World's oldest survivor of Auschwitz dies at 108

WARSAW, Poland—The oldest known survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp—a teacher who gave lessons in defiance of his native Poland's Nazi occupiers—has died at the age of 108, an official said Monday.

Antoni Dobrowolski died Sunday in the northwestern Polish town of Debno, according to Jaroslaw Mensfelt, a spokesman at the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum.

After invading Poland in 1939, sparking World War II, the Germans banned anything beyond four years of elementary education in a bid to crush Polish culture and the country's intelligentsia. The Germans considered the Poles inferior beings, and the education policy was part of a plan to use Poles as a "slave race."

An underground effort by Poles to continue to teach children immediately emerged, with those caught punished by being sent to concentration camps or prisons. Dobrowolski was among the Poles engaged in the underground effort, and he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz in June 1942.

"Auschwitz was worse than Dante's hell," he recalled in a video made when he was 103.

Dobrowolski, who was born Oct. 8, 1904 in Wolborz, Poland, was later moved to the concentration camps of Gross-Rosen and Sachsenhausen, according to the Auschwitz memorial museum in southern Poland.

After the war, he moved to Debno, where he worked as a Polish-language teacher and as principal at an elementary school and later at a high school for many years.

He will be buried in Debno on Wednesday.

At least 1.1 million people were killed by the Germans at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Most of the victims were Jews, but many non-Jewish Poles, Roma and others were also killed there.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Colfax Corridor Connection meets with residents for study

Denver is looking for ways to improve travel through the East Colfax Avenue corridor — which runs through Denver and Aurora — for cars, buses, bicycles and pedestrians.

The city and county commissioned a $3 million, year-long study on the issue.

Two-thirds of the cost is being funded by a federal transit grant and one-third by the city.

The study will "provide a road map for us to begin improving mobility and accessibility for transit users," said Crissy Fanganello, director of policy planning for the city and county of Denver.

The study — led by Denver Public Works, the Regional Transportation District and consultant GBSM Inc.— will gauge community opinion for research in updating and simplifying the transit system on East Colfax.

The East Colfax corridor is roughly defined as Interstate 25 to the west, Interstate 225 to the east, 12th Avenue to the south and 20th Avenue to the north.

At meetings Oct. 1 and Oct. 4 in Aurora and Denver — the first of four sets of meetings — Public Works and GBSM project managers asked residents what they felt were the most significant problems posed by current Denver transit services.

Denver Public Works spokeswoman Emily Williams said the common themes included a need for transit stations and buses that are safe, clean, comfortable and easy to access.

Residents were also concerned about environmental issues, such as air quality and tree preservation.

People at the meetings agreed that the East Colfax corridor is increasingly congested, Williams said.

RTD planners are concerned about the congestion. The 15L and 15 transit lines that run along East Colfax are at capacity.

"This corridor and these two routes are our most heavily traveled in the entire RTD district," said RTD spokeswoman Daria Serna. "We actually see about 25,000 (travelers) on any given weekday on these two routes."

The Colfax Corridor Connection study began in July; its expected completion is November 2013.

The results, along with those of related studies, such as the Colfax Streetcar Feasibility Study and RTD's Colfax Transit Priority Project, will be considered in the Denver Strategic Transportation Plan, which looks at long-term development of transit systems and cityscape in Denver over the next 25 years.

As of now, there are only questions.

In early 2013, meetings will start to look at some of the alternatives that have been analyzed and present the ones that will be most viable for improving the corridor, said GBSM spokesman Miles Graham.

As Denver and its population grow, the city must begin sustainable adjustments. This study is just the start of that, Graham said.

Megan Mitchell: 303-954-1223, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/megs_report

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.

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Obama immigration stance locks in Hispanic support

LAS VEGAS—Elizabeth Alvisar is exactly the sort of voter Mitt Romney needs.

A victim of the brutal economy in this swing state, the 30-year-old tax preparer has been out of work for months. She's a foe of abortion and gay marriage, and was naturally drawn to the Republican ticket.

But Alvisar has switched her support to President Barack Obama because of his support for legislation known as the DREAM Act. While Democrats failed to get the bill through Congress, Obama in June announced a change in policy to implement its key provision—allowing young people brought into the country without authorization as children to avoid deportation if they graduate high school or join the military.

