Colorado lawmakers this month began reviewing the state's spending plan for the next fiscal year in the face of tight revenues and a budget deficit — even as policymakers are pushing for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding requests. Continue Reading Colorado faces budget deficit as lawmakers consider $2 billion more in spending
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously told Colorado it could not use its election laws and judiciary to disqualify Donald Trump from the presidential primary ballot, overturning a contrary decision by the state Supreme Court from December. Continue Reading US Supreme Court rules Colorado cannot remove Trump from ballot
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners are refiling a lawsuit challenging Colorado's "ghost gun" ban Continue Reading Rocky Mountain Gun Owners bring legal challenge against state's "Ghost Gun" ban
While running for the Colorado House of Representatives, Rep. Stephanie Vigil spent her days and nights knocking on constituents’ doors. Sometimes to ask for their vote. Sometimes to deliver them food. Continue Reading ‘Splitting myself in half’: Colorado's citizen-legislature clashes with financial realities | COVER STORY
Is the Biden administration close to a decision on whether to change federal laws around marijuana, with potential major ramifications for the drug's use and the cannabis industry's ability to access, among other things, financing? Continue Reading Are big changes up ahead for the marijuana industry?
As more people pay attention to the water crisis in the West, Colorado business leaders are being asked to take on a larger role. Continue Reading Colorado companies urged to help solve the West's water woes
In a crowded theater Monday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris sat in front of hundreds of Colorado residents to tout the Biden administration's climate-related initiatives and express hope for the future of climate change. Continue Reading Kamala Harris touts Biden's actions, offers hopeful climate vision during Colorado visit
"We’ve already been called racist for not immediately adopting these rules," said Justice Melissa Hart. "And I’m not happy about it. I’m really uncomfortable with some of these changes." Continue Reading In search of fairness: Tug-of-war between jury inclusiveness and juror impartiality reaches Supreme Court | COVER STORY
This year's 8th CD race is only the fifth time a Colorado House district's constituents will be able to count on being represented by a woman in the next Congress before any votes are counted. Continue Reading COVER STORY: Kirkmeyer, Caraveo square off in battleground 8th CD, Colorado's new US House district
“If you were an alien, you would not have designed the system that way.” Continue Reading The struggle to save the Colorado River stalls, but potential solutions emerge
MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah • Navajo Nation residents in pickup trucks rumbled along dusty dirt roads in the ethereal painted desert of Monument Valley in August to a well where they fill up water tanks, sometimes multiple times a day. Continue Reading Ignored for decades, Colorado River tribes fight for their water rights
PAGE, ARIZ. • Soulful notes from a Native American flute float over the vast valley on the backside of the Glen Canyon Dam, which interrupts the once mighty Colorado River. Continue Reading Drought threatens Colorado River hydropower, major source of renewable energy
Mike Petkash’s shaggy black dog Brandy bounded across his backyard chasing after a tennis ball. She leapt up the tiered levels of mulch, rock and shrubbery until she found the prized ball and clenched it in her jaws. Continue Reading Western cities are already learning to live with less water
More and more people in Colorado — and nationwide — are opting to have children later in life, or not at all. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Facing 'hopeless' future, many young Coloradans turn away from having children
PINAL COUNTY, ARIZ. • Colorado River basin water has transformed Nancy Caywood’s fields in the desert southwest of Phoenix into carpets of green cotton and alfalfa for generations. But in June, the alfalfa was expected to dry up, and a vast majority of the cotton wasn't even planted. Continue Reading Colorado River basin farms stunted by megadrought, as more sacrifice lies ahead
Federal authorities have linked at least nine fatal overdoses to fentanyl provided by a Colorado man and his family. The deaths were clustered together over a 17-month stretch in 2017 and 2018. During that time, law enforcement said, Bruce Holder was the largest fentanyl dealer in western Colorado, perhaps the largest in the state. Continue Reading Fentanyl family: Colorado's deadly overdose siege had mom and pop roots
GUNNISON • On Colorado's largest body of water, the water he's known all his life, Eric Loken drives his boat toward an uncertain destination. Continue Reading Colorado River strain casts shadow over recreation
As June came to a close, some Americans looked on with anticipation — and others, with horror — at the last, transformative rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court's latest term. Continue Reading COVER STORY | While SCOTUS term rocks country, Colorado Supreme Court racks up quiet accomplishments
