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Metro Pulse
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
DENVER SPRING STORM DUMPS SNOW
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FurlAP) -- The second spring storm in less than two weeks dumped a foot of snow in the Colorado mountains on Tuesday and drenched Denver-area highways with rain during the morning rush hour.
Police said slick roads may have been a factor in the crash of a tractor-trailer rig that spilled 12-packs of beer onto a highway in the west Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge.
A crash in the mountains killed a pregnant woman and her fetus, but investigators had not determined if weather was a factor.
The National Weather Service said a foot of snow fell in Evergreen about 15 miles west of Denver. Tabernash, about 50 miles northwest of Denver, reported 10 inches.
Arapahoe Basin, the only major ski resort still open in Colorado, reported 5 inches of new snow.
The beer truck overturned while entering Interstate 70, police spokeswoman Lisa Stigall said. Cans of Keystone Light spilled onto the highway and down and embankment.
The driver was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, she said.
Stigall said the truck's speed and a sharp curve on the onramp may have contributed to the crash, along with the weather.
The pregnant woman who died was a passenger in a sport-utility vehicle that plunged at least 200 feet off Interstate 70 about 50 miles west of Denver, Summit County Coroner Joanne L. Richardson said.
Her name had not been released but Richardson said she was in her mid-20s and was seven months pregnant. Richardson said the woman was not wearing a seat belt.
DENVER SCHOOL SAFETY BILL PASSES
(AP) -- Gov. Bill Ritter signed legislation on Tuesday creating a resource center to help avoid a repeat of deadly shootings at Columbine and Platte Canyon high schools.
The Colorado School Safety Resource Center will help communities establish individual safety plans with help from experts in education, law enforcement, mental health and other fields.
The center will start work with five pilot communities chosen in the first year.
Ritter said no child, parent or teacher should have to endure the terror of the 1999 Columbine massacre or the 2006 shooting at Platte Canyon.
Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 before killing themselves at Columbine in Littleton.
Duane Morrison, 53, took six girls hostage at Platte Canyon in Bailey, sexually assaulting them before fatally shooting one girl and killing himself.
"We owe our children the basic right of a safe school," Ritter said in a statement.
Ritter signed one bill creating the resource center in the Department of Public Safety and another requiring the center to create a school-mapping pilot program that would give first-responders access to electronic maps and other schematic information about schools.
DENVER 'PERSONHOOD' MEASURE SIGNATURES SUBMITTED
(AP) -- Supporters of a measure defining a fertilized human egg as a person say they have gathered 131,000 petition signatures in hopes of getting it on the Colorado ballot.
A group called Colorado for Equal Rights submitted the petitions Tuesday.
If the secretary of state verifies that at least 76,000 of the signatures are from registered Colorado voters, the proposed constitutional amendment would qualify for the November ballot.
The group has been collecting signatures since September when the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the language of the measure.
Toni Panetta, spokeswoman for an opposition group called the Protect Families Protect Choices Coalition, says the measure is vague and could restrict access to health care.
DENVER ROMER TO BACK OBAMA
(AP) -- Sen. Barack Obama picked up the endorsement Tuesday of superdelegate Roy Romer, a former Colorado governor who later served as superintendent of Los Angeles public schools.
Romer said the Democratic front-runner has demonstrated leadership qualities with his coolness under fire.
"He's a steady hand," Romer told The Associated Press. "He's been under some great pressure in the past two months, but he's been cool and steady."
Romer also said it was important for the candidates to know where the superdelegates stand so the party can decided how to handle convention delegates from Michigan and Florida, which were denied their delegates for violating party rules.
The Democratic convention will be in Denver in August.
Romer was the third superdelegate to throw his support to Romer on Tuesday, after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Indiana congressman Joe Donnelly.
Romer was Colorado governor from 1986 to 1998 and Los Angeles schools superintendent from 2001 to 2006.
He said he was impressed with the way Obama has handled the fallout from controversial sermons and statements by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago.
Romer said Obama has also dealt with backlash from his own statements, such as his remark that some small-town residents were clinging to guns and religion because of bitterness about their economic well-being.
Romer said he was impressed with Obama's opposition to the idea of a gasoline-tax holiday to help people deal with rising fuel prices.
The proposal has support from voters but is widely panned by economist and government leaders.
"I was caught off-guard that (Republican John) McCain grabbed it so quickly and (Democrat Hillary Rodham) Clinton jumped on the bandwagon," Romer said. "I'm a former governor. I've lived with that issue. I know that you're are going to have bridges falling down if you don't have a gas tax.
"Obama stood his ground and understood how doing that would hurt the infrastructure in the U.S. and he resisted," he said.
Obama and Romer have met several times on the campaign trail and spoke on the phone recently. Romer said he believes Obama can bring depth to the debate on key issues.
"In the issues of race, education, and the economy he will bring a deep dimension to the discussion America needs to have on these issues," he said.
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