How the special session will affect your wallet 

The holiday season is upon us, but the day I’m most looking forward to is exactly one month from today: winter solstice. Only 30 more days until our days start to grow longer and we gain more time with the sun (even an extra minute or two is worth celebrating, in my book).

Thankfully, we’ve got a newsletter that’s ready to read before or after the sun sets, filled with important news on legislative efforts to help with record-high evictions to a proposed land sale in beautiful Grand Teton National Park.

Let’s get reading.

Olivia Prentzel

Reporter

THE NEWS

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

What the Colorado legislature passed during the special session and how it will affect your wallet

The Democratic majority cut property taxes and expanded social welfare programs, but a long-term solution to the state’s rising property taxes will have to wait. Political reporters Brian Eason and Jesse Paul break down what we need to know from the special legislative session that ended Monday afternoon.

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OUTDOORS

A proposed $75 million state trust land sale in Wyoming could start a national trend

The proposal to sell the so-called Kelly Parcel inside Grand Teton National Park to the highest bidder is drawing national attention, with wildlife and public land advocates fretting that Wyoming’s plan to sell the 640 pristine acres with unfettered views of the Grand Tetons could unlock the floodgates for billionaire developers. Jason Blevins has more.

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HOUSING

Colorado legislature approves $30 million for emergency rental assistance as eviction filings reach record highs

Colorado has logged a record number of home eviction filings this year, Tatiana Flowers reports. As of Monday, there had been 34,757 eviction filings across the state, which is up 9% from the same period last year.

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GROWTH

Thornton files new permit to build Larimer County water pipeline as housing development stalls

As more than 10,000 homes await certainty on finding a water tap, the city of Thornton tried again to finish a 70-mile water pipeline by renewing its request for Larimer County to approve the first 10 miles, Michael Booth reports. Thornton, in Adams County, has reached across county lines for water rights for Cache la Poudre flows, but now needs delivery through a pipeline to satisfy its growing population.

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MORE NEWS

• Property dispute in southern Colorado leaves 3 dead, 1 critically wounded; suspect on the run. The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office said early Tuesday that deputies continue to search for the man and that residents should shelter in place in the southeastern part of the county.

THE COLORADO REPORT

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

• Tom’s Starlight has closed; the historic Colfax location is still for lease. One of Denver’s most iconic diners was listed on the National Register of Historic Places over the protests of owner Tom Messina before the pandemic, but business never really took off after it was reborn last fall as Tom’s Starlight.
  — The Denver Post
• Suncor emergency alert wakes people up to assure them there’s “no emergency.” Around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, phones in the 18-square-mile area around the Suncor refinery lit up with an alert — just to say that excessive flaring would be visible but that there is not an emergency.
  — 9News
• How many people are buried at Pueblo Pioneer Cemetery? No one knows for sure. The cemetery’s recent purchase of a ground-penetrating radar machine is helping staff make a much more accurate map of the bodies buried in the graveyard that is older than the city itself.
  — The Pueblo Chieftain 🔑
• Slush halts DU hockey game. In the aftermath of a Zamboni sweep between the first and second periods of the game, a slushy puddle formed behind Denver’s goal that was still not solid after an hourlong delay.
  — Let’s Go DU

Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

SunLit

In “Branded Graves,” a woman’s homecoming puts her in the midst of gunfire

Author Randi Samuelson-Brown takes delight in describing her characters’ surroundings, and that joy is on full display in the opening of “Branded Graves,” when brand inspector Emory Cross returns to her family’s embattled Lost Daughter Ranch. >> EXCERPT

• Interview with the author. >> Although Samuelson-Brown’s books — this is the second volume in her “Dark Range” series — explore issues endemic to the American West, she enjoys peeling away history to reveal the many connections between current issues and those that defined the region’s wilder times. >> STORY

Kevin Simpson | Writer

Have a fantastic Tuesday, and we will see you here tomorrow.

— Olivia & the whole staff of The Sun