Podcast appearances and mentions of Diana DeGette

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2024 23:11

Friday Flyover of politics and elections news from America's heartland | TX GOP Rep Chip Roy says he'd boot MAGA Mike over funding bill | Missouri Sec of State on track to waste more money and lose more court cases | Lauren Boebert switches districts, CO GOP Rep Doug Lamborn announces retirementSOURCES: The Heartland Collective, Axios, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri Independent, Fox17 WZTV Nashville, Iowa Capitol DispatchIs Speaker Mike Johnson Already on the way out? https://www.axios.com/2024/01/11/mike-johnson-house-speaker-motion-vacateFrom ArticleDriving the news: A dozen right-wing House Republicans blocked a package of their party's bills and ground the House floor to a sudden halt on Wednesday in protest of Johnson's spending deal with Senate Democrats.It's a repeat of of what hardliners did under former Speaker McCarthy over his bipartisan debt ceiling deal – which ultimately foreshadowed his removal months later through a motion to vacate.The move came as Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has been flirting with the idea of trying to remove Johnson, saying in a radio interview on Tuesday: "If they totally botch [the appropriations bills] ... I don't know why we would keep him as speaker."One Republican leadership ally described the revolt as a "shot across the bow."Missouri AG and recent melted blob of flesh on CNN, Jay Ashcroft, gets smacked down in courthttps://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/judge-rejects-jay-ashcroft-s-bid-to-dismiss-high-profile-lawsuit-against-his-office/article_01f1fdc6-af1c-11ee-8076-27fdb2bf7fa8.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-shareComplaint https://business.cch.com/srd/20231023_SIFMA-v-Ashcroft_amended-complaint.pdfFrom the articleA federal judge rejected an effort by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to dismiss a lawsuit against his office over new, politically charged rules aimed at limiting the impact of environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions.In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Steven Bough ruled unanimously in favor of a trade group that is suing the Republican gubernatorial candidate and his office on the grounds that the rule imposed by Ashcroft fails to acknowledge that federal law already requires financial advisers to act in the best interest of their clients when providing personalized investment advice.“The court finds that Plaintiff adequately alleges that the rules violate the First Amendment,” Bough wrote. “The court finds that Plaintiff adequately alleges that the rules are unconstitutionally vague.”And Bough said the trade organization can continue its pursuit of the case because it has the legal standing to represent financial advisers who object to Ashcroft's rule.Ashcroft issued the rules — the first in the nation — after a similar “anti-woke” investing proposal died in the Legislature last year.Ashcroft, who is facing Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Sen. Bill Eigel in the August 2024 GOP primary, has used the lawsuit to raise money for his gubernatorial campaign, where culture war issues have played a prominent role.And, he is using taxpayer funds to pay a campaign donor to represent his office in the lawsuit.Instead of using the Missouri attorney general's office to fight the challenge to the rules, Ashcroft hired the politically connected Kansas City law firm of Graves Garrett to represent his office.Law firm partner Todd Graves, a former head of the Missouri Republican Party, was named to the University of Missouri board of trustees in 2021 and Greim was mentioned as a possible pick for attorney general when Eric Schmitt vacated the post to become U.S. senator in 2021.Greim also represented the Office of the Governor in 2018 when former Gov. Eric Greitens was under investigation for possible impeachment.Tennessee Dems Pushing Back on Abortion Bans With New Reproductive Rights BillsThe bill is sponsored by new Tenn. Dem. State rep, Aftyn Behn, who can be heard at length on this week's episode of the Dirt Road Democrat with Jess Piperhttps://fox17.com/news/local/2024-nashville-tennessee-rep-introduces-new-abortion-reproductive-rights-bill-politics-general-assembly-government-davidson-county-middle-tnFrom ArticleA new abortion bill aims to amend Tennessee's current law which bans the procedure in early stages of pregnancy.House Bill 1626 enacts the "Fundamental Right to Reproductive Health Care Act," meaning the state cannot interfere with abortion services because it falls under an individual's "fundamental right."The bill states every person has a right to make decisions about their reproductive health care, including "the fundamental right to use or refuse contraceptive procedures or contraceptive supplies as defined in 68-34-102." It adds a pregnant person has a right to continue a pregnancy or to terminate it. Michigan GOP Collapsing? https://theheartlandcollective.com/2024/01/09/michigan-gop-is-collapsing-in-on-itself/From article:Jason Roe, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican party, said an effective new leader could help the party “right the ship” before the November 2024 elections, but that a drawn-out fight in court could hinder that progress.To date, the chaos engulfing the party has prevented it from fulfilling its traditional role of organizing and fundraising for Republican candidates, former party officials have said.“I think the chaos is far from over,” Roe said. “If this turns out to be a binding vote, I don't think she [Karamo] or her supporters will go quietly and there will probably continue to be skirmishes throughout the election cycle.” Boebert Says Bye Bye - Tucks Tail And Seeks Easier Path Back To DCIn a move stunning no one, CO GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, best known for her lewd and lascivious behavior, plus that time she cranked her dates honker in public, is running from the fight in her seemingly doomed reelection bid in the Colorado 3rd against Adam FrischArticle on THChttps://theheartlandcollective.com/2023/12/29/lauren-boebert-says-bye-bye-to-her-current-swing-district-and-hello-to-colorados-4th/Frisch was close to winning in 2022 and most assumed he would take the 2024 race against the highly damaged BoebertThe seat in the 3rd was home to Ken Buck who's own failed speaker bid was his last hurrah as he calls it quits. Missouri water way gets needed recognition, but for horrible reasonshttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/08/coldwater-creek-to-finally-have-warning-signs-after-decades-of-nuclear-contamination/Nuclear waste stored outside St. Louis was found to pose a risk to nearby Coldwater Creek as early as 1949. The contaminated creek will finally have warning signs almost 75 years later.From articleThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement Monday that it was working with the Environmental Protection Agency to add signs along the creek to help it monitor areas “that may pose a risk if disturbed.”Coldwater Creek has been contaminated for decades with radioactive waste left over from the World War II-era effort to build an atomic bomb. But though the creek winds through some of St. Louis' busiest suburbs and past public parks and schools, the federal government had resisted calls to post signs warning visitors of the contamination.“This is decades of potential exposure that could have been prevented that they drug their feet on,” said Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, an organization formed to advocate for communities affected by St. Louis-area radioactive waste.Despite the delays, Chapman said she's thankful that the signs are finally going to be installed. The St. Louis area has long struggled with a radioactive waste problem. Uranium for the Manhattan Project, the name given to the effort to develop the first atomic bomb, was refined in downtown St. Louis.After World War II, radioactive waste left over from those efforts was trucked to the St. Louis airport and dumped — some on the open ground and some in barrels — next to Coldwater Creek. As early as 1949, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, the company that refined uranium for the federal government, was aware the waste could escape the barrels it was stored in and contaminate the nearby creekThe Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded in 2019 that children and adults who played in or near Coldwater Creek or lived in its floodplain between the 1960s and 1990s may have been exposed to radioactive materials that raise the risk of certain cancers. The agency — part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — recommended signs be placed along the creek to warn residents of the potential exposure risk.The Army Corps said there was nothing specific that caused the agency to change its mind on installing the signs. The decision was “driven by our commitment to continuous improvement,” George Stringham, a spokesman for the Army Corps, said in an email. Stringham said the Army Corps would “continue to prioritize the health and safety of the community.”Iowa - Gov. proposed budget is a major cut for higher edhttps://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/01/10/gov-kim-reynolds-budget-for-state-universities-falls-30m-short-of-regents-request/From article: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has proposed allocating about $30 million less than what the Iowa Board of Regents requested for itself and the universities next year, though each of the universities would receive some increase in state funding.Reynolds' budget proposal, released Monday, included recommendations for administering money from the state's general fund and other sources to the regents, the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University. The regents requested just over $609 million from the state's general fund and about $40 million from other state sources. Reynolds recommended allocating almost $619 million.Colorado - Congresswoman Diana DeGette introduces discharge petition to ban high-capacity magazines:https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/degette-house-vote-high-capacity-magazine-ban/From article:U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette used a mechanism in the House of Representatives that would force a vote on a bill without leadership's approval to bring forward a vote on a gun safety bill. DeGette, who represents Denver in Congress, alongside House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chair Mike Thompson, a California Democrat, filed a discharge petition to force a vote on the Keep Americans Safe Act. The bill would ban large capacity magazines - those that can hold 30-100 rounds - with a few exceptions and will likely struggle to get through the Republican-controlled House.DeGette said high-capacity magazines were used in all of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in the country. She said the only purpose of these magazines is to kill a lot of people in a short amount of time. “These events continue to re-traumatize our community and our nation, because no community has been untouched by this deadly epidemic,” DeGette said. “In mass shootings with four or more people killed between 2015 and 2022, high-capacity magazines led to more than twice as many people being killed and nearly 10 times as many people being wounded per incident on average.”The petition requires 218 signatures to force a vote on the floor, and with 213 Democrats in the House, at least five Republicans would need to sign. DeGette said she thinks some Republicans in the House represent districts impacted by mass shootings and may be under pressure from their constituents to ban high-capacity magazines. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Centennial Democrat, joined DeGette and members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol after DeGette filed the petition and applauded Colorado leadership for its gun safety measures, particularly banning high-capacity magazines. “In Colorado, we are fortunate to have a state legislature focused on gun reform when Congress fails to make significant change due to Republican stonewalling over and over again,” Crow said. Crow highlighted several high-profile mass shootings in Colorado where the perpetrator used high capacity magazines: the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting, the 2021 Boulder King Soopers shooting, and the 2022 Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs. Closing Note: Doing anything this weekend? @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

america university house politics law state colorado office tennessee congress world war ii cnn iowa missouri republicans democrats roe v wade kansas city abortion governor engineers prevention capitol secretary nuclear lt gop centers crow gov maga reynolds dem chapman first amendment disease control colorado springs legislature mike johnson axios frisch house republicans environmental protection agency iowa state university tenn manhattan project uranium regents house bill lauren boebert littleton senate democrats army corps northern iowa plaintiffs columbine high school club q flyover louis post dispatch ashcroft 2024 elections chip roy fundamental rights california democrats ken buck eric greitens kim reynolds karamo eric schmitt whiffs friday news bough american aquarium michigan republicans toxic substances jason crow one republican bill eigel state jay ashcroft jay ashcroft maga mike doug lamborn greim sifma progressive podcast coldwater creek jason roe iowa board diana degette missouri republican party dawn chapman missouri independent dirt road democrat boulder king soopers heartland podcast just moms stl

Friday News Flyover - Jan 12 2024 - MAGA Mike Johnson on the way out - MO SOS Jay Ashcroft whiffs again and more

Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2024 23:11

Friday Flyover of politics and elections news from America's heartland | TX GOP Rep Chip Roy says he'd boot MAGA Mike over funding bill | Missouri Sec of State on track to waste more money and lose more court cases | Lauren Boebert switches districts, CO GOP Rep Doug Lamborn announces retirementSOURCES: The Heartland Collective, Axios, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri Independent, Fox17 WZTV Nashville, Iowa Capitol DispatchIs Speaker Mike Johnson Already on the way out? https://www.axios.com/2024/01/11/mike-johnson-house-speaker-motion-vacateFrom ArticleDriving the news: A dozen right-wing House Republicans blocked a package of their party's bills and ground the House floor to a sudden halt on Wednesday in protest of Johnson's spending deal with Senate Democrats.It's a repeat of of what hardliners did under former Speaker McCarthy over his bipartisan debt ceiling deal – which ultimately foreshadowed his removal months later through a motion to vacate.The move came as Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has been flirting with the idea of trying to remove Johnson, saying in a radio interview on Tuesday: "If they totally botch [the appropriations bills] ... I don't know why we would keep him as speaker."One Republican leadership ally described the revolt as a "shot across the bow."Missouri AG and recent melted blob of flesh on CNN, Jay Ashcroft, gets smacked down in courthttps://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/judge-rejects-jay-ashcroft-s-bid-to-dismiss-high-profile-lawsuit-against-his-office/article_01f1fdc6-af1c-11ee-8076-27fdb2bf7fa8.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-shareComplaint https://business.cch.com/srd/20231023_SIFMA-v-Ashcroft_amended-complaint.pdfFrom the articleA federal judge rejected an effort by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to dismiss a lawsuit against his office over new, politically charged rules aimed at limiting the impact of environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions.In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Steven Bough ruled unanimously in favor of a trade group that is suing the Republican gubernatorial candidate and his office on the grounds that the rule imposed by Ashcroft fails to acknowledge that federal law already requires financial advisers to act in the best interest of their clients when providing personalized investment advice.“The court finds that Plaintiff adequately alleges that the rules violate the First Amendment,” Bough wrote. “The court finds that Plaintiff adequately alleges that the rules are unconstitutionally vague.”And Bough said the trade organization can continue its pursuit of the case because it has the legal standing to represent financial advisers who object to Ashcroft's rule.Ashcroft issued the rules — the first in the nation — after a similar “anti-woke” investing proposal died in the Legislature last year.Ashcroft, who is facing Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Sen. Bill Eigel in the August 2024 GOP primary, has used the lawsuit to raise money for his gubernatorial campaign, where culture war issues have played a prominent role.And, he is using taxpayer funds to pay a campaign donor to represent his office in the lawsuit.Instead of using the Missouri attorney general's office to fight the challenge to the rules, Ashcroft hired the politically connected Kansas City law firm of Graves Garrett to represent his office.Law firm partner Todd Graves, a former head of the Missouri Republican Party, was named to the University of Missouri board of trustees in 2021 and Greim was mentioned as a possible pick for attorney general when Eric Schmitt vacated the post to become U.S. senator in 2021.Greim also represented the Office of the Governor in 2018 when former Gov. Eric Greitens was under investigation for possible impeachment.Tennessee Dems Pushing Back on Abortion Bans With New Reproductive Rights BillsThe bill is sponsored by new Tenn. Dem. State rep, Aftyn Behn, who can be heard at length on this week's episode of the Dirt Road Democrat with Jess Piperhttps://fox17.com/news/local/2024-nashville-tennessee-rep-introduces-new-abortion-reproductive-rights-bill-politics-general-assembly-government-davidson-county-middle-tnFrom ArticleA new abortion bill aims to amend Tennessee's current law which bans the procedure in early stages of pregnancy.House Bill 1626 enacts the "Fundamental Right to Reproductive Health Care Act," meaning the state cannot interfere with abortion services because it falls under an individual's "fundamental right."The bill states every person has a right to make decisions about their reproductive health care, including "the fundamental right to use or refuse contraceptive procedures or contraceptive supplies as defined in 68-34-102." It adds a pregnant person has a right to continue a pregnancy or to terminate it. Michigan GOP Collapsing? https://theheartlandcollective.com/2024/01/09/michigan-gop-is-collapsing-in-on-itself/From article:Jason Roe, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican party, said an effective new leader could help the party “right the ship” before the November 2024 elections, but that a drawn-out fight in court could hinder that progress.To date, the chaos engulfing the party has prevented it from fulfilling its traditional role of organizing and fundraising for Republican candidates, former party officials have said.“I think the chaos is far from over,” Roe said. “If this turns out to be a binding vote, I don't think she [Karamo] or her supporters will go quietly and there will probably continue to be skirmishes throughout the election cycle.” Boebert Says Bye Bye - Tucks Tail And Seeks Easier Path Back To DCIn a move stunning no one, CO GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, best known for her lewd and lascivious behavior, plus that time she cranked her dates honker in public, is running from the fight in her seemingly doomed reelection bid in the Colorado 3rd against Adam FrischArticle on THChttps://theheartlandcollective.com/2023/12/29/lauren-boebert-says-bye-bye-to-her-current-swing-district-and-hello-to-colorados-4th/Frisch was close to winning in 2022 and most assumed he would take the 2024 race against the highly damaged BoebertThe seat in the 3rd was home to Ken Buck who's own failed speaker bid was his last hurrah as he calls it quits. Missouri water way gets needed recognition, but for horrible reasonshttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/01/08/coldwater-creek-to-finally-have-warning-signs-after-decades-of-nuclear-contamination/Nuclear waste stored outside St. Louis was found to pose a risk to nearby Coldwater Creek as early as 1949. The contaminated creek will finally have warning signs almost 75 years later.From articleThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement Monday that it was working with the Environmental Protection Agency to add signs along the creek to help it monitor areas “that may pose a risk if disturbed.”Coldwater Creek has been contaminated for decades with radioactive waste left over from the World War II-era effort to build an atomic bomb. But though the creek winds through some of St. Louis' busiest suburbs and past public parks and schools, the federal government had resisted calls to post signs warning visitors of the contamination.“This is decades of potential exposure that could have been prevented that they drug their feet on,” said Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, an organization formed to advocate for communities affected by St. Louis-area radioactive waste.Despite the delays, Chapman said she's thankful that the signs are finally going to be installed. The St. Louis area has long struggled with a radioactive waste problem. Uranium for the Manhattan Project, the name given to the effort to develop the first atomic bomb, was refined in downtown St. Louis.After World War II, radioactive waste left over from those efforts was trucked to the St. Louis airport and dumped — some on the open ground and some in barrels — next to Coldwater Creek. As early as 1949, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, the company that refined uranium for the federal government, was aware the waste could escape the barrels it was stored in and contaminate the nearby creekThe Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded in 2019 that children and adults who played in or near Coldwater Creek or lived in its floodplain between the 1960s and 1990s may have been exposed to radioactive materials that raise the risk of certain cancers. The agency — part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — recommended signs be placed along the creek to warn residents of the potential exposure risk.The Army Corps said there was nothing specific that caused the agency to change its mind on installing the signs. The decision was “driven by our commitment to continuous improvement,” George Stringham, a spokesman for the Army Corps, said in an email. Stringham said the Army Corps would “continue to prioritize the health and safety of the community.”Iowa - Gov. proposed budget is a major cut for higher edhttps://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/01/10/gov-kim-reynolds-budget-for-state-universities-falls-30m-short-of-regents-request/From article: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has proposed allocating about $30 million less than what the Iowa Board of Regents requested for itself and the universities next year, though each of the universities would receive some increase in state funding.Reynolds' budget proposal, released Monday, included recommendations for administering money from the state's general fund and other sources to the regents, the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University. The regents requested just over $609 million from the state's general fund and about $40 million from other state sources. Reynolds recommended allocating almost $619 million.Colorado - Congresswoman Diana DeGette introduces discharge petition to ban high-capacity magazines:https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/degette-house-vote-high-capacity-magazine-ban/From article:U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette used a mechanism in the House of Representatives that would force a vote on a bill without leadership's approval to bring forward a vote on a gun safety bill. DeGette, who represents Denver in Congress, alongside House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chair Mike Thompson, a California Democrat, filed a discharge petition to force a vote on the Keep Americans Safe Act. The bill would ban large capacity magazines - those that can hold 30-100 rounds - with a few exceptions and will likely struggle to get through the Republican-controlled House.DeGette said high-capacity magazines were used in all of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in the country. She said the only purpose of these magazines is to kill a lot of people in a short amount of time. “These events continue to re-traumatize our community and our nation, because no community has been untouched by this deadly epidemic,” DeGette said. “In mass shootings with four or more people killed between 2015 and 2022, high-capacity magazines led to more than twice as many people being killed and nearly 10 times as many people being wounded per incident on average.”The petition requires 218 signatures to force a vote on the floor, and with 213 Democrats in the House, at least five Republicans would need to sign. DeGette said she thinks some Republicans in the House represent districts impacted by mass shootings and may be under pressure from their constituents to ban high-capacity magazines. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Centennial Democrat, joined DeGette and members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol after DeGette filed the petition and applauded Colorado leadership for its gun safety measures, particularly banning high-capacity magazines. “In Colorado, we are fortunate to have a state legislature focused on gun reform when Congress fails to make significant change due to Republican stonewalling over and over again,” Crow said. Crow highlighted several high-profile mass shootings in Colorado where the perpetrator used high capacity magazines: the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting, the 2021 Boulder King Soopers shooting, and the 2022 Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs. Closing Note: Doing anything this weekend? @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

america university house politics law state colorado office tennessee congress world war ii cnn iowa missouri republicans democrats roe v wade kansas city abortion governor engineers prevention capitol secretary nuclear lt gop centers crow gov maga reynolds dem chapman first amendment disease control colorado springs legislature mike johnson axios frisch house republicans environmental protection agency iowa state university tenn manhattan project uranium regents house bill lauren boebert littleton senate democrats army corps northern iowa plaintiffs columbine high school club q flyover louis post dispatch ashcroft 2024 elections chip roy fundamental rights california democrats ken buck eric greitens kim reynolds karamo eric schmitt whiffs friday news bough american aquarium michigan republicans toxic substances jason crow one republican bill eigel state jay ashcroft jay ashcroft maga mike doug lamborn greim sifma progressive podcast coldwater creek jason roe iowa board diana degette missouri republican party dawn chapman missouri independent dirt road democrat boulder king soopers heartland podcast just moms stl

Congresswoman Diana DeGette discusses public service, signature healthcare legislation, AI, and a whole lot more|| EP. 132

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2023 24:14

Laurie McGraw is speaking with the very inspiring Congresswoman Diana DeGette, now in her fourteenth Congressional term representing Colorado and the nation. Congresswoman DeGette reflects on her life of public service as ...

colorado legislation congressional public service congresswoman diana degette signature healthcare

May 31, 2023 - High Country Politics - Government and Elections News from the American West

