April 09, 2015 11:40 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (April 9)

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• by: Colorado Pols

According to a scientist from NASA, we will have proof of alien life in less than 20 years; make your own joke. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► The State House will likely take a final vote on Colorado’s $25-26 billion proposed budget. 

► Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul announced his campaign for President on Tuesday. As the Washington Post reports, things went downhill from there:

In a series of interviews after the freshman senator from Kentucky declared his candidacy on Tuesday, Paul turned prickly — briskly sidestepping tough foreign policy questions from one journalist, lecturing another on how to conduct an interview, and testily declining to clarify his position on abortion…

…the rocky media rollout of his presidential effort highlighted a key question facing him now: whether the same tough approach that has made him a favorite among tea party activists and libertarians might be limiting in a national campaign, as he looks to build a broader coalition rich with voters from beyond his base.

At least Paul still has hope that he can change Kentucky laws to allow him to simultaneously run for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

► Senate Republicans voted to kill a bill that would have stopped “Pray the Gay Away” pseudo-therapy sessions for kids in Colorado. Yesterday, President Obama denounced the idea of “gay conversion.”

Get even more smarter after the jump…

SHOULD YOU FIND YOURSELF STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Republican Rep. Mike Coffman claims to have already made a charitable donation of $20,000 worth of campaign contributions from former Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock.

► Former gun dealer pawn shop owner Gregory Golyansky is thankful that Sen. Laura Waters Woods is sponsoring legislation to change procedures for court-appointed receivers. This is a terrible idea, of course, which is how Sen. Woods got involved.

► Attorney General Cynthia Coffman issued an opinion on Wednesday that says parents are not required to be notified by schools prior to taking a health and behavior survey. That sound you hear is Sen. Tim Neville’s head exploding.

► A federal banking official will meet with Colorado pot shop owners to discuss…banking stuff.

► Kentucky Republican Rand Paul leads Democrat Hillary Clinton in a new Presidential poll of Colorado voters. Don’t get too excited either way — this was a Quinnipiac University poll, after all.

► You may soon have to stop using explosive gases to make hash oil at home if legislation being heard in the State House advances. Frankly, you should consider not using explosive gases in your home in general.

► Republican-aligned business groups in Colorado are mad that legislators are considering a couple of new bills that would benefit workers.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Alamosa County is the first Colorado county with more brown people than white people…or what researchers maddeningly call “majority minority populations.” Or is it “minority majority?” 

► Ft. Collins saw record voter turnout for Tuesday’s municipal elections. That’s what happens when lots of outside money starts pouring into local races.

► Aurora Sentinel editor Dave Perry weighs in on potential rate increases for RTD:

The problem is finding a way to pay for and improve mass transit in the metro area while keeping it cheap enough to lure riders, and keep the public service affordable to people who really need it, rather than choose it…

…Foolish mass-transit naysayers — and I mean you, Jon Caldera, formerly an RTD director, currently of the libertarian-ish Independence Institute in Golden and, I suspect, still hunting for John Galt — believe that if we must have lumbering buses on public roads, make just the people that ride them pay the cost.

ICYMI

► Frontier Airlines had the most complaints of any U.S. airline in February — and it wasn’t even close. In response, Frontier plans to come up with more animal paintings for its airplanes (okay, not really).

► Stop reading and go eat an avocado.

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