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Ballot measure to overturn Colorado wolf reintroduction clears title board in first hurdle
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State, The Colorado Sun

Ballot measure to overturn Colorado wolf reintroduction clears title board in first hurdle

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Wolf reintroduction could return to the Colorado ballot next year.  The Colorado Secretary of State’s Title Board on Wednesday approved language for a proposed ballot measure that would ask voters in 2026 to end the reintroduction of gray wolves by the end of that year.  “The only thing we are doing with this ballot measure is asking voters to approve a day where wolves would no longer be introduced in Colorado by humans,” said Stan VanderWerf, a former El Paso County commissioner who helped write the ballot measure. “This proposal does not make any other changes to state or provisions that address the management of wolves or reimbursement for depredation. It’s a very simple proposal.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE ...
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Interstate power lines threaten farmers’ land in southeastern Colorado
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Local, The Colorado Sun

Interstate power lines threaten farmers’ land in southeastern Colorado

By Parker Yamasaki | The Colorado Sun Quay County, New Mexico, is best known as a neon blip along historic Route 66, with a cluster of retro motels in its county seat, Tucumcari, about halfway between Albuquerque and Amarillo, Texas. Besides that, it’s a relatively rural part of the country, populated by multigenerational farmers and ranchers. Ed and Patty Hughs are some of those ranchers. And Ed was surprised to find his property on a different kind of map last year: smack in the middle of a path for new power lines drawn by the U.S. Department of Energy. The map shows one of three proposed routes for a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor, the result of a Biden administration program to accelerate transmission projects in areas where coverage could soon falter. RE...
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King Soopers, 10,000 statewide grocery workers end strike for 100 days to resume bargaining
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State, The Colorado Sun

King Soopers, 10,000 statewide grocery workers end strike for 100 days to resume bargaining

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun More than 10,000 supermarket workers involved in a two-week labor walkout will return to their jobs at King Soopers stores Tuesday after the labor union and the Colorado grocery chain reached an agreement late Monday to stop picketing and get back to work.  There’s no new contract yet, but the two sides plan to resume negotiations to work out their differences. They agreed to a “100-day period of labor peace, ensuring negotiations continue in good faith and without further disruptions,” according to King Soopers officials. The strike ended at midnight, two days earlier than the planned two-week walkout. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado lawmakers eye term limits, transparency rules for PERA board
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado lawmakers eye term limits, transparency rules for PERA board

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The Colorado state pension board would be subject to term limits and new transparency requirements under a measure introduced in the state legislature earlier this month. The proposal, Senate Bill 147, comes in response to growing concerns from state pension members about how their retirement funds are being managed. Years of benefit cuts and contribution hikes have helped improve the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association’s shaky finances since a landmark reform package was adopted in 2018. But the changes have also left workers and public agencies paying more than ever for a pension that provides less and less to its retirees. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Bipartisan bill would let Colorado counties triple lodging taxes to pay for more than affordable housing
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State, The Colorado Sun

Bipartisan bill would let Colorado counties triple lodging taxes to pay for more than affordable housing

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Colorado lawmakers Thursday dropped bipartisan legislation that would allow local voters to raise their county lodging tax rate to 6% from the existing 2%.   The potential tripling of local lodging taxes — which mountain town voters have recently embraced as a way to fund affordable housing — would also come with an expansion in the types of projects that could be funded with lodging tax revenue.  House Bill 1247 would allow increased lodging tax revenue to fund infrastructure, preserve historical sites, land and wildlife habitat, promote sustainable tourism practices, and employ more police and emergency workers.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Douglas Co. leaders weigh which three Highlands Ranch schools to close while prioritizing safety, continuity
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State, The Colorado Sun

Douglas Co. leaders weigh which three Highlands Ranch schools to close while prioritizing safety, continuity

By Erica Breunlin | The Colorado Sun As Douglas County School District leaders and board members weigh closing three schools in Highlands Ranch, they’ll prioritize keeping together groups of students and staff from individual schools, ensuring student safety in traffic zones and analyzing current and future enrollment projections. Those are among the parameters the board approved Tuesday to guide them in determining which schools to close beginning in the 2026-27 school year from a list of 16 schools. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado universities are now closer to paying athletes. But the public may never know how much
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado universities are now closer to paying athletes. But the public may never know how much

By Ben Markus | The Colorado Sun The University of Colorado Boulder would be able to pay football players and keep the individual dollar amounts secret under a bill that passed a key committee vote Thursday in the state House of Representatives. A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Education Committee advanced House Bill 1041 even as they continued to express concern about a provision of the measure exempting the contracts between players from public disclosure through the Colorado Open Records Act, known as CORA. “CORA is a really important tool, along with public procurement law, to help the public understand how money is being spent from its public institutions,” Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, said before casting a “no” vote on the bill, which passed 9-4 late ...
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How Colorado’s first agriculture-focused charter school is giving students tools for life
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Local, The Colorado Sun

How Colorado’s first agriculture-focused charter school is giving students tools for life

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun The last thing the rancher from Arkansas wandering through the cattle barn at the National Western Stock Show thought he’d encounter was the group of kids surrounding him dressed in the un-ranchiest clothing. You could see it in his face.  So it took a minute for 10th grader Kailey Seymour, in a flannel, jeans and sneakers, to gather the courage to ask if he’d let them interview him while her classmate Gianni Montoya, in a fuzzy black-and-white Raiders poncho that grazed his knees, recorded the conversation on a phone.  Lucky for them — Philip Moon of Moon Herefords in Harrison, Arkansas — obliged. He listened to Seymour’s question — Do you sell your cattle at stock shows? — and gave a thoughtful answer. He said he raises cow-ca...
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Colorado’s high egg prices are blamed on bird flu, but there’s more to the story
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado’s high egg prices are blamed on bird flu, but there’s more to the story

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun Walk into nearly any grocery store at the moment and the price for a dozen eggs may shock you — if any eggs are in stock at all. More than anything else, blame bird flu, say Colorado egg farmers, the grocery stores, the state agriculture department and nearly anyone involved in getting fresh eggs to consumers. The contagious virus can wipe out entire flocks of egg-laying chickens in days. Coloradans already went through this three years ago when egg prices spiked after 85% of the state’s egg-laying hens were destroyed. There was also high inflation, the state’s looming cage-free law and shortages at pretty much every grocery store.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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King Soopers hired line-crossers to keep stores open during strike
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Local, The Colorado Sun

King Soopers hired line-crossers to keep stores open during strike

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun As day one of a planned two-week walkout began, about a dozen King Soopers employees were up before dawn on Thursday, pacing in front of their store in Centennial. Some walked the perimeter on the sidewalks as cars passed by. All carried white signs with red lettering asking customers to not patronize their employer. Their union representative with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 forbade them to speak to a reporter, even as one employee questioned why not? Why aren’t they allowed to tell the people why they are outside the store instead of inside? Union officials said they would talk during a news conference later in the day. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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