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Polis Budget Cuts Threaten Health Care Access for Medicaid Patients
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Polis Budget Cuts Threaten Health Care Access for Medicaid Patients

By Brandon Richard | Denver7 Gov. Jared Polis says the cuts helped rebalance the state budget after Congress passed President Trump's tax bill DENVER — Coloradans may be forced to pay more and wait longer for health care treatment due to some of the budget cuts Gov. Jared Polis announced this week. Polis said the cuts were necessary to help rebalance the state budget after a Republican federal tax and spending bill, H.R.1. (One Big Beautiful Bill Act), reduced the state’s revenue and created a $783 million budget gap. "Unlike the federal government, we have to balance our budget,” Polis said. The governor made more than $250 million in cuts and redirected spending across departments. "What H.R.1 does in a way is it makes these cuts, and then it makes states be the bad guy...
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Labor Day Protest At Capitol Draws Small Crowd Targeting Trump and Billionaires
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Labor Day Protest At Capitol Draws Small Crowd Targeting Trump and Billionaires

By Danielle Kreutter | Denver7 The event was organized by the group 50501, which also organized the No Kings Day protest back in June. DENVER — Hundreds of demonstrators spent their Labor Day rallying for workers' rights at the Colorado Capitol. The event was organized by the group 50501, which also organized the No Kings Day protest back in June. The group held two marches: one through downtown Denver, where people held signs criticizing the Trump administration's affiliations with billionaires and other policies, and another to the Governor's Mansion, where people dropped off letters of various personal concerns. The focus of the event was to support labor rights, but 50501 also collaborated with several community groups — some political, some not. Booths were set up to co...
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Denver Public Schools Faces Federal Sanctions Over Inclusive Restroom Policy
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Local, Approved, DENVER7

Denver Public Schools Faces Federal Sanctions Over Inclusive Restroom Policy

By: Óscar Contreras | Denver7 The Department of Education found Denver Public Schools violated Title IX by converting a girl’s restroom into an all-gender facility earlier this year. DENVER — Trump’s Department of Education ordered Denver Public Schools to revert all-gender restrooms to single-sex facilities or risk “enforcement action” after finding it discriminated against girls by creating all-gender bathrooms at East High School earlier this year. The investigation, launched by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in January of this year, also took issue with a district-wide policy that allows students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. By converting a girl’s restroom to a gender-neutral facility and allowing students to use bathro...
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Colorado Lawmakers Hand Polis Authority for $300 Million in Spending Cuts
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State, Approved, DENVER7

Colorado Lawmakers Hand Polis Authority for $300 Million in Spending Cuts

By Brandon Richard | Denver7 The governor could make up to $300 million in spending cuts as part of the Democrats' plan to fix the budget gap. DENVER — Colorado’s special session is over, but there’s still more work to do to address the state’s $783 million budget gap. Most of that work will fall to Governor Jared Polis. Colorado’s Democratic legislative leaders have a three-part plan to address the budget gap. They took care of one part of that plan during their six-day special session when they cut several corporate tax breaks. "I'm grateful my colleagues didn't shy away from this challenge,” said Senate President James Coleman, D-Denver. “We faced it head-on. We rolled up our sleeves. We acted like the adults in the room." But they’re leaving the other two parts of...
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Colorado GOP Says Special Session Fell Short as Democrats Claim Progress
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State, Approved, DENVER7

Colorado GOP Says Special Session Fell Short as Democrats Claim Progress

By Colleen Slevin | Denver7 Governor Jared Polis is expected to address the remaining $500 million budget gap in a presentation to the Joint Budget Committee on Thursday. DENVER — Colorado's special legislative session ended on Tuesday after six days. The success of the session depends on which state lawmaker you ask. Governor Jared Polis called the session on Aug. 6 to address the state's $1.2 billion budget hole, which he said was created by tax changes made in President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Act (H.R.1). According to the governor and fellow Colorado Democrats, Colorado will collect less revenue than expected when lawmakers approved the state budget in May. Some of that $1.2 billion revenue loss was absorbed by the state education fund and the affordable housing fu...
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Lee Fire Near Meeker Grows To Fourth-Largest In Colorado History
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Local, Approved, DENVER7

