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Public Safety Survives Cuts as Denver Faces Budget Crunch
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Public Safety Survives Cuts as Denver Faces Budget Crunch

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette Day two of the public hearings for Denver’s proposed 2026 spending plan got underway on Tuesday with presentations from the city’s public safety agencies. As representatives from the Denver Department of Safety, Denver Police, Denver Fire, Denver Sheriff and the Department of Public Health and Environment shared plans for helping the city tighten its belt, recurring themes included streamlining program functions, identifying new sources of revenue and shifting some positions out of the city’s general fund into alternate funding sources such as special revenue funds and grants. Overall, agencies sought to protect core services and align with council priorities. Here are some of the top takeaways for the day: Denver Public SafetyDirector...
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Colorado’s Housing Crunch Shows Signs of Easing but Costs Still Bite
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Housing Crunch Shows Signs of Easing but Costs Still Bite

By The Gazette Editorial Board | Commentary, The Denver Gazette The cost of housing has soared in our state in recent years, outpacing income growth and making it especially challenging for lower-wage earners and younger, entry-level workers to afford rent. Buying a place of their own is an even taller task for many. It all has led to much public debate and, inevitably, hyperventilation by politicians pledging to solve what they have dubbed an affordable-housing “crisis.” The panic also has led to a lot of misfires by policymakers.  Among those are proposals that would put the squeeze on providers of rental housing, presuming them to have bottomless pockets. Rent control is an example. There also have been various policy prescriptions making it harder to evict tenants. Some o...
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Colorado’s Surge In Prison Population Signals Return To Law And Order
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Surge In Prison Population Signals Return To Law And Order

By The Gazette Editorial Board | Commentary, The Denver Gazette Let’s welcome news reported by The Gazette this week that Colorado’s prison population is on the rise, with more lawbreakers reportedly behind bars for parole violations. That’s encouraging in a state that has weathered an epic crime wave in recent years, often enough at the hands of parolees. The surge in our prison population reflects a renewed commitment by law enforcement — including parole officers, who police parolees and try to keep them on track — to prioritize public safety. Misguided, out-of-touch advocates of the “justice reform” movement already are wringing their hands over the thought of convicts out on parole being sent back to the slammer for what the justice reformers insist are mere “technical” viola...
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Public Land Policy Should Serve All Users Not Just One Vision
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Approved, Commentary, National, The Denver Gazette

Public Land Policy Should Serve All Users Not Just One Vision

By Rachel Gabel | Commentary, The Denver Gazette The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to rescind the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, which was issued as a final rule last May. The rule, which puts conservation at the same level as other multiple uses like recreation, mineral extraction, grazing, and energy development, came out of the Joe Biden administration and earned fierce opposition. It would have allowed the well-funded who are opposed to, for example, grazing, to gather BLM leases and “conserve” the land by rejecting all other multiple uses. This flies in the face of the statute set forth by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, FLPMA, that charges the BLM with regulating the “use, occupancy, and development” of public lands in accordance with the p...
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Denver School Board Election Could Transform District Leadership
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Local, Approved, The Denver Gazette

Denver School Board Election Could Transform District Leadership

By Nico Brambila | The Denver Gazette With four of seven board seats on the ballot this fall — and frustrations simmering over school closures, low test scores and board transparency — November’s election could reshape Denver Public Schools and chart a new course for the state’s largest school district. It’s a crowded field. Thirteen candidates have filed, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. One of them — Samari Royal Jelks Sr., who filed to run for the at-large seat held by Director Scott Esserman — said he has withdrawn from the race, but as of Monday remained listed as a candidate. Esserman, a former educator elected at-large in 2021, is now running in District 3, represented by board President Carrie Olson. Olson, in her eighth year, is term-limited and c...
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Appeals Court Finds Denver Judge Improperly Terminated Father’s Custody Rights
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State, Approved, The Denver Gazette

Appeals Court Finds Denver Judge Improperly Terminated Father’s Custody Rights

By Michael Karlik | The Denver Gazette Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday determined the evidence did not support a Denver judge’s ruling terminating the legal relationship between a father and his child. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel identified numerous instances where the facts contradicted the trial judge’s findings that the father lacked stable housing and was unable to be “a full-time parent.” “The uncontested evidence showed that father could provide appropriate care for the child during all of the parenting time allotted to him. The juvenile court, though, appeared to expect father to prove his ability to care for the child full-time, rather than requiring the (government) to prove that, notwithstanding his success at family time, father was unable or unwill...
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New Colorado program shifts defendants from jail to treatment on competency grounds
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

New Colorado program shifts defendants from jail to treatment on competency grounds

By Michael Braithwaite | The Denver Gazette In an attempt to reduce wait times for inpatient defendant competency restoration, Colorado courts are launching a new program to divert eligible people into a separate community care process. The near-$1.5 million program, which uses money from the general fund and was spurred by the passage of House Bill 24-1355 last June, will create a process in each judicial district to identify certain individuals who are not competent enough to proceed in a trial process and refer them to a wraparound program that will connect them with external care, according to a news release from the Colorado Judicial Branch and the bill itself. “This work is the result of years of collaboration, deep listening, and versatility,” said Gene Klivansky,...
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CPW takes lethal action after wolf linked to livestock kills in rural Colorado
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

CPW takes lethal action after wolf linked to livestock kills in rural Colorado

By Piper Russell | The Denver Gazette Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced on Friday that it shot a wolf that had been chronically depredating livestock in Rio Blanco County. However, the carcass has not been found. CPW also said that after conducting DNA analysis on samples gathered from the uncollared gray wolf in Rio Blanco County it was confirmed that the uncollared wolf was the fifth Copper Creek yearling that was not captured with the rest of the pack in fall 2024. The wolf is suspected to have killed six animals from livestock producers in Rio Blanco County. The depredations started on July 20 when the Division and Wildlife Services was notified of a dead lamb on a livestock producers’ allotment northeast of Meeker Colorado. That attack was followed by others reported o...
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Douglas County water future tied to $2.75M in federal budget
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Douglas County water future tied to $2.75M in federal budget

By: Noah Festenstein | The Denver Gazette Select Douglas County water districts are poised to receive up to $2.75 million combined for projects dealing with sustainable drinking water or new pipelines. That’s on top of $20 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding already allocated for a wastewater project in northwest Douglas County. Back in May, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, had requested $9 million in federal funding for the Louviers Water & Sanitation District’s drinking water distribution replacement and Castle Rock Water’s Plum Creek to Reuter-Hess Reservoir pipeline projects. On July 22, the federal House Appropriations Committee advanced a bill that included $1.75 million specifically for Castle Rock’s project. The panel also a...
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Denver Councilwoman Raises Concerns Over Taxpayer Funding For Soccer Stadium
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Local, Approved, The Denver Gazette

Denver Councilwoman Raises Concerns Over Taxpayer Funding For Soccer Stadium

By Daniel Boniface | The Denver Gazette A proposed Denver stadium for professional women’s soccer could be in jeopardy of receiving public funding following the city’s budget troubles and layoffs. City Councilmember Flor Alvidrez, who represents District 7 where the Denver Summit FC stadium would be built, walked back her support for the project in an interview Monday on the popular podcast, City Cast Denver, saying she was undecided on whether she’ll vote to approve a $70 million subsidy. Paul Karolyi, the show’s senior producer, pointed out that Alvidrez was wearing a t-shirt promoting Denver’s National Women’s Soccer League team when the city council voted 11-1 to move forward with the framework for a public-private partnership around the proposed stadium. “It seemed like yo...
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