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The Colorado Sun

Polis’ environmental justice plans are in limbo at the Colorado state Capitol. Here’s why.
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State, The Colorado Sun

Polis’ environmental justice plans are in limbo at the Colorado state Capitol. Here’s why.

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun Gov. Jared Polis’ plans to bolster pollution enforcement in disadvantaged communities are in limbo after the Joint Budget Committee earlier this month voted down the administration’s request for eight new employees. In rejecting the $900,000 request for the 2024-25 budget year, which starts July 1, the JBC sided with a recommendation from its staff that raised questions about the Department of Public Health and Environment’s commitment to meeting its own goals. At first glance, the preliminary vote fit a recent pattern of Democratic lawmakers pushing the administration further to the left on environmental justice issues than it’s willing to go. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Former CBI scientist intentionally manipulated data, casting doubt on 652 cases, investigation reveals
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State, The Colorado Sun

Former CBI scientist intentionally manipulated data, casting doubt on 652 cases, investigation reveals

By Olivia Prentzel | Colorado Sun Aformer forensic scientist intentionally manipulated DNA evidence during her 29-year career at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, casting doubt on at least 652 criminal cases she handled, including some of the most high-profile trials, according to investigation findings released by the agency Friday. That number could grow as outside investigators continue to review DNA testing done by Yvonne “Missy” Woods, after a probe revealed she manipulated data in the testing process and in some cases, posted incomplete test results, in the cases she handled between 2008 and 2023. The discovery is putting all of Woods’ work into question and CBI is also looking at her work dating to 1994, when she started working for CBI. The agency launched the investig...
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How a friend’s death turned Colorado teens into anti-overdose activists
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State, The Colorado Sun

How a friend’s death turned Colorado teens into anti-overdose activists

By Rae Ellen Bichell | Colorado Sun Gavinn McKinney loved Nike shoes, fireworks, and sushi. He was studying Potawatomi, one of the languages of his Native American heritage. He loved holding his niece and smelling her baby smell. On his 15th birthday, the Durango teen spent a cold December afternoon chopping wood to help neighbors who couldn’t afford to heat their homes. McKinney almost made it to his 16th birthday. He died of fentanyl poisoning at a friend’s house in December 2021. His friends say it was the first time he tried hard drugs. The memorial service was so packed people had to stand outside the funeral home. Now, his peers are trying to cement their friend’s legacy in state law. They recently testified to state lawmakers in support of House Bill 1003, a piece of legisl...
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Pueblo’s new Fuel & Iron food hall accused in lawsuit of shorting its builders as construction lagged, costs soared
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Southern Colorado, The Colorado Sun

Pueblo’s new Fuel & Iron food hall accused in lawsuit of shorting its builders as construction lagged, costs soared

By Jennifer Brown and Tamara Chuang | Colorado Sun One of the coolest endeavors to open in Pueblo in recent years is tangled up in a court battle after being accused of not paying its builders for the full cost of the project.  Fuel & Iron, the historic hardware store transformed into affordable housing and a trendy food hall where visitors can find cocktails and beer, pizza and fried chicken, opened in April. It was sued in May, its contractor claiming it was shorted more than $2.4 million.  The dispute is a black eye on a project heralded as the perfect mix of private investment and public dollars, a $16 million plan cobbled together from 17 sources, including grants and local, state and federal government investments. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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The cost of universal pre-K in Colorado: Thousands of at-risk kids got less classroom time
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State, The Colorado Sun

The cost of universal pre-K in Colorado: Thousands of at-risk kids got less classroom time

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ signature preschool initiative is serving thousands more families than expected in its first year, but its success has come with a costly downside: Fewer low-income children attend full-day preschool today than before the program launched. The trade-off was laid out in stark terms during Joint Budget Committee hearings last month: The more enrollment grows for universal pre-K, the less state funding will be available for at-risk children to attend full-day preschool. Under Colorado’s previous state-funded preschool program, which ended July 1, more than 6,000 at-risk 4-year-olds received funding for a full-day classroom slot last school year. This year, the state provided only 3,500 full-day slots to the most at-risk kids — ...
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Colorado GOP sends pro-Trump mailer attacking chairman’s primary opponent, newspaper
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El Paso County, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado GOP sends pro-Trump mailer attacking chairman’s primary opponent, newspaper

