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Denver approves executive pay hikes while facing budget shortfall and reserve drop
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Denver approves executive pay hikes while facing budget shortfall and reserve drop

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A set of salary increases for top Denver officials is drawing criticism, as the city faces continued financial strain and modest pay growth for most employees. The raises are included in the 2025 budget—totaling $1.76 billion—which the Denver City Council approved on November 12, 2024.  On May 6, the City Council’s Finance & Governance Committee approved nearly $500,000 in pay increases for 12 charter-appointed department heads. These changes are expected to add over $216,000 to general fund expenditures this year, with individual increases ranging from 4% up to an eye-catching 43%. The new salaries are scheduled to take effect on July 1. The move has sparked frustration among some observers, who point to small...
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Teen in U.S. illegally gets probation after killing Colorado woman at 90 mph
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Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

Teen in U.S. illegally gets probation after killing Colorado woman at 90 mph

By Shaun Boyd | CBS News The Arapahoe District Attorney's Office is defending its decision to give probation and community service to a teenager who was driving illegally and, in the country illegally, when he killed a woman.    The accident happened last July in Aurora. The victim, Kaitlyn Weaver, was headed home from work when a Jeep, barreling through a residential neighborhood, slammed into her car. The speed limit in the area was 45 mph. Investigators say the driver was doing more than 90 mph. "She didn't even see him coming," her dad, John Weaver, said. "That's how fast he was going. She was effectively killed instantly." He says he and his wife Michelle removed their daughter from life support 2 days later, "How do you fathom that loss?"   Weaver says h...
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Denver ICE ride-along: Colorado jail limits force agents into streets as officer assaults surge 400%
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Approved, KXRM-TV, Local

Denver ICE ride-along: Colorado jail limits force agents into streets as officer assaults surge 400%

By Sarah Ferguson | KXRM (COLORADO SPRINGS) — Recently, NewsNation affiliate KXRM went on a ride-along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver, as its officers conducted targeted enforcement actions on at-large fugitives from ICE in Colorado Springs. From attending the early morning briefing, to witnessing ICE officers making arrests of “public safety threats,” to touring the Florence Sub-Office for processing, KXRM was able to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into an arrest made by ICE officers and the steps taken thereafter.  Morning briefing: Day of ride-along Just before 5 a.m. on the day of KXRM’s ride-along with ICE Denver, our team met with officers at an undisclosed location where the morning briefing ensued. During the briefing, ICE officers...
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Denver rent down $65, but rising costs leave renters struggling
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Approved, Denverite, Local

Denver rent down $65, but rising costs leave renters struggling

By Kyle Harris | Denverite When Cassie Welch Rubin moved to Denver in 2022, she paid $1,400 a month for a bug-infested, rundown studio apartment in University Hills, a neighborhood she hated. To get to her job, she took a two-hour bus ride each way.   This year, Rubin left her University Hills studio for a one-bedroom in Capitol Hill. She’s still paying $1,400 – but for a larger place in a central Denver neighborhood. “I’m really happy with the location,” she said.  Trees line the blocks. She’s close to museums, the botanic gardens and the zoo. She wakes up long before dawn for her 3 a.m. shift as a produce manager at King Soopers. But now she’s a short walk — not a two hour-long bus ride — away from her job. Like many other renters in Denver, Rubin has found ...
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The Business Times: Public trust demands Grand Junction councilman Jason Nguyen resign now
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Approved, Local, The Business Times

The Business Times: Public trust demands Grand Junction councilman Jason Nguyen resign now

By The Business Times Staff This is the only statement which we can make related to a post from Jason in a private group on Facebook. There is no “context” to be parsed or question to be asked by what he meant with his post. What he thinks about a good percentage of the population of Grand Junction and how he views many businesses cannot be taken in error. The statement made by Jason Nguyen shows he despises and desires the economic ruination of many of the constituents he claims to represent. And if the members of the Grand Junction City Council, especially Jason’s two like-minded cohorts Anna Stout and Scott Beilfuss, don’t denounce his statement above and beyond the meaningless phrase “in the strongest possible terms” and call for his immediate resignation, then they should resign...
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LPEA special election: Mail ballots due by May 20 as member frustrations grow
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LPEA special election: Mail ballots due by May 20 as member frustrations grow

