Tributary December 09, 2020

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Volume 11, Issue 49

In This Issue:

December 9, 2020

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Mental Health Support Available to Communities Statewide

Broomfield, Colo. - In a year that has resulted in increased strain on mental health, and with the arrival of the holiday season, the Colorado Departments of Agriculture, Human Services and Public Health and Environment remind Coloradans that support is available to people in every Colorado county through a number of different resources: • Colorado Crisis Services provides confidential, free support through a statewide call line. Call 1-844-493-TALK (8255) or text “TALK” to 38255.

Counselors are available to talk 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Community-based crisis counseling teams of the Colorado Spirit Crisis Counseling Program (CCP) are providing free emotional support to people of all ages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local teams are active across the state, including in rural and frontier counties. Learn more and find a provider list here. Counselors can help with support around feelings of worry, sadness, hopelessness, or even anger that life during the pandemic brings up. CCP is funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency with oversight by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

• A statewide Healthcare Workforce, Teacher, and Educator Well-being Support Line has also been created by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The line provides counseling, stress and resilience support, and education tools. The support line is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, by calling 303-724-2500. Learn more.

All Coloradans, particularly those living in isolated areas, are encouraged to utilize these services. As case numbers of COVID-19 increase across the nation, many people are experiencing the stress of the pandemic in different ways and it’s important to bolster protective factors that can help support mental health.

Learn more about the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s rural mental health outreach initiative and toolkit here. Sign up for the department’s rural mental health quarterly newsletter here.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture exists to support the state’s agriculture industry and serve the people of Colorado through regulation, advocacy and education. Our mission is to strengthen and advance Colorado agriculture, promote a safe and high-quality food supply, protect consumers, and foster responsible stewardship of the environment and natural resources.

Available by Subscription

Important Lessons for Republicans Colorado Highways Rank in Bottom Half

Another Lockdown Could Put Colorado Restaurants At Risk Of Mass Closure

By Sarah Mulholland, CPR News Roughly one in four restaurants would consider closing permanently within a month if indoor dining were shut back down, according to a new survey from the Colorado Restaurant Association.

About 80 percent of dining establishments would close within six months, according to a survey of 170 operators conducted this month.

Almost half of restaurants would be forced to shut down within three months if capacity is restricted to 25 percent, the survey found.

Almost threequarters said they would Restaurants along Main Street in Longmont have moved seating onto the sidewalks, while also requiring social shut down distancing rules so they can stay open during the corowithin six navirus pandemic, Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. months.

Hart Van Denburg/CPR News The pandemic has taken an enormous toll on restaurants. The industry has shed nearly one-third of its jobs – which equates to more than 63,000 jobs, Colorado Restaurant Association data show. Revenues declined about 40 percent on average from last year, the data show.

The likelihood of stay-at-home orders, either at the local level or statewide, is rising as cases climb. Gov. Jared Polis is encouraging Coloradans to cancel plans in the coming weeks as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. Denver and Pueblo counties have put a 10 p.m. curfew in place.

Restaurants got a partial reprieve during the warm months with cities and towns across Colorado setting up outdoor dining programs. More than half of restaurants’ revenues this summer came from expanded patio dining, according to survey results.

Outdoor dining is no longer an option for many restaurants as the weather gets cold. The restaurant association estimates it costs more than $17,000 to prepare for outdoor dining in the winter, including such things as heaters and tents. About one-fifth of restaurants won’t attempt to institute outdoor dining for winter, citing the cost, according to the survey.

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T H E T R I B U TA R Y

Sen. Rick Scott: Trump’s Florida Election Victory has Important lesson for Republicans Nationwide

Democrats want to control your life. Republicans want to give you a life

By Rick Scott | Fox News President Trump’s decisive election victory in my home state of Florida offers an important lesson for Republicans nationwide: If we show voters that Republicans are the party of workingclass Americans, a party that reaches out to people of all races and creeds, and a party that fights for equal opportunity for all we will win in future elections.

For years, Democrats and pollsters have wrongly predicted Democratic wins in the Sunshine State, including in my successful races for governor and the U.S. Senate on the Republican ticket.

The Democrats and pollsters forgot why people choose to live in Florida, which is now the third-most-populous state in America, after California and Texas.

People are moving to and staying in Florida because they want low taxes and small government. They want to escape socialism, to raise strong families and to send their kids to good schools. They want to work hard and be entrepreneurial, and they want to be able to forge a future for themselves and their families.

