Turner says future is in renewables

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent
Ted Turner said he had some simple business advice for CNN before he left the company "in disgust," and it's the same advice he offers to the world.

"We've got to stop doing the dumb things and start doing the smart things," said Turner, speaking in front of a full house at the Wheeler Opera House on Saturday.

Event focuses on solutions, not just problems

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent
If the government won't, the people will. For some participants at this weekend's American Renewable Energy Day events, that was the takeaway message from a forum meant to seek solutions more than talk about the problems.

"Many of these solutions should be adopted at the municipal, county, state and even familial level first," said Piper Foster, executive director of the Sopris Foundation, which focuses on environmental and sustainability issues.

St. Regis Aspen evacuated after fan belt snaps

by Karen Day/Aspen Free Press
An air conditioner fan belt at the St. Regis Aspen snapped early Saturday morning, filling the hotel with smoke and forcing the evacuation of nearly 400 guests.

There was no fire or injuries. Hotel guests, many of whom left the hotel for Wagner Park in white robes that one observer compared to "a convention of ghosts," were allowed to return to their beds in about an hour.

Ben Franklin and the 'Party of the Angry Rich'

by Dave Danforth
When wine critic Robin Goldstein went looking to expose Wine Spectator magazine, he started with a wine the magazine had once compared to "paint thinner and nail varnish."

Then he added the renowned Osteria L'Interpido restaurant in Milan. He invented a Web site for the establishment, complete with a menu and a wine list stocked with the paint thinner varietal, plus another the magazine had once called "earthy, swampy, gamy, harsh and tannic."

Obama's born-alive problem

by Kathleen Parker
Abortion is back with, dare we say it, biblical vengeance.

Republicans recently have been focused on Barack Obama's opposition several years ago to "born alive" legislation in Illinois that mirrored similar federal legislation aimed at granting personhood to a fetus/baby that was alive after removal from its mother's body, either by abortion or premature birth.

Let teachers do it

by Susan O'Neal
(Editor's note: This letter was originally addressed to city of Aspen and Pitkin County elected officials.)

Editor:

Electing the free world's 'leader'

by Patrick Hunter
Editor: