The first bills that rolled out from the Colorado Legislature this year addressed some of the issues business leaders expected - particularly paid family leave and the "ban-the-box" effort - but also touched on subjects ranging from digital tokens to beer sales to local authority to dictate the types of to-go food containers that retail restaurants must use. 

Colorado officials have been down the road of trying to fund additional funding for transportation before. But never have they been as far apart on solutions as they are to start the 2019 legislative session. When the House and Senate gavel in for the start of the annual 120-day session at 10 a.m. today, Democratic and Republican leaders will proclaim the need to increase transportation-infrastructure resources is a major priority, along with education funding and health-care reform of various stripes, for their caucuses. Officials acknowledged as much during Thursday's Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce/Colorado Competitive Council Legislative Preview Breakfast, with House Speaker K.C. Becker and Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Cooke placing additional infrastructure investment at the top of their to-do list before the Legislature adjourns on May 3. 

As Western Governors have become increasingly active and effective, it has become correspondingly more difficult to condense their annual accomplishments into a Top Ten list. It would be easier to identify their top 50 or 100 achievements; winnowing the list to ten is much more challenging. Be that as it may, I am pleased to present the 2018 Top Ten list of Western Governors' accomplishments, projects and activities. 

Opening day in the Colorado state Senate began with lots of families and friends and the usual pomp and circumstance. Still, there were a few departures from the norm in Friday's first day of the 2019 legislation session. Incoming Senate President Leroy Garcia of Pueblo made it an unofficial "Pueblo Day", with a color guard from his hometown, singers presenting the National Anthem,and the invocation given by a priest from one of the local churches where Garcia can be found on Sundays, playing the piano for mass. 

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 312,000 in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, a number well above consensus estimates. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9 percent, while the labor force participation rate increased to 63.1 percent. Annual wage growth improved to 3.2 percent, tied for the fastest growth since 2009.