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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.

The measures affect wells only on federally owned lands, or roughly a quarter of the gas and oil operations in the country. The Bureau of Land Management said drillers on federal lands must reveal the chemicals they use, meet well-construction standards and safely dispose of contaminated water used in fracking.

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.

Marijuana

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.

But the leaders of the House from both parties have come up with a plan that they think can fix a problem that has bedeviled Congress since 1997. On Thursday, it goes to the House floor for a vote.

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. They wrote a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to let him know that any deal Iran signs with Obama is at risk of being chucked when he leaves office.

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.

"It's not often that you get to meet the president of the United States," Baker said. "It's a pretty rare thing, so I was excited."

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).

Title I: Putting Patients First by Incorporating Their Perspectives Into the Regulatory Process and Addressing Unmet Needs

Title II: Building the Foundation for 21st Century Medicine, Including Helping Young Scientists

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.

"With measles spreading, Colorado and the country face an urgent public health problem, and we need to do everything possible to get the word out about vaccinations," said Rep. DeGette.

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.

"For the 42 patients for whom vaccination status is known, 34 were unvaccinated and three received partial vaccinations," DeGette co-wrote in a letter to the committee. "Public health officials have emphasized that vaccination is the most important strategy to prevent measles."