Capitol Comments

The United States doesn’t have to look far to meet a good portion of its crude oil needs.

In 2010, one-third of U.S. oil imports came from Canada and Mexico.

The relationship serves the entire North American continent well, according to Murray Smith, a former member of the Alberta legislature who now works in the private energy sector.

Every month, one of the most anticipated, widely reported pieces of federal data is released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—the nation’s unemployment rate.

It was 9.1 percent in September.

Four years ago, Colorado appeared to have a stable public employee retirement system in place.

 “Then 2008 happened,” Colorado Senate President Brandon Shaffer said during a presentation at the CSG Fiscal Chairs meeting, which was held Thursday morning at Microsoft headquarters.

At a time when the nation’s unemployment rate is stuck at 9 percent, Microsoft is having a jobs problem of its own.

About 3,000 positions are not being filled nationwide due to a lack of qualified applicants, according to Jane Broom, director of Puget Sound Community Affairs at Microsoft Corp.