By Sandra Fish | Colorado Sun The Colorado GOP sent out a pro-Trump mailer this week attacking a congressional primary opponent of party chairman Dave Williams, as well as The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs, in the latest example of Williams using his party leadership position to benefit or defend himself and his allies.  The mailer, which appears to target El Paso County voters, accused The Gazette of “corrupt campaigning for Nikki Haley and Jeff Crank.”  Haley, a former U.N. ambassador, is running for president against Donald Trump, while Crank, a conservative commentator, is running in the 5th Congressional District Republican primary against Williams. RED THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Floating solar array could improve water quality, lower the power bill for Fort Lupton — if a federal grant comes through
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Local, Northern Colorado, The Colorado Sun

Floating solar array could improve water quality, lower the power bill for Fort Lupton — if a federal grant comes through

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun When it came to its water treatment plant Fort Lupton had two concerns: controlling algae in the reservoir next to the plant and the aging diesel generator that backed-up the facility when the electric grid was down. In collaboration with its power supplier Brighton-based United Power and the co-op’s contractor Schneider Electric the city found a solution for both – and then some. That plan — a microgrid with a battery fed by 850 kilowatts of solar panels floating on the reservoir — is in line for a $6.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, part of $366 million awarded to 17 projects in rural areas and tribal nations from Alaska to Florida. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Adams County’s oil and gas rules are among the strictest in the state — and the industry is still rapidly growing
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Local, The Colorado Sun

Adams County’s oil and gas rules are among the strictest in the state — and the industry is still rapidly growing

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun When Keith Huck, an Adams County senior oil and gas inspector, walks onto a well pad he looks, listens and sniffs. There is a lot to keep his eyes, ears and nose busy as the county has become the fastest-growing oil producer in the state. Since 2017, oil production has grown 15-fold as the county became Colorado’s second-biggest producer churning out 12.8 million barrels in 2023, with some companies still filing December numbers. Adams County remains a distant second to Weld County, where the output is 10 times as large, but since 2021 Adams County production is up about 58% and Weld’s has dropped by about 6%, according to state data. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Denver Democrat didn’t attend a Colorado House floor debate in person until 45 days into legislative session
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State, The Colorado Sun

Denver Democrat didn’t attend a Colorado House floor debate in person until 45 days into legislative session

By Sandra Fish | Colorado Sun State Rep. Elisabeth Epps attended her first House floor session in person Feb. 23 — 45 days into Colorado’s 120-day legislative session — after asking Democratic leadership in the chamber in mid-January for permission to participate remotely “indefinitely, unfortunately” because she said she’s “experiencing an extended health condition.” That’s according to a Colorado Sun review of House journals, as well as an examination of emails and texts between the Denver Democrat and House leadership and staff obtained by The Sun through an open records request.  In requesting remote participation, Epps did not disclose her health condition. Her first day of in-person House floor attendance came a day after The Sun asked her about her ...
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Mobile harm reduction van aims to help with safer substance use, overdose prevention in Arapahoe County
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Denver Metro, Local, The Colorado Sun

Mobile harm reduction van aims to help with safer substance use, overdose prevention in Arapahoe County

By Tatiana Flowers | Colorado Sun A new mobile harm reduction service is bringing overdose prevention to the streets of Arapahoe County to help people who use opioids and other drugs. The Arapahoe County Public Health department says it’s using an equity-focused approach on its new harm reduction van to help reduce the toll of the opioid epidemic on the community. The new mobile unit, Prevention Point, will offer safer substance use and sexual health services to people across the county including a syringe access and disposal program, Narcan and testing for HIV, hepatitis C and other infections transmitted by unsafe sex and drug use, officials said. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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