Rocky Mountain Media Grok

Moussaoui To Join Colorado’s “Bomber’s Row”

By Chris Lombardi, 5-05-06

Zacarias Moussaoui, the 911-hijacking conspirator sentenced to life in prison yesterday, will now become a new resident of the Rocky Mountain West, according to an LA Times story today. Moussaoui will spent the rest of his days high up in the Rockies at the "Supermax" federal maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado.

Moussaoui will join a notorious collection of prisoners--a veritable terrorist Who's Who--already serving time in Supermax, including: Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the key player in the 1993 World Trade Center blast, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing accomplice Terry L. Nichols, "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, and abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph.

The Rocky Mountain News reports that a group in Arizona is using a new law and an old western tradition--the posse--to round up illegal immigrants in the Phoenix area. The posse of volunteers and sheriff's deputies will use an interesting interpretation of a new law--a law meant to prosecute smugglers--to arrest illegal immigrants for conspiracy to smuggle themselves into the country. Rather than being turned over to Federal immigration authorities, captured immigrants will be sent to county jail.

Interior Secretary nominee Dirk Kempthorne has surprised a lot of folks today by coming out against the Bush Administration's plan to sell off public lands to help balance the budget. These plans were expected to be a hot-topic during Kempthorne's upcoming confirmation hearings. Surprising, as Kempthorne had backed similar land sale proposal while serving in the U.S. Senate. Some say this is the final nail in the proposal's coffin.

Two large church groups are speaking out on environmental issues. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has joined the choir of voices singing out against nuclear waste storage in Utah; and the National Council of Churches, among other church-affiliated organizations, has made the preservation of wilderness one of its top priorities, according to this story from the Great Falls Tribune.

And finally, the inventory of unsold homes in the Denver area just keeps growing, according to the Denver Post. The number of metro homes on the market hit 29,045 last month, surpassing the previous high mark of 28,043 reached in June 2004. Still, the median home price rose a tick in April to $250,000.

And that's the Grok. Have a great weekend.

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