News
Youth ‘reimagine’ policing and public safety during town hall
Nearly 40 Colorado youth convened on Tuesday night over Zoom in a public forum to “reimagine” policing and public safety in Denver. During the virtual community-led town hall, which was livestreamed on Facebook, students discussed a need for reallocating police funding, more community mental health services and police training around implicit bias and cultural competence. […]
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 […]
Counties with variances from COVID-19 guidelines could lose privileges
Colorado counties with increasing COVID-19 case numbers that have been granted exceptions from state-level restrictions were told July 19 to submit a mitigation plan to reverse the trend within two weeks — or revert back to Colorado’s “safer at home” guidelines. “The spread of the disease is increasing in Colorado, and the rate of increase […]
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 […]
Vaccine makers deny political pressure in race for safe, effective shot
Leaders of the companies working on some of the top candidates for COVID-19 vaccines predict they should have shots available by early 2021, but said they will rely on the federal government to determine how to distribute them. The heads of five biopharmaceutical companies with promising vaccine candidates told members of Congress Tuesday that they […]
10 p.m. last call for alcohol ordered to slow COVID-19 spread among young people
As Colorado’s COVID-19 case counts continue to rebound, especially among young people, Gov. Jared Polis has ordered alcohol sales at bars and restaurants across the state to end by 10 p.m. for at least the next 30 days. “Your best (intentions) around social distancing just fall by the wayside if you’re in a group of […]
‘Cold day in hell’ before he’d tolerate ‘uninvited’ federal agents, former DHS boss Ridge says
HARRISBURG, Penn. — The nation’s first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security had sharp words for his former agency Tuesday, condemning the Trump administration’s decision to send federal officers into the streets of Portland, Ore., to quell protests, saying it was “counterproductive,” and that it was not the agency’s mission to act as domestic […]
Students share stories of discrimination, assault through Instagram account
A few weeks ago, two Colorado teenagers created a platform for students at Jefferson County Public Schools to share painful stories. “I’d just been thinking a lot about kind of the racist or anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred to me, and that they must have happened to so many other people,” said Elyza Berry, 18, […]
Mental health of young people worries experts as COVID-19 continues to grip Colorado
It’s been a “roller-coaster” couple of months for Dulce Trujillo as she’s tried her best to adjust to the reality of the coronavirus pandemic. For years, the 18-year-old from Salida has navigated depression and struggled with suicidal thoughts. When the pandemic hit, she already felt isolated from her friends after spending the first semester of […]
‘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 […]