It had been barely 10 seconds since Lakewood police Agent Ahmed Yehia stepped out of his patrol vehicle before things escalated. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Right to record: Federal court may recognize First Amendment right to document police
2022 offered legislators the first real opportunity to set an ambitious agenda after two years of limping through the global pandemic, but Colorado's emergence out of the COVID-19 crisis also unleashed a torrent of challenges. There were many familiar problems, such as housing, behavioral he… Continue Reading 2022 SESSION: CONFRONTING CRISES | Actions of the 2022 General Assembly
Phelicia Kossie-Tonje stopped a woman in the middle of her story about how the father of her children was smashing windows, breaking doors and slashing her tires. Continue Reading COVER STORY | The dream job: A unique coaching program helps steer diverse lawyers to judgeships
In six months, most Colorado voters will begin receiving their general election ballots in the mail, but before that ballot is set, voters first have to choose which Republicans will go up against the Democratic incumbents in major statewide races. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Stage is set for Colorado's gubernatorial primaries
There were 67 homicides committed by juveniles in Colorado in 2021, according to juvenile delinquency court filings. That is the highest yearly total for juvenile murders in at least two decades. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Colorado legislature on rising youth violence: ‘We’re at a crisis’
Last September, The Wall Street Journal revealed that across the country, at least 131 federal judges had violated the law since 2010 by handling cases in which they or their family held an undisclosed financial stake in one of the parties to the litigation. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Contrition: Amid conflicts of interest, judges in Colorado correct course
In the last three years, Colorado's legislators and the governor have added more than a dozen new state offices, a new state department and other governmental structures – and, of course, new employees to run them. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Unsustainable? Colorado's government keeps growing
It's been 50 years since Colorado turned the page on the post-War period and plunged into the state's modern political era as a new generation of leaders took the stage to grapple with challenges confronting the rapidly changing state. Continue Reading COVER STORY: 10 milestones that shaped Colorado's modern political world
Stephen Fenberg’s foray into political advocacy began when he was just 7 years old. Continue Reading COVER STORY | POLITICS IN HIS BLOOD: Senate President Stephen Fenberg’s rise to power
Policymakers who launched a pilot program for the state to serve as guardian for individuals who have no family or friends and often end up in hospitals are scrutinizing its work, particularly following the deaths of 14 wards under its care. Continue Reading COVER STORY: DEADLY CARE | Scrutiny mounts as 14 Coloradans die under care of Office of Public Guardianship
When four women and three men walked into a federal courtroom one Friday afternoon in October, they handed down one of the largest jury awards against the City of Boulder in its history: $3.41 million. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Failure to train: The 7 minutes that cost Boulder $3.41 million
The eight Republicans running for Colorado's U.S. Senate seat shared the stage for the first time on a snowy night in Fort Lupton for a mostly cordial opportunity to pitch themselves to conservative voters as the candidate best-suited to take on Sen. Michael Bennet, the two-term Democratic incumbent. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Colorado's Republican US Senate candidates introduce themselves to voters
The outlines of the 2022 race for the Colorado Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet are taking shape as the official start of the nominating process rapidly approaches. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Crowded field of Bennet's GOP challengers moves toward primary ballot
The El Paso County inmate escape made headlines. The jail officer watching YouTube on his phone didn't. Continue Reading Colorado law aimed at ridding state of dishonest cops drives decertifications in first year
Shortly after the bitter fight to confirm Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, 83 misconduct complaints against him made their way to Colorado in the fall of 2018, assigned by the chief justice of the United States to the federal appeals court headquartered in Denver. Continue Reading COVER STORY | The untouchable 9
Ed Perlmutter pauses to point to a framed newspaper spread displayed on the wall at the Lakewood congressional office he's preparing to vacate in a little under a year after eight terms in Congress. Continue Reading COVER STORY | 'We're in this together': Ed Perlmutter reflects on 15 years in Congress
