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Colorado rental car fee hike would raise money for Front Range and mountain passenger rail systems
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado rental car fee hike would raise money for Front Range and mountain passenger rail systems

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun Colorado’s state-imposed rental car fee would increase by as much as $3 per day under a soon-to-be-introduced bill in the legislature aimed at attracting federal investment in proposed Front Range and mountain passenger train systems. The fee increase would generate an estimated $50 million in revenue annually, money that would be used as a match to secure federal grants. Lawmakers are specifically hoping for a share of the $66 billion Congress set aside in 2021 for rail development in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  “We have a short window to pull down this federal infrastructure money,” said Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat and the lead sponsor of the forthcoming bill. “I really want to make sure Colorado...
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Family Dollar had net sales loss of -1.2% in 4th quarter, leading to 970 stores set for closure
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Approved, National, Rocky Mountain Voice

Family Dollar had net sales loss of -1.2% in 4th quarter, leading to 970 stores set for closure

By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice Dollar Tree, Inc., [DLTR] dropped 15% in early trading Wednesday following news it would close nearly 1,000 stores, mostly within the lowest-performing Family Dollar franchise. The company’s fourth quarter earnings report, released Wednesday, indicates that while Dollar Tree had net sales of plus-6.3% the Family Dollar brand had losses of minus-1.2%.  “We finished the year strong, with fourth quarter results reflecting positive traffic trends, market share gains and adjusted margin improvement across both segments,” said Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling in a statement. “While we are still in the early stages of our transformation[al] journey, I am proud of what our team accomplished in 2023 and see a long runway of growth ahead of us.”...
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Among the statistic most meant to mislead, you have the Unemployment Rate
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Approved, Commentary, National

Among the statistic most meant to mislead, you have the Unemployment Rate

Source: Critically Thinking Substack One of the most monitored of all U.S. statistics — and one frequently used for the most political gain — is the Unemployment Rate. It sounds simple enough (and actually should be) but when bureaucrats and politicians got their hands on it, it’s merely a shadow of itself. In his most recent work, John Droz Jr. takes a look at how deceptive the Unemployment Rate can be, falling in line with Mark Twain's theory on the subject of "lies, damned lies and statistics." READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE CRITICALLY THINKING SUBSTACK
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Third-party vendor laying off 200 employees from Amazon facilities in Colorado Springs, Aurora and Thornton
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Third-party vendor laying off 200 employees from Amazon facilities in Colorado Springs, Aurora and Thornton

By Rich Laden | Colorado Springs Gazette Nearly 200 employees of a global company that provides operational and maintenance services for airports and industrial customers will be laid off in April from their jobs at Amazon fulfillment centers in Colorado Springs and Thornton and a sortation center in Aurora. Daifuku Services America Corp. of suburban Dallas notified the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment on Thursday of the layoffs, which will take effect April 22. Daifuku Services is part of the Japan-based Daifuku corporation, whose businesses include consulting, engineering and design work in Asia, Europe and North America, according to its website. Details of the layoffs were included in Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letters that Daifuku filed wi...
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Study: $95K income is ‘lower middle class’ in Denver
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Approved, Denver Metro, kdvr.com, Local

Study: $95K income is ‘lower middle class’ in Denver

BY Maddie Rhodes | KDVR-TV It takes a lot more money to be considered anything above the lower middle class in the Mile High City. In Denver, making $95,000 a year isn’t enough to break you out of the lower middle class, according to a new study – but it is close. GOBankingRates researched the 100 largest cities in the U.S. and found the median household incomes for those cities. The study then followed the Pew Research Center’s definition of middle-class income as “two-thirds to double” the median income of an area. READ THE FULL STORY AT KDVR-TV
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The Housing Crunch Is Causing Americans To Delay Marriage and Children
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Approved, Heritage Foundation, National

The Housing Crunch Is Causing Americans To Delay Marriage and Children

By EJ Antoni | Heritage Foundation Failed public policies are undermining the institution of marriage in America. Rates of both marriage and child births have been trending down for decades, but the current cost-of-living crisis is poised to accelerate these declines. If you can’t afford a place to live, chances are you won’t get married and have kids. That’s precisely the calculus for millions of young Americans today who can’t make ends meet despite a record number of them holding second or even third jobs. Sixty percent are living paycheck to paycheck. Americans have accumulated a record high $1.1 trillion in credit-card debt as many can’t cover even necessities. But Americans aren’t just falling into debt—they’re falling behind on payments too. Defaults and delinquencies are r...
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Aurora considers modular construction for affordable housing
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Approved, Denver Metro, denvergazette.com, Local

Aurora considers modular construction for affordable housing

By Noah Festenstein | Denver Gazette As Colorado struggles with its lack of affordable housing, the Aurora City Council will consider on Monday a resolution that would allow the use of buildings with "modular construction" to provide affordable housing units. The goal of Aurora’s modular construction resolution is to “increase attainable housing,” according to city staff. With modular construction, buildings are built offsite and then moved, like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, onto a property. The method is seen as more effective, faster and more environmentally friendly than regular construction, officials said. Off-site construction “makes modular housing a promising and innovative solution for increasing the supply of housing with construction timelines that are more tha...
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Say hello to the $18 Big Mac Combo Meal, As Fast Food Prices Soar
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Approved, National, New York Post

Say hello to the $18 Big Mac Combo Meal, As Fast Food Prices Soar

By Lisa Fickenscher | New York Post Is the $18 Big Mac combo what finally broke America? Low-income customers making less than $45,000 per year have largely stopped ordering from McDonald’s, the fast-food giant’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski admitted Monday on an earnings call with Wall Street analysts. A Big Mac, fries and drink has risen to nearly $18 at a handful of locations while hash browns are up to $6. And it’s driven away customers fed up with inflation. Global same-store sales in the latest quarter had grown just 3.4%, falling short of the 4.7% growth Wall Street had expected and largely driven by menu price increases, the company said this week. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE NEW YORK POST
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Revitalizing Colorado’s economy with clean energy falls short, yet again
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Revitalizing Colorado’s economy with clean energy falls short, yet again

A second attempt at defining nuclear energy as a clean energy source died in the Colorado State Legislature last week, despite a robust turnout of supportive citizens across the political spectrum that outnumbered opponents two to one.  Senate Bill 24-039, titled “Nuclear as a Clean Energy Resource” and introduced by Sen. Larry Liston, would have classified nuclear as a clean energy source, allowing it to be considered for local clean energy project financing and added to the list of energy sources that count toward meeting the state’s 2050 climate targets. As a Colorado native concerned about protecting my beautiful home state, I testified in favor of the fact that nuclear energy is clean, acknowledging that it offers carbon-free energy.  As an accountant by trade, I al...
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Unemployment Claims in Colorado Rise, Reflecting National Trend
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Approved, State, thelobby-co.com

Unemployment Claims in Colorado Rise, Reflecting National Trend

By The Lobby Unemployment claims in Colorado saw an increase last week, mirroring the national trend, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The data released by the Labor Department on Thursday revealed that initial filings for unemployment benefits in the state rose to 2,396 in the week ending January 27, up from 2,312 the previous week. This rise in new jobless claims serves as a proxy for layoffs and is indicative of the challenges faced by workers in Colorado. This increase in unemployment claims is part of a broader national trend. Across the United States, unemployment claims reached 224,000 last week, an increase of 9,000 claims from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis. Oregon experienced the largest percentage increase in weekly claims, with claims soa...
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