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The regulations represent the administration's most significant effort to tighten standards for hydraulic fracturing, the controversial practice that pumps liquid into rock seams at high pressure to access pockets of oil and gas.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who has represented Colorado's First District since 1997, will introduce bills this session to help ease federal-state issues over marijuana legalization and bring cures from the lab to patients more quickly. She'll also focus on capping student loan interest rates and continue working on improvements to the Affordable Care Act.

Doctors who treat Medicare patients will face a huge cut, 21 percent, if Congress doesn't act by the end of the month. This isn't a new problem. While Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill agree that the formula that pays doctors who treat Medicare patients has long been broken, over the years they've been unable to pass more than temporary patches.

In 2013, Tea Party-inspired lawmakers shut down the federal government for 16 days. This year, the so-called Freedom Caucus (formerly the Tea Party) played chicken with the funding of the Department of Homeland Security. Most recently, a band of 47 Republicans undermined the president's nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Last December, Friends of Browns Canyon met with White House officials to lobby for national monument status. Last week, the group visited the White House itself – this time in celebration.

Executive director Keith Baker and board president Bill Dvorak met president Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Feb. 24 to recognize the recent designation of Brown Canyon National Monument.

Representatives Diana DeGette (D, Colorado) and Fred Upton (R, Michigan) recently released a "discussion draft" of the 21st Century Cures Act.1 The stated intent of the almost 400-page bipartisan bill is to "accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of 21st century cures." The bill is subdivided into 5 major areas (see below).

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) published a BuzzFeed community post to encourage people to get vaccinated. Concern over low vaccination rates has grown in light of a measles outbreak that originated at Disneyland and has spread across the country. Several cases have been confirmed in Colorado.

At the urging of Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a House committee on Tuesday stressed the need for vaccinations.

DeGette had asked the Committee on Energy and Commerce to hold a meeting on the issue after a measles outbreak centered in California sickened more than 100.