"I have a lot of friends who've taken advantage of that opportunity," Alvisar said.

In the heavily Hispanic neighborhood where Alvisar lives, unemployment is high and home values are down. But Obama's immigration stance, and especially his executive order, has locked in support from a fast-growing demographic group that has been trending sharply Democratic in the wake of increasingly hard-line Republican positions on immigration.

Obama's campaign is counting on Hispanics providing the margin of victory not just in Nevada, but also in other swing states such as Colorado, Iowa, Virginia and North Carolina

"They know that he's on the right side of the immigration issue and wants to work with Congress for comprehensive immigration reform," deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said. "They know he wakes up every day and thinks about how to secure the middle class and make it easier for young people to enter the middle class."

The importance of Hispanics as a voting bloc and immigration as an election-year issue was brought home during last week's presidential debate. Obama reminded viewers that Romney, who went hard to the right on the issue during the GOP primaries, had argued for "self-deportation" to solve the illegal immigration problem and took advice on the issue from the law professor who helped write Arizona's controversial immigration statute. The Republican challenger noted that Obama had promised to pass an immigration overhaul and had failed.

The Romney campaign says Hispanics, enduring a 9.9 percent jobless rate, which is more than 2 points higher than the national average, are a natural draw for the GOP ticket. "Hispanics are hurting almost more than any other demographic group under the Obama economy," Romney's Spanish-speaking son Craig, a frequent surrogate in the Hispanic community, said in a brief interview. "They're really struggling and they understand that this president has failed them and we need someone who understands how to create jobs."

The Romney campaign opened an office here in September and last week hosted New Mexico's popular Hispanic governor, Susana Martinez, in an effort to cut into Obama's edge in East Las Vegas, home to 42 percent of Nevada's Hispanic population.

But even some Romney supporters are pessimistic that Republicans can make inroads with a population that, many polls show, favors Obama by a 2-to-1 margin.

"It's going to take several years because we haven't engaged this community at all," said Joel Garcia, a conservative who formed a coalition to recruit Hispanics here. "You've got a lot of Hispanics who are conservative in how they live their lives and their values, but there's this hook in their mouth pulling them left called immigration."

Much like any other group, Hispanics often list the economy, jobs and education as top issues in polls. But the acrimonious immigration debate of the past decade has given that issue extra weight for them. "What started as a war on illegal immigration is now being perceived as a war on Latinos," said Matt Barreto, who polls Hispanics for the company Latino Decisions.

Nevada is a prime example of that dynamic. In 2010, Hispanics helped Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid win re-election against a tea party candidate who promoted her staunch anti-illegal immigration stance. Republican Brian Sandoval, a Hispanic who was elected governor at the same time, only won 33 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Until Obama's executive order, Hispanic activists were frustrated that Obama had not pursued plans to legalize more illegal immigrants. Instead, his administration was deporting them in record numbers.

"Before President Obama made his decision to go forward with deferred action, it was pretty dismal," said Vicenta Montoya, an immigration attorney and Democratic activist. "I was going to vote for Obama but it wasn't going to be with grand enthusiasm."

Now Obama's order has fired up Montoya and others in East Las Vegas, a swath of shopping centers, tire shops and weathered ranch houses sprawling east from the Strip. It's the neighborhood of the often-unionized people who make Sin City function—housekeepers, card dealers and taxi drivers.

For some, Obama's order pulled them into politics. Earlier this month, Hector Rivera's father asked him what he was going to do with his future. Rivera, a high school senior who was brought into the United States without authorization when he was 5, went to the East Las Vegas Obama campaign office and volunteered.

The teenager already has applied for documents allowing him to work under Obama's program. "It's an opportunity for me and future generations," said Rivera, 17, imagining how his own unborn children could benefit someday. "Even though they'll be born here, I want to get a better job to give them a better opportunity so they can live a better life."

Others, like Sergio Solis, have suffered economically but see the president as on their side. Solis had to close a restaurant in Southern California and move here to work as a salesman for an energy company. But, after approvingly mentioning the DREAM Act, Solis said it will take time to correct the country's course following the eight years of the George W. Bush administration.

"This building here, I can dynamite it and destroy it in five minutes," Solis said, gesturing to a supermarket where he was handing out brochures. "But I can't build it back up in five minutes."

