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Gov. Polis proposes shielding funding for major water programs as state’s $1 billion deficit looms
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Gov. Polis proposes shielding funding for major water programs as state’s $1 billion deficit looms

By Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s largest water agency may be shielded from significant funding cuts as the state addresses its financial woes, under the 2025-26  budget proposed by Gov. Jared Polis. The Colorado Water Conservation Board would see a $6.9 million increase in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, rising from $98.1 million in revenue this year to $105.1 million, according to the governor’s office. But in 2026, funding would drop to $97.6 million due to a decline in severance tax revenue, which is derived in part from oil and gas production and is a key part of the CWCB’s funding. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado senator barred from having state-paid aides after repeated complaints from staffers
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado senator barred from having state-paid aides after repeated complaints from staffers

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Colorado Senate leaders Tuesday barred a Democratic state lawmaker from having state-paid aides after two of her most recent staffers filed a workplace misconduct complaint claiming she used one of them to do chores like yard work and bartend at a party at her home. The complaint marks the second time in the past year state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis of Longmont has been accused of mistreating her legislative aides. “This is now clearly a recurring issue,” outgoing Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, said in a letter to Jaquez Lewis. “In good conscience we cannot support placing an aide in your office while this behavior and complaints continue.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Kids in Colorado’s poorest counties are more likely to experience the death of a parent, sibling
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Kids in Colorado’s poorest counties are more likely to experience the death of a parent, sibling

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Children who live in Colorado’s lowest-income counties are 131% more likely to experience a parent or sibling death than their peers living in the highest-income counties, according to a new report by Judi’s House and the JAG Institute in Aurora. And those lowest-income counties also happen to be Colorado’s most rural, the study says. Micki Burns, CEO of Judi’s House, said authors of the study grouped counties together based on median income and came up with “five income distribution bands.” They then ran the groups through a statistical tool called the Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model to calculate their findings.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Developers have the go-ahead for new construction in northern Weld County after a three-year freeze
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Developers have the go-ahead for new construction in northern Weld County after a three-year freeze

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun Residents of northern Weld County might see new construction now that a local water district has given developers the go-ahead to request water services after a three-year hold. North Weld County Water District stopped real estate development in its tracks in 2021 when it announced a moratorium on tap sales and new requests for water amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a statewide housing craze. Developers’ projects stalled. A growing housing stock halted.  The district’s work began: They had to pull the reins to figure out if they even had enough capacity to serve everyone who wanted water, said Tad Stout, board president for the district. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Feds sue Free Land Holders group that put up fence, claimed ‘original’ ownership over 1,400 acres of forest
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Approved, National, The Colorado Sun

Feds sue Free Land Holders group that put up fence, claimed ‘original’ ownership over 1,400 acres of forest

By Olivia Prentzel and Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun A group that fenced off about 1,400 acres of U.S. Forest Service land outside Mancos after claiming ownership over it is now being sued by the federal government. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court of Colorado, U.S. attorneys called the Free Land Holder group’s fence “unlawful,” citing the federal government’s title to the land that it manages through the Forest Service for recreation purposes and cattle grazing.  The U.S. is filing the lawsuit, attorneys wrote, to prevent further harm to the land and public and “ensure continuing free and lawful access to public property.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Amid opposition to newly approved mountain lion plan, CPW commission urges respect for employees
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Amid opposition to newly approved mountain lion plan, CPW commission urges respect for employees

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Colorado Parks and Wildlife employees can’t catch a break when it comes to their work on wolf reintroduction or the management of mountain lions.  And that can’t be good for their health, members of the Parks and Wildlife Commission say, or their bandwidth to manage the other 950-plus wildlife species in Colorado.  “I feel sorry for the people in this agency that are working on some of this,” said Marie Haskett, who represents outfitters on the commission, referring to CPW’s rocky first year of wolf reintroduction. “We put a tremendous amount of hours and a tremendous amount of pressure on them for everything we do. You can see it in every one of their faces.”  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Cañon City voted to build a new swimming pool, but not to fund it
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Cañon City voted to build a new swimming pool, but not to fund it

By Sue McMillin | The Colorado Sun When voters delivered a mixed decision on building a new pool in town, they created a dilemma: build it without the assurance of having the money to operate it or walk away from the project despite voters’ approval of the sales tax and debt to build it. There’s a hedge-your-bets option as well, which would slow the construction process so the district could go back to voters again to ask for funds to operate the pool before significant debt is incurred building it. The only option without financial risk is to bag the project.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado county clerk spent $4,000 on get-out-the-vote billboard with her name, face on it
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado county clerk spent $4,000 on get-out-the-vote billboard with her name, face on it

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Jefferson County Clerk Amanda Gonzalez’s office spent $7,200 on a get-out-the-vote campaign in the lead-up to the November election that included a billboard with an advertisement that prominently featured her picture and name. Gonzalez’s office said the campaign, launched in mid-October, also included social media posts, community events and flyer distribution. The billboard alone cost $4,000. The office said it found before launching the campaign that ads featuring Gonzalez, a Democrat, were high performing, citing a June report from the consulting firm Recap Communications. Gonzalez’s spokeswoman said those findings reinforced national guidance and research showing that local officials are the most trusted messengers for election information and...
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Did Middle Park sell $1 billion of water for 10 bucks?
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Did Middle Park sell $1 billion of water for 10 bucks?

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Since Dwight Eisenhower was president, tiny Middle Park Water Conservancy District has hoarded a precious gem: 20,000 acre-feet of water rights on Troublesome Creek, near Kremmling, and the authority to build a dam for it.  In October, Middle Park gave its treasure to a private rancher. For $10.   The Middle Park district, which primarily serves ranchers and hay growers in Grand and Summit counties, has only a few hundred thousand dollars of revenue each year, and no ability to raise potentially tens of millions of dollars for environmental permitting and hundreds of millions for construction, the district’s attorney said.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado sheriff who froze to death in 1881 to be honored in national memorial for fallen officers
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Colorado sheriff who froze to death in 1881 to be honored in national memorial for fallen officers

By Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun Chaffee County’s first elected sheriff, who reportedly froze to death in 1881 after becoming stranded while trying to evict claim jumpers at a mine west of Buena Vista, will be honored next year when his name is added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Lucien Morgan was 45 when he died in the line of duty due to weather exposure on Jones Mountain, a 13,218-foot peak, according to archives of the Rocky Mountain News and The Mountain Mail, Salida’s newspaper. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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