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With 12 new laws, Colorado Democrats treat gun ownership like a public threat
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With 12 new laws, Colorado Democrats treat gun ownership like a public threat

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun From limiting who can purchase most semiautomatic rifles on the market today to raising the minimum age to buy ammunition, Democrats in the legislature were busy this year imposing new gun regulations Democrats in the Colorado legislature this year passed a dozen bills imposing new gun regulations, all of which were signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis. They included measures limiting who can purchase most semiautomatic rifles on the market today, raising the minimum age to buy ammunition and aiming to improve Colorado’s response to mass shootings. While some don’t go into effect until next year, and a few are sure to draw legal challenges from gun rights groups, they represent some of the most wide-reaching changes to Colorado’s firearms laws ever a...
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Paul Lundeen resigns from Colorado Senate to lead American Excellence Foundation
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Paul Lundeen resigns from Colorado Senate to lead American Excellence Foundation

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, is resigning effective Monday to become president and CEO of the American Excellence Foundation The top Republican in the Colorado Senate announced Monday that he is resigning from the legislature to take a job in the private sector. Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, is resigning effective Monday.  “Serving Colorado has been an honor and blessing,” Lundeen said in a written statement. “I am grateful to the people of Senate District 9 for the opportunity to fight for policies that empower individuals, protect our communities, and promote prosperity. As I transition to a national platform, I am eager to continue advocating for personal freedom, economic opportunity and common-sense c...
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Illegal immigrant faces 118-count indictment for firebombing pro-Israel demonstrators
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Illegal immigrant faces 118-count indictment for firebombing pro-Israel demonstrators

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun Mohamed Soliman, 45, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. He appeared in court at the Boulder County jail on Thursday afternoon. BOULDER — The man accused of tossing Molotov cocktails into a group of peaceful demonstrators in Boulder was charged Thursday in state court with 118 counts, including attempted murder. Mohamed Soliman, 45, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. He appeared in court at the Boulder County jail on Thursday afternoon where he was advised of the charges against him. Soliman is being held in lieu of a $10 million bond.  The 118 charges included 28 counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of first-degree assault, court documents show. Soliman’s next appearance in Boulder ...
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Federal judge upholds Colorado’s 21+ gun law, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners vow to appeal
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Federal judge upholds Colorado’s 21+ gun law, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners vow to appeal

By Taylor Dolven | Colorado Sun A gun rights group challenged the 2023 law in court. Thursday’s ruling by a U.S. District Judge is a win for gun-control advocates. Colorado’s law requiring people to be at least 21 years old to buy a gun can stand, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The ruling is a definitive win for gun control advocates and a blow to the group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and two young people hoping to purchase guns, who sued Gov. Jared Polis to block the law in 2023. Chief U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer sided with Polis and said in his ruling that the plaintiffs could not prove that the law violated their rights. “Plaintiffs cannot establish a violation of a right secured by the Constitution or that they have suffered an irreparable injury from such a violat...
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Multiple wolf attacks hit Western Slope ranchers—CPW accused of broken promises
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Multiple wolf attacks hit Western Slope ranchers—CPW accused of broken promises

By Tracy Ross | Colorado Sun Three ranches near where wolves were released in January say Colorado Parks and Wildlife is not keeping its promise to let them know when the collared animals are near Ranchers are calling multiple wolf attacks on cattle over Memorial Day weekend in Pitkin County “devastating” and evidence Colorado Parks and Wildlife is failing to keep its promise to alert ranchers when wolves are in range of their livestock.   The attacks occurred over three days on the Crystal River Ranch, in the Crystal River Valley, and on the Lost Marbles and McCabe ranches, in the Roaring Fork Valley.  The first happened early Friday morning on the Crystal River Ranch, according to Tom Harrington, manager of the ranch and president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association....
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Ratepayer risk? State law forces Xcel into costly ‘Markets+’ grid deal
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Ratepayer risk? State law forces Xcel into costly ‘Markets+’ grid deal

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun Xcel Energy must join wholesale electric market to meet Colorado law. Execs say big upfront cost is best economic and operational choice. Xcel Energy’s plan to join a short-term, wholesale electric market is drawing fire from critics who, in hearings before state regulators this week, said that the price tag is too high and the benefits are minimal. The market for purchasing day-ahead power Xcel Energy wants to join, Markets+, is run by the Southwest Power Pool, or SPP, whose grid stretches across all or parts of 14 states from Texas to North Dakota. In hearings before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, business and consumer groups are challenging the $30 million in upfront costs to join Markets+ and Xcel Energy executives are defen...
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Western Slope pushes $99M deal for historic Shoshone water rights—Front Range says not so fast
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Western Slope pushes $99M deal for historic Shoshone water rights—Front Range says not so fast

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun Western Slope communities, led by the Colorado River District, want to buy the historic Shoshone Power Plant water rights to support their economies. Front Range water providers worry their water supplies could be harmed. Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Northern Water voiced opposition Wednesday to the Western Slope’s proposal to spend $99 million to buy historic water rights on the Colorado River from Xcel Energy. The Colorado River Water Conservation District has been working for years to buy the water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant, a small, easy-to-miss hydropower plant off Interstate 70 east of Glenwood Springs. The highly coveted water rights are some of the largest and oldest on the Colorado River in Colorado. The Front Range p...
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Polis backs federal halt after his own AI law faces fierce blowback
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Polis backs federal halt after his own AI law faces fierce blowback

By Bente Birkeland | Colorado Sun Business and industry groups have been begging for a delay. They say the law as it stands is unworkable — they’re urging Colorado’s lawmakers to give all sides more time to try to find a compromise. Nine months: that’s all the time left before companies have to start complying with Colorado’s first-in-the-nation anti-discrimination law for AI systems, unless policymakers act. Business and industry groups have been begging for a delay. They say the law as it stands is unworkable — they’re urging Colorado’s lawmakers to give all sides more time to try to find a compromise. But consumer rights advocates say AI’s rapid spread into more and more areas of life makes it critical to put guardrails on how the technology is working. Many advocates for th...
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AT&T expands in Colorado as Lumen offloads home broadband business
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AT&T expands in Colorado as Lumen offloads home broadband business

By Tamara Chuang | Colorado Sun AT&T’s $5.75 billion purchase of Lumen Technologies home fiber-internet business will impact 1 million customers nationwide, including an undisclosed number in Colorado who buy fiber service from Quantum Fiber, a brand that originated under CenturyLink. The deal, pending regulatory approval, was announced Wednesday, and means AT&T will step into the consumer world of fiber internet service for the first time, at least here in Colorado. Besides picking up Lumen’s Colorado market, AT&T will add customers in 10 other states for a total of 1 million fiber customers. Lumen’s current network could serve 4 million households if every home ordered it. “This deal with Lumen represents a significant investment in U.S. connectivity inf...
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Colorado Republican Congress members rally behind Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
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Colorado Republican Congress members rally behind Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

By Caitlyn Kim | The Colorado Sun House leaders are trying to pass the massive package with Republican votes alone. Trump came to the Capitol Tuesday morning to convince the holdouts to back the bill. President Donald Trump left a meeting with the Republican caucus Tuesday morning predicting a great victory. His trek to the U.S. Capitol came as GOP leaders try to get his “big, beautiful bill” passed in the House this week.   House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose party holds a slim majority, has been trying to stitch together a bill that can deliver on Trump’s agenda while threading the needle between his far right faction, his swing seat members, and others in the caucus, as the different factions seek opposing changes to the bill. “Anybody that didn’t support [the bil...
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