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2023 12:56

PACs supporting Mike Johnston spend big in final sprint of Denver mayoral election | Susana Cordova will be Colorado's next Education Commissioner | New Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams is off to a rocky start | Kari Lake is running for Senate in Arizona | Ringo Starr on tour in Western U.S. Song playsIntro by hostWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod's Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let's get into it: COLORADO NEWSLINE: Denver mayoral candidates Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough sprint to the finish lineBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 30, 2023 4:00 AM Left: Denver mayor candidate Kelly Brough receives the endorsement of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance at an event on May 12, 2023. Right: Brough's runoff opponent, former state Sen. Mike Johnston, receives the endorsement of progressive former mayoral candidates and Democratic state lawmakers in Civic Center Park on May 10, 2023. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)A half-million dollar contribution from former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was part of a flood of large donations that has helped former state Sen. Mike Johnston open up a 2-to-1 fundraising lead over opponent Kelly Brough as the Denver mayor's race enters its final week.Advancing Denver, an independent expenditure committee supporting Johnston's run, raised more than $4 million through May 22. The pro-Johnston super PAC has relied on many of the same out-of-state billionaire donors who boosted Johnston's gubernatorial bid in 2018, including Bloomberg, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and hedge fund managers Steve Mandel and John Arnold. Kent Thiry, the former CEO of Denver-based dialysis giant DaVita, is the group's largest local donor, while venture capitalist Art Reimers and private equity CEO Eric Resnick have also chipped in with six-figure contributions.About three-quarters of Advancing Denver's haul has been spent on TV advertising in support of Johnston, with the remainder spent on digital ads and mail.Johnston and Brough had raised roughly equal amounts in direct contributions through the end of April, reporting total receipts of $932,060 and $895,612, for their campaign committees, respectively. A Better Denver, the independent expenditure committee supporting Brough, has struggled to raise large sums since the April 4 first-round election, adding just $211,650 to the $1 million it had previously raised in February and March.To date, the group's top donor during the runoff is Pete Coors, former Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and prolific donor to conservative causes. Coors gave $50,000 to A Better Denver on April 24. Other top donors to the pro-Brough PAC have included real estate interests like the National Association of Realtors, Colorado Construction Industry Coalition and developer Lloyd Fulenwider.The Apartment Association of Metro Denver, a landlord group, has made contributions to both candidates. After giving $25,000 to Brough in February, the group followed up with another $10,000 contribution to Brough in late April, and a $10,000 contribution to Johnston a week later.Ballots for the city's runoff election were mailed earlier this month. Voters can return their ballot to a 24-hour drop box or vote in person until 7 p.m. on June 6.COLORADO SUN:Susana Cordova, former superintendent of Denver schools, will be Colorado's next education commissionerErica Breunlin and Jesse Paul9:13 AM MDT on May 30, 2023Denver Public Schools superintendent Susana Cordova at DPS headquarters on April 3, 2020. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post via The Associated Press)The state's Board of Education on Monday named Susana Cordova as the sole finalist among 23 applicants after a unanimous vote. Her appointment is expected to be formalized when the board next meets.State Board Chairwoman Rebecca McClellan told The Colorado Sun “We really appreciated her sharp focus on results for students and outcomes for students with an eye toward equity,” “She's not only talked the talk, she's proven that she's capable of achieving gains for students.”Cordova will take over the position from Katy Anthes, who is stepping down from the role in July after serving as commissioner since December 2016.Cordova began her career as a bilingual language arts teacher and has since worked in education for more than 30 years, including as a teacher, principal, district leader and currently as a superintendent in residence for Transcend, a national nonprofit focused on helping schools make classrooms more equitable for all students.Cordova was also previously a deputy superintendent for the Dallas TX Independent School District.Cordova has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver's School of Education and now serves on the university's board of trustees. Cordova will begin steering the state education department at a particularly consequential time for Colorado schools, as districts continue to help students recover from lost time and learning during the pandemic and as many communities struggle to recruit and retain educators and manage declining student enrollment.Susana Cordova, then superintendent of Denver Public Schools, looks on as students work on laptops in a classroom in Newlon Elementary School early Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. The school was one of 55 Discovery Link sites set up by Denver Public Schools where students could participate in remote learning during the pandemic. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Special to The Colorado Sun)Cordova will begin her tenure just as a state task force is considering changes to how Colorado evaluates its schools, which could potentially affect how much funding schools receive.Gov. Jared Polis celebrated Cordova's selection in a written statement Tuesday, saying “Her prior work boosting academic progress and improving access to high-quality education for learners of all backgrounds as superintendent of Denver Public Schools is sure to benefit students across the state as she brings this passion and experience to this new role,” said Polis, a Democrat. “I look forward to working with Susana as a member of my cabinet as we continue to carry forward our bold education priorities.” COLORADO SUN:Colorado GOP paid no staff in April while fundraising lags under new Chairman Dave WilliamsSandra Fish4:20 AM MDT on May 24, 2023Dave Williams speaks during a Republican state central meeting on March 11, 2023, in Loveland where elections for a chairman, vice chairman and secretary of the Colorado GOP were conducted. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)If the Colorado Republican Party had employees in April, they didn't get paid. It's the first time in at least 20 years the party didn't pay any employees.And the party's bank accounts have less money than the $120,540 a recent filing said the party had on hand, the GOP acknowledged in an addendum filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission. The Colorado GOP raised only about $58,000 in the first four months of the year, including less than $15,000 in April. The party spent more than $15,000 last month, with $9,100 going to health and dental benefits. It's unclear if anyone is working for the party; no staff is listed on its website.The lack of a payroll for a state party in Colorado is unusual.“There have been other cycles where the party pays only one or two salaries in the off year,” said Kristi Burton Brown, who chaired the party during the last election cycle. “If they want to run it all-volunteer, they certainly can.”The party raised only a little more than $18,000 in the first two months of the year, before Williams was elected chairman. From January through April, Colorado's GOP spent more than $263,000. That compares with $539,000 spent in the first four months of 2021, another nonelection year when five people were paid for their work in April. Of this year's spending, $73,000 went to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck for legal services. “Anybody who gets elected state chair should probably prioritize raising money,” said Dick Wadhams, who ran the state party from 2007 to 2011 and has been critical of Williams. “You can't run an operation without money.”The state Democratic Party raised nearly $92,000 in April, and spent nearly $211,000, including about $26,000 on payroll for a half-dozen employees. That left the party with nearly $196,000 in cash at the end of April.The Democratic Party raised more than $419,000 in the first four months of the year, while spending about $454,000. The party's state-level account had nearly $32,000 at the end of March.And the Colorado GOP has trailed Democrats in political spending in the state in recent years.Campaign accounts or PACS for several of the state's top elected Democrats have donated to the federal party account this year including U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper; U.S. Reps. Diana Degette, of Denver, Yadira Caraveo, of Thornton, Jason Crow, of Centennial, and Joe Neguse, of Lafayette; Gov. Jared Polis; Treasurer Dave Young; and others. Hickenlooper also sent two emails recently asking people to donate to the state party.The Colorado GOP received $12,500 from the terminated 8th Congressional District campaign of state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, of Brighton, in early March. It's the only money the party has received from Republican officeholders or candidates this year.Tagged:Colorado Democratic Party, Colorado Republican Party, Dave WilliamsABC NEWS:Arizona set for unpredictable Senate raceByTal AxelrodMay 23, 2023, 3:06 AM Democrats and Republicans can at least agree on one thing: They have no idea what's going to happen in next year's Arizona Senate race.The election is shaping up to be an unpredictable three-way contest in one of the nation's premier battlegrounds featuring an incumbent who left her party (Sen. Kyrsten Sinema), a polarizing conservative who remains a rock star with her base (Kari Lake), and a Democratic nominee-in-waiting who would represent a shift to the left for the historically moderate-minded state (Rep. Ruben Gallego).Sen. Sinema first set the stage when she switched from being a Democrat to an independent late last year. While she called that choice a "reflection of who [she's] always been," the switch also prevented a primary fight with Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego -- and paved the way for something more unusual.State data shows just under 35% of Arizona voters are registered Republicans and 30% are registered Democrats, while 35% aren't registered with either party.If Sinema retires, the race to succeed her could feature Gallego, a Marine Corps vet and former House colleague of Sinema's who has become vocally critical of her, and Republican Kari Lake, a former TV anchor, election denier and 2022 Arizona gubernatorial candidate.Both Gallego and Lake are more associated with their parties' ideological flanks than the centrists who have historically won statewide.state GOP strategist Lorna Romero said "It's gonna be like nothing we've ever seen before in Arizona. I think what's going to make it nasty is obviously Ruben and Kyrsten don't get along personally. And depending on who the Republican is, if you get a firebrand like a Kari Lake again, we've seen how she's operated before, that's going to take it to another level."Nineteen operatives from both parties who spoke with ABC News for this story mostly thought that Sinema would run again, pointing to her ongoing fundraising and continued involvement in high-profile legislative pushes like on immigration.Senator Kyrsten Sinema questions witnesses during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in the wake of recent of bank failures, on Capitol Hill, May 18, 2023. Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersSinema, who previously served in the House for three terms, quickly thrust herself into the heart of several of the chamber's most significant and successful legislative efforts, including on infrastructure, same-sex marriage, guns and more.Her style of legislating has generated mixed reviews, with supporters pointing to her scorecard and liberal detractors saying she has been overly eager to water down Democratic priorities, including raising the minimum wage, supporting prescription drug pricing reform and scrapping the Senate filibuster as a way to codify abortion rights.Cesar Chavez, a former Democratic state lawmaker said "Overall, I think the state of Arizona is content with the work that Sen. Sinema done. The issues that Sen. Sinema has advocated for will definitely result in a positive tick in her numbers."Steve Slugocki, a senior adviser to Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a former chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party had the opposite view. He said, "I cannot stress enough how deeply unpopular she is. I traveled the state everywhere last year. The first question was always, 'What are we going to do about Sinema? How can we replace her?'"Sen. Kyrsten Sinema arrives at the Capitol, May 9, 2023. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego speaks at a CHC event. Getty ImagesAll of this will play out in the larger context of the battle for the Senate, with the Democratic caucus holding a slim 51-49 majority, but defending 23 seats in 2024, making operatives eager to avoid a spoiler candidate, but without any agreement on who that would be.A former aide to Sen. Sinema said "She has shown she knows what it takes to win in Arizona. I look at these other candidates, and I do not see proven winners. "So yeah, as a Democrat, I'm nervous because I want to keep Kari Lake out of the Senate.""If she's in the race as an independent, Ruben's already at a disadvantage as a Democrat just because of the lower registration numbers that we have," said one former state lawmaker who is supporting Gallego. "So, it comes down to how many votes is Sen. Sinema going to take? Even if it is a very small percentage, any small percentage at all could tip this."To be sure, Democrats aren't the only ones wringing their hands.Republican strategists told ABC News that a three-way race with a Democrat and an independent with a Democratic background would normally be a boon to the GOP candidate. But failed 2022 candidate Kari Lake is looming in the wings and is coming off a narrow loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs, which many observers attributed to her embrace of baseless claims of 2020 election fraud.A source familiar with Lake's thinking told ABC News they're confident she'll run for the Senate, likely launching a campaign in the fall. This person also confirmed that Lake recently met with several senators, including National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines of Montana, and that with her broad name recognition and support from conservative voters, she would enter the race as the overwhelming primary favorite.GOP strategist Lorna Romero said "[T]he Sinema breakup from the Democratic Party looks good for Republicans on paper, theoretically. But I think that the big heartburn is what's going to happen out of a Republican primary, and are we just going to do the same ridiculous mistakes over and over again, and Democrats are just going to continue to win in the state,"Still, virtually every person who spoke to ABC News added the caveat that their analyses could end up being off given the unpredictable nature of a potential race with the incumbent running as the third-party candidate."We've never seen anything like that in Arizona," one Democratic strategist said. "I just think trying to predict anything right now, you might as well shake a Magic 8 Ball and see what it tells you." CONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK: Sir Richard Starkey MBE, otherwise known as Ringo Starr!! Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band are on a Western U.S. tour with shows this week in San Diego, Eugene and Bend OR, and next week playing Denver's Bellco Theatre and the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs. Tickets and information at ringostarr.comWelp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today's show comes from Colorado Newsline, Colorado Sun, ABC News, Arizona Mirror, and Denver's Westword.Thank you for listening! See you next time.

tv ceo university new york city school education house politics magic state colorado joe biden arizona government elections board san diego congress original republicans democrats campaign senate montana tickets lake democratic capitol housing pac bloomberg realtors national association membership gop voters capitol hill brighton gov marine corps democratic party johnston abc news colorado springs sens reps lafayette thornton nineteen congressional districts michael bloomberg american west ringo starr ballots centennial transcend polis kyrsten sinema coors loveland kari lake cordova gallego denver post dps reid hoffman chc pacs cesar chavez talking politics 2024 elections high country john hickenlooper federal election commission jared polis progressive politics arizona senate michael bennet mike johnston westword denver public schools john arnold democratic politics kyrsten arizona secretary colorado sun 2023 elections colorado gop jason crow metro denver all starr band apartment association democrat katie hobbs civic center park republican kari lake colorado politics joe neguse candi cdebaca arizona rep diana degette dick wadhams kelly brough andy cross pete coors yadira caraveo

May 31, 2023 - High Country Politics - Government and Elections News from the American West

The Steffan Tubbs Show Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2023 12:56

