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Can Gross Dam expansion be completed before activists and courts dry it up?
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Can Gross Dam expansion be completed before activists and courts dry it up?

By Jerd Smith | Colorado Sun As Save the Colorado and Denver Water prepare to face off in a federal courtroom Tuesday, water officials across the state are watching the Gross Dam expansion case closely for its environmental impact and its affect on water projects across the West. Kirk Klancke, a long-time Grand County environmentalist and president of the Colorado River Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited, said a decision that shuts down the $531 million water project, could also shut down 12 years of work on the Fraser River and its tributaries. Here’s why: Denver Water owns much of the Fraser with water rights dating back more than 100 years. And it is that water that has historically been piped through the Moffat Tunnel near Rollinsville to fill the existing Gross Reservoir. ...
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Gross Reservoir safety work can continue under appeals court ruling
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Gross Reservoir safety work can continue under appeals court ruling

By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun Denver Water may continue shoring up its partially-finished Gross Dam expansion in southwestern Boulder County until a May 6 U.S. District Court hearing detailing long-term safety issues of a permanent injunction against further construction, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals said late Friday.  The appeals court granted Denver Water’s request for a temporary stay of the halt to construction at least through the May hearing. “Denver Water makes numerous allegations of immediate and irreparable harm from the district court’s injunction of further dam construction,” the appeals court order said.  U.S. District Court Judge Christine Arguello had previously issued the injunction against further Denver Water construction on the dam raising, saying t...
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Court sides with new Colorado GOP Chair, blocks committee tied to former leadership
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Court sides with new Colorado GOP Chair, blocks committee tied to former leadership

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A district judge in El Paso County has rejected an attempt by the Colorado Republican Party’s Investigative Committee—an entity formed under former chair Dave Williams—to intervene in a lawsuit that the party’s current leadership has moved to dismiss. In a ruling filed April 23, District Court Judge Amanda J. Philipps found that the Investigative Committee lacks standing and legal authority to join or intervene in the ongoing civil case, saying the group was assigned "limited tasks" and does not possess independent power to act on behalf of the Colorado Republican State Central Committee (CRC). "Absent an express statutory right, a subordinate state agency lacks standing or any other legal authority to obtain judicial rev...
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Tina Peters asks court for relief, feds ask for caution—judge asks why
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Approved, denvergazette.com, National, State

Tina Peters asks court for relief, feds ask for caution—judge asks why

By Michael Karlik | Denver Gazette A federal judge on Tuesday struggled to understand why the United States government is claiming an "interest" in a relatively narrow issue related to the prosecution and conviction of former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters. Although the government now alleges Peters' state criminal case may have been politically motivated, the U.S. Department of Justice's attorney would not say what evidence, if any, the department has to that effect. When the federal government files a statement asserting it has an interest in a case, "the typical situation is, 'We have an interest, judge, that you may not know about and we want you to be aware of it,'" said Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak during a hearing. "I’m just struggling to see what you all br...
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Judge halts Gross Reservoir project—despite 60% completion and looming water risks
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Approved, kdvr.com, Local

Judge halts Gross Reservoir project—despite 60% completion and looming water risks

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Denver Water is permanently barred from expanding the reservoir if an emergency stay is not obtained from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals within 14 days. The utility provider has been working to increase the height of the Gross Reservoir dam by 131 feet for over a decade. The project broke ground in 2022 and Denver Water says the project is already 60% complete. On Friday, the department said that it plans to appeal the order and seek an immediate stay, saying the order “puts at risk our ability to efficiently provide a safe, secure and reliable water supply to 1.5 million people.” “It’s impossible to reconcile the judge’s order with what is clearly in the broader public interest,” Denver ...
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Taxpayers could foot the bill—twice—for Democrats’ lawsuit to dismantle TABOR
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Taxpayers could foot the bill—twice—for Democrats’ lawsuit to dismantle TABOR

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun Colorado taxpayers may foot the bill twice if Democratic lawmakers manage to pass a resolution directing the legislature to sue the state in an attempt to invalidate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.  That’s because not only will taxpayers likely be responsible for paying the lawyers hired by the legislature to bring the case, but they’ll also be on the hook for the costs incurred by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to defend against the legal challenge to TABOR, a constitutional amendment voters approved in 1992.  If House Joint Resolution 1023 passes as expected, the General Assembly’s nonpartisan Office of Legislative Legal Services would likely hire a group of attorneys to file the lawsuit. In the past, the legislature’s third-par...
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Elizabeth schools win court stay—banned books won’t return yet
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Approved, Elbert County News, Local

Elizabeth schools win court stay—banned books won’t return yet

By Scott Gilbert | Elbert County News On Thursday, April 3, a Denver-based federal judge ordered the Elizabeth School District to place 19 removed books on library shelves by the weekend, but on the morning of Friday, April 4, a judge with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay, meaning the books will remain off the shelves pending further legal proceedings. The back-and-forth is the latest in a legal battle between Elizabeth Schools and the ACLU of Colorado, which sued the district in December seeking the return of 19 library books that the school board voted to remove on Sept. 9 of last year and then discarded. The ACLU alleges that the school board improperly removed the books because it disagreed with ideas expressed in them and claims that the book removal was a viol...
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[UPDATED] Ganahl: Colorado GOP’s New Leadership Faces Rogue Holdouts as Williams’ Allies Cling to Power
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

[UPDATED] Ganahl: Colorado GOP’s New Leadership Faces Rogue Holdouts as Williams’ Allies Cling to Power

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Republican Party’s newly elected leadership, led by Chair Brita Horn, is battling a desperate power grab by ex-Chairman David Williams and his allies. They refuse to let go despite the Colorado Republican State Central Committee’s (SCC) move to dismiss a contentious lawsuit.  Horn, alongside allies Nancy Pallozzi and Todd Watkins, champions a fresh start, but Williams’ appointees—particularly the shadowy Colorado Republican State Party Controversy Investigative Committee (CRSPCIC) led by Matt Arnold—are digging in, in a legal standoff that seems more about ego than justice. The roots lie in 2024’s chaotic primaries, where Williams’ endorsed candidates didn’t fare well (14 of 18 lost). This sparked former Jefferso...
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Judge overrides parents, reinstates graphic books mid-appeal
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Local

Judge overrides parents, reinstates graphic books mid-appeal

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A federal judge on Thursday refused to put her prior ruling on hold while an appeal plays out, and instead ordered Elizabeth School District to return 19 restricted books to library shelves by Saturday. U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney rejected the Elbert County district's claims that her original order was unfair, "breathtakingly broad" and would require whole new library policies. She also slammed the district for disclosing, only after she issued her order, that it had "discarded" the disputed books entirely. "Rather than being forthcoming with the Court about these facts, the District previously represented that the Removed Books were available to Plaintiffs, and only Plaintiffs," she wrote in an April 3 order. "No menti...
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Democrats launch legal assault on TABOR: Will the courts undo the will of Colorado voters?
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Democrats launch legal assault on TABOR: Will the courts undo the will of Colorado voters?

By Marianne Goodland | Denver Gazette In 2011, a coalition of 33 individuals and groups, including current and former lawmakers, county commission and other elected officials and school districts, sued the state of Colorado, challenging the constitutionality of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. A decade later, the lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality: the lawsuit, the federal courts indicated, had the wrong plaintiffs. A state Democratic lawmaker who was part of the legal team in Kerr v. Hickenlooper (later Kerr v. Polis) is now sponsoring a resolution to try again, but with some important differences. Rep. Sean Camacho, D-Denver, sponsored House Joint Resolution 1023, which would require the General Assembly to sue over TABOR's constitutionality in state district court. The...
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