Just two days before the Nov. 3 election, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris stated that the goal of equity among Americans is not equal opportunity, but equal outcomes.

Too many Floridians are familiar with the language of equality of outcomes, and they know that it leaves everyone equally poor. They have heard the empty promises of the late communist leaders Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba. And more importantly, Floridians have seen the violence and authoritarianism that too often follows those empty promises.

People — including many fleeing communism and socialism in Latin America and elsewhere — have moved to Florida because they don’t want to live under the economic policies that the left is increasingly embracing in this country.

Between 2016 and 2020, President Trump significantly improved his standing among Latino voters. That’s a reflection of both his hard work to reach out to those communities and the Democrats’ hard turn to the left.

But the growth in support for President Trump wasn’t limited to Latinos only. President Trump saw an 8-point increase among all non-White voters in Florida, according to exit polls, and made significant inroads in predominantly African American communities like West Park.

Republicans have built a multi-ethnic, working-class coalition of Florida voters who don’t like big government, don’t like socialism and just want the opportunity to live their lives in freedom and peace.

This doesn’t mean that all government is bad. It just means that government should live within its means and that essential services provided by government — like the national defense and important safety net programs — should be efficiently and effectively managed.

In my races for governor and the U.S. Senate, I didn’t treat Latino voters as an afterthought, an add-on, or an “outreach” group. Latinos were fundamental to all of my elections, and are fundamental to the emerging Republican coalition that leads the way in Florida.

President Trump had incredible success in Florida because his message resonated with this diverse coalition of voters who don’t neatly fit into the pundits’ and pollsters’ conception of the political world. And he worked to earn votes in my state — a necessity that Florida Democrats seemingly forgot about decades ago.

All this explains why the success of Florida Republicans, including the president, is a model for Republicans across the country.

December 9, 2020

TRIVIA What fearsome group hit No. 1 with Shout?

TEARS FOR FEARS What color was the first pair of pants Levi Strauss made and sold?

BROWN What does Donald Duck have instead of wings?

ARMS What, apart from TVs, are cathode ray tubes most commonly used for?

COMPUTER TERMINALS What Disney doll wears reading:”You Quack Me Up”?

DONALD DUCK

a

sweater

What icy continent is home to the Palmer Research Station?

ANTARCTICA Whose consent does Froggie need to marry Miss Mousie, in Froggie Went A-Courtin?

UNCLE RAT’S What filmmaker hired a lawyer who’d advised Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution?

WALT DISNEY What cartoon character gets top billing in The Mad Doctor and The Mad Dog? MICKEY MOUSE Which moves faster - the mule deer or the reindeer?

THE MULE DEER What Walt Disney World country boasts two spiraling water slides?

RIVER COUNTRY What’s Iceland’s main industry - farming, fishing, or tourism?

FISHING What Duran Duran LP features The Reflex?

SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER Which member of Duran Duran almost drowned while sailing in 1985?

SIMON LE BON What soft drink sponsored Walt Disney’s first TV special in 1950?

COCA-COLA

December 9, 2020

Also on This Day

WESTWARD EXPANSION 1835 Inspired by the spirited leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texan Army takes possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico.

ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY 1854 The Examiner prints Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” which commemorates the courage of 600 British soldiers charging a heavily defended position during the Battle of Balaklava, in the Crimea, just six weeks earlier. T ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY 1983 The actor Al Pacino stars as a Cuban refugee who becomes a Miami crime boss in Scarface, which opens in theaters on December 9, 1983. In Scarface, Pacino played Tony Montana, who arrives in Florida from Cuba in 1980 CRIME 1981 Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner is found dead on the street with Mumia Abu-Jamal, a well-known activist and freelance journalist, lying severely wounded nearby. In 1982, AbuJamal was tried for and convicted of Faulkner’s murder.

WORLD WAR I 1917 On the morning of December 9, 1917, after Turkish troops move out of the region after only a single day s fighting, officials of the Holy City of Jerusalem offer the keys to the city to encroaching British troops.

INVENTIONS & SCIENCE 1979 Acommission of scientists declare that smallpox has been eradicated. The disease, which carries around a 30 percent chance of death for those who contract it, is the only infectious disease afflicting humans that has officially been eradicated.

RED SCARE 1958 In Indianapolis, retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., establishes the John Birch Society, a right-wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceives to be the extensive infiltration of communism into American society.

T H E T R I B U TA R Y

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This Day in History - December 9, 1992 U.S. Marines Storm Mogadishu, Somalia

On December 9, 1992, 1,800 United States Marines arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia, to spearhead a multinational force aimed at restoring order in the conflict-ridden country.

