Panel stumbles on finance reform plan | EdNewsColorado

The Senate Education Committee, not so fresh after nine-and-a-half hours of public testimony Tuesday night, the next day struggled through a long list of amendments to the proposed school finance overhaul but put off a vote until Thursday.

Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster

Wednesday morning?s three-hour meeting on Senate Bill 13-213 was a stop-and-go affair marked by the chair?s attempts to speed things up and slowdowns caused by member confusion over the flurry of amendments.

The bill, pushed by Democratic Sens. Mike Johnston of Denver and Rollie Heath of Boulder, is considered the most significant education legislation of the 2013 session. But it has run into heavy turbulence, and statehouse observers are hard pressed to predict the outcome of the debate.

The measure also is facing tight time constraints. Johnston and Heath had hoped for preliminary Senate floor debate no later than Monday, before consideration of the annual state budget bill dominates Senate and House deliberations for several days. After that, Johnston will be out of the Capitol for personal reasons. So there?s pressure to move the bill so that the House will have enough time for consideration, given that the legislature must adjourn by May 8.

Key elements of Senate Bill 13-213 include increased funding for kindergarten and preschool, significantly more money for districts with the highest concentrations of at-risk students and English language learners, more money for special education, extra payments to districts for the cost of implementing reform mandates and some changes in requirements for district contributions to school costs. The system wouldn?t go into effect unless a statewide ballot measure to raise taxes is passed.

Although Johnston has been shopping his ideas to scores of education groups for more than a year, the bill currently seems to have more critics than friends, both in the General Assembly and among education interest groups.

• Districts both large and small think the plan doesn?t provide them enough additional funding while districts like Denver and Aurora would get big boosts.
• Another group of smaller districts with special financial profiles think the bill actually hurts them.
• Charter school supporters think the bill doesn?t do enough for them; district interests feel the bill places too many restrictions on their dealings with charters.
• Some education reform groups say the bill doesn?t provide true ?backpack? funding that follows students to schools; districts think Johnston has gone too far in that direction.
• Supporters of education adequacy think Johnston hasn?t done enough to determine what an ?adequate education? actually should cost.

And lots of people think the bill is being pushed too fast, despite Johnston?s months of briefings and the fact that drafts of the measure have been available for a month.

Several amendments proposed Wednesday touched on those issues. By EdNews? count, 19 amendments were proposed, with seven passed, 11 defeated and two withdrawn. (One of the defeated amendments was passed but defeated later on reconsideration.)

Sens. Mike Johnston and Rollie Heath confer during Senate Bill 13-213 debate.

Johnston won passage of his amendment to provide continued current state funding to districts with high property values but low taxes, a benefit to about two-dozen districts. But he lost an amendment to create a minimum per-pupil funding ?floor? for other districts at the low end of his plan.

Committee Chair Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, proposed five amendments, most intended to trim some of Johnston?s innovation ideas. All lost.

Republican amendments to increase funding for charters also were defeated. Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, proposed a sweeping amendment to keep much of the state funding system as it is now, something that would have benefited some larger suburban districts that don?t gain much under Johnston?s plan. Johnston objected, and Scheffel withdrew the idea.

The amending process was chaotic, with members presenting their ideas but then having to wait for votes because someone was temporarily out of the hearing room. At times members seemed unsure what they were voting on, and on several roll calls some members ?passed,? meaning the committee aide had to call their names a second time a moment later to get a vote.

Johnston (center) huddles with Sens. Mark Scheffel (left) and Owen Hill after a vote went in an unexpected direction.

On one vote Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado, tried to pass twice. He made a remark about not having knocked on 30,000 doors to flip a coin. ?Give it your best shot,? snapped Hudak, who added she had a coin.

The meeting started about 10:15 a.m. Hudak noted that they had to be done by 1:30 p.m. and said, ?I would encourage us to keep our discussion on amendments to a minimum? and that amendments not handled Wednesday would have to be offered on the floor later.

Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, objected, saying, ?This is appalling and disrespectful of the process.? It took a few words from legislative staffers about the chair?s powers to calm that tiff down.

