The Colorado Sun

Cities sue Polis over housing mandate, cite threat to local control

The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local, State / / , , , , , , , ,

Six “home rule” cities in Colorado are suing the state, alleging it has unconstitutionally usurped their local authority over land use and zoning as it pushes communities to allow denser housing development. 

The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of an executive order Gov. Jared Polis signed last week to withhold some state grants from local communities if they fail to implement a slate of recent housing laws. The cities say the order encroaches on the powers of both the General Assembly and the judiciary to say what the law is and is “beyond the governor’s authority.”

Cities sue Polis over housing mandate, cite threat to local control Read More »

Jared Polis vetoes Colorado labor movement’s priority bill. Union leaders say they’ll be back.

The Colorado Sun, Approved, National / / , ,

Gov. Jared Polis made his expected veto of Senate Bill 5 official on Friday, a decision that’s sure to deepen the rift between him and the Colorado labor movement, as well as Democrats in the legislature. 

Jared Polis vetoes Colorado labor movement’s priority bill. Union leaders say they’ll be back. Read More »

School board in El Paso County moves to restrict transgender athletes, citing safety and fairness

The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local / / , , , , , ,

At an April school board meeting near Colorado Springs, debate raged over a proposed policy to ban transgender students from playing on school sports teams that match their gender identity.

A high school student named Sadie, who spoke against the policy, asked why her district would need a blanket policy when a tiny percentage of student athletes are transgender.

A 60-year-old man who supported the policy and described himself as stronger than any woman in the building claimed a transgender girl could slam a ball into a girl’s head hard enough to put her in the hospital.

School board in El Paso County moves to restrict transgender athletes, citing safety and fairness Read More »

Colorado gives $8 million tax credit to fuel “clean iron” plant in Jefferson County

The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local / / , , , ,

A Boulder company with a patented method to take most of the carbon emissions out of the energy-intensive iron and steelmaking process will use $8 million from the inaugural state industrial tax credit to build a manufacturing plant in Jefferson County, officials said Tuesday. 

The patented process produces “clean” industrial iron at the temperature of a cup of coffee, rather than the 1,200-degree Fahrenheit furnaces traditionally used in iron and steelmaking, according to Electrasteel Inc, known as Electra. Currently employing more than 130 people, Electra uses an electrochemical process and hopes to cut 30% or more of the carbon emissions from traditional production.

Colorado gives $8 million tax credit to fuel “clean iron” plant in Jefferson County Read More »

Rural Southwest Colorado farmers face 65% water shortfall after dry winter

The Colorado Sun, Approved, State / / ,

Ken Curtis, a water manager in southwestern Colorado, had two words to describe his district’s expected water supply this summer: “Pretty bad.”

“(We’re) looking at about 30%, maybe 35% supply,” said Curtis, who manages the Dolores Water Conservancy District.

Rural Southwest Colorado farmers face 65% water shortfall after dry winter Read More »

Colorado’s gray wave drives up costs, exposes policy gaps

The Colorado Sun, Approved, State / / , , , , ,

“The only reality in the world is that we are going to get older and we’re going to die.”

Nobody can escape that reality, according to Christian Itin, a member of the Colorado Strategic Action Group on Aging.

“I think we need to remind folks that this will happen to me,” he said. “It will happen to you. It’ll happen to your family. We can’t put our heads in the sand and hide from that reality.”

In Colorado, the older population is growing fast, with ramifications for the major challenges the state already faces, notably housing, healthcare costs and workforce needs. It also affects student enrollment, which, in turn, means a direct impact on school financing.

Colorado’s gray wave drives up costs, exposes policy gaps Read More »

Can Gross Dam expansion be completed before activists and courts dry it up?

Local, Approved, The Colorado Sun / / , , , ,

As Save the Colorado and Denver Water prepare to face off in a federal courtroom Tuesday, water officials across the state are watching the Gross Dam expansion case closely for its environmental impact and its affect on water projects across the West.

Kirk Klancke, a long-time Grand County environmentalist and president of the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited, said a decision that shuts down the $531 million water project, could also shut down 12 years of work on the Fraser River and its tributaries.

Here’s why: Denver Water owns much of the Fraser with water rights dating back more than 100 years. And it is that water that has historically been piped through the Moffat Tunnel near Rollinsville to fill the existing Gross Reservoir. The new water for the expanded reservoir will come largely from that river as well.

Can Gross Dam expansion be completed before activists and courts dry it up? Read More »

Yadira Caraveo’s former aides say they were mistreated, traumatized by Colorado congresswoman

Approved, State, The Colorado Sun / / , ,

U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo’s behavior last year while serving in Congress and running for reelection was so frightening and traumatizing to staff that aides proposed a safety plan requesting that sharp objects be removed from the Colorado Democrat’s offices. They also wanted assurances that subordinates not be responsible for talking her “through suicidal thoughts” or “keeping her company during a crisis.”

Yadira Caraveo’s former aides say they were mistreated, traumatized by Colorado congresswoman Read More »

Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure

The Colorado Sun, Approved, National, State / / , , , , , ,

There are now only seven days left in Colorado’s legislative session. But lawmakers and other state officials have for weeks been bracing for the possibility of coming back to the Capitol later this year to deal with potential federal cuts to Medicaid likely to be included in Congressional Republicans’ still-being-written budget proposal.

“There certainly are a lot of indicators that would suggest that we might end up having to come back in the event that there’s a dramatic cut to Medicaid,” state Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat and member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said last month, as first reported in The Colorado Sun’s politics newsletter, The Unaffiliated.

Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure Read More »