PACs supporting Mike Johnston spend big in final sprint of Denver mayoral election | Susana Cordova will be Colorado's next Education Commissioner | New Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams is off to a rocky start | Kari Lake is running for Senate in Arizona | Ringo Starr on tour in Western U.S. Song playsIntro by hostWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod's Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let's get into it: COLORADO NEWSLINE: Denver mayoral candidates Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough sprint to the finish lineBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 30, 2023 4:00 AM Left: Denver mayor candidate Kelly Brough receives the endorsement of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance at an event on May 12, 2023. Right: Brough's runoff opponent, former state Sen. Mike Johnston, receives the endorsement of progressive former mayoral candidates and Democratic state lawmakers in Civic Center Park on May 10, 2023. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)A half-million dollar contribution from former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was part of a flood of large donations that has helped former state Sen. Mike Johnston open up a 2-to-1 fundraising lead over opponent Kelly Brough as the Denver mayor's race enters its final week.Advancing Denver, an independent expenditure committee supporting Johnston's run, raised more than $4 million through May 22. The pro-Johnston super PAC has relied on many of the same out-of-state billionaire donors who boosted Johnston's gubernatorial bid in 2018, including Bloomberg, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and hedge fund managers Steve Mandel and John Arnold. Kent Thiry, the former CEO of Denver-based dialysis giant DaVita, is the group's largest local donor, while venture capitalist Art Reimers and private equity CEO Eric Resnick have also chipped in with six-figure contributions.About three-quarters of Advancing Denver's haul has been spent on TV advertising in support of Johnston, with the remainder spent on digital ads and mail.Johnston and Brough had raised roughly equal amounts in direct contributions through the end of April, reporting total receipts of $932,060 and $895,612, for their campaign committees, respectively. A Better Denver, the independent expenditure committee supporting Brough, has struggled to raise large sums since the April 4 first-round election, adding just $211,650 to the $1 million it had previously raised in February and March.To date, the group's top donor during the runoff is Pete Coors, former Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and prolific donor to conservative causes. Coors gave $50,000 to A Better Denver on April 24. Other top donors to the pro-Brough PAC have included real estate interests like the National Association of Realtors, Colorado Construction Industry Coalition and developer Lloyd Fulenwider.The Apartment Association of Metro Denver, a landlord group, has made contributions to both candidates. After giving $25,000 to Brough in February, the group followed up with another $10,000 contribution to Brough in late April, and a $10,000 contribution to Johnston a week later.Ballots for the city's runoff election were mailed earlier this month. Voters can return their ballot to a 24-hour drop box or vote in person until 7 p.m. on June 6.COLORADO SUN:Susana Cordova, former superintendent of Denver schools, will be Colorado's next education commissionerErica Breunlin and Jesse Paul9:13 AM MDT on May 30, 2023Denver Public Schools superintendent Susana Cordova at DPS headquarters on April 3, 2020. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post via The Associated Press)The state's Board of Education on Monday named Susana Cordova as the sole finalist among 23 applicants after a unanimous vote. Her appointment is expected to be formalized when the board next meets.State Board Chairwoman Rebecca McClellan told The Colorado Sun “We really appreciated her sharp focus on results for students and outcomes for students with an eye toward equity,” “She's not only talked the talk, she's proven that she's capable of achieving gains for students.”Cordova will take over the position from Katy Anthes, who is stepping down from the role in July after serving as commissioner since December 2016.Cordova began her career as a bilingual language arts teacher and has since worked in education for more than 30 years, including as a teacher, principal, district leader and currently as a superintendent in residence for Transcend, a national nonprofit focused on helping schools make classrooms more equitable for all students.Cordova was also previously a deputy superintendent for the Dallas TX Independent School District.Cordova has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver's School of Education and now serves on the university's board of trustees. Cordova will begin steering the state education department at a particularly consequential time for Colorado schools, as districts continue to help students recover from lost time and learning during the pandemic and as many communities struggle to recruit and retain educators and manage declining student enrollment.Susana Cordova, then superintendent of Denver Public Schools, looks on as students work on laptops in a classroom in Newlon Elementary School early Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. The school was one of 55 Discovery Link sites set up by Denver Public Schools where students could participate in remote learning during the pandemic. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Special to The Colorado Sun)Cordova will begin her tenure just as a state task force is considering changes to how Colorado evaluates its schools, which could potentially affect how much funding schools receive.Gov. Jared Polis celebrated Cordova's selection in a written statement Tuesday, saying “Her prior work boosting academic progress and improving access to high-quality education for learners of all backgrounds as superintendent of Denver Public Schools is sure to benefit students across the state as she brings this passion and experience to this new role,” said Polis, a Democrat. “I look forward to working with Susana as a member of my cabinet as we continue to carry forward our bold education priorities.” COLORADO SUN:Colorado GOP paid no staff in April while fundraising lags under new Chairman Dave WilliamsSandra Fish4:20 AM MDT on May 24, 2023Dave Williams speaks during a Republican state central meeting on March 11, 2023, in Loveland where elections for a chairman, vice chairman and secretary of the Colorado GOP were conducted. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)If the Colorado Republican Party had employees in April, they didn't get paid. It's the first time in at least 20 years the party didn't pay any employees.And the party's bank accounts have less money than the $120,540 a recent filing said the party had on hand, the GOP acknowledged in an addendum filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission. The Colorado GOP raised only about $58,000 in the first four months of the year, including less than $15,000 in April. The party spent more than $15,000 last month, with $9,100 going to health and dental benefits. It's unclear if anyone is working for the party; no staff is listed on its website.The lack of a payroll for a state party in Colorado is unusual.“There have been other cycles where the party pays only one or two salaries in the off year,” said Kristi Burton Brown, who chaired the party during the last election cycle. “If they want to run it all-volunteer, they certainly can.”The party raised only a little more than $18,000 in the first two months of the year, before Williams was elected chairman. From January through April, Colorado's GOP spent more than $263,000. That compares with $539,000 spent in the first four months of 2021, another nonelection year when five people were paid for their work in April. Of this year's spending, $73,000 went to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck for legal services. “Anybody who gets elected state chair should probably prioritize raising money,” said Dick Wadhams, who ran the state party from 2007 to 2011 and has been critical of Williams. “You can't run an operation without money.”The state Democratic Party raised nearly $92,000 in April, and spent nearly $211,000, including about $26,000 on payroll for a half-dozen employees. That left the party with nearly $196,000 in cash at the end of April.The Democratic Party raised more than $419,000 in the first four months of the year, while spending about $454,000. The party's state-level account had nearly $32,000 at the end of March.And the Colorado GOP has trailed Democrats in political spending in the state in recent years.Campaign accounts or PACS for several of the state's top elected Democrats have donated to the federal party account this year including U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper; U.S. Reps. Diana Degette, of Denver, Yadira Caraveo, of Thornton, Jason Crow, of Centennial, and Joe Neguse, of Lafayette; Gov. Jared Polis; Treasurer Dave Young; and others. Hickenlooper also sent two emails recently asking people to donate to the state party.The Colorado GOP received $12,500 from the terminated 8th Congressional District campaign of state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, of Brighton, in early March. It's the only money the party has received from Republican officeholders or candidates this year.Tagged:Colorado Democratic Party, Colorado Republican Party, Dave WilliamsABC NEWS:Arizona set for unpredictable Senate raceByTal AxelrodMay 23, 2023, 3:06 AM Democrats and Republicans can at least agree on one thing: They have no idea what's going to happen in next year's Arizona Senate race.The election is shaping up to be an unpredictable three-way contest in one of the nation's premier battlegrounds featuring an incumbent who left her party (Sen. Kyrsten Sinema), a polarizing conservative who remains a rock star with her base (Kari Lake), and a Democratic nominee-in-waiting who would represent a shift to the left for the historically moderate-minded state (Rep. Ruben Gallego).Sen. Sinema first set the stage when she switched from being a Democrat to an independent late last year. While she called that choice a "reflection of who [she's] always been," the switch also prevented a primary fight with Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego -- and paved the way for something more unusual.State data shows just under 35% of Arizona voters are registered Republicans and 30% are registered Democrats, while 35% aren't registered with either party.If Sinema retires, the race to succeed her could feature Gallego, a Marine Corps vet and former House colleague of Sinema's who has become vocally critical of her, and Republican Kari Lake, a former TV anchor, election denier and 2022 Arizona gubernatorial candidate.Both Gallego and Lake are more associated with their parties' ideological flanks than the centrists who have historically won statewide.state GOP strategist Lorna Romero said "It's gonna be like nothing we've ever seen before in Arizona. I think what's going to make it nasty is obviously Ruben and Kyrsten don't get along personally. And depending on who the Republican is, if you get a firebrand like a Kari Lake again, we've seen how she's operated before, that's going to take it to another level."Nineteen operatives from both parties who spoke with ABC News for this story mostly thought that Sinema would run again, pointing to her ongoing fundraising and continued involvement in high-profile legislative pushes like on immigration.Senator Kyrsten Sinema questions witnesses during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in the wake of recent of bank failures, on Capitol Hill, May 18, 2023. Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersSinema, who previously served in the House for three terms, quickly thrust herself into the heart of several of the chamber's most significant and successful legislative efforts, including on infrastructure, same-sex marriage, guns and more.Her style of legislating has generated mixed reviews, with supporters pointing to her scorecard and liberal detractors saying she has been overly eager to water down Democratic priorities, including raising the minimum wage, supporting prescription drug pricing reform and scrapping the Senate filibuster as a way to codify abortion rights.Cesar Chavez, a former Democratic state lawmaker said "Overall, I think the state of Arizona is content with the work that Sen. Sinema done. The issues that Sen. Sinema has advocated for will definitely result in a positive tick in her numbers."Steve Slugocki, a senior adviser to Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a former chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party had the opposite view. He said, "I cannot stress enough how deeply unpopular she is. I traveled the state everywhere last year. The first question was always, 'What are we going to do about Sinema? How can we replace her?'"Sen. Kyrsten Sinema arrives at the Capitol, May 9, 2023. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego speaks at a CHC event. Getty ImagesAll of this will play out in the larger context of the battle for the Senate, with the Democratic caucus holding a slim 51-49 majority, but defending 23 seats in 2024, making operatives eager to avoid a spoiler candidate, but without any agreement on who that would be.A former aide to Sen. Sinema said "She has shown she knows what it takes to win in Arizona. I look at these other candidates, and I do not see proven winners. "So yeah, as a Democrat, I'm nervous because I want to keep Kari Lake out of the Senate.""If she's in the race as an independent, Ruben's already at a disadvantage as a Democrat just because of the lower registration numbers that we have," said one former state lawmaker who is supporting Gallego. "So, it comes down to how many votes is Sen. Sinema going to take? Even if it is a very small percentage, any small percentage at all could tip this."To be sure, Democrats aren't the only ones wringing their hands.Republican strategists told ABC News that a three-way race with a Democrat and an independent with a Democratic background would normally be a boon to the GOP candidate. But failed 2022 candidate Kari Lake is looming in the wings and is coming off a narrow loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs, which many observers attributed to her embrace of baseless claims of 2020 election fraud.A source familiar with Lake's thinking told ABC News they're confident she'll run for the Senate, likely launching a campaign in the fall. This person also confirmed that Lake recently met with several senators, including National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines of Montana, and that with her broad name recognition and support from conservative voters, she would enter the race as the overwhelming primary favorite.GOP strategist Lorna Romero said "[T]he Sinema breakup from the Democratic Party looks good for Republicans on paper, theoretically. But I think that the big heartburn is what's going to happen out of a Republican primary, and are we just going to do the same ridiculous mistakes over and over again, and Democrats are just going to continue to win in the state,"Still, virtually every person who spoke to ABC News added the caveat that their analyses could end up being off given the unpredictable nature of a potential race with the incumbent running as the third-party candidate."We've never seen anything like that in Arizona," one Democratic strategist said. "I just think trying to predict anything right now, you might as well shake a Magic 8 Ball and see what it tells you." CONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK: Sir Richard Starkey MBE, otherwise known as Ringo Starr!! Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band are on a Western U.S. tour with shows this week in San Diego, Eugene and Bend OR, and next week playing Denver's Bellco Theatre and the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs. Tickets and information at ringostarr.comWelp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today's show comes from Colorado Newsline, Colorado Sun, ABC News, Arizona Mirror, and Denver's Westword.Thank you for listening! See you next time.

tv ceo university new york city school education house politics magic state colorado joe biden arizona government elections board san diego congress original republicans democrats campaign senate montana tickets lake democratic capitol housing pac bloomberg realtors national association membership gop voters capitol hill brighton gov marine corps democratic party johnston abc news colorado springs sens reps lafayette thornton nineteen congressional districts michael bloomberg american west ringo starr ballots centennial transcend polis kyrsten sinema coors loveland kari lake cordova gallego denver post dps reid hoffman chc pacs cesar chavez talking politics 2024 elections high country john hickenlooper federal election commission jared polis progressive politics arizona senate michael bennet mike johnston westword denver public schools john arnold democratic politics kyrsten arizona secretary colorado sun 2023 elections colorado gop jason crow metro denver all starr band apartment association democrat katie hobbs civic center park republican kari lake colorado politics joe neguse candi cdebaca arizona rep diana degette dick wadhams kelly brough andy cross pete coors yadira caraveo

Steffan Tubbs 5-10-23 Hr 3

Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2023 42:58

Holy Hell weather! Tornado watch for Denver and NE CO until 9pMT. Tornado warnings throughout the hour. Then - former DEA Special Ops SAC Derek Maltz joins us to talk Title 42 expiring and fentanyl. More on "The Colorado Six" and CORA. We wrap with Team Biden! There's a new, stupid social media post we mock - Diana DeGette even makes an appearance! Rashida Talib on immigration - lol - and Congressman Ken Buck on "the border wall." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

