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Denver City Council fails to override mayor’s veto of bill preventing homeless sweeps in freezing weather
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Approved, DENVER7, Downtown Denver, Local

Denver City Council fails to override mayor’s veto of bill preventing homeless sweeps in freezing weather

By Sydney Isenberg , Landon Haaf | Denver7 With a 7-6 vote, the Denver City Council on Monday failed to override Mayor Mike Johnston's veto of an ordinance that would have banned homeless encampment sweeps when temperatures dip below freezing. City Council Ordinance 23-1960, introduced in December, aimed to revise the municipal code to prevent multiple city agencies from removing homeless encampments when temperatures 32 degrees and colder are in the forecast. It passed by a 7-6 margin on Jan. 29.. Nine votes were needed to protect the bill from mayoral veto. The mayor and several citizen groups had voiced their opposition to the ordinance. Johnston officially vetoed the ordinance on Feb. 2. In a letter to the council announcing...
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Aurora considers modular construction for affordable housing
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Approved, Denver Metro, denvergazette.com, Local

Aurora considers modular construction for affordable housing

By Noah Festenstein | Denver Gazette As Colorado struggles with its lack of affordable housing, the Aurora City Council will consider on Monday a resolution that would allow the use of buildings with "modular construction" to provide affordable housing units. The goal of Aurora’s modular construction resolution is to “increase attainable housing,” according to city staff. With modular construction, buildings are built offsite and then moved, like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, onto a property. The method is seen as more effective, faster and more environmentally friendly than regular construction, officials said. Off-site construction “makes modular housing a promising and innovative solution for increasing the supply of housing with construction timelines that are more tha...
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Aurora committee sends forward shoplifting bill, lowering threshhold to $100
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Approved, Denver Metro, Local, The Sentinel

Aurora committee sends forward shoplifting bill, lowering threshhold to $100

By Max Levy | The Sentinel Shoplifters who steal merchandise worth $100 or more from Aurora stores would be automatically jailed under a proposal moved forward Thursday by the Aurora City Council’s public safety policy committee. Currently, retail thieves who steal $300 or more in goods trigger the automatic three-day jail sentence included in the mandatory minimum sentencing law that the council passed in 2022. The proposal sponsored by Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky would lower that threshold to $100. It would also impose special penalties for repeat offenders — a 90-day minimum jail sentence for anyone convicted of one prior retail theft offense and a 180-day minimum sentence for people who have been convicted at least twice. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE AURORA SENTINEL...
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Officers, staff walk out at prison in JeffCo in pursuit of higher wages
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Approved, Denver Metro, kdvr.com, Local

Officers, staff walk out at prison in JeffCo in pursuit of higher wages

By Heather Willard | KDVR-TV DENVER (KDVR) — Around a dozen correctional officers at a federal prison in Colorado walked out Thursday over claims of low staffing and pay and held a picket to foster support. According to staff at the Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood, correctional officers say they are short-staffed and forced to work overtime hours. They also said non-officers will sometimes be put on duty as officers, which is dangerous for all involved. AFGE Local 709, which oversees the Council of Prison Locals #33, released 12 points to share the workers’ perspectives. The main sticking point is the prison is currently short nearly 50 positions, and over half of those open positions are for correctional officers, according to the union. Members of the union said t...
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Denver cuts services in response to the migrant crisis that’s costing the city $180 million
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Approved, Denver Metro, Local, The Colorado Sun

Denver cuts services in response to the migrant crisis that’s costing the city $180 million

By Jennifer Brown | Colorado Sun Denver will cut hours at recreation centers, end in-person vehicle registration renewals and eliminate spring flower beds to save $5 million this year, a response to the migrant crisis that is expected to cost the city $180 million.  Mayor Mike Johnston on Friday blasted Congress for failing this week to pass a $118.3 billion bill aimed at stopping the flow of illegal entry at the southern border and making it easier for migrants who enter legally to get work permits.  About 40,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have arrived in Denver over the past year, and more than 3,500 are living in city-funded hotel rooms. Thousands took bus rides to other American cities after arriving in Denver, and an unknown number are trying to stay in the ci...
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Every household required to own a gun in small southwestern Colorado town
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Approved, Local, The Washington Post, Western Slope

