Ed Viesturs, the first American to climb all fourteen of the world's eight-thousand foot mountains without using supplemental oxygen, once said, “The only extras you can afford at altitude are willpower and stamina.”  He also famously said, “Getting to the top is optional.  Getting down is mandatory.”

            Often your success going up or trying to come back down depends on your conditioning before getting to the mountain.  Prior to the start of the summer climbing…

The Associate Press this morning is reporting that Colorado Director of Prisons, Tom Clements, 58,  was murdered at his home last night in Monument.

Clements was seen as a prison reformer and had ushered in dramatic change in the Colorado prison system in just two years in office.  Clements oversaw the closing of the abusive CSP II prison after the Vara report showed it was warehousing the mentally ill in a brutal 24/7 lockdown without treatment.  Clements was also instrumental to…

A Senate panel in Washington, D.C. heard testimony yesterday from victims who suffered rape and abuse while serving in the United States Military. 

Former Army sergeant Rebekah Hayrilla was raped by a superior while deployed to Afghanistan and told the panel, “I chose not to do a report of any kind because I had no faith in my chain of command.”

Speaking for the victims and to the senior military leaders present for the testimony, Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York…

                 A recent nationwide study conducted by researchers at Washington State University found that rural communities, like Colorado’s Prison Valley in Fremont County, have slower economic growth and lower wages than communities that don’t pander to the easy money of prison funding.

                 The study looked at a nationwide sample of prison communities over a 25 year period and was led by Gregory Hooks, chairman of Washington State University’s department of…