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Stabbing at Aurora middle school leaves one student hospitalized, another arrested
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Stabbing at Aurora middle school leaves one student hospitalized, another arrested

By Michael Braithwaite | Denver Gazette A teen girl was stabbed by another girl outside the Aurora Science and Tech Middle School on Wednesday, suffering injuries severe enough to require hospitalization. The incident began at about 1:23 p.m., when the two were involved in a heated argument outside on school property, the Aurora Police Department said on X Wednesday afternoon. The argument then escalated and one of the girls stabbed the other. The girl was transported to the hospital with injuries considered to be serious but currently not life-threatening, a spokesperson for Aurora police confirmed Wednesday afternoon. The other girl who stabbed her was arrested. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
ACLU sues to block use of Alien Enemies Act to deport TdA members in Aurora
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ACLU sues to block use of Alien Enemies Act to deport TdA members in Aurora

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Colorado to try to block the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to remove immigrants unlawfully living in the U.S. who are accused of being members of a Venezuelan gang. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent President Donald Trump from using the wartime act, arguing the White House proclamation designating members of Tren de Aragua as "alien enemies" does not satisfy the tenets of the Alien Enemies Act. Specifically, a gang’s criminal activities "do not constitute an 'invasion or predatory incursion' under the AEA and the Act was a wartime authority meant to address 'military' attacks," the ACLU argued in the lawsuit. AC...
Colorado taxpayers footed $7.3M bill for dead Medicaid enrollees, audit finds
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Colorado taxpayers footed $7.3M bill for dead Medicaid enrollees, audit finds

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette Thousands of deceased Coloradans stayed on the state’s Medicaid rolls, as the state continued paying managed care organizations to cover them, a lapse federal investigators flagged as wasteful in a recent audit. Colorado made an estimated $7.3 million in capitation payments between 2018 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG). The payments continued for some Coloradans months after their deaths because of outdated reporting and system delays, state officials said. Simply stated, capitation payments are fixed monthly fees paid to managed care organizations for each Medicaid enrollee. “We know that there is fraud, waste, and abuse in the system that we have...
Perceptions of downtown Denver plummet despite $1.2B in investment
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Perceptions of downtown Denver plummet despite $1.2B in investment

By Bernadette Berdychowski | Denver Gazette City leaders have stressed downtown Denver has several things going in its favor — reopening of 16th Street Mall, new businesses moving in, stronger police presence and $570 million of investment money. Despite efforts to make a comeback, optimism fell among the public last year. Perceptions of downtown grew more unfavorable in 2024, according to a preview of a Gensler report shown at the State of Downtown Denver breakfast event by the Downtown Denver Partnership held on Thursday. Gensler surveyed 500 people in Denver — from local visitors to residents and office workers — between September and October to gauge how downtowns across the country are performing. The full report hasn’t been released and is scheduled to come o...
Rosen: Eco-radicals push watermelon socialism, not science
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Rosen: Eco-radicals push watermelon socialism, not science

By Mike Rosen | Denver Gazette I recently stumbled on one of my all-time favorite movies on TV. It was the 1965 film of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. So, I watched the whole thing for 10th time. One particular scene stands out. After his service as a doctor in the Russian Army during World War I, Zhivago returns to his family who’d been living with his in-laws, in Moscow. By this time, the Russian Army had disintegrated, the Czar had been overthrown and the Bolsheviks had taken control following the 1917 Revolution. Arriving at the elegant townhome of father-in-law Aleksander Gromeko, a retired professor, Zhivago is confronted by a burly women in military garb; an overbearing communist official who, addresses him as “comrade” and annou...
House approves $44B budget, GOP spending cut efforts rejected
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House approves $44B budget, GOP spending cut efforts rejected

By Marianne Goodland | Denver Gazette Colorado state House legislators on Wednesday debated and advanced a $44 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year. They also approved 63 "orbital" bills designed to change state law in order to balance the state budget. As introduced, the fiscal year 2025-26 budget stands at $43.9 billion, including $17 billion in general funds and $14 billion in federal dollars. General funds are the discretionary dollars, derived from individual and corporate income taxes, as well as sales and use taxes. Cash funds make up the rest, about $12.8 billion. Lawmakers' biggest hurdle is closing a $1.2 billion general fund shortfall, driven by higher-than-expected Medicaid costs and a structural deficit. The first act of the House was to rout...
‘I can’t do business in Denver now’: Developers flee as climate mandates bite
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‘I can’t do business in Denver now’: Developers flee as climate mandates bite

By Mark Samuelson | Denver Gazette While Colorado is earning praise from climate advocates for its new mandates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, developers and their economists are giving D and F grades to the state and its capital city, blaming the regulations for a noticeable decline in some projects. Representatives for developers and property owners are flagging new data showing a marked drop-off in investments and revenues from commercial projects in Colorado. That decline, they said, follows directly on the heels of Colorado's adoption of some of the nation’s boldest carbon-reducing strategies. The regulations include the Energize Denver ordinance, adopted unanimously by the Denver City Council in 2021. The ordinance seeks to reduce carbon emissions from larger commercial...
Gazette editorial board: Palmer Lake recall effort shortsighted, could derail opportunity
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Gazette editorial board: Palmer Lake recall effort shortsighted, could derail opportunity

The Gazette editorial board | Denver Gazette The quaint Tri-Lakes town of Palmer Lake is a gem Coloradans cherish- its serene lake, charming shops, and tight-knit community make it a Front Range treasure. Sadly, a storm brews over a proposed Buc-ee's travel center at 1-25 and County Line Road, sparking a recall effort against Trustees Shana Ball, Kevin Dreher, and Dennis Stern. This push, fueled by an outside activist club - the leader of which compared trustees to the "Taliban" - risks needlessly fracturing an otherwise peaceful village.  Palmer Lake's leaders deserve a chance to navigate this opportunity, not a divisive ouster.  With Buc-ee's promising economic uplift, the town should leverage it wisely. Recall campaigns typically sow discord where dialogue could...
Faculty reform underway at Air Force Academy to meet Secretary Hegseth’s directive
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Faculty reform underway at Air Force Academy to meet Secretary Hegseth’s directive

By Jerilee Bennett | Denver Gazette The Air Force Academy superintendent is proposing to cut civilian faculty positions without hiring uniformed instructors to replace them — a change that could eliminate some majors.  The proposal floated in internal meetings and communications is intended to increase the percentage of military service members among the faculty up to 80% and bring the percentage of civilians down from about 37% to 20%. The internal communication listed Superintendent Tony Bauernfeind's goals for reducing the staff overall, lowering the civilian representation and reducing the number of faculty members with doctorates to the minimum viable for accreditation. He would like to see changes in place by the coming fall semester, the note said.  The Ac...
Gazette editorial board: CO drivers footing the bill for transit dreams amounts to highway robbery
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Gazette editorial board: CO drivers footing the bill for transit dreams amounts to highway robbery

The Gazette editorial board | Denver Gazette A lot of motorists aren’t crazy about driving our crumbling and congested traffic corridors. But only a handful actually hates motor vehicles. Unfortunately, that unrepresentative handful is overrepresented in our state legislature and the Governor’s Office. In some city halls, too. And they’d like nothing more than for the rest of us to quit driving and ride a bus or light rail, instead. Or ride a bike. Which explains those empty bike lanes you see squeezing cars and trucks aside on busy transportation thoroughfares and neighborhood streets. It also helps to explain the abysmal condition of Colorado’s highways, bridges and other basic transportation infrastructure. It’s getting worse by the day. Although the powers that be wouldn...

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