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Many Colorado schools will split $11.4M in Juul lawsuit settlement funds for vaping education, prevention
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Chalkbeat Colorado, State

Many Colorado schools will split $11.4M in Juul lawsuit settlement funds for vaping education, prevention

By Melanie Asmar | Chalkbeat Colorado Twenty-one Colorado school districts, seven charter schools, one cooperative education services board, and one youth residential treatment center have been awarded $11.4 million in funding over the next three years for vaping education and prevention programs. The money comes from a $31.7 million settlement between the state of Colorado and e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. Colorado sued Juul in 2020, alleging that it targeted youth with deceptive marketing and played down the health risks of vaping. In settling the lawsuit, Juul did not admit any wrongdoing. Colorado is poised to spend the bulk of the settlement money on a $20 million grant program aimed at improving children’s mental health. But the state is also giving smaller grants ...
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While 70% opt out of add-on license plate fees, program collected almost $41 million
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State, The Colorado Sun

While 70% opt out of add-on license plate fees, program collected almost $41 million

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun More than 1.5 million Colorado vehicle owners have delivered more than $40 million to Colorado Parks and Wildlife by including a $29 Keep Colorado Wild Pass as part of their annual registrations.  The first fiscal year of Keep Colorado Wild pass sales ended June 30 with revenue reaching $40.9 million. That unofficial tally — final numbers will be updated by the fall — means that parks, wildlife, backcountry search and rescue volunteers, and avalanche forecasters will get boosts in funding in the coming year.  The Keep Colorado Pass plan that launched in January 2023 adds $29 to every vehicle registration in the state unless owners opt out. The pass provides access to all state parks. The 2021 legislation that created the program hoped ...
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Ah, grasshopper. They are everywhere in Colorado this year.
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CBS Colorado, State

Ah, grasshopper. They are everywhere in Colorado this year.

By Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado Coloradans across the Front Range, especially in Northern Colorado, have noticed significantly more grasshoppers this year. Researchers with Colorado State University confirm there has been a spike in grasshoppers across the state. "Colorado is seeing a very large number of grasshoppers, we have been getting reports from all around the state," said Lisa Mason, horticulture specialist and entomologist for CSU. Mason told CBS News Colorado's Dillon Thomas the grasshoppers we are seeing right now are the result of eggs buried in the dirt by grasshoppers in 2023 which were able to hatch as the result of a relatively warm and dry winter and spring. READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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In shadow of bipartisan Senate Bill 23-275 creating mustang task force, BLM plans another roundup
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State, The Colorado Sun

In shadow of bipartisan Senate Bill 23-275 creating mustang task force, BLM plans another roundup

By Jennifer Brown | Colorado Sun Four years into an aggressive federal campaign to thin wild horse herds across the West, Colorado officials fed up with helicopter roundups tried something unique — a state-federal working group to collaborate on mustang population control.  Then the U.S. Bureau of Land Management went ahead and proposed its next helicopter roundup.  The announcement in May that the federal agency based in Washington, D.C., plans to remove 85-110 mustangs from Little Book Cliffs near Palisade has set off a fresh round of indignant comments from Colorado officials and run the state-federal collaboration into a wall.  The main question: What is the point of the state working group if the federal government isn’t even listening?  RE...
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Dion: Colorado Republicans, it’s time to unite and fight 
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Dion: Colorado Republicans, it’s time to unite and fight 

By JAMESON DION | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In Colorado, Republican Party politics has been defined in recent years by losses, infighting and a steady decline in the percentage of Colorado voters that affiliate with the party. Consider, just 24% of Colorado's registered voters were republicans as of June 2024. Democrats have controlled all statewide offices, and both chambers of Colorado’s state legislature since 2019. In short, it’s been tough to be a Colorado Republican of late.    This year’s elections offer hope and optimism. Joe Biden’s cognitive issues were on full display in the first Presidential debate. His age and decline was so apparent, many Democrat lawmakers and their typically reliable media mouthpieces have publicly questioned his abi...
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Too close to call: Automatic recount likely in House District 58 GOP primary
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denvergazette.com, State