The Romney campaign's East Las Vegas office shares a strip mall with a bail bond company and a tortilleria. It opened after volunteers in the neighborhood urged the campaign to set up shop closer to their homes, so they didn't have to drive to the suburbs to phone-bank or collect yard signs.

Susana Loli, 56, is thrilled. The hotel housekeeper didn't vote for Obama in 2008. But as the economy collapsed before his inauguration, she hoped he could keep the country healthy. Now her side business fixing garage doors has shriveled, and she had to sell family property in Peru to stave off foreclosure on her Nevada house.

"With Mitt Romney, we'll have a better future for my children and grandchildren," Loli said. "The Latinos who are going to vote for Obama haven't studied the problem. When you talk to them and explain the situation, then they understand."

Ana Maria Gonzalez, 50, was disappointed that some Hispanics support Obama because of his executive order. She backs Romney because of her faith in his business acumen and moral values, but also because she thinks he's more likely to deliver a humane overhaul of the country's immigration system.

"In four years, President Obama did nothing," Gonzalez said, adding, that she was certain Romney would come up with a way to let DREAM Act youth and other deserving illegal immigrants stay in the country.

———

Follow Nicholas Riccardi on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nickriccardi

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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UCI agrees to strip Armstrong of his 7 Tour titles

GENEVA—Forget the seven Tour de France victories. Forget the yellow jersey celebrations on the Champs Elysees. Forget the name that dominated the sport of cycling for so many years.

As far as cycling's governing body is concerned, Lance Armstrong is out of the record books.

Once considered the greatest rider in Tour history, the American was cast out Monday by his sport, formally stripped of his seven titles and banned for life for his involvement in what U.S. sports authorities describe as a massive doping program that tainted all of his greatest triumphs.

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," said Pat McQuaid, the president said of the International Cycling Union.

"This is a landmark day for cycling."

McQuaid announced that his group, known as UCI, accepted sanctions imposed by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and would not appeal them to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. McQuaid said he was "sickened" by some of the evidence detailed by USADA in its 200-page report and hundreds of pages of supporting testimony and documents.

The condemnation by cycling's most senior official confirmed Armstrong's pariah status, after the UCI had backed Armstrong at times in trying to seize of the doping investigation from USADA. McQuaid said the UCI endorsed a life ban for Armstrong after almost two weeks studying the American agency's evidence, and will meet Friday to discuss going after his 2000 Olympic bronze medal.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme said he no longer considers Armstrong to be a champion from 1999-2005 and wants him to pay back his prize money.

"We wish that there is no winner for this period," he said in Paris. "For us, very clearly, the titles should remain blank. Effectively, we wish for these years to remain without winners."

Armstrong's representatives had no immediate comment, but the rider was defiant in August as he chose not to fight USADA in one

of the agency's arbitration hearings. He argued the process was rigged against him.

"I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours," Armstrong said then. "The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that."

USADA said Armstrong should be banned and stripped of his Tour titles for "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" within his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams. He will lose all his race results since August 1998.

The agency welcomed the decision by UCI, following months of sparring between the two organizations.

"Today, the UCI made the right decision in the Lance Armstrong case," USADA CEO Travis Tygart said in a statement, which called on cycling to continue to fight doping. "There are many more details of doping that are hidden, many more doping doctors, and corrupt team directors and the omerta has not yet been fully broken."

The USADA report said Armstrong and his teams used steroids, the blood booster EPO and blood transfusions. The report included statements from 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong, including that he pressured them to take banned drugs.

"I was sickened by what I read in the USADA report," McQuaid said, singling out the testimony of former teammate David Zabriskie. "The story he told of how he was coerced and to some extent forced into doping is just mind boggling."

Armstrong denies doping, saying he passed hundreds of drug tests—he has claimed as many as 500. UCI conducted 218 tests and there were another 51 by USADA, although they are not the only drug-testing bodies. USADA's report, released earlier this month, was aimed at showing why the agency ordered the sanctions against him.

"At the moment Lance Armstrong hasn't admitted to anything, yet all the evidence is there in this report that he doped," McQuaid said.

On Sunday, Armstrong greeted about 4,300 cyclists at his Livestrong charity's fundraiser bike ride in Texas, telling the crowd he's faced a "very difficult" few weeks.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse," Armstrong, a cancer survivor, told the crowd.