?We have to end at 1:30 ? and this bill has to be done today,? Hudak said. ?Let?s just starting working the amendments, let?s see what happens,? Johnston replied.

?I?d urge all of us to take a breath,? said Scheffel. ?We?ve got to do it right.?

Later, as the clock ticked toward 1:30 p.m., Hudak asked her colleagues, ?Are you ready to vote on the amendment and the bill in two minutes?? (The 1:30 p.m. end was necessary because other committees were starting up at that time.)

The committee wasn?t, and Hudak was persuaded to recess until 3:30 p.m.

There apparently were other discussions during that two-hour period. When Hudak and two other members returned at 3:30 p.m., she took less than 30 seconds to announce that the bill was being laid over until the committee?s regular 1:30 p.m. meeting on Thursday.

Source: http://www.ednewscolorado.org/news/panel-stumbles-on-finance-reform-plan

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House passes GOP budget plan promising deep cuts

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. The developments in the Senate come as the House resumed debate on the budget for next year and beyond. Republicans are pushing a plan that promises sharp cuts to federal health care programs and domestic agency operating budgets as the price for balancing the budget in a decade. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. The developments in the Senate come as the House resumed debate on the budget for next year and beyond. Republicans are pushing a plan that promises sharp cuts to federal health care programs and domestic agency operating budgets as the price for balancing the budget in a decade. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Moving on two fronts, the Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to keep the government running for the next six months while pushing through a tea-party flavored budget for next year that would shrink the government by another $4.6 trillion over the next decade.

The spending authorization on its way to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature leaves in place $85 billion in spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs. The result will be temporary furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors over the next six months and interrupted, slower or halted services and aid for many Americans.

The nonbinding GOP budget plan for 2014 and beyond calls for a balanced budget in 10 years' time and sharp cuts in safety-net programs for the poor and other domestic programs.

Thursday's developments demonstrated the split nature of this year's budget debate. Competing nonbinding budget measures by each party provide platforms for political principles; at the same time Capitol Hill leaders forged a bipartisan deal on carrying out the government's core responsibilities, in this case providing money for agencies to operate and preventing a government shutdown.

The GOP budget proposal, similar to previous plans offered by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., demonstrates that it's possible, at least mathematically, to balance the budget within a decade without raising taxes. But to do so Ryan, his party's vice presidential nominee last year, assumes deep cuts that would force millions from programs for the poor like food stamps and Medicaid and cut almost 20 percent from domestic agency budget levels assumed less than two years ago.

Ryan's plan passed the House on a mostly party-line 221-207 vote, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats against it.

Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Senate debated for a second day its first budget since the 2009 plan that helped Obama pass his health care law. A vote on the Senate measure is expected late Friday or early Saturday.

The dueling House and Senate budget plans are anchored on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum in Washington, appealing to core partisans in warring GOP and Democratic tribes long gridlocked over how to attack budget deficits. The GOP plan caters to tea party forces while Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., crafted a measure designed to nail down support from liberal senators like Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who vehemently oppose cuts to safety net programs, like Medicare and Social Security.

What the Ryan and Murray budgets both fail to do is reach out to the political middle, where any possible bargain would have to be forged.

"At least we're moving closer to an opportunity for agreement," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "I know we're worlds apart when it comes to philosophy and how we go forward."

The sharp contrast over the 2014 budget and beyond came as the House cleared away last year's unfinished fiscal business ? a sweeping, government-wide bill to keep Cabinet agencies running through the 2013 budget year, which ends Sept. 30.

The House passed the bipartisan 2013 measure by a sweeping 318-109 vote. The Senate had approved the measure on Wednesday.

The measure would authorize money for the day-to-day operations of every Cabinet agency through Sept. 30, provide another $87 billion to fund overseas military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and maintain a pay freeze for federal workers. Automatic spending cuts of 5 percent to domestic programs and 8 percent to the Pentagon are left in place, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers facing job furloughs.

