing it and by accident deleted it. Along with the five or so comments. Really sorry. At least I had the comments open on another screen so I will repost them all together in one comment below.

American Idol: I really liked Sons of Sylvia, especially the lead singer. Don't know who's going home yet.

If you missed Justified on FX Tuesday night, catch a replay, it was really good.

I'm just catching up on today's news. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

MileHi Hawkeye points us to this:

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who crusaded for tough anti-immigration measures while in Congress, told KDVR-TV that while he supported the new immigration law in Arizona he thought it went too far. Said Tancredo: "I do not want people here, there in Arizona, pulled over because you look like should be pulled over."

(Emphasis supplied.) As MileHi says, if Tancredo thinks you went too far in Latino loathing and immigrant bashing, then you probably crossed the line about 100 hundred miles back.

I get to put this in the "Colorado News" section. As I have stated repeatedly, though I live and die with the Gators, Tim Tebow does not have the skills to be a good NFL QB. The Broncos made a mistake here imo.

That said, picking Tebow is certainly better than picking the most overrated player in this draft - Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen. While it is conceivable that Tebow can be made into a good NFL QB, in my view, Clausen has no upside. He is as good as he will ever be, and that is not even conceivably good enough.

Sam Bradford, assuming the medical issues are settled, is not only a good pick because he was by far the best QB prospect, he was the best player in the draft (better than Suh, Berry and McCoy.) 3 Gators were picked in the 1st round, Tebow at 25, CB Joe Haden at 7 by the Browns and Maurkice Pouncey at 18 by the Steelers. Pouncey is a sure thing. Haden was picked too high, but I love him.

I'll make this an Open Thread.

Looks like it was quite the scene outside the state capitol in Denver yesterday, as marijuana advocates celebrated 4/20, known as Marijuana Freedom Day. Inside, legislators were toughening the rules for medical marijuana. It will allow local governments to ban dispensaries, notwithstanding our state constitution. Here's the bill, as introduced. More on the House passage here.

Faulty chemist reports in 206 DUI cases in Colorado Springs have resulted in the dismissal or reduction of charges in 9 cases, including 5 where the defendants had already served time. The faulty testing resulted in higher blood alcohols being reported.

The mistakes were discovered when two chemists were given proficiency tests and one failed. Local defense attorney Tim Busey, filed an open records request to obtain some of the documents related to the errors says:

“Every person in the county needs to be concerned about that lab,” he said. “To simply blame it on one analyst is to ignore the fact that any lab is a system of checks and balances from the lab to the certifying agency, which in this case is the department of health.”

A summary of the nine cases is here.

The White House has announced that President Obama has nominated John Walsh for Colorado U.S. Attorney, ending a long and bumpy process. Walsh, was born in New York but grew up in Denver. He is in private practice. He served as an AUSA in Los Angeles from 1987 to 1995, and has emphasized gun crimes and economic crimes as a priority. Republicans like Walsh, I expect he'll be confirmed easily. As one put it, ""We're not going to get a Republican appointed, so why not take the best of the Democrats?"

The Denver Post endorsed Walsh for Denver D.A. in 2004 when he lost to our current D.A., Mitch Morrissey. It liked his promise to strengthen juvenile diversion, prevention programs and drug courts.

The Pueblo Chieftain reports Walsh has made significant contributions to the campaigns of Obama, Mark Udall and Ken Salazar. The other contender for the position, Pueblo D.A. Joe Thiebaut, did not.

Walsh was also under consideration for a federal judgeship. From a practical standpoint, it will be interesting to see what changes Walsh makes in leadership positions inside the office.

A federal judge in Denver today ordered the Government to transport former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, serving a 6 year sentence at Minersville, PA, to court in Denver to appear at a hearing to decide if his request to waive his appearance at his re-sentencing is knowing and voluntary. The Court of Appeals previously ruled Nacchio's sentence was not properly calculated and he should be resentenced to less time.

This is not good news for Nacchio, unless he's somehow able to convince the Marshals to allow him to pay for and fly on a private jet(which would include the cost of two or more Marshals to accompany him) which I don't know is even allowed. He'll be flying on JPats, aka, Con Air. [More...]

Last week I wrote that Aspen's much beloved, long-time sheriff, Bob Braudis, decided not to run for re-election. He's been Sheriff for 24 years and a great one, who believes, among other things, the best jail is an empty one.

I was troubled that Aspen police officer Rick Magnuson, whose views are light years from Braudis, and who unsuccessfully challenged Braudis (with some dirty tricks) immediately announced he would run for the job in November. (Braudis raised 10 times the amount of money Magnuson raised in 2006, which tells you something about how the locals feel about their sheriff.)

Good news, Undersheriff Joe DiSalvo has thrown his hat in the ring. DiSalvo is a good guy who shares Braudis' enlightened philosophy. Like telling the DEA to stay out of Dodge. [More...]