“Now on tap: New beer drinker's guide to galaxy of brews - Denver Post” plus 1 more

Now on tap: New beer drinker's guide to galaxy of brews - Denver Post

Posted: 11 Aug 2010 12:44 AM PDT

DENVER, COLORADO--SEPTEMBER 17TH 2004--Matt Nicholson, hoists a mug of cold beer at Octoberfest in Larimer Square Friday afternoon.-- THE DENVER POST/ ANDY CROSS ( | ANDY CROSS)

Beer is a down-to-earth drink, but the brews can be out of this world. The fourth edition of the "Beer Drinker's Guide to Colorado" has been released by the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation.

The idea, the foundation said, is to promote the "practical, life-enhancing benefits of space technology here on Earth."

The guide includes a topographical map of 126 brewing operations, from "bucket brewers to megabrewers," the nonprofit organization said. It includes beer styles and tastes, glassware, beermaking, historic and notable saloons, bars for beer geeks, homebrewing shops and facts on every Colorado brewing operation. Enhanced GPS-enabled measurements on the locations are incorporated with new space-shuttle radar elevation data.

The map can be purchased at bookstores, liquor stores, restaurants, brewers, homebrew suppliers and beerdrinkersguidetocolorado.com. The suggested price is $14.95. Ann Schrader, The Denver Post; Andy Cross file photo, The Denver Post

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Alert: Shadow school board files an appeal of Seattle School's decision to adopt MAP ... - Examiner

Posted: 11 Aug 2010 12:22 AM PDT

Publicola in the section, Morning Fizz has the following report:

1. On Friday, parents—members of a Seattle Schools District watchdog group called the Shadow School Board—filed an appeal in King County Superior Court challenging the board's decision to award a $450,000 district contract for the 2010-2011 school year to a testing company called the Northwest Evaluation Association.

Their complaint? Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson, as we reported earlier this year, is on NWEA's board—and there was not a competitive bid process.

The Seattle Shadow School Board has a site which describes their activities.

According to their description of who they are:

History

S3B is a brainchild of parents, teachers, and community members that came together at a meeting in April 2010 at a private home, with a shared goal of working proactively, rather than reactively, to advance quality public education opportunities for all children in Seattle.

Mission

to advance quality public education opportunities for all children in Seattle.

Vision

The S3B will model a responsive Board that has as its fundamental goal to adopt polices that are in the genuine best interests of the children who attend Seattle Public Schools.

It is our hope that the S3B can become a strong grass-roots organization that will effectively apply pressure on the Seattle Public Schools Directors to

"do the right thing" for our children and community, and put the interests of children and teachers ahead of the private business interests;
take up their proper role as leaders, through writing policy, rather than followers, of a Superintendent and whatever agend s/he may bring to the job;
guide the Superitendent - whoever that may be at any particular time - to make choices that fulfill Board policy, are lawful and moral, and that serve the best interests of children rather than the best interests of the political and economic elite of our city;
-when the occasion arises - choose a candidate for the Superintendent's office who has a track record of pursuing geninune best practices in public education, rather than a privatization agenda.

This group is probably anti charter schools and has a specific agenda about their interpretation of "best practices." The concern is whether they are as one size fits all as the system they seek to overturn?

The Seattle Shadow School Board has information at their site about their current activity and legal cases:

06 Aug 2010 Update on the effort to recall five school board directors:

Signature gathering is not anticipated be begin until early to mid September.
For up-to-date information on the recall, or to find out how to help wit signature collection, visit http://seattle2010recall.blogspot.com/
The recall is endorsed by S3B.

06 Aug 2010: Parents file an appeal of the Board's decision to purchase a MAP subscription for the 2010-2011 school year

S3B endorses this action
Click here to view the press release & the pdf of the 17 pp. appeal
Thank you to Dan Dempsey, Cecilia (McCormick) Palao-Vargas, and Sahila for the main writing/editing of the appeal. Thank you to Pat Bailey and Robert Fermiano for paying for the initial filing expenses ($370 total).

22 July 2010 Appeal is filed.

Parents file an appeal of the School Boards decision to add a third year to the Superintendent's employment contract..
This recall effort is endorsed by Seattle Shadow School Board.
The proximal basis for the appeal is the Board's disregard of the extraordinary findings of inadequacies in the Superintendent's management and oversight of the district by the State Auditor, as reported in a document released July 6 2010 (the day prior to the Board's vote on contract extension)
Here is a link to the 2nd State Auditors Report. http://www.sao.wa.gov/findings/1003871.pdf
Quote from page 17 of the report. "The School Board and District management have not implemented sufficient policies and controls to ensure the District complies with state laws, its own policies, or addresses concerns identified in prior audits."

22 July 2010 Petitions for recall are filed.

Parents file petitions to recall the five directors of Seattle Public Schools who are responsible for the management of the district during the period covered by the July 6 2010 audit report, and who voted subsequent to the release of the Audit report to extend the superintendent's contract..
This recall effort is endorsed by Seattle Shadow School Board.
For up-to-date information on the recall, visit http://seattle2010recall.blogspot.com/

The summer may be winding down, but things may be heating up in the fall and winter.

To receive updates from the Seattle Public Education Examiner, just click "subscribe" at the top of the story and enter your email address, which will not be shared.

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