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Colorado wildlife officials confirm Grand County wolves have reproduced
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado wildlife officials confirm Grand County wolves have reproduced

By The Colorado Sun At least one pup has been born to a pair of wolves transplanted to Colorado from Oregon in December. Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Thursday evening said a gray wolf pup was spotted on June 18 in Grand County but said it is likely as many as five more were born. Biologists tracking location data noted in early April that a female’s collar had stopped uploading GPS coordinates, but then resumed sending data later in the month. This led the biologists to believe she was likely in a den. Though CPW did not release a photo or video footage of the pup, a news release said biologists had observed the area where the female’s collar was transmitting from the air and ground, using remote cameras and public reports. The biologists will continue to observe the denning ...
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Colorado ends budget year $164M in the red with potential tax cuts looming on November ballot
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado ends budget year $164M in the red with potential tax cuts looming on November ballot

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The state of Colorado will end its budget year June 30 with a deficit of as much as $164 million, forcing it to dip into its reserves as it heads into an election cycle fraught with financial uncertainty. And the budget picture only deteriorates from there, according to revenue forecasts provided to the Joint Budget Committee on Thursday. Next fiscal year, which starts July 1, the state will start in a $35 million to $86 million hole that budget writers would have to close during midyear budget adjustments, which take place each year in January. That leaves little wriggle room if something unexpected happens in the meantime, like an uptick in health care costs or a slowdown in tax collections. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Young teachers at Denver school say they were sexually abused by special needs students for months without help
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Local, The Colorado Sun

Young teachers at Denver school say they were sexually abused by special needs students for months without help

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun Three young educators at a Denver school for kids with severe behavioral issues were routinely sexually assaulted by students and ignored by administrators when they sought help, according to a new lawsuit.  The three women, recent college graduates who were passionate about working with children with special needs, said that for months they endured being groped, grabbed and choked at The Laradon School, a nonprofit with about 70 students in north Denver.  Victoria Schmidt, a paraprofessional hired in 2021, was repeatedly assaulted by a 13-year-old boy in her classroom, including the day he grabbed her in a hallway, placed her in a chokehold so tight that she feared she would die, and stuck his hand “deep inside her pants and underwea...
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New Colorado law protects tribal lands in response to contentious Durango, Southern Ute land dispute
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State, The Colorado Sun

New Colorado law protects tribal lands in response to contentious Durango, Southern Ute land dispute

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun A new law, rooted in a contentious land dispute in southwestern Colorado, says municipalities that want to annex land within a reservation must get tribal approval first.  While the idea made good sense to Colorado’s lawmakers — it breezed through this year’s legislative session — the law might pose a problem for Durango. The city has contemplated plans to spur economic growth and tap water stored in Lake Nighthorse, a federal reservoir south of the city. Some of those plans could involve annexing land within reservation boundaries. The Southern Ute Indian Tribe, which said the city’s annexation discussions were secretive and dishonest, brought the matter to the state legislature. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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In Colorado, only one town lets nonresidents vote. Now it’s considering adding LLCs to voter rolls.
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State, The Colorado Sun

In Colorado, only one town lets nonresidents vote. Now it’s considering adding LLCs to voter rolls.

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun When the town of Mountain Village above Telluride incorporated in 1995, emerging from a special district, the town charter allowed nonresident property owners to vote. Mountain Village is still the only town in Colorado that allows nonresidents to vote in local elections for council members, mayors and new regulations.  Now the town board is considering amending Mountain Village’s charter to expand voting to owners of LLCs and trusts that own property in the tony resort municipality.  “This is something that no other community has done,” Mountain Village Mayor Marti Prohaska said at the beginning of the work session on Wednesday. “So we are sort of charting new territory here and we want to be conscientious of all the questio...
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Future of Colorado charter schools could be determined by Democratic primary for a State Board of Ed seat
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State, The Colorado Sun

Future of Colorado charter schools could be determined by Democratic primary for a State Board of Ed seat

By Sandra Fish and Erica Breunlin | The Colorado Sun Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent to affect the primary for a seat on the state Board of Education, a race that could determine the future of Colorado charter schools for years to come.  What’s at stake is the panel’s willingness to overturn local districts when they reject a charter school’s application.  Nearly $685,000 from Progressives Supporting Teachers and Students, a pro-charter school state-level super PAC, has poured into the contest in the 2nd Congressional District to support education consultant Marisol Lynda Rodriguez in her bid against former Boulder Valley School Board President Kathy Gebhardt. Board members are elected to six-year terms in each of the state’s eight congressional distr...
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Why is Democrat Adam Frisch running TV ads in 3rd District primary? To boost his chances in November
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State, The Colorado Sun

Why is Democrat Adam Frisch running TV ads in 3rd District primary? To boost his chances in November

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Democrat Adam Frisch is spending at least $100,000 to air a TV ad in the Republican primary in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District in an apparent attempt to shape the race and give himself a better chance to win in November. The ad attacks Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd for “ducking Republican debates” and for refusing to say who he voted for in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, as well as for being the beneficiary of corporate super PAC money. It’s a clear call to GOP primary voters in the Republican-leaning 3rd District to back a different candidate in the six-way race — someone Frisch believes will be easier to beat in November. Someone like former state Rep. Ron Hanks, an election denier who attended Donald Trump’s rally on Jan. 6, 2021,...
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In show of her dominance in 4th District, Boebert has out-raised and spent her five opponents combined
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State, The Colorado Sun

In show of her dominance in 4th District, Boebert has out-raised and spent her five opponents combined

By Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert vastly outraised her five Republican opponents in the 4th Congressional District in the two months leading up to the June 25 primary while spending heavily on TV and mailers to reach voters, campaign finance reports filed Thursday reveal. The $334,000 Boebert raised from April 1 to June 5 lagged the $624,000 she raised during the lead up to the primary in 2022. But the money was still enough to eclipse the $178,000 brought in by her five GOP competitors combined this year, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The reports, the last ones before the primary, are another indication that Boebert is likely to dominate on June 25. Her Republican opponents have failed to gain financial and political tra...
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Moffat County wants $118 million in help from the company that’s closing power plant and coal mines
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State, The Colorado Sun

Moffat County wants $118 million in help from the company that’s closing power plant and coal mines

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun Faced with a “near-existential threat” as a coal-fired power plant and the mines that feed it close, Moffat County and the City of Craig, backed by state officials, want Colorado utility regulators to require the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to provide up to $118 million in aid. Tri-State, which operates the coal-fired Craig Station, plans to shutter the plant’s first unit at the end of this year and has moved up the final closure of two other units to 2028. The two local mines that provide the coal are also expected to close. The closures will leave a large hole in the region’s taxbase and jobs. In 2023, the power plant and mines provided 43% of property tax revenues for the county and accounted for 437 high-paying jobs. ...
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Has your water bill gone up? Some Coloradans have seen increases up to 600%
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State, The Colorado Sun

Has your water bill gone up? Some Coloradans have seen increases up to 600%

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun It’s time to take a second look at that monthly water bill: For some Coloradans, the cost of turning on the tap has been rising for decades, and experts say it is primed to keep climbing. Water utility providers in Colorado are adding new services, adapting to increasingly stringent environmental regulations and facing looming repairs for aging pipelines and pumps. These providers don’t make a profit from their services, but they have had to hand down more costs to customers. “Utilities know that some of their customers are making choices every month on which bills to pay,” said Melissa Elliott, executive vice president at Raftelis, a consulting firm focused on governments and utilities. “The service provided is really valuable. You can’t live...
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