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Here’s when Miller moths will start to swarm in Colorado this year
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denvergazette.com, State

Here’s when Miller moths will start to swarm in Colorado this year

By Spencer McKee | Denver Gazette This past weekend, I made the mistake of leaving the door open while I was heading in and out of my backyard with the pup – and sure enough, I noticed an intruder had snuck its way inside as I locked up for the night. Thankfully, it wasn't one of the neighborhood bears or a local bobcat – but an old familiar friend. High on my wall was a Miller moth. And just like that, I was reminded that the season when Colorado gets swarmed by hoards of the winged species is soon to be underway. According to Colorado State University, Miller moths tend to appear along the state's Front Range region sometime between mid-May and early June, hatching in the Eastern Plains and starting a migration to higher elevation parts of the state over the next two to three we...
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Rep. Holtorf details the ‘good, bad and ugly’ of state legislative session
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Rep. Holtorf details the ‘good, bad and ugly’ of state legislative session

By Rocky Mountain Voice Staff State Rep. Richard Holtorf, the whip of the Colorado House's Republican Conference, offered review of the recently closed Colorado legislative session in a press statement this week. “My last year in the state legislature had ‘some good, some bad, and some ugly'," he said. "I am immensely proud of the work I’ve done serving on the Colorado House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources, and Health & Human Services committees. I would like to thank my family, ranch hands, legislative aids, colleagues, and most of all voters, who helped me serve 16 of the 21 counties in [Colorado's 4th District] over the past five years.” He was first appointed to serve out the completion of Kimmy Lewis' term in central and southeast Colorado, and then was elected...
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Rep. Bradley announces town hall meetings to review legislative session, focus on future
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Rep. Bradley announces town hall meetings to review legislative session, focus on future

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice State Rep. Brandi Bradley has announced a pair of town hall meetings she will host in District 39 to discuss legislative victories, losses and what lies ahead. Bradley will join with Sen. Mark Bailey and Sen. Kevin Van Winkle at 6:30 p.m. May 13 at the Larkspur Fire Station, 941 S. Spruce Mountain Road. She will again be joined by Van Winkle and this time by Sen. Jim Smallwood at 7 p.m. May 16 at Freedom Fellowship in Centennial. A time of fellowship, food and fun will precede the May 16 event at 5:30 p.m. "It has been an honor to represent House District 39 for the last two years," Bradley wrote in her district newsletter. "I never, in a million years, thought that I would run for office. It has been one of the most gratifying and most diffi...
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Voters might get chance to tell schools to notify parents of signs their kid is transgender
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State, Westword

Voters might get chance to tell schools to notify parents of signs their kid is transgender

By Hannah Metzger | Westword Days after a new state law began allowing Colorado students to choose their names at school, an effort to require parental notification for such behavior started petitioning for the November ballot. Initiative 142 would require that public school staff inform parents if they obtain any information that a student is experiencing "gender incongruence," defined as a difference between the student's biological sex and gender identity. If a child uses a different name or pronouns at school — or even if an employee overhears students talking about their gender identity — their parents would have to be notified. Advocates of the proposed initiative say they started printing petitions last week. They must collect 124,238 signatures by August 5 t...
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Bob Gardner’s infamous filibusters, policy prowess made him one of the GOP’s most effective weapons
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State, Westword

Bob Gardner’s infamous filibusters, policy prowess made him one of the GOP’s most effective weapons

By Hannah Metzger | Westword Eighteen years after he was first elected to the Colorado Legislature, state Senator Bob Gardner concluded his final legislative session on Wednesday, May 8. Twenty-four state legislators will vacate their seats this year, but Gardner has called the Capitol home for the longest. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006, serving through 2014 before joining the Senate in 2016. Now term-limited, Gardner is one of only two current legislators expected to complete the maximum eight years in both chambers, and he started two years earlier than the other — Senator Kevin Priola, who was first elected in 2008. Following a career under the gold dome, Gardner, age 70, is stepping away from public office. He plans to return to his law pract...
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From bag fees to car fees, two ballot measures could end Colorado’s fee-frenzy
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CBS Colorado, State

From bag fees to car fees, two ballot measures could end Colorado’s fee-frenzy

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado In an effort to avoid having to go to voters for tax increases, Colorado state lawmakers have increasingly turned to fees. But they may have gone too far this year. In addition to bills imposing fees on phones, alcohol and tires, state Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill increasing the fee on car and truck rentals to just over $5 a day. If passed, the money would be used to fund mass transit projects. The American Car Rental Association, which represents companies like Enterprise and U-Haul, is now threatening to sue the state and is putting money behind two ballot measures that could drastically limit all fees. Greg Scott with the association warned lawmakers the fee would be a violation of federal law, which prohibits fees on airport busines...
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‘The Most Legit Dude’ in the Colorado Capitol: Senator becomes unlikely celebrity
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State, Westword

‘The Most Legit Dude’ in the Colorado Capitol: Senator becomes unlikely celebrity

By Hannah Metzger | Westword One Colorado legislator has become the subject of fan pages, a weekly holiday and an effort to replace Mayor Mike Johnston’s greeting at the Denver airport with his voice instead. As state Senator Perry Will walks through the Colorado Capitol Building on Friday, May 3, staffers stop him to ask for photos. Dozens of people roam the halls wearing bolo ties — Will’s signature look — in homage to the year's last “Perry Will Friday,” which has been celebrated every week since the legislative session began in January. Now four months in, with legislators preparing to adjourn this week, Will is a bona fide celebrity under the gold dome. “I just love it. I crave it,” Will says. "I'm not your garden-variety legislator, but I work across the ai...
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‘Devastated’ details the deadly fentanyl epidemic and calls Coloradans to action
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

‘Devastated’ details the deadly fentanyl epidemic and calls Coloradans to action

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice Overdoses believed to be driven largely by fentanyl-laced prescription drugs are setting records annually. The death count once was similar to the capacity of a high school classroom each week, marking the third largest cause of pediatric deaths behind firearm-related injuries and motor vehicle collisions, a report by UCLA Health reads. It has now grown beyond that analogy. The drug often kills those experimenting with it for the first time, with the Centers for Disease Control finding 86 percent of those adolescents dying of a fentanyl overdose had not previously experienced a drug overdose, according to a report in The Free Press. Introduction of Fentanyl has been especially devastating in Colorado, where the Department of Public Health ...
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Three takeaways from Colorado’s 2024 legislative session
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Three takeaways from Colorado’s 2024 legislative session

By Colorado Politics Colorado policymakers wrapped up this year's legislative session on Wednesday night, following a hectic pace that saw them passing major proposals on housing, taxes and guns. Here are three takeaways: Lawmakers find agreement on difficult subjects  Hot-button proposals from Democrats' progressive wing fail  Property tax fight is far from over READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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101 bills debated by the Colorado legislature in 2024 that you need to know about
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State, The Colorado Sun

101 bills debated by the Colorado legislature in 2024 that you need to know about

By Jesse Paul and Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The Colorado legislature debated more than 700 bills in the lawmaking term that ended Wednesday.  The Colorado Sun pored through the measures to highlight the ones that passed — and some that failed — that you need to know about. Gov. Jared Polis has a June 7 deadline to sign or veto bills, or let them become law without his signature. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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