Recycling mattresses is more difficult than ever

Good morning, Colorado.

Democracy may be on your mind as we approach the Colorado primary in a few weeks and gear up for the general election in November. Thanks to support from our community, and readers like you, The Sun is here to keep you informed through all of it with our nonpartisan, trustworthy news coverage. (Here’s our election guide if you haven’t checked it out yet.) It’s “Democracy Days” here at The Sun, and we have a goal of raising $30,000 in donations by June 26. Here’s the exciting part — we are only $10,000 away from meeting our goal. Thank you to our readers and members who have donated toward our campaign so far. We appreciate you!

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Now, on to today’s news.

Olivia Prentzel

Reporter

THE NEWS

ENVIRONMENT

How a nationwide slowdown in housing sales put a kink in Colorado’s mattress recycling

Recycling old and unwanted mattresses was already really hard. Spring Back Colorado, based in Commerce City, used to pay for a company to take the large amounts of foam that would recycle it into carpet padding. But as it turns out, the market for carpeting plummeted last year as consumers faced high interest rates, which caused home sales to slump. So, now what? Send thousands of pounds of foam to the landfill? Tamara Chuang lays out the carpet-mattress-recycling conundrum.

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ENVIRONMENT

How can you see Colorado when you can’t see Colorado? There’s an app for that.

A new app now offered in all 42 Colorado state parks is helping blind hikers explore the beauty of our state with a helpful set of eyes. The Aira-guided walking app uses the voice from a live, trained human guide FaceTiming through a phone camera and can warn sight-impaired people about the dangerous steep drop-off ahead or the wildflowers in bloom. It’s free inside the parks and the reviews are sublime, Michael Booth reports.

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EDUCATION

Colorado invests in bilingual preschool as Spanish-speaking population grows with new migrants

As Colorado’s Spanish-speaking population grows, the state is investing in bilingual preschool programs to get more Spanish-speaking students into preschool and assimilate new migrants from South America. This fall, Jefferson County’s Head Start program is expanding its first bilingual classrooms, offering preschool in Spanish and English. Last week, Gov. Jared Polis signed a new law to create a bilingual licensing unit within the state Department of Early Childhood, targeting $360,000 in state funds next year to help Spanish-speaking child care providers get licensed and to expand bilingual preschool options. Jennifer Brown has more.

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HEALTH

Colorado nursing homes are left in the dark as more utilities cut power to prevent wildfires

When powerful winds created dangerous wildfire conditions in Boulder, Xcel Energy cut off power to 52,000 homes and businesses, including Frasier, an assisted living and skilled nursing facility. The facility had only 75 minutes before its lights were shut off and staff scrambled to prepare the home of 500 residents. Generators kept some systems running, but the heating system stayed off as overnight temperatures dipped into the 30s.

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MORE NEWS

• Dad fatally shoots deer after it charges pregnant woman, stomps dogs northwest of Colorado Springs. A deer in El Paso County stomped two dogs Friday evening and charged a pregnant woman, whose father tried to scare the deer with a nonlethal round before shooting and killing it, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said. 
• Man takes murder plea deal in first Colorado case impacted by work of embattled DNA analyst. Garret Coughlin pleaded guilty to three second-degree murder charges in the killings of Wallace White, Kelly Sloat-White and Emory Fraker near Boulder in 2017 — a plea deal only offered by prosecutors because they were unable to call Yvonne “Missy” Woods to testify in the case that relied on circumstantial evidence.

Section by Olivia Prentzel | Reporter

THE COLORADO REPORT

• Denver is paying another $500,000 over police and sheriff misconduct claims. One of the two misconduct suits alleged that Scott Peters — who was arrested while sleeping in his car — entered jail uninjured, but left with broken bones, severed arteries and “permanent disfigurement” after he was involuntarily given sedatives and then assaulted by six deputies in a cameraless cell.
  — Denverite
• Pueblo company riding the waves to develop “game-changing” renewable energy. Sure, it might be a little strange that a company working to harness waves is headquartered in southern Colorado, but co-founder Stefan Siegel said “in the end, Pueblo is equally close to both oceans.”
  — The Pueblo Chieftain
• Frontdoor CEO explains a $585M cash deal to buy a Denver metro area company. 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, a Denver company owned by a private equity firm, will be purchased in an all-cash transaction by the home warranty giant.
  — Denver Business Journal 🔑
• Denver chef named best restaurateur in the nation by James Beard. Kelly and Erika Whitaker — of The Wolf’s Tailor and BRUTØ — were named the Outstanding Restaurateur in the country, while Matt Vawter of Rootstalk in Breckenridge won Best Chef in the Mountain Region.
  — The Denver Post

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COMMUNITY

• Rocky Mountain National Park is a role model for managing access in crowded parks. The success of the timed entry pilot programs shows it’s not only feasible but also necessary for the long-term protection of the park
  — Darla Sidles, former superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park 

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.

SunLit

In “Forces of Nature,” news of a brother’s death triggers … so many questions

In this striking memoir, author Gina DeMillo Wagner explores the nuances and difficulties of life — and death — within a family dealing with developmental disability. Her excerpt from “Forces of Nature” begins with the heart-pounding dread of finally receiving the news as an adult that she’d known was coming since age 5, and the beginning of confronting the difficult dynamics that defined her family.

READ AN EXCERPT

• Interview with the author. Wagner explains how she discovered that there was an untapped audience of siblings and other family members living with developmental disability based on reaction to an essay she wrote on the subject for the New York Times. 

Kevin Simpson | Writer

Thanks for joining us today. See you next time.

— Olivia & the whole staff of The Sun

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