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Eight gun-control bills were passed by Colorado’s legislature and signed by the governor. Here’s a look.
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State, The Colorado Sun

Eight gun-control bills were passed by Colorado’s legislature and signed by the governor. Here’s a look.

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Gov. Jared Polis signed into law eight bills passed by the legislature this year that tighten Colorado’s gun statutes.  Colorado Ceasefire, a nonprofit that calls for tougher gun regulations, says that’s a legislative-session record for the state.  The laws impose new requirements on people obtaining concealed carry permits, the way firearms must be stored in vehicles and how weapons and ammunition are sold. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Nearly $300K from group with hidden donors pours into Colorado Democratic primary
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State, The Colorado Sun

Nearly $300K from group with hidden donors pours into Colorado Democratic primary

By Sandra Fish and Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Hundreds of thousands of dollars from a group that appears to be maneuvering to hide its donors is pouring into Democratic state Senate primary in Aurora, raising questions about the organization’s intentions and how it may affect the trajectory of the race.  Representation Matters has spent $271,000 thus far on mailers, digital ads and canvassing to help Aurora attorney Idris Keith in his Senate District 28 race against state Rep. Mike Weissman. Keith has the backing of business groups, while Weissman is endorsed by a slate of his Democratic colleagues in the legislature, as well as union, environmental and progressive groups.  The district is so favorable to Democrats that whoever wins the June 25 primary will almost cer...
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Elk stomping in Estes: Wildlife officials call for human caution after three incidents at gateway to RMNP
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Local, The Colorado Sun

Elk stomping in Estes: Wildlife officials call for human caution after three incidents at gateway to RMNP

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun An elk stomped a human and caused injuries early Friday for the third time in two weeks in Estes Park, prompting warnings of unprecedented elk behavior during calving season at the Rocky Mountain National Park gateway.  In the latest incident, an adult woman was walking a dog using a leash, near South St. Vrain and Stanley avenues, when an elk 20 yards away was startled. The woman tried to run behind a tree, but was knocked down by the elk and stomped and kicked repeatedly. The woman is receiving medical treatment.  The elk cow’s calf was later spotted in the area, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said.  Elk, from newborn calves to massive bulls, are ubiquitous in and around Rocky Mountain National Park, and often wander through gre...
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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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Colorado is charting a rise in potential money laundering. Could stopping it slow the fentanyl trade?
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado is charting a rise in potential money laundering. Could stopping it slow the fentanyl trade?

By Ernesto Cabral | The Colorado Sun Colorado money service businesses, such as check-cashing businesses and money forwarding services, filed a record number of reports last year of possible money laundering by people using their services, official data shows. In 2023, money services businesses flagged more than 22,000 transactions in Colorado they suspected were intended to convert money from crimes into usable cash, according to data from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN. That’s a 40% increase from the previous year and a 1,009% surge since 2014. The increase comes as federal authorities are eyeing the role money services businesses play in allowing fentanyl dealers — many associated with the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in Mexico — to...
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Big money filtering into 5th District Republican race for Congress
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State, The Colorado Sun

Big money filtering into 5th District Republican race for Congress

By Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun The Republican primary in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District is becoming a battle for the soul of the GOP, with conservative groups spending $1.3 million and counting to beat state party chairman Dave Williams, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump. Williams is running against conservative commentator and activist Jeff Crank, who has been endorsed by U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, in the El Paso County district where U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, is retiring at the end of his ninth term. Whoever wins the primary is almost certain to win the general election in the highly Republican district.  That’s why the 5th District spending by outside political groups, more than what’s spent by outside groups in any of the state’s othe...
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Eminent domain, used often to seize land from private owners, has Palizzi Farm in Brighton fearing for its survival
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Local, The Colorado Sun

Eminent domain, used often to seize land from private owners, has Palizzi Farm in Brighton fearing for its survival

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun “I’m not young, I’m not stupid and it’s not going to happen.”  That’s what Debbie Palizzi told developer Jack Hoagland when he knocked on her door in 2022 and offered her $75,000 to run a stormwater pipeline from a subdivision he wanted to build through land her family has been farming for over 90 years.  Now that land could fall into Hoagland’s hands. He has asked an Adams County judge to decide whether Parkland Metropolitan District, of which he is president, can exercise eminent domain on Palizzi’s property to the west of the proposed Bromley Farms neighborhood.   If that happens, Palizzi said it will destroy her ability to continue farming 65 acres that sit between Sixth Avenue and Bromley Lane in Brighton. A pipelin...
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If voters adopt statewide ranked choice voting, Colorado may prevent it from taking effect
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State, The Colorado Sun

If voters adopt statewide ranked choice voting, Colorado may prevent it from taking effect

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun If Colorado voters decide in November to pass a ballot measure making big changes to the way the state’s elections are conducted, it may be years before they go into effect — if ever. That’s because of a last-minute amendment added to a broad bipartisan election bill awaiting Gov. Jared Polis’ signature. The provisions would create a major barrier to a proposal to alter Colorado’s primaries so candidates of all parties run against each other, with the top four vote-getters advancing to a ranked choice general election.  Now, proponents of the election overhaul, who were unaware of the big hurdles created by Senate Bill 210 until they were contacted this week by The Colorado Sun, are demanding that Polis veto the legislation...
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Colorado ranks third in lightning-related deaths, with 25 since 2006. Here’s how to stay safe
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado ranks third in lightning-related deaths, with 25 since 2006. Here’s how to stay safe

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun A thunderstorm that turned roads into rivers and basements into swimming pools lit up the sky over Greeley on Tuesday night with flashes of light as bright as daytime. Three days earlier, a single lightning strike killed a Jackson County rancher and more than 30 of his cattle. Last week, a storm that raged over Yuma, rumbling like a freight train, buried the plains town in knee-deep hail. It’s been an intense week, even for Colorado in the spring.  The state, known for its wild electrical storms that seem to come out of nowhere, is third-highest in the nation for lightning deaths. The fatal strike Saturday that killed a cattle rancher outside of Rand in northern Colorado was the 25th lightning death in Colorado since 2006, according to dat...
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In 3rd District, Democratic Super PAC is running ads to help Ron Hanks win primary
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State, The Colorado Sun

In 3rd District, Democratic Super PAC is running ads to help Ron Hanks win primary

By Jesse Paul and Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun A Democratic super PAC is spending at least $84,000 — and counting — to air a television ad boosting the profile of an election conspiracy theorist it wants to see win the six-way Republican primary in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.  The ad campaign is an effort by Rocky Mountain Values PAC to advance former state Rep. Ron Hanks to the general election because the group appears to believe he will be easier for the de facto Democratic nominee, former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch, to beat in November.  It’s a strategy Democrats tried in multiple Colorado races in 2022, including Hanks’ bid for U.S. Senate that year. It didn’t work, however. The more moderate GOP candidates won their primaries, but lost in the ge...
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