Columns

In more than 30 years, it’s hard to remember wildfire season starting so early. The combination of dry fuels and high winds has led to a dangerous situation. This year, especially, it’s worth being extra vigilant.
Without human intervention, healthy forests burn. It’s a natural process. The seeds of some types of trees even need fire to germinate. But since people have moved into the foothills, a longstanding policy of fire suppression has interrupted this natural burning process, leading to greater accumulation of fuels and therefore greater fire hazard.

Editor’s note: This column was written before Rep. Stephens suggested an amendment to SB200 that Colorado’s health exchange law not take effect unless Colorado requests a waiver from the federal health care act. The suggested amendment is opposed by both Gov. Hickenlooper and Sen. Boyd and makes passage of the bill unlikely.

It’s good that virtue is its own reward, as that may be all Betty Boyd and Amy Stephens get from sponsoring legislation to establish health benefit exchanges in Colorado.

I remember being about 10 years old and coming home from the dentist with a sore tooth. Because I was hurting, my mom let me stay up to watch a Nuggets game on our tiny black-and-white TV.
The early 1980s were good times for the Nuggets — I still remember guys like Alex English, Dan Issel and David Thompson giving the Lakers a run for their money, always coming up a little short but somehow never disappointing the little kid in Evergreen.

Saturday will mark the halfway point of the Colorado General Assembly’s 120-day session. As expected, budget issues have dominated the first half of the session. Beyond that, the tenor of the session has been decidedly contradictory.