tornados holy hell ken buck rashida talib diana degette steffan tubbs

High Country Politics - Feb 1, 2023 - Government News from the American West

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2023 19:04

Anti-Abortion Groups vs. the FDA | Colorado legislators seek big boost in Special Education funding | Catholic hospitals no longer performing tubal ligations after Dobbs decision | Cannabis legalization seems to be okay | RJD2 is the Concert Pick of the WeekWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod's Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let's get into it: DENVER (AP) COLORADO NEWSLINE: Anti-Abortion Groups vs. the FDABY: LINDSEY TOOMER - JANUARY 31, 2023 3:45 AMReproductive rights advocates in Colorado were feeling optimistic following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision to expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone in early January — but a federal lawsuit filed just 10 days later has made the future of medication abortions uncertain. On Jan. 3 the FDA issued a decision that allows the abortion drug mifepristone to be picked up at a pharmacy if the patient has a prescription, eliminating a previous requirement that the drug be given directly from a health care provider. Dr. Kristina Tocce, medical director at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said the FDA's decision is a “really big breakthrough” that should increase access across the country. América Ramirez, program director for the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, said it's exciting to see expanded access and agreed it could be beneficial for people across the state, especially the Latina community. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said during a recent press conference with news reporters that the caucus is working with the Biden administration to ensure the U.S. Postal Service will be able to deliver abortion medications when prescribed by an out-of-state doctor. Karen Middleton, president of Cobalt, a Colorado-based reproductive rights advocacy organization, said the FDA's decision will be particularly beneficial for Coloradans outside of the Denver metro area, so long as their pharmacies are willing to participate. But, she said while this is a positive step forward, there are still too many “bureaucratic and cost barriers” for those seeking abortion care.“We've known for years that medication abortion care is overwhelmingly safe and effective,” Middleton said in an email. “We hope that Colorado pharmacies, especially in rural areas, will make it available to patients as soon as possible and without bureaucratic delay.”But anti-abortion groups have sued to stop pharmacies from filling prescriptions for mifepristone, and the case will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court. The lawsuit argues the FDA “exceeded its regulatory authority” in approving the use of mifepristone and misoprostol to end a pregnancy, and seeks a preliminary and a permanent injunction that would remove the FDA's approval. That would imply that Congress should decide, which is of course, dumb.Attorneys for the U.S. Justice Department said there are no examples in history where a court has second-guessed a determination from the FDA that a drug is safe and effective. Karen Middleton said the lawsuit was the anti-abortion groups' only choice, as they “know that they'll lose at the ballot box” since purple and red state voters repeatedly voted to protect abortion rights in 2022. “That's why these radicals are bringing legal challenges in Federal District Courts with conservative judges — to weaponize the legal system to end legal abortion access,” Middleton said. Fawn Bolak, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, called the lawsuit a “politically-motivated attack” that has “no basis in science,” as the drug has been used safely and legally since it was approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago. This lawsuit is designed to push abortion care further out of reach for the most vulnerable.“Exploiting the legal system in an attempt to prevent people from accessing safe, essential health care is unconscionably cruel. Rest assured PPRM will continue to provide safe and legal abortion care to our patients — no matter the outcome in this case.”CHALKBEAT COLORADO: Education Committee backs big boost in Special Ed SpendingColorado would fund special education at the levels lawmakers promised back in 2006, under legislation recommended unanimously Friday by a special committee on school finance.The special education bill would reimburse districts $6,000 for each student with what's known as a Tier B disability, and who requires more intensive support for students to be successful in school. These include dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, deafness, blindness, emotional disabilities, and traumatic brain injuries, among others. The bill also calls for Tier B funding to increase every year by the rate of inflation.Both the federal and state governments require school districts to provide a “free and appropriate” education to all students, including those with disabilities, but they pay just a fraction of the cost. That won't change with this bill.School districts would still bear about two-thirds of the additional cost of providing special education services, but a few years ago, the state was paying less than half of what it had promised. The new bill would add $40.2 million in special education funding to next year's budget, bringing the total to at least $340 million, a 13% increase. The amount could be more, depending on how lawmakers handle requirements to respond to inflation. The bill could also get scaled back, in future budget committee negotiations.The special education bill, sponsored by state Sens. Rachel Zenzinger (D-Arvada) and Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, along with state Reps. Kipp and Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican, will be the only bill to come out of the Interim Committee on School Finance this session.Sen Zenzinger, who also chairs the Joint Budget Committee and serves on the interim committee on school finance, sounded a note of caution even as she signed on as a prime sponsor of the funding increase bill. “We'll put it out there as what we'd like to see, and we'll see what's available to us in the budget,” she said.Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado's education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.COLORADO SUN: Catholic hospitals crack down on contraceptionJennifer Brown4:00 AM MST on Jan 31, 2023Colorado has one of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country, but health care advocates say women in rural and mountain towns often lack reproductive health care accessWhen the only hospital in Durango with a maternity ward decided that it would no longer let women get their tubes tied, there was no public announcement. Mercy Hospital's website doesn't spell it out, either. Instead, a read-between-the-lines statement added to the Centura Health hospital's website in September noted that Mercy is “responsible for conducting itself in a manner consistent with the ethical principles of the Catholic church ministry.” The hospital had recently completed a “re-education” of hospital staff and board members regarding the church's ethical and religious directives, it said, adding that “patients are fully informed of all treatment options.” Doctors who deliver babies at Mercy said they were told that beginning April 15, they can no longer provide post-cesarean-section tubal ligations - a sterilization procedure in which the fallopian tubes are cut. Women who have decided not to have more children often have their tubes tied immediately after a C-section, when they are already under spinal anesthesia, sparing them from the risk, cost, and hassle of scheduling a separate second procedure.The hospital already prohibited tubal ligations after vaginal births, but had been allowing them after C-sections because of the undue burden it placed on patients. It's been up to obstetricians to tell their pregnant patients that they will have to go elsewhere for permanent birth control. Dr. Kimberly Priebe, who delivers 90-100 babies a year and has been an obstetrician-gynecologist in Durango for 20 years said “Patients are furious. This decision undermines our patients' trust in Centura.” Mercy's prohibition of sterilization comes as health care advocates across the country are concerned about diminishing reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.Even in Colorado, a state with statutory protection for abortion and one of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country, women are losing access to reproductive health care, particularly in rural and mountain areas where there is only one hospital in town.Mergers that have joined Catholic health systems with secular or protestant systems have created a confusing health landscape for patients seeking abortions or birth control.Centura Health, formed in 1996 by the merger of Catholic Health Initiatives and Adventist Health System, has 16 hospitals in Colorado and three in Kansas. The Catholic hospitals, including Mercy, follow the Catholic directives, while the Adventist hospitals do not. In Denver, doctors affiliated with Centura Health can steer patients who want their tubes tied to nearby hospitals. But in Durango - and other towns with just one hospital - that's not an option. Sophia Mayott-Guerrero, senior organizing strategist with ACLU of Colorado said “We really are seeing a trend with hospitals, insurance companies, pharmacies, other health care entities, discriminating against people by denying basic care … all in the name of religion. The main target is reproductive access, including birth control, emergency contraception, sterilization and abortions.“We can't really consider access to reproductive health care in Colorado universally protected until everybody in every corner of our state has access. There's often this perception that everybody in Colorado has access to abortion and to reproductive health care and that is just fundamentally untrue, especially in the rural parts of the state where you just don't have additional options.”It's unclear why Mercy Hospital had been allowing tubal ligations after C-sections and what led to the change. CommonSpirit Health, the Catholic owner of Mercy and other Catholic hospitals, said they had no updates to provide. The Diocese of Pueblo, which includes all of southern Colorado, referred questions to Centura Health. Centura Health officials would not give an interview about the change at Mercy, or explain why it's happening now, considering that Mercy has been Catholic since it was founded. The only exception is for women predisposed to cancerAfter the latest “reeducation” of the Catholic directives, Mercy said it would allow tubal ligations post C-section for only one reason — if the woman has a genetic predisposition to ovarian or breast cancer. — Dr. Kimberly Priebe, Four Corners Obstetrics and Gynecology said “This is a very small number of women, and what an arbitrary exception.”“What about women with hypertension, diabetes, blood clotting disorders, uterine abnormalities, and the many other risk factors that can make pregnancy deadly? It seems the Catholic church does not want a woman dying of cancer but during pregnancy is OK?”With the new Mercy policy prohibiting tubal ligations after C-section, doctors will send those patients to the local surgical hospital, though they are concerned about overwhelming the center. And, doctors say, forcing women to schedule the procedure separate from their hospital delivery puts them at unnecessary risk, disrupts their lives with more time away from work, and costs the health system more money. The Medicaid billing rate for a doctor performing a tubal ligation post C-section is a $90 add-on and takes about 10 minutes, doctors said, not including anesthesia and facility fees.Patients who go to Animas Surgical Hospital for a standalone tubal ligation would likely have to pay thousands of dollars for the procedure. The hospital's cash-pay price for the procedure for people without insurance is $9,900.“Patients do not understand how a health care option can be refused when our hospital gets public money and purports to put patient care first,” Dr Priebe said. Pregnant patients in Summit County also face tough choices. Like in Durango, the only hospital is Catholic.St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco, part of Centura Health, does not provide tubal ligations. Dr. Amy Tomlinson, an OB-GYN in Summit County, has had to explain to hundreds of patients that they cannot get their tubes tied at the hospital where they plan to give birth. “Usually, honestly, it was a huff and a sigh and an eye roll,” she said. “Sometimes it was a jaw drop and a shake of the head. But I think women are so used to being second-class citizens in this society that I don't think it was ever terribly surprising to people.” Summit County women have the choice of delivering at St. Anthony and then getting their tubes tied later at another hospital, or driving more than an hour to Denver to deliver their baby so they can have the procedure at the same time. And for women who already have a C-section scar on their uterus, it's especially dangerous to ask them to drive that far in labor, Tomlinson said. “The Catholic position is, ‘If you don't like it, you can go somewhere else,'” she said. “Well, it's not like you can go across town when your hospital is the only one in a tri-county radius. We essentially become an island during snowstorms up here. Even if a patient wants to go elsewhere, she may not be able to get there. And then you are asking women to drive an hour or more while they are laboring. Why would we put women at risk for rupturing their uterus or for giving birth on the side of the road?”Tomlinson, who is opening her own practice but in the past worked at High Country Healthcare, recalled that while removing severe scar tissue from the uterus of a patient at St. Anthony Summit, she had to ask permission from the bishop to place an IUD in the woman's uterus in order to keep it open and prevent pain. The woman had in the past had a tubal ligation so she was already sterile, but the Catholic hospital still required her to get permission to place the birth-control method, called an intrauterine device. And in 2010, Tomlinson gave a presentation to the St. Anthony Summit board to persuade them not to prohibit treatment of ectopic pregnancies. In the post-Roe v. Wade era, doctors across the nation have reported confusion about whether treating an ectopic pregnancy — which is when a fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus — is considered an abortion. In another large hospital system - SCL Health - Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver and St. Mary's Medical Center in Grand Junction — operate under the ethical and religious directives, meaning they do not provide sterilizations. Two of SCL's secular hospitals — Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette — also operate under the same compliance with Catholic directives, said Gregg Moss, spokesman for SCL Health.Moss referred The Colorado Sun to an SCL Health webpage that explains the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services - they were first published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1948.The hospital system's webpage does not specifically mention birth control, tubal ligations or abortions, but says that in today's society, Catholic hospitals are “pressured to provide medical procedures that are contrary to Catholic teaching.” “And by refusing to provide or permit such medical procedures, Catholic health care affirms what defines it: a commitment to the sacredness and dignity of human life from conception until death,” it says.Mannat Singh, executive director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, excoriated the choices being made by Catholic hospitals. “It is a basic human right to seek, or refuse, reproductive health care, and we will continue to work to ensure there are no barriers to seeking that care,” she said.COLORADO SUN: Well, it ain't a gateway drug.John Ingold3:55 AM MST on Jan 31, 2023Last year, a study came out showing that marijuana legalization in Colorado likely increased cannabis use among adults in the state.Because of the novel methods the researchers used to examine the question, the study was perhaps the best answer to date on one of legalization's biggest impacts. But it also left an even bigger question unanswered: If adults are consuming more cannabis and more frequently, is that bad?Now, in a follow-up study by the same team, the researchers have come to an answer: it doesn't seem to be. Stephanie Zellers, one of the researchers, said “At least from the psychological point of view, we really didn't find that legalized cannabis has had a lot of negative influence, which I think is important.”Zellers recently graduated with a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota, but she began her doctoral work at the University of Colorado before transferring when her thesis adviser changed jobs. She had originally been interested in neuroscience research, but the necessity of using live lab animals for the work was off-putting.And, in the Colorado-to-Minnesota connection, she found a trove of data that could be used in never-before-tried ways.The data are from longitudinal studies of twins in Colorado or Minnesota. Researchers in both states followed the twins over long periods of time, collecting information about their behaviors, including their cannabis use. The survey information, then, creates an ideal scenario for study: It is thorough, it has built-in controls for variables like socioeconomic status, and it helps account for genetic differences.“That twin component really allows us to rule out what could be noisy variables — cultural differences, family differences, things like that,” Zellers said.On top of that, because Colorado has legalized marijuana and Minnesota hasn't (at least so far) — and because some twins born in Minnesota moved to Colorado and vice versa — the data provide an ideal opportunity to study the way legalization in Colorado a decade ago has influenced people's behavior ever since.The original study, published last fall, simply asked whether twins living in legal-marijuana states use marijuana more than twins living in prohibition states. And the answer is yes — about 20% more, according to the research.That answer was interesting, but “Really what people care about is: Is legalization harmful,” she said.To answer that question, the team came up with 23 measures of what they call “psychological dysfunction.” This includes things like substance-use disorders, but also financial woes, mental health distress, community disengagement, and relationship issues. The team looked at data on more than 4,000 people — 40% of whom live in a legal-marijuana state.Zellers said what the researchers found was unexpected: They basically found nothing.“Obviously the cannabis use increases, but we didn't see an increase in cannabis-use disorder, which is a little surprising,” she said. “We didn't really see changes in how much people were drinking or using tobacco. No large personality, or workplace, or IQ differences, or anything like that.”People in legal states did not report using illegal drugs at higher rates. Researchers also didn't find a link between marijuana legalization and psychotic behavior.They did find one difference, though. People living in a state where recreational marijuana use is prohibited reported higher rates of alcohol-use disorder and more specifically one symptom of the condition: They were more likely to report using alcohol in situations that were dangerous or harmful, such as driving drunk.To Zellers and other researchers, the study provides valuable information for the ongoing debate over whether cannabis legalization is a good idea. But it's not the final word.CU psychology and neuroscience professor John Hewitt, one of the study's co-authors, said in a statement that “Our study suggests we should not be overly concerned about everyday adult use in a legalized environment, but no drug is risk-free. It would be a mistake to dismiss the risks from higher doses of a drug that is relatively safe in small amounts.”This highlights one of the study's big limitations. Zellers said most of the people included in the twins data are relatively light cannabis users. The sample size for heavy users is small.“Our sample is an adult community sample broadly characterized by low levels of substance use and psychosocial dysfunction,” the researchers write. This limits our ability to generalize relationships between legalization, outcomes and risk factors for the individuals at greatest risk.”Zellers said she and her colleagues are hoping to publish another study based on their data — but this one will be less concerned about the impacts of marijuana legalization as a policy. Instead, it will try to look at how much cannabis people have used over their lifetimes and then score that against the same measures of psychological dysfunction “to see if, not the policy, but the actual substance itself has an effect” And if YOU want to see about substances and their effects, don't miss the unsolicited concert of the weekCONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK: RJD2 with just 2 upcoming dates - Friday Feb 3 at the Music Box in San Diego, and Saturday Feb 4th at the Gothic Theatre in Denver. There should also be lots of fun stuff in lots of fun places this weekend for Bob Marley's birthday, February 6.Welp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today's show comes from the Colorado Newsline, Colorado Sun, Chalkbeat Colorado, and Denver's Westword.Thank you for listening! See you next time.

