How life in the oldest county in Colorado is changing

Good morning, Colorado.

We’re back to kick off the short week after Memorial Day. I spent the unofficial start of summer in my favorite way: camping, melting brie over the campfire and listening to a thunderstorm roll through from my cozy sleeping bag inside my tent. However you spent the long weekend, we’re glad to be back in your inbox with the stories that matter in Colorado.

This morning, we’ve got stories on everything from Colorado’s EV mandate to the challenges residents in Colorado’s oldest county face to age in place. Let’s get reading.

Olivia Prentzel

Reporter

THE NEWS

AGING IN COLORADO

Rural Colorado seniors try to grow old in “God’s waiting place.” But funding for services isn’t keeping up.

Custer County, south of Cañon City and west of Pueblo, is demographically the oldest county in the state and one of the oldest in the entire country. The median age is 59.4 years, far above Colorado’s median 38.5 years. Jennifer Brown explores what life is like for the people who sought out this quiet life and the struggles of living in a county with no hospital and limited services.

READ MORE

• Browse The Sun’s Aging in Colorado project and get updates when new stories drop.

NEWS

Congress likely killed Colorado’s EV mandate, clean energy programs, environmental groups say

Colorado has taken significant steps in recent years to shift toward electric vehicles — with a goal to require the majority of new vehicles be electric models by 2032. Congress is now derailing that progress, along with billions of dollars aimed at decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and ozone, Michael Booth reports.

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• Colorado school districts, producers brace for termination of federal Local Food for Schools program. The program launched in 2022, and Colorado received $2.6 million for K-12 schools so public schools could purchase local food.

OUTDOORS

Founder of Carbondale-based Revel Bikes attempts to revive the brand

Carbondale-based Revel Bikes was set to close this year after the private equity company that bought the bike maker in 2021 racked up more than $8 million in debt. But founder Adam Miller swooped in, repurchasing the company in hopes of reviving it. Jason Blevins caught up with Miller on his plans to give his bikes a second chance.

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STATE GOVERNMENT

Jared Polis vetoes rideshare safety bill prompted by sexual assault of state lawmaker

Gov. Jared Polis struck down a bill designed to make ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft safer for riders, including by outlawing drivers from giving passengers food and drink and by bolstering requirements around driver background checks. State Rep. Jenny Willford, a Northglenn Democrat, headed up the legislation after her own experience being sexually assaulted by a Lyft driver last year. Rideshare services like Uber said if the bill passed, they would no longer operate in the state. Jesse Paul and Bente Birkeland of Colorado Public Radio have more.

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• Colorado legislature steps in to help kids who need IV nutrition and are down to one pharmacy. A measure passed by lawmakers increases the reimbursement rate paid to pharmacies willing to mix liquid nutrition for about 100 Colorado children.
• Governor signs new school funding formula into law, securing an extra $500 million for Colorado schools. The new formula aims to prioritize students with the most significant learning needs beginning with the upcoming school year.
• Universal dyslexia screening is now the law of the land in Colorado. About 15% to 20% of the population has dyslexia, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

ARTS

2025 Summer book guide: 10 Colorado authors lend their perspective as you build your reading list

What books will whisk you away to fictional places or plunge you into the lives of historical characters this summer? If you haven’t quite decided, we’re here to give you some well-vetted ideas. Kevin Simpson enlisted the help of 10 Colorado authors who offer a variety of book recommendations that cover a range of genres (including Romantasy!).

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MORE NEWS

• Fact Brief ☀️ Did a glow-in-the-dark dial maker once help turn part of Denver radioactive? Yes. A company that produced luminescent radium dials in Denver contributed to the area’s radioactive contamination in the early 1900s.
• What’s Working: Colorado restaurant owners spoke out to change state policy this year. It worked, sorta. It hasn’t yet helped with easing costs but attention seems like progress, they say. Plus: Denver’s budget problems, upcoming job fairs, more!
• Couple found guilty over cross burning meant to draw sympathy for Black candidate ahead of Colorado Springs mayoral election. Prosecutors argued that although the defendants broadcast the hoax to aid Yemi Mobolade in the mayoral race, their actions still amounted to a threat.

Section by Erica Breunlin | Education Reporter

THE COLORADO REPORT

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

• Colorado Public Radio, NPR and stations in Aspen and Ignacio sue Trump over funding cuts, restrictions. The lawsuit points to remarks Trump has made claiming that public broadcasting is biased against him as evidence that he is using the threat of funding cuts to chill the First Amendment rights of the broadcasters.
  — Colorado Public Radio
• Relocating Evergreen’s historic Buffalo Park School a delicate endeavor. How do you move a 148-year-old schoolhouse from Wilmot Elementary School to Marshdale Park? Very, very carefully. This is a fun look into what it takes to preserve artifacts.
  — Colorado Community Media
• Bandimere Speedway owners secure first parcel northeast of Denver for future track site. Since the Bandimere family’s last race at their Morrison venue in July 2023, the hunt has been on for the next track. And a newly acquired chunk of land off Interstate 76 near Hudson is the first piece of the puzzle.
  — The Denver Post 🔑
• Big slice of downtown Morrison hits market for $15M. “You’re not gonna find another chunk like this in Telluride, Aspen, Estes Park, Golden — anywhere,” says Dave Killingsworth, owner of the 1.3-acre block in downtown Morrison that includes the Morrison Holiday Bar. But don’t try to lowball him: “I can do this for another five years. I don’t want to, but if I have to — if nobody wants to buy it, they don’t like it, you know — I’ll keep doing it. It’s not a fire sale.”
  — BusinessDen
• Why did Sarah Parady vote no on the new NWSL stadium proposal? 5280 asked the only Denver council member who voted against the $70 million public funding framework about her opposition — and what she’d rather spend the money on.
  — 5280

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• If it’s true Phil Weiser can only beat Michael Bennet from the left, he may have some work to do. At The Sun’s recent Colorado SunFest, Phil Weiser went a little squishy on TABOR and on Polis’ veto of reforms to the Labor Peace Act.
  — Mike Littwin  
• Vote to cut safety net programs hurts Coloradans and threatens GOP representatives. Every member of the Colorado GOP delegation voted for the bill cutting the safety net, creating a dilemma for those in competitive districts.
  — Mario Nicolais  

COMMUNITY

• License plate readers have no place on Denver streets, and city council should ban them permanently. The use of Flock cameras to track and create a “vehicle footprint” using AI infringes on the Fourth Amendment and must stop.
  — Michael Soyfer & Dan King, Institute for Justice  

CARTOONS

• What’s new at Red Rocks this summer (and what will never, ever change) It ain’t summer in Colorado unless you buy tickets for a show at Red Rocks. Or climb Longs Peak. Same degree of difficulty, actually.
  — 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.

SunLit

REVIEW

“The Cure for Women”: A precocious girl is drawn toward medicine

Inspired by a great-grandmother who served as a midwife, author Lydia Reeder delved into the lives of pioneering women doctors in “The Cure for Women.” Focusing on Mary Putnam Jacobi, her book — a finalist for the Colorado Book Award in History — examines the headwinds women faced with regard to pursuing a career in medicine and the pseudoscience behind women’s health that the early female practitioners debunked.

READ AN EXCERPT

• Interview with the author. Reeder explains how the women’s suffrage movement found common cause with the earliest women who pursued medicine against prevailing societal conventions, and how their close adherence to science, rather than just clinical observation, changed the approach to health care throughout America.  
• Listen to a podcast with Lydia Reeder.

Section by Kevin Simpson | Writer

Thanks for joining us this morning! Have a great week.

— Olivia & the whole staff of The Sun

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Corrections & Clarifications

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