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What is the HMPV virus that is raising concerns in China and should it be cause for alarm?
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Approved, State, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical

What is the HMPV virus that is raising concerns in China and should it be cause for alarm?

By Greg Glasgow | University of Colorado Anschutz Medical The buzz is growing about an increase of respiratory virus cases in China, but Adriana Weinberg, MD, professor of infectious diseases in the Departments of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, says the news is no cause for alarm.  Unlike the COVID-19 virus in 2020, Weinberg says, the current virus reportedly on the rise in China is one that has been around for decades, commonly circulates during respiratory virus season — along with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — and is well known to health care professionals. Known as human metapneumovirus (HMPV), the virus is reported to be on the rise in China. A spokesperson for the World Health O...
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Its back to the future for some bills that failed to advance in last year’s session
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Its back to the future for some bills that failed to advance in last year’s session

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The 2024 legislative session ended with some unfinished business for some lawmakers, a few of whom have decided to give their previously unsuccessful bills another shot. While some measures have undergone changes based on feedback from last year, others remain the same. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Pikes Peak stakeholders ask state to help manage recreation around America’s Mountain
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Pikes Peak stakeholders ask state to help manage recreation around America’s Mountain

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun As federal land managers navigate shrinking budgets, Colorado Parks and Wildlife could assume a larger role in managing recreation on public lands around Pikes Peak.  A consortium — the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, El Paso and Teller counties, the cities of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities — is asking CPW to help manage increasing recreation around America’s Mountain, starting with management of the Ring the Peak Trail.  “This can allow the Forest Service to focus on areas where they can do the most good with their wildfire crisis strategy. The same can be said for Colorado Springs Utilities focusing on water supplies and the health of our watersheds,” s...
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Rep. Pettersen, who is pregnant, leading another run at bipartisan U.S. House bill for voting accommodations
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Approved, kdvr.com, State

Rep. Pettersen, who is pregnant, leading another run at bipartisan U.S. House bill for voting accommodations

By Ashleigh Fields | The Hill, via KDVR-TV Fox 31 News Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), who is currently pregnant, is urging fellow lawmakers to support her in a bid to allow proxy voting for members of Congress who are new parents under the Rules of the House for the 119th Congress.  Pettersen is slated to become the 14th member — and the first from Colorado — to give birth while serving in Congress. “Today marks the first day I am unable to fly to DC for votes due to travel restrictions ahead of my due date,” Pettersen wrote Monday in a statement on the social platform X.  READ THE FULL STORY AT KDVR-TV FOX 31 NEWS
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Enrollment slipping in Colorado’s K-12 public schools, with total of 881,065
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Approved, CBS Colorado, State

Enrollment slipping in Colorado’s K-12 public schools, with total of 881,065

By Jennifer McRae | CBS Colorado Fewer students are enrolled in public schools across Colorado, according to data from the state's October 2024 student count released by the Colorado Department of Education. The data shows a slight decline in Pre-K through 12 student enrollment with a total of 881,065 students. That's a decrease of 0.1% compared to October 2023. Education officials say the enrollment trend in Colorado mirrors larger national declines in student enrollment. Colorado's enrollment numbers have steadily decreased over the last five years, except for a bump in enrollment post-pandemic in 2021. Before the pandemic, the state experienced nearly 30 years of enrollment increases.  READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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Colorado EDC awards ‘Project Airplane’ $2.15 million in incentives for expansion
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado EDC awards ‘Project Airplane’ $2.15 million in incentives for expansion

By Bernadette Berdychowski | Denver Gazette The Colorado Economic Development Commission on Thursday approved $2.15 million in job growth tax incentives to an airplane manufacturer. The company, dubbed as "Project Airplane," is looking to build a new seat production and customer experience center, according to the EDC. It’s considering expanding in Colorado or Florida. The EDC described the unnamed company — to protect confidentiality in the competitive process between states to attract businesses — as a manufacturer within the aerospace industry with 3,000 employees that has gotten tax incentives from Colorado before. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Rep. Gabe Evans appointed to bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in first month in Congress
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Rep. Gabe Evans appointed to bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in first month in Congress

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans was named Wednesday to the congressional Problem Solvers Caucus, an appointment that means he will be part of key bipartisan policy negotiations and which blocks a prominent Colorado Democrat from campaigning against him in two years.  The Greeley Republican, who was sworn into office last week after unseating Democrat Yadira Caraveo in November, is one of four new members of Congress — two of them from Colorado — appointed to the caucus.  About 60 representatives are part of the invitation-only caucus, which was formed in 2017 and meets weekly to try to bridge partisan divides. The caucus has played a big role in negotiations on major policy initiatives in recent years on health care, COVID-19 relief and congressiona...
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Less than one-third of voters support changes to Labor Peace Act, poll finds
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Approved, State, The Sum & Substance

Less than one-third of voters support changes to Labor Peace Act, poll finds

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Less than a week before the first scheduled hearing of a bill to rewrite Colorado’s Labor Peace Act, a coalition of business groups has released a poll that it argues shows voters of all stripes are overwhelmingly opposed to the proposed changes. The 82-year-old law is unique among states in that it requires two votes for workers to unionize a company and then to allow automatic paycheck deductions to fund union negotiating activities. The first vote to unionize requires a simple majority, but the second vote to allow fee deductions needs 75% support — a provision that unions call an unnecessary barrier and that business leaders say keeps union-opposed workers from having to pay the organizations. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE SUM & SUBSTA...
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Horn announces key endorsements in Colorado Republican Party leadership race
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Horn announces key endorsements in Colorado Republican Party leadership race

By Rocky Mountain Voice staff More than two dozen Republican leaders in Colorado have lent their endorsements to Brita Horn, as the race for the Republican Party's leadership begins to heat up. The election of a chair, vice chair and secretary to head up the party is expected to take place sometime in mid to late March, a party insider told the Rocky Mountain Voice. Thus far, Horn is one of two announced candidates for party chair, decided by about 500 members of the party's central committee. A press release announcing the endorsements includes former and present state officials and candidates, current and present party leadership in the General Assembly, candidates for congress and many county party leaders, among others. “I am humbled and honored by the outcrying of support ...
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As SB25-003 advances to committee, Wyoming is closely watching the aggressive semiauto weapon ban
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Approved, Cowboy State Daily, State

As SB25-003 advances to committee, Wyoming is closely watching the aggressive semiauto weapon ban

By Mark Heinz | Cowboy State Daily A proposed sweeping ban on semiautomatic firearms in Colorado is part of a larger trend to that state becoming more urbanized than left-leaning, a Wyoming gun rights advocate said.  “I hope we and other groups can stop this, but it’s pretty bad,” said Mark Jones of Buffalo, who’s also the national director for Gun Owners of America.  Controversial gun control bills are nothing new in Colorado. During its 2024 session, the Colorado Legislature considered a ban on “assault weapons” (semiautomatic rifles with high-capacity ammunition magazines).  READ THE FULL STORY AT COWBOY STATE DAILY
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