Feds order nonprofit to stop offering immigrant legal aid 

Good morning, Colorado.

Imagine traveling 1.7 times the speed of sound to get to your next travel destination. That’s 1,300 mph (about twice as fast as many current passenger planes). While we may still be a few years away from jumping on a supersonic jet, Colorado-company Boom Supersonic plans to break the sound barrier during a test flight this morning — marking the first time the company achieves the feat.

The company’s test vehicle was scheduled to take off on its 12th flight from California’s Mojave Air & Space Port around 8:45 a.m. Mountain time. And if all goes according to plan, the demonstrator aircraft will exceed Mach 1 — the speed of sound — about 25 minutes later. (You can watch — or rewatch — the livestream here.)

The flight will test capabilities and technologies for the company’s commercial jet, named Overture, that will fly on sustainable fuel. It will be the first supersonic passenger jet since the British-French Concorde, which was retired in 2003, a few years after a crash killed all 109 aboard. Several airlines, including American Airlines and United, have already agreed to buy supersonic jets. United says it hopes to carry passengers by 2029.

As we count down for the next supersonic jet to take off at DIA, we’ve got a lot of real-time news to catch up on. Let’s get reading.

Olivia Prentzel

Reporter

THE NEWS

IMMIGRATION

Colorado nonprofit offering immigrant legal aid ordered to stop work by feds

The Department of Justice issued a “stop work order” to Colorado’s largest organization offering legal services to immigrants, suspending the nonprofit’s work with immigrants who are locked in the detention center in Aurora or fighting deportation at the Denver immigration court. Jennifer Brown has more on the immediate and long-term effects of the Trump administration’s order.

READ MORE

ENERGY

107 oil and gas wells owned by shell company in a Highlands Ranch home are about to land on Colorado’s orphan list

I’m just going to let Mark Jaffe’s lede do the talking this time:

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OUTDOORS

Colorado shop class: Summit County students are designing, building and marketing skis

Now I’m already a huge proponent of shop class, but I think following Summit County’s lead and teaching kids how to design and build their own one-of-a-kind set of skis could really get more kids interested in working with their hands. Writer Lu Snyder has more on the program.

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ECONOMY

Colorado’s unemployment rate rises to 4.4%, the highest in three years

It’s been three years since Colorado’s unemployment rate was higher than the U.S. average. And while there are still 1.2 job openings for every unemployed Coloradan, the stubbornness of that stat has some economists worried, Tamara Chuang reports.

READ MORE

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE COLORADO REPORT

• Congress asks Denver mayor to testify as it investigates “sanctuary” cities’ immigration policies. The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent a letter to Mike Johnston calling out Denver for “abject failure to comply with federal law” regarding policies limiting local police cooperation with immigration enforcement.
  — The Denver Post 🔑
• Showing cattle at the National Western Stock Show is a whirlwind of work and tradition for Yuma’s Weathers family. Full disclosure: Nate Weathers and I were linebackers together on the Yuma High School football team back in the day. But I think you’ll still be interested in what it takes a family to participate in the National Western Stock Show even if you didn’t hit a blocking sled with one of the subjects.
  — Colorado Public Radio
• Security threats prompt Aurora Council to meet “virtually,” cancel public comment. The council said the sessions were held virtually because of an unspecified security threat, and because the city has not finalized a method of taking public comment virtually, the “public invited to be heard” portion of the meeting was also canceled.
  — Sentinel Colorado
• It’s been five years since “Large boulder the size of a small boulder.” If you were anywhere near the internet around this time in 2020, you saw a screenshot of the now-viral tweet. And KKTV found the San Miguel County Sheriff’s PIO who made the now-famous typo and found out exactly what she meant to type.
  — KKTV

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COMMUNITY

• Despite Colorado’s failed ballot measures, we can still address affordable housing crisis in 2025. Strategies to consider: leveraging unused public land, easing land-use restrictions and red tape, getting community involvement from the start.
  — Aaron Miripol , Urban Land Conservancy

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

A podcaster with a secret launches the thriller “Tell Me What You Did”

Set in the world of true crime podcasting, Carter Wilson’s standalone thriller, “Tell Me What You Did,” begins with a fascinating twist on a podcast: Callers connect anonymously with the host and then confess to crimes. When protagonist and show host Poe Webb sees on her video screen the image of a man claiming to have murdered her mother, the plot thickens into a cat-and-mouse game played out in the shadows of her own dark secret.

READ AN EXCERPT

• Interview with the author. Wilson doesn’t outline, and his characters tend to develop organically as the story progresses. He finds the hero/villain archetype boring.
• Listen to a podcast with the author.

Section by Kevin Simpson | Writer

Thanks for joining us, and have a great Tuesday!

— Olivia & the whole staff of The Sun

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Corrections & Clarifications

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