Dupe and poop?

A few more Colorado (or around in there) stories:

The Rocky's whole business section has been turned over to coverage of the trial of former Qwest (God I hate that spelling) CEO Joe Nacchio, who sold $100 million of the Denver phone company's stock under peculiar circumstances in 2001. Isn't there a name for that? Pump and dump? Prime and slime? Pee and flee? Whatever. Here's more about the case than any sane person (as Noam Chomsky would say) could ever want.

Yellowstone grizzlies taken off endangered species list:

Grizzly bears have recovered so well in Yellowstone they no longer need protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, said Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett today.The U.S. Government officially announced it was removing the bear from the threatened list.

Louisa Wilcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council disagreed with the decision, saying grizzlies are being threatened by the effects of global warming. One of the bear's primary food sources, white bark pine tree, is being attacked by pine beetles, reducing what the bears can eat, she said.

Cue the the polar bears:

"Recognize that grizzly bears and polar bears are close cousins," Wilcox said. "They are going to live in a world of shrinking habitat because of warming weather. We are deeply opposed. We think it's premature."

Woody Harrelson's dad dies in Canon City Supermax:

Charles Harrelson was convicted of murder in the May 29, 1979, slaying of U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. outside his San Antonio, Texas, home. Prosecutors said a drug dealer hired him to kill Wood because he did not want the judge to preside at his upcoming trial.

Charles Harrelson denied the killing, saying he was in Dallas, 270 miles away, at the time.

Wood, known as "Maximum John" for the sentences he gave in drug cases, was the first federal judge to be killed in the 20th century.

Also the only one, as far as I can tell, though a federal judge's family was murdered a few years ago.

Update: In a letter to a Denver attorney last June, Charles Harrelson

wrote eloquently about a peaceful, silent existence of reading and writing, of watching David Letterman's monologues and listening to National Public Radio and the BBC.

"Being able to take a shower anytime, stay awake all night if I wish, ... read or write or watch whatever TV channel (some 70 channels are available) or listen to the 10 or so radio stations ... offers something akin to independence."

Idyllic. Wonder who you have to ki--never mind. The Belfast Telegraph has a fascinating piece on Charles (the judge wasn't the first murder he was tried for, nor the second) and the effect he may have had on young Woody--who is, rather famously, nuts.