In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force, Capt. Ryan Vickers stands for a photo to display his new service tapes after taking his oath of office to transfer from the U.S. Air Force to the U.S. Space Force at Al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. Space Force, the first new U.S. military service since the creation of the Air Force in 1947, now has some 20 members stationed at Qatar's Al-Udeid Air Base in its first foreign deployment. (Staff Sgt. Kayla White/U.S. Air Force via AP)
Good morning, Sunrisers —
I always know it’s going to be a chilly day when my cat wants to go under the covers in the morning. Unfortunately, she communicates this by sitting on my face and suffocating me. After I lifted up the sheets this morning, she thanked me by stepping on my throat while crawling under.
But she made up for it by curling close with her extra bit of furry warmth. The weather in Denver should warm up by tomorrow so I’ll take the cuddles when I can get them.
Former state Sen. Chris Hansen speaks at the Colorado state Capitol before Gov. Jared Polis signed a special session property tax deal, House Bill 1001, into law on Sept. 4. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)
In recent years, lawmakers expanded a property tax deferral program to help people absorb the shock of spiking home values, expecting around 35,000 households to put it to use. But as Brian Eason reports, fewer than 2,000 applied — and the program’s software costs have made it a prime target for lawmakers hungry to make cuts.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying satellites for the Space Force’s Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, on Jan. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
For years, America’s strategy for defense in orbit has been to make satellites that are smaller, faster and more durable than others — and make a lot of them. But as Andy Pasztor reports, an underpublicized plan from the Trump administration would switch to an arsenal of in-orbit weapons that would grapple, bump or disable enemy spacecraft — ramping up aggression against Russia and China while putting Colorado companies and bases to work.
Dr. Heide Ford, center, CU Medicine Endowed Chair in Pharmacology, along with graduate student Art Wolin, left, shows U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper around the Ford Lab at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus on Tuesday in Aurora. The lab focuses on research into cancer cells and potential treatments for cancer. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)
“Even though I won’t survive this disease, I want to be part of that wave, to contribute toward an ALS cure. Does NIH really want to cut loose these years of research, one study building on the results of another, and all those lifesaving waves?”
— Barbara Johnson, an ALS patient and former CDC researcher who has participated in clinical trials
Federal funding from the National Institute of Health is imbued throughout the CU-Anschutz medical center in Aurora, with grants totaling $360 million on campus. As Sen. John Hickenlooper toured the facilities to see how the funding is spent, doctors — and patients from some of the many clinical trials operating on site — implored him to protect the progress toward health breakthroughs that this funding supports. John Ingold has more.
“It was a large revision. The January 2025 unemployment rate of 4.7% is elevated compared to a year ago, but it is still below the state’s historical average of ~5.2%.”
— Tim Wonhof, program manager for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s division of labor standards and statistics
The reasons that Colorado’s 2024 unemployment numbers changed are plentiful: tweaked population controls, changes to estimation formulas, new census data and other common statistical adjustments. But as Tamara Chuang reports, the updated data paints a very different picture of Colorado’s economy than it used to.
The Gunnison River flows through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Forest seen on Aug. 7, 2021. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
Search for missing Denver man ends in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. A monthlong search for a missing Denver man has ended after a team of park rangers and a search and rescue team found human remains believed to be those of 31-year-old Jordan Marsters. The remains were found in a remote and highly technical area in the wilderness area of the national park, Lori Rome, a spokesperson for the park, said in a news release.
Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler
THE COLORADO REPORT
🔑 = source has article meter or paywall
Home is where you make it, but where do loans live? “The banks want to rob Colorado of one of its oldest rights and create a race to the bottom to set up in states with virtually no interest rate caps,” argued Brian Urankar, a senior assistant attorney general during a lawsuit brought by banking lobbyists to challenge the Colorado Uniform Credit Code adopted in 2024. — Courthouse News
Can a team of amateurs from Colorado reach the top of the U.S. soccer pyramid? No, we’re not talking about the Rapids. Boulder’s Harpos FC — a team of engineers, youth soccer coaches, graduate students and one undercover cop — begins their journey toward amateur soccer immortality Wednesday at the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup where they technically have a chance to take on and defeat some of the biggest professional clubs in the country. — 5280
Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from bookstores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Explore Booksellers in Aspen recommends:
“On the Calculation of Volume” by Solvej Balle, a seven-volume Nordic spin on a “Groundhog Day” tale
“This Is Happiness” by Niall Williams, an enchanting novel of a tiny Irish town’s electrification
“What We Owe the Future” by William MacAskill, a philosophical argument for “longtermism”
Read what the bookstore staff had to say about each. Pick up a copy and support your local bookstores at the same time.
