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Don�t tie DAs� hands
On Gov. Bill Ritter’s desk, awaiting his signature, is a bill that would make it more difficult for prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults when they commit serious crimes.

Rein in initiatives
One of the last acts of the Legislature this year was to approve a ballot issue asking voters to tighten the rules on citizens’ initiatives that seek to change the state Constitution.

Prairie-dog politics
Curious. The federal agency that four years ago found no justification for listing the white-tailed prairie dog as threatened or endangered, this week decided to re-examine the data.

Thanks for the cleanup
OK, we know there is a school of thought that says the streets of Grand Junction look awful for a few weeks every spring, what with all manner of old furniture, tree limbs, boxes and who-knows-what in front of just about every house in town.

John Whiting, R.I.P.
John Whiting was a key player on the local political scene for decades.

Annexation on the run
Once the Grand Junction annexation process has started, it doesn’t screech to a halt easily. Just ask Mark Strodtman — if you can find him.

Congress is pushing another shale sham
Perhaps it’s too much to expect that senators from other states would pay attention to what is actually happening in the oil shale world today as they blather about increasing U.S. oil production. But we had hopes that Colorado’s own Sen. Wayne Allard would know the score.

Reading scores spell problems for Dist. 51
School District 51 is seriously considering asking voters this fall for money to build new schools.

No horse sense here
Imagine being hauled to some remote wilderness location, given no survival training and no way to return to civilization, then being left on your own.

CSU creates a PC hurricane
Among the thousands of pieces of mail that pour into newsrooms every year, there are always a few, usually thick, booklets from various colleges. The booklets, which list virtually every professor on staff and their areas of expertise, are always accompanied by a nice letter from the school’s public relations department that urges reporters to use the guide if they are working on a story and need an expert to talk to.

Road-funding plan screeches to a halt
On Friday, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers announced they would abandon efforts to rush through a last-minute proposal to raise auto registration fees and other taxes to boost money for highway maintenance.

Shame on you, Billy Ray Cyrus
Miley Cyrus makes a living out of being someone else — Hannah Montana — and there’s probably nothing else she’d rather be doing right now.

Expansion in moderation
The sewer service area in the Grand Valley is expanding, but not nearly as much as was contemplated earlier this year.

Obama's Rev. Wrong
Barack Obama finally, unequivocally, repudiated his racist, America-hating pastor on Tuesday.

Unlock Colorado's budget conundrum
Unraveling Colorado’s budgetary tangle, created by Amendment 23 and the TABOR amendment, is becoming ever more necessary. The first measure says state spending for education must increase each year, while the second places a cap on state revenue. The result is more of the state’s total budget goes to public education each year, reducing what is available for other state needs.

Obama's Rev. Wrong

Court IDs a sensible law
Requiring voters to present photo identification to cast their ballots is just common sense to many people. After all, a photo ID is required to cash a check, board an airplane, obtain a new Social Security card and many other activities in a modern society. Why shouldn’t those seeking to exercise a most basic democratic right be required to prove they are who they claim to be?

Put a cork in Rum Bay
The litany of police calls, brawls and arrests at the Rum Bay nightclub over the past few months provides discouraging evidence that the new operators of the bar are having little more success than the previous ones in stemming violence there.

Severance tax redux
Call it the Oil and Gas Scholarship Fund: millions of dollars of new revenue for college scholarships for low- and middle-income families.

Take the money and spend
Some lucky taxpayers may see federal funds of $600 per person ($1,200 per couple) deposited directly into their bank accounts this week as part of the economic stimulus package approved earlier this year. Those who didn’t opt for direct deposit will have to wait until after May 9, when checks will be put in the mail.