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Tag: Courts

Faulting new law, after daughter transitions to boy, parents sue Colorado, Brighton school district
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Faulting new law, after daughter transitions to boy, parents sue Colorado, Brighton school district

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics A Brighton couple is suing the state of Colorado, alleging that a law dealing with transgender identity violates parents’ constitutional rights and that their daughter, with the encouragement of a school district counselor, transitioned to a boy in secret.  The couple filed the Aug. 7 lawsuit against the Department of Education, and the 27J School District in Brighton. The suit seeks to challenge the constitutionality of House Bill 1039, claiming it violates parents’ rights as outlined in the First and 14th Amendments of the American Constitution. The Colorado law requires all public schools to use a child’s “preferred name,” subjecting schools to discrimination claims with the state's Civil Rights Commission if they refused if t...
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Almost every judicial district has faced naked people showing porn during live streams, officials say
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KRDO.COM, State

Almost every judicial district has faced naked people showing porn during live streams, officials say

By Sam Page, Chelsea Brentzel | KRDO-TV Colorado Springs A group of naked people showing porn are wreaking havoc for courtrooms across Colorado. The Fourth Judicial District tells KRDO13 Investigates that almost every district in the state has experienced issues with a group gaining access to public livestreams and creating explicit disruptions. A spokesperson tells KRDO13 Investigates one person even exposed themself on a live stream camera in recent weeks. Other people have shared pornography and explicit audio recordings and overall disrupted official court proceedings, according to court officials. KRDO13 Investigates has learned that the people doing this are posing as law enforcement officers or official media outlets to gain access to private, locked WebEx live st...
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Tina Peters Trial Recap: Elections manager breaks down on stand, defense focuses on inconsistencies in state’s case
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Tina Peters Trial Recap: Elections manager breaks down on stand, defense focuses on inconsistencies in state’s case

By Rocky Mountain Voice Staff Previously elected Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is facing seven felony charges and several misdemeanors in a trial happening this week.  She is accused of orchestrating a breach to prove election theft. Peters has pleaded not guilty, claiming she is a victim of lawfare. The Colorado Secretary of State's office has refuted her claims summarized in three reports Peters has published, called the “Mesa Reports.”  State prosecutors allege that Peters enlisted software engineer Gerald “Jerry” Wood for IT contract work. Wood passed a background check, received his security badge, and returned it the same day. However, prosecutors claim his badge was used twice in May 2021 to access secure election facilities, capturing images of the election server...
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Judge awards families of loved ones left rotting in funeral home $950M, but getting paid may be another matter
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KXRM-TV, Local

Judge awards families of loved ones left rotting in funeral home $950M, but getting paid may be another matter

By Jesse Bedayn Associated Press, via Fox 21 News The Colorado funeral home owners who allegedly stored 190 decaying bodies and sent grieving families fake ashes were ordered by a judge to pay $950 million to the victims’ relatives in a civil case, the attorney announced Monday. The judgment is unlikely to be paid out since the owners have been in financial trouble for years, making it largely symbolic. The owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home, Jon and Carie Hallford, did not acknowledge the civil case or show up to hearings, said the attorney representing the families, Andrew Swan. The Hallfords, who own Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver, face criminal charges in separate cases. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX 21 NEWS
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Senate approves bill to give Colorado two more federal judges
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Senate approves bill to give Colorado two more federal judges

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill on Thursday that would add judgeships to Colorado's federal trial court for the first time in 40 years. The bipartisan JUDGES Act would expand the size of district courts across the country in two-year increments over the next decade. Colorado's U.S. District Court currently has seven presidentially appointed judges, and the number under the bill would increase to nine by 2033. The Judicial Conference of the United States, which is the governing body for the federal courts, has repeatedly recommended Congress give two additional judgeships to Colorado based on caseloads. Data from 2022 showed 558 cases filed per judge on Colorado's federal trial court, a higher number than neighbo...
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City of Boulder sues FAA over 2040 airport closure dispute, claims ‘unconstitutional overreach’
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Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

