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Biden administration to move BLM headquarters back to D.C. from Grand Junction
President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Friday that it would return the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management to Washington, D.C., reversing a controversial decision by the Trump administration — with the support of a bipartisan array of Colorado political leaders — to relocate the office to Grand Junction. The BLM’s Grand Junction office […]
Biden visits Colorado to pitch clean-energy spending in infrastructure, budget bills
Joe Biden made his first visit to Colorado as president on Tuesday, stopping at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden to pitch his administration’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis and accelerate the clean-energy transition. “We’re blinking code red as a nation,” Biden said in remarks delivered against a backdrop of solar panels and […]
2021 election guide: 13 measures face voters on Denver’s crowded ballot
Thanks to a multipart bond package, five citizen-initiated measures and a pair of civic reforms backed by City Council, Denver voters will have what election officials say is likely a record number of ballot questions to decide on this November. Hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure investments, high-stakes housing policies and the future of […]
Redistricting commission far from consensus on Colorado congressional map
After four days of public hearings on a newly proposed Colorado congressional map, members of the state’s first-of-its-kind Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission appeared far from a consensus on how best to move forward with the once-a-decade redistricting process. In a Friday afternoon meeting that ran more than 90 minutes over schedule, commissioners deliberated at length […]
Republican CU Regent Heidi Ganahl files to run for Colorado governor
It’s official: Colorado’s only remaining statewide elected Republican official will challenge Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in the 2022 governor’s race. Campaign representatives for Heidi Ganahl, an entrepreneur and at-large member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, filed paperwork early Friday with the Colorado secretary of state’s office to form her candidate committee, Heidi […]
Climate corps, forest funding backed by Colorado Democrats included in House budget bill
Two major conservation proposals backed by Colorado lawmakers are one step closer to passage after being included in the House of Representatives’ version of Democrats’ high-stakes budget bill. Rep. Joe Neguse’s plan for a new Climate Conservation Corps and Sen. Michael Bennet’s proposal to boost funding for forest-management and wildfire mitigation efforts are both included […]
Redistricting panel to hold hearings on newly proposed congressional map
Colorado’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission will hold a series of hearings this week to solicit feedback from the public on the first official draft of its plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Nonpartisan redistricting staff on Friday released the first of three “staff plans” for Colorado’s new congressional […]
Last-minute law shrinks property tax cut measure to a fraction of original size
Last-minute tax legislation passed by the Colorado General Assembly earlier this year would likely reduce by more than 90% the impact of a billion-dollar tax cut measure on the 2021 ballot, a Newsline analysis of state property valuation data shows. Initiative 27, backed by conservative group Colorado Rising State Action, was officially certified to appear […]
Colorado labor, environmental groups push for big spending on clean transportation
Top Colorado Democrats joined leaders from local labor unions and environmental groups on Wednesday to call on the federal government to combat climate change with historic levels of spending on public transit and electric vehicles. “We are living in a time of climate crisis, and we recognize that we need to do better, we need […]
Hickenlooper wants carbon pricing in Democrats’ budget bill
As negotiations over a high-stakes budget bill begin in Washington, D.C., Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper told constituents in a virtual town hall on Monday that a carbon-pricing mechanism to combat climate change tops his wish list for the legislation. “The thing I’d like more than anything is to get a price on carbon,” Hickenlooper said. […]
Two statewide tax initiatives qualify for 2021 Colorado ballot
Two tax measures are headed to Colorado’s 2021 statewide ballot after supporters submitted the required number of voter signatures, Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office announced this week. The measures, Initiatives 25 and 27, are the first to qualify for the 2021 ballot. Supporters submitted more than the 124,632 valid signatures — 5% of the […]
State monitoring finds elevated air pollution levels near Suncor refinery in Commerce City
A state effort to measure air pollution levels near the Suncor Energy oil refinery in Commerce City found elevated levels of hazardous particulate matter in the area, officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a communication to residents Thursday. The new data were collected by CDPHE’s mobile air monitoring lab, […]