August 18, 2016 10:34 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (August 18)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Back to school, back to school; to show my dad, that I’m not a fool. 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). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► According to polling results released Thursday by Quinnipiac University, Colorado’s U.S. Senate race is really starting to get away from Republicans. Incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver) leads Republican Darryl Glenn 52-38 in a head-to-head matchup. These numbers are similar to those reported by NBC/Marist last week, in which Bennet was leading Glenn 53-38.

Quinnipiac has a strange history of polling in Colorado, however, and they added to their weird reputation in a press release announcing the poll numbers. Here’s a quote from Tim Malloy of Quinnipiac University: “There is still time for Darryl Glenn to summon enough support to win a Senate seat the GOP sorely needs.”

Um, no. There may not even be time for Glenn to get this race to within single digits.

On Wednesday, Quinnipiac released polling numbers in Colorado for the Presidential race, showing Hillary Clinton with a 10-point lead over Donald Trump.

► Speaking of Trump, his new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, says that her plan moving forward is to “let Trump be Trump.” In other words, Donald Trump has apparently given up on the idea of being elected President.

► The U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday that it will no longer employ the use of private prisons, citing evidence that they are less safe and less effective than government-run prisons. From the Washington Post:

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the decision on Thursday in a memo that instructs officials to either decline to renew the contracts for private prison operators when they expire or “substantially reduce” the contracts’ scope. The goal, Yates wrote, is “reducing — and ultimately ending — our use of privately operated prisons.”

“They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security,” Yates wrote.

The Justice Department’s inspector general last week released a critical reportconcluding that privately operated facilities incurred more safety and security incidents than those run by the federal Bureau of Prisons. The private facilities, for example, had higher rates of assaults — both by inmates on other inmates and by inmates on staff — and had eight times as many contraband cellphones confiscated each year on average, according to the report. Yates said there are 13 privately run facilities under the Bureau of Prisons purview.

There are several private prisons in Colorado that house criminals convicted of state or local crimes; it is unclear how this announcement might affect these facilities.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Sen. Michael Bennet is talking up Colorado’s renewable energy industry. From the Pueblo Chieftain:

The sun shone brightly Wednesday as U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet toured the Comanche Solar Project southeast of Pueblo, called the largest solar field east of the Rocky Mountains.

Bennet, a Democrat up for re-election against El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, said he has carried a bill that allows the solar industry tax credits through 2022. As he passed through the more than 820 acres of solar panels he asked members of Renewable Energy Systems, the builders of the field, about the capacities the field can handle once it is up and making power for Xcel Energy.

► Several prominent Democrats and Progressive organizations are speaking out in opposition to Amendment 69, the proposed single-payer health care plan on the statewide ballot this fall.

► Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump is having trouble in every state that isn’t solid red, with one exception: Florida.

► Ernest Luning of the Colorado Statesman takes a look at new staffing and office openings for the Trump campaign in Colorado.

► The Colorado legislature may discuss a plan for dealing with loopholes in the law for gathering petition signatures. As Marshall Zelinger reports for Denver7:

A Colorado lawmaker is working on legislation to require the state to verify signatures collected on petitions following multiple investigations by Denver7.

As Denver7 has uncovered, anyone’s signature can easily be forged as long as the name and address match what’s on file with the Secretary of State’s Office…

…A Bipartisan Election Advisory Commission started meeting this year to discuss election issues, and petition signature verification is one of the topics.

State Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock, is one of the lawmakers on the committee, who told Denver7 that he is considering a bill next year to fix the problem we’ve uncovered.

► The State of Colorado is working on a new voter registration system that would allow people to start the registration process via text message. As the Denver Post reports:

Those who meet the requirements to become voters can text “Colorado” or “CO” to “2Vote” (28683) on a smartphone. That gets them to a link to the secretary of state’s voter registration and election information web page…

…To vote in Colorado, a person must be 18 years old, a United States citizen, a Colorado resident who has lived in the state for at least 22 days before the election in before the first election her or she wants to vote in.

► Sales tax collections hit a record high in Colorado Springs in July, which is good news for a city that desperately needs revenue to deal with crumbling infrastructure and public health programs.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Please go away, Eric Nelson (or whatever your name is).

► Donald Trump is very strange.

ICYMI

► A group of U.S. swimmers in Rio may have been robbed at gunpoint…or perhaps they just vandalized a gas station. This story is harder to understand than Racewalking.

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