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Political nonprofit tied to Jared Polis admits to violating state’s campaign finance laws, will pay $18K fine, reveal donors
State, The Colorado Sun

Political nonprofit tied to Jared Polis admits to violating state’s campaign finance laws, will pay $18K fine, reveal donors

By Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun A political nonprofit linked to Gov. Jared Polis has admitted to violating Colorado’s campaign finance laws and will pay an $18,000 fine and disclose its donors under a settlement agreement with state election officials. Boldly Forward Colorado, created in 2018 to pay for Polis’ transition team, donated nearly $352,000 last year to Property Tax Relief Now. That issue committee spent close to $3 million to promote Proposition HH, a ballot measure backed by Polis that would have overhauled Colorado’s property tax system and made big changes to state spending.  Voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure in the November 2023 election.  The Public Trust Institute, a conservative political nonprofit, filed the complaint against Boldly ...
State vet: 1.8 million head of poultry depopulated due to bird flu in Weld County
State, thefencepost.com

State vet: 1.8 million head of poultry depopulated due to bird flu in Weld County

By Rachel Gabel  | The Fence Post The most recent report of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has resulted in the depopulation of 1.8 million head of poultry at a commercial table egg facility in Weld County. Colorado State Veterinarian Dr. Maggie Baldwin said the state’s dairies and poultry facilities have cooperated with her office diligently to reduce the spread of HPAI. Baldwin said the monitoring, testing and reporting of HPAI in Colorado is a result of the cooperation between producers and partners, including the State Veterinarian’s office and is important to reduce the spread between dairies and poultry facilities. “Do I think Colorado has the most cases in the nation? No. Do I think Colorado has the most reported cases in the nation? Yes. Absolutely,” Baldwin said....
Democrat U.S. Rep. Pettersen joins the fray of those asking Biden to ‘please pass the torch’
kdvr.com, State

Democrat U.S. Rep. Pettersen joins the fray of those asking Biden to ‘please pass the torch’

By Morgan Whitley | Fox 31 News Rep. Brittany Pettersen, from Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, is the latest politician to call on President Joe Biden to step down as the Democratic candidate. On Friday, Pettersen posted a statement on her personal X account asking Biden to “please pass the torch.” Pettersen represents the 7th Congressional District of Colorado in Jefferson, Broomfield, Lake, Park, Teller, Chaffee, Fremont, and Custer County after being elected in 2022. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX 31 NEWS
Colorado’s 11-foot tall, 27-foot-long stegosaurus to be auctioned by Sotheby’s July 17
State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado’s 11-foot tall, 27-foot-long stegosaurus to be auctioned by Sotheby’s July 17

By The Associated Press (via The Colorado Sun) The nearly complete fossilized remains of a 161-million-year-old stegosaurus discovered in Colorado in 2022 will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York next week, auction house officials said. The dinosaur that Sotheby’s calls Apex stands 11 feet tall and measures 27 feet nose to tail, according to Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and popular culture. The stegosaurus, with its distinctive pointy dorsal plates, is one of the world’s most recognizable dinosaurs. Apex, which Hatton called “a coloring book dinosaur,” was discovered in May 2022 on private land near the town of Dinosaur. The excavation was completed in October 2023, Sotheby’s said. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
Southern Ute Indian Tribe sues Colorado governor, gaming division over sports betting
State, The Colorado Sun

Southern Ute Indian Tribe sues Colorado governor, gaming division over sports betting

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The Southern Ute Indian Tribe is suing Gov. Jared Polis and the director of the Colorado Division of Gaming, Christopher Schroder, saying the administration is illegally freezing tribes out of the online sports betting market, in part, to maximize state tax collections.  The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleges the state sought to exclude the tribe from internet sports betting by acting in bad faith, using delay tactics and belatedly making legal arguments that conflict with federal law and a state gaming compact with the tribe.  “Enough is enough,” Southern Ute Chairman Melvin Baker told Colorado lawmakers during an American Indian Affairs Interim Study Committee meeting Monday. “Litigation is not...
Ganahl: Is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s emergency declaration a public health measure or political maneuver for the White House?
Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Ganahl: Is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s emergency declaration a public health measure or political maneuver for the White House?

