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Colorado farmers and cities face tough choices in looming water showdown
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado farmers and cities face tough choices in looming water showdown

By Sharon Sullivan | The Colorado Sun STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Colorado water officials announced Wednesday a rough plan to figure out how the state would handle an unwelcome specter in the Colorado River Basin: forced water cuts. Mandatory water cuts are possible under the 103-year-old Colorado River Compact in certain circumstances, mainly if the river’s 10-year flow falls too low. It’s a possibility that is one or two “bad years” away, some experts say.  Colorado, however, does not have a clearly defined plan, or regulations, for how exactly it would handle such forced water cuts. It’s time to start preparing, according to state engineer Jason Ullmann, Colorado’s top water cop. Over the years, Coloradans on both sides of the Continental Divide have asked about these “compact...
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Fox31 owner moves on 9News: Colorado leaders warn of media monopoly
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Fox31 owner moves on 9News: Colorado leaders warn of media monopoly

By Parker Yamasaki | The Colorado Sun Leading Colorado Democrats condemned the proposed consolidation of local TV news stations in Colorado, which would see Fox31’s owner buying its rival Tegna, owner of Denver’s 9News. “Colorado is stronger when reporters have the independence to ask tough questions and keep us all informed,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement emailed to The Colorado Sun. “An FCC-approved merger of 9News and KDVR’s parent companies would greatly weaken Colorado’s civic infrastructure.” Nexstar Media group, owner of Fox31, announced this week that it is acquiring Tegna for $6.2 billion. The sale is expected to close in the second half of 2026.  Opponents of the deal, including Bennet and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, worry that consolidation will g...
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Nexstar expands Colorado footprint with purchase of 9News parent Tegna
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Nexstar expands Colorado footprint with purchase of 9News parent Tegna

By Colorado Sun staff & wire report | The Colorado Sun Nexstar Media Group is buying broadcast rival Tegna, which owns 9News in Denver, for $6.2 billion, in a deal that would help strengthen its local news offerings. The transaction, if approved, will bring together two major players in U.S. television and the country’s local news landscape. Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide today and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna owns 64 news stations across 51 markets. In Denver, Nexstar owns Fox31, and Tegna owns NBC affiliate 9News and its sister station KTVD. Nexstar also owns the CBS affiliate in Grand Junction KREX and the Fox station KXRM in Colorado Springs. “The initiatives being pursued ...
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Coloradans Overwhelmingly Support Shoshone Water Rights Purchase
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Local, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Coloradans Overwhelmingly Support Shoshone Water Rights Purchase

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The water rights are tied to the Shoshone Power Plant, which is tucked into Glenwood Canyon a few miles east of Glenwood Springs. Western Slope communities and water agencies want to be able to use powerful Colorado River water rights tied to the Shoshone Power Plant to help the environment. Over 170 members of the public weighed in on the process — and all but one said they liked the idea. The Colorado Water Conservation Board, a state water agency, gathered the public comments in preparation for a hearing about whether to incorporate the water rights into the state’s Instream Flow Program. The program aims to keep water in rivers to help aquatic and riparian ecosystems. The proposed change is part of a larger plan on the Western...
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Colorado Filed a Pre-Big Bill Application that Could Save Provider Payments
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Filed a Pre-Big Bill Application that Could Save Provider Payments

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun The state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing submitted an application for a state directed payments program seven days before the bill became law. Colorado is hoping a just-under-the-wire application to the federal government will help soften the blow of Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the recently signed tax and spending measure. The application is to create what is known as a state directed payments program. Such programs pull down extra federal Medicaid funding that can then be paid to health care providers with the goal of expanding access to care and improving the quality of the care. Colorado submitted its application to federal health care authorities June 27. Seven days later, President Donald Trump signed t...
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University of Colorado Faces Labor Complaint from Medical Residents
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Local, Approved, The Colorado Sun

University of Colorado Faces Labor Complaint from Medical Residents

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun The University of Colorado Housestaff Association, which represents medical and surgical residents and fellows, has filed a complaint with state labor officials. The organization that represents doctors-in-training at the University of Colorado has filed a complaint with state labor officials alleging that the school retaliated against it over its quest for collective bargaining rights. The organization, the CU Housestaff Association, says the university broke off long-running discussions on a document that would have codified the Housestaff Association’s relationship with the university after the association announced its unionization goal. It says the university also excluded it from meetings, blocked it from organizing activities and ended t...
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Colorado at risk of losing $156 million solar grant under Biden-backed EPA shift
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado at risk of losing $156 million solar grant under Biden-backed EPA shift

BY MICHAEL BOOTH | THE COLORADO SUN Subsidies for lower-income families to get access to solar panels and cheaper bills are under threat from the GOP administration The Environmental Protection Agency wants to cancel $7 billion in solar installation grants, including $156 million already awarded to Colorado, according to national news reports, and Colorado state officials and solar industry leaders are scrambling to learn what is happening to a highly touted program.  The Colorado Solar and Storage Association said the cancellation, if confirmed, would mean yet another federal blow to clean energy efforts, where Colorado has led the way nationally in converting power generation to renewable sources and promoting solar use in lower-income neighborhoods.  “It’s dev...
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Divide Family Battles Teller County to Keep Greenhouse and Grow Food
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Local, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Divide Family Battles Teller County to Keep Greenhouse and Grow Food

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun The fifth-generation Woodland Park area family argues the 2,856-square-foot greenhouse is allowed under the state Farm Stand Act. DIVIDE — Virginia Loop imagined rows and rows of carrots and peppers, trees that would give her lemons and kiwifruit in a few years, and even her own crop of avocados on their land at 9,200 feet. What she has, though, are wasted seeds, tomato plants of a half-dozen varieties that wilted and died in their pots, and a greenhouse taken over by weeds. Virginia and her husband, Zac, had a dream of growing their own food, sharing with the neighbors and selling their extra zucchinis, potatoes and mangoes to fellow Teller County residents. They researched state and local laws, decided they did not need a permit, took out ...
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Colorado Delegation Unites to Demand $140M Water Funds Release
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Delegation Unites to Demand $140M Water Funds Release

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The state’s congressional delegation sent a bipartisan letter to federal agencies, calling on them to fund Colorado River drought-response projects. Colorado’s entire congressional delegation, Republicans and Democrats alike, is calling for the release of $140 million in frozen funds for Colorado River water projects. In January, the last days of the Biden administration, the Bureau of Reclamation awarded funding for 17 projects as part of the federal drought-response effort in the overstressed Colorado River Basin. Three days later, President Donald Trump issued sweeping executive orders that aimed to reshape federal spending priorities to match his administration’s policies. The Colorado projects were caught in the maelstrom. Co...
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Colorado Tourism Growth Pulls Back with Booking Dips and Flat Spending
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Tourism Growth Pulls Back with Booking Dips and Flat Spending

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Colorado hosted 95.4 million visitors who spent $28.4 billion in 2024, an increase largely from day-trippers. The state is worrying about a decline in international visitors who stay longer, spend more. After several years of record-setting traffic, it appears Colorado’s Western Slope tourism economy has hit a plateau. Some communities are even reporting declines in visitor traffic and spending, marking the first slowdown since the pandemic. State tourism officials started warning a softening tourism market last year as vacationer traffic into the state ebbed. Last year Colorado hosted 95.4 million visitors who spent $28.4 billion. That’s up 2.1 million visitors from the crowd that spent $28.3 billion in 2023. Most of that increase in visits las...
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