TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalPublic TV pundits ponder new name for Colorado Democrats' annual fundraising dinner
Maybe the Colorado Democrats should rename the party’s big annual fundraising dinner after Donald Trump, since their enmity toward the Republican president could be the only thing that unites them. Or, if the party is looking to past presidents who didn’t own slaves and are unsullied by sex scandals, how about honoring Grover Cleveland and Harry Truman instead of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, as one local pundit suggests?
Colorado Public Television’s public affairs discussion show Colorado Inside Out opened Friday with a brief spin around the table to weigh in on a conundrum Colorado Politics first reported last week. After ditching the name of the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner a couple of years ago and settling for the Annual Dinner, state Democrats have been seeking suggestions for a less generic name. The Inside Out panelists had some thoughts. (Watch a clip of the show below.)
“Strike up the bland,” Westword co-founder and longtime editor Patty Calhoun said, “because there is just no personality left.”
She did propose an alternative, however: the John C. Calhoun Dinner, named after her “very, very” distant relative, who, she said, “was a slave-owner, so I suppose I should be changing my name now too, though he was very pro-states rights, so for pot purposes, I suppose I’ll have to keep it.”
Read more: https://coloradopolitics.com/public-tv-pundits-ponder-new-name-colorado-democrats-annual-fundraising-dinner/
Steamboat Ski Area provides free meals to employees still waiting for work
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — They are ready to start working, but the lack of snow means many of the 1,542 seasonal employees at Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. are still waiting for their first shifts.
"Obviously, we normally have more terrain open at this time," said Loryn Kasten, senior communications manager for Ski Corp. "We are dedicated to helping our employees through this time. Twice a week, we offer heavily discounted meals to our employees throughout the entire season, and during these first few weeks of the season, we have waived the $3 fee that we normally charge to any employees who are not receiving a paycheck because we do not have terrain open."
In addition to the free meals, the resort is also offering $2 breakfast burritos to its employees to help them through a period of time when they are not getting paid on a regular basis.
"We are planning to continue them (free meals and discounts) through this week, and we will evaluate again next week to see if they are necessary to continue,” Kasten said. "We have some employees who have not started their shifts yet; we have some employees that have been cut back on shifts."
Read more: http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/steamboat-ski-area-provides-free-meals-to-employees-still-waiting-for-work/
"We Need More Native Teachers": Wyoming DOE Hears Input On Reservation Schools
Only about 50 percent of Native American students graduate high school, compared to 80 percent of white students. That’s one reason why the Wyoming Department of Education teamed up with the North Central Comprehensive Center, a national education contractor, to conduct listening sessions in each of the three school districts on the Wind River Reservation.
At the sessions, students and parents agreed that reservation schools need more Native American teachers, less bullying and gangs, and more culturally relevant courses, including Native language instruction. And, they said, they need academic expectations to be held to the same bar as every other Wyoming school.
“My grandson goes to the school in Lander. We won’t transfer him back here [to the reservation] because they’re two years behind where my grandson is,” remarked one participant.
Wyoming Department of Education Policy Advisor Megan Degenfelder said this input will hopefully point the department in the right direction, “to improve education for Native American students and to best be able to allocate our resources and time. And so I kind of looked at it, and still do, as a starting point. How do we get some data that we can evaluate and look to move forward on?”
But Degenfelder said only about 40 people attended the listening sessions.
Read more: http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/we-need-more-native-teachers-wyoming-doe-hears-input-reservation-schools
Rawlins Faces Civil Rights Suit Over Police Shooting
The City of Rawlins is facing a civil rights lawsuit after two of its police officers shot and killed a man in 2015. The suit claims the Rawlins Police Department’s decision not to discipline, retrain, or fire the two officers reveal policies that tolerate excessive force.
Police shot and killed John Randall Veach in a Rawlins gas station parking lot when he tried to drive away while being questioned for attempting to sell marijuana. The two officers said they fired their weapons because they feared being killed by Veach’s fleeing vehicle, but the suit alleges that dash cam footage shows neither officer faced any risk of being run over.
Qusair Mohamedbhai is an attorney for the plaintiff, which includes Veach’s ex-wife and two children. Mohamadbhai said the use of deadly force is a result of the Rawlins Police Department’s policies.
“The fact that these officers were not in any way disciplined or fired is very revealing of the systemic issues within Rawlins, that this is par for the course, this is A-OK, that officers will shoot through a side window and execute a man for simply selling a little marijuana,” said Mohamedbhai.
Read more: http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/rawlins-faces-civil-rights-suit-over-police-shooting
Barrasso investigates Russian deal with Wyoming uranium facility
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso yesterday requested documents related to the 2010 deal granting Russia control over some American uranium.
