A radical rethinking of Colorado elections

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Time to thaw your turkey!

Sorry, usually I like to greet our dear readers a little more gently, but every minute counts if you still have a frozen Butterball that you’re hoping to serve Thursday.

Between the Thanksgiving prep and the ongoing special legislative session, I almost didn’t notice that the Broncos — this can’t be right, can it? — won their fourth game in a row.

I’d dwell on the poignant sadness of a once-proud fanbase being so jazzed about reaching .500, but we have entirely too much news to get to.

So let’s spatchcock this turkey and get to it already.

THE NEWS

ELECTIONS

2024 ballot measure would make Colorado’s primaries open, enact ranked-choice voting for general elections

Next November, Colorado voters will likely be asked to radically overhaul the state’s election system. In short, every candidate for an office at the state legislature level or higher would be put on the same primary ballot, regardless of party affiliation. Then the top four vote-getters would advance to the general election, which would be a ranked-choice election. Sandra Fish has much more on how the initiative would work and why Kent Thiry, the former CEO of DaVita, is funding this push.

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• Donald Trump did engage in insurrection — but can appear on Colorado’s 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot, judge rules.

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HIGH COST OF COLORADO

Why a Colorado restaurant is thinking of buying a $10,000 rice dispenser

One of my favorite stand-up one-liners is from the dearly departed Mitch Hedberg: “Rice is great when you’re hungry and you want 2,000 of something.” But these days, as restaurants are operating on razor-thin margins, every grain counts. In the latest installment of our High Cost of Colorado series, Tamara Chuang talks to the operators of Kokoro about how pressure from all sides has restaurants rethinking their fundamentals.

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POLITICS

How Democrats are using Colorado’s special session to steer tax relief toward the working poor

It looks like everyone took different lessons away from Proposition HH’s failure at the ballot box. Brian Eason spent the weekend analyzing the options that lawmakers are working through during the special session to provide property tax relief, including the progressive wing of the Democratic party’s measure that would double a tax credit for the working poor.

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• Drama, tempers and parliamentary maneuvering at the Colorado Capitol as lawmakers race to offer property tax relief. The special session will continue into this week, thanks to a GOP parliamentary gambit that was quashed by Senate president Steve Fenberg but still caused a delay. Jesse Paul and Brian Eason have more from under the dome.

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OUTDOORS

Outdoor recreation economy tops $1.1 trillion, fueling efforts for legislative support of industry

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The outdoor business continues to establish itself as a pillar of the entire American economy, Jason Blevins reports. Employing 5 million workers and accounting for 2.2% of the nation’s gross domestic product, outdoor recreation still has room to grow, especially as the federal government weighs legislation that would make recreation a bigger part of land management plans and more.

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CLUB Q SHOOTING

“We must do better”: Hundreds mourn victims of Club Q one year after deadly attack on LGBTQ club

On the one-year mark since the mass shooting, hundreds of people gathered Sunday outside of the club in Colorado Springs to honor the five people who were killed, the 18 people injured and the community forever changed in the rampage that lasted less than a minute.

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ENVIRONMENT

Boulder-based scientists track the ozone hole. Here’s how they do it — and what they know.

I grew up in the ’90s, when the main problem on Captain Planet’s mind was the hole in the ozone layer. But as Michael Booth reports, the world came together and banned the chemicals most responsible at the Montreal Protocol, and what was once a planetary threat is now described by the Boulder scientists who monitor it as “a very modest ozone hole.” Learn more with Michael’s interview with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior scientist Stephen Montzka.

READ MORE

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MORE NEWS

• Dogs are coming down with an unusual respiratory illness in Colorado, several other states. Oregon, Colorado and New Hampshire are among the states that have seen cases of the illness, which has caused lasting respiratory disease and pneumonia and does not respond to antibiotics.
• What’s Working: Thanksgiving dinner is a little bit cheaper this year. In this week’s column, Tamara Chuang explores the ways that women are being championed in STEM careers, Colorado’s jobless rate is up to 3.3% and the good news that the cost of Thanksgiving dinner ingredients is down from last year.

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Colorado Sunday

Colorado River crisis: How did the nation’s two largest reservoirs nearly go dry?

Historic drought, poor planning, competing political agendas and climate-change denial contributed to dangerously low levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, experts say. So what’s actually being done to reverse the damage? Jerd Smith of our partner at Fresh Water News dives into the complex decision-making that can throw the entire river system into disaster.

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THE COLORADO REPORT

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

• No-strings cash provided to homeless people through pilot program has saved lives, participants say. It’s been one year since the launch of the Denver Basic Income Project, which is funded through a mix of private, nonprofit and government money, and the city has agreed to renew its initial investment to continue the program some say is giving them hope to start a life off the streets.
  — The Denver Post 🔑
• How are liquor stores faring now that Coloradans can pick up wine with their milk and eggs? After the passing of Proposition 125 last November, which expanded grocery stores’ liquor licenses to include wine, some liquor stores in the Denver area say their customer traffic is down. — CPR News
• Colorado banned forced prison labor 5 years ago. Prisoners say it’s still happening. After Colorado became the first state in modern U.S. history to ban prison labor, other states began to follow suit. But some people behind bars in Colorado say the ban hasn’t affected their daily lives and “it’s been business as usual.”
  — NPR

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• In the wake of Proposition HH’s defeat, they called a special session. So far, it hasn’t been special at all. We’ve seen both anger and chaos. By the end, we should also see a slimmed-down version of Prop HH. Will Coloradans like it better?
  — Mike Littwin
• Social media is ruining Colorado politics. Is it too late to stop? Platforms like Twitter (X) are eroding local mental health, truth and trust. Can we rewind the clock?
  — Trish Zornio
• Everyone should read the Washington Post story on damage caused by AR-15-style weapons. It took me hours of starting and stopping to make my way through the horrific pictures, videos and personal accounts, but publishing it was the right call.
  — Mario Nicolais
• In the midst of war, keeping the peace on Thanksgiving won’t be easy. Good luck trying to avoid conflict at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year. But here are a few tips for boomers.
  — Diane Carman

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggest writers or provide feedback at opinion@coloradosun.com.

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Thanks for kicking off this busy week with us. If you need me, I’m going to be practice-proofing my pull-apart sour cream and chives rolls so I can get a perfect batch by Thursday.

— Eric & Olivia