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Colorado Democrats’ attempt to reduce gun violence is colliding with their criminal justice reform ethos
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Democrats’ attempt to reduce gun violence is colliding with their criminal justice reform ethos

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun When it comes to preventing gun violence in Colorado, there’s not much Democrats and Republicans agree on.  Getting gun rights and pro-gun regulation groups on the same page? That’s unheard of.  So when a bill was introduced in the legislature this year to increase penalties for stealing guns that brought those groups together, it seemed like a slam dunk. But the measure, House Bill 1162, was rejected in the House Judiciary Committee last week in a collision of two priorities for the Democratic majority at the Capitol: its desire to curb gun violence and its push to reduce the number of people being sent to prison. “We’re not going to incarcerate ourselves out of this,” said state Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat and one of the leg...
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Cory Gardner reenters Colorado political conversation to make endorsement in crowded 4th Congressional District race
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State, The Colorado Sun

Cory Gardner reenters Colorado political conversation to make endorsement in crowded 4th Congressional District race

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun Cory Gardner reentered Colorado’s political conversation Wednesday to endorse former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg in the crowded Republican primary in the state’s 4th Congressional District, a race that includes U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.  “Jerry Sonnenberg is the conservative conscience of the 4th Congressional District,” Gardner, a former U.S. senator from eastern Colorado who lost his reelection bid in 2020, said in a written statement. “He will be a passionate and dedicated warrior for our nation and our shared conservative values.” Gardner represented the 4th District from 2011 to 2015 before he was elected to the Senate. He’s mostly shied away from the public spotlight since leaving Congress in early 2021, making his endorsement more notable. ...
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Colorado Springs cracks down on homeless camping in hopes of pushing people toward shelter, services
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El Paso County, Local, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Springs cracks down on homeless camping in hopes of pushing people toward shelter, services

By Jennifer Brown and Hugh Carey | Colorado Sun Jeremy Krause has a simple code for making it on the streets of Colorado Springs: “Stay dry and avoid the cops.”  To keep warm, he burns hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol. To steer clear of the police, he and his dog move often.  But avoiding them is not working as well anymore.  “It wasn’t so bad in the beginning, but the last two years they’ve been really irrational,” said Krause, who has been homeless for about eight years. “They’ve stolen my things like six times. They take your tent, your blankets, your heat, everything you need to survive. That’s to force us into the shelter.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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State funding could be withheld from Colorado cities that don’t tie housing to transit under new affordability push 
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State, The Colorado Sun

State funding could be withheld from Colorado cities that don’t tie housing to transit under new affordability push 

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun Colorado Democrats on Tuesday introduced a bill that would send millions of dollars to cities that agree to encourage denser housing near transit — and withhold state highway funding from those that don’t. The measure, House Bill 1313, is a key piece of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ plans to address the state’s housing shortage and combat climate change. It relies heavily on financial incentives, such as affordable housing tax credits and infrastructure funding, to coax cities into developing transit-oriented communities — a departure from last year’s failed attempt to force cities to zone for apartments and townhouses. But it has a punitive side, too: Affected cities that don’t take steps to meet housing goals laid out in the bill could see cuts ...
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Plan to ensure there’s end-of-life cash to plug all Colorado oil wells may fall short, study says
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State, The Colorado Sun

Plan to ensure there’s end-of-life cash to plug all Colorado oil wells may fall short, study says

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun New Colorado rules to insure there is enough cash to plug each oil and gas well in the state at the end of its life may not generate enough money to do the job, according to an analysis by Carbon Tracker. The report by the nonprofit environmental think tank said that in the short-run the state may end up with less in financial guarantees than it had before the new rules were adopted nearly two years ago and about 39% of oil and gas companies still have not completed financial assurance plans. The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which adopted and administers the financial assurance rules, disputes those findings. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Beef, quality-stamped by an in-person grader, may soon be graded by someone looking at a picture
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State, The Colorado Sun

