COLORADO – After much debate Colorado House Bill 1284, regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, went to Governor Bill Ritter and is awaiting his signature.

The House agreed to the changes made in the Senate on May 11 and readopted the bill by a 46-to-19 vote. It is expected that Governor Ritter will sign the bill (but not clear when) since it includes provisions that he requested.

LONGMONT – The movement to clean up the spreading oil slick of money in political campaigns is not taking a wait-and-see approach with the tide. An already tested solution awaits Colorado’s collective signature: citizen-funded campaigns. Clean Campaigns Colorado, a non-partisan group of concerned citizens, has been researching since 2007 and synthesizing a ballot measure which, if placed on the November ballot and approved by Coloradans, would provide public funding to state candidates who voluntarily agree to use those funds and leave the need to chase the money behind.

CATRICO, Chile – We are all fine, although it has been pretty wild. I have been staying with my sister Illani Atwater in a small farmhouse in Catrico, a tiny farming village near Villarica in southern Chile.

Medical marijuana seems to be the talk all over the county and everyone has an agenda. People want to sell it, buy it, avoid it, grow it, make it go away, tax it, make money on it, stop it, try it, regulate it, eat it, inhale it, organize opposition to it and just about everything else. It’s not easy being green.

The budget is smaller this year than last year’s budget by almost $1 million. Last year at this time the town board approved a budget for $5.9 million for 2009, which had to be trimmed. That budget was an increase of 3.8 percent over the 2008 budget.

Sometimes women are better estate planners than men. Or, more appropriately, effective estate planning can protect your children’s inheritance.