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice It’s crunch time for mail-in ballots in the La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)  board election – and with contested seats and rising costs in the mix, turnout matters. Ballots have to be in LPEA’s hands by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 20 – postmarks don’t count. With slow mail times a known issue, LPEA voters who haven’t yet mailed their ballot should drop it off in person or vote online through SmartHub. Online voting closes at noon on May 20. Paper ballots are due by 4 p.m. Results will be shared at the annual meeting on May 21, from 11:30 to 12:30 at LPEA’s Durango office. Drop boxes are located at: 45 Stewart Street, Durango 603 S. 8th Street, Pagosa Springs With four contested seats on the ballot this year, the stakes ar...
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Pikes Peak Library District board seat draws high interest ahead of May 19 decision
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Pikes Peak Library District board seat draws high interest ahead of May 19 decision

By Brennan Kaufmann | Denver Gazette Nearly five months after the term expired for the Pikes Peak Library District's former Board of Trustees director, city and county officials will meet to discuss who to appoint to the open seat. The library liaisons for the Colorado Springs City Council and the El Paso County Commissioners are in charge of narrowing down the list of applicants and recommending who to appoint to the entire body. Lynette Crow-Iverson and Nancy Henjum oversee the process on the city side, while Carrie Geitner and Holly Williams serve on the county side. The four officials of the Joint Appointment Committee will meet May 19 at Colorado Springs City Hall to review the final list of applicants for the library and recommend the next board member. The appointment ...
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Teller County to DOJ: Don’t punish rural communities for Denver’s sanctuary policies
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Approved, KOAA News, Local

Teller County to DOJ: Don’t punish rural communities for Denver’s sanctuary policies

By Brett Forrest | KOAA News TELLER COUNTY — In a letter sent to President Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), Teller County leaders are simultaneously supporting DOJ lawsuits against Colorado while at the same time asking for leniency if federal funding is cut off from the state. The letter was written and signed by Teller County’s three commissioners and sent last week to the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights. The commissioners first take issue with Colorado’s recent gun control measures, going so far as to encourage the DOJ to take legal action against the state of Colorado. “Recent legislative actions taken by the Colorado Legislature and Governor Jared Polis leave us no choice but to appeal to the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Justice to take legal action to reve...
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DPS Superintendent Marrero delayed closure list before bond vote—used September data anyway
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

DPS Superintendent Marrero delayed closure list before bond vote—used September data anyway

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette Last year, when the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education established guardrails for campus closures, Superintendent Alex Marrero requested a one-time extension before releasing his closure list, citing the need for the October Count enrollment data for his team to complete the analysis. “I don’t believe that we’re going to have an accurate count no earlier than October,” Marrero told the board during the Aug. 15 meeting, in which he requested additional time. District documents suggested otherwise — specifically, that the district obtained enrollment numbers in September. In public documents, the September data was cited as justification for the closure list. Some have suggested the reason for the delayed release was to avoid ant...
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Notarfrancesco: Pueblo D70 Schools handed kids’ emotional data to political NGOs without parental consent
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Approved, Commentary, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Notarfrancesco: Pueblo D70 Schools handed kids’ emotional data to political NGOs without parental consent

By Kelly Notarfrancesco | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice  It is said there is no such thing as a free lunch.  One small school district in Pueblo, Colorado, recently learned that a free lunch can be served with a side of community outrage. When the Pueblo D70 Board of Education unanimously voted in March of 2024 to “accept” a significant in-kind gift of $700,000 from the organization TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students), did they realize what they were implementing in district classrooms?  D70 accepted a “gift” of controversial psychosocial educational content, financed and promoted by multi-million-dollar non-governmental organizations dedicated to transforming the world through social change.    The...
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