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Ag, water and wolf bills receiving early support from lawmakers in 75th Colorado Legislature
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Ag, water and wolf bills receiving early support from lawmakers in 75th Colorado Legislature

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun Bills focused on water quality, agricultural exemptions and wolf depredation claims received early legislative support Wednesday while an effort to prevent water speculation was left on the chopping block. The Colorado Legislature’s Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee met Wednesday to decide which bills will be introduced in the upcoming legislative session. The committee supported eight bills, but five drafted policies did not make it out of the meeting — including one proposed by Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Summit County Democrat, whose idea to strengthen transparency in water rights transactions did not have enough support. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Video shows trooper being ‘ambushed’ while parked along highway, State Patrol chief says
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Video shows trooper being ‘ambushed’ while parked along highway, State Patrol chief says

By Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun Authorities believe a 32-year-old Thornton man saw a Colorado State Patrol trooper parked along a median as a “target of opportunity” before he slowed down and fired multiple rounds from a semi-automatic pistol at the trooper through his window, striking the trooper in his arm. Dashcam footage released Monday showed the rear passenger window of a trooper’s truck shatter as Victor Anthony De Santiago fired shots at Cpl. Tye Simcox, who was parked along a median on U.S. 36 on Sept. 7.  Simcox then got out of his car with a rifle and returned fire, killing De Santiago. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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In order to help farmers survive drought, pests and market changes, improving the soil may be key
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In order to help farmers survive drought, pests and market changes, improving the soil may be key

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun In southwestern Colorado, Greg Vlaming crouched down to look at dying remains of an oat crop baking under the July sun. It wasn’t just a dead plant — it was armor, he said.  “This minimizes wind erosion and surface runoff,” said Vlaming, a soil scientist, consultant and farmer. “Water can’t run off on something that’s like this.” Vlaming is working alongside the state, researchers, farmers and ranchers on a newly expanded soil health program established by the Colorado legislature in 2021. The goal of the program is to nurture soils in order to reap rewards — like more efficient irrigation, more carbon storage and healthier crops.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Wildfire in northern Larimer County causing hundreds to evacuate was human-caused, officials say
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Wildfire in northern Larimer County causing hundreds to evacuate was human-caused, officials say

By Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun A wildfire that forced hundreds to evacuate their homes Monday in northwestern Larimer County was human-caused and sparked on private property, officials said Monday evening. The Pearl fire was estimated at 138 acres with zero percent containment at about 9 p.m. Seventy-five people worked to control the fire and more were on the way, the sheriff’s office said in an update Monday evening. Larimer County officials began to receive calls about smoke just after 11 a.m. Monday and firefighters found a fire burning about 5 miles northwest of Red Feather Lakes. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Small town near Vail ends long legal battle with win over developer in $48M settlement
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Small town near Vail ends long legal battle with win over developer in $48M settlement

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Minturn, a village of about 1,100 people along a defunct railroad near Vail, has bested a $25 billion real estate company, securing a transformative $48 million settlement that ends a long legal battle.  “I don’t think they ever thought that a small town like Minturn would be strong enough to stand up to them. But we did,” said Lynn Feiger, a Minturn councilwoman and nationally acclaimed lawyer who helped the former railroad town win the settlement from real estate giant Lubert Adler. “I always thought Minturn could win if we stayed the course.” It’s been a long course for Minturn, where a Florida golf resort developer named Bobby Ginn dreamed big on the slopes of Battle Mountain above the town. With visions of a private ski hill, golf cour...
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13 candidates running for Colorado legislative seats this year don’t have a major-party opponent
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13 candidates running for Colorado legislative seats this year don’t have a major-party opponent

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Thirteen candidates vying for state legislative seats this year are running without a major-party opponent, according to a Colorado Sun analysis of the 2024 ballot. There are 10 candidates — seven Democrats and three Republicans — running unopposed in state House districts, and three Democrats running opposed in state Senate districts. The Sun defines a candidate as running unopposed if they don’t have any general election opponent or if their only opponent is a third-party candidate, since it is exceedingly rare in Colorado for such candidates to mount a competitive state legislative campaign. The 13 races will determine the makeup of 13% of the legislature.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado GOP leadership battle is scheduled to go to trial in October
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Colorado GOP leadership battle is scheduled to go to trial in October

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun There may be an answer before Election Day as to who is the real chairman of the Colorado GOP.  A judge in El Paso County this week set a two-and-a-half day trial starting Oct. 14 in the lawsuit filed by Eli Bremer seeking to dislodge Dave Williams from the party’s top post and force him to relinquish the party’s resources. Both Bremer and Williams claim to currently be chairman of the Colorado GOP.  The date of the trial won’t leave much time for the outcome to have an effect on the Nov. 5 election. Ballots start being mailed to voters Oct. 11. Most television ad air time and mailers will have been planned and booked by then.  Still, the outcome of the legal drama will chart the future direction of the state Republican Party.  READ THE...
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Does Denver have too many gas stations? City Council pushes new limits to save space for affordable housing.
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Does Denver have too many gas stations? City Council pushes new limits to save space for affordable housing.

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Paul Kashmann says he’s not trying to shut off the gas pumps in Denver altogether. In fact, the service-minded Denver City Council member is still driving a gas car himself, and he doesn’t like high prices or long drives to stations any more than the next person.  But he is part of a City Council movement that sees construction of new affordable housing as more important for Denver right now than an additional place to gas up and grab a bag of chips. Kashmann and some colleagues are bringing a proposed ordinance for a 2024 committee green-light that would build buffers between proposed new gas stations, mass transit stops and residential housing.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado avoided big funding cuts for schools. But relief for districts could be short-lived.
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Colorado avoided big funding cuts for schools. But relief for districts could be short-lived.

By Erica Breunlin | Colorado Sun Colorado lawmakers averted the potential for serious funding cuts for schools after passing a set of modest property tax cuts during the special legislative session in August. But the relief for school districts could be short-lived. A tight state budget forecast and competing funding priorities are stoking fears that Colorado elected leaders could drop their pledge to begin ramping up funding for schools next year. A new funding formula — signed into law in May after three decades of little change to the way Colorado distributes money to schools — was celebrated by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as a landmark accomplishment of the 2024 legislative session. The new approach added to momentum for school finance after Gov. Jared Polis and legislator...
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Xcel drained its $94M energy efficiency budget after marijuana growers took notice — and wants $34M more
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Xcel drained its $94M energy efficiency budget after marijuana growers took notice — and wants $34M more

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun “Unexpectedly high customer interest” led Xcel to pull the plug on a program helping businesses green their operations — for now. After shooting through most of its energy efficiency budget for this year, Xcel Energy has suspended all its programs for businesses and asked state regulators for an additional $34 million above the $93.6 million already agreed on. In a filing to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, Xcel Energy’s Colorado subsidiary — Public Service Company of Colorado — said that there was “unexpectedly high customer interest and participation in the company’s electric energy efficiency offerings this year.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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