While drug use allegations have followed the 41-year-old Armstrong throughout much of his career, the USADA report has badly damaged his reputation. Longtime sponsors Nike, Trek Bicycles and Anheuser-Busch dropped him last week, and Armstrong also stepped down last week as chairman of Livestrong, the cancer awareness charity he founded 15 years ago after surviving testicular cancer which spread to his lungs and brain.

After the UCI decision Monday, another longtime Armstrong sponsor, Oakley sunglasses, cut ties with the rider.

Armstrong's astonishing return from life-threatening illness to the summit of cycling offered an inspirational story that transcended the sport. However, his downfall has ended "one of the most sordid chapters in sports history," USADA said in its report published two weeks ago.

The decision to create a seven-year hole in the record books marks a shift from how organizers treated similar cases in the past.

When Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour victory for a doping violation, organizers awarded the title to Andy Schleck. In 2006, Oscar Pereiro was awarded the victory after the doping disqualification of American rider Floyd Landis.

USADA also thinks the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium, such was the level of doping during Armstrong's era.

The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been "directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations" or other means. It added that of the 45 riders on the podium between 1996 and 2010, 36 were by cyclists "similarly tainted by doping."

The world's most famous cyclist could still face further sports sanctions and legal challenges. Armstrong could lose that 2000 Olympic time-trial bronze medal and may be targeted with civil lawsuits from ex-sponsors or even the U.S. government.

McQuaid said the UCI's board will meet Friday to discuss the Olympic issue and whether to update other race results due to Armstrong's disqualifications.

The IOC said in a statement it would study the UCI's response and wait to receive their full decision.

"It is good to see that all parties involved in this case are working together to tackle this issue," the IOC said.

A so-called "Truth and Reconciliation" commission, which could offer a limited amnesty to riders and officials who confessed to doping practices, will also be discussed, UCI legal adviser Philippe Verbiest said.

In total, 26 people—including 15 riders—testified to USADA that Armstrong and his teams used and trafficked banned substances and routinely used blood transfusions. Among the witnesses were loyal sidekick George Hincapie and admitted dopers Tyler Hamilton and Landis.

USADA's case also implicated Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari, depicted as the architect of doping programs, and longtime coach and team manager Johan Bruyneel. Ferrari—who has been targeted in an Italian prosecutor's probe—and another medical official, Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral, received lifetime bans.

Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and trainer Jose "Pepe" Marti opted to take their cases to arbitration with USADA. The agency could call Armstrong as a witness at those hearings.

Bruyneel, a Belgian former Tour de France rider, lost his job last week as manager of the RadioShack-Nissan Trek team which Armstrong helped found to ride for in the 2010 season.

——

AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire in Paris contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Man sleeping in Denver alley injured when vehicle runs over his feet

A man sleeping in any alley was injured Monday morning when a passing vehicle ran over his feet.

The accident happened about 6:40 a.m. in an alley on the 3400 block of West 32nd Avenue, according to the Denver Police Department.

The man, who was in a sleeping bag when the accident occurred, was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, police said.

The driver of the vehicle stopped after the accident.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kierannicholson

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.

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Stabbing attempt on Finnish leader thwarted

Click photo to enlarge

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2011 file photo, Finland's Prime Minister Jyrki Tapani Katainen arrives for an EU summit in Brussels. A government spokesman said Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 that security guards stopped a knife-wielding man from stabbing Katainen while he was campaigning for municipal elections.

HELSINKI—Security guards stopped a knife-wielding man on Monday from approaching Finland's prime minister while he was campaigning for municipal elections, government officials said.

"The man was stopped before he reached the prime minister. He didn't have time to stab him," Kari Mokko, a government spokesman told The Associated Press.

The incident occurred in the southwestern city of Turku, where Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen was campaigning ahead of Sunday's municipal elections.

Mokko could not give any details on the suspect. He said the prime minister was not hurt.

Robert Seger, a Finnish newspaper photographer who witnessed the incident, said the man dropped to his knees in front of Katainen, holding a knife, but didn't attack him.

"He was trying to get Katainen's attention," Seger said.

The government's security chief Timo Harkonen told Finnish broadcaster YLE that the prime minister's security contingent "prevented it from becoming a dangerous situation."

