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$5.5M project in Arapahoe County aims to make travel safer for Colorado cyclists
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CBS Colorado, Local

$5.5M project in Arapahoe County aims to make travel safer for Colorado cyclists

By Brian Sherrod | CBS Colorado Construction crews in Arapahoe County are working to make a popular intersection more bike-friendly. Right now, crews are adding three new roundabouts around sections of Inverness West, Inverness East, and Inverness Boulevard by Dry Creek Road. The Inverness Drive Project is just one step in a very big project. CBS First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter met with CIP Transporation Engineer Trent Marshall to discuss the project in depth. Marshall tells CBS Colorado it will take a four-lane road and turn it into a two-lane road. It will dedicate those lanes to be street bike lanes. This program will provide bicycle facilities from Denver to Douglas County. The construction started the week of May 27 but the design for this project is two years in the making...
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Elk on the loose isn’t the only concern for visitors this summer in Estes Park
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Local, The Colorado Sun

Elk on the loose isn’t the only concern for visitors this summer in Estes Park

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Rocky Mountain National Park appears to have found the formula for handling 4 million-plus people a year in this idyllic retreat.  You might need to give the town another year of grace to handle their end. Downtown Estes Park is often at a traffic standstill in summer as park-seeking RVs rev their engines at caramel corn-seeking pedestrians. Now downtown is deep into the crucial year of a project that will create a one-way loop around town and out toward the park. Most town leaders and business owners welcome the change, but before it’s done, there’s still a lot of disruption ahead.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Denver Health Medical Center wants voters to approve a sales tax to help with funding pinch
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CBS Colorado, Local

Denver Health Medical Center wants voters to approve a sales tax to help with funding pinch

By Alan Gionet | CBS Colorado Times have been getting tougher and tougher in health care. It shows up in the copays, the bills and now Colorado hospitals are facing a crisis.  "Reimbursement is down everywhere partly because we have an increase in the number of uninsured patients across the country," said Denver Health's CEO Donna Lynne. Lynne went before a Denver City Council committee Wednesday to ask them to advance a ballot question to Denver voters requesting a sales tax hike. The increase would be devoted to help pay cost shortages and would cost shoppers an extra 3.4 cents on a $10 purchase. It would mean an estimated $70 million to help meet the rising cost of running the services of the hospital, including emergency services, paramedics, clinics and other operations. T...
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Woodland Park sales tax repeal proposal could be losing steam
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Local, Pikes Peak Courier

Woodland Park sales tax repeal proposal could be losing steam

By Doug Fitzgerald | Pikes Peak Courier The idea of ending the sales tax that benefits the Woodland Park School District has, for now, lost traction among members of the city council. But the desire for detailed accountability for how the money is spent has never been stronger. The Woodland Park City Council held a work session on May 29 concerning the 1.09% sales tax that is earmarked for the city’s schools. Mayor Kellie Case reminded the council that the city has authority only over the sales tax. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE PIKES PEAK COURIER
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In future, one of state’s largest off-leash dog parks could require out-of-town visitors to pay
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Local, Westminster Window

In future, one of state’s largest off-leash dog parks could require out-of-town visitors to pay

By Monte Whaley | Westminster Window One of the state’s largest off-leash dog parks will likely stay intact but Westminster should do more to make the 470-acre parcel self-sustaining, including charging out-of-town visitors a fee to use the area, a majority of city councilors said Monday night. Councilors said at the work session that they wanted to keep the off-leash area as-is. This is despite a city staff recommendation to cut the parcel roughly in half or more to increase open space in the city. Councilors said they were responding to the desires of a majority of residents who covet the off-leash area as a prime getaway for dogs and their owners. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE WESTMINSTER WINDOW
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What’s behind Wheat Ridge’s 26% crime drop since 2021? Start with police staffing, mayor says.
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Commentary, Local

What’s behind Wheat Ridge’s 26% crime drop since 2021? Start with police staffing, mayor says.

By Mayor Bud Starker | Wheat Ridge Neighborhood Gazette Wheat Ridge has seen a significant drop in crime rates, returning to levels last observed before the pandemic. The Wheat Ridge Police Department reports a 26% overall decrease in crime since 2021, marking a substantial improvement from the spike experienced during the pandemic. A major factor in this reduction is the department’s success in recruiting high-quality candidates, even as law enforcement agencies nationwide struggle with recruitment and retention. After staffing levels dipped in 2021, WRPD is on track to add a dozen officers this year. Seven rookies graduated from the academy last December and completed over three months of field training before beginning independent patrols. Additionally, five more recruits are curr...
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Community input sought ahead of possible Denver Public Schools closures
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CBS Colorado, Local

Community input sought ahead of possible Denver Public Schools closures

By Anna Alejo | CBS Colorado Despite a surge in the enrollment of migrant students this year, Denver Public Schools continues to experience a drop in the size of its student population. The school board is asking for community input as it plans how to consolidate and close schools. The school board says it's necessary to close schools to keep the district financially viable and to re-allocate limited resources. As proposed "guardrails", the board wants the Superintendent to consider schools of any size and not to use standardized test scores or school performance ratings as a condition for consolidation. READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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No veterans living on Denver streets? That’s Mayor Mike Johnston’s goal.
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CBS Colorado, Local

No veterans living on Denver streets? That’s Mayor Mike Johnston’s goal.

By Austen Erblat | CBS Colorado Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said he wants to make Denver the largest city in the country to have no veterans living on the streets. Johnston says that by tracking people experiencing homelessness in the Mile High City and partnering with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Denver Department of Housing Stability, the city identified and plans to provide housing for the 52 homeless veterans. "We think this puts us in a position to, before the end of this year, house all 52 of those veterans who we know are still experiencing unsheltered homelessness," he said at a news conference on Monday. "We will be the largest American city to make sure that no veteran who has served this country sleeps outside in the streets of Denver." RE...
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Purina facility smells so bad that it’s getting sued, investigated by the state
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Local, Westword

Purina facility smells so bad that it’s getting sued, investigated by the state

By Catie Cheshire | Westword The stinky Purina factory in northeast Denver next to Interstate 70 is well known around the city. Now a class-action lawsuit has been lodged in the U.S. District Court of Colorado alleging that noxious fumes from the pet food plant are so bad that people who live nearby should be compensated for their loss of property value and quality of life. The lawsuit is aiming for class certification with Robert Fields and Lorena Ortiz, two Denver residents who live within a mile of the facility at 4555 York Street, as the representatives who filed it on May 28. The complaint names Nestle Purina Petcare as the defendant, claiming that poor maintenance on Purina’s behalf has led to the horrifying smells. “A properly designed, operated, and maintained pe...
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Front Range Passenger Rail District votes to push back ballot initiative to 2026
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denvergazette.com, Local

Front Range Passenger Rail District votes to push back ballot initiative to 2026

By Savannah Eller | Denver Gazette The district in charge of planning a passenger rail line from Pueblo to Fort Collins said on Friday that it would wait until 2026 to seek voter approval for a sales tax raise.  Nancy Burke, director of communications and outreach for the Front Range Passenger Rail District, said district board members had been considering between this year and 2026 to introduce funding ballot measures in the 13 counties where the rail line would pass.  She said the sales tax amount is still under consideration, with different models requiring more and less funding.  In a statement, the district said it would continue the planning phase of the project for the next two years, including the completion of a Service Development Plan by the Colorado Depart...
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