Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Boulder County

Boulder Climate Lawsuit Emerges as Flashpoint in Colorado Democrat Primaries
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Boulder Climate Lawsuit Emerges as Flashpoint in Colorado Democrat Primaries

By Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado In the Colorado primary elections this year, oil and gas perspectives are showing up in a unique way: Boulder’s now 8-year old climate lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the Boulder case during its fall term, placing the issue on a national stage right in the middle of election season. Given Boulder’s targeting of energy companies and potential to increase prices, it threatens to undermine national Democrats’ focus on affordability. In Colorado, the case raises important questions for candidates seeking office: where do they stand on energy production, climate litigation, and the use of courts to drive policy outcomes? Boulder pops up in ...
Ex Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Abuse and Exploitation Charges
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Ex Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Abuse and Exploitation Charges

By Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette A former security guard for Jeffco Public Schools was arrested Monday over charges of child sexual abuse. Brian C. Richie, 67, was arrested by Longmont police and booked into the Boulder County jail. He faces several charges, including sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust, 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possessing videos, 16 counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possessing photos, invasion of privacy for sexual gratification of a person under 15 and invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, according to the jail log and Richie’s arrest affidavit. Richie’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages showed he was employed by Jeffco as a “patrol sergeant” from April 2015 to February 2026, when he ...
Colorado Springs Bucks State Trend on Data Centers With Project Taurus Approval
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Springs Bucks State Trend on Data Centers With Project Taurus Approval

By Alexander Edwards | The Denver Gazette Data centers have been thrust into the limelight in the past 12-18 months as more companies seek to build them while concerns grow about their use of natural resources. That’s led some Colorado communities to reject data centers, while others welcome them in hopes of economic gains. As Colorado Springs forges ahead with Project Taurus, a planned AI data center being built in an old computer chip manufacturing facility at 1615 W. Garden of the Gods Road, other locations in Colorado have imposed temporary moratoriums on data centers. Larimer County imposed a moratorium on data centers that expires on Aug. 25. On May 18, the Denver City Council unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on new dat...
Questions Grow Over Weiser’s Role in Boulder Climate Lawsuit
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Questions Grow Over Weiser’s Role in Boulder Climate Lawsuit

By Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado For years, City and County of Boulder officials have defended their ongoing climate lawsuit against energy companies by pointing to its outside counsel arrangement, where lawyers work on a contingency fee agreement along with repeated assurances that local taxpayers would not be paying for the arrangement. However, new comments from Boulder District Attorney and Democrat state attorney general candidate Michael Dougherty raise serious questions about whether Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser – and potentially Colorado taxpayers – helped support that legal operation from behind the scenes. If so, it would represent a clear flip flop from Weiser, who has long voiced skepticism about the legal merits o...
Denver Post Backs Dougherty Over Griswold In Colorado AG Primary
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Denver Post Backs Dougherty Over Griswold In Colorado AG Primary

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado (Editor’s note: The Denver Post endorsements linked are paywalled. Complete Colorado is offering this synopsis as a service to non-subscribing primary voters.) DENVER–The Denver Post editorial board on Monday endorsed Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty in the Democratic primary for Colorado Attorney General, passing over the race’s best-known candidate, current Secretary of State Jena Griswold. The Post considered all four Democrat candidates but focused its praise on Dougherty (as well as Hetal Doshi, a former federal prosecutor). While the board acknowledged Griswold as “the only candidate to have actually run a statewide agency,” that credential wasn’t enough. The endorsement makes clear that Dougherty “checked...
Dozens Of Amicus Briefs Challenge Boulder Climate Case Before SCOTUS
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Dozens Of Amicus Briefs Challenge Boulder Climate Case Before SCOTUS

By: Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in the now 8-year old Boulder climate lawsuit, more than three dozen amicus briefs submitted in the case have made the same essential point: Boulder’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies is an unconstitutional attempt to use state courts to dictate national energy and climate policy, and the high court should put a stop to it.   The briefs represent one of the broadest coalitions to weigh in on climate litigation in years, spanning the U.S. Department of Justice, 78 members of Congress, 27 state attorneys general, energy-producing Colorado counties, former senior national security officials and major business, legal and policy organizations.  Ahead of oral arg...
Boulder Firebomber Gets Life Plus 2,128 Years For Terror Attack On Pro Israel Demonstrators
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Boulder Firebomber Gets Life Plus 2,128 Years For Terror Attack On Pro Israel Demonstrators

By Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette A man accused of throwing two Molotov cocktails into a crowd of pro-Israel protesters in Boulder pleaded guilty Thursday to 101 state charges in a Boulder County courthouse and received just shy of the maximum sentence allowed by law. Following a lengthy sentencing hearing and personal statement from Mohamed Sabry Soliman, District Judge Nancy Salomone sentenced him to the maximum sentence on almost every count, which must be served consecutively. He was sentenced to life in prison, plus an additional 2,128 years. Soliman, 46, was arrested shortly after the June 1, 2025 attack at the Pearl Street Mall. Soliman, who plotted the attack for more than a year, threw two Molotov cocktails into a group of people calling for the release of hos...
High Winds Trigger Powerline Safety Measures in Boulder County
DENVER7, Approved, Local

High Winds Trigger Powerline Safety Measures in Boulder County

By: Tyler Melito | Denver7 Several projects in Boulder are underway to move power lines underground — a move residents Denver7 spoke with say they welcome. BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — High winds predicted for Thursday are prompting proactive measures by energy providers like Xcel. The company plans to implement an enhanced powerline safety setting — making lines more sensitive and automatically shut off power if something hits the line — on Thursday in several counties to allow power to remain in service with additional sensitivity protections in place. But Xcel and the City of Boulder are working on a long-term solution amid community pushback on public safety power shutoffs. Part of that includes continuing to bury power lines; 60% of the city's power lines...
State Regulators Confront Fallout From Xcel’s Wildfire Power Shutdowns
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

State Regulators Confront Fallout From Xcel’s Wildfire Power Shutdowns

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun State utilities regulators collected testimony from 4,000 businesses, households with lifesaving medical equipment and the merely annoyed as they form rules for public safety power shut-offs. In December, Rainbow Schultz was preparing for Xcel Energy’s announced shutdown of power lines to cope with high winds since her restaurant — the Jamestown Mercantile — had lost $8,000 in the utility’s safety shut-off eight months earlier. Schultz was already reducing her supplies when she was told by Xcel Energy her town of 230 in western Boulder County would not be in the shut-off area and so she stocked up as usual.  Still when the 112-mile-per-hour gust of wind came Dec. 18, Schultz found herself in the dark wi...
Former Colorado Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis Convicted of Forging Documents
kdvr.com, Approved, State

Former Colorado Senator Sonya Jaquez Lewis Convicted of Forging Documents

By Jacob Factor | KDVR DENVER (KDVR) — A former Colorado state senator who was at the center of an ethics investigation over treatment of her staff has been convicted of forging documents in the investigation. A Denver jury on Wednesday convicted Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who represented parts of Boulder County as a Democrat until she resigned in February last year, of one count of attempting to influence a public servant and three counts of forgery. “The public expects that governments operate honestly and transparently and that elected officials be held to a high standard,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a statement posted on Facebook after the conviction. “Sonya Jaquez Lewis has now been convicted by a Denver jury of fabricating documents during a l...