Too close to call: Automatic recount likely in House District 58 GOP primary

By Deborah Grigsby | Denver Gazette With just a handful of votes now separating Colorado House District 58 Republican Primary candidates Larry Don Suckla and J. Mark Roeber, the Colorado Secretary of State will most likely order an automatic recount of the 12,971 votes. “As it stands, the vote differential is three votes or 0.046%,” Colorado Secretary of State Communications Director Jack Todd confirmed by email.  This puts the two conservative GOP candidates within the 0.5% margin that would trigger an automatic recount.  “We are within that threshold,” Todd said. “The deadline for Secretary (Jena) Griswold to order a mandatory recount is July 19.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Judge dismisses lawsuit by multiple school districts over Colorado’s universal pre-K rollout
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denvergazette.com, State

Judge dismisses lawsuit by multiple school districts over Colorado’s universal pre-K rollout

By Eric Young | Denver Gazette A Denver District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging damages stemming from last year's universal preschool rollout in Colorado.  District Judge Jon. J. Olafson ruled that the six public school districts and two advocacy groups who filed the lawsuit lacked the legal grounds for their case to continue.  The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit last August against Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the Colorado Department of Education, alleging that the state disproportionately harmed low-income families and students with disabilities through its application process. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Group submits petition to ban hunting of bobcats, mountain lions, lynx
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Group submits petition to ban hunting of bobcats, mountain lions, lynx

By Deborah Grigsby | Colorado Politics A volunteer group seeking to ban the hunting of Colorado wildcats has submitted signatures to election officials to get the measure on the November ballot. The group called "Cats Aren’t Trophies," which is behind Initiative 91, delivered 188,000 signatures to the Secretary of State on Wednesday. The state requires valid signatures from 124,238 registered voters to secure the measure's placement on the November ballot. Supporters described the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats "inhumane" and called it "commercial killing." Opponents, meanwhile, countered that it's a threat not just to Colorado's hunting tradition but also to wildlife management itself.  READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Following special election victory, Greg Lopez to be sworn in Monday to finish out ex-Rep. Buck’s term
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Following special election victory, Greg Lopez to be sworn in Monday to finish out ex-Rep. Buck’s term

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Republican U.S. Rep.-elect Greg Lopez is scheduled to be sworn into office on Monday, July 8, after winning last month's vacancy election in Colorado's 4th Congressional District, a Lopez spokeswoman and House Speaker Mike Johnson's office told Colorado Politics on Friday. The 60-year-old Lopez is expected to serve the roughly six months remaining in former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck's term, following the five-term Republican's resignation from Congress in March. Once Lopez is sworn in, Republicans will expand their slim majority in the House of Representatives to 220 members, compared to 213 Democrats, with two vacant seats remaining.  Lopez easily defeated Democratic nominee Trisha Calvarese for the solid GOP seat, which covers Douglas County...
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Wood: Gov. Polis’ ‘Roadmap 2.0’ is not economically sustainable, equitable, environmentally balanced or fact-based
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Wood: Gov. Polis’ ‘Roadmap 2.0’ is not economically sustainable, equitable, environmentally balanced or fact-based

By PETE WOOD | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This past February, Gov. Jared Polis introduced his “Roadmap 2.0” that aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions in Colorado by 2050. The governor said, “Colorado has been a national model in bold climate action that improves air quality and protects our precious resources and open spaces. This updated, comprehensive Roadmap continues pushing our state forward in ways that will save Coloradans money, protect our air, and water, and ensure a more sustainable future for Colorado." Gov. Polis has doubled down on this policy that drives many local climate action plans that subsequently drive bureaucracies and mandates that make housing, transportation and the general cost of living more exp...
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