City of Boulder sues FAA over 2040 airport closure dispute, claims ‘unconstitutional overreach’

By John Herrick | Boulder Reporting Lab The City of Boulder has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration in federal district court, challenging the agency’s assertion that the city must keep its airport operating indefinitely. The city claims the FAA is violating protections in the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on July 26, seeks a judicial declaration that would allow the city to legally close Boulder Municipal Airport by 2040.  This legal dispute is the latest development in a longstanding debate over the airport’s future. Boulder Municipal Airport, in the city’s northeast corner, primarily serves private pilots, trainees, glider pilots and researchers. Last summer, the city began considering whether to upgrade...
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Barbershop owner in Loveland sues city again over Centerra South development
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BizWest, Local

Barbershop owner in Loveland sues city again over Centerra South development

By Dallas Heltzell | BizWest A Loveland resident has filed a second complaint in Larimer County District Court involving the Loveland City Council’s actions surrounding the urban-renewal and financing agreements for the proposed Centerra South development. Barbershop owner Bill Jensen, who is appealing a district judge’s decision in March to throw out his complaint alleging that the previous city council’s votes to approve the agreements with developer McWhinney Real Estate Services were invalid based on open-meetings violations and improper notice, filed another complaint last week. Representing himself, Jensen’s new lawsuit contends that the council deprived him of transparency and violated open-meetings law when a quorum emerged from an executive session at 2:15 a.m. on Feb. 21...
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Legality of Colorado’s campaign donation limits to be tested by case with Greg Lopez as lead plaintiff
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State, The Colorado Sun

Legality of Colorado’s campaign donation limits to be tested by case with Greg Lopez as lead plaintiff

By Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun A federal court judge will decide after the Nov. 5 general election whether Colorado’s state political donation limits for candidates are legal. In a trial that concluded Tuesday, three Republicans are challenging the limits enacted by voters in 2002 claiming they violate the First Amendment by limiting donors’ freedom of speech. They sued Secretary of State Jena Griswold in 2022 seeking to overturn the limits, though Senior U.S. District Court Judge John Kane rejected their attempt to suspend the limits immediately. Kane on Tuesday ordered attorneys for the plaintiffs, who work for the national nonprofit Institute for Free Speech, to file a summary of their case by Sept. 23. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office must file a response by Oct....
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Federal judge gives The Rock Church injunction against Town of Castle Rock to shelter homeless
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CBS Colorado, Local

Federal judge gives The Rock Church injunction against Town of Castle Rock to shelter homeless

By Austen Erblat | CBS Colorado A Colorado church that sued the Town of Castle Rock over its ability to shelter homeless people on church grounds saw a win in court on Friday after a federal judge granted the church a preliminary injunction against the town. The Rock Church has sheltered homeless people in RVs on its property since 2019, calling it their religious duty to help those in need. But on at least three separate occasions, in 2021, 2022 and again in 2023, town officials blocked their efforts, saying they violated zoning laws. The church, in response, said this violated its 1st Amendment rights to religious freedom, as well as the Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act. In January, the church sued the town. "The Holy Bible specifically and repea...
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Federal appeals court says no to Biden’s student loan debt handout plan
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Fox Business, National

Federal appeals court says no to Biden’s student loan debt handout plan

By Eric Revell  | Fox Business A federal appeals court on Thursday issued a ruling that blocks the Biden administration from continuing to implement a new version of its student loan debt handout plan that is designed to reduce monthly payments for borrowers. The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request by seven Republican states to block portions of the Education Department's plan that a lower court judge hadn't previously blocked. Last month, a U.S. District Court in St. Louis blocked the agency from moving forward with granting additional student loan forgiveness under the Biden administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan – though it didn't block all elements of the plan. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX BUSINESS
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