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Colorado now has the worst outbreak of bird flu among dairy cattle in the country
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado now has the worst outbreak of bird flu among dairy cattle in the country

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s outbreak of bird flu among dairy cattle is now the worst in the country, with more cases in the past month than any other state, according to the latest state and federal data. As of Monday evening, Colorado had identified 26 herds with cases of avian influenza. Of those, 22 were identified within the past month and the herds are still in quarantine. Four other cases were identified earlier and quarantines have since been lifted. All affected herds are in the northeastern part of the state. The rapid and still largely mysterious spread in Colorado — hardly a leading dairy state — contributes to growing concerns that U.S. health authorities are not doing enough to contain the virus. While the threat currently to humans is ge...
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Study: Fentanyl-related deaths cost Colorado estimated $16 billion last year
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Study: Fentanyl-related deaths cost Colorado estimated $16 billion last year

By Noah Festenstein | Colorado Politics It only takes 2 milligrams of fentanyl to be fatal. A record 425.6 kilograms of fentanyl — enough to kill the state’s population between 16* and 26 times over, depending on the purity of the drugs — was seized in Colorado in 2023 by the Drug Enforcement Administration Rocky Mountain Field Division. That year, Colorado saw a staggering $16 billion in costs associated with fentanyl-related overdose deaths, according to a recent study by the Common Sense Institute. “Colorado’s fentanyl problem is growing, and it is increasingly costly,” the group said. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Denver Airport preparing for busiest Independence Day travel week on record
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Approved, CBS Colorado, State

Denver Airport preparing for busiest Independence Day travel week on record

By Brian Sherrod | CBS Colorado The Transportation Security Administration tells CBS Colorado they are expecting the 4th of July  holiday week to be the busiest on record for them. The TSA tells CBS Colorado on June 30 security workers screened more than 86,000 people at the Denver International Airport.  That was their fourth busiest day. CBS Colorado First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter Brian Sherrod took a tour with the TSA to show how the agency hopes to get travelers to the lines faster. The TSA is using face recognition machines. The machines scan your government ID for basic information including your name and age and it reveals your boarding information in 10 seconds. The TSA tells CBS Colorado the airport is one of the first across the country that utilizes this te...
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Colorado utility bills may increase 10% over four years to pay for wildfire mitigation
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Approved, State, The Center Square

Colorado utility bills may increase 10% over four years to pay for wildfire mitigation

By By Joe Mueller | The Center Square Monthly Xcel Energy bills will increase approximately 10% or more by 2028 to pay for a wildfire mitigation plan submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The utility emphasized its primary focus is safety for both the communities it serves and its customers in a media release announcing the submission. If the agency approves the plan, residential bills will increase through incremental bi-annual amounts until reaching approximately $8.88 a month by Jan. 1, 2028. “Our goal is to ensure that no catastrophic wildfire is started by Xcel Energy assets,” Bob Frenzel, president and chief executive officer of Xcel Energy, said in a statement. “And, while we’ve made significant wildfire safety progress in Colorado and achieved key goals, t...
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Gaines: Are your ‘damn roads’ fixed yet?  Have they turned a single shovel?
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Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Are your ‘damn roads’ fixed yet?  Have they turned a single shovel?

By Cory Gaines | Guest Columnist, Colorado Accountability Project Back in 2021, our governor, upon passage of SB 21-260 proclaimed that we'd finally fix our "damn roads". While driving to Denver the other day and having my teeth rattle in my head on a rough section of road (my friend Jerry Sonnenberg has said you better wear your spurs to hang on), I thought back wistfully to those claims.  Far from being a measure that collected money to actually fix the surfaces our cars and commerce move on, the bill itself created numerous enterprises only some of which actually work to fix the roads. I got curious for an update on how much was collected so far and where it's gone, so I asked around.  Today's posts will be the results of that digging.   This first post w...
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Colorado wolf tracker map shows new exploration in areas of Summit, Larimer counties
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Approved, CBS Colorado, State

Colorado wolf tracker map shows new exploration in areas of Summit, Larimer counties

By Spencer Wilson | CBS Colorado According to a new collared wolf activity map published by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Colorado wolf territory has grown and spread over the last month further south, east, and west. This, while leaving out of a small section of Routt County the wolves had previously spent time in.  According to the map (which depicts watershed locations, meaning if a wolf steps foot into a new watershed and then steps back out, it will still show up instead of actual locations) gray wolves have pushed into Larimer County just outside Red Feather Lakes, and southwest into portions of Eagle and Rio Blanco counties.  READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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‘A good free-for-all’: Weld County crowd reacts to first Biden-Trump debate meeting of ’24
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

‘A good free-for-all’: Weld County crowd reacts to first Biden-Trump debate meeting of ’24

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice HUDSON -- Just a jog down the road from where a rancher long ago installed two, giant pro-Donald Trump billboards in his pastures, the Republican Women of Weld met Thursday to cheer on the former, and they hope future, President. A capacity crowd in the backroom of Ben's Pizza supported Mr. Trump, with applause and often laughter, as he took on President Joe Biden in their first debate meeting of the year. A bingo game with predictable phrases that might be uttered didn't last through the first commercial break, but the crowd lasted through the 1-1/2 hour debate in which largely Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump took turns criticizing each other's policies, and their golf games. "I'm happy it was civil," said Dan Woog, a state representative in Dist...
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Report: Colorado can and should improve energy permitting process
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Approved, State, The Center Square

Report: Colorado can and should improve energy permitting process

By Joe Mueller | The Center Square Colorado can improve its procedures, public input, timelines and coordination of state, federal and local governments to improve the environmental permitting process, according to a report. The state made significant progress in reforming regulatory processes in the past decade but improvements need to be made, according to James Broughel, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of the report, “Distilling Efficiency; Colorado’s quest to refine its permitting process.” “The state appears to be moving in the wrong direction with recent changes targeting the oil and gas industry, which have created a more burdensome permitting environment,” according to the report. “Enacting targeted legislative changes, insti...
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Evans to Weld Women: ‘We can win the 8th District and retire Caraveo’
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Evans to Weld Women: ‘We can win the 8th District and retire Caraveo’

By Brian Porter | Rocky Mountain Voice HUDSON -- Gabe Evans isn't resting on a 55-point Republican Party primary election victory. The 8th District Republican nominee for U.S. representative told the Women of Weld County here Thursday he can defeat Yadira Caraveo on the issues, each and every one of them. "Open borders, American oil and gas production, agriculture, really every pressing issue right now, she has been on the wrong side of it," Evans said. "It is time to retire her." His Christmas in June began when 8th District Republicans handed him a 55.1% margin of victory over Janak Joshi on Tuesday. On Thursday, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced it would invest $2.327 million in Colorado's 8th District race, marking its third-highest investment...
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Colorado Libertarians ask national committee to decertify Presidential ticket
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Colorado Libertarians ask national committee to decertify Presidential ticket

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice In addition to the Colorado Libertarian Party deciding not to pursue placing the national party's presidential ticket on the ballot in Colorado, it will seek to have the national party decertify the ticket, an email to party membership presumedly from Chairwoman Hannah Goodman reads. The email was received from the Colorado Libertarian Party with the state party's heading. "[The Colorado Libertarian Party] has always stood firmly for liberty, principled opposition to overreaching government, and the promotion of individual freedoms," the email reads. "Our commitment to these values guides our decisions and actions." The state party's board, at its last meeting, passed a resolution affirming dedication to those principles and deciding not t...
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