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Aurora to get rid of shelter, notice requirements for homeless camp abatements
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Aurora to get rid of shelter, notice requirements for homeless camp abatements

By Kyla Pearce | The Denver Gazette Aurora city councilmembers passed an ordinance Monday night that gets rid of the requirement to provide shelter options and a 72-hour notice before abating homeless encampments. The ordinance, which was passed through a study session two weeks ago, prevailed with three 'no' votes from councilmembers Alison Coombs, Ruben Medina and Crystal Murillo. Prior to the ordinance's passage, city code read that "no city employee authorized to issue a citation shall issue a citation, make an arrest, or otherwise enforce this section against a person camping on public property unless the city has a shelter option available for the person ordered to move from the camp and the person has been offered placement in the shelter option." READ THE FULL STORY AT ...
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Federal committee calls for Denver mayor to testify on city’s sanctuary policies
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Federal committee calls for Denver mayor to testify on city’s sanctuary policies

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigating so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions across the nation has called for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston to testify in Washington, D.C. “Denver is a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,” Committee Chairman James Comer wrote in a letter to Johnston dated Jan. 27. “To provide much needed oversight of this matter, the Committee requests documents and information related to the sanctuary policies of Denver.” The letter called out Johnston by name: “Denver is a sanctuary jurisdiction under Colorado law, and Mayor Mike Johnston confirmed that he was prepared to go to jail to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities...
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Colorado’s unemployment rate rises to 4.4%, the highest in three years
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado’s unemployment rate rises to 4.4%, the highest in three years

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s unemployment rate rose to 4.4% last month, up one-tenth of a percentage point and the highest in three years. At the same time, there are fewer job openings and fewer people filing to start a new business.  While that seems like the opposite direction state officials prefer, there were some positives and additional context to better understand what happened, Secretary of State Jena Griswold said during a news conference Monday.  “Job and GDP growth numbers are encouraging and indicate the economy is stabilizing after several years of inflation,” Griswold said. “Colorado remains in a strong economic position and the state and national outlook is positive.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Rep. Soper joining sex-assault victims to urge reform in addressing 400-day rape kit processing delays
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Rep. Soper joining sex-assault victims to urge reform in addressing 400-day rape kit processing delays

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In Colorado, when someone is raped, it may take more than a year before a district attorney can assess the evidence and open an investigation. The problem is because of long delays in processing rape kits, which takes more than 400 days now, exceeding the state’s 90-day goal.  To put the rape kit backlog issue into perspective, investigations cannot begin without the results of the forensic analysis, making the overall delay even more damaging. "The longer we're delaying the ability for the criminal justice system to even begin — not just to complete a trial, but for law enforcement and prosecutors to start an investigation — justice is completely stalled," said Republican Rep. Matt Soper, who represents District 54 in th...
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U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd joined by constituents while taking ceremonial oath of office
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd joined by constituents while taking ceremonial oath of office

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In consideration of constituents who elected him, and were not able to be at his swearing in, or who may have traveled to the inauguration, only to have it moved indoors, U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-3rd District, invited people to the U.S. District Court house on Monday, Jan. 27, to attend a ceremonial swearing into office. The Hon. Gordon Gallagher presided over the ceremony, where there was a standing-room only crowd.  “We are here today for the ceremonial swearing in of Congressman Jeff Hurd. I say ceremonial because the 119th Congress was officially sworn in several weeks ago in Washington, D.C., and he is already hard at work," Gallagher said. Judge Gallagher had obviously given a great deal of thought to his ceremon...
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Texas Republican: Selena Gomez’s ‘crocodile tears’ a ‘PR stunt’
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Approved, National, THE HILL

Texas Republican: Selena Gomez’s ‘crocodile tears’ a ‘PR stunt’

By Judy Kurtz | The Hill A Texas Republican is accusing Selena Gomez of crying “crocodile tears” in a since-deleted video of the star sobbing that was posted amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.  “@SelenaGomez’s crocodile tears aren’t for deportations — it’s a PR stunt to distract @TheAcademy from Hispanics HATING her movie,” Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) said on the social platform X on Monday. In the clip that had appeared on Gomez’s Instagram page before reportedly being removed on Monday, the “Only Murders in the Building” star was seen wiping away tears as she said, “All my people are getting attacked,” with an image of the Mexican flag appearing onscreen.  READ THE FULL STORY ON THE HILL
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The DeepSeek AI chatbot burst onto the scene: are fears about it overblown?
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Approved, Fox Business, National

The DeepSeek AI chatbot burst onto the scene: are fears about it overblown?

By Eric Revell | Fox Business Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote in a post on X that "Deepseek R1 is AI's Sputnik moment," in reference to the Soviet Union's early lead over the U.S. in the Cold War era Space Race. Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark wrote in his "Import AI" newsletter, "R1 is significant because it broadly matches OpenAI's o1 model on a range of reasoning tasks and challenges the notion that Western AI companies hold a significant lead over Chinese ones." While some tech sector figures and investors in the AI space see DeepSeek's advancements as signaling the arrival of a new phase of AI competition, others are less convinced that it poses a broad challenge to the U.S. tech industry. READ THE FULL STO...
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Google Maps will soon be changing ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’
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Approved, National, TownHall.com

Google Maps will soon be changing ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’

By Leah Barkoukis | Townhall After an executive order signed last week by President Trump, the Interior Department announced the Gulf of Mexico would “officially” be renamed as the Gulf of America. Additionally, North America’s highest mountain will once again be called Mount McKinley. Both name changes “honor the legacy of American greatness,” the statement said.   “The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, under the purview of the Department of the Interior, is working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use,” the statement added.  Once that takes place, the Gulf of America will be reflected on Google Maps, the company said. READ THE FULL STORY AT TOWNH...
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Trump administration orders pause on all federal grants and loans
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Approved, DENVER7, National

Trump administration orders pause on all federal grants and loans

By Scripps News Staff | Denver 7 The White House is taking drastic measures to control trillions of federal dollars by ordering a freeze on all federal grants and loans so President Donald Trump's administration can review government spending. The temporary pause is slated to go into effect Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET and blocks the disbursement of nearly all federal funding. The order also directs all federal agencies to submit detailed reports on "any programs, projects or activities subject to this pause" by no later than Feb. 10, 2025. "The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve," Office of Management and Budget Actin...
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NYC’s first major immigration raids kick off under Trump crackdown, nabbing violent murderers and kidnappers
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Approved, National, New York Post

NYC’s first major immigration raids kick off under Trump crackdown, nabbing violent murderers and kidnappers

By Joe Marino, Isabel Keane, David Propper, and Kevin Sheehan | New York Post It’s on.  Heavily armed federal immigration agents swept through the Big Apple in the dark early Tuesday, nabbing accused illegal-migrant killers and traffickers in the first deportation raids under President Donald Trump’s crackdown.  New Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, donning a protective vest, joined agents from Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the series of early-morning lighting raids that began with busts in The Bronx.  Noem attended a pre-raid tactical meeting wearing a rose gold Rolex Daytona watch, and filed into an armored BearCat SWAT vehicle with HSI agents as they shuttled between locations. ...
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