Colorado: Ken Salazar

Sleeves rolled up, jacket off, Colorado's newest senator walks before a few dozen Democrats at a recent meet-and-greet and waves off the microphone he's offered with a smile.

The Democrat rattles off a brief stump speech without notes, talking up President Barack Obama's stimulus plan and plans to reform education and health care. Then he switches gears and tells a funny anecdote about running into a fellow member of Congress from Colorado in the laundry room of his Washington apartment building.

The crowd laughs—then peppers Bennet with questions, not all of them friendly, for more than two hours.

Democratic Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet announced today in a joint press release that they are now officially part of a moderate working group/coalition/thingy called "The Moderate Dems Working Group." According to the announcement:
The Moderate Dems Working Group will meet every other Tuesday before the Democratic Caucus lunch to discuss legislative strategies and ideas. The Moderate Dems held their second meeting Tuesday to focus on the upcoming budget negotiations and the importance of passing a fiscally responsible spending plan in the Senate.

Leading the new group are Democratic Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Carper of Delaware and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

In a letter sent this week (PDF), state Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, pleads with Attorney General John Suthers to intervene regarding concerns over air pollution in southwest Colorado resulting from the Four Corners Power Plant.

"We're hoping Attorney General Suthers helps us because there is currently a lawsuit going on, which is crossing some very unique lines," Tipton said.

The plant is located on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, so there are jurisdictional issues when trying to curb pollution from the plant. While New Mexico has its own rules regarding air pollution, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state has no jurisdiction over the FCPP because it is located on Native American tribal lands.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday afternoon that fourth-generation Colorado resident Will Shafroth, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last summer, will be the department’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. A few weeks ago Salazar nominated another Colorado politician as Shafroth’s boss, naming former Senate candidate and one-time U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland as his assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.

The announcement from Salazar’s office:

Salazar Names Land Conservation Leader Will Shafroth Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has named Will Shafroth, a land conservationist executive and founding director of the Colorado Conservation Trust and Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.