By HEIDI GANAHL | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When Gov. Jared Polis declared a state of disaster in Colorado because of a surge in Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), known commonly as bird flu, it ignited both a mix of public concern and political debate. The move is, in the legal term prima facie "on appearance", aimed at mitigating the spread of the virus, but critics argue that it may also serve as a calculated political strategy. The timing is suspect. Jared Polis would like to be president if Joe Biden drops out of the race. Bird flu is a highly infectious disease that affects both wild and domestic birds. Colorado reported its first cases in wild birds in March 2022, followed by detections in domestic poultry in April. Since then, the virus has been identifi...
Classroom ‘churn’ has negative effect on third grade reading scores, study finds
Chalkbeat Colorado, State

Classroom ‘churn’ has negative effect on third grade reading scores, study finds

By Melanie Asmar | Chalkbeat Colorado Classroom “churn” — when students leave a classroom midyear or new students join — can have a negative effect on third grade reading scores, according to a new study that examined Colorado census and state standardized test data. The study, by researchers at the Colorado Futures Center at Colorado State University, found that higher classroom churn was correlated with lower third grade reading scores, based on data from 2019. It’s a trend that the center’s executive director and lead economist, Phyllis Resnick, suspects has ramped up since that year, as schools experience higher levels of chronic absenteeism after the pandemic and struggle to make up for lost learning. After the study revealed that finding, Resnick said she spok...
As wolves have ravaged livestock, ‘Born To Be Wild’ plates devoted to them has raised over $300,000
Out There Colorado, State

As wolves have ravaged livestock, ‘Born To Be Wild’ plates devoted to them has raised over $300,000

By Piper Russell | Out There Colorado In just six months, Colorado's new 'Born To Be Wild' license plates have raised $312,800 to help protect livestock and wolves. According to a press release from the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, the revenue from the license plates goes directly to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to exclusively fund non-lethal tools and strategies to reduce conflict between wolves and livestock. The non-lethal conflict mitigation tools and techniques include the use of fladry fences, repellent lights, non-lethal munitions, and other visual and auditory deterrents that keep wolves away from livestock. Funding from the license plates also goes to range riders to monitor livestock and deter wolf-livestock conflicts and for trained livestock guardian dog...
Dueling meetings planned to decide future of party’s leadership
coloradopolitics.com, State

Dueling meetings planned to decide future of party’s leadership

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Rival factions of the Colorado Republican Party have scheduled separate meetings a week apart in different corners of the state later this month to consider whether to remove Dave Williams as the state party's chairman, though the meeting set by Williams' allies is only planned to last long enough to gavel in and then immediately recess. Leaders of both groups accuse the others of staging "illegal" and "fraudulent" meetings in what they characterize as attempts to hijack the state Republican Party for their own gain, even as GOP candidates are left scrambling to prepare for a crucial election just months away. Organizers of a long-simmering move to oust Williams from the party position said Monday that they'll convene on July 27 at a church in ...
Prairie Ridge Natural Area in Northern Colorado to grow by 140 acres for $1.1M
Out There Colorado, State

Prairie Ridge Natural Area in Northern Colorado to grow by 140 acres for $1.1M

By Seth Boster | Out There Colorado An area for conservation and recreation is growing in northern Colorado, helping to realize a long-term goal of local land managers. The 140-acre addition to Prairie Ridge Natural Area "represents the final piece in a 25-year effort creating a 3,500-acre separator between Loveland and Fort Collins," read a recent announcement from Great Outdoors Colorado. That was in announcing a $1.1 million grant toward a multi-agency acquisition totaling about $6.7 million. A majority of the funding is from the city of Loveland, which manages Prairie Ridge Natural Area and has led the arrangement with the city of Fort Collins and Larimer County. READ THE FULL STORY AT OUT THERE COLORADO