university school science politics colorado food joe biden government psychology minnesota healthcare san diego conference congress original patients supreme court kansas catholic roe v wade cannabis attorney latinas fda researchers iq ethical plan b moss biden administration bob marley ob gyn ramirez planned parenthood rocky mountains sens pueblo aclu reps welp lafayette dobbs justice department special education mergers middleton american west drug administration contraception diocese frisco postal service gynecology durango reproductive rights abortion rights medical center tomlinson exploiting cobalt iud adventist music box catholic bishops talking politics grand junction high country coloradans cannabis legalization mercy hospital education funding dobbs decision summit county zellers westword scl rjd2 priebe school finance wheat ridge colorado sun john hewitt colorado politics centura health catholic health initiatives diana degette lutheran medical center

High Country Politics - Feb 1, 2023 - Government News from the American West

The Steffan Tubbs Show Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2023 19:04

Anti-Abortion Groups vs. the FDA | Colorado legislators seek big boost in Special Education funding | Catholic hospitals no longer performing tubal ligations after Dobbs decision | Cannabis legalization seems to be okay | RJD2 is the Concert Pick of the WeekWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod's Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let's get into it: DENVER (AP) COLORADO NEWSLINE: Anti-Abortion Groups vs. the FDABY: LINDSEY TOOMER - JANUARY 31, 2023 3:45 AMReproductive rights advocates in Colorado were feeling optimistic following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision to expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone in early January — but a federal lawsuit filed just 10 days later has made the future of medication abortions uncertain. On Jan. 3 the FDA issued a decision that allows the abortion drug mifepristone to be picked up at a pharmacy if the patient has a prescription, eliminating a previous requirement that the drug be given directly from a health care provider. Dr. Kristina Tocce, medical director at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said the FDA's decision is a “really big breakthrough” that should increase access across the country. América Ramirez, program director for the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, said it's exciting to see expanded access and agreed it could be beneficial for people across the state, especially the Latina community. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said during a recent press conference with news reporters that the caucus is working with the Biden administration to ensure the U.S. Postal Service will be able to deliver abortion medications when prescribed by an out-of-state doctor. Karen Middleton, president of Cobalt, a Colorado-based reproductive rights advocacy organization, said the FDA's decision will be particularly beneficial for Coloradans outside of the Denver metro area, so long as their pharmacies are willing to participate. But, she said while this is a positive step forward, there are still too many “bureaucratic and cost barriers” for those seeking abortion care.“We've known for years that medication abortion care is overwhelmingly safe and effective,” Middleton said in an email. “We hope that Colorado pharmacies, especially in rural areas, will make it available to patients as soon as possible and without bureaucratic delay.”But anti-abortion groups have sued to stop pharmacies from filling prescriptions for mifepristone, and the case will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court. The lawsuit argues the FDA “exceeded its regulatory authority” in approving the use of mifepristone and misoprostol to end a pregnancy, and seeks a preliminary and a permanent injunction that would remove the FDA's approval. That would imply that Congress should decide, which is of course, dumb.Attorneys for the U.S. Justice Department said there are no examples in history where a court has second-guessed a determination from the FDA that a drug is safe and effective. Karen Middleton said the lawsuit was the anti-abortion groups' only choice, as they “know that they'll lose at the ballot box” since purple and red state voters repeatedly voted to protect abortion rights in 2022. “That's why these radicals are bringing legal challenges in Federal District Courts with conservative judges — to weaponize the legal system to end legal abortion access,” Middleton said. Fawn Bolak, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, called the lawsuit a “politically-motivated attack” that has “no basis in science,” as the drug has been used safely and legally since it was approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago. This lawsuit is designed to push abortion care further out of reach for the most vulnerable.“Exploiting the legal system in an attempt to prevent people from accessing safe, essential health care is unconscionably cruel. Rest assured PPRM will continue to provide safe and legal abortion care to our patients — no matter the outcome in this case.”CHALKBEAT COLORADO: Education Committee backs big boost in Special Ed SpendingColorado would fund special education at the levels lawmakers promised back in 2006, under legislation recommended unanimously Friday by a special committee on school finance.The special education bill would reimburse districts $6,000 for each student with what's known as a Tier B disability, and who requires more intensive support for students to be successful in school. These include dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, deafness, blindness, emotional disabilities, and traumatic brain injuries, among others. The bill also calls for Tier B funding to increase every year by the rate of inflation.Both the federal and state governments require school districts to provide a “free and appropriate” education to all students, including those with disabilities, but they pay just a fraction of the cost. That won't change with this bill.School districts would still bear about two-thirds of the additional cost of providing special education services, but a few years ago, the state was paying less than half of what it had promised. The new bill would add $40.2 million in special education funding to next year's budget, bringing the total to at least $340 million, a 13% increase. The amount could be more, depending on how lawmakers handle requirements to respond to inflation. The bill could also get scaled back, in future budget committee negotiations.The special education bill, sponsored by state Sens. Rachel Zenzinger (D-Arvada) and Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, along with state Reps. Kipp and Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican, will be the only bill to come out of the Interim Committee on School Finance this session.Sen Zenzinger, who also chairs the Joint Budget Committee and serves on the interim committee on school finance, sounded a note of caution even as she signed on as a prime sponsor of the funding increase bill. “We'll put it out there as what we'd like to see, and we'll see what's available to us in the budget,” she said.Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado's education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.COLORADO SUN: Catholic hospitals crack down on contraceptionJennifer Brown4:00 AM MST on Jan 31, 2023Colorado has one of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country, but health care advocates say women in rural and mountain towns often lack reproductive health care accessWhen the only hospital in Durango with a maternity ward decided that it would no longer let women get their tubes tied, there was no public announcement. Mercy Hospital's website doesn't spell it out, either. Instead, a read-between-the-lines statement added to the Centura Health hospital's website in September noted that Mercy is “responsible for conducting itself in a manner consistent with the ethical principles of the Catholic church ministry.” The hospital had recently completed a “re-education” of hospital staff and board members regarding the church's ethical and religious directives, it said, adding that “patients are fully informed of all treatment options.” Doctors who deliver babies at Mercy said they were told that beginning April 15, they can no longer provide post-cesarean-section tubal ligations - a sterilization procedure in which the fallopian tubes are cut. Women who have decided not to have more children often have their tubes tied immediately after a C-section, when they are already under spinal anesthesia, sparing them from the risk, cost, and hassle of scheduling a separate second procedure.The hospital already prohibited tubal ligations after vaginal births, but had been allowing them after C-sections because of the undue burden it placed on patients. It's been up to obstetricians to tell their pregnant patients that they will have to go elsewhere for permanent birth control. Dr. Kimberly Priebe, who delivers 90-100 babies a year and has been an obstetrician-gynecologist in Durango for 20 years said “Patients are furious. This decision undermines our patients' trust in Centura.” Mercy's prohibition of sterilization comes as health care advocates across the country are concerned about diminishing reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.Even in Colorado, a state with statutory protection for abortion and one of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country, women are losing access to reproductive health care, particularly in rural and mountain areas where there is only one hospital in town.Mergers that have joined Catholic health systems with secular or protestant systems have created a confusing health landscape for patients seeking abortions or birth control.Centura Health, formed in 1996 by the merger of Catholic Health Initiatives and Adventist Health System, has 16 hospitals in Colorado and three in Kansas. The Catholic hospitals, including Mercy, follow the Catholic directives, while the Adventist hospitals do not. In Denver, doctors affiliated with Centura Health can steer patients who want their tubes tied to nearby hospitals. But in Durango - and other towns with just one hospital - that's not an option. Sophia Mayott-Guerrero, senior organizing strategist with ACLU of Colorado said “We really are seeing a trend with hospitals, insurance companies, pharmacies, other health care entities, discriminating against people by denying basic care … all in the name of religion. The main target is reproductive access, including birth control, emergency contraception, sterilization and abortions.“We can't really consider access to reproductive health care in Colorado universally protected until everybody in every corner of our state has access. There's often this perception that everybody in Colorado has access to abortion and to reproductive health care and that is just fundamentally untrue, especially in the rural parts of the state where you just don't have additional options.”It's unclear why Mercy Hospital had been allowing tubal ligations after C-sections and what led to the change. CommonSpirit Health, the Catholic owner of Mercy and other Catholic hospitals, said they had no updates to provide. The Diocese of Pueblo, which includes all of southern Colorado, referred questions to Centura Health. Centura Health officials would not give an interview about the change at Mercy, or explain why it's happening now, considering that Mercy has been Catholic since it was founded. The only exception is for women predisposed to cancerAfter the latest “reeducation” of the Catholic directives, Mercy said it would allow tubal ligations post C-section for only one reason — if the woman has a genetic predisposition to ovarian or breast cancer. — Dr. Kimberly Priebe, Four Corners Obstetrics and Gynecology said “This is a very small number of women, and what an arbitrary exception.”“What about women with hypertension, diabetes, blood clotting disorders, uterine abnormalities, and the many other risk factors that can make pregnancy deadly? It seems the Catholic church does not want a woman dying of cancer but during pregnancy is OK?”With the new Mercy policy prohibiting tubal ligations after C-section, doctors will send those patients to the local surgical hospital, though they are concerned about overwhelming the center. And, doctors say, forcing women to schedule the procedure separate from their hospital delivery puts them at unnecessary risk, disrupts their lives with more time away from work, and costs the health system more money. The Medicaid billing rate for a doctor performing a tubal ligation post C-section is a $90 add-on and takes about 10 minutes, doctors said, not including anesthesia and facility fees.Patients who go to Animas Surgical Hospital for a standalone tubal ligation would likely have to pay thousands of dollars for the procedure. The hospital's cash-pay price for the procedure for people without insurance is $9,900.“Patients do not understand how a health care option can be refused when our hospital gets public money and purports to put patient care first,” Dr Priebe said. Pregnant patients in Summit County also face tough choices. Like in Durango, the only hospital is Catholic.St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco, part of Centura Health, does not provide tubal ligations. Dr. Amy Tomlinson, an OB-GYN in Summit County, has had to explain to hundreds of patients that they cannot get their tubes tied at the hospital where they plan to give birth. “Usually, honestly, it was a huff and a sigh and an eye roll,” she said. “Sometimes it was a jaw drop and a shake of the head. But I think women are so used to being second-class citizens in this society that I don't think it was ever terribly surprising to people.” Summit County women have the choice of delivering at St. Anthony and then getting their tubes tied later at another hospital, or driving more than an hour to Denver to deliver their baby so they can have the procedure at the same time. And for women who already have a C-section scar on their uterus, it's especially dangerous to ask them to drive that far in labor, Tomlinson said. “The Catholic position is, ‘If you don't like it, you can go somewhere else,'” she said. “Well, it's not like you can go across town when your hospital is the only one in a tri-county radius. We essentially become an island during snowstorms up here. Even if a patient wants to go elsewhere, she may not be able to get there. And then you are asking women to drive an hour or more while they are laboring. Why would we put women at risk for rupturing their uterus or for giving birth on the side of the road?”Tomlinson, who is opening her own practice but in the past worked at High Country Healthcare, recalled that while removing severe scar tissue from the uterus of a patient at St. Anthony Summit, she had to ask permission from the bishop to place an IUD in the woman's uterus in order to keep it open and prevent pain. The woman had in the past had a tubal ligation so she was already sterile, but the Catholic hospital still required her to get permission to place the birth-control method, called an intrauterine device. And in 2010, Tomlinson gave a presentation to the St. Anthony Summit board to persuade them not to prohibit treatment of ectopic pregnancies. In the post-Roe v. Wade era, doctors across the nation have reported confusion about whether treating an ectopic pregnancy — which is when a fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus — is considered an abortion. In another large hospital system - SCL Health - Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver and St. Mary's Medical Center in Grand Junction — operate under the ethical and religious directives, meaning they do not provide sterilizations. Two of SCL's secular hospitals — Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette — also operate under the same compliance with Catholic directives, said Gregg Moss, spokesman for SCL Health.Moss referred The Colorado Sun to an SCL Health webpage that explains the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services - they were first published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1948.The hospital system's webpage does not specifically mention birth control, tubal ligations or abortions, but says that in today's society, Catholic hospitals are “pressured to provide medical procedures that are contrary to Catholic teaching.” “And by refusing to provide or permit such medical procedures, Catholic health care affirms what defines it: a commitment to the sacredness and dignity of human life from conception until death,” it says.Mannat Singh, executive director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, excoriated the choices being made by Catholic hospitals. “It is a basic human right to seek, or refuse, reproductive health care, and we will continue to work to ensure there are no barriers to seeking that care,” she said.COLORADO SUN: Well, it ain't a gateway drug.John Ingold3:55 AM MST on Jan 31, 2023Last year, a study came out showing that marijuana legalization in Colorado likely increased cannabis use among adults in the state.Because of the novel methods the researchers used to examine the question, the study was perhaps the best answer to date on one of legalization's biggest impacts. But it also left an even bigger question unanswered: If adults are consuming more cannabis and more frequently, is that bad?Now, in a follow-up study by the same team, the researchers have come to an answer: it doesn't seem to be. Stephanie Zellers, one of the researchers, said “At least from the psychological point of view, we really didn't find that legalized cannabis has had a lot of negative influence, which I think is important.”Zellers recently graduated with a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota, but she began her doctoral work at the University of Colorado before transferring when her thesis adviser changed jobs. She had originally been interested in neuroscience research, but the necessity of using live lab animals for the work was off-putting.And, in the Colorado-to-Minnesota connection, she found a trove of data that could be used in never-before-tried ways.The data are from longitudinal studies of twins in Colorado or Minnesota. Researchers in both states followed the twins over long periods of time, collecting information about their behaviors, including their cannabis use. The survey information, then, creates an ideal scenario for study: It is thorough, it has built-in controls for variables like socioeconomic status, and it helps account for genetic differences.“That twin component really allows us to rule out what could be noisy variables — cultural differences, family differences, things like that,” Zellers said.On top of that, because Colorado has legalized marijuana and Minnesota hasn't (at least so far) — and because some twins born in Minnesota moved to Colorado and vice versa — the data provide an ideal opportunity to study the way legalization in Colorado a decade ago has influenced people's behavior ever since.The original study, published last fall, simply asked whether twins living in legal-marijuana states use marijuana more than twins living in prohibition states. And the answer is yes — about 20% more, according to the research.That answer was interesting, but “Really what people care about is: Is legalization harmful,” she said.To answer that question, the team came up with 23 measures of what they call “psychological dysfunction.” This includes things like substance-use disorders, but also financial woes, mental health distress, community disengagement, and relationship issues. The team looked at data on more than 4,000 people — 40% of whom live in a legal-marijuana state.Zellers said what the researchers found was unexpected: They basically found nothing.“Obviously the cannabis use increases, but we didn't see an increase in cannabis-use disorder, which is a little surprising,” she said. “We didn't really see changes in how much people were drinking or using tobacco. No large personality, or workplace, or IQ differences, or anything like that.”People in legal states did not report using illegal drugs at higher rates. Researchers also didn't find a link between marijuana legalization and psychotic behavior.They did find one difference, though. People living in a state where recreational marijuana use is prohibited reported higher rates of alcohol-use disorder and more specifically one symptom of the condition: They were more likely to report using alcohol in situations that were dangerous or harmful, such as driving drunk.To Zellers and other researchers, the study provides valuable information for the ongoing debate over whether cannabis legalization is a good idea. But it's not the final word.CU psychology and neuroscience professor John Hewitt, one of the study's co-authors, said in a statement that “Our study suggests we should not be overly concerned about everyday adult use in a legalized environment, but no drug is risk-free. It would be a mistake to dismiss the risks from higher doses of a drug that is relatively safe in small amounts.”This highlights one of the study's big limitations. Zellers said most of the people included in the twins data are relatively light cannabis users. The sample size for heavy users is small.“Our sample is an adult community sample broadly characterized by low levels of substance use and psychosocial dysfunction,” the researchers write. This limits our ability to generalize relationships between legalization, outcomes and risk factors for the individuals at greatest risk.”Zellers said she and her colleagues are hoping to publish another study based on their data — but this one will be less concerned about the impacts of marijuana legalization as a policy. Instead, it will try to look at how much cannabis people have used over their lifetimes and then score that against the same measures of psychological dysfunction “to see if, not the policy, but the actual substance itself has an effect” And if YOU want to see about substances and their effects, don't miss the unsolicited concert of the weekCONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK: RJD2 with just 2 upcoming dates - Friday Feb 3 at the Music Box in San Diego, and Saturday Feb 4th at the Gothic Theatre in Denver. There should also be lots of fun stuff in lots of fun places this weekend for Bob Marley's birthday, February 6.Welp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today's show comes from the Colorado Newsline, Colorado Sun, Chalkbeat Colorado, and Denver's Westword.Thank you for listening! See you next time.

