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National Journal Online

Senate Majority Leader Reid released an $849 billion healthcare overhaul bill Wednesday that includes a public option and will extend coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans, though a few Democrats are still on the fence over whether they will vote to proceed to the bill.

The bill would extend insurance to 94 percent of eligible Americans.

The measure, which would reduce the deficit $127 billion over a decade, creates an insurance exchange where people can compare and purchase coverage; allows insurance co-ops to be formed; expands Medicaid to those earning 133 percent of the federal poverty level; and offers federal subsidies to help those without employer-sponsored coverage purchase insurance.

The public option would allow states to opt out if they choose. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., shepherded a more comprehensive public option through the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee but called the opt-out version a strong public option.

The overhaul also includes an individual mandate with penalties reaching $750 per person for noncompliance by 2016. Employers that do not offer coverage will pay a fine for each of their employees who receive federal subsidies to purchase insurance in the exchange of as much as $750 per employee at the company, a senior Democratic aide said.

FOLLOWING MY SHOTS 2

I used to play basketball, but not too much since the day my coach took me aside, patted me on the head, and said, “Bill, you’re short, but you’re slow, and you really need to follow your shots.”

Well, that was a long time ago, and I admit to never doing anything about the shortness or the slowness, but I have learned to follow my shots. And sometimes, they’re worth following. When I write my columns, I frequently hope something happens, and guess what sometimes it does. Check out these updates to past columns.

Congress

It can be scary for adults to change careers, but the recession has handed many American workers no choice. Enrollment at trade schools, community colleges and specialized private colleges has increased all over the U.S.  But whether or not graduates of these programs find work in their new area of competence varies based on the quality of the training, the choice of skills to learn, and whether or not the training suits an industry with hiring needs.

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-ID, has announced his new bill, H.R. 4072 or the American Manufacturing Efficiency and Retraining Investment Collaboration (AMERICA) Works Act. Minnick has spent eight months developing and writing the bill, which is co-sponsored by three Democratic House Members: Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Debbie Halvorson of Illinois, and Bobby Bright of Alabama.

“Thanks to the diverse coalition behind the bill, there will be more co-sponsors of both parties signing on,” said John Foster, Minnick’s spokesperson. That coalition includes the National Association of Manufacturers, Northwest Carpenters, and community colleges and trade organizations.

“American workers are the best in the world,” said Minnick. “They are resilient, innovative and hardworking, as is made so clear by the success of many great companies in my home state of Idaho. We need to make sure that those American workers, many of whom are retraining, are given every opportunity to achieve certifications, degrees and qualifications for the jobs American industry needs to fill.”

'FLAT IS THE NEW UP'

If you’re a ski resort operator, it’s hard to be optimistic when the country is suffering the effects of a grueling recession and about one in 10 Americans is jobless.

But when snow is dumping in the high country and across the room at the Colorado Convention Center people are walking out with armfuls of ski gear, optimism creeps in.

At the annual Denver Ski & Snowboard Expo last weekend, resort operators sounded notes of cautious optimism for the upcoming ski season. Many companies are seeing upticks in season pass sales, early bookings are on the upswing and after last year’s drop in skier numbers, any improvement would be welcome.

Copper Mountain resort, a major ski hill about 75 miles west of Denver, is being sold by troubled ski giant Intrawest to Park City-based Powdr Corp., the owner resorts in Utah, California, Vermont, Oregon and Nevada. The deal is expected to close in December, and both companies say patrons should see few changes in the short term. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Vancouver-based Intrawest said the sale was part of its strategy to focus on “core resorts,” though it did not elaborate on what was considered core. The comapny’s flagship is Whistler-Blackcomb, which will host alpine skiing at this winter’s Olympic Games.

Intrawest, which was acquired by New York-based Fortress Investment Group in 2006, has been hit very hard by the mountain real estate meltdown and is struggling to manage a large debt load. The Toronto Globe & Mail has a good story today on Intrawest’s travails and its recent financial history.

