Empowered by mail ballots and energized by the nation’s polarized political climate, more Coloradans voted this year than ever before in the state’s history. More than 3.3 million ballots had been processed by state election officials through Thursday and the tally is expected to grow as remaining ballots are processed and counted. That represents 78% […]
Denver County
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News, Technology
How do you study online without a computer or internet access? It’s a reality for many Colorado kids.
Once Centennial School District R-1 attaches an antenna to its K-12 school building, students in the tiny San Luis Valley district will have a new place to access the internet for their classes: the parking lot. At a minimum, Superintendent Toby Melster said, students will be able to come to the school, sit in the […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, Health, News, Politics and Government
Most money spent in the child welfare system comes after kids are in foster care. What if that’s backwards?
In the Douglas County suburbs, one type of call to the child abuse hotline is more likely to end up with a kid in foster care than any other: “Beyond Control of Parents.” The term means a child or teenager is having such severe mental health and behavioral issues that they’ve become a problem at […]
Posted inBusiness, Education, Environment, Growth, News, Politics and Government
How Colorado’s rural and urban food communities are coming together
Every day, Greeley-Evans District 6 school cafeterias serve fruits and vegetables that look like real fruits and vegetables, because they are. Most of the meals are made from scratch. And the district, which serves about 14,000 meals a day, is working with about a dozen local farmers to add more fresh produce to the school […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Judge rules that Denver’s urban camping ban is unconstitutional
A Denver urban camping ban enacted in 2012 constitutes cruel and unusual punishment against the homeless and is unconstitutional, a judge ruled Friday. Denver County Judge Johnny C. Barajas cited a decision last year from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down a ban on camping in public places in Boise, Idaho, The […]
Posted inEducation, Health, News, Politics and Government
New law to keep Colorado foster kids in their home schools is off to disappointing start
On school mornings, 19 kids who live in Mesa County foster homes are driven across the valley — to Fruita or Grand Junction or Palisade or beyond — so they can attend school with the same teachers and friends they had before they switched homes. They catch a ride on new school bus routes, with […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Denver is shutting down public access media when it ought to be fighting another takedown of democracy
The erosion of democracy over decades has been accompanied by transfer of wealth and power upward, and increased corporate dominance in every area, including media. Community public access media remains a rare vestige of democracy, even as its existence is threatened. Current proposed FCC policy would defund thousands of community media stations nationwide by redefining, […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
In Denver child welfare cases, the father isn’t “John Doe” anymore. And now more kids facing abuse are in permanent homes.
John Doe is not the father, at least not anymore. An untold number of kids caught up in Denver’s child welfare system have had a father named John Doe, a practice that went on for decades and made it less likely for children to find permanent homes. When the dad is unknown, so is an […]