June 4, 2002
Gov. nixes kid rehab

Gov. Bill Owens has slashed $228 million from the state budget. Among the losers are libraries, the arts, affordable housing, health programs and teacher training. But for Nili Feingold, the cuts take a personal toll.

May 30, 2002
Scores may be the real threat

OK, he's not literally being decapitated. That's an expression. It means he's about to be fired.

May 28, 2002
Offender lists are our business

John Joseph O'Boyle should be pleased. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court chose to hear a challenge to the states' ability to maintain sex-offender lists.

May 23, 2002
No joke: Teacher's in trouble

Karsten, 33, is a third-grade teacher at Mesa Elementary School in Boulder whose apparent attempt at humor has attracted adverse attention from the school district. Some parents are convinced that Karsten will be fired for a dumb but non-malevolent mistake. They are outraged.

May 21, 2002
Green scene should guzzle less, by law

We're suffering from extreme drought, and you're likely to see less of these summer staples: soggy back yards, gurgling garden fountains, driveway car-washes, outdoor swimming pools and automatic glasses of water with restaurant meals. In Lafayette this summer, all those things will probably be illegal.

May 16, 2002
Malignant thievery

There are everyday stealers, and there are cold-hearted thieves. Kathy Goldstone is reeling from the latter. Some shivering cancer patients will, too.

May 14, 2002
The lies of power

Irving Goodman knew he was being fired for his alleged Communist Party ties. But he never got to confront his accusers, to rebut their claims, or even to know who they were.

May 11, 2002
A half-century later, professor hears accusers

It took 51 years for Morris Judd to hear the flimsy accusations that wrecked his career. That's a welcome ray of sunshine. But why did it take so long to arrive?

May 9, 2002
'Racism' cry a diversion

This story line is familiar and tiresome: Athletes are charged with a crime. They happen to be black. People cry "racism." The racism charge — effortlessly made but only mightily deflected — smothers intelligent debate.

May 7, 2002
'Vile rumors' not proper investigation

The University of Colorado is spending its time and your money fighting to keep a tax-funded, anti-Communist witch hunt secret. Because it has held this report for 51 years, you'd think CU would have an airtight argument for its continued stealth.

May 3, 2002
Brutal crime, light time

Robert M. Cates has been sentenced to five years in prison. It should have been longer. If it weren't for police errors, it could have been longer.

April 30, 2002
Officials at wit's end

Many school administrators have a strange, disembodied dialect. They parry criticism of bad students with nebulous references to ponderous committees and prophylactic "dialogue." Equally averse to bad publicity and rigorous debate, they are easy and fun to mock.

April 25, 2002
Weapons in the park

The law does not mean what we think it means, or what we want it to mean. It means what it says. The law is funny that way. That's why it's critically important that legislators craft laws scrupulously.

April 23, 2002
Years later, rapist loses

During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, it is customary to recite statistics, which can't convey individual suffering.

April 18, 2002
Message falls on deaf ears

Boulder High School's principal and some of its students are miffed about news coverage of a senior's assault on a younger girl.

April 16, 2002
A culture of insult and abuse

Cara Stengel is a basketball star at Boulder High School. She is spending a month in jail for violent bullying. Her case is disturbing because of its senselessness and apparent pervasiveness.

April 11, 2002
A non-SOV in LOS F

It takes real talent to transform something clear and concrete — traffic, for instance — into mind-numbing concatenations of abstractions and acronyms. Bureaucracies have such talent. Consider one local example:

April 9, 2002
Citizen came, conquered

Lacking the participation of citizens, "democracy" is a fancy word signifying precisely nothing. After all, our government consents to be guided by citizens, who should understand the ship they steer.

April 4, 2002
Protesters have stroke of good luck

If you commit civil disobedience, expect criminal sanctions. That's how civil disobedience works, unless you're lucky. Six local activists are lucky.

April 2, 2002
A salvo at free speech

State Sen. John Andrews says the University of Colorado is soft on anti-Semitism and terrorist sympathizers. He wants CU to "decisively condemn" such hatred.

March 28, 2002
Big Brother not watching our streets

There's a fiscal crisis in state government, a war on terrorism at our shores and a gaggle of urgent problems begging to be solved. So what looming monster is the leader of the state House galloping off to slay? Photo radar.