Every household required to own a gun in small southwestern Colorado town

By Lauren Loftus | Washington Post NUCLA, Colo. — Driving north on U.S. 141 in southwestern Colorado, the road descends from red rock plateau into a wind-blown expanse of bedraggled shrubs and hardy desert trees called Paradox Valley. Passing only the occasional deer, the two-lane highway eventually ends at the intersection of the Dolores River. Just beyond its muddy bank lies the tiny town of Nucla. The area’s once booming uranium mine has long been shuttered, while the halls of Nucla High School echo with the sounds of only a few dozen students. Main Street is dotted with boarded-up buildings and deserted after sunset. With a poverty rate of nearly 20 percent, it’s clear Nucla is in need of jobs, an economic boon that remains out of reach. But there is at least one thi...
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Historic ghost town in eastern Weld County may have chance to become National Park Service location
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Approved, Eastern Plains, Local, Out There Colorado

Historic ghost town in eastern Weld County may have chance to become National Park Service location

By Tamera Twitty | Out There Colorado The historic ghost town of Dearfield, located roughly 24 miles east of Greeley and 70 miles northeast from Denver, could become Colorado's next national park if the U.S. Department of the Interior can prove its national significance.  Founded in 1910, the homestead was once the largest black homesteading settlement in Colorado, attracting African-Americans from across Jim Crow-era America. Its estimated that at its peak, the town was home to around 700 people from 35 states.  The community was devastated by the Dust Bowl, which was ultimately the catalyst to its current ghost town status.  Late last year, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper introduced the Dearfield Study Act. The act calls f...
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Jason Batchelor now is Aurora’s permanent city manager at $330,000
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Approved, Denver Metro, Local, The Sentinel

Jason Batchelor now is Aurora’s permanent city manager at $330,000

By Max Levy | The Sentinel AURORA | Having finally shed his “deputy” and “interim” titles, Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor said Wednesday that he’s focused on filling job openings and planning for Aurora’s future with the help of city lawmakers and employees. “There’s always things that, as an organization, we can improve on,” Batchelor said Feb. 7. “I’m just trying to continue the good work that we do day in and day out.” Aurora’s city manager oversees the day-to-day operations of the city as well as the hiring and firing of most city employees. They are also responsible for making sure the policy decisions of Aurora’s City Council are carried out by the rest of the city. Wednesday marked 10 months to the day since Batchelor took over as the city’s top administrator —...
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Missing 15-year-old girl from California vanishes in Denver airport layover
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Approved, Denver Metro, denvergazette.com, Local

Missing 15-year-old girl from California vanishes in Denver airport layover

Harper Cadman was last seen Jan. 30 and is believed to be in the Denver or Boulder area By Daniel Boniface | Denver Gazette A 15-year-old girl who stopped for a layover in Denver last month has gone missing and authorities are seeking the public's help in finding her. Harper Cadman landed at Denver International Airport on Jan. 30, but never boarded her flight back home to California, according to a news release from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The teen girl is believed to be in the Denver or Boulder area, officials said. Harper is about 5-foot, 7-inches tall and weighs about 115 pounds. She has blue eyes, her hair is dyed black, she has braces on her teeth, a nose piercing and tattoos on her waist and the middle finger of her left hand. READ T...
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In Rifle, police officer initiates city discussion of obscured license plates, ‘huge problem’ of inoperable vehicles
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Western Slope

In Rifle, police officer initiates city discussion of obscured license plates, ‘huge problem’ of inoperable vehicles

An inquiry by Rifle police officer Kallie McCain to the municipal court led Wednesday to a full discussion on the appearance of license plates and vehicles by the City Council. At issue is obscured plates and the process by which police officers face additional workload writing citations to both municipal and county courts for the violation. The state’s statute on the display of license plates was not included in Rifle’s Model Traffic Code – a statute at least one member of City Council finds to be vague. By adding the language of the state statute to the local code, officers could write the ticket and potentially others into one court, said Municipal Court Clerk Kathy Pototsky, avoiding the need to appear in separate courts. It would be a $25 citation. “Most officers would write ...
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