Ski towns want a vacancy tax on empty homes 

Good morning, Colorado.

I think we should all collectively give ourselves a pat on the back for how amazing our Colorado soccer players on the U.S. women’s national team have been doing this Olympics. Did we do anything to help? No. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t revel in their success.

Colorado’s Sophia Smith scored an extra-time goal yesterday, sending the team to the gold medal match after missing it the last two Olympic tournaments. She’s been a scoring machine with the help of fellow Coloradans Mallory Swanson, née Pugh, and Lindsey Horan.

So I say it is your duty as Coloradans to wake up Saturday and watch them face Brazil for gold at 9 a.m.

Ok, now we can turn to the news.

Danika Worthington

Presentation Editor

THE NEWS

HOUSING

Colorado resort communities want to impose a vacancy tax on unoccupied homes

Mountain towns have been struggling with affordable housing while also seeing as many as 40% of homes unoccupied by full-time residents, Jason Blevins reports. A consortium is pushing the Colorado legislature to let local governments ask voters to tax homes that sit empty for most of the year.

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BUSINESS

All the new minimum wages in Colorado that kick in Jan. 1

Colorado and the city of Denver have been raising the minimum wage annually for years. Now, Edgewater and Boulder County are joining in. Tamara Chuang has more on why. (For additional context, the $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage hasn’t increased since 2010.)

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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

Tina Peters’ chief aide testifies about her role in the hunt for Mesa County “phantom voters”

When former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters used Mesa County’s voting system to try to do the bidding of national stolen-election conspiracists, she had inside help. Tuesday, her chief aide helped those prosecuting Peters. Nancy Lofholm has more from the trial.

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• Judge reverses course, lifts prohibition on meeting to consider ouster of Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams. An Arapahoe County District Court judge cleared the way for opponents of Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams to hold a gathering in about two weeks to vote on whether the embattled leader should be removed and replaced, Jesse Paul reports.

MORE NEWS

• A Denver pediatrician helped make some of the biggest pandemic vaccine decisions. Here’s what he thinks now. John Ingold talked with Dr. Matthew Daley, who ended his term on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June. The committee makes recommendations about whether and how vaccines should be given. 
• Suncor sued in federal court by environmental groups seeking hundreds of millions in fines. The lawsuit is the latest in a long series of federal, state and private actions against the Commerce City refinery.
• Evacuations lifted for Quarry fire as wet weather helps fire crews get closer to containment. Officials don’t expect the Quarry or Alexander Mountain fires to grow as much-needed moisture brings relief to the foothills, Olivia Prentzel reports.

Section by Danika Worthington | Presentation Editor

THE COLORADO REPORT

• American discus thrower Valarie Allman makes it back-to-back gold medals at Paris Games. I love field events, and it makes my track-kid heart warm to see Longmont’s Silver Creek High School grad Valarie Allman not only win back-to-back golds in one of the oldest disciplines at the Games, but to win on a throw more than a half-meter longer than the one that nabbed her first gold in Tokyo.
  — USA Today
• A fifth City Council aide has filed an HR complaint against Flor Alvidrez alleging a “hostile work environment.” One week after the aide filed a complaint to the city’s human resources department, she was fired, becoming the fifth employee to leave the council member’s office since December.
  — Denverite
• Bipartisan members of Congress from Colorado urge Biden administration to consider MDMA use for PTSD treatment. An 80-member cohort of members of Congress, led by Sen. Michael Bennet, is urging the FDA to allow a combination of MDMA and talk therapy after an advisory panel for the agency recommended that the treatment not be approved.
  — Summit Daily
• Bikemaker Spot says it’s owed “tens of millions of dollars” by Gates Corp. Denver’s Gates Corporation invented a rubber belt-driven system for bicycles right about the same time that Spot Brand, a Golden company, developed a way to mount that system on existing bike frames. But with the surge in e-bike popularity leading to strong demand for belt-drive systems based on Spot’s designs, Spot claims they haven’t received any royalties from Gates for those sales.
  — BusinessDen 🔑

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Why did Kamala Harris pick Tim Walz as her running mate? Just ask a childless cat lady.  Harris may have made a risky pick in passing over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. But she must like the Walz-Vance matchup.
  — Mike Littwin

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

REVIEW

Park Hill Community Bookstore suggests wartime drama, dark humor

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from bookstores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Park Hill Community Bookstore in Denver recommends:

• “The Enigma Girls” by Candace Fleming, a nonfiction account of unsung WWII heroes
• “The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick deWitt, a comic Western about sibling assassins
• “Mother for Dinner” by Shalom Auslander, a darkly humorous exploration of legacy, assimilation — and cannibalism

Read what the bookstore staff had to say about each. Pick up a copy and support your local bookstores at the same time.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Section by Kevin Simpson | Writer

Remember: Three Coloradans and the rest of the U.S. women’s national team take on Brazil on Saturday for gold. Go team.

— Danika & the whole staff of The Sun

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Corrections & Clarifications

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