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Same week, same county, different response: Inside the Elk and Lee fires
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Local, Top Stories

Same week, same county, different response: Inside the Elk and Lee fires

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Flames boiled the pond on Mike Clark’s ranch, scorched irrigated fields and melted fiberglass fence posts in minutes. On August 6, the Lee Fire came so fast friends were calling with warnings as his family scrambled to clear trees and pump water toward the house.  Just miles away on the Elk Fire side, air tankers and ground crews had been dropping water since early morning. Mike Clark is no stranger to high stakes. A fourth-generation Coloradan and CEO of Petrox Resources, he built his life and business in the same place he raised his children. For decades, Clark has run Petrox while also working the family’s ranch, a property he moved to more than 30 years ago for its open spaces, agricultural roots and the chance to raise his kids in a...
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Denver Eliminates Jobs but Preserves Core Public Safety Services
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Eliminates Jobs but Preserves Core Public Safety Services

By Deborah Grigsby and Dan Boniface | The Denver Gazette Denver's Office of Transportation and Infrastructure lost the most employees with 31 layoffs. The specifics of Denver's staffing layoffs became clearer on Wednesday, when Mayor Mike Johnston revealed the positions that have been eliminated within city agencies this week. Some agencies took a heavy hit, where the Johnston administration cut as much as a third of their budgeted workforce. The public safety agencies saw nearly 100 vacant positions eliminated, though no officer was laid off.   The mayor sought to guarantee no impact to several services, but he hinted that the cuts will affect programs. Even his own initiative on homelessness — he had promised to end the crisis in his first term as may...
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Colorado Springs Community Partners Transform School Into Shelter for Homeless Families
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Local, Approved, The Gazette

Colorado Springs Community Partners Transform School Into Shelter for Homeless Families

By Debbie Kelley | The Gazette Children’s laughter again will fill the hallways of an old elementary school in the Hillside neighborhood that closed nine years ago, but the kids won’t be in classes, they’ll be right at home with their parents. Helen Hunt Elementary School at 601 S. Institute St. is now Hunt Family Housing, a 24-unit transitional apartment complex for parents and children exiting homelessness. “We think this will have a significant impact on reducing family homelessness in our community,” Andy Barton, CEO of Catholic Charities of Central Colorado, said at a grand opening and ribbon-cutting event Wednesday. The annual count of the homeless population in El Paso County that was released last month showed 62 children through age 17 living in emergency shelters on o...
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Denver Cuts Costs With Targeted Staff Reductions Amid Budget Crisis
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Local, Approved, kdvr.com

Denver Cuts Costs With Targeted Staff Reductions Amid Budget Crisis

By Parker Gordon | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — The city and county of Denver announced it has completed layoff notifications to 169 employees “as part of a larger effort to balance the 2026 budget.” In a press release on Wednesday, the Denver mayor’s office said the 169 city employees were notified and that there will be no additional layoffs or furloughs for the agencies impacted this year. This comes after city workers waited for information on the layoffs when Denver Mayor Mike Johnston sent a letter to city and county employees in July that layoffs would begin on Monday. On Monday, the mayor’s office announced that the city would be eliminating 928 positions as a result of the $200 million budget shortfall. The layoffs were reportedly announced by the mayor’s office to ...
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What shrinking state and local payrolls could mean for your wallet
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Fox31, Approved, Local

What shrinking state and local payrolls could mean for your wallet

By: Raquel Villanueva | FOX31 Denver DENVER (KDVR) —The city of Denver completed its layoff process for 171 workers on Tuesday, after the city already cut 665 unfilled positions on Monday. The city says the efforts will save $100 million. But what do the layoffs mean for Denver’s economic future? A local economist gave FOX31 some insight. The city’s personnel cuts could certainly help its economic outlook, but an expert says this could just be the beginning of tough times. “If this trend continues, then it is not a very good situation. I think we will have a pretty severe impact of recession maybe by the end of this year or maybe even next year,” said Kishore Kulkarni, a distinguished professor of economics at MSU Denver. With Denver’s budget $200 million short for next...
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Denver Mayor Accused of Political Purge After City Hall Layoffs
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Local, Approved, Axios Denver

