staging.rockymountainvoice.com

Menu

Boulder Reporting Lab

Steve Redfearn, serving in interim since January, named as new Boulder police chief
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

Steve Redfearn, serving in interim since January, named as new Boulder police chief

By John Herrick | Boulder Reporting Lab Boulder’s city manager has appointed Steve Redfearn as the city’s next police chief, marking the latest change to the department as it faces demands for reform. Redfearn, who has served as interim chief since January 2024, joined the city’s police department in 2021. He has pledged to make policing more “equitable and effective.” “We’ll do this through a re-evaluation of our policies, best-practices training, a focus on employee well-being, and absolutely, a renewed commitment to engaging with community. That is what policing is about,” Redfearn said in a statement on Friday, Sept 6.  READ THE FULL STORY AT BOULDER REPORTING LAB
Read More
Over 700 people are homeless in Boulder — fewer than last year, but higher than in the past six
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

Over 700 people are homeless in Boulder — fewer than last year, but higher than in the past six

By Brooke Stephensen | Boulder Reporting Lab In January, volunteers counted 727 people experiencing homelessness in Boulder County. While this is a decrease from last year’s count of 839, it is still the second-highest figure recorded since the count began in 2017. The Point-in-Time report, published on Aug. 13, is a count of the number of homeless people on Jan. 22, 2024. Mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and conducted by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, the data provides some of the most reliable indicators of homelessness trends in Boulder County and across the Denver metro area, despite year-to-year variations due to weather, methodology and volunteer turnout. Of the 727 people counted, at least 193 — over a quarter — were uns...
Read More
In Boulder, ballot measure seeking to close airport withdrawn amid FAA lawsuit to keep it open
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

In Boulder, ballot measure seeking to close airport withdrawn amid FAA lawsuit to keep it open

By Tim Drugan | Boulder Reporting Lab Boulder’s 2024 local election just became much less contentious. Organizers with the ballot measure committee Airport Neighborhood Campaign announced Aug. 27 that they have withdrawn their controversial measure to decommission the Boulder Municipal Airport from the November ballot. A separate but related measure to redevelop the land into affordable housing, which had also qualified for the ballot, is also being withdrawn. It would have been the first time in the airport’s nearly 100-year history that voters decided whether to close the municipal airport. The measures were shaping up to be the most controversial local issues of this election season. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE BOULDER REPORTING LAB
Read More
Jury selected, opening statements set in King Soopers shooting trial
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

Jury selected, opening statements set in King Soopers shooting trial

By Jenna Sampson | Boulder Reporting Lab Editor's note: The Boulder Reporting Lab is providing daily updates from the courtroom. This is from the Wednesday, Sept. 4, report. The jury pool was narrowed today from the initial 1,500 summoned to the final 16, including four alternates who won’t be identified as such until deliberation. The jurors’ identities will remain private for their protection, likely due to the high-profile nature of the case. Many of the jurors’ clarifying questions have revolved around how exactly they are supposed to decide whether Alissa was insane at the moment of the shooting. They discussed, for instance, if he wasn’t diagnosed as schizophrenic beforehand, does that place less weight on the later diagnosis as a factor that day? Did the incident itself con...
Read More
Boulder weighing minimum wage bump to $16.58 in 2025, another $1 in 2026, 2027
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

Boulder weighing minimum wage bump to $16.58 in 2025, another $1 in 2026, 2027

By John Herrick | Boulder Reporting Lab The Boulder City Council is considering raising the city’s minimum wage to between $15.57 per hour and $16.58 per hour starting next year, with additional increases of over a dollar in each of the following two years. A final decision is expected later this year.  If approved, the wage hike would impact thousands of workers currently earning the state minimum wage of $14.42 per hour. Labor advocates want the city council to raise the minimum wage to $25 per hour by 2030, but councilmembers were noncommittal during a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 22. They said they were concerned about the impact on small businesses facing higher labor costs, even as they agreed the increase is necessary to help workers afford to live in Boulder. READ THE F...
Read More
City of Boulder sues FAA over 2040 airport closure dispute, claims ‘unconstitutional overreach’
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