The Republican from Wyoming — the nation’s top uranium state — is conducting his own investigation into the Obama administration signing off on a Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp. subsidiary taking control of Uranium One Inc., a Canadian firm with Wyoming operations.
Recent reporting revived the “scandal” that President Trump invokes to deflect criticism about his own Russian connections.
According to The Hill, Obama officials knew at the time of the deal that the FBI was probing a bribery racket that would lead to the 2015 conviction of a Kremlin-linked uranium executive (Greenwire, Oct. 26).
Read more: http://www.wyofile.com/barrasso-investigates-russian-deal-wyo-uranium-facility/
University of Montana Staff Senate - No more forced cuts
University of Montana staff are doing extra work as their numbers dwindle, but they're not always getting paid for it.
A recent survey noted 245 classified staff out of 354 have taken on duties outside their job descriptions, yet some 82 percent are not earning additional compensation as a result, according to the UM Staff Senate. The Staff Senate created the survey to gather staff perspectives.
Senators discussed the survey Wednesday at a special meeting to review a report for campus priorities. The Staff and Faculty Senates met Wednesday to review President Sheila Stearns' report on setting campus priorities.
Stearns has served as interim president since Royce Engstrom was asked to step down about a year ago. Former GE executive Seth Bodnar — who moved into the president's residence Wednesday — takes over.
Read more: http://missoulian.com/news/local/updated-university-of-montana-staff-senate---no-more/article_64f989f8-8b07-5553-989b-1d76f8bd65c0.html
Council discusses reducing size of Legislature to fund pay raises
Key state lawmakers convened in Bozeman on Wednesday to discuss reducing the number of state representatives and senators to help pay for raises.
The Legislative Council also considered two other options such as pursuing a third-party compensation commission that would set the pay rate for the Legislature. The other option was creating a mechanism like tying the pay to the average weekly wage in Montana.
The Legislative Council is one of four administrative committees within the state’s legislative branch. It is made up of members from both the state’s House and Senate chambers. The council gives direction to legislative services for the efficient operation and improvement of the legislative branch.
Executive Director for the Legislative Services Division Susan Fox presented the three options to the council. The conversation, though, seemed to focus around saving money by reducing the size of the state’s governing body.
Read more: https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/mtleg/council-discusses-reducing-size-of-legislature-to-fund-pay-raises/article_b7114fcd-39e6-5bd0-a6d0-acedf9c381c6.html
Developer scraps Montana wind farm over power price
A Calgary-based energy company said Wednesday it won't build a 21-megawatt wind farm in Montana because it won't be paid enough for the power it generates.
The Public Service Commission approved a price of $23.30 per megawatt hour.
TransAlta wanted $43.63 per megawatt hour for the power; Northwestern Energy, which would have purchased it, proposed paying $13.96.
The price discrepancy had gone to the PSC for mediation.
Stacey Hatcher, TransAlta communications manager, said Wednesday the company can't accept the terms of the power purchase agreement awarded for the New Colony wind farm near Martinsdale because the price makes it economically unfeasible.
Read more: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2017/12/13/developer-scraps-montana-wind-farm-over-power-price/948741001/
Montana legislative panel wants quick study of state tax structure
HELENA – The Legislative Finance Committee on Monday expressed interest in working with the Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee on reviewing the state’s tax structure, however members balked at waiting until 2019 to do a formal study, saying they want to put it on a faster track.
Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee members sent a letter Dec. 5 to the Legislative Finance Committee asking that they be included in any review of the state’s tax structure. They also said they expected that they would ask the Legislature in its 2019 session to approve a study.
Finance committee members said that wasn’t fast enough.
Sen. Jon Sesso, D-Butte, said spending 2018 to decide what to study in 2019 and 2020 “isn’t working for me.”
Read more: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2017/12/11/montana-legislative-panel-wants-quick-study-state-tax-structure/942860001/
Montana ranks among the most dangerous states to work in, and officials don't know why
Montana ranks among the worst states in the country for workplace injuries and illnesses, for reasons that continue to elude state officials.
“We spend a lot of time considering and thinking about whether there’s uniqueness in Montana that contributes to us having this higher rate than other states,” said Eric Strauss, the administrator for the Employment Relations Division within the state Department of Labor and Industry. “Those efforts have not surfaced anything specifically. It’s not a specific industry. It’s not an age demographic.”
Montana has spent more than a decade atop the national rankings for its rate of workplace injuries in the private sector.
In 2016, 4.2 injuries were reported for every 100 full-time workers in Montana — a slight improvement over the rate of 4.3 reported in 2015, and the fourth straight year in which that number has decreased, according to a report released by the Department of Labor and Industry in November
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/montana-ranks-among-the-most-dangerous-states-to-work-in/article_851635f4-5bc2-533d-b2e8-a27d4da79303.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
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