Health
Oil and gas groups block briefing for officials on health impacts of drilling
Colorado’s five new oil and gas commissioners were set to hear a presentation from state officials on the health impacts of drilling this week — but oil and gas interest groups objected, and the commission agreed to cancel the briefing. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission chair Jeff Robbins noted the decision at the beginning […]
Colorado’s COVID-19 test positivity rate falls below 3%
Just 2.32% of COVID-19 tests in Colorado were positive Aug. 16, the lowest rate since the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment began tracking tests and cases in early March. For the week ending Aug. 15, 2.99% of tests were positive. Gov. Jared Polis praised the development during a news briefing Aug. 18. He […]
Wildfire updates: 130,000 acres burned as hot, dry weather continues
Four major wildfires have burned an area of more than 130,000 acres across Colorado in recent weeks, causing evacuations, highway closures and potentially hazardous levels of smoke and other forms of air pollution in many parts of the state. Amid hot, dry weather that has left 100% of the state under an official drought classification […]
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 […]