COLORADO SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF STATE EDUCATION FUNDING
DENVER (AP) – The state Supreme Court says Colorado’s school funding system is constitutional. Today’s landmark 4-2 ruling affirms the state’s argument that it has made funding a priority and that school finance should be left to lawmakers to decide, not the courts.
The plaintiffs have contended that the state’s funding formula is irrational and leaves poorer students disadvantaged. A district judge ruled last year the educational funding system is inadequate and that no district that is sufficiently funded.
COLORADO RIVER’S FUTURE DISCUSSED IN SO. CAL
(AP) – Discussion about the future of the drought-struck Colorado River is on the agenda in San Diego for officials from seven Western states – including Colorado – Indian tribes and conservation groups in a meeting hosted by federal water managers. Tuesday’s meeting comes amid predictions of looming shortages on the river serving some 40 million city dwellers, farmers, boaters and businesses in California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Mexico also has a stake. The work meeting follows a declaration in December from former U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that the Colorado River might not be able to meet demands of a growing regional population over the next 50 years. Bureau of Reclamation administrators say 2013 could be the fourth-driest year in the basin in the past 100 years. Last year was fifth-driest.
RECREATIONAL WEED NOW LEGAL, HICKENLOOPER STILL SKEPTICAL
DENVER (AP) – Colorado now has a set of laws to regulate and tax recreational marijuana. Gov. John Hickenlooper signed six pot bills into law today. The laws cover how marijuana should be grown, packaged and sold. Another new law sends to voters the question of taxing pot at least 25 percent, with proceeds going to school construction and the cost of regulating pot. Hickenlooper also signed a bill creating a new driving limit for marijuana as an analogy to the blood alcohol limit.
