Bold bipartisan bill will rework Colorado higher ed funding

DENVER– The Higher Education Flexibility Act passed the Senate last week and is scheduled to make it to the House Monday. It’s a bold bill that would rearrange the relationship between public universities and the government. It would mean greater autonomy for university administrations which, for example, would be free to levy tuition hikes under 9 percent per year. Current higher education funding in low-tax recession-wracked Colorado has become unsustainable. The new bill seeks to buffer universities against a likely $300 million funding cut next year.

Teacher tenure ‘juggernaut’ bill clears Senate, faces tougher battle in House

SB 191, the teacher tenure bill that has divided traditional political allies and made for strange-bedfellows in the State Legislature this session, passed on second reading in the Senate late Thursday and is headed to the House Education Committee…

Senate candidate Norton going from ‘belle of the ball’ to ‘skunk’

Members of the national press has been watching the compelling U.S. Senate race in Colorado and, for a change, they seem to be seeing what analysts on the ground have been seeing for months. Politico this morning lumps candidate…

For Colorado coal industry watchers, mining safety not a top concern

Colorado’s coal industry, the ninth-most productive in the nation in 2008, is under fire from politicians and environmentalists but not, as is the case this month in West Virginia, for safety reasons.

Colorado proposes slashing higher ed budget by half

DENVER– Lawmakers here are proposing that half of the money allotted to education will be cut in the 2011-2012 state budget. The new reality will force tuition increases and program eliminations in what the Senate Majority and Minority leaders characterize as a last-ditch effort to save Colorado higher education.

Penry on heading Norton campaign: ‘They’ll totally underestimate me’

Colorado Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry has limited experience running political campaigns, which he says is a strong qualification for his new position as manager for Jane Norton’s U.S. Senate campaign.

Norton asks state Senate Minority Leader Penry to manage struggling campaign

Colorado Senate Majority Leader Josh Penry is now campaign manager for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton. He replaces Norm Cummings, the campaign announced today. The move reported by the Denver Post blog minutes ago is both startling and unsurprising.

Budget passes Colorado Senate; Republicans cry ‘socialism’

DENVER– Republican lawmakers furious with the $18.2 billion budget presented Friday in the senate here said the proposal failed to limit government spending and that it amounted to another move toward socialism. Exasperated Democrats argued that the budget cut millions of dollars from programs, including vital education and medical programs in the state.

State Senate passes Clean Air Clean Jobs bill, giving nod to gas over coal

The state Senate passed the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act (HB 1365) on third reading Wednesday, sending to Gov. Bill Ritter the bill that will retrofit or shut down several aging coal-fired Xcel power plants.

The push to convert to…

Odd bedfellows tour rolls on with Clean Air, Clean jobs rally at Capitol

About 300 people rallied on the west steps of the state capitol Monday morning to show their support for the proposed Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act, which would require Xcel Energy to mothball or retrofit three coal-burning power plants in favor of cleaner-burning gas-powered facilities.