The Sunriser | The volunteers helping migrants survive winter

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Good morning, Colorado!

We’re far enough into 2024 that we’ve shaken off the inertia of the holidays and emerged from the worst of the deep freeze, ready to get to it. We’re already making a whole lot of plans on how The Colorado Sun will grow and serve the news needs of the whole state during a year that is going to need it.

A lot of those plans are behind-the-scenes boring stuff, but some of our most recent experiments involve readers like you! If you missed our interactive High Cost of Colorado event last week, don’t worry, because you have another opportunity to get involved with the news this week.

RSVP today for our event all about electric vehicles and how they fit into Colorado’s transportation future, The New Car Culture. Click here to sign up and submit a question of your own for reporter Michael Booth and a panel of transportation experts, ahead of the broadcast of the panel Wednesday at 6 p.m., complete with a live chat with the whole panel to answer more questions.

We’re excited about this new format for events — and especially what readers like you think about them, so please email our events manager Kristina Pritchett if you have questions, comments or ideas for future Sun events.

But the future of transportation is just that — the future — and we’ve got plenty of news right here in the present that we need to get to. Let’s hit the road, shall we?

THE NEWS

MIGRATION

On a dead-end street in north Denver, migrants are surviving winter with the help of an army of volunteers

Just across the South Platte River from the National Western Stock Show, a dozen tents had become a small community of survival for some of the migrant men who have exhausted their city-mandated limit on the number of days they could stay in the hotels rented out to provide temporary shelter. Jennifer Brown has more on the current state of the thousands of migrants currently in flux — and the volunteers from all walks of life who are helping people survive as they cycle out of aid provided by the city.

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ELECTION 2024

“Keep the press out of this”: Police release footage of Colorado Republican leader’s 2022 DUI arrest

House Minority Leader Mike Lynch was driving an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E when he was pulled over on I-25 between Fort Collins and Wellington for speeding in September 2022. But after a Breathalyzer test indicated his blood-alcohol level was double the state limit, he was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Jesse Paul has more on the recently publicized arrest and how it could affect the crowded race for the open U.S. House seat in Congressional District 4.

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• How Colorado voters are reacting to Lauren Boebert’s congressional district swap. Fleeing a tough reelection bid in the district where she lives, Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is moving from the mountains to the plains, in the hopes of finding conservative pastures green enough to salvage her place in Congress. But she’ll have to convince a whole new swath of voters that she represents them better than the homegrown candidates she faces.
• Maine’s top election official appeals ruling that delayed decision on Trump’s ballot status until Colorado case is resolved. A state judge bounced Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to remove Donald Trump from the state’s Republican primary back to her with instructions to wait until the Supreme Court has ruled on the Colorado case — which is running up against tight timelines for primary ballots around the country.

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HEALTH CARE

How hard is it for rural Colorado hospitals to hire CEOs? Ask the 24-year-old boss at the medical center in Julesburg.

A mile from the Nebraska state line, Aidan Hettler has more than a year of experience working as the CEO of the Sedgwick County Health Center — at the ripe old age of 24. Gabrielle Porter dives into the not-so-extraordinary circumstances that led the board of the rural health center to entrust its operations to someone who can’t yet legally rent a car.

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GOVERNMENT

Colorado officials thought they had 3 more years to spend $1.5B in federal COVID aid. They have 11 months.

Colorado state budget writers are in a race against the clock to spend all the leftover federal pandemic aid before the end of 2024 — thanks to new guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department that moved the deadline more than two years earlier than expected. Brian Eason breaks down what’s left in the coffers, why the feds have changed their schedule and what could benefit from the rush to spend.

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MORE NEWS

• Colorado added just 300 jobs in December, as unemployment rate rose to 3.4%. But as Tamara Chuang writes in this week’s “What’s Working” column, the state’s labor economist says to ignore the paltry gains as the numbers are likely being undercounted.
• Small-town Colorado newspapers stolen after running story about rape charges at police chief’s house. Nearly all the copies of the Ouray County Plaindealer were stolen from newspaper racks on the same day it published a story about charges being filed over rapes alleged to have occurred at an underage drinking party at the police chief’s house while the chief was asleep. Most of the missing papers have since been returned and money has been raised to help the paper.
• Teen pleads guilty in Denver house fire that killed 5 members of a family from Senegal. Gavin Seymour, 19, was one of three teens charged in starting the house fire that killed five people, including two children. The motive given by the accused relates to a revenge plot over a stolen cell phone that was mistakenly traced to the home.
• Human head and hands found in Colorado freezer during cleanup of recently sold house. The remains were found in a Grand Junction home and confirmed to be human after an autopsy. A positive identification for the remains has not been made yet, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.

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COLORADO SUNDAY

Replacement ranch needed for storied Colorado family. 86,000 acres or best offer.

After 24 years of raising cattle on the 86,000-acre Chico Basin Ranch near Hanover, the Phillips family is in need of new pastures. Three generations have raised premium beef cattle on the Colorado Land Board-owned land, but the family was just outbid by the Flying Diamond Ranch when the lease expired.

READ MORE

THE COLORADO REPORT

• What slowed construction permitting in Denver the last few years? A city audit found multiple failures. The audit showed errors in construction plan reviews, too little oversight that slowed down approval for new projects and little training that led to excessive costs for people and companies trying to build things in the city.
  — Denverite
• Larry Zimmer, the longtime voice of Colorado football and basketball games, has died at 88.
  Zimmer, the longtime radio voice for the University of Colorado football and basketball who also called Denver Broncos games, had been hospitalized for the last 10 days.
  — Colorado Public Radio
• Aurora high school journalists reveal alleged social media sextortion of fellow students. A report by student journalists at Rangeview High School sparked an investigation by the Aurora Police Department.
  — Denver 7
• More than 670,000 attend 2024 National Western Stock Show as January cold snap fails to freeze out visitors. This year’s stock show was the 10th-most attended in the show’s 118-year history, according to stock show president and CEO Paul Andrews.
  — The Denver Post

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Colorado’s crowded mountain roads are a public safety concern. More public transit for outdoor recreation would help. Clogged mountain roads are causing delays and burdening locals. More affordable public transit is needed.
  — Trish Zornio
• It’s shocking, but Congress might pass a new and improved child tax credit. The bill wouldn’t be nearly as generous as the one-year bill Michael Bennet helped pass in 2021. But it would be better than what we have now.
  — Mike Littwin
• Ringing in 2024 in Cuba offers an eye-opening view of politics at home. Cuba is an economic disaster area, but almost no one is homeless, medical care is guaranteed to everyone and education is free.
  — Diane Carman

CARTOONS

• Every frozen dead guy has his day. After relocating from Nederland to Estes Park, the cryogenically preserved corpse of Bredo Morstøl is getting new life. Which may explain the weather last weekend.
  — Peter Moore

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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If you’re one of the lucky folks in Colorado to get above freezing today, I hope you get out to enjoy it! Have a great day and see you back here tomorrow.

— Eric and the whole staff of The Sun

Corrections & Clarifications

Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.