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Lakewood residents urge city council not to help neighboring Denver with migrant crisis
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Approved, Fox News

Lakewood residents urge city council not to help neighboring Denver with migrant crisis

By Lawrence Richard | Fox News Residents of a Colorado city packed a council meeting Monday night to express outrage over the prospect of becoming a sanctuary for migrants crossing the southern border, although officials have formally denied such an effort. The city of Lakewood sits just a few miles from the state’s capital of Denver and the two cities often help each other. However, when Denver declared it would open its doors and become a sanctuary for migrants, Lakewood did not. As shelters that Denver opened for migrants reached capacity, the crisis now appears to be falling into the laps of Lakewood.  Monday’s city council meeting comes as officials have signaled a desire to help their neighbor and as Lakewood was weighing whether to accept a federal grant it w...
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Fort Carson to conduct combat aviation training exercise through March
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Local, Approved, El Paso County, gazette.com

Fort Carson to conduct combat aviation training exercise through March

By Abbey Soukup | Colorado Springs Gazette Beginning Tuesday, the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade will be conducting an aerial gunnery exercise surrounding southern Fort Carson through the beginning of March, according to a Tuesday morning announcement.  Fort Carson officials said the training includes firing weapons from AH-64 Apache helicopters and is conducted to prepare Army aviation units for any potential missions around the world.  Officials said residents in areas surrounding the base should expect periods of increased noise, including in the evening hours and throughout the night.  "Fort Carson is dedicated to being good neighbors and will continue to inform the public about training events that may affect surrounding communities. We strive to balance our tr...
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Colorado lawmakers give green light to bill prohibiting adult use of cellphones while driving
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado lawmakers give green light to bill prohibiting adult use of cellphones while driving

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics A Senate committee Monday gave approval to a measure that will require adults to use hands-free cellphone devices or face harsher penalties for talking on a cellphone while driving. Senate Bill 65 is the latest incarnation of efforts by lawmakers who have been trying for at least 15 years to require adult drivers to keep their eyes on the road, instead of on their cellphones.  Current state law already imposes restrictions around cellphones on drivers under 18. But it's been a much bigger hurdle to impose those same restrictions on adult drivers. The laws affecting adults permit regular cell phone use for voice calls, although they are prohibited from sending text messages or browsing the internet while behind the wheel. ...
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Editorial: Asking EV owners to pay for electricity at taxpayer-funded stations is right call
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Editorial: Asking EV owners to pay for electricity at taxpayer-funded stations is right call

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board The issue: Some local governments are moving to user fees for electric vehicle charging stations. We say: This is the correct call. Taxpayers may appropriately invest in the infrastructure, but should not bear the burden of supplying free electricity to the minority of motorists. The free ride on the backs of the taxpayer is over in one Western Slope community. Grand Junction city officials correctly decided last week to end free access to electric vehicle charging at city-owned stations, and rather to implement a fee structure. It is worth commending City Manager Greg Caton for bringing this matter to a head. “There shouldn’t be an expectation of free charging provided by your local government,” he told the City Council. The cit...
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Colorado Democrats push for ban on new oil and gas drilling in Colorado
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Democrats push for ban on new oil and gas drilling in Colorado

By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun Colorado Democratic senators say they will introduce a bill banning new oil and gas drilling in Colorado by 2030 and demanding companies pay more to seal up old wells, bringing into the Capitol a fight that has previously played out in statewide ballot petitions and fall elections.  Environmental groups have been moving to get a similar ban on the November 2024 ballot, but are strongly backing the legislative effort by Sens. Sonya Jaquez Lewis of Boulder County and Kevin Priola of Henderson. They say the ban on new drilling would be phased in to first protect minority and lower-income residents in disproportionately impacted communities, before becoming complete in 2030.  The ban would allow for continued pumping from existing we...
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Colorado Senate considers bill to track ‘suspicious’ gun and ammo purchases
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado Senate considers bill to track ‘suspicious’ gun and ammo purchases

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A bill being proposed in the state Senate would allow credit card companies to assign codes to the purchase of firearms and ammunition. Sponsors of the bill say such tracking would allow law enforcement to track "suspicious activity" that could lead to crime.  Senate Bill 066 was discussed last week by the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee. If it passes, the bill would require payment networks, such as credit card companies, to provide processors with a newly developed merchant category code, or MCC, that will specifically be assigned to firearms and ammunition. This code, which was established by the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, in 2022, must be assigned by processors to each firearms merchan...
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Denver City Council fails to override mayor’s veto of bill preventing homeless sweeps in freezing weather
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Approved, DENVER7, Downtown Denver, Local

Denver City Council fails to override mayor’s veto of bill preventing homeless sweeps in freezing weather

By Sydney Isenberg , Landon Haaf | Denver7 With a 7-6 vote, the Denver City Council on Monday failed to override Mayor Mike Johnston's veto of an ordinance that would have banned homeless encampment sweeps when temperatures dip below freezing. City Council Ordinance 23-1960, introduced in December, aimed to revise the municipal code to prevent multiple city agencies from removing homeless encampments when temperatures 32 degrees and colder are in the forecast. It passed by a 7-6 margin on Jan. 29.. Nine votes were needed to protect the bill from mayoral veto. The mayor and several citizen groups had voiced their opposition to the ordinance. Johnston officially vetoed the ordinance on Feb. 2. In a letter to the council announcing...
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Aurora considers modular construction for affordable housing
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Approved, Denver Metro, denvergazette.com, Local

Aurora considers modular construction for affordable housing

By Noah Festenstein | Denver Gazette As Colorado struggles with its lack of affordable housing, the Aurora City Council will consider on Monday a resolution that would allow the use of buildings with "modular construction" to provide affordable housing units. The goal of Aurora’s modular construction resolution is to “increase attainable housing,” according to city staff. With modular construction, buildings are built offsite and then moved, like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, onto a property. The method is seen as more effective, faster and more environmentally friendly than regular construction, officials said. Off-site construction “makes modular housing a promising and innovative solution for increasing the supply of housing with construction timelines that are more tha...
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Cyberattack disables Colorado public defender network
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Cyberattack disables Colorado public defender network

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A malware attack on the state public defender's computer system last week has resulted in the disabling of the office's network, the office confirmed on Monday. A spokesperson for the Judicial Department said the courts themselves were not affected by the cyberattack. "As a preventative measure, we temporarily disabled our computer network and are working to safely and securely bring systems back online. Our operations will be limited while the network is offline," said James Karbach, the communications director for the public defender's office. One judge told Colorado Politics that they learned of the problem as early as Friday afternoon. Eric Ross, a spokesperson for the 18th Judicial District in Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln coun...
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Aurora committee sends forward shoplifting bill, lowering threshhold to $100
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Approved, Denver Metro, Local, The Sentinel

Aurora committee sends forward shoplifting bill, lowering threshhold to $100

By Max Levy | The Sentinel Shoplifters who steal merchandise worth $100 or more from Aurora stores would be automatically jailed under a proposal moved forward Thursday by the Aurora City Council’s public safety policy committee. Currently, retail thieves who steal $300 or more in goods trigger the automatic three-day jail sentence included in the mandatory minimum sentencing law that the council passed in 2022. The proposal sponsored by Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky would lower that threshold to $100. It would also impose special penalties for repeat offenders — a 90-day minimum jail sentence for anyone convicted of one prior retail theft offense and a 180-day minimum sentence for people who have been convicted at least twice. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE AURORA SENTINEL...
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