Colorado Law Blog

That's the message from the Wyoming State Game and Fish Department. For many the arrival of warm summer weather means boating, particularly at some of the scenic reservoirs of Wyoming.

Aquatic invasive species like quagga mussels and zebra mussels are small organisms that could have huge impacts for Wyoming's waters, boaters and anglers. They can ruin fisheries, clog cooling systems in motorboats, foul hulls and ruin equipment. These organisms have not been found in Wyoming yet, but are present in several bordering states like Utah, Colorado and Nebraska.

These species can have widespread impacts on power plants, municipalities, irrigation systems and other water users. They impede water delivery and increase maintenance costs by clogging pipes, pumps, turbines and filtration systems, costs that are all passed on to the user.

Fisheries are destroyed by the presence of these exotic filter-feeding mussels. They remove plankton from the water. Plankton are the primary food source for forage fish and forage fish are the food of sport fisheries. For example, the lake trout population in Lake Ontario has declined by 95 percent in the past 10 years due to a crash in the food chain caused by exotic mussels.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This Saturday will see the expiration of a sales-tax exemption for candy and soda sold in Colorado.

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Improvements in patient safety continue to lag, according to the 2009 National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report issued today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

• Rates of postoperative sepsis, or bloodstream infections, increased by 8 percent.
• Postoperative catheter-associated urinary tract infections increased by 3.6 percent.
• Rates of selected infections due to medical care increased by 1.6 percent.
• There was no change in the number of bloodstream infections associated with central venous catheter placements, which are tubes placed in a large vein in the patient's neck, chest, or groin to give medication or fluids or to collect blood samples.
• However, rates of postoperative pneumonia improved by 12 percent.
• In addition, although rates are improving incrementally, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians are less likely than whites to receive preventive antibiotics before surgery in a timely manner.

Over 100 participating hospital intensive care units in Michigan have been able to keep the rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections to near zero, 3 years after adopting standardized procedures. The project, conducted by the Michigan Health and Hospital Association Keystone Center, involved the use of a comprehensive unit-based safety program to reduce these potentially lethal infections. Last year, AHRQ announced new funding that has expanded the project to all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

AHRQ's annual quality and disparities reports, which are mandated by Congress, were first published in 2003. The reports show trends by measuring health care quality for the nation using a group of credible core measures. The data are based on more than 200 health care measures categorized in four areas of quality: effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient-centeredness.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Supreme Court today invalidated a federal law that had criminalized the sale of certain depictions of animal cruelty, including violent dogfighting videos. An 8-1 majority on the Court said that the law was "substantially overbroad, and therefore invalid under the First Amendment," affirming the right of free speech in the face of some government-imposed restrictions.

The ruling effectively throws out the conviction of 69-year-old Robert Stevens, a documentary film producer at the center of the case who had argued for the right to sell videos depicting dogfighting to educate the public about pit bulls.

Stevens runs a business, Dogs of Velvet and Steel, out of his rural Virginia home where he produced numerous videos about the animals. In one video, Stevens, sitting in a rocking chair, talks about tapes shot in Japan in the early 1950s or 1960s. It is clear that Stevens is not taping the fight, but providing after-the-fact narration.

Stevens' lawyers had argued he included the violent, but apparently bloodless, footage to represent what he sees as the admirable traits of the breed. Stevens marketed his films on his website.

It is the violent depictions in the videos by Stevens that created the problems under federal law. He was convicted and sentenced to 37 months imprisonment for violating a 1999 federal law that prohibits "knowingly selling depictions of animal cruelty, with the intention of placing them in interstate commerce." The law was passed to target the problem of animal cruelty.

A federal appeals court invalidated his sentence and the statute. Today the top court affirmed that ruling.

In his opinion Justice Roberts acknowledged that the First Amendment has "permitted restrictions upon the content of speech in a few limited areas" such as obscenity, defamation and fraud, but that the depictions of animal cruelty should not be added to the list.

The case has ignited debate about what kinds of speech should be protected. The last time the Supreme Court addressed the issue was in 1982 when it carved out an exception to the First Amendment on the issue of child pornography.

In court briefs, the government links obscenity laws with animal cruelty and argues that neither merits protection from speech. But lawyers for Stevens argued that the case was not about dogfighting.

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The state's $18 million rebate program for energy-efficient appliances and home improvements was overwhelmed this morning when it began at 8 a.m. The program -- Recharge Colorado -- issued about 7,300 rebate reservations by 1:30 p.m., said a spokesman for the Governor's Energy Office (GEO).

The GEO and its 'Recharge Colorado' campaign is teaming with the four Better Business Bureaus, (BBB) serving Colorado to help consumers connect with vendors to provide a wide range of energy upgrades, including energy-efficient furnaces, insulation, energy audits and solar power. Working together, the GEO and BBB want to increase the state's participation in the New Energy Economy. Through the www.rechargecolorado.com website to be launched today, residents and business owners can select energy efficiency and renewable energy measures and incentives that will help them save money and energy. Then, they can use the list provided by the BBB to select contractors who grant the needed services from the same site, creating a seamless process for consumers.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A bicyclist was killed in a collision with a car at West 29th Avenue and Perry Street in Denver this week, following the death of a bicyclist struck by an RTD bus on April 6th. With the warm weather, bicycle lanes are filling up so motorists need to be more aware. And bicyclists need to ride defensively.

