Boy,  that was a tough one . . . How to make the streets of Denver safe and appealing without specifically targeting the homeless and making their lives even more difficult.  Denver’s City Council stayed up until the wee hours of the morning last Tuesday to deal with this seemingly no-win situation, and ultimately passed a ban on camping on public property. It wasn’t easy. It probably was the right move, but it makes no one feel good.

As Denver strives to recover from the economic downturn of the past few years by attracting area residents, tourists and businesses into the city, it has become necessary to face the problem of the homeless or Occupy Denver protesters camping out and loitering on the streets, in the parks and on the sidewalks that were created or enhanced to attract people. Denver has long held a coveted reputation as a relatively safe city, and we count on our elected officials and law enforcement to keep it that way.

Should one celebrate birthdays when storms loom on the horizon?

We contemplated this as Israel celebrated its 64th anniversary of modern existence this week, for it cannot be denied that the skies around Israel are threatening.

Iran remains stubbornly committed to its nuclear weapons program — we don’t even qualify its purpose as a weapons program at this point — and it cannot be credibly denied that this program is designed, more than anything else, for Israel’s destruction.

The international response to that threat remains scattered and half-hearted, in our view, and even the prospect of a direct Israeli or American military intervention is unlikely to bring any guarantees.