Health
Need for proposed supportive housing project not contested, only its location
A proposed supportive housing and recuperative care facility in Denver received push-back this week from an area business owner who is concerned about the concentration of poverty in the area. On Tuesday, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless presented to the State Housing Board a new housing project that aims to create 98 affordable and […]
Gov. Polis visits two Western Slope wildfires as two others ignite, spread rapidly
Gov. Jared Polis visited with local officials and firefighting crews at command centers near two wildfires on Colorado’s Western Slope on Friday morning, as two other blazes grew rapidly in Larimer and Grand counties. Speaking to reporters in Eagle, a few miles east of the 14,000-acre Grizzly Creek Fire, Polis said the blaze was the […]
Rural areas in Colorado lack mental health providers. A $1.5 million grant aims to fill the gaps.
A statewide shortage of mental health and addiction providers is acutely felt in Colorado’s rural communities, many of which have high rates of suicide and overdose. A new fellowship program, supported by the Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence and funded through United Health Foundation, aims to change that — or at least make a significant […]
‘Extremely active and fast-moving’: Western Slope wildfires continue to grow
A pair of major wildfires on Colorado’s Western Slope have spread rapidly in recent days and are expected to continue to grow on Wednesday amid extremely hot, dry and windy conditions. Located about 50 miles apart, the Pine Gulch Fire and the Grizzly Creek Fire have both been supercharged by the severe drought conditions that […]
Worst year for overdose deaths feared as fentanyl, COVID-19 afflict Colorado
The opioid epidemic would have presented an unprecedented challenge even if COVID-19 had never hit Colorado. In 2019, the state logged its highest-recorded number of fatal drug overdoses after a slight decrease in 2018 left some people feeling cautiously hopeful. Now, provisional data from 2020 leaves health experts worried that the coronavirus pandemic could accelerate […]
Pine Gulch Fire poised to crack state’s top 10 largest wildfires
Two major wildfires burning on the Western Slope have forced evacuations, shut down Colorado’s main east-west interstate and are poised to blanket the Front Range in a thick layer of haze. Dramatic images captured Monday showed the early stages of a fire burning along Interstate 70 near Glenwood Springs. Named the Grizzly Creek Fire — […]
Colorado’s COVID-19 transmission is plateauing, Gov. Polis says
After a July that saw a spike in reported cases of COVID-19 rivaling April’s, the state’s three-day average of new reported cases appears to be plateauing or declining, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. From Aug. 1 through 3, the daily average of cases reported to CDPHE was 315 […]
Mismanagement in oil and gas drilling exposed in Extraction bankruptcy
By Lizzie Lario The Extraction Broomfield project, which we have been told produces natural gas and oil primarily for export outside of the United States, has left a permanent scar on me, my family and my community. The company and its lobbyists demanded we allow this high-risk drilling process near my home then, weeks later, […]
Medicaid funding increase sought by Colorado advocates as enrollment surges
Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, it was hard enough for Joaquín Garcia, a student and father of two who lives in Alamosa, to find steady work to fit around his class schedule. With the economy suffering and his children home from school, it’s become harder than ever. “I basically have to stay (home), and […]
Gov. Jared Polis calls recent clearing of a large homeless encampment around the Capitol ‘a relief’
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday called the recent removal of a large homeless encampment near the state Capitol “a relief.” “I was deeply troubled by the dangerous health situation in that area,” Polis said during a news conference, noting a recent shooting within the encampment, and the presence of loose needles at the park. “… I […]
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 […]
Move to diversify yoga to heal racialized trauma part of Denver co-op’s mission
DENVER — Beverly Grant spent years juggling many roles before yoga helped her restore her balance. When not doting over her three children, she hosted her public affairs talk radio show, attended community meetings or handed out cups of juice at her roving Mo’ Betta Green MarketPlace farmers market, which has brought local, fresh foods and produce […]