Billions in rural clean energy funds frozen

Good morning and happy spring! Just kidding, we all know it’s only the first fake spring and that March is Colorado’s snowiest month. But seeing the gobs of people — walkers, runners, cyclists with mud-spray on the backs of their T-shirts — on the Platte River Trail during Sunday’s 60-degree sunshine would make anyone who hasn’t lived here long think winter was over.

It would have been the perfect temperature to watch a kids soccer tournament, but the snowstorm two days earlier wiped my entire weekend schedule clean. Not too often you can snowshoe 20 minutes from Denver one day and walk in shorts the next.

Gotta love Colorado! And I hope along with it, its homegrown, journalist-run, nonprofit news source bringing you valuable information from every corner.

Jennifer Brown

Reporter

THE NEWS

BUSINESS

$3.2B in funding for Colorado rural electric co-ops and Tri-State frozen as clean energy programs are reconsidered

The Empowering Rural America program — part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act — had awarded Colorado co-ops more than $3 billion in loans and grants to help move away from coal to cleaner sources of energy. Not only has the funding been frozen, Mark Jaffe reports, but details about the awards have been removed from the USDA’s website.

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Colorado lawmakers, amid tight budget, plan to shut down 20-year-old program getting teens involved at Capitol

As the budget shortfall that legislators are working to close continues to grow, lawmakers are sending the message that everything is on the table to save money, Jesse Paul reports — including cutting the relatively cheap program that brought teens from every state Senate district and two tribes under the dome to learn about lawmaking.

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MORE FROM THE STATE CAPITOL:

• Palestinian-American, Iranian-American state leaders want to check their own ethnic identity on Colorado forms. The backers of Senate Bill 50 are Iman Jodeh, a state senator from Aurora who is Palestinian-American, and Yara Zokaie, a state representative from Fort Collins who is Iranian-American.
• Colorado lawmakers advance bill that would put guardrails on private equity-backed child care chains. The bill, which was significantly watered down from its original version, represents Colorado’s first foray into child care regulations focused on for-profit child care chains with institutional investors.
• Colorado lawmakers want more accountability when DNA evidence is mishandled by the state. House Bill 1275 would require a CBI lab employee to report any misconduct they’re aware of and then mandate a state investigation. It would also set up a process to inform criminal defendants and others affected by the misconduct.
• Colorado voters may get another say in funding free school meals for all students. House Bill 1274 proposes putting two measures on the ballot in November that would allow the state to collect and keep more tax revenue to cover a funding shortfall for the meals program.
• How two new lawmakers are adjusting to life under Colorado’s Gold Dome. The hours are long and being a representative is a lifestyle change, but Democrat Yara Zokaie and Republican Dusty Johnson say it’s worth the sacrifices.

WATER

Some Coloradans are eyeing floating solar panels in the search for new water supplies

On paper, floating solar panels on top of the reservoirs and canals that store and move water around Colorado could prevent 429,000 acre-feet of water being lost to evaporation — more than the water used by all of the state’s cities and towns combined. But as Shannon Mullane reports, getting the idea to reality from paper means crossing a diverse set of barriers.

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OUTDOORS

Two Colorado athletes to watch when Steamboat Springs hosts the Paralympic World Cup this week

For the first time in more than eight years, the Paralympic World Cup is back on U.S. snow, and Eugene Buchanan has the stories of the Colorado athletes who are looking to make the moment count.

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• Berthoud Pass avalanche kills third Colorado backcountry traveler of the 2024-25 season. Friends say Nathan Ginn, 50, died in a slide in an area called The Fingers. His death was the second in an avalanche in Colorado in two days.

ECONOMY

What’s Working: Federal workers on Colorado unemployment benefits. Who pays?

Only two dozen federal workers had filed for unemployment benefits as of Tuesday. But the data does not include the impact of the “Valentine’s Day Massacre” of mass layoffs sent Feb. 14. Tamara Chuang reports on which workers can file for unemployment — even if their firings were for “performance reasons” — in this week’s “What’s Working” column.

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MORE NEWS

• Colorado nonprofit allowed to continue helping immigrant children after Trump administration rescinds order. Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network is providing legal help to about 160 children who are separated from their parents.
• Fact Brief ☀️ Do just 2 in 5 Colorado fourth graders meet expectations in math? Yes. Around 42% of fourth graders in public schools tested at or above their grade level in math in standardized testing last year.

COLORADO SUNDAY

The quest for water heads to the moon, via spacecraft built in Colorado

We already know there is water on the moon, but for future lunar expeditions, we’re going to need to know a lot more about where, how much and in what form the water is available. Enter Lockheed Martin’s space division, headquartered in Littleton, and the Lunar Trailblazer project. Tamara Chuang has more from the intersection of space exploration and geology.

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Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE COLORADO REPORT

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

• Federal mass firings hit home. SLV fisheries biologist Rosalee Reese — who has years of experience — was among those let go from her “dream job” just months before her baby is due. “I’ve moved around the country countless times to take seasonal and temporary jobs to build my résumé to be competitive in the federal service, not only because I passionately care about our natural resources and protecting them for future generations, but also because this system promises security and a long-term career for those people that commit to it.”
  — Alamosa Citizen
• Late fees, shutoffs suspended again as Englewood Utilities continues to experience water billing issues. The issues with Englewood’s new water billing system began last summer, with physical bills not properly displaying water consumption and causing hundreds of confused customers to email the utility company.
  — Englewood Herald
• Burglars who busted through Cherry Creek jeweler’s wall stole $12M in goods. Four thieves dressed up as construction workers used drills, power saws and blowtorches to ransack Cherry Creek’s Hyde Park Jewelers last July, making off with more than $12 million in luxury watches and accessories.
  — The Denver Post 🔑
• These Colorado mountain towns are battling “severe gas capacity constraints.” Xcel has proposed a $115 million project aimed at ensuring the 65,000 customers and 975 miles of transmission pipelines in Summit, Grand, Lake and Eagle counties will have reliable gas service.
  — Summit Daily
• Indigenous sisters quit Westernaires over organization’s portrayal of Native Americans. “We loved Westernaires and thought that they would listen and care when we told them what this felt like to us,” said a letter written by 10- and 11-year-old sisters Jamilah and Justice Maldonado to the Golden-based horse-riding performance organization.
  — The Denver Post 🔑

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Trump claims to be king of a country that doesn’t do kings. As if dictator wasn’t enough. And yet, as he continues to smash through democratic guardrails, we finally see cracks in the president’s polling.
  — Mike Littwin
  
• Anne Marie Hochhalter was so much more than a Columbine survivor. The contributions Anne Marie Hochhalter made in the years after she was paralyzed in the Columbine school shooting should be remembered.
  — Mario Nicolais
  
• Can American science be saved, or is it too late? Trump is pushing federal science over the edge, but respect for the profession was already long in decline.
  — Trish Zornio
  

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.

Enjoy the rest of first fake spring while it lasts because, hopefully, winter is not finished.

— Jennifer and the whole staff of The Sun

The Colorado Sun is part of The Trust Project. Read our policies.

Corrections & Clarifications

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