KROENKE FIRES BACK AT WWE: The Pepsi Center scheduling conflict, in which both the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers Game 4 and the WWE Monday Night Raw events were booked for Monday night, has been resolved. The WWE event has been moved to the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday. Kroenke Sports Entertainment, which owns the Pepsi Center, said they were unsuccessful in trying to reschedule Monday Night Raw for Sunday night. KSE said they maintained a professional manner throughout the process despite the “propaganda campaign launched by WWE and Chairman Vince McMahon.” People that purchased tickets for the Denver event will be able to receive refunds at the original point of purchase beginning this morning at 10.
COLORADO HAS SMART DRIVERS: According to the 5th Annual GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test, Colorado ranks 15th in the nation for driving knowledge. The survey, which polled 5,183 licensed Americans from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., administered 20 actual questions taken from state DMV exams. Colorado drivers had an average score of 79.3 percent, which beat out the national average of 76.6 percent. Idaho topped the list, while New York brought up the rear.
DEGETTE AMENDS CLIMATE BILL: Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., along with Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., authored an amendment to House Bill 2454, the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” which is designed to improve energy efficiency by 2.5 percent per year from 2012 to 2030. Specifically, the amendment calls on the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a strategic plan to accomplish that goal. The bill seeks to reduce global warming emissions 83 percent by 2050 and create a renewable energy standard of 20 percent by 2020.
CREDIT CARD LEGISLATION PASSES: The House voted yesterday 361-64 to pass legislation aimed at imposing new rules on credit companies. The credit card bill, which now goes to the President’s desk for his signature, would require 45 days notice before an interest rate change, as well as prohibiting companies from raising interest rates on existing balances unless a card holder falls 60 days behind on minimum payments. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., who voted for the bill, said that Americans “deserve transparency, not smoke and mirrors.” The House also voted to pass a provision that allows visitors to national parks and wildlife refugees to possess loaded guns.
KESTER SAYS NO WAY TO GUANTANAMO DETAINEES: In response to a call yesterday by U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., for using federal prisons, including Colorado’s Supermax prison in Florence, to house terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. Navy’s Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba. President Barack Obama issued an executive order in January closing the detention facility within a year. Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, whose southeast Colorado Senate district includes the prison, is emphatically against the idea. “As far as I am concerned, (the terrorists) aren’t coming to Senate District 2. Period. I’ll fight it tooth and nail.”
MARKEY INTRODUCES SMALL BIZ ACT: Yesterday, Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., introduced legislation designed to allow small business owners to access capital and tap into equity locked in their commercial real estate due to the financial crisis. “The Small Business Assistance in Debt Act” will allow a qualified small businesses to temporarily use the Small Business Administration’s 504 Loan Program to refinance their existing conventional loans.
HICKENLOOPER, VILLARAIGOSA GOING AT IT: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper have engaged in some friendly banter over the Western Conference Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers. Villaraigosa started things off on Tuesday by sending a letter to Hickenlooper saying that, if the Nuggets win, Denver can have the Los Angeles Times as consolation for losing the Rocky Mountain News. He went on to say that, if the Lakers win, L.A. would get Colorado’s snow pack and a six-pack of the local beer of Hickenlooper’s choice, as well as giving Denver first dibs on buying the Coliseum in L.A. Hickenlooper responded yesterday, saying he would pass on the Coliseum offer because “we have a pro football stadium – with a pro football team.” Hickenlooper also said that if the Lakers win, Denver would give L.A. 20 miles of light rail to help LA’s traffic congestion and a few of Colorado’s 54 “Fourteeners” because “every state needs real mountains and we have plenty.” Hickenlooper closed the letter by saying that “when the Nuggets move on to the NBA Finals, we’ll take Jack Nicholson.”
