Broomfield and Kit Carson represent Colorado’s urban-rural divide. One is trying to pack in new residents in a thoughtful way, while the other is hoping no one else moves out.
Jennifer Brown
Jennifer Brown is a co-founder and reporter at The Colorado Sun.
Jen is a co-founder and reporter at The Sun, where she writes about mental health, child welfare and social justice issues.
Her first journalism job was at The Hungry Horse News in her home state of Montana, before moving on to reporting jobs in Texas and Oklahoma. She worked for 13 years at The Denver Post, including several years on the investigative projects team, before helping create The Sun in 2018.
Jen is a graduate of the University of Montana and loves hiking, skiing and watching her kids' sports.
Email: jennifer@coloradosun.com Twitter: @jenbrowncolo
Posted inHealth, News
Colorado has pushed for years to combine mental health and medical care. Some new laws and money should help.
Almost a quarter of the residents of Routt and Moffat counties use the local community health center, which is why it has tried to incorporate mental health screenings for anyone who comes in for a checkup — or even a toothache. Northwest Colorado Health, with offices in Steamboat Springs and Craig, began integrating mental health […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government
Wolf attacks continue on North Park cows as rancher fights for compensation and hazing methods fail
Don Gittleson was sitting in his pickup at 2:30 a.m. when he heard a cow and calf calling to each other, a nervous mooing and a commotion in the dark. The Walden rancher started up the engine and began wildly honking the horn as he drove through the pasture toward the noise, where he spotted […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics and Government
Cañon City facility where 145 wild horses died is short-staffed, in violation of federal policies, report finds
The federal Bureau of Land Management failed to vaccinate wild horses captured from western Colorado because the Cañon City holding facility lacks enough workers and because the mustangs were “unusually high-strung,” according to a report released Thursday that offers the first clues about why 145 horses died from a typically preventable equine flu. A review […]
Posted inNews
Colorado will continue locking up 10-year-olds, for now, after legislation to raise the prosecution age to 13 stalls
The youngest kids arrested and locked up in Colorado’s youth corrections system are 10 years old, a practice that will continue for now after legislation to raise the prosecution age to 13 was rewritten in the final days of the legislative session. So far this year, Colorado has arrested and locked up 33 kids ages […]
Posted inHealth, News
This Littleton detox center feels like a relaxing hotel. Is this the way out of the fentanyl crisis?
LITTLETON — Each private room has a queen bed covered in a plush, gray comforter, plus a flat-screen TV and a remote control to browse Netflix and Hulu. For lunch and dinner, restaurant menus circulate and meals arrive via Uber Eats. Guests can log into their jobs from their rooms, or read a book beside a […]
Posted inHealth, Politics and Government
Rare three-agency audit of western Colorado mental health center finds dangerous prescription practices
State officials blasted one of Colorado’s 17 community mental health centers for prescription practices they called “scary” and “appalling” as they released a rare, three-agency audit Thursday. The audit of Mind Springs Health, the safety-net mental health center for 10 counties on the Western Slope, followed dozens of complaints about the quality of care from […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government
141 wild horses — a third of those captured from the Western Slope — died in country’s deadliest flu outbreak
A third of the wild horses captured from Western Slope rangeland last summer have died in the equine flu outbreak at their holding pens in Cañon City, though federal officials said Wednesday that the outbreak is winding down. Mustang deaths — which numbered more than 20 on the worst days of the outbreak — have […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Social Services
The number of LGBTQ foster kids is on the rise, but does Colorado have enough accepting homes?
Diamond Kobylinski spent almost his entire childhood in foster homes, from age 2 to 17. The worst, though, was when one set of foster parents changed their mind about adopting him after Kobylinski blurted out during an argument that he was gay. It was the first time Kobylinski had ever said the words out loud. […]
Posted inPolitics and Government
More abortion patients, more money, more volunteers in Colorado if Roe v. Wade is struck down
Billboards screaming about abortion pills. More “sidewalk counseling” and protesters outside clinics. More out-of-state money, more volunteers, more patients traveling to Colorado to seek abortions. This is what the future of the abortion battle will look like in Colorado, predicted advocates on both sides Tuesday after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion striking down […]