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Denver Mayor Rolls Out $100 Million Strategy to Boost Business and Revive Downtown
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Denver Mayor Rolls Out $100 Million Strategy to Boost Business and Revive Downtown

By Chierstin Roth | CBS Colorado Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has unveiled a $100 million, four-part plan to address everything from workforce development to low interest loans, and incentives for companies to move to the city. Thursday's press conference was held outside the original Snooze, a popular breakfast and brunch restaurant serving pancakes and mimosas. Snooze, which launched at its Ballpark Neighborhood location 20 years ago, is now a nationwide success. Its co-founder says it's opportunities like these that got his business off the ground. "We've got 70 restaurants now, 10 states, we have over 3,000 Snoozers working for us," said co-founder Adam Schlegal. They grew despite the odds. "Running a restaurant in Denver is actually harder than most...
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Ranchers Question Whether Wolves Are Changing Coyote Behavior Around Colorado Livestock
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Cowboy State Daily, Approved, Local

Ranchers Question Whether Wolves Are Changing Coyote Behavior Around Colorado Livestock

By Mark Heinz | Cowboy State Daily Ranchers in northern Colorado wonder if the growing wolf population is causing coyotes to be more aggressive toward livestock. "In 30 years of doing this, I’ve never seen anything like that," a rancher said about two coyotes attacking healthy livestock. A northern Colorado rancher who lives near one of the state’s reintroduced wolf packs said she and her neighbors are becoming increasingly frustrated because when wolves aren’t threatening livestock, coyotes are. Amanda Cerveny said she spotted and took video of a lone canine crossing her property near cattle. She thought at first it could have been a small or young wolf, but also thought it might be a coyote. Her latter suspicions were confirmed by biologist Doug Smith...
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Colorado College Awards Credit for Progressive Activism Internships
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Colorado College Awards Credit for Progressive Activism Internships

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado COLORADO SPRINGS—Colorado College is putting a price tag on political activism — or rather, waiving it for its own students — by offering academic credit to undergraduates who spend the summer, among other offerings, working to “shut down immigration detention centers.” The Colorado Springs-based private liberal arts school’s “Social Action Institute” runs a summer internship pairing students with left-of-center advocacy groups from June 11 through July 28. One of the three tracks offered lets students assist attorneys representing immigration detainees while simultaneously doing “advocacy and organizing work” toward closing the facilities where those same clients are held.  Students earn .25 credits towards graduation fo...
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Cherry Creek Schools Spent $114K On Outside Counsel During Superintendent Scandal
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Cherry Creek Schools Spent $114K On Outside Counsel During Superintendent Scandal

By: Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette The Cherry Creek School District paid $114,000 to hire outside counsel to provide the Board of Education with legal advice as it navigated the allegations that were swirling around the former superintendent. Fisher Phillips invoices obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request show the district paid $114,191.50 from March through June. Roughly a third of the cost — or $40,000 — was paid to Steve Welchert. Welchert is a Democratic political consultant who specializes in strategic planning, political lobbying and crisis management. Following the Jan. 27 executive session to discuss former Superintendent Chris Smith’s mid-year evaluation in which he abruptly resigned, the board hired Jane Waterman-Joyc...
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Federal lawsuit says Denver school board used race to draw voting districts
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Federal lawsuit says Denver school board used race to draw voting districts

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A conservative election-law firm filed a federal lawsuit against the Denver Public Schools Board of Education on July 2, arguing the board deliberately drew its school district voting map along racial lines. The board's own words, the suit says, prove it. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit, on behalf of Denver residents Susan Moore and Valdamar Archuleta. It targets Map C, the redistricting plan DPS adopted in April 2024 following the 2020 census. The complaint does not just allege that race played a role. It argues race was the point. What DPS did After each federal census, Colorado law requires school districts to redraw thei...
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Pickens Technical College signed a disability agreement. Then dismissed the student.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Pickens Technical College signed a disability agreement. Then dismissed the student.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Some mornings, she didn't know how she got to where she was. A Colorado Springs woman who asked to remain anonymous — referred to here as CSW — had been an EMT for more than a decade, a career she began while volunteering with a fire department. She shared dozens of emails documenting her case with RMV. What she was experiencing on the hour-long drive to Pickens Technical College in Aurora felt like a medical emergency of its own. Nodding off at the wheel. Reaction time slowed. Her sleep neurologist had documented a working diagnosis.  All she needed was to attend lectures by video on the days she couldn't safely make the drive. Pickens told her it wasn't possible. It was. A pregnant classmate had been allow...
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Grand Junction Pays Tribute to Three Firefighters Lost in Snyder Fire
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Grand Junction Pays Tribute to Three Firefighters Lost in Snyder Fire

By Robert Garrison | Denver7 GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The three firefighters killed in the Snyder Fire west of Grand Junction last month were remembered and honored during a memorial service Sunday. Federal firefighters Emily Barker, 38, Nick Hutcherson, 27, and Sydney Watson, 27, were killed June 27 fighting the more than 30,000-acre wildfire on the Colorado-Utah state line. Authorities said they were trying to shield themselves from flames by deploying tent-like shelters when they were overcome. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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Cherry Creek School District Withholds Itemized Legal Invoices After $65K Investigation
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Cherry Creek School District Withholds Itemized Legal Invoices After $65K Investigation

By: Nico Brambila | Colorado Politics After previously refusing to disclose the cost associated with the investigation into the former superintendent and his wife, the former human resources chief, Cherry Creek School District officials partially released records showing the cost to taxpayers: $65,054.85. The Denver Gazette obtained “invoice cover sheets” through a June 12 Colorado Open Records Act request seeking — among other things — invoices, billing records or payment records related to the investigation. Caitlin Holzfaster, the district’s records custodian,denied a similar request on May 15, claiming that descriptions could reveal attorney-client privileged information, legal advice or litigation strategy. Abbe Smith, a district spokesperson...
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Lawsuit Alleges DPS Violated Constitution With Race Based School Board Map
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Lawsuit Alleges DPS Violated Constitution With Race Based School Board Map

By: Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette A civil rights law firm based out of Virginia has filed a lawsuit against Denver Public Schools, alleging Colorado’s largest school district redrew its five district seats with an “illegal racial intent” that violates the Fifteenth Amendment. Filed in U.S. District Court by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, the lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief for alleged violations of the Fifteenth Amendment under the Voting Rights Act. “By DPS’ own admission — during the public hearing process — the school district lines were deliberately drawn to engineer racial outcomes in Districts 2 and 4,” the complaint alleges. “DPS intentionally and brazenly drew district boundaries to ensure Black and Latino racia...
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Principles over popularity: Lessons from the Declaration of Independence for Douglas County Schools
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Principles over popularity: Lessons from the Declaration of Independence for Douglas County Schools

By Laureen Boll | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Douglas County School District (DCSD) board members will be deciding later this year whether to resume formal collective bargaining with the Douglas County Federation (a local affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers), and a primary deciding factor will be the results of a survey of teachers and staff.  This follows union pressure earlier in 2026 and comes after years of the federation advocating for a return to a contract model. The political composition of the DCSD school board has shifted back and forth over the decades, reflecting the community’s own evolving priorities. In 2012, a reform-minded board allowed the long-standing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to expire, moving the district to operat...
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