Colorado: Jefferson County

The Colorado Transportation Commission has approved a list of "ready to go" highway projects to be funded with federal stimulus dollars.

Colorado will receive a total of more than $500 million for road, bridge and transit projects statewide. Of that total, CDOT will get $317 million for highways and $12.5 million for transit projects in rural areas.

CDOT must have at least 50 percent of its stimulus money for highways committed to projects within 120 days. The remaining money must be allocated to projects within one year.

The following is a list of road projects to be funded with stimulus dollars by region.

Republican Sen. Ted Harvey knew exactly what was going to happen when he presented his bill to require school districts to post their finances online:

After his three witnesses testified in favor of the measure, education interests would argue against it and the Democratic- controlled Education Committee would kill it.

To Harvey's surprise, a flood of strangers - including a retired reporter and a former county commissioner - showed up in January to urge passage of Senate Bill 57. The measure didn't die, but it was amended to "encourage" districts to post the information rather than require it.

Harvey is going to try to strip the encouragement provision today on the Senate floor.

In the past few days, organizers using My.BarackObama.com have put together dozens of meetings throughout Colorado in living rooms, basements and coffee shops to discuss the economic stimulus package moving its way through Congress.

Is the Senate plan too heavy on tax cuts, or are proposed spending cuts too tame? Will the eventual legislation restore $40 billion originally intended to help states close widening budget gaps, or will fiscal hawks demand more cuts? Will Democrats accept a slimmed-down stimulus package in order to claim bipartisan support, even if not a single House Republican voted for it the first time around? These and more questions will be discussed across the country in coming days.

Education spending would be pared back by nearly $200 million under Gov. Bill Ritter's budget plan unveiled Tuesday — cutting higher education by $70 million and K-12 education by $126 million.

The plan now goes into the legislative process, and officials don't know exactly how money from the proposed federal stimulus package would affect education spending.

Nevertheless, Colorado education officials who are developing their own budgets view the governor's proposal as a guide to what they can expect when the legislature signs off on state funding for fiscal year 2009-10, which begins in July.

"This is not unexpected," said Nancy McCallin, president of the Colorado Community College System.