But the bill eases the effect of the trims on food inspections and college assistance for active duty military and relieves the Pentagon from a cash crunch in accounts for training and readiness. Veteran health programs will get their scheduled increases and there are big boosts to modernize the Pentagon's nuclear arsenal. It also ensures full funding for a food program for pregnant women and their babies.

Federal agencies have thus far borne the brunt of the spending cuts hammered out in a hard-fought 2011 budget pact that set spending "caps" and increased the government's borrowing limit. Congress' failure to follow up with another deficit bargain set the automatic spending cuts in motion. They are just beginning to bite, and Republicans insist they remain in place until Democrats agree to cuts to rapidly growing entitlement programs, which are funded automatically as the "mandatory" portion of the budget.

But Democrats were denied additional money to implement Obama's signature first-term accomplishments on overhauling the health care system and tightening regulation of Wall Street.

The long-term, nonbinding GOP budget plan authored by Ryan, the party's failed 2012 vice presidential nominee, makes lots of promises about "reforming" costly benefits programs like food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid, but it's often scant on details about the cuts. And while pledging a tax reform plan that would lower the top income tax bracket from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, it doesn't say which tax breaks, deductions and credits it would eliminate to replace almost $6 trillion in lost revenue over a decade.

The Ryan measure also revives a controversial plan to turn the Medicare programs for the elderly into a voucher-like system for future beneficiaries born in 1959 or later. Critics say the idea would mean ever-spiraling out-of-pocket costs for care, but Ryan insists the plan would inject competition into a broken system.

"This is an uncompromising, ideological approach to our budget issues," said the Budget Committee's top Democrat, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. "The American people voted, and they resoundingly rejected the approach that is now taken, once again, for the third year in a row, in this Republican budget."

Fresh from passing the 2013 wrap-up measure on Wednesday, the Senate was turning to Murray's plan, which would add nearly $1 trillion in new taxes over the coming decade in an attempt to stabilize the $16 trillion-plus national debt.

It's the first budget debate scheduled by Senate Democrats in four years. Democratic leaders have seemed intent on protecting members from a slew of politically troublesome votes forced by Republicans and don't seem to have suffered from charges that they've been shirking their budget duty.

But Murray's plan would actually increase government spending ? measured against a "baseline" that already assumes automatic budget increases ? after accounting for the $1.2 trillion cost of repealing the automatic cuts. That means the net cuts to the deficit would amount to just a few hundred billion dollars in a federal budget estimated at $46 trillion or so over the coming decade. Murray's position is that the automatic cuts were designed to prod Washington into action on the debt and were never intended to take effect. By that math her budget promises $1.85 trillion in lower deficits after 10 years.

"We need to tackle our deficit and debt fairly and responsibly," Murray said. "We need to keep the promises we've made as a nation to our seniors, our families and our communities."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-21-Budget%20Battle/id-7e1838efbfca45c6be86d2a91a9cfc09

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Thuraya's SatSleeve docks your iPhone onto its satellite network, charges it too (video)

Despite the Gorilla glass, we're not sure if it's a great idea to bring that iPhone to K2. Still, if you can fire it up, you can now make satellite calls from Apple's iPhone 4 and 4s handsets thanks to Thuraya's SatSleeve. Always-on globetrotter types can slip one of those models into a cradle, dial their pals from virtually anywhere via the company's own satellite network and even place emergency calls without the handset. The device also includes a built-in battery pack to stretch call times by charging your phone -- though given satellite rates, you may get charged more than you think. Thuraya said that an iPhone 5 version's also in the works, but if you're okay with Cupertino's prior models, hit the break for more.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/21/thuraya-satellite-iphone-satsleeve/

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Lady Gaga 'Doing Wonderful' After Hip Surgery

Singer's manager says she's 'ready to get back to work.'
By Driadonna Roland

Lady Gaga
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704076/lady-gaga-hip-surgery-update.jhtml

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PFT: Kraft calls Belichick, Brady best in history

AP

Whenever Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III is ready to play again, he?s going to have to be a more cautious player.

