Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Weld County

Colorado Cities Wrestle With Costs and Benefits of Data Center Expansion
Axios Denver, Approved, State

Colorado Cities Wrestle With Costs and Benefits of Data Center Expansion

By Alayna Alvarez | Axios Denver Colorado communities are taking dramatically different approaches to the boom in data center development, with a patchwork of moratoriums, incentives and new restrictions. Why it matters: The local experimentation is filling a vacuum left by state lawmakers, who failed last legislative session to agree on how Colorado should regulate the resource-hungry facilities. State of play: The fragmentation sets up another potential fight at the Colorado State Capitol next year over how to capture the upside of data center development without saddling communities with their enormous electricity, water and infrastructure demands. Driving the news: Denver — which already has 50 data centers — has&...
Democrats Launch Spanish Language Ad Against Gabe Evans in Key Colorado House Race
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Democrats Launch Spanish Language Ad Against Gabe Evans in Key Colorado House Race

By Ernest Luning | The Denver Gazette A national group tied to House Democratic leadership launched a six-figure Spanish-language TV ad in Colorado this week targeting Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans and the GOP’s signature budget legislation. The 30-second spot is part of $15 million in new TV and digital ad reservations announced earlier this week by House Majority Forward, a nonprofit affiliated with House Majority PAC, covering 19 targeted House districts across the country. The ad is set to run through August on an initial buy of just under $200,000, Punchbowl’s Ally Mutnick reported. Evans is seeking reelection to a second term in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, the state’s most competitive seat. He’s facing a challenge from state Rep. Man...
Former Weld County IT Worker Sentenced After Downloading Child Abuse Videos From Police
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Former Weld County IT Worker Sentenced After Downloading Child Abuse Videos From Police

By: Logan Smith | CBS Colorado A former employee with the City of Greeley's Information Technology Department was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections after he removed hard drives from the Greeley Police Department.  The hard drives contained child sexual abuse material, also known as CSAM, which Jacob Schmidt downloaded to his phone, according to a press release from the Weld County District Attorney's Office. The videos were police department evidence which Schmidt was not authorized to access.  Schmidt was arrested on June 11, 2025, after investigators with the Weld County Sheriff's Office received several tips about Schmidt having CSAM on his phone, according to the DA's press release. Those investigators were able to ...
Tragedy Strikes Eaton as Three Young Men Lose Their Lives in Rollover Crash
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Tragedy Strikes Eaton as Three Young Men Lose Their Lives in Rollover Crash

By: Stephanie Southey | Denver7 Eaton community mourns after crash kills 3 recent high school graduates. WELD COUNTY, Colo. — Three recent Eaton High School graduates were killed, and two others were injured in a single-vehicle rollover crash east of Ault in Weld County Saturday evening, according to the Colorado State Patrol. Investigators said a Chevrolet Tahoe was traveling at a high rate of speed west on Weld County Road 80 around 5:18 p.m. when it went off the road, lost control and rolled several times, ejecting all five occupants. Three men — a 19-year-old and 20-year-old from Eaton and a 19-year-old from Greeley — were pronounced dead at the scene, CSP said. The 20-year-old male driver from Wyoming was transported by air to a local hospital with...
Town of Hudson Sued Over Approval Process for Planned ICE Detention Center
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Town of Hudson Sued Over Approval Process for Planned ICE Detention Center

By: Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette A nonprofit organization filed a lawsuit against the Town of Hudson Wednesday, challenging plans to reopen a former federal prison in the town as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility. Together Colorado, along with Janet E. Carlson, filed the case in Colorado District Court in Weld County, alleging the town is not “powerless to act” and that the proposed detention facility violates the town’s zoning laws. “Under Colorado law, Hudson has not only the authority but the obligation and the duty to treat the proposed facility the way it would treat any other new facility proposed within the Town: by applying and enforcing its own Land Development Code,” the lawsuit says. In addition to the ...
Colorado ICE Detention Capacity Set to Nearly Double Under New Federal Contract
Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Colorado ICE Detention Capacity Set to Nearly Double Under New Federal Contract

By: Nico Brambila | Colorado Politics The federal government has signed a five-year contract with private prison company GEO Group that will effectively double Colorado’s immigration detention capacity to about 2,700 beds. Signed July 9, the contract comes a year after the Trump administration told Colorado’s congressional delegation it planned to reopen the shuttered Hudson Correctional Facility as an immigration detention center. The deal is worth up to $528.6 million, federal contracting records show. Located about 30 miles northeast of Denver in Weld County, the Hudson Correctional Facility is a medium-security prison that closed a decade ago. The prison is operated by the GEO Group, while the Highlands REIT Inc. — a real estate investment firm — owns it....
Bandimere unveils vision for massive new racing destination near Hudson
Competition Plus, Approved, State

Bandimere unveils vision for massive new racing destination near Hudson

By Bobby Bennett | Competition Plus John Bandimere spent more than 60 years helping build one of the most recognizable drag strips in America. Now he’s preparing to build something that, in his mind, isn’t really a drag strip at all. That’s the part many people don’t understand.The next Bandimere Speedway will have a quarter-mile. It will have grandstands. It will have race cars, race fans and many of the features people associate with one of drag racing’s most respected facilities. What it won’t be is Thunder Mountain. “We’ll never be able to replace it,” Bandimere said. “We can do a lot of things that’ll make it to where the new place will have a good feel, but you never can replace it.” For years, racers and fans gathered at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado, w...
Colorado grew on a wave. The wave is gone.
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado grew on a wave. The wave is gone.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado crossed six million people in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Headlines called it a milestone. What they didn't report is how the state got there, and what's left now that the wave behind the growth has receded. The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 population estimates, released across state, county and municipal data, include a breakdown most coverage did not examine. The growth wasn’t coming from where it used to From 2015 through 2019, Census Bureau historical data shows Colorado averaged roughly 50,000 net migrants a year. Most were Americans who had sized up their options and chose this state. Then it changed. In 2020, Colorado received a net 239 international migrants. By 2024 that figure...
Northern Colorado Leaders Warn Power Shortage Could Slow Growth
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Northern Colorado Leaders Warn Power Shortage Could Slow Growth

By: Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado Rapid growth across parts of Northern Colorado is colliding with a growing challenge — being able to access enough electricity to support new homes and businesses. Local leaders in Greeley say demand for power has increased significantly in recent decades. This is as technology becomes more integrated into everyday life, and it creates pressure on an electric grid that is struggling to keep pace with population growth and development. "We are growing pretty rapidly," said Don Threewitt, interim community and economic developer for the city of Greeley. Threewitt said the state's electric demand has shifted dramatically in the last decade, as residents rely more heavily on technology. From smartphones and electric vehicles to incre...
Colorado Growth Slows as Population Gains Concentrate in Fewer Counties
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Growth Slows as Population Gains Concentrate in Fewer Counties

By Mark Samuelson | The Denver Gazette Population growth in Colorado, which had helped drive the region’s burgeoning economy over recent years, has slowed markedly. In metro Denver, the growth areas are concentrated in only a handful of counties, according to a new report. From 2024 to 2025 the state added just 33,151 residents, marking one of the lowest annual growth cycles it had posted over the past decade, according to a study issued last week by the Greenwood Village-based Common Sense Institute. That recent total shows Colorado’s annual population growth having slipped by some 60% from 2015, a summary of the study concluded. During the span of 2015 to 2016, Colorado saw a population increase of 83,036, the study said. Meanwhile, although recent data show t...