It’s an election year, and that usually makes for an especially interesting Conference on World Affairs, Boulder’s favorite week-long think jam. There is a palpable political theme running through the set list for the 64th annual CWA, which will be held primarily on the University of Colorado campus April 9-13.

On Feb. 24, Judge Naomi Buchwald dismissed a lawsuit filed by Coloradobased Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) against Monsanto. But OSGATA is not giving up.

The recent announcement that the prison complex known as Colorado State Penitentiary II will be closing its doors in 2013 provides a good lesson in what happens when politicians and bureaucrats bypass the traditional funding restraints derived from the democratic process. It is an expensive lesson to be sure.

Since losing his eyesight, becoming asthmatic and contracting chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, Edward Celias’ life has been a constant battle to survive. He has lived in seedy motels surrounded by drug dealers and shootings. His life savings were stolen from his bank account after he failed to realize his checkbooks were missing.

A state audit has found the Boulder Valley School District’s special education program deficient in a dozen different areas. Those close to the situation say the problems are being prompted, at least in part, by decreasing resources and recent changes that require already overworked educators to complete paperwork differently.

It’s been 70 years since the Allied Chemical Company started storing radioactive and heavy metal contamination at Valmont Butte. And in all that time, the citizens of Boulder who have been living with the health risks and are now picking up the cleanup tab have never been given a single opportunity for a public hearing on Valmont Butte.

St. Baldricks’ Day at Celestial Seasonings (4600 Sleepytime Drive, Boulder).

A rebuilding season has turned remarkable. After their unlikely four-games-in-four-days-run to the Pac-12 championship, Colorado men’s basketball heads to Albuquerque for the second round of the NCAA tournament, where they will meet the sixth-seeded University of Nevada, Las Vegas Runnin’ Rebels.

Considering what has transpired over the past 40 years since the city’s first involvement at the site, it seems fair to question whether the city has been either naïve in its handling of the Valmont Butte situation or has intentionally charged forward in some kind of misguided attempt to control its own destiny when it comes to cleaning up the old Allied mill site.

While there is now a local uproar about hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” an early iteration of the oil and gas extraction method actually has its roots in Boulder.