Today is Nov. 7, 2023, and here’s what you need to know:

Colorado voters will decide today the fate of a property tax measure, several municipal races and education board seats across multiple jurisdictions. 

In Denver, the public will start to see results shortly after 7 p.m., with updates expected at 8:30 p.m., 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m. Officials expect a final report after midnight.

The first tally at 7 p.m. will reflect early ballots – received and processed through Nov. 6.

Former president Donald Trump carried the Republican primary straw poll by a wide margin at the Colorado GOP’s annual fundraising dinner on Saturday, party officials said.

Trump received 87% of the vote, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis trailing at 8% in the non-scientific poll, conducted online using electronic balloting, Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams told Colorado Politics.

In the presidential poll, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy finished in third place with a little over 2% of the vote, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who each received a single vote, for less than 1%. None of the other Republicans seeking the 2024 presidential nomination – including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Bergum – were listed on the ballot, Williams said.

At an event last month broadly touching on the challenges facing American democracy, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Justice Melissa Hart provided their views on the dangers of artificial intelligence, digital speech and the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions curtailing longstanding protections for abortion rights and affirmative action.

Weiser explained that he is most concerned about the existing flow of misinformation and disinformation being aggravated in advance of the 2024 election by the capability of AI to generate video and audio of candidates saying things they never uttered in real life.

“Which leads to the following problem for citizenship and for institutions: How do we authenticate what is true and what isn’t? And how do people make informed decisions,” he wondered. “That’s what keeps me up at night.”

Former President Donald Trump defended his wealth and business on Monday, tangling from the witness stand with the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial and denouncing as a “political witch hunt” a lawsuit accusing him of dramatically inflating his net worth.

Trump’s long-awaited testimony about property valuations and financial statements was punctuated by personal jabs at a judge he said was biased against him and at the state attorney general, whom he derided as a “political hack.” He proudly boasted of his real estate business – “I’m worth billions of dollars more than the financial statements” – and disputed claims that he had deceived banks and insurers.

“This is the opposite of fraud,” he declared.

During the summer, nearly half of all landscaping water use goes to irrigating lawns, and the majority of that irrigation is for “cool season, high water-use turf grass like Kentucky Bluegrass,” according to Lindsey Rogers of Western Resource Advocates. Adding to the problem, she said, is that irrigating grass is considered consumptive use, which means it can’t be treated and reused. 

Andrew Hill, who handles government relations for Denver Water, explained the legislation’s target is grass “that only ever sees the bottom of a lawnmower and it only ever gets watered” and serves no purpose other than looking nice.

It’s not the grass in recreational, civic or community purposes, such as parks or sports fields, he said, adding, “We’re not looking to replace baseball fields or golf courses.”

The idea is to stop that grass from being planted in the first place, he said.