Today is Sept. 8, 2023, and here’s what you need to know:

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck is having none of it.

The five-term Republican congressman from Windsor, a former chairman of the Colorado GOP, has spent the last week pushing back against a stew of false claims ladled out by fellow Republicans who maintain the federal government has mistreated defendants facing charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

From a point-by-point response to a letter circulated last month by state Republicans, to a stinging rebuke of a nationally prominent GOP lawmaker, Buck doesn’t appear to have pulled any punches in his attempts to set the record straight.

“I don’t want folks to get distracted from the issues that matter to most voters,” Buck told Colorado Politics. “We have a great opportunity in this election cycle to talk about inflation and the border and crime, and those are the things that we should be focused on. And so when I saw this letter, I just wanted to respond factually to it and make sure that the Republican Party is trying to win elections and not just argue about these issues.”

Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order Thursday to expand apprenticeship programs within state agencies, a move he hopes will help address staffing shortages. 

While there are two unemployed Coloradans for every open job in the state, the skills of applicants often don’t align with the skills needed for the jobs, Polis said. By offering more apprenticeships, prospective employees can get the necessary training and experience to transition to full-time employment, while being paid during their education period. 

“The state as an employer is not exempt from the same trends that are affecting many other employers,” Polis said. “We’re one of the larger employers in the state and like many companies, organizations, nonprofits and universities in our state, it’s difficult to fill all those positions.” 

The order requires state agencies to increase their number of apprenticeship programs by 50% by June 30, 2024, and directs every department to implement at least two new work-based learning programs by Dec. 30, 2025, such as apprenticeships, internships or fellowships.

Colorado Republicans want to use an internal party process to award delegates to next year’s Republican National Convention if a lawsuit filed this week in state court succeeds in keeping Donald Trump off the ballot in next spring’s Colorado presidential primary.

A lawsuit filed on Wednesday by four Republican and two unaffiliated Colorado voters seeks to prevent Trump from ever appearing on a Colorado ballot again, alleging that the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election disqualify him from holding federal office under a provision of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Adopted after the Civil War, the amendment bars anyone who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution from federal office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The plaintiffs in the 115-page lawsuit – including a former state Senate Majority leader and a former GOP congresswoman from Rhode Island – argue that Trump violated his oath by “recruiting, inciting and encouraging a violent mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a futile attempt to remain in office.”

Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday agreed a man who filed suit over media coverage of his protest activity failed to show how his defamation claims had merit.

In April 2021, the Northglenn/Thornton Sentinel reported on Richard Roy Blake’s protests outside Masjid Ikhlas – Metropolitan Denver North Islamic Center. For years, Blake had shown up to “open houses” at the mosque, reportedly hoping to find “moderate” Muslims who were receptive to his concerns about the treatment of women and Christians under some Islamic regimes.

At one point, a jury in municipal court convicted him of violating Northglenn’s sidewalk obstruction ordinance, after Blake stood outside with a sign that read “Equal Rights for Christians in Islamic Nations” on one side and “Islam Kills” on the other.

Blake sued Colorado Community Media and the article’s author, Liam Adams, for defamation and infliction of emotional distress. In addition to disputing how the article characterized Blake, he also accused the defendants of being a “shill for an ideology” that allegedly promotes the abuse of women. Colorado Politics previously collaborated with Colorado Community Media and Adams on multiple articles unrelated to Blake’s protests.

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe are set to receive a total of roughly $2 million in opioid settlement funds, Attorney General Phil Weiser announced on Thursday.

The tribes can use the one-time funding for drug treatment, recovery, prevention and education programs, Weiser’s office said. 

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe will receive nearly $1.3 million, while the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe will get roughly $750,000 from the state share of opioid settlement money.

The state share represents 10% of all opioid settlement funds coming to Colorado.

Weiser’s office calculated the amount for each tribe based on the effects of the opioid crisis in their communities.