Front Range vs. Western Slope over water rights

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Good morning, Sunriser readers.

Before I moved to Colorado nearly a decade ago I’d heard about it, but not for its purple mountain majesties like most. Sure, I knew about the Rocky Mountains, but for my family, Colorado was still known as the place my grandparents were held in an internment camp during World War II. Colorado, to much of my family, was associated with imprisonment.

Last Saturday I went to visit the Amache National Historic Site in southeastern Colorado for the first time. I went during the 50th annual pilgrimage, when the nearby town of Granada comes alive with stories, from survivors of the camps, to descendants like me, to curious Coloradans feeling driven to learn about — and not repeat — our country’s past.

It felt good to be in that crowd, browsing the Amache History Museum and driving gravel roads in search of the bunker my grandma occupied as a pre-teen. I found it, or, what’s left of it, and spent some time sitting on the rubbled foundation, snapping photos. The photos are strange to look at now from my kitchen counter back on the Front Range. I know what they show, but in the overwhelming collage of my iPhone photo roll, it’s little more than a few shots of a fruited plain.

Let’s see what history’s writ for us today.

P.S. — The Sunriser is taking a long weekend for Memorial Day, so there won’t be an edition on Monday. Stay tuned to coloradosun.com or download our app to get the latest headlines any time you want!

THE NEWS

HEALTH

Measles case went through Denver airport and nearby hotel, another case through a Pueblo hotel

Another measles case was confirmed in a traveler who arrived at DIA 10 days ago, stayed a night at a Quality Inn, then departed on a domestic flight May 14. Take a look at the chart in the article to determine if you could have come into contact with that traveler or one who reported measles after staying at a hotel in Pueblo the week before.

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ARTS

A new art center debuts in an old Denver fortune cookie factory

A new art space in Denver’s Baker neighborhood opens tomorrow after eight years in the making. Cookie Factory, founded by Denver philanthropist and East High graduate Amanda Precourt, is the art enthusiast’s “gift to the city.” Parker Yamasaki has more.

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WATER

Front Range cities step up opposition to $99 million Colorado River water rights purchase

The Colorado River Water Conservation District has been working for years to buy the water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant, a small, easy-to-miss hydropower plant in Glenwood Canyon. The highly coveted water rights are some of the largest and oldest on the Colorado River in Colorado. But as Shannon Mullane reports, Front Range providers are concerned that any change to the water rights could impact water supplies for millions of city residents, farmers, industrial users and more.

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SPORTS

Steamboat Springs’ Annika Malacinski fights to save the women’s Nordic combined

With the 2030 Olympic program slated for final review this summer, the stakes are high. In addition to a full-time schedule of training, travel and competition, Nordic combined athlete Annika Malacinski has had to pick up an additional duty: advocate. As Betsy Welch found out, the 24-year-old racer fields interviews, sits on panels, and recently became the star of a short documentary called “Annika: Where She Lands.”

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MORE NEWS

• Fact Brief ☀️ Can renters in Colorado be required to earn more than double their rent? No. Landlords in Colorado may require tenants to make up to 200% of their annual rent, but they cannot lawfully require more than that.
• Revise, delay or implement? The standoff over Colorado’s artificial intelligence discrimination law. Business and industry groups have been begging for a delay. They say the law as it stands is unworkable — they’re urging Colorado’s lawmakers to give all sides more time to try to find a compromise.
• Running a food truck in Denver (and the rest of Colorado) is about to get simpler. A bill signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Jared Polis will allow food truck operators to get a single license to operate in different parts of the state.