That?s the word from coach Mike Shanahan, who said at the league meeting that Griffin, who is recovering from major knee surgery, will have to learn to slide and throw the ball away to protect himself.

?You can?t take shots consistently,? Shanahan said, via Mark Maske of the Washington Post.

Still, that doesn?t mean Shanahan plans to take the running element out of Griffin?s game. In fact, Shanahan said that the read-option forces defensive linemen to read and react and slows down their rush.

?The option will help a quarterback stay healthy,? Shanahan said.

Shanahan reiterated that Griffin is ahead of schedule on his recovery, although he cautioned that he doesn?t want Griffin to go overboard with his workouts and re-aggravate the injury.

?If hard work has anything to do with it, he?ll be ready,? Shanahan said. ?You?re always optimistic.?

And Shanahan is optimistic not only about Griffin?s recovery from this injury, but about Griffin?s ability to change his game to avoid future injuries.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/19/kraft-says-belichick-is-the-best-coach-ever-brady-is-the-best-qb-ever/related/

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93% Lore

All Critics (83) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (77) | Rotten (6)

It's a harrowing walk through the heart of darkness.

Saskia Rosendahl gives an impressively poised performance as the beautiful teenager, whose determination to protect her remaining family coincides with her growing revulsion toward her parents.

"Lore" is not a pretty story, but it is a good and sadly believable one.

"Lore" is not a love story, nor the story of a friendship. Rather, it's a story of healing and of how breaking, sometimes painfully, is often necessary before that process can begin.

A fiercely poetic portrait of a young woman staggering beyond innocence and denial, it's about the wars that rage within after the wars outside are lost.

Full of surprises, the movie draws a thin line between pity and revulsion - how would you feel if you had discovered your whole life had been based on lies?

Lore and her siblings make a harrowing journey across Germany

Worthwhile, but so subtle that it's frustrating.

The Australian-German co-production takes an unconventional tale and turns it into a challenging, visually stunning and emotionally turbulent film experience.

Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go. Except this ain't no fairy tale... unless it is, perhaps, a hint of the beginnings of a new mythology of ... scary childhood and even scarier adolescence...

With a child's perspective on war, "Lore" deserves comparisons with "Empire of the Sun" and "Hope and Glory," and with a feisty female protagonist it stands virtually alone.

Rosendahl...provides both narrative and emotional continuity to a film whose deliberate pace and fragmented presentation of reality might otherwise prove exasperating.

A burning portrait of consciousness and endurance, gracefully acted and strikingly realized, producing an honest sense of emotional disruption, while concluding on a powerful note of cultural and familial rejection.

Although there are moments that push the story a bit beyond credulity, Shortland has created something remarkable by forcing us to find within ourselves sympathy for this would-be Aryan princess.

Stunning, admirable and indelible - truthfully chronicling the triumph of the human spirit - in a class with Michael Haneke's 'The White Ribbon.'

Can we spare some sympathy or hope for the children of villains, even if they too show signs of their parents' evil? Lore provides no easy answers.

The portrait is miniature and yet indelible, a ghostly reminder of the 20th century.

Shortland is a master of tone here, beginning with a nightmarish, chaotic flight which grows darker during the journey and, perhaps darkest of all, at its final destination.

Remarkable for its unusual perspective...but never manages to connect emotionally as deeply as it might have.

One of the most powerful war stories to appear on screen. A story of the universal defeat of war and the enduring survival of the human spirit.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lore/

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Pinterest redesign shows pins related by creator and popularity, stokes curiosity

Going on a Pinterest spree isn't always easy -- not when there's been extra work involved in exploring someone else's board, or figuring out what else is similar. The company may have licked both of those problems with a redesign that's exiting its testing phase today. As of now, visiting a pin will show others from the same board or company, as well as items that fellow explorers have pinned alongside the one you're viewing. Lower-profile changes are in store as well: the pin content itself is bigger, and the site will finally remember your place when you step back from a curious click. Web-based Pinterest fans should soon get an invitation to use the discovery-friendly revamp, while the Android and iOS apps will eventually see the new tricks through updates.

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