Colorado Proposition 103 Tax Hike Blue Book: Not Just for Eddie to Color On
A couple days ago my parents received in the mail a little blue booklet. Since most of the things we receive in the mailbox anymore are junk, I was getting ready to decorate it with my crayons when my mom told me to stop. It turns out the “Blue Book” is an election guide from […]
NREL: Big Green Empire
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) located in beautiful Golden, Colorado, is the federal government’s primary research facility for renewable energy for the Department of Energy (DOE). According to its Web site, NREL has enjoyed an enormous budget increase over the last two years. As the economy slowed in 2007, NREL saw its budget decrease […]
Mining for green jobs
Another day, another story about a solar company moving part of its operation to China. This time it’s Advanced Energy in Fort Collins, which will lay off 5 percent of its labor force and move “more of its manufacturing to China as it works to increase profitability,” according to the Coloradoan. Advanced Energy was one […]
Blame the Insurance Company
Here’s a tip for transit agencies: Buy insurance guaranteeing ridership revenue so that, when you screw up and ridership declines, you can sue the insurance company to cover the revenue losses. That’s what Washington MetroRail has done in response to ridershop losses that it claims resulted from the 2009 accident that killed 9 people. According […]
Harrison School District’s Bold Pay Reform Shows Early Success, Draws Attention
At my Education Policy Center friends’ recent series of Colorado school board candidate briefings, one of the local reforms they highlighted was Harrison School District Two’s groundbreaking pay-for-performance system, known as Effectiveness and Results (E & R). Well, who knew during the briefings that a little sensational news would give certain local bloggers a platform […]
Vern Bickel Award Reception
Join us for the Vern Bickel Award Reception Honoring Chuck Asay, Retired Political Cartoonist, Colorado Springs Gazette With Special Guest Henry Payne, Nationally Syndicated Political Cartoonist On Thursday, November 17, 2011 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. At Cableland 4150 Shangri-La Drive, Denver, Colorado 80246 (map) Tickets are $40/person (Includes appetizers, beer, wine & sodas) RSVP […]
CO House Republicans block state-run exchange’s grant application
“Colorado House Republicans temporarily have blocked the CO Health Benefit Exchange board from applying for a $22 million grant … to set up the technology infrastructure needed to operate an online health insurance marketplace beginning in 2014” -Den Bus. Journal Continue reading
Triple-A Sues PATH
The American Automobile Association is suing the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PATH) for raising bridge tolls. AAA doesn’t oppose tolls, but it does oppose tolls whose revenues won’t be spent on activities that have a “functional relationship to transportation.” Since these bridge tolls will be used to subsidize the new World […]
9/28/11
Newsletter September 28 2011
Colorado School Districts Part of Mediocre Picture in International Comparison
Last week I pointed you to a provocative new Rick Hess essay that asked whether education reform has paid too much attention to focusing on urban, high-poverty areas and on closing achievement gaps. Well, almost as if on cue, Jay Greene and Josh McGee write in Education Next about their new study on how suburban […]
DC Congestion the Worst
The Texas Transportation Institute has published its 2011 urban mobility report, and this year it is based on real measurements of actual congestion rather than formulas. According to the report, in 2010 the nation’s worst congestion was in Washington, DC, where the average commuter wastes 74 hours a year sitting in traffic compared with only […]
Your medical privacy at risk: CO’s All Payer Claims Database
“Enjoy your medical privacy while it lasts. As supporters claim, they cannot ‘manage’ your health care, unless they can ‘measure’ it.” – Amy Oliver Continue reading