THE COLORADO REPORT

• Stop making cents: U.S. Mint moves forward with plans to kill the penny. The U.S. Mint has made its final order of penny blanks and plans to stop producing the coin when those run out. But don’t worry, there are still more than 114 billion pennies in circulation.
  — AP News
• Green thumb: CSU’s Master Gardener Program has shared horticulture know-how for 50 years. This is a nice behind-the-scenes look at five decades of Colorado State’s horticultural program,
  including the work of Mary and Bill Monroe, a married pair of master gardeners in their 90s who still answer more than 300 calls and emails every year with questions about yards and gardens.
  — CSU SOURCE
• Increase in chronic wasting disease “definitely a concern” in Aspen region. Roughly half of Colorado’s deer herds and one-third of its elk herds have animals within the herd infected with the disease.
  — Aspen Times
• Eagle County sheriff confirms an uptick in ICE activity as rumors swirl. Alex Sánchez, president and CEO of Voces Unidas de las Montañas, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Latinos on the Western Slope, said that while ICE agents have been active in Eagle County since President Trump took office in January, the number of ICE sightings and reports of detainments increased significantly this week.
  — Vail Daily
• “It pisses me off” — Colorado’s Congressional delegation still waiting for answers on air traffic control outage. The state has two members on the committees that oversee the FAA, and both say the system needs updates, urgently.
  — Colorado Public Radio

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

THE OPINION PAGE

COMMUNITY

• Analysis of costs of Colorado’s aggressive environmental, emissions reduction policies is necessary addition to public discourse. Backing free-market ideals doesn’t mean conservative, and Common Sense Institute’s focus is on Coloradans.
  — Kelly Caufield, executive director of the Common Sense Institute

CARTOONS

In “What’d I Miss?” Myra and Ossie talk about pushing to look beyond the most superficial facts about the world — and people — around us.

CARTOON

Jim Morrissey sees a turn of the screw in the battle between Gov. Polis and city and county governments over affordable housing rules.

CARTOON

Drew Litton acknowledges our tendency to embrace sports fandom as a distraction, though the list of concerns keeps expanding.

CARTOON

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.

Podcast Playlist

CONVERSATION

Need some Memorial Day Weekend quiet time with just you and … us? Each weekday The Daily Sun-Up podcast brings you a thoughtful conversation and headlines of the day. We keep it tight so you can listen on the go, or stack up a few and tune in at your leisure (say, like, over a long holiday weekend). Download the Sun-Up for free on your favorite podcasting app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or RSS to plug into your app. This week’s lineup from The Sun team was a nice mix of topics:

• Navigating Colorado’s outdoor economy. Conor Hall grew up in the San Luis Valley, and now he’s the boss at the state’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office. He stopped by our Colorado SunFest make-shift studio to dissect the state’s $65 billion industry and how despite these divided times, the outdoors bring us together.
  LISTEN
• A deep dive into women in medicine. Colorado author Lydia Reeder tells SunLit editor Kevin Simpson her research for her latest book “The Cure for Women” was inspired by her great-grandmother, who was a midwife at the turn of the 20th century in Missouri.
  LISTEN
• Colorado Springs went out on its own for retirement savings. A state law mandates employers offer some kind of retirement savings plan. But as business reporter Tamara Chuang discusses, the chamber of commerce in Colorado Springs put together another type of fund for members to consider.
  LISTEN
• Gross Reservoir’s federal court drama. We are still waiting on a judge’s ruling, but in the meantime Sun water reporter Shannon Mullane chats with Fresh Water News editor Jerd Smith, who’s been following the court case and dam expansion for years.
  LISTEN
• Did Colorado Dems find their voice? The state’s top legislative Democrats joined Sun politics reporter Jesse Paul and Megan Verlee of CPR to talk about this year’s 2025 session during our annual wrapup. (Heads up, it’s a bit longer but we didn’t want to leave out anything.)
  LISTEN

🗣️ Remember, you can ask Siri, Alexa or Google to “play the Daily Sun-Up podcast” and we’ll play right on your smart speaker. As always we appreciate your feedback and comments at podcast@coloradosun.com.

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Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone. Road trip season is officially upon us. Any Colorado spots that have been on your list for a while?

— Parker & the whole staff of The Sun

Corrections & Clarifications

Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.