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Sterling Ranch, whose officials maintained that the development has no plans to get served with water from San Luis Valley, that it has no need for such water and that the community has all the water it needs. Continue Reading COVER STORY: THIRST FOR BATTLE | Douglas County water project hits hiccups
On March 11, 2020, in a courtroom in downtown Denver, David M. Ebel rattled off the episodes of harassment an East High School student said she had to endure after reporting that a classmate raped her. Continue Reading COVER STORY | With Title IX, courts navigate gulf between student victims and their accused perpetrators
Democrats will tackle American Rescue Plan Act spending while Republicans will target fees and taxes to provide Coloradans economic relief as prices of commodities surge. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Legislative leaders set agenda, priorities for 2022 session
With 2022 an election year, lawmakers traditionally back off a bit from introducing controversial bills. That’s why they have approved some of the biggest measures of the past six years — oil and gas reform, Colorado option, climate change and greenhouse gas — in odd-numbered years when they… Continue Reading COVER STORY | Hot Topics of the 2022 General Assembly
In twin actions, federal and state officials on Thursday suspended enrollment by elderly Coloradans with the state’s largest provider of community-based home health care after concluding the company failed to deliver medically necessary services to patients. Continue Reading Colorado-based health care provider for seniors sanctioned over failure to deliver services
Between Nov. 24 and Dec. 3, three public servants in Elbert County lost their lives to the virus. In addition to Deputy Clay Livingston, 30, Deputy Coroner William Graeff, 73, died on Nov. 24 and Elizabeth Town Council Trustee Bret Wade, 47, passed away on Nov. 28. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Elbert County joins a club no one should: Death of public servants from COVID
High-profile self-defense trials elsewhere in the country, notably Rittenhouse's, have prompted some introspection in the legal community, with some advocating abolishing, or at least modifying, the state's self-defense regime. Continue Reading COVER STORY | A Rittenhouse acquittal in Colorado? Longstanding self-defense laws would allow it
Dec. 14 marks nine years since Jane Dougherty told her sister hello and goodbye, but for a disturbed young man's access to guns in Newtown, Connecticut, a New England village that was decked out for a Christmas, that was emotionally obliterating. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Kids' mental health challenged in a culture of guns
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse helped to defuse a high-stakes game of chicken progressive and centrist Democrats played over $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which President Joe Biden signed Nov. 15. Multiple sources recounted how the Colorado congressman served as a bridge between his party's feuding factions and nudged the negotiators at crucial points to keep the talks from veering off course or, worse, completely collapsing. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Colorado's Joe Neguse, John Hickenlooper play key roles bringing infrastructure bill to life
To prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is a fundamental, easily recognizable principle of the criminal justice system. Judges recite the legal definition of reasonable doubt over and over again to ordinary citizens called to sit on juries. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Risky analogy: Appellate judges warn against using illustrations. Some trial judges keep ignoring them.
A federal judge has allowed a regional transit agency to introduce evidence of a vulgar, Islamophobic video that a former employee, who claimed he was discriminated against on the basis of race and national origin, forwarded while working for the transportation body. Continue Reading Judge allows RTD to introduce controversial video in discrimination case
While Colorado conservatives took their lumps on the home front in this year's election, losing bids to lower property tax rates and increase oversight of the process of spending taxpayer money (as well as a higher pot tax going down), they had signs of hope by looking east. Continue Reading COVER STORY | An off-year election in Colorado still gave conservatives hope
“School boards politics and the politics of K-12 education have never been more on fire than they are right now." Continue Reading COVER STORY | Money race turns to a sprint as Colorado school board contests near the finish
Colorado voters won’t be marking their ballots to pick their next U.S. senator for another year, but already the match-up between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, the Democratic incumbent, and his Republican challenger is beginning to take shape. Continue Reading COVER STORY | Bennet's GOP challengers slow out of the gate, post modest fundraising totals
The bottom line: The training ground has never been so fertile on the left. It wasn’t always that way. Continue Reading COVER STORY: THE TRAINING GROUND | Colorado's left focuses on diversity and building the bench
