Briefs
LIVE: Gov. Polis gives COVID-19 update at 3:15 p.m., Aug. 4
Gov. Jared Polis is scheduled to give a live update at 3:15 p.m., Aug. 4, on Colorado’s response to COVID-19. The news briefing will be conducted at the Governor’s Mansion in Denver. Watch below for a livestream of the briefing, or watch on the governor’s Facebook. As of Aug. 3, Colorado had 47,968 cases of […]
Sierra Club endorses Hickenlooper for U.S. Senate
Climate advocates consider former Gov. John Hickenlooper to have a less-than-perfect record on the environment. That didn’t stop the Colorado Chapter of the Sierra Club from endorsing the Democrat for U.S. Senate over incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. “Colorado deserves a Senator who will prioritize public lands and conservation from day one, not just when […]
Drug overdoses claimed 1,062 Colorado residents last year, new data shows
More Colorado residents died of drug overdoses in 2019 than in any other year over at least the previous two decades, according to new data released by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. CDPHE recently updated its drug overdose data dashboard with numbers for 2019. Last year, 1,062 people died from a drug […]
More than 1 in 3 Coloradans struggling to afford food amid COVID-19 crisis, poll finds
A bipartisan group of advocates and state lawmakers is calling on Colorado’s congressional delegation to support an expansion of federal food-stamp programs, as a new poll shows an unprecedented number of Coloradans struggling with food insecurity. Roughly a third of Coloradans report struggling to provide enough food in their household within the last three months, […]
Republican state lawmakers call for special legislative session to address K-12 education
Colorado House and Senate Republicans are calling on Gov. Jared Polis to convene a special legislative session to address K-12 education amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter sent to Polis’ office Tuesday, lawmakers proposed that money, which would otherwise go to schools, be given directly to parents to cover the costs of educating their […]
‘Woefully inadequate’: Bennet, Colorado groups bash new GOP relief proposal
Top Colorado Democrats and liberal groups are denouncing the latest coronavirus relief legislation proposed by Republicans in the U.S. Senate, as negotiations over the next phase of the federal government’s crisis response begin in earnest. On July 27, Senate Republicans unveiled the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act, their proposal for the […]
Gov. Polis: Colorado must ramp up COVID-19 testing efforts
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a quote in which Gov. Jared Polis said the state lab averaged 3,000 tests a day. As cases of COVID-19 continue to climb in Colorado, the state plans to look at testing with a renewed focus, Gov. Jared Polis said at a news briefing July 23. […]
Fracking ban in Boulder County sought by environmental groups for 2020 ballot
A coalition of environmental and community groups is calling on the Boulder County Board of Commissioners to refer a measure to the 2020 ballot asking voters to approve a ban on oil and gas development — along with a small sales tax hike to defray the costs of a likely legal challenge. A draft ballot […]
Trump’s ‘illegal aliens’ census memo draws rebuke from Gov. Polis
President Donald Trump issued a memo on Tuesday ordering the exclusion of people living in the United States illegally from the 2020 Census for the purpose of apportioning congressional representation. In response, Gov. Jared Polis issued a statement on Wednesday opposing the executive order, stating that, “once again the Trump administration is using the Census […]
Great American Outdoors Act, other Colorado public-lands bills passed by House
Public-lands advocates in Colorado and beyond are celebrating the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, a bill that will boost funding for a critical federal conservation program and provide $9.5 billion to help clear a backlog of maintenance projects in the U.S. National Parks System. Passage of the bill, which […]
‘Green stimulus’ could mean thousands of jobs plugging oil and gas wells, says report
As environmental activists in Colorado continue to worry about a potential spike in the number of abandoned oil and gas wells due to the industry’s financial struggles, a new report suggests that a “green stimulus” program by the federal government could solve both problems at once — employing laid-off oil and gas workers to plug […]
Trump’s easing of key environmental law slammed by top Colorado Democrats
Top Democrats and environmental advocates in Colorado had harsh words for President Donald Trump’s decision to weaken a longstanding environmental law that requires extensive federal review processes for large industrial and infrastructure projects. The White House Council on Environmental Quality announced on July 15 that it had finalized work to “modernize” certain provisions of the […]