Dick Hilker

For the past couple of decades, legislators, study groups, philanthropists and various experts have spent have spent a couple of trillion man-hours proposing ways to make it better.

Hilker: If educators don’t buy in, education reform fails

June 22, 2017 at 3:34 p.m.

Any new manager of people usually learns one lesson quickly: The new boss might have some great ideas for improvements, but if the troops don鈥檛 buy into the changes, they...

In a file photo, the apartment building at 40th and Colorado Boulevard in Denver, which opened this year, has 156 income-restricted units.

Hilker: California compassion on housing?

August 13, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.

For a nation supposedly composed of big-hearted people, we have a tough time fixing one of our big problems. And it抖阴ap one that calls for a little compassion.

Hilker: Dear Xcel, don’t negotiate with Boulder

July 31, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.

Xcel Energy shouldn't negotiate with Boulder as the city debates whether to stay with the utility or form its own municipal power company.

DPS is seeking $572 million in a bond issue and $56.6 million for a budget override proposal this fall. Jeffco is expected to ask voters for $535 million in bonds and $33 million in an additional mill-levy override.

Hilker: The fine print on school bond issues

July 16, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.

DPS and Jeffco schools are preparing to ask taxpayers for some very large money. The requested projects appear either necessary or very desirable, but there's one problem.

Margaret Sobocinski, executive director of the Carin' Clinic and a nurse practitioner, laughs as Dominic Lavattiata, 2, sticks out his tongue during a check-up on Sept. 19, 2014, in Arvada. (Anya Semenoff, Denver Post file)

Hilker: Carin’ Clinic is doing something about health care

July 2, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.

In 1993, two school nurses with the Jefferson County School District saw that many children from low-income families were not getting adequate health care because they lacked insurance.

Gross Reservoir, in Boulder County, is one of the storage sites that provides water for 1.4 million customers in Denver and several of its suburbs.

Hilker: Miles of red tape slow Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir plan

June 17, 2016 at 12:39 p.m.

Here is another tale of government bureaucracy and unresponsiveness. It is the saga of Gross Reservoir, which provides water for 1.4 million customers in the Denver area.

Tyler Chatwood (32) of the Colorado Rockies tags out Jackie Bradley Jr. (25) of the Boston Red Sox at home plate for he out in the 7th inning September 24, 2013 at Coors Field.

Hilker: Things that make me go “hmmm”

June 4, 2016 at 7:04 p.m.

Pressing questions that keep me awake when I鈥檓 trying to take a nap:

Thompson Valley student AJ Mathews, right, gets some assistance with his tie from classmate Thad Benson, left, at the TVHS Business Incubator MVP Pitch sponsored by the Thompson Education Foundation on Feb. 11.

Hilker: For Colorado high schools, a lesson in capitalism

May 21, 2016 at 6:44 p.m.

Hilker: For Colorado high schools, a lesson in capitalism

President Bush receives applauds by, from left, Rev. Timothy R. Scully, executive vice president of the University of Notre Dame, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and Patrick Kolesiak, a graduate of the college of Architecture, as he takes the stage to address graduates and other attendees, at the 156th University of Notre Dame Commencement in May 2001 at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind. Rice withdrew as a commencement speaker at Rutgers University in 2014 after protests erupted over her invitation.

Hilker: On college campuses, it’s disinvitation season

May 7, 2016 at 4:36 p.m.

Hilker: On college campuses, it's disinvitation season

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., left, and the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., talk about tax reform to 3M employees at the 3M Innovation Center in Maplewood, Minn., in July 2013.

Hilker: Liberty, transparency for all

April 24, 2016 at 12:03 a.m.

Hilker: Liberty, transparency for all

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