Colorado has a particular statute relating to the duty of care of bicyclists when on public roadways. The most critical elements are that bicyclists have the same rights and duties as motorized vehicles. This means that bicyclists must stop at red lights, stop signs, and must obey all other rules of the road. Hand signals, etc., must be used, bicyclists must ride single file, and on the right side, as far to the right as is safely practicable.
But to stay safe, bicyclists should:

ALWAYS WEAR A PROPERLY FITTED HELMET IN GOOD REPAIR!!!

ALWAYS WEAR SHATTER PROOF EYE PROTECTION.

CARRY YOUR CELL PHONE, I.D., AND YOUR INSURANCE CARD

NEVER RIDE AT NIGHT WITHOUT PROPER LIGHTS AND REFLECTORS

WEAR A REAR VIEW MIRROR WHEN RIDING IN HEAVY TRAFFIC

KNOW THE BASICS OF BICYCLE REPAIR (putting a chain back on sprocket, changing a flat, tightening the seat post fittings, knowing how to adjust brakes, etc.)

Posted by Linda Chalat at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

At least 25 workers died on April 5th in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine, owned by Richmond-based Massey Energy Co. The company's chief executive, Don Blankenship, is a highly active GOP fundraiser and bankroller known for his outspoken opposition to labor unions; the Upper Big Branch Mine is not unionized.

Mining companies and related trade groups have sharply increased their lobbying efforts in recent years, tripling their spending from $10.2 million in 2004 to nearly $31 million in 2008, according to a review of lobbying disclosures by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), a watchdog group.

The investment in Washington dropped only slightly last year, to $26 million, as mining and energy companies worked to defeat cap-and-trade legislation. The legislation passed the House but stalled in the Senate, in large part because of strong opposition by senators in top coal-producing states. Leading spenders included Peabody Energy ($5.8 million), Consol Energy ($3.4 million), Arch Coal ($2 million) and the National Mining Association, the industry's main trade group, which spent $2.8 million on lobbying, records show.

Mining firms and their employees have also donated more than $13 million to federal lawmakers since 2005; 74 percent of that money went to GOP candidates and about half came from industry political action committees.

The United Mine Workers of America, by contrast, donated less than $1 million to federal candidates during the same time period, according to CRP data. All but 1 percent of that went to Democrats.

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Over the course of just four days, Regional Transportation District buses were involved in three accidents that killed a total of four people. Those four days alone -- from April 3 through last Tuesday -- produced more fatalities from RTD bus collisions than any full year from 2005 through 2009.

During that period, bus collisions at RTD led to at least six fatalities, according to information supplied to the national database. Yet in two years, 2005 and 2007, there were no fatalities in accidents involving buses operated by RTD drivers or the agency's private contractors, according to the data review.

RTD's safety record is typically on par with transit operations in Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and San Diego. RTD reacted almost immediately to the recent accidents by having street supervisors give safety briefings to all drivers pulling buses out of RTD garages.

Denver police say a driver for RTD contractor Veolia Transportation, ran a red light at East Eighth Avenue and Lincoln Street on April 3 and smashed into two vehicles. The driver was charged with two counts of careless driving resulting in death and 11 counts of careless driving resulting in injury.

On Monday, a 78-year-old man apparently was struck and killed by a bus as the vehicle pulled away from a stop in Aurora, and the next night, a bicyclist collided with an RTD bus in Lafayette, critically injuring the 42-year-old cyclist. He died the next day.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A man who says he suffers from "electromagnetic sensitivities" has sued a neighbor and now former friend in New Mexico state court, seeking $530,000 in damages and a court order requiring her to turn off her wireless electronic devices.

The tormented neighbor says he is staying with friends and sleeping in his car because of the situation. Meanwhile, the defendant feels no need to comply, arguing she living appropriately in her own home.

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A successful produce merchant in Los Angeles was able to pay for a liver transplant himself. That enabled him to have the life-saving surgery when his insurer--after initially approving coverage for the surgery--rejected his doctor's recommendation to seek a transplant out-of-state, where the wait time was expected to be much shorter.

In addition to determining that the insurer breached its medical insurance contract, the jury also found that it acted in bad faith, thus providing a basis for the attorney fee award. It could dwarf the cost of the transplant, which was a little over $200,000.

"While we disagree with the jury's coverage determination, we are pleased that the jury did not award punitive damages and unanimously concluded that Anthem Blue Cross did not act with any malice toward Mr. Nehme," says Anthem Blue Cross in a written statement, noting that the company's insurance contract says liver transplants must be performed at in-state facilities.

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