Free Republic

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall voted for abortion almost 80 times during his tenure in the Senate, including voting against a bill to ban gruesome partial-birth abortions. markudall4During a debate in Denver last night, Udall defended his support for late-term abortions. A moderator Udall the following question: “We know that you support a woman’s right to choose, but given the advances in scientific understanding of fetal development, where pregnant mothers know at which week babies grow fingernails and can swallow, would you support a ban on late-term abortions and if so at what week?” Udall attempted to defend his pro-abortion position...

At the outset of the Denver Post's senatorial debate on Tuesday night, a moderator asked Democratic senator Mark Udall the following question: "We know that you support a woman's right to choose, but given the advances in scientific understanding of fetal development, where pregnant mothers know at which week babies grow fingernails and can swallow, would you support a ban on late-term abortions and if so at what week?"

A field supervisor in the Census Bureau’s Denver region has informed her organization’s higher-ups, the head of the Commerce Department and congressional investigators that she believes economic data collected by her office is being falsified. And this whistleblower — who asked that I not identify her — said her bosses in Denver ignored her warnings even after she provided details of wrongdoing by three different survey takers. The three continued to collect data even after she reported them. ... Census is broken up into six regions. Cheating has already been proven in the Philadelphia region. And with this whistleblower’s letter,...

Colorado Democrat Mark Udall has taken the unprecedented step of refusing to debate his Republican opponent on statewide television, so the voting public’s insights into his views generally come from one of three sources: (1) His voting record, which backs Barack Obama 99 percent of the time, (2) his ads, a ludicrous percentage of which obsess and mislead over birth control, and (3) clips from untelevised candidate forums and interviews. On that last front, Udall has uncorked some real head-turning quotes over the last 48 hours. In an exclusive sit-down with KDVR television, Udall said he doesn’t regret any...

20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe. Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found.

A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe. Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found.

A former U.S. senator in Colorado sees parallels between billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer’s meddling in current Senate elections in the state and his hedge fund’s efforts to drain a small Colorado town’s water supply and sell it to the highest bidder. Former Sen. Wayne Allard (R., Colo.) ... In 1995 Tom Steyer descended on Colorado, standing to make millions by exporting the water under the San Luis Valley and selling it to the highest bidder. Draining this particular aquifer would have had disastrous consequences for farms, wetlands and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Impact from Steyer’s plan would have...

what is likely to become a theme of the last weeks of campaigning before the midterm elections, former President Bill Clinton all but begged voters here in Arkansas not to use their vote as an expression of disapproval for Barack Obama. The president is playing an outsized role in the race between Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican challenger Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Obama is seriously unpopular here; a recent survey by the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling put his job approval rating at 31 percent, versus 62 percent disapproval. ... The Democratic effort to free Pryor and...

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says his state's voters were "reckless" for voting to become the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The Democrat's statement came during a debate Monday with his Republican opponent, Bob Beauprez, just four weeks before voters head to the polls for the state's hotly contested gubernatorial election. In 2012, more than 55 percent of voters in Colorado supported Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana for recreational use. The amendment aimed to regulate marijuana in roughly the same way alcohol is regulated.

Taxpayers are apparently buying welfare recipients booze and cigarettes for the road — at times a very exotic road. A Watchdog.org analysis of a Colorado Department of Human Services welfare ATM withdrawals database shows that $3.8 million was withdrawn by Colorado welfare recipients outside the state in the past two years. There were withdrawals at out-of-state liquor stores and tobacco outlets, as well as vacation destinations like Hawaii, Las Vegas and even the Virgin Islands. ... Colorado welfare withdrawals at liquor stores and casinos despite federal and state law banning such actions and welfare recipients taking out money at the...

The number of children treated in Colorado for limb weakness or paralysis-like symptoms after coming down with a respiratory virus has risen to 11, a hospital official said on Friday. Melissa Vizcarra, spokeswoman for Children's Hospital Colorado, said the child in the latest case is suffering from muscle weakness but tests have not conclusively linked it to a nationwide outbreak of Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68).

