Will voters get a chance to boost school funding?

Happy first Monday morning after daylight saving! It was kinda rough, right? Cheers to the parents of sleepy babies and dogs that have no concept of an alarm clock, and, dear to my heart this morning, parents of teenagers who overslept and didn’t have time to do their hair.

But yes, the extra hour of sunlight last evening to close out a 65-degree spring day was worth it.

We’ve got interesting reads on everything from school funding to sperm donation, so let’s pour extra coffee and get going.

Jennifer Brown

Reporter

THE NEWS

HEALTH

Colorado lawmakers consider rollback of sperm donor disclosure requirements adopted in wake of scandals

After a wave of scandals (see Netflix’s “The Man With 1,000 Kids” docuseries) rocked the country’s fertility industry in 2022, Colorado became the first state to set transparency requirements for sperm donors and banks. Three years later, lawmakers are considering a partial rollback to help make assisted-reproduction services more accessible, Jesse Paul reports.

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• Colorado is about to further limit when sexual assault victims’ prior sexual activity can be discussed in court. House Bill 1138 would eliminate an exemption allowing courtroom discussion of a sexual assault victim’s prior sexual activity when it involved the defendant.

EDUCATION

Colorado education groups ask lawmakers to devise plan to boost school funding, eye 2026 ballot measure

In the wake of two studies showing that Colorado is underfunding schools by billions of dollars, a coalition of education advocacy groups is leading a “Get it Done” campaign to ask lawmakers to create a 3-5 year plan to get to full funding. But as Erica Breunlin writes, the groups are also considering ballot measures that would let voters increase school funding themselves — something that hasn’t been attempted since 2018.

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ECONOMY

Trump’s tariff roller coaster is no fun for Colorado’s farm and agriculture industry

With tariffs on things like potash (a vital component of fertilizer) and auto parts changing sometimes daily as the Trump administration continues to launch, suspend and modify trade regulations, Colorado farmers and ranchers who are trying to plan for the next growing season are feeling lost. Tamara Chuang has more in this week’s “What’s Working” column.

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MORE NEWS

• Judge rejects Denver Public Schools’ attempt to block Trump ICE guidance. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico said there is little practical difference between the prior policy, the last iteration of which was issued in 2021 under former President Biden, and a pair of memos issued by the Trump administration in January.
• Fact Brief ☀️ Is Denver’s tipped minimum wage $4 higher than its surrounding area? Yes. The tipped minimum wage in Denver is $15.79, compared with the state minimum of $11.79, which applies to most nearby cities and towns.

COLORADO SUNDAY

Unwanted animals of all kinds are wanted at this Colorado woman’s home

It all started with a rescue dog named Dublin. And where it ended up, Tracy Ross reports, is a Nederland animal rescue menagerie that is making an effort to help animals with special needs — from yaks to pigs and everything in between.

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Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE COLORADO REPORT

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

• Wheat Ridge to host giant, inflatable colon to raise cancer awareness. The 12-foot long, 12-foot high, 113-pound inflatable model of a precancerous colon will be at the Lutheran Hospital on March 17.
  — Wheat Ridge Transcript
• Why is it sometimes colder down in cities on the Front Range than up in the foothills? The short answer is “cold air sinks” but the long answer from Denver7 chief meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo is quite interesting for weather watching folks.
  — Colorado Public Radio
• Pueblo D60 weighs “rightsizing” options amid continued decline in student enrollment. The biggest district in Pueblo has seen a 13.5% enrollment decrease in the past 10 years and says its school buildings are operating at 66% capacity on average.
  — The Pueblo Chieftain 🔑
• Inside the new operations center at I-70 tunnels. After a $12 million upgrade, the control center has access to 117 cameras in and around the Eisenhower and Johnson tunnels, each of which can zoom in on an object as small as a nail from up to 2 miles away, which officials say will help shorten or prevent closures of the crucial highway.
  — Summit Daily
• Strip club giant sues Denver over $14M wage theft fine, allege city overreach. RCI Hospitality Holdings Inc. — the NASDAQ-traded company that owns Diamond Cabaret and Rick’s Cabaret in downtown Denver — has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the city of Denver’s mandate to pay fines and back wages, claiming that the city is “deceiving the public and media.”
  — Denver Business Journal 🔑
• White supremacist invited to speak at CMU by student club. A speaker widely described as a white supremacist and white nationalist is slated to speak at Colorado Mesa University after being invited by a student organization called the Western Culture Club.
  — The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
• Inside the La Loma divorce: Brinkerhoffs split restaurants, but lawsuit continues. The La Loma restaurant empire — valued at $34.5 million — has been divided up by a divorce court, but the contested case between William Brinkerhoff and Renee Brinkerhoff continues to expose more “concealed machinations” in the family’s finances.
  — BusinessDen 🔑

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Mayor Mike Johnston appeared before a House oversight committee that appears to have no interest in overseeing anything. If the committee questioning Mike Johnston was actually interested in oversight, it wouldn’t keep refusing to oversee Elon Musk.
  — Mike Littwin
  
• If the DOJ review of Tina Peters’ trial “wins,” America loses. The DOJ choice to review Tina Peters’ prosecution is simply political patronage to someone willing to break the law for President Trump.
  — Mario Nicolais
  

CARTOONS

• Peter Moore: The real superstars of Aspen, Colorado. Every sidewalk in Aspen is a Walk of Fame, given what it costs to live there. But these Aspenites actually deserve attention.
  — 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.

Enjoy that extra hour of sunshine today and let’s hope tomorrow’s alarm clock doesn’t hurt so much.

— Jennifer and the whole staff of The Sun

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Corrections & Clarifications

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