MAN CHARGED IN PARKING LOT ROBBERY

Denver Daily News staff report

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

MAN CHARGED IN PARKING LOT ROBBERY: Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has charged a man accused of robbing an elderly woman who had just turned in a winning lottery ticket and was on her way home with her cash prize. Leonard Bedon, 32, is charged with robbery of an at-risk adult and theft from an at-risk adult. On Sept. 17 at about 10:45 a.m., a 75-year-old woman was walking to her car in a grocery store parking lot when a man jumped out of a truck, grabbed her purse and drove away. The woman had just turned in a winning lottery ticket. The charges allege that Bedon had been in line behind her in the store and knew she had turned in the ticket for cash. A witness was able to get a license plate number that led to Bedon’s arrest late last week. Bedon remains in custody in the Denver County Jail. His bond is set at $50,000. He is scheduled to appear in Denver County Court on October 15, 2009 at 9 a.m. to be formally advised of the charges. The presumptive range for sentencing on a class three felony is up to 12 years in prison.

RITTER ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY ACT DATA REPORT: Gov. Bill Ritter yesterday announced that more than 20 state agencies and higher education institutions across Colorado have successfully submitted spending and job information to the federal government for more than $1 billion in grants and loans awarded to the State of Colorado through Sept. 30 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The state used a new centralized process at no extra cost to report more than 25,000 pieces of required data that will be made public later this month.

RITTER WELCOMES SUNRUN: Gov. Bill Ritter yesterday welcomed SunRun as the newest member of Colorado’s New Energy Economy. SunRun offers homeowners the opportunity to lease solar power systems, providing another way for consumers to save energy costs and access clean energy. California-based SunRun is expanding its business to Colorado as a direct outgrowth of the passage of Senate Bill 51, signed by Ritter on Earth Day 2009. The bill allows solar companies to build rooftop systems that homeowners can lease instead of own, dramatically reducing upfront costs for consumers and creating a new marketplace and job expansion for solar installers.

SCHOOL FUNDING: The Denver Public Schools Foundation recently awarded $51,941 in grants to 42 schools in the district through the DPS Foundation’s “A to Z Fund.” The A to Z Fund is a grant program for individual DPS schools that supports programs and activities that go beyond the schools’ limited budgets. The fund ensures that DPS students have equal opportunity to participate in enriching learning experiences. The DPS Foundation distributes A to Z grants ranging in value from $250 to $2,000 twice per school year – in the fall and spring.

UDALL, BENNET BACK STUDENT LOAN DEBT RELIEF BILL: Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Colorado Democrats, yesterday joined a bipartisan group of senators in introducing legislation that would provide immediate student loan debt relief to active-duty soldiers and members of the National Guard. The bill would allegedly save average service members more than $1,183. The bill will now go to the Senate HELP committee.

UDALL PRAISES HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM BILL PASSAGE FROM COMMITTEE: Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., yesterday praised the Senate Finance Committee for approving heath insurance reform legislation on a 14-9 vote. “Today, we moved closer than ever before to delivering real health insurance reform that lowers health care costs, improves care, and preserves the ability of patients to choose their health insurance plan,” he said. “I want to thank my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee for their hard work, which enabled us to get to a bipartisan agreement on this bill.”

PUBLIC WORKSHOP: The Denver Living Streets Initiative is holding a public workshop today at the Montbello Recreation Center, 15555 E. 53rd Ave., from 6-8 p.m. The Public Streets Initiative will provide attendees with an opportunity to learn more about “living streets” and the chance to provide feedback on how Denver can turn its streets into great places that work for everyone.

MORE SUPPORT FOR RESPECT FOR MARRIAGE ACT: Yesterday, on the heels of the National Equality March in Washington, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Congressman Jared Polis, D-Colo., celebrated the 101th co-sponsor of their bill, the Respect for Marriage Act. This legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman. As of yesterday, 101 members of Congress have joined Nadler in the effort to overturn DOMA. Other officials have announced their support for the Respect for Marriage Act, including former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA into law, former Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., who authored DOMA, and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. “The tide is turning against DOMA,” said Polis. “The Respect for Marriage Act is gaining momentum on and off the hill, as Americans from all aspects of society are coming together to end the current discrimination of lesbian and gay couples.” The Respect for Marriage Act would ensure that valid marriages are respected under federal law — including same-sex marriages — providing couples with certainty that their marriages will be honored under federal law, and that they will have the same access to federal responsibilities and rights as all other married couples. The act would accomplish this by repealing DOMA in its entirety and by adopting the place-of-celebration rule recommended in the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, which embraces the common law principle that marriages that are valid in the state where they were entered into will be recognized. While this rule governs recognition of marriage for purposes of federal law, marriage recognition under state law would continue to be decided by each state. The act would not tell any state who can marry or how married couples must be treated for purposes of state law, and would not obligate any person, church, city or state to celebrate or license a marriage of two people of the same sex. But it would restore the approach historically taken by states of determining, under principles of comity and Full Faith and Credit, whether to honor a couple’s marriage for purposes of state law.

PERLMUTTER BACKS BILL PROVIDING TAX RELIEF FOR VETERANS: Congressman Ed Perlmutter voted for legislation granting a one-year extension of the first-time homebuyer tax credit for members of the Armed Forces who served overseas in the last year. The legislation passed the House 416-16. The extension includes members of the military as well as foreign service members and intelligence workers. To qualify, individuals need to have served outside the country for at least 90 days in 2009. The legislation also waives the repayment clause in the existing credit if a service member receives official orders and is forced to sell his or her house within three years of purchase.

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