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More Colorado PERA benefit cuts “likely” in next two years
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More Colorado PERA benefit cuts “likely” in next two years

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun State pension members in Colorado are likely to face another round of benefit cuts and contribution hikes within the next two years, board members learned last week, after a study found that the public retirement system has been underestimating some of its future debts. The Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association holds a review every four years to ensure it is accurately estimating a range of assumptions about its investments, the public workforce and the lifespans of its retirees. Think of it like a financial checkup to make sure that the assumptions underpinning the future payments it owes to retirees are unfolding as expected. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Child care assistance is frozen across Colorado as counties run out of funding
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Child care assistance is frozen across Colorado as counties run out of funding

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun A child care subsidy program to help low-income families afford care so they can work or search for work has been frozen in several of Colorado’s largest counties.  Enrollment in the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, which helps more than 32,000 children attend child care statewide, is now capped in a growing number of counties, including Denver, Arapahoe, Douglas, Broomfield, Pueblo, Weld, El Paso, Larimer, Alamosa, Mesa, Jefferson and Weld counties, leaving families without assistance at a time when child care costs are soaring. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Which guns would be banned by Colorado’s SB3 related to semiauto firearms?
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Which guns would be banned by Colorado’s SB3 related to semiauto firearms?

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Senate Bill 3 is the latest attempt by Colorado Democrats to outlaw the manufacture, purchase and sale of certain semiautomatic firearms in the state.  The bill targets semiautomatic rifles and shotguns that are capable of accepting detachable ammunition magazines, as well as some semiautomatic pistols that also can use detachable magazines. The Colorado Sun analyzed the measure and talked with experts to determine which firearms would and wouldn’t be affected by the bill, which awaits its first hearing at the Capitol. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Kansas looks on as farms retire thousands of acres in water-short Northeastern Colorado
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Kansas looks on as farms retire thousands of acres in water-short Northeastern Colorado

By Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun Farm communities on the Eastern Plains, under the gun to deliver water to Kansas and Nebraska, are poised to permanently retire 17,000 acres of land, with the help of $30 million in state and federal funding. From Wray, to Yuma to Burlington, growers are being paid to permanently shut off irrigation wells linked to the Republican River to ensure the vital waterway can deliver enough water to neighbors to the east, as required under the Republican River Compact of 1943. As of this month, ranchers had already retired 10,000 acres under the program, and the rest will be set aside in coming months. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Pikes Peak stakeholders ask state to help manage recreation around America’s Mountain
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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. Gabe Evans appointed to bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in first month in Congress
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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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How many lawmakers in 75th legislature got there through a vacancy appointment?
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How many lawmakers in 75th legislature got there through a vacancy appointment?

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun There will be at least 21 members of the Colorado General Assembly this year who at some point were appointed to the House or Senate by or through a vacancy committee made up of a small number of party insiders, according to a Colorado Sun analysis. That includes 12 state representatives and nine senators. All but three are Democrats. The number — which represents about a fifth of the 100-member General Assembly — is down from last year, when 29 legislators had at some point landed a job in the General Assembly thanks to a vacancy committee. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Schools with declining enrollment brace for “gut punch” from governor’s budget
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Schools with declining enrollment brace for “gut punch” from governor’s budget

By Erica Breunlin | The Colorado Sun School districts in urban, suburban and rural parts of Colorado fear serious funding cuts — amounting to as much as 30% of their total budget — that could force tough decisions next year under Gov. Jared Polis’ latest budget proposal. The prospect of less funding for those districts adds another complication to the school finance puzzle as district leaders in the upcoming months begin piecing together their budgets. Not only are districts grappling with rising costs driven by inflation, but they have also had to figure out how to sustain — or eliminate — programs, resources and staff positions they funded with federal COVID relief dollars that expired in September. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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SB3 would ban manufacture, sale of semiauto guns that accept detachable magazines
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SB3 would ban manufacture, sale of semiauto guns that accept detachable magazines

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The purchase, sale and manufacture of semiautomatic guns that accept detachable ammunition magazines would be banned in Colorado under a bill introduced Wednesday by Democrats on the first day of the state legislature’s 2025 lawmaking term.  Senate Bill 3 would affect many pistols and rifles, whose manufacturers don’t appear to make versions of the weapons without removable magazines. The legislation also would outlaw rapid-fire trigger activators and bump stocks, which can make a semiautomatic firearm fire at a rate similar to that of an automatic weapon. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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As California reels, study shows Marshall fire made air in nearby homes hazardous for months
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

As California reels, study shows Marshall fire made air in nearby homes hazardous for months

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Direct neighbors of houses burned in the Marshall fire suffered measurable increases in volatile organic compounds from toxic smoke in their homes, and hundreds more residents reported headaches and other health problems, according to companion University of Colorado studies published in late December.  Smoke-weary Los Angeles County residents may want to study up as they sit in limbo during evacuations from the Pacific Palisades/Malibu and Pasadena wildfires sweeping the area this week. The twin CU studies show toxins from burned homes drift into still-standing neighboring homes and create tangible health symptoms for months after fires are put out.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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