May 06, 2022 10:13 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (May 6)

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• by: Colorado Pols

On Wednesday you could say, “May the Fourth be With You.” Thursday was Cinco de Mayo. Today is just May 6. Let’s Get More Smarter. 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter. 

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website 

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 

► The job market in the United States is pretty, pretty good right now. From The New York Times:

April produced another solid month of job growth, the Labor Department reported Friday, reflecting the economy’s resilient rebound from the pandemic’s devastation.

U.S. employers added 428,000 jobs, the department said, the same as the revised figure for March. The unemployment rate in April remained 3.6 percent…

…The U.S. economy has regained nearly 95 percent of the 22 million jobs lost at the height of coronavirus-related lockdowns in the spring of 2020. And labor force participation has recovered more swiftly than most analysts initially expected, nearing prepandemic levels. The labor supply over the past year has not kept up with a record wave of job openings, however, as businesses expand to meet the demand for a variety of goods and services.

► As Colorado Public Radio reports, Colorado will likely become one of the epicenters for abortion care should Roe v. Wade get overturned:

As Coloradans await the final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on the fate of Roe v. Wade, abortion rights advocates are preparing for what they consider an inevitable influx of patients from out of state.

According to data from the state health department, that uptick of abortion patients from outside of Colorado is already happening.

From 2017 to 2019, 11% of abortions in Colorado were performed on patients from out of state. In 2020, it went to 13% and was nearly 14% last year, according to the state health department. That accounts for 1,560 procedures out of the state’s total of 11,580 abortions in 2021.

Politically-speaking, the coming battle over abortion rights is a 2022 issue that smart Republicans in Colorado were hoping to avoid.

► Colorado lawmakers are rushing to close out several important bills with the last day of the 2022 session coming up on Wednesday. Here’s a look at what’s being discussed:

♦ Legislation regarding penalties for fentanyl distribution is near the home stretch;

♦ The Colorado Sun looks at last-minute battles over property taxes;

♦ Denver7 reports on the progress of an election integrity bill, as does The Colorado Sun;

♦ Colorado Public Radio has more on the advancement of a ban on flavored tobacco products;

♦ KDVR reports on legislation dealing with nursing shortages;

♦ Lawmakers hope an 18-month study can help settle longstanding battles over liquor.

► 9News explains more about what to expect regarding upcoming TABOR refunds.

Click below to keep learning things…

Check Out All This Other Stuff To Know…

► As POLITICO explains, Indiana Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz is widely considered to be the worst boss at the U.S. Capitol.

Spartz topped a nonpartisan group’s “Worst Bosses” list last year, winning the dubious title of most staff turnover in the House. Her retention record is only getting worse.

Four aides are departing the Indiana Republican’s office this month after another exited weeks ago, leaving a skeleton crew of staffers in the first-term lawmaker’s D.C. office. Spartz’s exodus is on the radar of GOP leadership, which has tried to address her performance as an employer at least twice since the end of last year, according to a senior Republican close to the matter.

The frequent departures stem from an allegedly unhealthy work environment, according to interviews with eight people, including more than a half-dozen former staffers as well as Republicans familiar with her office dynamics who were granted anonymity to speak candidly. They described Spartz as an unpredictable boss whose temper can rocket from tepid to boiling.

We would have thought Rep. Doug Lamborn was a shoo-in for #1.

► Wouldya look at that? Another campaign finance problem for Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert? Charles Asbhy of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel explains the latest trouble for Boebert.

► Coloradan Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for Donald Trump, may lose her law license in our state.

► The New York Times takes a look at how Republicans in Arizona still can’t get past 2020:

Kari Lake has a strategy to get elected in 2022.

Keep talking about 2020.

Minutes into her pitch at the Cochise County Republican headquarters in the suburbs of southern Arizona, Ms. Lake zeroed in on the presidential election 18 months ago, calling it “crooked” and “corrupt.” She claimed nearly a dozen times in a single hour that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald J. Trump, a falsehood that the audience — some of whom wore red hats reading “Trump Won” — was eager to hear. Ms. Lake, a former local Fox anchor who won Mr. Trump’s endorsement as she campaigns to become Arizona’s next governor, calls the 2020 election a key motivation in her decision to enter the race.

“We need some people with a backbone to stand up for this country — we had our election stolen,” Ms. Lake said in an interview after the Cochise County event in March, adding, “I don’t know if it’s a winning issue, but it’s a winning issue when it comes to saving this country.”

► Colorado Newsline notes that Democratic incumbents in Colorado are significantly outraising their Republican challengers. But you knew that already.

► The bird flu is decimating the bald eagle population.

► Anna Stout is the new Mayor of Grand Junction.

► 9News profiles a 20-year-old member of the Lafayette City Council.

► As Jennifer Rubin writes for The Washington Post, public opinion about the U.S. Supreme Court is taking a nosedive:

A Morning Consult-Politico poll taken Tuesday found that “relatively few voters believe the ruling should be reversed entirely (28%). Half of voters said Roe should not be overturned, up from 45% who said the same in December.” Furthermore, “voters are more than twice as likely to say abortion should be legal nationally than that it should be illegal. … Relatively few voters believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases (35%).

”Worse, from the justices’ perspective, a mere 14 percent say they have a lot of confidence in the court. Support for expanding the court is up, with 44 percent strongly or somewhat favoring the addition of justices. That’s nothing compared with the 67 percent who strongly or somewhat support term limits. In addition, 74 percent support imposing a mandatory code of ethics; 63 percent favor an age limit; and 59 percent would like the court to have an equal number of Democrats, independents and Republicans (having dispensed with the fraud that the partisans in robes aren’t political).

Vox.com goes a step further and asks the question, “What happens when the public loses faith in the Supreme Court?”

► The Associated Press looks at the state of COVID-19 in America as the country approaches 1 million deaths from the virus.

► RIP, Norm Early. 

Say What, Now?

Sorry to break it to you, Q*Bert, but nobody cares about Dinesh D’Souza.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► A man who is currently in jail on suspicion of murdering his wife, a woman who had just finished chemotherapy treatments, won a Republican Primary for a seat on the Clinton Township Board in Indiana. Andrew Wilhoite’s name can apparently remain on the General Election ballot despite his current residence.

► Officials in Maine are close to ridding the state of a plague of vulgar license plates.

ICYMI

► Adam Serwer writes for The Atlantic about the implications of a Roe v. Wade rollback on other “settled” issues.

► Where do Colorado Republican candidates for federal office stand on the issue of abortion? About where you might think. 

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