The First Regular Session of Colorado’s 75th General Assembly has officially passed the halfway point and I am happy to share some updates on my time under the gold dome this year.

Grifters, you know those people who engage in small scale swindling of others, have always been with us, I guess. 

I had the honor and pleasure of teaming up, once again, with Dr. Martin Jones to judge projects in the Junior Environmental Division at the 76th annual San Luis Valley Regional Science Fair on Feb. 27 and 28.

I think when most people hear that title they probably think of the movie of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. For those of you who have never seen it, the story is about a man played by Hoffman who is a Savant with extraordinary powers of computation.

Riva Duncan retired five years ago after working for the Forest Service for 32 years in wildland wildfire. She's now an advocate for firefighters and knows many workers— all outraged—who were recently fired without cause by the Trump administration. She tells about two public land workers who worked their way up to needed jobs in the Forest Service, loving the work and not minding that the pay featured sunsets more than money. The wholesale cuts to stop purported waste or fraud reveal one startling fact, Duncan writes: The cost-cutters have no idea how the government works or who does what in the federal workforce.

Donald Trump’s platform when he ran for president was clear. He would make bold improvements quickly—raising revenue by imposing tariffs on foreign goods, slashing grocery store prices, and ending wasteful government spending by imposing greater efficiency. None of this is happening, writes Marston, as growing inflation and costly tariffs now threaten the economy with "stagflation."

CSU Extension believes every person from every walk of life can experience their healthiest, happiest, most productive life if they continually engage in lifelong learning. At SLV Area Extension, everything we do is designed to foster healthy youth and families; prosperous farms, ranches, and businesses; and strong, resilient, proud communities. We offer a myriad of educational opportunities to SLV citizens, where they live, work, and socialize. 

Considering the poor snowfall this year I thought it would be appropriate to revisit a question I’ve answered hundreds of times throughout my career. Each Spring people ask me “what do you think fire season will be like this year?” I always answer with the same reply: “You can never tell until the year is over.” In my mind however, this really begs the next two questions, what are my local firefighting agencies doing to prepare for the coming wildfires and what should I do to prepare? 

Once again, we are staring down another celebrated Holiday of sorts or at least a day to remember especially for all you men out there. Ol’ Dutch is not sure how us men got saddled with this day, but we surely are, and you best not forget it if you are smart. As with anything, Valentine’s Day has an origin not quite what one would expect, and I had to look it up. I knew of course that there was a Saint Valentine and thought that was the end of the story or shall I say the beginning. But it turns out that the day actually was a pagan holiday called Lupercalia.  

The folks who ideologically oppose public land are exploiting the housing crisis to argue that a fix for America’s housing problem is to sell off the public estate, writes Ben Long. There may be a screaming need for more housing, says Long, but targeting public lands isn't the answer: We need public lands for flood control, wildlife, hunting and recreation, and most of the acreage is also in the wrong place to build housing.

Long-time readers know that I'm building a house using mostly my own hands with long-suffering help from Miss Trixie. For the first time in my life, though, I hired someone else to do things like spray foam and roofing. This is highly unusual for Ol’ Dutch and his family as we always taken pride in doing it ourselves when it came to anything, except nuclear bombs. 

This past week I've really been missing my Dad, Fast Freddy, who passed away earlier this fall. He was 93 and ready for his reward. Those of us left behind when our loved ones die, never are quite ready for them to go. I was reminded of him as Ol’ Dutch was on the hunt for some new leather gloves for use on the farm. I like to use deerskin gloves as they seem to outlast good old cowhide ten to one. And when I am working on barbed wire fences, leather is the material of choice to avoid getting poked. 

First of all, let's stop the rumors before they get started. No, me and Miss Trixie are not married. And no, I am not married to someone else. And it’s not Trixie with the broken coccyx (pronounced cock-seek) so you all can rest easy and she can sit without pain. If you hang with me on here, though, Ol’ Dutch will spin you a yarn worthy of even the most sour puss amongst you. 

Writer Karen Mockler was thrilled when her city of Tucson, Ariz., announced it was starting a pilot program to deal with hard-to-recycle plastics, turning it into building blocks. Then things got complicated as the plastic waste piled up, and Dow Chemical and Hefty bags got involved. Burning the plastic turned into the new solution, and Mockler now concludes: "Instead of recycling plastic, we need to focus on phasing out its use — everywhere we can.

Anyone alive who has ever been to a venue where a microphone is needed has heard someone testing out the equipment prior to starting. It happens at concerts, auctions, ball games, school functions, city council meetings and churches so we all have been exposed to the process of testing. I am not sure why people generally say, “testing 1, 2, 3” and not something worthwhile hearing but I guess it's just the way it is. 

SAN LUIS VALLEY — Colorado State University Extension believes every person from every walk of life can experience their healthiest, happiest, most productive life if they continually engage in lifelong learning.  

Having been raised in church and especially having a father who was a pastor, I thought that I had a pretty good idea what a heathen was. To make sure, though, I actually Googled it to discover the official Internet meaning. Of course, the word is usually used in a disparaging way when talking about someone. In general, it means someone who is irreligious, uncivilized or uncultured. 

Northern Lights, silence, calm and the brilliant stars of dark nights — these are just a few of the benefits of winter darkness in Alaska, writes Tim Lydon. And now, researchers have found that just as climate change increases the heat and length of summer, dark winters are vital for the health of trees, wildlife and even us.

I am writing this a tad ahead of the actual New Year to meet the deadline for the papers that carry my column. It is always a difficult writing so far ahead, especially around the Holidays. By the time you read this the New Year will be in full swing and hopefully it will be one of great promise for each of you and our Nation too. 

It is hard to believe the beautiful winter weather we’ve been having lately. The unseasonably warm days do give way to colder nights, but I know well that these temperatures could be much lower than they have been. Probably should be.