Finnish news agency STT said police apprehended the man, who was behaving in a confused manner.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Candidates seek foreign policy edge in 3rd debate

WASHINGTON—Still neck-and-neck after all these months, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney head into their third and final debate with each man eager to project an aura of personal strength and leadership while raising doubts about the steadiness and foreign policy credentials of the other guy.

Each is aiming for a commanding performance Monday to settle the seesaw dynamics of the first two debates: Romney gave Obama an old-fashioned shellacking in the first round, and the chastened president rebounded in their second encounter.

The 90-minute faceoff at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., offers the candidates their last opportunity to stand one-on-one before tens of millions of Americans and command their undivided attention before next month's election. Both candidates largely dropped out of sight and devoted their weekends to debate preparations, a sure sign of the high importance they attach to the event.

While the principals warm up for their evening debate in the battleground state of Florida, their running mates will be busy Monday seeking votes in two of the eight other states whose up-for-grabs electoral votes will determine the next president—Vice President Joe Biden in Ohio and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan in Colorado. Also still hotly contested: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Virginia.

Deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said Monday that "it really now comes down to that small segment of undecided voters."

Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Cutter said, "The ground game is in credibly important at this point. We feel pretty good about where we are."

Hours before the debate was to begin, the Obama campaign announced a new television ad with a rare focus on foreign policy while most other television spots have been on economic and other domestic issues. The ad talked about the costs of the past decade of war over an image of a soldier with a prosthetic leg. It pointed out that Obama ended the war in Iraq and said Romney would have kept forces in the country longer to help with the transition.

Campaign surrogates went on Sunday talk shows to frame the foreign policy matters that moderator Bob Schieffer will put before the candidates in a discussion sure to reflect "how dangerous the world is in which we live," as the CBS newsman put it. Iran's nuclear intentions, the bloody crackdown in Syria, economic angst in Europe, security concerns in Afghanistan, China's growing power—all that and more are on the agenda.

On Iran, senior Romney campaign foreign policy adviser Dan Senor said on NBC Monday that Romney's approach is that "we've got to reach a diplomatic solution." He said the Obama administration's policy on Iran for the past four years has not discouraged Tehran from moving forward with its nuclear ambitions.

On Libya, Senor said "they didn't have the proper security" at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi where Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others were killed on Sept. 11.

The series of interviews Sunday and Monday fed into the broader debate over which candidate offers the steady hand and sound judgment for a nation facing myriad challenges at home and abroad.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, arguing for the Republicans, faulted Obama for "his failure to outline broad goals, real goals, a real view of what America's role in the world should be." Romney, by contrast, would "use America's role in the world as a catalyst for peace, prosperity and freedom," he said.

Ryan, campaigning in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday, faulted the president for potential defense cuts and said that when adversaries "see us projecting weakness, when they see us hollowing out our military ... they think we are a superpower in decline." It was a likely preview of one of Romney's arguments in the debate.

Obama adviser David Axelrod said that when the president took office "we were isolated in our position on Iran and in the world. And today, the world is unified against Iran with us, all because of the leadership of this president."

The Obama campaign released a blistering memo from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., accusing Romney of offering nothing but "endless bluster" on international issues.

"He is an extreme and expedient candidate who lacks the judgment and vision so vital for the Oval Office," said Kerry, who is considered a leading candidate to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state if Obama wins a second term.

When it comes to their foreign policy credentials, both candidates have reasons for optimism and concern: While foreign policy has been a strength of Obama throughout the campaign, some recent polls show his advantage narrowing. The Pew Research Center's October poll, for example, found that 47 percent of Americans favored Obama to make "wise decisions about foreign policy," while 43 percent preferred Romney.

American University professor Jordan Tama said the difficult trick for Romney in the debate will be to challenge Obama on foreign policy without looking like he's criticizing the commander in chief, which can be off-putting to voters. Obama, for his part, must make the case that his policies are sound and his leadership strong despite ongoing challenges around the world, including unrest in the Middle East and the chaotic situation in Libya that left four Americans dead.

While foreign policy has been overshadowed during this campaign by concerns about the domestic economy and jobs at home, everything matters in a race this tight. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sunday showed each candidate favored by 47 percent of likely voters, reflecting a boost of support for Romney following his strong performance in the first debate in early October.

With early voting under way in many states, there is precious little time for the candidates to break loose. More than 4 million Americans already have voted.

