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Colorado’s budget deficit may be smaller than the $1 billion hole originally predicted
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado’s budget deficit may be smaller than the $1 billion hole originally predicted

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s state budget deficit next year is forecast to be about $250 million smaller than previously anticipated, economic prognosticators told state lawmakers Thursday, news that will make carrying out a fiscal trapeze act slightly easier.  Nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff and the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting, which presented their quarterly budget and economic forecasts Thursday to the Joint Budget Committee, said the state budget hole is more like $750 million, if not lower. That’s down from the roughly $1 billion hole originally estimated for the fiscal year that begins July 1 if the JBC maintained its current spending plans. The deficit is being caused by a number of factors, including decre...
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Denver fails to meet emergency response time goals, audit says
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver fails to meet emergency response time goals, audit says

By Deborah Grigsby | Denver Gazette A city audit concluded that Denver's emergency first responders are failing to meet their own response time goals — a situation that managers partly blamed on new laws that resulted in having less control over how often staffers could take a leave of absence. Emergency managers also said that, as a result, the city needs to hire more 911 operators.       Denver Auditor Timothy M. O’Brien said he sought to evaluate several key aspects of the city’s 911 emergency response system, including alignment with industry standards, adequate staffing levels, oversight and monitoring, the reliability of data used for decision-making, and compliance with contractual obligations. READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVER GAZETTE
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Where is Joe? White House pressed on Biden not speaking publicly ahead of shutdown
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Approved, Fox News, National

Where is Joe? White House pressed on Biden not speaking publicly ahead of shutdown

By Fox News A reporter pressed the White House Friday on why President Biden has not been speaking publicly as government shutdown is now just hours away.  “Why hasn’t President Biden said anything in the public about this? Don't the American people deserve to know why millions of federal workers could enter this holiday period without a paycheck?” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked Friday during her daily press briefing.  “All Americans need to know that Republicans are getting in the way here, and they are the ones who have created this mess. That's the reality. That's the fact,” she responded. “This is not the first time we've been here. And the president has had this approach before. He understands how Congress works. He's been around ...
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Court of Appeals vacates contempt conviction against Tina Peters in iPad recording case
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Court of Appeals vacates contempt conviction against Tina Peters in iPad recording case

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In a court order filed Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, the Court of Appeals ruled that the case against Tina Peters concerning a contempt of court conviction over an iPad recording in Mesa County be vacated. Her attorney John Case said in a written statement, “The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed Tina’s conviction for contempt and vacated the judgment, meaning that the contempt case is over and there will be no retrial. She had been found innocent of recording a judicial proceeding and innocent of lying to Judge Barrett.  The basis of the ruling was that [District Attorney] Dan Rubinstein failed to present sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction.” In response to Case's statement, Rubinstein wrote, “... there is no s...
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Luigi Mangione staying at same ‘barbaric’ NYC prison as Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, whose lawyer is married to his lawyer
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Approved, National, New York Post

Luigi Mangione staying at same ‘barbaric’ NYC prison as Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, whose lawyer is married to his lawyer

By Nicholas McEntyre | New York Post Accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione spent his first night back in the Big Apple under the same NYC federal prison as disgraced rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. The two inmates, who are both awaiting trials for their respective high-profile federal cases, are locked away at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 over the suspected killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE NEW YORK POST
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Coyote killed near the child attack in Colorado Springs had human DNA on its paws, wildlife officers say
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Coyote killed near the child attack in Colorado Springs had human DNA on its paws, wildlife officers say

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Human DNA found on the paws of one of two coyotes killed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife suggests the animal was the one that attacked a child in Colorado Springs on Thanksgiving.  The capture comes after weeks of CPW trapping multiple coyotes in and around the northern Colorado Springs neighborhood where the attack occurred when the girl and a friend approached the animal hoping to feed it after mistaking it for a dog.  CPW spokesperson Bill Vogrin offered no details on how the coyote’s paws still had DNA on them three weeks after the attack, citing an ongoing investigation.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Trump calls for government to shut down ‘now’ as GOP preps 11th-hour vote
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Approved, National, New York Post

Trump calls for government to shut down ‘now’ as GOP preps 11th-hour vote

By Josh Christenson | The New York Post President-elect Donald Trump blamed President Biden on Friday for the impending fiscal cliff-dive and suggested the government should shut down “now” — even as congressional Republicans are preparing an eleventh-hour push to approve short-term funding before midnight. “If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP,'” the incoming president declared around 8 a.m. Friday on Truth Social. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!” A few hours later, just after 10 a.m., Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told reporters that the House GOP was preparing a package for a vote in the Rules Committee — which, if approved...
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White House aides finally reveal who really ran the country as Biden slid into mental incompetence
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Approved, National, The Daily Caller

White House aides finally reveal who really ran the country as Biden slid into mental incompetence

By Reagan Reese | Daily Caller With President Joe Biden’s time in office winding down, dozens of those close to his operations over the years told The Wall Street Journal how aides insulated the 82-year-old and handled his responsibilities as concerns of his fitness increased. President-elect Donald Trump’s domination of the news cycle since winning the 2024 election has allowed Biden to fade from the national politics scene. But since the 82-year-old dropped out of the presidential race, questions about his physical state, how long the president had been declining and how it was being handled, have remained unanswered. The WSJ interviewed nearly 50 people who have been close to Biden throughout his administration and they detail how staff handled cabinet officials, presidential resp...
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At odds over union law, business and labor groups sharpen arguments ahead of Capitol fight
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

At odds over union law, business and labor groups sharpen arguments ahead of Capitol fight

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics As the fight over proposed changes to an 80-year-old labor law takes shape, unions and businesses have begun sharpening their arguments, with both sides notably claiming their approach is best for Colorado's economy.    Indeed, the two sides are pointing to economic reports and studies in an effort to strengthen their position among lawmakers ahead of next year's legislative session. At least one legislative leader said she wants both sides to have a say in any effort to change the labor law. Established in 1943, the law, called the Labor Peace Act, governs unionization and collective bargaining agreements. While the other 49 states are either "right to work" states — meaning employees aren't required to union be members or to pay...
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Political operative allegedly acted as illegal agent of China, got candidate elected to city board, DOJ says
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Approved, Fox News, National

Political operative allegedly acted as illegal agent of China, got candidate elected to city board, DOJ says

By Greg Wehner  | Fox News A Chino Hills, California man has been arrested for allegedly working as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) while also serving as the campaign manager for a local politician who was elected to office in 2022. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said 64-year-old Yaoning "Mike" Sun was arrested on Thursday and charged with acting as an illegal agent of China as well as conspiring with another man, Chen Jun, who was sentenced to prison in November for bribery and also acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government. According to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Tuesday, Sun served as campaign manager for a Southern California politician who was n...
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