AP

By Christa Marshall — The Bush administration failed to protect the environment by issuing new regulations that expedited logging and commercial development in national forests and grasslands, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton of California said the Forest Service violated federal law by overturning 23-year-old rules that required lengthy environmental reviews of public lands while also failing to give the public sufficient time to comment on the change.

“This decision is the latest setback to the Bush administration to turn back the clock on forest management to a time when there no rules or regulations,” said Rodger Schlickeisen of Defenders of Wildlife, one of 19 environmental groups that joined the state of California in filing the lawsuit.
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By Anne C. Mulkern — Rep. Tom Tancredo will announce Monday on an Iowa radio program that he is running for president.

The Littleton congressman, who has had an exploratory committee, will tell radio host Jan Mickelson in Des Moines that he is formally joining the race for the Republican nomination, two sources close to the congressman said.

Like other presidential candidates using alternative forums to break the news that they are seeking the Oval Office, Tancredo, the anti-illegal immigration stalwart, is choosing the medium that has given him a home for almost a decade. >> MORE

Dr. James Dobson

By Christa Marshall — Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson has not declared his intent to run for the presidency, and yet he’s running third among Republicans in some polls and is already at the center of a war of words between Dr. James Dobson and US News & World Report.

Yes, the latest hoopla from the never-boring 2008 race involves comments made by Dobson that seemed to endorse former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and question the religious faith of Thompson, whose most recent job is portraying a lawyer on the television show “Law & Order.”

“Everyone knows (Thompson’s) a conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for,” Dobson told US News. “But I don’t think he’s a Christian.” >> MORE

As presidential candidates set up personal web pages and try to have the best YouTube videos, conservatives are heading west to teach political activists about the art of Internet blogging.

On October 11th at the John Ascuaga’s Nugget Resort in Reno, Nevada, the Conservative Leadership Conference will host a three-day conference that includes a training program on how to take advantage of new online trends.

“As dissatisfaction within the conservative ranks begins to reach record levels, the timing of this event in the West couldn’t be better,” said CLC director and conservative blogger Eric Odom. “With Nevada being a key swing state, the location is ideal as well.” >> MORE

A first lady sitting in on White House policy meetings about health care.

No, it’s not a reference to Hillary Clinton, but a vision laid out by Judith Giuliani, the wife of presidential hopeful and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

In an interview to be aired on ABC’s “20/20″ Friday, Mrs. Giuliani said that she “certainly” would like to attend policy meetings on health care if her husband was elected president. >> MORE

Bay Buchanan with Rep. Tom Tancredo in 2005 AP

By Anne C. Mulkern – Angela “Bay” Buchanan, who directed her brother Pat Buchanan’s three bids for the White House, is joining Rep. Tom Tancredo’s possible presidential campaign as senior advisor.

The addition of Buchanan comes as Tancredo readies to announce whether he will formally dive into the presidential race. He announced last week that his campaign had raised $1 million, which he considered an important barometer of his viability.

“He is a hero to conservatives across this country and I am honored to have the opportunity to be part of what promises to be an exciting campaign,” Buchanan said about Tancredo in a statement.
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By Anne C. Mulkern – Sen. Wayne Allard’s communications director is leaving.

Laura Condeluci said Monday that she’s going to work as communications director for Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.

Allard, a Republican, announced in January that he’s retiring next year at the end of his second term. Condeluci joined Allard’s staff in July 2006.

Steve Wymer, Allard’s press secretary, will handle media issues after Condeluci leaves.

By Christa Marshall – Three decades after nearly disappearing from the West, grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Park region no longer need protection as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, the federal government announced Thursday.

The population of the bears in and around Yellowstone now hovers around 600, almost double what is was when the species was first listed as threatened in 1975, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

“The grizzly’s remarkable comeback is the result of years of intensive cooperative recovery efforts between federal and state agencies, conservation groups, and individuals,” said Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett. “I believe all Americans should be proud that we had the will and the ability to protect and restore this symbol of the wild.” >> MORE

By John Aloysius Farrell – Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina vowed to continue his campaign for the presidency, he said today, as his wife receives treatment for a recurrence of cancer.

Mrs. Edwards, 57, was first diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of her husband’s campaign for vice president on the Democratic ticket in the fall of 2004. She wrote a book, “Saving Graces,” about her experiences after doctors told her she had been restored to good health.

But tests now show “her cancer is back” and has spread to other areas of her body, Edwards told reporters at a gathering in a garden-like setting outside a Chapel Hill today. “It is no longer curable…but it is treatable.