———

Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

———

Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nbenac

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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USADA statement on Armstrong losing titles

After cycling's governing body agreed Monday that Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France titles should be stripped, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released the following statement from its CEO, Travis Tygart:

"Today, the UCI made the right decision in the Lance Armstrong case. Despite its prior opposition to USADA's investigation into doping on the U.S. Postal Service cycling team and within the sport, USADA is glad that the UCI finally reversed course in this case and has made the credible decision available to it.

"This determination to uphold USADA's decision on the U.S. Postal Services case does not by itself clean up cycling nor does it ensure the sport has moved past the obstacles that allowed doping to flourish in the age of EPO and blood transfusions. For cycling to truly move forward and for the world to know what went on in cycling, it is essential that an independent and meaningful Truth and Reconciliation Commission be established so that the sport can fully unshackle itself from the past. There are many more details of doping that are hidden, many more doping doctors, and corrupt team directors and the omerta has not yet been fully broken.

"Sanctioning Lance Armstrong and the riders who came forward truthfully should not be seen as penance for an era of pervasive doping. There must be more action to combat the system that took over the sport. It is important to remember that while today is a historic day for clean sport, it does not mean clean sport is guaranteed for tomorrow. Only an independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission can fully start cycling on the path toward true reform and provide hope for a complete break from the past."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Report: Colorado is a better place to retire than Florida

 Colorado was listed Monday as the 6th best state to retire to by MoneyRates.com.

The analysis was based on life expectancy, climate, crime rate, economic conditions and senior population growth.

Hawaii was ranked first, followed by Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Virginia and Colorado.

The report said that while Colorado might be a cold-weather state to some, Colorado's other attractions for seniors "more than offset that.

"Only three states have seen faster growth in their senior populations, which is helped by the fact that seniors in Colorado tend to live for a long time."

Colorado placed ahead of Florida and New Mexico which tied for seventh.

As far as life expectancy category, the factors taken into account include things such as health care and the environment. MoneyRates.com said that to "make this factor especially relevant to seniors, MoneyRates.com used each state's life expectancy for people at age 65 today."

The worst state to retire to, said the report, was Michigan with Pennsylvania and Alaska tied for second. They were followed by Illinois and Massachusetts.

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.

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Denver firm signs $2 billion plus deal with Chinese company

 Denver-based Prospect Global Resources and Sichuan Chemical Industry Holding announced Monday a more than $2 billion agreement, over a 10-year period, under which Sichuan will purchase at least 500,000 metric tons of potash annually, or 25 percent of the projected output of Prospect Global's American West Potash Field in Holbrook, Az.

The conservative deal valuation reflects current market prices of about $475 per metric ton for a total of 5 million metric tons.

The contract is take-or-pay, backed by a letter of credit.

The agreement also provides an option for American West to sell and Sichuan Chemical to purchase an additional mount of potash.

Prospect Global said it is believed to be the largest-ever purchase and sale contract - in price and volume - for a potash mine under development in the United States. It added that the deal is also believed to be one of the largest export contracts in United States history.

"Prospect Global believes this bankable offtake agreement enhances the attractiveness of the project to lenders," the company said in a statement.

The current timetable calls for the American West site to be in production by late 2015 or early 2016.

Pat Avery, executive officer of Prospect Global said the agreement is "a major vote of confidence both in the long-term potential of our American West Potash site as a mineral resource and in Prospect Global's ability to create a state of the art mining operation to capitalize on that potential."

Prospect Global said that from the perspective of Sichuan Chemical, a state-owned enterprise that is one of China's largest fertilizer manufacturers and its third-largest chemical company, the accord provides a large - and independent - source of a commodity that is critical to meeting the challenge of feeding the world's largest nation.

Prospect Global said that this year's record drought in North America and Europe has cut grain harvests, squeezing global food reserves and raising prices. In that context, obtaining dependable supplies of potash, which raises agricultural productivity without depleting soil nutrient, is vital to China's food security, said the Denver company.

Kiaojun Chen, chairman of Sichuan Chemical said the agreement with Prospect Global "has important benefit for Sichuan Chemical and "also will make a significant contribution to the economic development of Sichuan Province and the Chinese potash industry."

Chen said Sichuan Chemical is "honored to work with Prospect Global" and looks forward "to a prosperous future."

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.

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