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MCINNIS WILL OUTLINE VISION TODAY: Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis will outline his vision for Colorado’s future at the opening session of the 112th National Western Mining Conference today in Denver. The CMA conference will run Feb. 8-11 at the Westin Hotel Denver.

GROOVE ADDS BURT FORD, BURT MAZDA, AUTO BROKERAGE: Colorado-based Groove Automotive Group, announced yesterday that it has increased its stake in Denver’s automobile business scene with the purchase of two more Burt Automotive franchises and a Burt auto brokerage: Burt Ford and Mazda on Arapahoe Road and H.M. Brown & Associates, all located in Centennial. The dealerships have been renamed Groove Ford and Groove Mazda. Auto brokerage H.M. Brown and Assoc. will continue to operate under its present name. Groove president and CEO Rod Buscher,  known best to Coloradans as co-founder of the John Elway Dealerships, and Groove COO Bill Carmichael say they promise to bring the same business practices they’ve established at Groove Toyota Scion and Groove Subaru on Broadway, to the new Groove Ford and Mazda dealerships on Arapahoe Road in Centennial. Groove Ford and Mazda join a group of 32 other automobile dealerships across the nation owned and operated under the parent company name Summit Automotive Partners (summit-ap.com). Twelve of its automobile dealerships are now based in Colorado: Groove Ford and Mazda in Centennial, Groove Toyota, Scion and Subaru in Englewood (grooveautomotive.com); Vista Subaru and Jeep Chrysler Dodge located in Silverthorne, and Vista Chevrolet, Honda and Subaru in Glenwood Springs (vistacolorado.com). The group also owns dealerships in New England and Nashville.

MONEY TO FIGHT BARK BEETLE INFESTATION: U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., announced yesterday that Colorado will receive $30 million from the U.S. Forest Service to address the impacts of the bark beetle and spruce beetle epidemics and to protect people and property. The funds will be focused in Medicine Bow and Routt, Arapaho and Roosevelt, and White River national forests Đ which together contain almost 3 million acres of dead lodgepole pine trees. Of that $30 million, $2 million will go to help address spruce beetle and other forest health issues on the Western Slope and in Southern Colorado.

CHEMO BILL PASSES HOUSE: A bill from State Rep. Dianne Primavera, D-Broomfield, would require health insurance plans to cover oral chemotherapy treatments when medically necessary, as determined by a patient’s doctor. The bipartisan bill passed a final vote in the House yesterday 53-10, with 2 excused. According to Colorado oncologists, every year thousands of Coloradans are diagnosed with a type of cancer where oral chemotherapy is the only or best form of treatment. HB 1202 requires health insurance plans that already cover standard intravenous chemotherapy treatments to also cover newer oral chemotherapy treatments in a manner that keeps out-of-pocket costs for patients equitable.   

LIFE INSURANCE BILL MOVES: Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, says he is looking out for small businesses and their employees with House Bill 1203. His bill allows sole proprietors and small businesses to provide group life insurance coverage to their employees. The bill passed an initial vote in the House yesterday. HB 1203 would change the minimum number of lives requirement from the group life insurance statute from three to one. “This bill will help Colorado’s small businesses become more competitive by allowing them to provide helpful benefits to their employees,” said a statement from Kerr.  

SIERRA CLUB ENDORSES POLIS: The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club yesterday announced its endorsement of Congressman Jared Polis, D-Boulder, in the 2010 election. “Polis has earned the respect of Sierra Club members through his ongoing support of climate and energy legislation, through his work on Colorado’s Hidden Gems Wilderness, and through his position as Vice Chair and Whip of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition,” a statement from the group read.

COLORADO CRIME CASE ON TV TONIGHT: The cable network Investigation Discovery is profiling a case from Denver in today’s episode of “I (Almost) Got Away With It,” airing tonight at 8 p.m. This episode tells the criminal case of Gonzolo Martinez. Martinez lived the life of a 17-year-old gang member, but when three people were shot at a party, Martinez was pinned as the gunman and was sentenced to 48 years in prison. But it wasn’t long until Martinez escaped at Arkansas Valley correctional facility in southeast Colorado and headed to Mexico. He became a successful drug dealer and border kingpin, and the Feds knew where Martinez was, but due to border laws they couldn’t touch him. It wasn’t until Martinez himself tried to cross the border, and the Feds wasted no time getting him back behind bars. After three years on the run, he is now at the Centennial correctional facility in Canyon City, Colorado, a maximum security prison, where our cameras travel to get his account of his life on the lam. 

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