“We are very optimistic about this. Having been through some struggles together in the past we know the key is to keep your head up, keep moving and keep strong,” he said.
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Aron Ralston AP

By Christa Marshall – Utah public lands have not been kind to Aron Ralston. Four years ago, the Aspen man cut off his arm to save his life when an 800-pound boulder pinned him for five days to a canyon wall in southern Utah.

So it might seem surprising that the 31-year-old Coloradan took on a new role this week, coming to Washington D.C. to advocate a bill that would protect the very same Utah wilderness where he nearly bled to death.

But for Ralston, it’s all part of a calling, even though Utah’s own congressional delegation is opposed to the legislation, which would designate more than nine million acres of the state’s public land as official wilderness closed to oil and gas drilling and off-road vehicle use.

“This is a chance for me to give back to an area that has given so much to me,” said Ralston, who remains an avid hiker and rock climber despite having an artificial metal arm. “I look at what happened to me as the greatest blessing in a way. It was a miracle.” >> MORE

The Alberto Gonzales controversy leads the Washington and the West news this Wednesday.

Criticism of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales grew in Colorado’s congressional delegation. In a sharp turn, Sen. Ken Salazar criticized his close friend on the Senate floor, saying the revelation of emails prompted his new condemnation of the attorney general.

Momentum is growing on Capitol Hill for immigration-reform legislation that would require some undocumented immigrants to leave the country to apply for citizenship, the Arizona Republic reported.

Scott McInnis potential run for the U.S. senate remained in doubt, as GOP backers have expressed concern about his past political decisions and current status as a lobbyist, the Post’s Karen E. Crummy reported. McInnis is one of several Republicans mentioned as a possible successor to Sen. Wayne Allard, who is retiring in 2008.

House Republicans and the White House prepped to fight legislation that would grant Utah a fourth congressional seat. President Bush has said the measure is unconstitutional and that he would veto it if passed.

Tempers flared at a congressional hearing Tuesday over the management of bison in Yellowstone National Park, as legislators struggled with how to stop the animals from straying from park boundaries and spreading disease to cattle.

And the Post’s Al Knight provided an interesting take on the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” Supreme Court case, saying a decision against the school district in question would provoke “nightmares and repeal the notion that administrators and teachers who act reasonably should have qualified immunity from personal lawsuits.”

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Post

By Christa Marshall — Two members of Colorado’s congressional delegation sharply criticized Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Tuesday as the embattled Justice Department chief faced increasing calls for his resignation over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar and Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo both spoke critically of Gonzales, with Tancredo calling for his resignation. Salazar stopped just short of calling for the ouster of his friend Gonzales, but stepped up his rhetoric significantly from last week, when he refused to join other Democrats in condemning the attorney general.

“If Attorney General Gonzales has indeed crossed this line, then he has forfeited his right to lead the Department of Justice,” Salazar said on the Senate floor. “I am disappointed that the Department of Justice may have blurred the line between representation of President Bush and representation of the people of the Untied States.” >> MORE

March 19, 2007

Cambridge, Mass. - The Institute of Politics at Harvard University is, among other things, renowned in the world of national politics for its quadrennial debriefings of the presidential campaign managers in the aftermath of each election.

The Institute publishes the transcripts of these sessions, which offer political junkies a rare backstage glimpse at how and why decisions are made (or fail to get made) in the chaos of a presidential campaign.

This year, the Harvard crew is conducting an experiment and having campaign strategists in for an early session in March or April, as well as for the usual post-election review in the winter of 2008.

Busy campaign operatives show up because it’s Harvard, and they are flattered to be invited (or happy to be back as alumni) or, in the case of the Democrats, because former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen now heads the Institute of Politics. >> MORE

The drumbeat of skepticism over global warming has been oddly muted in the weeks since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its summary report in February. For some who found peculiar solace in believing that the world’s leading scientists were all idiots, it’s been a rough spell.

With more of the IPCC’s findings due to be released this spring and corporate money to fund the global-warming skepticism campaign drying up, it can only get worse for the hard-core deniers.

It’s not easy being anti-green.

There’s no money in it anymore. >> MORE

By Christa Marshall — A female from Mexico said she was forced to be the mistress of her boss. Another legal immigrant, Ecolastico DeLeon-Granados, claimed he was paid $25 for a 12-hour workday planting tree seedlings.

And forestry worker Jose Luis Macias said he had to spray herbicides with a severely swollen leg that caused permanent disability and thousands of dollars in medical bills.

“I asked the crew leader to take me to the doctor and he said he didn’t have time,” said Macias, who was entitled to worker’s compensation but said he never received back wages. >> MORE