Good morning, Colorado!
Exactly five years ago, COVID started getting real in Colorado. It’s not a memory lane any of us really want to walk down, but it’s been on my mind because the coronavirus finally came for me.
I was one of the lucky ones who somehow managed to dodge the virus during the worst of the pandemic — or at least get away with no symptoms if I did happen to contract it at some point. That changed Sunday when I woke up feeling excessively sore with a scratchy throat and a mild headache.
After two positive COVID tests Monday, I dug out one of my pandemic-era masks — a real blast from the past — to wear in the hallways of my apartment and while quickly popping over to the grocery store for more soup. Otherwise I’ve been quarantined in my apartment all week, my reporting confined to phone interviews from my couch while sipping 7UP (and yes, water).
A hazy sort of déjà vu has settled over this week of isolation, pulling me back to the early days of the pandemic when I barely knew what Zoom was and was just trying to keep calm. For me, it’s one of those weird time warps. It feels like the pandemic somehow began forever ago and also just a few weeks back. And now that I’m among the newest members of the COVID club, I’m all the more grateful for the countless health care workers, scientists and essential workers (haven’t used that term in a minute) who have taken care of us and vaccinated us so that we’re living in a back-to-normal-ish world. Just with a fresh slate of challenges.
But don’t let me drone on about my own woes when we have much bigger woes — and wins — to unpack. Let’s get a running start on today’s news, shall we?
Education Reporter
THE NEWS
ENERGY
Is natural gas a bridge to clean energy or a climate backslide? That is a Colorado power company’s dilemma.
The Platte River Power Authority has a plan to reduce emissions by 80% from its power generation by 2030, but when the plan turned out to include building of five new natural gas turbines as a “bridge technology,” residents and environmental groups began to push back. Parker Yamasaki has more from northern Colorado.
HEALTH
Nearly 500 behavioral health workers in Colorado have been laid off in the past 3 months
Since the beginning of the year, two Colorado psychiatric hospitals have closed and another has moved to a new town, amounting to a dramatic drop in the communities’ capacity to treat mental health issues. Jennifer Brown breaks down what happened and what it means for patients.
STATE LEGISLATURE
Colorado lawmakers funded an office to handle complaints against judges. No one set it up.
In the wake of an alleged blackmail and harassment scandal that roiled Colorado’s judicial branch, lawmakers in 2023 created an independent office to help ensure it didn’t happen again. But as Brian Eason reports, the ombudsman office still doesn’t exist two years later — and it’s not clear why.
EDUCATION
Colorado, 20 other states, sue Trump administration over “illegal dismantling” of Department of Education
Two days after federal officials terminated nearly half of the Department of Education’s staff, a lawsuit involving 21 states was filed this morning in Massachusetts, Erica Breunlin reports.
Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler
COLORADO REPORT
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Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler
What’s Happening
March 13-19
Devil Moon Concert Series. Well before Georgetown was the gateway to Guanella Pass leaf peeping, or an I-70 winter pitstop, the 2-mile-long strip was a rough and tumble mining town established almost 20 years before Colorado became a state. The town is strewn with old brick buildings and studded with plaques that keep its history at the forefront. One of the most stunning examples is a couple of blocks from the main drag, on Taos Street, where the local public school building has stood for 151 years.
In 2007 the building, then established as one of Colorado’s “endangered places,” was adopted by the Georgetown Trust. The walls were sanded and heating was installed, and the building has since come to house Georgetown’s arts and cultural programming, including the annual Devil Moon Concert Series happening this weekend.
Tickets to the three-part series include light hors d’oeuvres, a beverage and a lounge style concert in the historic venue. On Saturday, you can catch the second of three concerts, with Latin jazz ensemble Ritmo Jazz Latino.
If you want to make a weekend of it, Bread Bar, just up the road in Silver Plume (and also housed in a historic gold rush-era building) is hosting a whiskey tasting from 2-5 p.m. Sunday.
$75; 7-10 p.m., March 15; The Old School, 809 Taos St., Georgetown
Section by Parker Yamasaki | Reporter
Thanks, as always, for taking minutes out of your morning to stay informed and support our work here at The Sun. We’ll see you back here tomorrow — when we are officially less than a week away from spring!
— Erica & the whole staff of The Sun
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