Insert Comma logo
Insert Comma • A Portfolio of Leigh E. Rich
Categories: Health, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on On the road to reform

Health savings accounts a new vehicle or merely a concept car? By Leigh E. Rich There’s a windy mountain road in Colorado, and as cars speed down one particular curve of the hill, accidents frequently ensue. Night after night, cars crash, metal bends, human lives are at stake. The American solution to the problem? Build […]

Categories: Health, Politics, Religion, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Splitting babies or splitting hairs?

Colorado has yet to weigh in on stem cell debate By Leigh E. Rich “He tried to be Solomonic,” Deborah Price Nagler said last week of President George W. Bush’s 2001 policy limiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research to a handful of existing cell lines. But like the ancient king who threatened to […]

Categories: Education, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on CU’s Hoffman on the defensive

Gov. Bill Owens asks leadership for ‘more transparency’ By Leigh E. Rich Once again, Colorado’s founding fathers may be rolling in their graves. According to Paul Schauer, the University of Colorado regent for the 6th Congressional District, the Colorado Territorial Legislature passed a bill in 1861 creating the flagship university that opened its doors to […]

Categories: Books, History, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Revisiting dark days in Iran

Books on the 1979 hostage crisis pertinent to today By Leigh E. Rich The Crisis: The President, the Prophet, and the Shah—1979 and the Coming of Militant Islam By David Harris Little, Brown and Company October 2004 432 pages $26.95/$39.95 (Can.) Dateline: Nov. 4, 1979—After a group calling themselves Students Following the Line of the […]

Categories: People, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on New AG at the plate

It’s a legal home run for Suthers, Colorado’s 37th AG By Leigh E. Rich Colorado’s Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey may have well shouted “Play ball!” after administering John Suthers’ oath of office at his swearing in Monday. There may be no obvious connection between America’s favorite pastime and American public service, but Suthers bridged that […]

Categories: Health, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Obesity heavy subject

Bill will next be weighed in Appropriations By Leigh E. Rich The House Health and Human Services Committee has weighed in: Obesity is a health risk, physically and fiscally. Though HHS members joked around a bit Monday while hearing House Majority Leader Alice Madden’s bill that would create a pilot project for Medicaid clients who […]

Categories: Education, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Owens, legislators call for Churchill’s head

CU regent meeting heats up over Ward Churchill affair By Leigh E. Rich Tenure or no, Ward Churchill has to go. So said Gov. Bill Owens in a press conference Wednesday, commenting on the most recent University of Colorado scandal after signing the 65th General Assembly’s first bill into law. The pride with which Owens […]

Categories: Health, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Medicaid measure session’s first law

HB 1086 reinstates medical services for legal immigrants By Leigh E. Rich Alternating between six different pens, Gov. Bill Owens signed House Bill 1086 into law Wednesday—the first of the 65th session, coming just three weeks after opening day. Sponsored by the six members of the Joint Budget Committee, the legislation reinstates Medicaid benefits to […]

Categories: Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Dems go long in bipartisan budget game

Gov. Bill Owens, House GOP still not won over By Leigh E. Rich It was a pep rally Tuesday at a joint Democratic caucus luncheon, as Colorado’s donkeys geared up for Wednesday’s big budget game. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, rallied their team during the lunchtime affair at […]

Categories: Editorials, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on It’s dangerous to run in Colorado

2006 governor’s race already heating up By Leigh E. Rich The election judges have barely put their away badges and Coloradans are already stretching for the next race, sure to be as exciting and exhausting as the run for Colorado’s open Senate seat in 2004. Though we’ve barely rung in the New Year and the […]

Categories: Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Gov. Bill Owens’ 2005 State of the State address

Political aisle more divided than united By Leigh E. Rich The “state of our great state is sound,” so said Gov. Bill Owens during his seventh State of the State address on the House floor on Thursday. Not so, rebutted the state Democrats via a rushed press release disseminated by the Senate Majority office shortly […]

Categories: Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Budget battle begins

Final budget proposal may be a chimera By Leigh E. Rich In a desperate attempt to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, it seems all the state’s lawmakers have weighed in recently about how to fix Colorado’s cracked budget. They have no choice. Colorado’s Constitution requires a balanced budget every year. And this fiscal year, […]