Lee Fire Near Meeker Grows To Fourth-Largest In Colorado History

By Óscar Contreras | Denver7 The wildfire burning southwest of Meeker surpassed the size of the Hayman Fire, which burned 137,760 acres in 2002. RIO BLANCO COUNTY, Colo. — The Lee Fire burning in Rio Blanco County became the fourth-largest blaze in Colorado history Monday,a little more than three weeks after igniting southwest of Meeker. As of Monday, the fire has burned 138,844 acres and is 90% contained. Previously known as the Lee and Grease Fire, the blaze has surpassed the 416 Fire (2018), the West Fork Fire (2013), the Missionary Ridge Fire (2002), and the High Park Fire (2012) in size after scorching more than 100,000 acres of land in just eight days, according to fire officials. Severe drought conditions combined with several days of red flag warnings along Col...
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CU Boulder Shelter-In-Place Lifted After Swatting Hoax Causes Panic
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Local, Approved, DENVER7

CU Boulder Shelter-In-Place Lifted After Swatting Hoax Causes Panic

By Sydney Isenberg | Denver7 Monday's incident is the latest in a string of false reports that have impacted universities across the country over the past few days. BOULDER, Colo. — The University of Colorado Boulder is the latest university to receive a fake active shooter report, triggering a campus-wide shelter-in-place order Monday evening. Just before 5 p.m., the university ordered everyone on its campus to shelter in place due to "police activity" near Norlin Library. Police were initially investigating reports that shots had been fired near the library. At 5:40 p.m., CUPD said it was investigating a "potential swatting situation," and officers had cleared Sewell Hall. The main campus was placed under a shelter-in-place order, including Norlin Library and Sewall Hall. ...
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Father and son among six victims of deadly Keenesburg dairy accident
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Father and son among six victims of deadly Keenesburg dairy accident

By Óscar Contreras | Denver7 The Weld County Coroner's Office released the identity of the six people who likely died from lethal exposure to a toxic gas on Wednesday. KEENESBURG, Colo. — The Weld County Coroner's Office on Friday released the identities of the six people killed at a dairy earlier this week, as questions remain about the deadly accident in Keenesburg. Six people, including a high school student and his father, died in what Weld County authorities initially called a “dairy accident” at a dairy at Prospect Ranch. The victims are all male, and their ages range from 17 to 50. Denver7 continues to learn more about the victims of the deadly accident, who were identified as follows. Oscar Espinoza Leos, 17, of Nunn 17-year-old Oscar Espinoza Leos was a student a...
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Colorado Lawmakers Act to Preserve Medicaid Access to Planned Parenthood
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State, Approved, DENVER7

Colorado Lawmakers Act to Preserve Medicaid Access to Planned Parenthood

By: Robert Garrison | Denver7 Republicans opposed the measure, citing the state’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall. DENVER — Democrats in the Colorado House of Representatives on Sunday passed Senate Bill 25B-2, which would restore Medicaid funding, using state money, for reproductive health care providers, namely Planned Parenthood. The 43-19 party-line vote comes after Republicans in Congress passed what is dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which excluded Planned Parenthood from federal Medicaid reimbursement for reproductive health care services. Existing federal law prohibits the use of Medicaid funds for most abortion-related services. SB 25B-2 aims to preserve access to services like cancer screenings, STI testing, and birth control consultations for Medicaid recipie...
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Two Cherry Creek High School seniors file ballot measure for automatic admission of top 10 percent grads
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Two Cherry Creek High School seniors file ballot measure for automatic admission of top 10 percent grads

By Adria Iraheta | Denver7 Initiative 81 aims to automatically admit the top 10% of graduates from every Colorado high school to state colleges and universities based on GPA. DENVER — Two Cherry Creek High School seniors are spearheading a proposed 2026 ballot measure that would automatically admit the top 10% of high school graduates to state colleges and universities. Starting senior year of high school can sometimes feel like a whirlwind. “You have to write your own college applications, prep for that, get all your homework done, keep your grades up,” said Cherry Creek High School senior Kiran Herz. But Herz and his classmate Jaiden Hwang are now adding another big project to their endless list of extracurriculars and admissions essays – they’re also trying to introduce a...
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