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Ten bills passed in session, earning some bipartisan support, aimed to address variety of water issues
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State, The Colorado Sun

Ten bills passed in session, earning some bipartisan support, aimed to address variety of water issues

By Larry Morandi and Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun Colorado lawmakers gave the thumbs-up to 10 water measures this year that will bring millions of dollars in new funding to help protect streams, bring oversight to construction activities in wetlands and rivers, make commercial rainwater harvesting easier and support efforts to restore the clarity of Grand Lake. Money for water conservation, planning and projects was a big winner, with some $50 million approved, including $20 million to purchase the Shoshone water rights on the Colorado River. Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, chair of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, expressed gratitude for the legislature’s focus on water issues and for funding the Shoshone purchase. “This continues to show the state...
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Federal land managers are planning Colorado’s next wild horse roundup, ignoring pleas to stop using a helicopter
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National, The Colorado Sun

Federal land managers are planning Colorado’s next wild horse roundup, ignoring pleas to stop using a helicopter

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun The latest effort to decrease the wild horse population in Colorado will target the layered beige-and-purple plateaus of Little Book Cliffs, rangeland near Palisade that is home to about 200 mustangs.  The Bureau of Land Management announced Wednesday that it is seeking feedback on a 10-year management plan that calls for removing 85-110 wild horses by helicopter roundup, administering birth control and following up with bait-and-trap operations to keep the population within the federal agency’s desired limits.  The 36,000 acres of rangeland, dotted with bunchgrass and sagebrush and with limited water, can support a maximum of 90-150 horses, according to the BLM.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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New rules to address bad child protection actors who may go undetected from county to county
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State, The Colorado Sun

New rules to address bad child protection actors who may go undetected from county to county

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun A child protection caseworker in Colorado who gets caught falsifying records or lying about checking on children in one county can get a job in another county. And then another. Under state regulations, if there is no criminal case, no one has to know about the past behavior — not the caseworker’s potential new employer or even the children and parents whose records were falsified. It’s a gap in the system that has concerned child and family advocates for years. After a string of high-profile cases of child protection workers fabricating reports, state officials are now working to strengthen the law.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Wolverine reintroduction legislation is ‘completely opposite’ of Colorado’s ballot–driven wolf plan
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State, The Colorado Sun

Wolverine reintroduction legislation is ‘completely opposite’ of Colorado’s ballot–driven wolf plan

By Jason Blevins | Colorado Sun A new predator could be coming to Colorado’s high country but supporters are promising this reintroduction will be different.  Colorado lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved the return of wolverines to Colorado’s alpine landscape, with a plan “that is completely opposite from the wolf reintroduction process,” said Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Democrat from Avon who co-sponsored the legislation with Sen. Perry Will, a Republican from New Castle.  Roberts said the pair’s Senate Bill 171 marks “a responsible way to do wildlife reintroduction.” The bill is heading to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for final approval. If signed, the effort will mark the first-ever attempt to restore wolverines to a native range.   READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN...
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101 bills debated by the Colorado legislature in 2024 that you need to know about
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State, The Colorado Sun

101 bills debated by the Colorado legislature in 2024 that you need to know about

By Jesse Paul and Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The Colorado legislature debated more than 700 bills in the lawmaking term that ended Wednesday.  The Colorado Sun pored through the measures to highlight the ones that passed — and some that failed — that you need to know about. Gov. Jared Polis has a June 7 deadline to sign or veto bills, or let them become law without his signature. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado lawmakers reach last-minute bipartisan property tax deal that averts cuts to K-12 funding
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado lawmakers reach last-minute bipartisan property tax deal that averts cuts to K-12 funding

By Jesse Paul and Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s property tax code would be reimagined — with long-term rate cuts for homeowners and businesses and a local revenue cap — under a fiercely negotiated, last-minute bipartisan bill introduced in the legislature Monday that aims to provide tax relief while protecting funding for K-12 schools.  The measure, Senate Bill 233, comes with just three days left in Colorado’s 2024 legislative session — the minimum amount of time needed to pass a bill. And it was the product of negotiations with Colorado Concern, a nonprofit representing CEOs in the state that was working on a plan to ask voters on the November ballot for an even bigger property tax break.  Lawmakers, Gov. Jared Polis’ office and interest groups we...
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Bill to ban purchase, sale and transfer of so-called assault weapons in Colorado will be shelved
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State, The Colorado Sun

Bill to ban purchase, sale and transfer of so-called assault weapons in Colorado will be shelved

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun A Colorado bill that would have banned the purchase, sale and transfer of a broad swath of semiautomatic firearms, defined in the measure as assault weapons, will be shelved at the request of one of its main sponsors. Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat and one of the lead sponsors of House Bill 1292, announced Monday that she would ask for the measure to be killed Tuesday in the Senate State, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. “After thoughtful conversations with my Senate colleagues, I decided that more conversations need to take place outside of the pressure cooker of the Capitol during the last weeks of the legislative session,” Gonzales said in a written statement. “In that spirit, I look forward to renewing and continuing those disc...
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Palisade High School releases its thousandth endangered razorback into the Colorado River
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Local, The Colorado Sun

Palisade High School releases its thousandth endangered razorback into the Colorado River

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun With squeals, shrieks and plenty of peer pressure, Palisade High School students lined up to release endangered razorback suckers — with a kiss for good luck — into the Colorado River. “Grab a fish, kiss it, put it in the river,” Charlotte Allen, 18, a senior at the high school, told amped up students as they prepared to hold the slippery fish.  The school’s endangered fish hatchery, which began in 2020, released its thousandth razorback sucker Friday during its annual release celebration. The program is part of a greater effort to restore populations of the native fish — an effort that helps pull water west in Colorado to benefit ecosystems, farmers, communities and industries along the Colorado River.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLO...
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New charges filed against Littleton bus aide, revealing more incidents of alleged abuse to nonverbal students
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Local, The Colorado Sun

New charges filed against Littleton bus aide, revealing more incidents of alleged abuse to nonverbal students

By Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun Prosecutors filed additional charges this week against a former Littleton Public Schools bus aide accused of beating two nonverbal students, revealing more incidents of alleged abuse on their way to and from school. Kiarra Jones, 29, now faces nine counts of third-degree assault, a felony, and two counts of knowingly and reckless child abuse, a misdemeanor, according to court documents filed in the 18th Judicial District Court. Jones is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon. The alleged abuse began in January and continued for nearly three months, before a police officer reviewed footage from an on-bus camera showing Jones assaulting two boys on bus rides to and from The Joshua School, a school for kids ages 3 through 21 with developme...
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Former Adams County sheriff pleads guilty to felony forgery, sentenced to probation
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The Colorado Sun

Former Adams County sheriff pleads guilty to felony forgery, sentenced to probation

By Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun A former Adams County sheriff pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges Thursday in Denver District Court in a scheme to falsify records to lie about the number of state-mandated training hours that he completed.  Rick Reigenborn pleaded guilty to felony forgery and two counts of second-degree forgery and first-degree official misconduct, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office said. The former sheriff received a 12-month probation for the charges. If he stays out of trouble during that period, his felony will be wiped from his record.  As part of his plea agreement, Reigenborn will no longer be eligible to serve as a peace officer in Colorado and he must write an apology letter to the employees of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. R...
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