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Public school enrollment is on the decline. How is your local school district changing?
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State, The Colorado Sun

Public school enrollment is on the decline. How is your local school district changing?

By Erica Breunlin | The Colorado Sun Most Colorado school districts are continuing to count fewer students in their classrooms, propelling a statewide trend of declining enrollment. Total state enrollment in preschool through high school this school year fell by a modest 399 kids — from 881,464 students during fall 2023 to 881,065 students last fall, state data shows. Education leaders attribute decreasing student counts across both the state and country to a mix of factors, primarily declining birth rates and increasing housing costs. Four of the Colorado’s 10 largest districts saw a notable year-over-year decrease in students: Jeffco Public Schools, Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Poudre School District and Boulder Valley School District. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO ...
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How the return-to-office order will affect 45,000 federal employees throughout Colorado
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State, The Colorado Sun

How the return-to-office order will affect 45,000 federal employees throughout Colorado

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun As per one of the new orders from President Donald Trump, remote work is ending for federal employees, who must return to the office full time. That could be a boon for downtown Denver, which hasn’t recaptured the office workers, visitors and companies it once had. But the impact of such a move will be a challenge to measure as efforts are already underway to complete 16th Street Mall construction, recruit new retail, restaurant and corporate tenants, and steer tax dollars to the central business district. Many may already be back in their downtown offices, if only a few days a week.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Senate Bill 3, banning semiauto firearms, could cause gun shops to shutter, owners warn
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State, The Colorado Sun

Senate Bill 3, banning semiauto firearms, could cause gun shops to shutter, owners warn

By Lucas Brady Woods and Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Colorado gun stores say they may be forced to shutter should Democrats in the legislature this year pass a ban on the manufacture, sale and purchase of semiautomatic firearms with detachable ammunition magazines. Senate Bill 3 would make a large portion of the merchandise at Colorado gun stores illegal to sell overnight, hitting their bottom lines but also presenting safety and liability issues.  The measure is aimed at making it harder for people to violate the state’s 15-round magazine limit, and in turn limit the violence someone can inflict during a mass shooting. It targets semiautomatic rifles and shotguns that are capable of accepting detachable ammunition magazines, like AR- and AK-style firearms, as well as ...
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Colorado schools may soon be required to have a cellphone policy
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado schools may soon be required to have a cellphone policy

By Erica Breunlin | The Colorado Sun All Colorado school districts would be required to adopt a cellphone policy with rules for when and how students can use phones in school under a bipartisan bill set to be introduced in the legislature later this month. The legislation aims both “to promote a conducive learning environment” and protect students’ mental health, said state Rep. Meghan Lukens, a Steamboat Springs Democrat and prime bill sponsor. The hope is to eliminate, or at very least limit, distractions to student learning caused by cellphones and other devices. The bill, which would allow districts to make their own decisions about how to address cellphone use during school hours, shows educators’ shared concerns about the toll devices can take on kids’ academics and well-bei...
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A fight over 340B, the fed’s program to cut hospitals’ prescription drug costs, is coming to the Colorado Capitol
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State, The Colorado Sun

A fight over 340B, the fed’s program to cut hospitals’ prescription drug costs, is coming to the Colorado Capitol

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun Colorado is on the verge of a massive fight at the state Capitol over a multibillion-dollar federal health care program you may have never heard of. The program goes by the super-unsexy name of 340B, and it pulls together a battle royale of health care industry heavyweights: hospitals versus pharmaceutical companies versus pharmacies versus insurers. Advocates on various sides of the issue have already started sponsoring panel discussions and buying up ads (one of which appeared this week in The Colorado Sun’s politics newsletter, The Unaffiliated). And that’s before the legislation this fight is all about has even been introduced. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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More Colorado PERA benefit cuts “likely” in next two years
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State, The Colorado Sun

More Colorado PERA benefit cuts “likely” in next two years

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun State pension members in Colorado are likely to face another round of benefit cuts and contribution hikes within the next two years, board members learned last week, after a study found that the public retirement system has been underestimating some of its future debts. The Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association holds a review every four years to ensure it is accurately estimating a range of assumptions about its investments, the public workforce and the lifespans of its retirees. Think of it like a financial checkup to make sure that the assumptions underpinning the future payments it owes to retirees are unfolding as expected. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Child care assistance is frozen across Colorado as counties run out of funding
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State, The Colorado Sun

Child care assistance is frozen across Colorado as counties run out of funding

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun A child care subsidy program to help low-income families afford care so they can work or search for work has been frozen in several of Colorado’s largest counties.  Enrollment in the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, which helps more than 32,000 children attend child care statewide, is now capped in a growing number of counties, including Denver, Arapahoe, Douglas, Broomfield, Pueblo, Weld, El Paso, Larimer, Alamosa, Mesa, Jefferson and Weld counties, leaving families without assistance at a time when child care costs are soaring. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Which guns would be banned by Colorado’s SB3 related to semiauto firearms?
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State, The Colorado Sun

Which guns would be banned by Colorado’s SB3 related to semiauto firearms?

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Senate Bill 3 is the latest attempt by Colorado Democrats to outlaw the manufacture, purchase and sale of certain semiautomatic firearms in the state.  The bill targets semiautomatic rifles and shotguns that are capable of accepting detachable ammunition magazines, as well as some semiautomatic pistols that also can use detachable magazines. The Colorado Sun analyzed the measure and talked with experts to determine which firearms would and wouldn’t be affected by the bill, which awaits its first hearing at the Capitol. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Kansas looks on as farms retire thousands of acres in water-short Northeastern Colorado
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State, The Colorado Sun

Kansas looks on as farms retire thousands of acres in water-short Northeastern Colorado

By Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun Farm communities on the Eastern Plains, under the gun to deliver water to Kansas and Nebraska, are poised to permanently retire 17,000 acres of land, with the help of $30 million in state and federal funding. From Wray, to Yuma to Burlington, growers are being paid to permanently shut off irrigation wells linked to the Republican River to ensure the vital waterway can deliver enough water to neighbors to the east, as required under the Republican River Compact of 1943. As of this month, ranchers had already retired 10,000 acres under the program, and the rest will be set aside in coming months. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Pikes Peak stakeholders ask state to help manage recreation around America’s Mountain
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State, The Colorado Sun

Pikes Peak stakeholders ask state to help manage recreation around America’s Mountain

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun As federal land managers navigate shrinking budgets, Colorado Parks and Wildlife could assume a larger role in managing recreation on public lands around Pikes Peak.  A consortium — the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, El Paso and Teller counties, the cities of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities — is asking CPW to help manage increasing recreation around America’s Mountain, starting with management of the Ring the Peak Trail.  “This can allow the Forest Service to focus on areas where they can do the most good with their wildfire crisis strategy. The same can be said for Colorado Springs Utilities focusing on water supplies and the health of our watersheds,” s...
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