Western Book Roundup

The Denver Post reported this weekend that Denver writer Mark Obmascik‘s Halfway to Heaven: My White Knuckled and Knuckleheaded-Quest for the Rocky Mountain High won this year’s outdoor literature prize from the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation: “The book is about climbing Colorado’s 14,000-plus foot mountains, all 54 of them, in one summer. The problem, though, as Obmascik points out in this humorous work, is that he’s completely out of shape.” Obmasik was the lead writer for the Denver Post team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Columbine shootings. He will discuss his book at the REI in Boulder on November 30 (7 p.m.).

• John Jurgensen’s insightful interview with Cormac McCarthy ran in the Wall Street Journal last week in advance of the opening of the film version of The Road.  Their discussion ranges all over the place in subject matter, from the movie versions of McCarthy’s films, to fatherhood, to his writing process.  Jurgensen writes, “McCarthy shuns interviews, but he relishes conversation.” One subject that McCarthy cycles back to several times is the apocalypse, something that he frequently discusses with his friends at the Santa Fe Institute.

Also in the Roundup: Missoula’s Fact and Fiction adjusts to ebooks, Moscow, Idaho’s Joan Opyr celebrates her new novel with leftover turkey, and Denver’s Printed Page Bookshop offers free books in exchange for food donations for the needy.

Skiing the world with Keely Kelleher

Welcome to my Snow Blog! First off I’d like to give you a quick intro on my skiing background. I grew up in the Gallatin Canyon fifteen miles from the Big Sky Ski Resort. Being raised in Big Sky, outdoor sports became my way of life. There weren’t many places to get into trouble as a youngster in Big Sky, yet I managed to find ways on the mountain. I would bomb down runs in Big Sky like Ambush or Snake Pit with ski patrollers close on my tail yelling, “slow down!”

Big Sky was so small twenty years ago there wasn’t even a daycare for my parents to be rid of me for a few hours. As a result Lone Peak became my babysitter. Instead of going to the mall, movies or prom with friends I went to the ski hill. I fell deeply in love with skiing, whether it be floating through powder, slicing through ice and corduroy or straight running steep pitches...it didn’t matter as long as I was skiing I was happy. I would throw fits if I had to leave Big Sky early. One Christmas when I was nine I cuddled all night with my brand new neon pink Atomic skis Santa had brought me. My obsession for skiing soon turned into ski racing. I wanted to go faster than anyone and being timed while skiing seemed like the perfect fit. 

Where to go? What to do?

It’s no secret there are a number of Oregonians who enjoy smoking marijuana. And while that may be the case, there are millions in the West who don’t enjoy having their water polluted to produce the plant.

An estimated 200,000 marijuana plants were discovered in raids during the Oregon growing and harvest season this year, according to state and federal documents.

And while that number may be staggering, pools filled with chemical fertilizers to grow the plants are a main nerve of concern among state officials and environmentalists. 

Guest Column from Montana Petroleum Association

The following opinion piece is from the Montana Petroleum Association.

While the U.S. Senate considers a “cap-and-trade” bill that includes creation of a new federal bureaucracy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Montana Petroleum Association (MPA) is becoming more concerned about the toll such a plan would take on our industry and on Montana consumers. The Senate bill, modeled after one that passed the U.S. House of Representatives in June, is nearly 1,000 pages long. We have sifted through most of the proposal, and with each reading it becomes clear what this bill will and won’t do.

From Wyofile

Sweetwater Station, Wyo.—If you blink once or your attention drifts for an instant on the two-lane highway between Muddy Gap and the Lander, Wyoming, you may miss one of the world’s great road signs, a weathered, wooden square flanked by an American flag:  “Old Books Fresh Eggs For Sale.”

And if you don’t stop and go inside the two-story, structurally-reinforced, climate-controlled book barn stuffed with more than 75,000 hardback volumes ranging from leather-bound Balzac to first-edition Beatrix Potter, you will miss one of Wyoming’s and the Mountain West’s hidden treats.

Owners Lynda “Mad Dog” German and Polly “The Pilgrim” Hinds moved their Mad Dog and The Pilgrim Booksellers from Denver to Sweetwater Station in 2000 after an unpleasant encounter with the Aurora, Colorado, Police Department.

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