March 26, 2002
Why CU's bad old days matter now

The anti-communist hysteria on campus in the McCarthy days is a parable. It teaches these lessons: Tolerance fosters free thought. Political bigotry corrodes democracy. Noble and smart institutions sometimes pander to low and dumb ideas. Groundless secrecy renders the foregoing likely to recur.

March 21, 2002
Political donations are smokin'

Last year, tobacco companies gave Colorado legislators more than $62,000. This was a trifle odd.

March 19, 2002
Cop lodges bullying for 'charity'

In December, a regional chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police wanted to sell her tickets to a "benefit" show on campus. She asked for information about the FOP. In January, she got another call, this time a solicitation for another chapter of the FOP.

March 14, 2002
Station had beat of yore

Boulder thinks it is the hippest place this side of SoHo, but the prototypic Beat poet, it is said, never set foot in this town. He did, however, land in Longmont.

March 12, 2002
Neighbors get tough

Dusk is falling, and people are lining up at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless. Watching them is hazardous to stereotypes.

March 7, 2002
Invocation? Pray tell

"Dear Lord, many people fail to see the wisdom of our ways. Forgive them. They know not what they do. May they soon enjoy the enlightenment of our particular interpretation of your Word.

March 5, 2002
High time to control real pests

Colorado is no longer the Wild West. But you can't always tell that from reading state law, which still reflects the old view that animals aren't worth the gunpowder it takes to kill them.

February 28, 2002
Love liberty or else

It could be worse. We could be in Nebraska, where they seem to think freedom is only something you preach, not something you practice.

February 26, 2002
Child-abuse stats a dose of reality

The case is a criminal prosecution of suspected child abuse. It also reflects a trend.

February 21, 2002
Steal this disc!

Normally, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-248 would arouse even less interest than its name suggests. But in a particularly bizarre move, the government has censored this public document. The censorship touched university libraries nationwide, including the University of Colorado.

February 19, 2002
Big money taints races

By some measures, the race for governor is all but over, though it's only just begun.

February 14, 2002
Senator's red, white and yahoo

American patriotism is thriving, even without laws mandating displays of patriotism.

February 7, 2002
Doctor of secrecy

Like many alumni, Sen. Ron Tupa esteems his alma mater, the University of Colorado. But with regard to CU, he's no clear leader. He's a cheerleader. And a censor.

February 5, 2002
Evidence? Nope, nada

For years, Toby Norback enjoyed the trip past South Boulder Road and 120th Street. On his way to or from work, he'd cast a warm glance toward the prairie dogs.

January 31, 2002
The sales that rely on spies

Jane Doe thinks her phone calls are nobody's business but her own. The judiciary says she is wrong. Phone companies have worked, wrangled, sought and even sued to exploit her private information. They're not likely to give up now.

January 29, 2002
Denver deaf to fair play

Fourteen years ago, Denver made dubious promises so it could launch a new airport. For five years, the city ducked its vow to keep a lid on jet noise. Last week, the state's highest court sent 5.3 million chickens home to roost.

January 17, 2002
State doesn't dig the law

If you break the law around here, Judge Frank Dubofsky might haul off and give you a lecture. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has broken the law and been lectured. Don't expect the division to make penitent changes.

January 15, 2002
Pride and prejudice

The university explicitly outlaws discrimination against homosexuals, old people, women and veterans. Why can't it similarly protect obese, conservative Christians with congenital heart conditions? Regent Norwood Robb wants to know.

January 10, 2002
We grow inflexible

If Boulder builds a larger homeless shelter, more homeless people will come. So says the "magnet theory." It is touted by those fighting to keep the homeless away from their homes. It is bunk.

January 3, 2002
Show us the money

Betsy Hoffman says a winning football team draws donations to the university. That's the conventional wisdom, and that's why she just glad-handed potential donors assembled for the Big Game.

January 1, 2002
Star light a black hole of bother

Sometime last weekend, vandals hacked into a steel electrical panel and smashed the circuit box for the star on Flagstaff Mountain. On Sunday, Craig Reynolds, a local electrician, repaired the damage; his company voluntarily maintains the star. This year, workers had made the star more defensible, installing new posts and cables so that the perennially vandalized star is completely off the ground.