Colorado’s lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid Oxycontin, has gone largely silent since state Attorney General Phil Weiser took office, and a spokesman for Weiser on Wednesday declined to say whether the office would pursue a settlement. “We cannot confirm that there are settlement negotiations at this time,” the spokesman, Lawrence Pacheco, […]
Crime and Courts
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Democrat Leroy Garcia, Colorado Senate president, will cast “no” vote on red flag bill
Colorado Senate President Leroy Garcia will abandon one of his party’s priority pieces of legislation when the so-called red flag gun bill comes up for a final vote in the state Senate in the coming days. Garcia first announced his decision to vote “no” on the measure to The Pueblo Chieftain on Tuesday. “I took […]
Posted inBusiness, Crime and Courts, Education, Energy, Health, Politics and Government, Transportation
What the $30.5 billion Colorado state budget means for you — yes, you
The $30.5 billion state-budget package introduced Monday offers a little something for most everyone in Colorado. The state would pay for full-day kindergarten, relieving local school districts and parents of the cost. The price tag for tuition would remain flat, except at one university. All state employees would receive at least a 3 percent raise, […]
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Clarence Moses-EL’s federal lawsuit against Denver for overturned rape conviction is dismissed
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Denver authorities filed by a man who spent 28 years in prison for a rape conviction that was later overturned. Judge Marcia Krieger ruled Monday that Clarence Moses-EL had not shown that the city and various former officials prosecuted him maliciously. Krieger wrote that Moses-EL’s experience was […]
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Colorado’s attorney general says sheriffs who won’t carry out a red flag bill court order “should resign”
As county after county responds to the red flag gun bill making its way through the state legislature by declaring themselves a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary, Colorado’s attorney general says that any sheriff who disregards a court order under the measure “should resign.” “If a sheriff cannot follow the law, the sheriff cannot do his […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, Health, News, Politics and Government
To catch sex traffickers and protect kids, Colorado is using a new screening tool statewide
It hardly matters whether the child’s been gone 24 hours or three months. When a teen in the foster care system runs away and is found, a 2017 state law requires caseworkers to screen them for sex trafficking. They had 151 of those conversations in the law’s first year. Here’s what they didn’t ask: “How […]
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Colorado’s prisons offer free tampons to female inmates. The state’s jails might soon be required to as well.
Women locked up in state prisons have access to free tampons, but that’s not the case in all of Colorado’s jails. House Bill 1224 making its way through the Colorado General Assembly mandates that every county and municipal jail offer free feminine hygiene products to inmates who need them. Colorado lawmakers in 2017 passed a […]
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It’s been legal to drop off newborns in Colorado since 2000, so why aren’t suspicious infant deaths declining?
They will tell her someday, a few years from now, how she became their daughter. “Baby Doe” was her original name. She was born at the Big Bunny Motel on West Colfax Avenue, weighing 5 pounds with a head of dark hair and street drugs running through her tiny body. Her grandmother walked her to […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado joins lawsuit against Trump administration’s effort to increase Obamacare birth-control exemptions
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined another lawsuit against the Trump administration, this time challenging its efforts to increase birth-control exemptions under the Affordable Care Act. The legal action was one Weiser, a Democrat, promised in January to join. The lawsuit is currently pending in federal court in California, and includes more than a […]
Posted inBusiness, Crime and Courts, Energy, Environment, News
Judge dismisses shareholder lawsuit against Anadarko filed after deadly Firestone explosion
A federal judge has dismissed a shareholder lawsuit that claimed Anadarko Petroleum sacrificed safety at its Colorado wells and pipelines to boost its profits. U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ruled Wednesday the lawsuit didn’t support the claims against Anadarko and three of its executives. MORE: Oil and gas industry coverage by The Colorado Sun […]