Rural districts say it’s a step in the right direction but grant funding is fleeting
legislature
Posted inOpinion Columns
Littwin: It took yet another mass shooting to put gun safety front and center at the Colorado Capitol
Two looming questions: Could state legislators possibly pass a ban on assault-style weapons and, if they do, would Jared Polis agree?
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: The Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Act comes spiked with trace amounts of bad policy
Fentanyl is killing Coloradans. Fentanyl is killing families, it is killing businesses and it is killing communities. That is exactly why the most heated bill of this legislative session has been the Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Act. Unfortunately, good politics appears headed toward bad policy. Or at least less good policy. Critics of the bill […]
Posted inHousing
Colorado mobile home residents could find lot rent relief, aid for park purchases in pending bills
Samantha Stegner’s love for mobile home park living in Fort Collins, where she now lives with her husband, Mike, and their three kids, shines through in the “blessing box” she built as a free food pantry to help neighbors. And in the Little Free Library to which she recently added some Spanish-language offerings. And in […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s public guardianship program gets approval to expand despite 14 deaths of wards in past two years
A controversial public guardianship program created to make health and legal decisions for people with no family or friends will expand beyond Denver this summer, a legislative committee decided Wednesday. The vote by the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee settles a tumultuous few weeks of debate about the Office of Public Guardianship, which had asked for […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s controversial public guardianship program scrutinized in legislative budget battle
A controversial plan to expand Colorado’s fledgling public guardianship program for people who have no family or friends to speak for them is in jeopardy as state lawmakers debate the state’s budget. The Office of Public Guardianship, which began taking wards in 2020, is now making decisions for about 70 people who are unable to […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Bill affirming abortion access in Colorado clears second hurdle after 24 hours of debate on House floor
A bill affirming access to abortion and contraception in Colorado cleared its second hurdle Saturday morning after 24 hours of nearly continuous debate on the state House floor. Representatives began debating House Bill 1279 on Friday morning and finished at about 11 a.m. Saturday. They took a short break Friday night before resuming the debate, […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado plans to expand experimental adult guardianship program despite complaints, scrutiny
The 73 adults assigned a guardian through a new state agency have dementia, intellectual disabilities, brain injuries and mental illnesses severe enough that a court has deemed them unable to make their own decisions. None have family or friends to care for them, so they have become wards of the Colorado Office of Public Guardianship, […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Environment, Housing, News, Politics and Government, Wildfire
Colorado doesn’t have a statewide building code. Would enacting one help protect homes against wildfire?
A handful of Democratic state lawmakers are interested in pursuing legislation next year that would enact a statewide minimum building code in Colorado as part of broader long-term efforts to prepare for wildfires driven by a warming climate. The new code could help unlock millions of dollars in federal grant funding to protect communities against […]
Posted inClimate, News, Newsletters, Outdoors, Outsider, Politics and Government, Water
Should river towns be forced to build costly parks to get recreational water rights?
American Whitewater floated a plan last year to expand protections for recreational river flows in Colorado. Maybe, the nonprofit protector of rivers thought, communities should not need to build whitewater parks to secure rights for recreational flows. “It definitely, you know, got some ears perked,” said Hattie Johnson, American Whitewater’s southern Rockies stewardship director. Colorado […]