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Steffan Tubbs Show 7-28-22 Hr3

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2022 45:20

We begin with the mess within Colorado's Office of Emergency Management. The Governor's Office issues a statement to us. Denver's Mayor tells us it's (eyeroll) #MinorityMentalHealthAwarenessMonth. Kendrick Castillo Memorial Highway" signs are now up along C-470. Then... recession? WHAT recession? Biden's "mic drop" and the idiot WH Press Secretary KJP. Rep. Diana DeGette weighs-in on... what? There's a new political party in the U.S and we play the trailer for our film this week: "Oh, God!"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Some hoped FDA approval of Pfizer's COVID vaccine would convince unvaccinated Americans. It didn't, study finds.

Politics & Life Sciences (PLS) with Dean L. Fanelli, Ph.D.

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2022 21:23

Biden jokes about expanded fight with Russia: 'If I gotta go to war, I'm going with you guys' Biden tells union workers, 'This fight is far from over' https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-jokes-war-russia-ukraine-union-sanctions President Biden joked about the possibility of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to expand to directly involve the U.S. military on Wednesday, telling union workers, "If I gotta go to war, I'm going with you guys." Biden made the statement during an address to union workers at the North American Building Trades Unions legislative conference Wednesday. Biden opened his speech with a lengthy section addressing new sanctions against Russia. "This fight is far from over," Biden said. "Here's the point: This war could continue for a long time, but the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom." "And by the way, if I gotta go to war I'm going with you guys. I mean it," he added. Biden's statement comes after months of he and other administration officials stating that the U.S. will not deploy troops to Ukraine. The U.S. military has limited its deployments to nearby NATO countries, and warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that invasion of one of those countries would mean direct war with the U.S. --------------------------- In fiery speech, Ukraine's Zelensky implores U.N. Security Council to hold Russia to account https://ca.news.yahoo.com/zelensky-address-security-council-renewed-115338286.html Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an impassioned address to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, likened perceived Russian atrocities in his homeland to Nazi war crimes, calling for Nuremberg-style tribunals to hold Moscow accountable. “They shot and killed women outside their houses. They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies,” Zelensky said in a video appearance before the Security Council, a day after an emotional visit to the ravaged town of Bucha, outside the capital, Kyiv. “They cut off limbs, slashed throats, raped women in front of their children," the Ukrainian leader said in his most forceful excoriation to date of the Russian invasion. In a perhaps risky strategy of sharply criticizing the body from which he is seeking help, Zelensky issued a stark challenge to world institutions such as the United Nations to make sweeping changes to the global security architecture, asking sardonically at one point: "Are you ready to close the U.N.?" “It is obvious that the key institutions of the world … simply cannot work effectively,” said the 44-year-old president, who has won worldwide accolades for presiding over his compatriots' fierce and sustained resistance to the Russian attempt to subjugate Ukraine. ----------------------------- Some hoped FDA approval of Pfizer's COVID vaccine would convince unvaccinated Americans. It didn't, study finds. But a study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open found the shift from emergency use authorization of the vaccine to full approval did not sway unvaccinated Americans. Researchers from the University of Utah analyzed vaccination data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention starting July 25, a month before full FDA approval, to Sept. 9, the day before President Joe Biden made his vaccine mandate announcement. Using the vaccination rate leading up to full approval, they estimated how many doses would have been administered compared to the actual recorded number. Study authors found FDA approval was associated with an overall 36% increase in vaccinations, but most were second doses. First doses, they found, were 16% lower than predicted. Health experts are not surprised by the study's findings. “The reason why people get vaccinated has very little correlation with whether or not something is approved or an EUA,” said Dr. Jay W. Lee, a family physician and chief medical officer of Share Our Selves community health center in Orange County, California, who is not affiliated with the study. ---------------------------- Anti-vaccine beliefs come from a childhood of mistrust, study claims Are recent politics really to blame for the widespread resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine? A new study suggests that the real answer may go much deeper than people think. Researchers from Duke University say the passionate opposition to vaccinations and policies like mask mandates can trace its roots back all the way to a person's childhood. Their study claims that growing up in an atmosphere of mistrust leads to these attitudes later in life. “We had so many friends and family who initially said that the pandemic was a hoax, and then refused to wear a mask or social-distance, and kept singing in the choir and attending events,” says study senior author Terrie Moffitt in a university release. “And then when the vaccines came along, they said ‘over their dead bodies,' they would certainly not get them,” adds Moffitt, Duke's Nannerl O. Keohane University Distinguished Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience. “These beliefs seem to be very passionate and deeply held, and close to the bone. So we wanted to know where they came from.” ‘Don't trust the grownups' Researchers used data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which has been tracking nearly all of the 1,000 people born between 1972 and 1973 from a single town in New Zealand. Researchers have been measuring each person's social, psychological, and health factors since childhood — giving scientists insights into how these early years impact adulthood. Study authors conducted a special survey of the group in 2021 to examine each participant's stance on the COVID-19 vaccine before the shots became available in the country. The team then matched each person's responses to the records on their upbringing and personality over the years. Results show that, 40 years ago, respondents who are now vaccine-resistant or express vaccine hesitancy had more adverse childhood experiences than others. These include incidents of abuse, neglect, threats, and other hardships such as poverty. -------------------------- Democrats Interrogate Oil Executives About "America's Pain At The Pump" As public opinion poll after public opinion poll has confirmed, surging gas prices is one of the most controversial issues in the US. As President Biden made clear when he announced his plans to release 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Democrats are doing everything they can to try and blame rising prices on President Putin and the American energy industry (which Biden accused of greedily holding back on production, even though his own energy policies have made it harder for shale producers to do so). So, in their latest attempt to blame the spike in prices on evil corporate America, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations are holding a hearing on Wednesday, where they will interrogate the CEOs of Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP America, Shell USA, Devon Energy Corp and Pioneer about the dynamics driving the surge in prices at the pump. The title of the hearing tells one everything they need to know about the overall tone: "Gouged At The Gas Station: Big Oil And America's Pain At The Pump". In testimony submitted to the subcommittee, the oil executives explained that a combination of labor and supply shortages have stopped their companies from raising output back to pre-pandemic levels, while the price of oil and gas are largely determined by international market conditions beyond their control. Of course, this reasoning was apparently lost on the Democrats. In an interview with Reuters, Democrat members of the committee are already sharpening their knives. "We will not sit back and allow the fossil fuel industry to take advantage of the American people and gouge them at the pump," Diana DeGette, a Democrat and chair of the subcommittee, said about the hearing at which executives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP America, Shell USA , Devon Energy and Pioneer will testify. "We want to know what's causing these record-high prices and what needs to be done to bring them down immediately," she said. Many Democrats have complained that oil companies have made record profits while consumers face high prices. In addition to the executives, former Trump Administration National Security Advisor HR McMaster, now a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institute, will also participate. ----------------------- FEATURED GUEST NEW BOOK from #1 Nationally Bestselling Author: The Dancer and The Devil April 6, 2022, Washington, D.C.—Communism must kill what it cannot control. So, for a century, it has killed artists, writers, musicians, and even dancers. It kills them secretly, using bioweapons and poison to escape accountability. Among its victims was Anna Pavlova, history's greatest dancer, who was said to have God-given wings and feet that never touched the ground. But she defied Stalin, and for that she had to die. Her sudden death in Paris in 1931 was a mystery until now. The Dancer and the Devil: Stalin, Pavlova, and the Road to the Great Pandemic by nationally bestselling author John O'Neill and international lawyer Sarah Wynne traces Marxism's century-long fascination with bioweapons, from the Soviets' leak of pneumonic plague in 1939 that nearly killed Stalin to leaks of anthrax at Kiev in 1972 and Yekaterinburg in 1979; from the leak of a flu in northeast China in 1977 that killed millions to the catastrophic COVID-19 leak from biolabs in Wuhan, China. Marxism's dark past must not be a parent to the world's dark future. COMMUNIST CHINA PLAYED WITH FIRE AND THE WORLD IS BURNING Nearly ten million people have died so far from the mysterious COVID-19 virus. These dead follow a long line of thousands of other brave souls stretching back nearly a century who also suffered mysterious "natural" deaths, including dancers, writers, saints, and heroes. These honored dead should not be forgotten by an amnesiac government trying to avoid the inconvenient truth. The dead and those who remember and loved them deserve answers to two great questions. How? Why? The Dancer and the Devil answers these questions. It tracks a century of Soviet and then Chinese Communist poisons and bioweapons through their development and intentional use on talented artists and heroes like Anna Pavlova, Maxim Gorky, Raoul Wallenberg, and Alexei Navalny. It then tracks leaks of bioweapons beginning in Saratov, Russia, in 1939 and Soviet Yekaterinburg in 1979 through Chinese leaks concluding with the recent concealed leak of the manufactured bioweapon COVID-19 from the military lab in Wuhan, China. Stalin, Putin, and Xi, perpetrators of these vast crimes against humanity itself, should not be allowed to escape responsibility. This book assembles the facts on these cowardly murderers, calling them to account for their heartless crimes against man culminating in COVID-19.

