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Colorado GOP adjourns online meeting without considering controversial bylaws amendments
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado GOP adjourns online meeting without considering controversial bylaws amendments

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics It took just over an hour and a half for the Colorado Republican Party's state central committee to decide it wasn't going to conduct any business on Thursday night. About 90 minutes into an online meeting of the committee, state GOP Chairman Dave Williams declared that he was going to adjourn after members voted narrowly to require Republicans on the Zoom call to verify their identities with government-issued ID's — something Williams conceded would be impossible to accomplish on short notice. "Even though everyone already knows that we're all here, who we claim to be, there's no way we can think of in the moment to do credentialing, so I will go ahead and adjourn the meeting," Williams said as other Republicans attempted to speak, including U...
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Air Force Academy ending minor in diversity and inclusion
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The Center Square, Approved, Local

Air Force Academy ending minor in diversity and inclusion

By Tate Miller | The Center Square West Point Military Academy and the Air Force Academy have both ended their “Diversity and Inclusion Studies” minors. As late as Jan. 8, West Point, based in New York, offered its DEI minor, while as of Jan. 9 the Air Force Academy, based in Colorado, still offered its DEI minor, according to internet archives. Currently, a minor in “Diversity and Inclusion Studies” is no longer listed on either service academy’s website. Around the same time the DEI minors disappeared, President Donald Trump ended all DEI programs in federal agencies via an executive order. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE CENTER SQUARE
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Housing, homelessness, public safety among Denver mayor’s 2025 priorities
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Housing, homelessness, public safety among Denver mayor’s 2025 priorities

By Noah Festenstein | The Denver Gazette Painting a city gripped by worries over deportations, high cost of living and economic struggles, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Wednesday unveiled his goals for the year, saying he will focus on resolving familiar challenges — housing, homelessness and safety.   “I want to make sure people see how serious we know the stakes are," Johnston said at the newly upgraded Denver Central Library. “There are folks in the city today who are very, very afraid,” he said. “Whether that is worry about them or their family members being caught up in mass deportations, whether that is someone who is fighting hard to make sure they can still pay the rent this month, someone who's trying to keep their small business going and they're strugglin...
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Top Aurora police crime analyst faces nine counts of official misconduct: ‘I shouldn’t have done it’
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Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

Top Aurora police crime analyst faces nine counts of official misconduct: ‘I shouldn’t have done it’

By Brian Maass | CBS Colorado The Aurora Police Department's top crime analyst, Frank Fredericks, 60, was charged this week with nine counts of official misconduct. In a phone call Wednesday evening, Fredericks admitted he used department computers for non-law enforcement purposes. "I ran a query on my husband to obtain a VIN on a vehicle that is in his name. Is it wrong, yes," said Fredericks. "I shouldn't have done it." Court records show the nine charges were filed Monday and stem from incidents between March 22, 2023, and April 29, 2024. Fredericks resigned from the Aurora Police Department June 17, 2024, after about 18 months on the job. He said he resigned due to a difference of opinion with APD command staff over an internal reorganization. READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS ...
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RTD leadership sets new CEO goals for ridership and on-time service
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

RTD leadership sets new CEO goals for ridership and on-time service

By Parker Yamasaki | The Colorado Sun The Regional Transportation District in Denver passed a set of amendments on Tuesday night that will push CEO Debra Johnson to improve on-time service and increase ridership. The agency responsible for Metro Denver’s rail and bus services has been trying to regain its footing after the pandemic slashed ridership and internal disputes surfaced. Public trust in the agency is also sinking, as demonstrated during the public comment portion of the meeting. People showed up in-person, online and through email to express their discontent with unpredictable wait times and unreliable customer service, and called out poor service on the E Line specifically, which runs southeast from downtown Denver to Lone Tree, and has been undergoing maintenance and s...
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HB25-1005 offers $34M in tax credits to attract Sundance Film Festival to Boulder
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Approved, State, The Sum & Substance

HB25-1005 offers $34M in tax credits to attract Sundance Film Festival to Boulder

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado’s film-incentive program has generated division among legislators since its inception. The state’s effort to attract the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder, however, is getting near-unanimous support. The House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on Wednesday approved the creation of a new incentive tax credit to draw what is arguably America’s most prestigious film festival away from its long-time home in Park City, Utah. Having outgrown the 8,400-person town, the 11-day festival that attracts some 70,000 annual attendees has narrowed its search for a new home to three locations: Salt Lake City (in conjunction with Park City), Cincinnati and Boulder. Under House Bill 1005, sponsored by House Majority Leader Monica Duran of Wheat R...
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Senate confirms Doug Burgum as interior secretary to pursue Trump pro-drilling agenda
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Approved, National, Washington Examiner

Senate confirms Doug Burgum as interior secretary to pursue Trump pro-drilling agenda

By Callie Patteson | Washington Examiner The Senate has confirmed former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as the next secretary of the interior in a bipartisan vote, further cementing an energy dominance focus in the president’s Cabinet.  Burgum, 68, was confirmed late Thursday night in a 79-18 vote with the majority of Senate Democrats voting in favor. The vote came one day after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin was confirmed, making Burgum the eighth member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to be confirmed.  Burgum sailed smoothly through his confirmation hearings in committee earlier this month. Last week, the Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources met to discuss advancing Burgum’s nomination to ...
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Walcher: Throw off climate suffocation and ‘shovel, baby, shovel’
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Walcher: Throw off climate suffocation and ‘shovel, baby, shovel’

By Greg Walcher | Guest Columnist, Rocky Mountain Voice, via GregWalcher.com My friend Amos Eno, one of the country’s leading conservation experts, spent a decade running the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and more recently the Land Conservation Assistance Network. His writing appears in all the right publications, and he is a popular speaker at conferences everywhere.  Writing about the old/new President’s endorsement of the almost-cliché adage, “Drill, baby, drill,” he added another related, but separate, concept: “Shovel, baby, shovel.” It is an apt way to describe what he calls an urgent need “to resurrect our mining of strategic and critical minerals and coal, throwing off the wet blanket of climate suffocation policies.” There is considerable attention and deb...
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Colorado bill looks to limit student cell phone usage during school
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Approved, kdvr.com, State

Colorado bill looks to limit student cell phone usage during school

By Gabrielle Franklin | KDVR-TV Fox 31 News Getting young people to give their devices a break can be a challenge. Colorado lawmakers say schools are having a hard time getting students to put their phones down, too. A new bill at the capitol looks to improve the situation. A bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday looks to give districts across the state some guidance to keep students off their phones when it’s time to learn. Students are using their phones in class. READ THE FULL STORY AT KDVR-TV FOX 31 NEWS
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Colorado Springs church vandalized for the fourth time in six months
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Approved, gazette.com, Local

Colorado Springs church vandalized for the fourth time in six months

By Debbie Kelley | The Gazette Emily Bond’s first thought when she got to work on Tuesday morning was, “Oh, no! We have to get another banner. Again.” Shortly before 8 p.m. Monday night, as members of the Out Loud Men’s Chorus were rehearsing inside First Congregational Church in downtown Colorado Springs, a neighbor’s video cam captured two cars pulling up, and six individuals jumping out and ripping down a large, rainbow-colored banner that for years has hung in the church portico. Oversized lettering on the banner reads: “A Just World for All.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
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