denvergazette.com

Denver Schools say lease-financing is lawful, critics say it skirts voter oversight

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In a motion to dismiss filed Friday in response to a lawsuit, Denver Public Schools (DPS) defended its use of lease-purchase agreements — a financing method critics say sidesteps required voter approval for public debt that could leave students without access to their schools if the district defaults.

“This allegedly unlawful ‘scheme’ is actually a common and completely legal method of financing projects for public entities in a manner that is authorized by statute and has been repeatedly ratified by Colorado courts,” DPS officials said in their filing.

As previously reported by The Denver Gazette, DPS has quietly taken on hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt through a controversial financing tactic that sidesteps the state’s constitutional ban on assuming debt without public approval.

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El Paso County defies state sanctuary push, gives deputies ICE powers

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On a day when the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office announced the transfer of 16 people to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, its sheriff, Joe Roybal, said Tuesday he intends to enter an agreement that will give his deputies specified powers of an ICE agent.

The 287(g) program authorizes ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform certain immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and supervision, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

The program has three models that local law enforcement agencies can enter into, each that gives the agency distinct powers. A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said they are not ready to comment on which model Roybal would enter into.

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Gabel: State land board pick once cheered eco-terrorism—now she could control 2.8M acres

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Much of the land around Vail that is now developed as resorts, ski slopes, and golf courses first belonged to sheep ranchers with Greek roots. By the 1960s, development was pushing them out of the valley and activists were bemoaning the negative effect on wildlife that took place when livestock grazing was replaced by progress.

In 1998, Vail Resorts was on the cusp of developing 2,2oo acres of backcountry. The plan riled activists, especially those devoted to preserving the habitats of elk and Canada Lynx that thrived before development came to town.

Members of the radical Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the now-defunct Rocky Mountain Animal Defense (RMAD) marched and chanted through Vail with police on their tails, wielding decibel meters. According to 1998 reporting by Alex Markels, RMAD activists spotted a woman emerging from a fur salon wearing a mink coat, and an altercation ensued. An RMAD member told the woman, “You’d look a lot sexier without 65 dead animals on your back!”

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SB276 would fine deputies $50K for helping ICE—Sheriff Mikesell says enough is enough

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Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell is so concerned about the effects of Colorado Senate Bill #276 he appealed in a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.

The bill, if signed by Gov. Jared Polis, prohibits law enforcement from sharing information with the federal government about illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.

At issue is the bill’s interference with Mikesell’s 287(g) agreement with ICE.

SB276 would fine deputies $50K for helping ICE—Sheriff Mikesell says enough is enough Read More »

Gazette editorial board: Colorado’s green agenda is pricing out homeowners

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Colorado’s governor and Legislature may claim they want more affordable housing — but they aren’t about to let it stand in the way of their headlong rush toward green energy. Their zero-emissions-at-any-cost dogma seems to trump all other policy priorities.

Which helps explain why the state’s Energy Code Board is poised to impose extreme energy standards — even more stringent than those already in effect — on new home construction. The pending rules would turn the screws on wide-ranging aspects of the building code — and are projected to add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home in Colorado.

Gazette editorial board: Colorado’s green agenda is pricing out homeowners Read More »

Fighting for a country that doubted them—but never broke them

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In his 99 years on the planet, Ken Akune has been sorted into many bins.

The first was Nisei, the term for second-generation Japanese Americans born in the United States. Akune had lived in both the United States and Japan and his family was divided between the two.

The second bin was “evacuee.”

That was the term given to 18-year-old Akune, his brother Harry and 7,000 other Japanese Americans shipped out to the Granada Relocation Center in Colorado at the start of World War II because of worries about their loyalty. Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 forcibly removed them from their home on the West Coast to a remote plain of sage and dust in southeastern Colorado, known simply as Amache.

Fighting for a country that doubted them—but never broke them Read More »

Memorial Day at Fort Carson reminds us what freedom truly costs

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The first Fort Carson soldier to die in Iraq, Pfc. Jesse Givens, wrote those highly relatable words in his journal. And while his time in the Army was short, his sentiments resonate today, said Fort Carson’s Maj. Gen. David Doyle during a Thursday morning ceremony ahead of Memorial Day. 

“I took an oath to protect my country, not for the sake of saving the world, but for the hopes that my family wouldn’t have to live in a world filled with hate, fear or sadness, a world in which America can triumph,” Doyle said, quoting Givens’ journal. 

Givens died when his tank plunged into the Euphrates River, the general said. The soldier who had served for 15 months was recovered with a small pressed flower from Colorado with him.

Givens’ story is one of 407 represented by names on the memorial stones outside of Gate 1 — all died in the Global War on Terrorism from 2003 through 2019 from Fort Carson. Nationally, more than 7,000 service members died in the conflict. 

Doyle said he expects to spend the weekend remembering those he knew who died in the conflict and he encouraged others to take a moment to also reflect on the sacrifices of service members. 

“When I think about those soldiers that I served with who did not come home, I remember what made them excellent. I remember what made them the best in our country,” he said.

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Denver Public Schools leased schools through shell corporation, hiding almost $1B in off-book financing

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Denver Public Schools has quietly taken on hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt without voter approval — money that could otherwise be used to lower class sizes, increase teacher pay or expand student support services, an investigation by The Denver Gazette has found.

The spending comes as contract negotiations between the district and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) have stalled, with union leaders pointing to the district’s failure to fully fund last year’s cost-of-living adjustment.

Educators have repeatedly called for smaller class sizes, better compensation and stronger student support — the very priorities that advocates say are undermined by rising lease payments tied to long-term debt.

To bypass the Colorado Constitution’s ban on assuming public debt without voter approval, DPS officials employed a workaround widely used in public finance circles but little understood by the public: transferring ownership of schools to a corporation, then leasing the buildings back for hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

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Governor rejects rideshare reform bill amid corporate exit warnings

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Gov. Jared Polis on Friday vetoed House Bill 1291, a bill that would have put more teeth in regulating rideshare companies.

Sponsors heavily criticized the veto, saying his claims that he cares about victims fell short and that he didn’t engage with the sponsors on the bill until three days before the end of the session. 

House Bill 1291 was intended to beef up consumer protections for those who use ride share companies, such as Lyft and Uber. The bill would have required rideshare companies to conduct criminal background checks on drivers at least once every six months and review drivers who have had complaints filed against them by riders. If the company determined that the allegation is “more than likely to have occurred,” it would have had to deactivate the driver’s profile.

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Colorado sued over law punishing ‘misgendering’: Doctors, parents cite First Amendment

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Several organizations and a western Colorado dermatologist have filed a lawsuit seeking to block specific provisions of a recently signed state law that, as originally introduced, would have defined “deadnaming” and “misgendering” as discriminatory acts but whose final version had been heavily modified.  

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Defending Education, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, and Do No Harm. Travis Morrell, a Grand Junction dermatologist and member of Do No Harm, is also a plaintiff.

Colorado sued over law punishing ‘misgendering’: Doctors, parents cite First Amendment Read More »