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Boomtowns: Once connected by railroads, Colorado River Valley towns now feel threatened by them
DE BEQUE, Colo. — As they head east out of the bottomlands of the Grand Valley, trains on the Union Pacific’s Central Corridor continue to follow the Colorado River in reverse, climbing gradually into Garfield County, where the rocky cliffs and sagebrush-spotted scrubland of the high desert begin to give way to the gentler slopes […]
The Valley: In Grand Junction, oil train route would retrace Colorado railroad history
GRAND VALLEY, Colo. — Five miles due south of the point where Interstate 70 crosses the Colorado-Utah border, a maze of slickrock washes and desert bunchgrass descends into a broad canyon carved out of the sandstone by the Colorado River. Here, on the high northern banks of a river that supplies water to 40 million […]
Down the Line: Tracing the route — and risks — of Utah’s proposed Colorado-bound oil trains
A proposal to build a new short-line railroad in the oil fields of eastern Utah could soon result in a dramatic increase in the amount of hazardous materials being shipped by rail through communities across western and central Colorado. The 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway, backed by a partnership between industry and Utah county governments, would […]
Mike Johnston defeats Kelly Brough to win election as mayor of Denver
Seven years after he departed the Colorado Senate, Mike Johnston’s third time seeking higher office proved to be the charm. After placing third in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor and stepping aside for U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper in the 2020 Senate race, Johnston was on track to be elected Denver mayor in Tuesday’s runoff […]
Progressive Denver City Council candidates trail in runoff elections
Two of three progressive Denver City Council candidates trailed by significant margins in their runoff elections on Tuesday night, while a third race could come down to razor-thin margins, unofficial results showed. Incumbent City Council member Candi CdeBaca, a democratic socialist who defeated Council president Albus Brooks in an upset win in District 9 four […]
Turnout up slightly in Denver mayor runoff as super PAC money continues to flow
What was once a 16-way Denver mayor’s race has been narrowed down to a head-to-head runoff election on Tuesday between Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough, and city voters appear to be more tuned in than they were ahead of April’s first round. Ballot return data published by the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s office showed that […]
Transit advocates call for investment as Denver ‘recommits’ to plan to eliminate traffic deaths
Cindy Stepp stood Thursday beside the intersection at 35th Street and Federal Boulevard in Denver where her daughter, 32-year-old Ainslie O’Neil, was struck and killed while riding her bike in December. “Our lives were forever changed on that sunny Sunday afternoon,” said a tearful Stepp, who joined Denver transportation and mobility advocates at a press […]
Billionaire donors give Mike Johnston a big financial boost in Denver mayoral runoff
A half-million dollar contribution from former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was part of a flood of large donations that has helped former state Sen. Mike Johnston open up a 2-to-1 fundraising lead over opponent Kelly Brough as the Denver mayor’s race enters its final week. Advancing Denver, an independent expenditure committee supporting Johnston’s […]
BLM officials pitch conservation-focused public lands rule at Denver meeting
Top officials from the federal Bureau of Land Management visited Colorado on Thursday for the first in a series of three in-person meetings to brief the public on a new proposal to broaden the agency’s conservation efforts. Proposed in March, the draft Conservation and Landscape Health rule would overhaul a variety of existing land-management procedures […]
Colorado Democrats reintroduce CORE Act to protect 420,000 acres of public lands
Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress will try again to pass the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, a years-in-the-making package of public lands protections that has been repeatedly stonewalled in recent years by Republican lawmakers. The latest version of the CORE Act, introduced this week for the third time since 2019, includes the same major […]
Yemi Mobolade elected mayor of Colorado Springs in historic result
The first in a trio of municipal elections to be held in Colorado’s three largest cities in 2023 ended on Tuesday night with a result that could send shockwaves through state politics. Unofficial results showed Yemi Mobolade, a Nigerian immigrant and small business owner, winning a resounding victory in the Colorado Springs mayor’s race. With […]
Gov. Polis vetoes bipartisan bill that could have delayed Colorado wolf reintroduction
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday vetoed legislation passed by lawmakers in the General Assembly that his administration said could have thrown a wrench into the state’s plans to reintroduce gray wolves to the state by the end of this year, as required by a ballot measure approved by voters in 2020. Senate Bill 23-256 […]