Consistent: The topline results — Republicans are ahead. Inconsistent: The margins. NPR measures Obama’s job approval at (41/56) in states with contested Senate races, and an abysmal (29/67) among independents. But on the generic Senate ballot, the GOP leads by just three, fueled by a 16-point advantage among those aforementioned independents: In case you’re curious, NPR’s partisan sample is a reasonable, if slightly generous, D+4. Fox News’ pollster included two more states in their survey, but excluded Alaska. Results: Unless I’m missing something glaringly obvious (Fox’s poll sample is D+0, in line with 2010), I can’t quite wrap my...

Monday may have been Calhoun County Deputy John Scheetz’s birthday, but he was the one who gave a special gift to someone else. The deputy was called out to Four Mile Creek Park Monday morning after a work crew doing maintenance at the site found someone sleeping on a picnic table. The 56-year-old man, whose name was Michael, arrived in Florida earlier this year with some other homeless people to escape the cold. At one point, he was staying in a homeless shelter in Panama City, and since that time, wound up in Calhoun County, where he had been getting...

At least two Colorado adults have died from complications from what may be enterovirus-68, the same strain that has afflicted hundreds, mostly children, across the country. Dr. Phil Emrie, a critical care pulmonologist at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge, says he treated adult patients who suffered from conditions similar to the virus. “We don’t know for sure that it’s the enterovirus-68, but we do know that it’s consistent with the illness that they’re seeing in children,” Emrie said. That specific virus has been diagnosed primarily in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported approximately 500 cases...

If you wanted to nudge the courts to establish a right to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal, you couldn't pick a more sympathetic plaintiff than Brandon Coats of Colorado. As a teenager, Coats was in an automobile accident that left him severely disabled. Now 34, Coats is a quadriplegic who has had a state medical marijuana card since 2009. He worked as a customer service representative for Dish Network from 2007 to 2010, when Dish fired him after he tested positive for marijuana use during a random drug test. Coats sued Dish. On Tuesday, attorneys argued...

One of the most crucial races for Republicans to win control of the U.S. Senate remains a dead heat with just over a month to go until Election Day. A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Colorado Voters finds Republican Cory Gardner picking up 48% of the vote to Democratic Senator Mark Udall’s 47%. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate and three percent (3%) are undecided.

Pot may be legal in Colorado, but you can still be fired for using it. Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient who was fired by the Dish Network after failing a drug test more than four years ago, says he still can't find steady work because employers are wary of his off-duty smoking. In a case being closely watched around the country, Colorado's Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in Coats' case, which could have big implications for pot smokers in the first state to legalize recreational sales of the drug. The case highlights the clash between state...

Pot is one thing, but three ounces is a lot for a casual user and is usually reserved for dealers. Wait…. You weren’t selling that weed were you, Mark? And, then, amphetamines? Really? It’s no secret in Colorado that Sen. Mark Udall has some problems telling the truth. It’s probably also relatively well-known that Mark Udall admitted to The Rocky Mountain News (RIP) that he was arrested for possession of marijuana. But, here’s Sen. Udall’s dirty little secret – it wasn’t just marijuana and it was a little more complicated than he shrugged off in the Rocky. ... The punishment...

Speaking at the National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on July 3rd, Colorado Education Association (CEA) President Kerrie Dallman referred to the school district of Jefferson County (JeffCo) – where teachers have staged a “sick-out” and students left classes to protest throughout last week – as one of three in her state in which the teachers’ union was “working against hostile school boards.” “I also want to say thank you to the staff and leaders from the 18 states around the country who were sending in 48 staff under the NEA shared staffing...

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – A verdict is reached in the trial of a western Colorado radio host accused of causing more than $1,000 of destruction to a Bureau of Land Management trail. David Justice, also known as Stanley Hugh Anderson, was found guilty on Thursday following a three-day jury trial in Grand Junction. Jeff Dorschner of the U.S. Department of Justice in Denver said David Justice and others tore down barricades on Cushman Creek Trail in Montrose County in July of 2013. The vandalism was in protest of the BLM's decision to limit access to the trail to two-wheel vehicles,...