ASPEN, Colo. (AP) – Three rangers and three ranchers are on
their way up a mountain near Aspen to carve up cattle found frozen
in a cabin before the carcasses thaw. Bill Kight of the U.S. Forest
Service says the group started out this morning with plans to cut
up the remains and scatter them. Air Force Academy cadets
snowshoeing in late March found the dead cattle in and around the
cabin. Rangers believe the cows wandered into the structure during
a snowstorm but couldn’t get out.
DENVER (AP) – Colorado lawmakers are closer to erasing strict
zero-tolerance policies for school discipline adopted after the
1999 Columbine High School shootings. A House committee unanimously
approved a bill yesterday making several changes to how schools
punish students. The bill has already cleared the Senate, and
Republican bill sponsor Rep. B.J. Nikkel says there are enough
votes for the measure to clear the full House and go to the
governor’s desk.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) – Leaders in Grand Junction say any
federal policy on oil shale should require a study of how
commercial activity would affect surrounding areas. The Bureau of
Land Management has proposed making less than 500,000 acres of
public land in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado available for research on
how to develop oil from oil shale in a commercially viable way. The
period for the public to submit comments on the BLM’s proposal ends
Friday.
DENVER (AP) – A Colorado bill to compensate victims of a deadly
wildfire has been delayed in the Senate. A committee known for
rejecting Republican ideas was scheduled to consider a bill today
to lift state liability caps for victims of the Lower North Fork
Fire in March. The fire killed three people and was caused by a
prescribed burn on state forest land. But the hearing was canceled
without explanation.
DENVER (AP) – The debate over whether gay couples should have
civil unions in Colorado faces a defining moment in the
Republican-controlled House today. Senators approved the bill for
the second consecutive year, but it’s now in the hands of the same
House committee that rejected it last year. Supporters plan a rally
outside the Capitol before the vote.