City of Boulder sues FAA over 2040 airport closure dispute, claims ‘unconstitutional overreach’

By John Herrick | Boulder Reporting Lab The City of Boulder has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration in federal district court, challenging the agency’s assertion that the city must keep its airport operating indefinitely. The city claims the FAA is violating protections in the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on July 26, seeks a judicial declaration that would allow the city to legally close Boulder Municipal Airport by 2040.  This legal dispute is the latest development in a longstanding debate over the airport’s future. Boulder Municipal Airport, in the city’s northeast corner, primarily serves private pilots, trainees, glider pilots and researchers. Last summer, the city began considering whether to upgrade...
Read More
In advance of election, Boulder City Council to weigh long-term plan for closing municipal airport by 2041
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

In advance of election, Boulder City Council to weigh long-term plan for closing municipal airport by 2041

By Boulder Reporting Lab City of Boulder officials are asking councilmembers to decide next week whether the city should begin the process of closing the Boulder Municipal Airport by 2041. According to a city staff memo published this week, 2041 is the date when the city estimates it will no longer be obligated to keep the airport operating under Federal Aviation Administration regulations. The decision will be part of a special meeting on July 25, when councilmembers return from their summer break. The discussion comes after a group of residents gathered enough signatures to place two measures on the November ballot dealing with the airport. One measure would close the airport “as soon as reasonably feasible,” while the other would repurpose the land to create a neighbo...
Read More
‘Uncertainty’ hits Boulder Valley S.D. amid enrollment decline, new funding law and tax cap measure
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

‘Uncertainty’ hits Boulder Valley S.D. amid enrollment decline, new funding law and tax cap measure

By Jenna Sampson | Boulder Reporting Lab The Boulder Valley School District is set to spend over $550 million on operating expenditures next school year. In lockstep with declining enrollment, fixed costs continue to rise, increasing the cost per student. Boulder spends over $4,000 more per pupil than the state average of $15,000, with some schools allocating over $22,000 per student. This yearly enrollment decline of 1.5%, combined with a new funding law and a November 2024 ballot measure to cap property taxes — a major revenue source for BVSD — has sparked concerns about the district’s future budget. Although the new funding law may provide additional state aid, this will be offset by declining enrollment unless the district manages to reduce fixed costs. One potenti...
Read More
Chamber opposes closing of Boulder Airport, ‘red-herring’ argument that started effort
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

Chamber opposes closing of Boulder Airport, ‘red-herring’ argument that started effort

By Boulder Reporting Lab The Boulder Chamber announced last week that it is “firmly opposed” to proposed ballot measures that would decommission the city’s airport and use the land to build housing. The organization, which represents businesses across Boulder County, is the latest to take a stance in a thorny debate that is shaping up to be the most contentious issue of this year’s local election. “There are significant economic vitality, transportation and public safety benefits of access to this community asset that far outweigh the red-herring argument for converting our municipal airport to future housing,” the chamber said in a statement. Earlier this month, organizers with the ballot measure committee, Airport Neighborhood Campaign, gathered enough signat...
Read More
Inflation leads to Boulder 2024 budget bump up to $530.7 million
No Comments
Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

Inflation leads to Boulder 2024 budget bump up to $530.7 million

By Boulder Reporting Lab Councilmembers on Thursday approved a $46.4 million adjustment to the 2024 budget, using unspent money from the prior year, new grant money and additional revenue. Much of the money will be spent on existing programs and infrastructure projects, some of which have increased in cost due to inflation, according to city officials. The budget includes renovations for city facilities, a long-awaited respite care program for homeless people transitioning out of the hospital, two electric fire trucks, seven electric buses for the HOP route, cost escalations for an underpass and multi-modal changes at 19th Street and additional money for the North Boulder Library, which is slated to open as soon as this month. READ THE FULL STORY AT BOULDER REPORTING LAB
Read More