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High Country - March 16, 2022 - Politics and Government News from the American West

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2022 9:23

Arizona Gov candidate Democrat Katie Hobbs pitches state child tax credit | Idaho legislature approves Texas style abortion ban | Denver Congresswoman Diana DeGette touts funding for Denver homelessness and health projects | Colorado Governor Jared Polis and law enforcement agencies send supplies to Ukraine | Handgun falls out of CO State Rep's pants on steps into House chamber https://heartlandpod.com/Twitter: @TheHeartlandPOD

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High Country - March 16, 2022 - Politics and Government News from the American West

The Hard Won Wisdom Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2022 9:23

Arizona Gov candidate Democrat Katie Hobbs pitches state child tax credit | Idaho legislature approves Texas style abortion ban | Denver Congresswoman Diana DeGette touts funding for Denver homelessness and health projects | Colorado Governor Jared Polis and law enforcement agencies send supplies to Ukraine | Handgun falls out of CO State Rep's pants on steps into House chamber https://heartlandpod.com/Twitter: @TheHeartlandPOD"Change The Conversation"

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Congresswoman Diana DeGette: How you can act on the fire in your belly, get started and take action.

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2021 36:58

Denver's congresswoman never expected to go to Washington, but now in her 25th year, she's learned plenty about being effective with those who agree with her and those who don't. Whatever you aspire to, she said, go for it now – not later. That gives you greater seniority, credibility, and power.

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Sept. 23, 2021: Rep. Diana DeGette On Possible Government Shutdown; The Santa Fe Trail

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2021 49:51

Congress is divided over the federal budget and it could shut down the federal government by the end of next week. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, weighs in on that, and the pandemic's impact on children. Then, an update on Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. And, the history of the Santa Fe Trail. Plus, in-person entertainment is back, so what's the risk?

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Sept. 23, 2021: Rep. Diana DeGette On Possible Government Shutdown; The Santa Fe Trail

Trump Impeachment Hearings

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2021 49:47

Congress is divided over the federal budget and it could shut down the federal government by the end of next week. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, weighs in on that, and the pandemic's impact on children. Then, an update on Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. And, the history of the Santa Fe Trail. Plus, in-person entertainment is back, so what's the risk?

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Episode 31 - Impeachment Show

The Craig Silverman Show

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2021 129:56

Impeachment Show. The Trump trial in US Senate is fascinating. Lead Manager Jamie Raskin has marshaled an excellent team of Congressmen to prosecute including Colorado's own Diana DeGette and Joe Neguse. Craig ranks the performance of all the participating attorneys and gives his take on who will win. Whitney Traylor, 9-News Legal Analyst, enters Craig's Lawyers' Lounge and discusses the racism he felt growing up in Jeffco, how he participated in the campaign of Republican Joe Rogers versus Diana DeGette in 1994. This lawyer and Metro State professor evaluates Trump, his insurrection, and the US Senate trial underway. Ian Silverii is wrapping up success as Executive Director of Progress Now. This native New Yorker shares his interesting background and how he came to Colorado to work on the campaign of State Rep. Judy Solano in 2006. Ian stayed, and now he is an ace columnist for Denver Post, and he's married to a prominent state senator. Ian is a fascinating fellow. Dave Gunders is our Troubadour, and he graces this week's show with his sensational song, Some Days. As we have witnessed during Trump Era and pandemic, some days start out bad. Rundown- Whitney Traylor in Craig's Lawyers' Lounge - 00:08:41 Dave Gunders - 01:03:50 Ian Silverii - 01:13:11

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STF rejeita direito ao esquecimento

Notícia no Seu Tempo

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2021 14:33

No podcast ‘Notícia No Seu Tempo’, confira em áudio as principais notícias da edição impressa do jornal ‘O Estado de S. Paulo’ desta quinta-feira (12/02/21): O direito ao esquecimento – no qual uma pessoa poderia pedir à Justiça a proibição da publicação ou exibição de fato antigo, ainda que verdadeiro, sob justificativa de defesa da intimidade – foi rejeitado pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal por 9 votos a 1. O entendimento cria precedentes que devem modular decisões sobre o tema no País. E mais: Metrópole: Estoque baixo faz cidades frearem ritmo de vacinação Política: PSB quer apurar gasto militar com picanha e cerveja Economia: Nova rodada de auxílio deve ter 4 parcelas de R$ 250 Internacional: Democratas pedem condenação de Trump para evitar violência no futuro Esportes: Palmeiras fica em 4º lugar no Mundial Na Quarentena: Estrelas do carnaval vão fazer a festa em lives, clipes e lançamentosSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EVIDENCE OF A HISTORY OF BUILDING VIOLENCE

The Hartmann Report

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2021 58:18

As the historic second impeachment trial continues, the case is made by the managers of the history of violence incited by Trump before the attack on the US capitol. With presentations by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, and Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas.

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Senate Trial: Day 3: House Impeachment Manager: Rep. Diana DeGette

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2021 23:39

Senate Trial: Day 3: House Impeachment Manager: Rep. Diana DeGette

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Senate Trial: Day 3: House Impeachment Manager: Rep. Diana DeGette

Trump Impeachment Hearings

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2021 22:14

Senate Trial: Day 3: House Impeachment Manager: Rep. Diana DeGette

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Jan. 12, 2021: DeGette On Impeachment; Restaurants' Pandemic Balancing Act

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2021 50:16

Rep. Diana DeGette is one of the sponsors of an article of impeachment against President Trump. She talks about next steps. Then, state Rep. Leslie Herod reflects on her friend and mentor, Kamala Harris, who will be the first Black and South Asian woman inaugurated vice president. Plus, do health guidelines accurately convey the risks of indoor dining as restaurants struggle to stay in business? And a return to the now-historic Zephyr View cabin.

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Jan. 12, 2021: DeGette On Impeachment; Restaurants’ Pandemic Balancing Act

The Get More Smarter Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2021 50:12

Rep. Diana DeGette is one of the sponsors of an article of impeachment against President Trump. She talks about next steps. Then, state Rep. Leslie Herod reflects on her friend and mentor, Kamala Harris, who will be the first Black and South Asian woman inaugurated vice president. Plus, do health guidelines accurately convey the risks of indoor dining as restaurants struggle to stay in business? And a return to the now-historic Zephyr View cabin.

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Rep. Diana DeGette Gets More Smarter

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2020 67:19

This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the 2020 BLUE WAVE is here, especially in Colorado, we find Cory at the bottom of the polls (still), Lauren Boebert continues to do everything she can to make CD3 a race that she loses, and "The Dean of the Colorado Delegation," Congresswoman Diana DeGette, joins us for an interview. We talk COVID-19 vaccine, abortion rights, Lauren Boebert, and get her thoughts on the craziest election of her tenure in office. Big show!RSVP to our Election Night Live Stream! https://www.facebook.com/events/656510595039468/Hosts: Jason Bane | Ian SilveriiProducer: Ethan BlackAdditional Editing by Coby NeumanMusic: Breakmaster CylinderSubscribe wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review if you Got More Smarter. Send all angry and non-angry rants to angryrants@getmoresmarter.com.

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Rep. Diana DeGette

Go West, Young Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2020 41:27

A conversation with Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado about her wilderness protection bill that's headed for the House floor, as well as the challenges of performing congressional oversight in the Trump era. The post Rep. Diana DeGette appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

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Rep. Diana DeGette

Go West, Young Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2020 41:27

A conversation with Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado about her wilderness protection bill that’s headed for the House floor, as well as the challenges of performing congressional oversight in the Trump era. News White House Proposes 16% Cut To Interior Department Budget and $150 million per year for uranium stockpile Trump administration guts Migratory Bird […]

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Nov. 5, 2019: ‘Deep Fake' Videos And Election 2020; A New Therapy For Cystic Fibrosis

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2019 50:01

Rep. Diana DeGette on differences between the Clinton and Trump impeachment inquiries. Then, the head of a Pueblo synagogue reacts to a white supremacist's alleged threat. Plus, could "deep fake" videos sway the 2020 election? And, a Colorado doctor's role in a breakthrough therapy for CF. Also, a cell phone-free school. Finally, Denver's Chimney Choir.

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Nov. 5, 2019: ‘Deep Fake’ Videos And Election 2020; A New Therapy For Cystic Fibrosis

The Situation with Michael Brown

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2019 49:57

Rep. Diana DeGette on differences between the Clinton and Trump impeachment inquiries. Then, the head of a Pueblo synagogue reacts to a white supremacist's alleged threat. Plus, could "deep fake" videos sway the 2020 election? And, a Colorado doctor's role in a breakthrough therapy for CF. Also, a cell phone-free school. Finally, Denver's Chimney Choir.

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Michael Brown Hour 2: Diana DeGette Lies About Gun Violence; Gun Violence Has Decreased

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2019 34:06

Michael is ticked off that Congressman Diana DeGette lied during an interview on KOA Radio this morning, falsely claming that gun violence is increasing the worst ever. It is not and FBI crime statistics prove that. In 2017 DeGette told a constituent to just call the Denver Police, they'd be there "in minutes" but you'd probably already be dead. And, she lies about the Aurora Theater shooting. Private background checks are one step toward gun registration and confiscation. And a caller complains that Michael talks about guns too much!

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4th of July Don't Mean Shit to Black People with Hashim Coates

Off Color

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2019 70:36

Chh-chhh-chhhanges Greetings Off Color Fam! Off Color is going through somewhat of a transformation as Rebekah figures out how to produce and edit the whole show. In this episode Rebekah aka the Tan Tigress marches with school board candidate at large Tay Anderson in Park Hill's Fourth of July Parade. She chopped it up with citizen activist Andrea Chavez plus two of Colorado's "Historic Eight" legislators; Representative James Coleman and Representative Leslie Herod. U.S. Congresswoman Diana Degette got in on the fun too when the Tan Tigress asked her what she's doing to help with the concentration camp in Aurora.

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How a top Democrat is approaching this year's investigations

POLITICO's Pulse Check

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2019 31:09

"In our view, our jurisdiction is the world... Every time you watch the nightly news, [I] come up with at least three new ideas for hearings." Rep. Diana DeGette, the Colorado Democrat leading oversight for the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, joins POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss why she prioritized hearings on family separations, vow an investigation of high insulin prices, reflect on her mentor John Dingell and more. MENTIONED ON THE SHOW DeGette's subcommittee held its first hearing last week, focused on HHS' role in family separations. DeGette, alongside GOP Rep. Tom Reed, probed the high prices of insulin last year. DeGette says she has questions about HHS' new fetal tissue policy. Planned Parenthood's Leana Wen was on the podcast last week. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley also joined POLITICO in recent weeks to discuss his priorities. Bob Carey, the former head of the HHS refugee office, joined the podcast last year to explain the refugee office and his concerns about the Trump administration's policies. Rep. Joe Kennedy, who's DeGette's vice-chair on the subcommittee, joined the podcast in 2017 to discuss his career and focus on health care.

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DeGette Talks Shutdown, The Wall And Trump’s ‘Racism’; How Teen Vaping Became An Epidemic

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2019 49:16

Rep. Diana DeGette returns to a Washington marked by greater Democratic control and a partial government shutdown. She talked about ending the shutdown, and why she believes President Donald Trump is racist. Then, how teen vaping became an epidemic and what to do now. Next, DPS teachers prepare to strike. Also, learn about a new CPR program, Snap Judgment.

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Diana DeGette Has Big Plans For Her Newest Term; Why Would Anyone Vote No On Amendment A?

The Steffan Tubbs Show Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2018 50:11

Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette aims for party leadership and more investigations into President Trump. Next, the organizer behind Amendment A breaks it down. Then, what's next for Unite Colorado after independent candidates lose races. Also, a local roller derby team is the 5th best in the world. Next, behind the beer price wars. Finally, a veteran's story.

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November 9th, 2018

Colorado Inside Out

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2018 28:00

Diana DeGette announcing her bid for Majority Whip, the Democratic election sweep, the lack of ballot issues getting passed, and Mike Coffman losing his re-election campaign in Congressional District 6 are topics of discussion.

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08/17/2018 Casper Stockham

Mandy Connell

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2018 100:50

1. Mandy discovers the miracle of a can opener. 2. Equal treatment under the death penalty. 2. Guest: Casper Stockham, Congressional candidate running against Diana DeGette. 3. Guest:Jim Hackstaff - Cancer League of Colorado.

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The Steffan Tubbs Show – April 9th, 2018 Hour 2

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2018 53:40

Randy fills-in for Steffan. Casper Stockham joins us in-studio on his race against Rep. Diana Degette.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Diana DeGette 9-1-17

The Ross Kaminsky Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2017 24:20

diana degette

Publicly Financing Congressional Campaigns, County Commissioners Ditch GOP, Dangers For Environmentalists, County Health Rankings