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Colorado Budget Strain Deepens as Autism Therapy Audit Threatens $60 Million Medicaid Repayment
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Budget Strain Deepens as Autism Therapy Audit Threatens $60 Million Medicaid Repayment

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun Therapy centers countered that an abrupt rule change could result in long-term harm for children with autism. Colorado may have to repay the federal government from $60 million to $150 million after auditors found the state Medicaid program has been covering care by uncredentialed behavioral technicians for children with autism.  The financial hit comes as the state is already dealing with a $1 billion budget shortfall and cuts to Medicaid benefits that have affected multiple programs for people with low incomes and disabilities.  Colorado is among several states whose programs were audited by the Office of the Inspector General. The audit is not final and the results are not yet public, but officials at the ...
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Report Confirms Sen. Faith Winter Was Driving Drunk When Fatal I-25 Crash Occurred
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Report Confirms Sen. Faith Winter Was Driving Drunk When Fatal I-25 Crash Occurred

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The Broomfield Democrat was driving a Hyundai Ioniq 5 and rear ended a Ford F-350 flatbed truck stopped in the left lane of traffic, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said. Her blood alcohol level was 0.185%. tate Sen. Faith Winter was legally drunk when she caused the car crash that killed her last month on Interstate 25 south of Denver, authorities in Arapahoe County said Friday. Winter’s blood alcohol level was 0.185%, according to the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office, which is well above the 0.08% threshold to be cited with driving under the influence in Colorado. Drivers with a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.05% can be cited with the lesser offense of driving while ability impaired. The Arapahoe County Sher...
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Plaintiffs Win $10 Million Settlement in CU Anschutz Case Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local

Plaintiffs Win $10 Million Settlement in CU Anschutz Case Over COVID Vaccine Mandate

By: John Ingold | The Colorado Sun The Thomas More Society sued the University of Colorado Anschutz in 2021 alleging that the university violated its plaintiffs’ religious freedom. The University of Colorado Anschutz will pay more than $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by students and staff who sued in 2021 after being denied religious exemptions to the campus’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, according to a group that represented the plaintiffs. CU Anschutz has also agreed to make policy changes, the Thomas More Society announced Monday. The group, which represents plaintiffs in religious liberty cases nationwide, called it one of the only cases in the country where plaintiffs have received money damages in a lawsuit over a COVID vaccination mandate. Th...
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State Regulators Move Colorado Toward All-Electric Heating by 2050 at Any Cost
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

State Regulators Move Colorado Toward All-Electric Heating by 2050 at Any Cost

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Xcel and other utilities must make 41% cuts to natural gas heating emissions in 10 years, transition fully by 2050. Colorado officials are making another major push toward electrification of home heating and deep cuts to carbon from natural gas, despite consumer cost concerns and the Trump administration’s attempt to revive the use of fossil fuels.The Public Utilities Commission on Monday finalized a state Clean Heat framework requiring Xcel and other utilities supplying natural gas for home and building heating to cut the carbon emissions from their systems by 41% in 10 years. The utilities are expected to reach 100% decarbonization of building heating by 2050, an ambitious goal celebrated by the environmental and clean energy groups who had...
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Court Won’t Toss Suit Claiming Polis Violated Colorado’s Limits on ICE Cooperation
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Court Won’t Toss Suit Claiming Polis Violated Colorado’s Limits on ICE Cooperation

By: Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun A state judge dismissed Gov. Jared Polis’ request to throw out the case. A judge has denied Gov. Jared Polis’ request to dismiss the case against him in state court alleging his attempt to comply with a subpoena from Immigration and Customs Enforcement breaks state law. Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones on Wednesday rejected Polis’ motion to dismiss the case originally brought by former state labor department employee Scott Moss. Moss sued Polis in June after the governor ordered Moss to comply with a subpoena from ICE for personal information of Coloradans acting as sponsors for unaccompanied immigrant children. Just weeks after Moss filed the lawsuit, Jones blocked Polis from ordering certain state workers to hand ...
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Colorado Audits 1,745 Immigrant CDL Holders After New Federal Restrictions
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The Colorado Sun, State

Colorado Audits 1,745 Immigrant CDL Holders After New Federal Restrictions

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun The state paused its commercial driver’s license program for immigrants with temporary legal status after a new Trump administration rule Of the 126,525 people in Colorado licensed to drive 18-wheelers, school buses, and trucks carrying hazardous materials, 1,745 are immigrants who do not have permanent legal status to live in the United States.  That number won’t rise anytime soon, if ever.  Colorado paused new licenses and renewals for immigrants without citizenship or green cards after the Trump administration announced “emergency action” in September to drastically restrict who is eligible for commercial driver’s licenses. The new restrictions include refugees, asylum seekers and people protected by DACA, or Deferred Action for Chil...
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PERA Payments on the Chopping Block as Polis Seeks Short-Term Budget Relief
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

PERA Payments on the Chopping Block as Polis Seeks Short-Term Budget Relief

By: Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The move would save the state money in the short term to address Colorado’s budget crisis, but it could cost the pension as much as $180 million in the long run. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has proposed cutting the state’s contributions to the public pension by as much as $38 million next year to help cover the cost of employee raises owed under the state’s collective bargaining agreement. The move would buy the state government some financial breathing room for next year, when it faces an $850 million deficit. But it would also come at a steep long-term cost that could come back to bite public workers and taxpayers alike. The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee will consider the proposal between now and March, when it’s scheduled to ado...
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CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Davis, who led reintroduction of wolves to Colorado, will move into an executive role in the Department of Natural Resources. Maj. Gen Laura Clellan will lead CPW until new boss is hired. The director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who ushered in the state’s wolf reintroduction program amid widespread scrutiny over many of his decisions, is stepping down.  Jeff Davis announced Tuesday he will move to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources executive director’s office as a senior policy advisor for strategic priorities.  Replacing him as interim director is retired Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan, formerly the executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. She will start Dec. 1.  A statement from...
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Western Slope Wins State Support In Long Fight To Preserve Shoshone Water Control
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Western Slope Wins State Support In Long Fight To Preserve Shoshone Water Control

By: Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The Colorado Water Conservation Board approved a proposal to use two powerful Colorado River water rights to help the environment. GOLDEN — In a momentous decision for the Western Slope, state water officials unanimously approved a controversial proposal to use two coveted Colorado River water rights to help the river itself.  Members of the Colorado Water Conservation Board voted to accept water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant into its Instream Flow Program, which aims to keep water in streams to help the environment. The decision Wednesday is a historic step forward in western Colorado’s yearslong effort to secure the $99 million rights permanently. But some Front Range water providers pushed back during the hearings, worried ...
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Democrat Lawmakers Face Scrutiny Over Vail Retreat Funded by Undisclosed Donors
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Democrat Lawmakers Face Scrutiny Over Vail Retreat Funded by Undisclosed Donors

By Taylor Dolven and Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The Colorado Opportunity Caucus, considered among the more moderate Democrats in the legislature, organized the event. The caucus was formed as a nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors. At least 17 Democratic state lawmakers gathered with lobbyists during a weekend retreat at a Vail hotel organized by the nonprofit Colorado Opportunity Caucus. The two-day gathering included “educational panels” and discussions, according to state Sen. Lindsey Daugherty, an Arvada Democrat who is chair of the caucus formed in January as a nonprofit. She said the purpose of the event was to “get a group of pragmatic, diverse legislators together to really talk about our goals for our caucus based on what we think the Colorado people really want ...
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