bad of serving

lature this year, particularly SB23-213 Land Use, which was intended to increase available housing but failed under the weight of near universal opposition by mayors and city council members statewide, Ortiz turned over the presentation to Senator Kolker, who pointed out that, “Over 400 bills passed this year out of over 600 that were introduced.” als, Ortiz told the crowd.

In the area of housing, “We protected renters by limiting security deposits and income requirements…provided $60 million of tax incentives for decarbonization, lessened the time and cost of solar installations, and expanded electric charging infrastructure,” he said. There are also new rules to enhance water conservation.

After listing some of the bills that failed in the legis-

Kolker said he was focused on education funding and pointed to HB23-1112 Earned Income and Child Tax Credits. He emphasized, “This bill does more for working families and the working poor than any other bill that we’ve passed because it gives them income tax credits…also child tax credits, increasing the ability of working families in this state to make a living.”

He also pointed to SB23-

I have a good friend in California who reads the New York Times and clips out stories sending them to me to digest. The articles are usually newspaper related about Pulitzer Prize winners, deaths of well-known newspaper figures. Recently I received two clippings about gambling since we publish The Weekly Register-Call in the gaming capital cities of Black Hawk and Central City.

BY BOB SWEENEY

into the World Series of Poker. Thousands of poker players show up in Las Vegas and play for millions of dollars to become the World Series of Poker Champion with prize money approaching $10 million for a first-place win, along with a coveted world champion bracelet.

features without the airfares and airport hassles.

Touring the Grand Z “Maverick” casino recently, I ran across a Central City friend who related, “I like to gamble, that’s why I chose to live here.” Many people like gaming; slot machines are the favorite choice followed by table games. Entertainment and excellent buffets and steak houses add to the gaming attraction.

Gambling is a proven skill, and especially Texas hold’em where players combine math odds, emotion, and guts, to play for large cash prizes. Poker has spread around the world faster than pickleball.

Late at night, tiring of political news, the Rockies losing again, Nuggets basking in glory as World Champions, and Bronco football not underway, I will tune

As you read this column after July 4th, know that the poker tables were busy over the July 4th week. So were pickleball courts. Gambling provides millions of dollars to state, city, and county projects. There is a reported 10,000 jobs related to state gaming.

I received two clippings, one about new Vegas rules on some casinos reducing the payout on a blackjack from 3:2 to 6:5. For example, if you wager $10 and hit a blackjack your return is $15. The new payout would pay $12. Local casinos are still paying 3:2 hopefully, most local gaming limits now match Vegas rules.

Las Vegas has always been a great tourist destination and with football, hockey, and probably baseball, sports and sports betting has become a huge industry. Colorado casinos can now provide many of the gaming

Gilpin County’s early day historic baseball teams played against Idaho Springs and Georgetown teams, often traveling by wagon and horseback to the Sunday events. Today, because of gaming revenue, Gilpin high school has one of the finest athletic fields in the state.

The second clipping really hit home because it was about the death of poker legend Doyle Brunson, a colorful Texas cowboy “hat” player, who rose to become the Iconic champion of American poker winning the World Series event in two successive years, 1976 and 1977. During his lengthy poker career, passing away a at age 89, he was still an active poker player winning over 10 World Series events. He is often quoted on TV saying that you, “Don’t get old playing poker, but you get old if you don’t play.” He was inducted into the “The World. Series Hall of Fame,” in 1988, with winnings of over $6 million dollars.

Doyle Frank Brunson was born Aug 10,1933 and grew up in Longworth, in north central Texas. He was a Sweetwater high school athlete and learned to play poker paying for his college education, earning a master’s degree in education. Poker playing led him to meet and team up with Amarillo Slim, a major gaming celebrity who visited the Hyatt casino in Black Hawk in early Colorado gaming days.

Brunson was one of three dozen players invited to play in the inaugural World Series of Poker in 1976 at Binion’s Casino in Las Vegas, promoted by owner Benny Binion and Jimmy Snyder. He moved to Las Vegas in1973 and won $560,000 in his first tournament in 1976. The World Series is now the leading world poker event with million-dollar events worldwide.

In 1978 he authored his first book entitled, “How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker.” His books later named “Super Systems” are some of the top selling poker books today. As late as 2005, he won the Legends event, winning $1.2 million for his tenth World Series title.

He continued playing poker through 2022 until his recent death in Las Vegas May 14, 2023.

Just for the record, he proved that old guys can still be winners.

A Great itinerary to first time visitors to Hawaii

Many readers have traveled to Hawaii and are in no need of itinerary suggestions as they have their favorite islands, hotels, resorts and restaurants. But for those who have never traveled to Hawaii, here is an itinerary I put together as my travel companion was a first-time visitor to the Aloha State.

For those wondering if I lost interest in current events or politics, heck no!

For this newspaper column, I was asked to write about travel and more benign topics, which I have been doing over the past few months.

I am still a regular columnist at American Thinker, Rasmussen Reports, and on Substack at “Dr Brian’s Substack”, the latter of which offers a free subscription, so you receive all my opinion articles.

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EDITORIAL COLUMNIST

Robert Sweeney bsween1@aol.com lava field, barren and bleak, much like the surface of Mars. Interestingly NASA has a base on the island to test the Mars rover on the landscape.

BY BRIAN C. JOONDEPH

Our Hawaiian adventure started with a nonstop flight from Denver to Honolulu, much better direct than a layover on the West coast with dodgy connections and delays.

We spent two nights in Waikiki, enjoying a variety of restaurants and lots of good shopping opportunities.

A trip to the Pearl Harbor Museum takes most of a day but is a must for a sobering US history lesson. Honolulu has traffic worse than Denver, so allow ample travel time around town.

Leaving the hustle and bustle of Oahu, we then took a short flight to the Big Island, staying in one of the Kona resorts. The landscape is a giant

A drive across the island to Volcanos National Park took us from sea level over a 6500 ft pass, like driving from Denver to the mountains. The national park was beautiful with many smoldering volcanoes. A late lunch in Hilo then a drive through rainforest terrain, in sharp contrast to the rest of the island, back to our hotel and a dip in the pool.

Our third island was Kawai, again a short flight on Hawaiian Airlines. Kawaii is lush and green, and a good middle ground in busy-ness between Oahu and the Big Island. Highlights included a sunset dinner catamaran trip around the western coast to the north end of the island, seeing beautiful scenery.

The next day we took a helicopter tour over the island, viewing otherwise inaccessible areas including waterfalls and valleys featured in the movie Jurassic Park. There are lots of helicopter companies to choose from.

Finally, a short flight back to Honolulu and another nonstop flight back to Denver. As flights home leave in the evening, nonstop is the best way, and better yet, fly business class through points or cash to catch some sleep before arriving in Denver at around 600 AM.

We skipped Maui, famous for beautiful resorts at Wailea, but to me that’s a trip better suited for a week of just Maui, rather than island hopping. On all islands the seafood is fresh and delicious, and the days are generally warm and sunny with a nice breeze.

For my travel buddy, she saw the highlights of Hawaii in 8 days and thought my itinerary was ideal for a first-time visitor to our 50th state. Mahalo!

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Reverend Martin Niemoller

“In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists and I didn’t speak up because wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews and didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and didn’t speak up because wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time there was no one left to speak for me!”

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