Beef, quality-stamped by an in-person grader, may soon be graded by someone looking at a picture

By Tracy Ross | Colorado Sun In the old days, if a small or midsize beef processor wanted to get the most out of their highest-quality meat, they had to do as the big processors do: pay a living, breathing human sometimes upward of $114 an hour to travel to their plant, often out in the boonies, and grade the meat ranchers sold them after seeing it in person. Beef comes in “Prime,” “Choice,” “Select,” “Standard” and “Commercial” grades, according to the USDA’s tutorial on the subject, with prices corresponding to those grades.  Prime beef is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle, has slightly abundant marbling (the amount of fat interspersed with lean meat), and is generally sold in upscale restaurants, according to the USDA. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORA...
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New $30 million Colorado rental assistance program launches this week
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State, The Colorado Sun

New $30 million Colorado rental assistance program launches this week

By Tatiana Flowers | Colorado Sun State leaders opened a new temporary rental assistance grant program this week that will use $30 million approved by the Colorado legislature in November to try to keep people in their homes after eviction filings reached record high numbers in pockets of the state last year. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs launched the first pre-application process through the Temporary Rental Assistance Grant program Thursday. The first round of pre-applications will remain open until 5 p.m. Tuesday. Coloradans who aren’t selected to move forward in the process to receive funds, and others who miss the deadline, will have another chance to apply when grant program leaders reopen the process again on the 15th day of each mon...
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It’s official: Amache National Historic Site in Southeast Colorado ensures federal protection for former Japanese American incarceration camp
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Local, National, Southern Colorado, The Colorado Sun

It’s official: Amache National Historic Site in Southeast Colorado ensures federal protection for former Japanese American incarceration camp

By Kevin Simpson | Colorado Sun Nearly two years after legislation designated the site of Colorado’s Granada War Relocation Center — also known as Camp Amache — part of the National Park System, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on Thursday formally closed the deal that creates Amache National Historic Site, ensuring federal protection for the grounds where more than 10,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. Details surrounding Granada’s official acquisition and donation of the land were recently finalized to clear the way for the National Park Service to assume management of the site, which sits on nearly one square mile just outside of the southeastern Colorado town. Amache opened in 1942 and closed in 1945. It was the smallest of 10 suc...
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Denver has helped 40,000 migrants while Colorado Springs counts 24 families. Does being a sanctuary city matter that much?
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Denver Metro, Local, Southern Colorado, The Colorado Sun

Denver has helped 40,000 migrants while Colorado Springs counts 24 families. Does being a sanctuary city matter that much?

By Jennifer Brown | Colorado Sun El Paso County commissioners, voices amplified by a microphone, left no room for misinterpretation: Migrants are not welcome in Colorado Springs.  “Keep going. Find a sanctuary city,” Commissioner Carrie Geitner said two weeks ago during a hastily called news conference after a few South American migrants arrived at a church-run shelter. “They asked for those folks to come to their cities. Find one of those. That’s where they should go.” About a week later and an hour up the highway, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was quoting from the Statue of Liberty: “Please, send us your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” he said, even as he announced budget cuts brought on by housing and feeding migrants. “These are folks yearning to breathe ...
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Colorado could become the first state to require in-person voting in jails 
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado could become the first state to require in-person voting in jails 

By Olivia Prentzel | Colorado Sun Colorado could become the first state to require county jails to set up in-person voting stations for incarcerated voters under a Democratic-backed bill that has sparked criticism that it would pose financial and logistical hurdles to already-strapped sheriff’s offices. Advocates of Senate Bill 72 say placing polling stations inside jails would reduce barriers to a fundamental right for those eligible to vote. Opponents say the current system is working and the new law would be an “unfunded mandate” that would cause disruptions. In Colorado, incarcerated people awaiting trial or serving a sentence for a misdemeanor conviction are eligible to vote. If passed, it could impact nearly 6,000 people who are confined waiting for a trial...
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