Denver Mayor Accused of Political Purge After City Hall Layoffs

By: John Frank | Axios Denver Some Denver elected officials and laid-off staff are accusing Mayor Mike Johnston of weaponizing budget cuts to punish critics of his administration. The big picture: Their reproach reflects growing resentment at City Hall toward Johnston, whose governing style has frustrated many city policymakers. What they're saying: City Clerk and Recorder Paul López on Tuesday suggested this week's layoffs were retaliatory, calling them "part of a deliberate, hand-selected purge of those in the ranks who've … maintained responsibility and transparency in an administration that is neither." López also blamed job cuts on Johnston's "mishandling" of the city's budget. Councilmember Stacie Gilmore, a frequent challenger...
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Adams County man handed 13-year sentence for large-scale drug trafficking
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Fox31, Approved, Local

Adams County man handed 13-year sentence for large-scale drug trafficking

By: FOX31 Digital Staff | FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — A man was sentenced to 20 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections by the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for “large-scale” drug trafficking in Adams County, the DA’s Office announced in a press release on Monday morning. The man, Rodrick Maye, 45, was sentenced for possessing with intent to distribute large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamines and cocaine. On May 25, 2024, Thornton police officers saw Maye swerve into oncoming traffic on East 88th Avenue. The officers performed a traffic stop, and said Maye showed signs of impairment and failed roadside sobriety tests, before being arrested for driving under the influence. During a search of the vehicle, officers found multiple open containers of alcohol an...
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Taxpayer-Funded Mountain Retreat Moves Ahead Amid Denver Layoffs
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Taxpayer-Funded Mountain Retreat Moves Ahead Amid Denver Layoffs

By Brian Maass | CBS Colorado Ten of Denver's 13 city council members are planning to attend a $26,000, two night, one day retreat in Colorado's foothills next week for team building and professional development, at the same time the city is laying off workers and trying to find ways to cut costs and save money. "We signed this contract prior to knowing of any budget shortfall," said Council President Amanda Sandoval, who pushed for the trip at the Lone Rock retreat in Park County. "We signed this contract prior to knowing of any furlough days, we signed this contract prior to knowing of any layoffs," said Sandoval. She said the council retreat had been in the works since December 2024, and the contract was signed May 8. Two weeks later, Mayor Mike Johnston revealed the depths ...
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Six Outages in Weeks: Littleton Demands Answers From Xcel
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Local, Approved, kdvr.com

Six Outages in Weeks: Littleton Demands Answers From Xcel

By Nicole Fierro | KDVR Fox 31 LITTLETON, Colo. (KDVR) — A Littleton neighborhood is reaching out to the FOX31 Problem Solvers for help after a number of recent power outages. From businesses to families, the power outages are impacting people in different ways: wages lost, medical risks for people relying on oxygen, and no air conditioning in high temperatures. “They just redid all of our power poles and stuff and you would assume new would be even better,” said resident Kristi Myers. “And now we’re having problems.” From Kristi Myers in the Kingsley cul-de-sac to Kenneth Katzenmeier at the Columbine Bar and Restaurant on Pierce Street, power problems have been striking where they work and live a number of times since June. “Since June, we have had five or six outages,” Mye...
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Budget Gaps Lead to Layoff Notices for Denver Employees
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Local, Approved, kdvr.com

Budget Gaps Lead to Layoff Notices for Denver Employees

By Kim Posey | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — After weeks of uncertainty, Denver employees are now finding out if they will be laid off. Mayor Mike Johnston’s office said impacted employees would be notified Monday and Tuesday. The mayor’s office announced Monday that the city is eliminating 928 positions out of about 11,000, in an effort to deal with a $200 million budget shortfall. But only 171 of those are layoffs, as another 645 are vacant positions that won’t be filled, and 92 are positions that will be transferred to alternate funding sources. Alvin Tafoya, the former deputy director of the Financial Empowerment Division, says he was one of the workers laid off. Tafoya said his department was told to work from home today, and he was let go during a virtual meeting at 9 a.m. ...
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