Early Bird Special: Wirth warns natural gas industry against missing train

Here are some of the items around Colorado that caught our attention today:

• Former U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth urged the natural gas industry to stop sitting on its hands and get involved in the national response to climate…

Early Bird Special: State workers will get unpaid furlough day Sept. 8

Here are some of the day’s news items that caught our attention:

• Colorado government will grind to a virtual halt the day after Labor Day, according to news released Tuesday by Gov. Bill Ritter’s office, the Denver Business…

Early Bird Special: Andrews blows an Obama gasket, Senate crowd swells

Yglesias thinks it’s time to trash the Monday holiday tradition and switch to three-day weekends that start on a Friday. “I think it’s the difference between a weekend that psychologically feels like it has two Saturdays and a weekend…

Early Bird Special: Fourth of July freedom of the open road edition

Amid one of the slowest news weeks of the year, here’s our tribute to some of the automotive news around Colorado that caught our attention:

• Colorado drivers sure love their Ford pickup trucks. That’s according to an exhaustive…

Early Bird Special: Panhandling remains legal in Grand Junction

Here’s our daily roundup of some of the news around Colorado that caught our attention:

• It’s not illegal to ask for spare change on the streets of Grand Junction — at least not yet, anyway, the Daily Sentinel…

Early Bird Special: Jackson’s death could cost Anschutz some big bucks

Here’s our daily roundup of some of the news around Colorado that caught our attention:

• Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz could take a serious bath on the $85 million worth of Michael Jackson tickets sold — but not fully…

Early Bird Special: Cops return pot to clinic, Aurora cops tow lawyer’s car

Here’s our daily roundup of some of the news around Colorado that caught our attention:

• Boulder police returned two 20-gallon drums of marijuana that were stolen from a medical-marijuana clinic last week, the Boulder Daily Camera reports. Police…

Sugary corn industry leader sets us straight about high fructose goodness

In swift response to half of a phrase buried in a sentence in the brief item that was part of this post, the president of the Corn Refiners Association begs to differ.

The other day, we noted Boulder Valley schools are considering adopting a new “wellness policy” that would discourage cupcakes on birthdays and replace chicken nuggets with roast chicken on lunch menus. We also quoted Beth Cooper, the nutrition services director for the school district, who told the school board, “We’re eliminating trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.”

Early Bird Special: Denver on top for homebuyers, Safeway workers say no

Jacko. Farrah. Farrah. Jacko. The ’70s and the ’80s, RIP. Oh, and by the way, here’s our daily roundup of some of the rest of today’s news.

• Denver is the best place in the country to buy a home, according to a Forbes study reported by The Denver Business Journal. It all comes down to Denver’s strong “fundamentals,” the report says, citing an increase in prices paid per square foot this year and less of a drop in transactions than other cities over the last year. “Denver scores very well in terms of being able to bring people into a stable housing market,” an economist said, pointing to great “growth potential.” Cities following Denver on the list: Phoenix, Boston, San Diego and Los Angeles. Detroit was in the worst shape of 25 cities analyzed. Read the whole Forbes report here.

Early Bird Special: Unions picket Ritter, Colorado to get tourism bump

A daily roundup of some of our favorite news from around Colorado.

• Dozens of union members — including some who flew in from Colorado — picketed Gov. Bill Ritter on Wednesday outside two fundraisers the first-term Democrat attended in Washington, D.C., 9News’ Adam Schrager reports. Firefighters and grocery workers are angry with Ritter for vetoing two bills this year. “It’s a matter of integrity and I believe he’s failed in that category,” said an Aurora firefighter. The governor supprts firefighters, but “sometimes leadership means having to say no to your friends,” Ritter’s campaign manager wrote in an e-mail to Schrager.