Following centuries of colonial rule by countries including Portugal, Britain and Italy, Mogadishu became he capital of an independent Somalia in 1960. Less than 10 years later, a military group led by Major General Muhammad Siad Barre seized power and declared Somalia a socialist state. A drought in the mid-1970s combined with an unsuccessful rebellion by ethnic Somalis in a neighboring province of Ethiopia to deprive many of food and shelter. By 1981, close to 2 million of the country’s inhabitants were homeless. Though a peace accord was signed with Ethiopia in 1988, fighting increased between rival clans within Somalia, and in January 1991 Barre was forced to flee the capital. Over the next 23 months, Somalia’s civil war killed some 50,000 people; another 300,000 died of starvation as United Nations peacekeeping forces struggled in vain to restore order and provide relief amid the chaos of war.

In early December 1992, outgoing U.S. President George H.W. Bush sent the contingent of Marines to Mogadishu as part of a mission dubbed Operation Restore Hope. Backed by the U.S. troops, international aid workers were soon able to restore food distribution and other humanitarian aid operations. Sporadic violence continued, including the murder of 24 U.N. soldiers from Pakistan in 1993. As a result, the U.N. authorized the arrest of General Mohammed Farah Aidid, leader of one of the rebel clans. On October 3, 1993, during an attempt to make the arrest, rebels shot down two of the U.S. Army’s Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 American soldiers.

As horrified TV viewers watched images of the bloodshed—including footage of Aidid’s supporters dragging the body of one dead soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, cheering—President Bill Clinton immediately gave the order for all American soldiers to withdraw from Somalia

by March 31, 1994. Other Western nations followed suit. When the last U.N. peacekeepers left in 1995, ending a mission that had cost more than $2 billion, Mogadishu still lacked a functioning government. A ceasefire accord signed in Kenya in 2002 failed to put a stop to the violence, though a new parliament was convened in 2004

SUDOKU

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T H E T R I B U TA R Y

December 9, 2020

Colorado’s Highway System Ranks in Bottom Half of Nation, Report Finds

by Robert Davis (The Center Square) - Colorado’s highway system ranks 38th in overall performance and costeffectiveness in a nationwide report on highways.

Colorado’s ranking in the Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report represents a two-spot drop from last year’s ranking. The report, which uses 2018 data, said funding for state-owned roads across the country saw a 9% increase that year, up to $151.8 billion.

The libertarian think tank›s report found states like North Carolina and Texas did the best job of combining performance and cost-effectiveness while New York and California were two of the lowest-ranked.

To determine the overall rankings, Reason did a state-by-state comparison of highway spending per mile of responsibility and «system performance,» a measurement of pavement quality, congestion, and safety.

Colorado ranked in the middle of the pack in highway spending, but near the bottom in pavement quality and safety.

The highest ranking Colorado received was No. 18, for its high count of structurally deficient bridges.

«To improve in the rankings, Colorado needs to improve its rural Interstate pavement condition. Colorado is in the bottom five of all states in rural Interstate pavement condition. Compared to neighboring states, the report finds Colorado›s overall highway performance is worse than New Mexico (ranks 16th), Utah (ranks 17th), and Wyoming (ranks 36th),» said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the report and managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation.

«Colorado is better than some comparable states like Washington (ranks 45th), but worse than others such as Arizona (ranks 23rd),» he added.

State legislators have done their part by increasing the total funds budgeted for transportation projects. However, each time Colorado faces a financial squeeze, the transportation jar thins out.

For example, Colorado faced a $3.3 billion budgetary shortfall after the first round of COVID-19 lockdowns. Transportation took a 6% cut once lawmakers returned from recess in late May, adding up to over $127 million in losses.

However, even if state transportation agencies kept all of the apportioned funds, there is still a wide gap between disbursements and taxpayer needs.

The Colorado Department of Transportation›s most recent budgetary deficit report from 2017 estimates the department will need $2.5 billion over the next 10 years to meet its goal of an 80% drivability life for state roads.

Governor Jared Polis› 2021 budget proposal includes $220 million for public works and infrastructure. This represents a 14% increase from 2020, but still $30 million under what CDOT needs to maintain the 23,000 miles in state roads under its jurisdiction.

Similarly, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates additional road repairs, traffic crashes and time lost in congestion costs taxpayers $7.1 billion annually, or as much as $2,306 per driver in the Denver metropolitan area.