Today is Nov. 16, 2023, and here’s what you need to know:

The Colorado Republican Party has censured state Sen. Larry Liston, saying the veteran Colorado Springs Republican legislator pursued an “unwarranted” and “inappropriate” criminal complaint against the husband of the chairwoman of the El Paso County GOP over an alleged physical altercation at a party meeting.

The state GOP’s executive committee voted on Nov. 9 to formally rebuke Liston for using his position and political connections to encourage the prosecution of Rex Tonkins on a misdemeanor harassment charge after Liston alleged Tonkins “chest-bumped” him at the end of a tense county Republican meeting at a church on Dec. 6, 2021.

Tonkins, who is married to El Paso County Republican Chairwoman Vickie Tonkins, denied he was acting aggressively and was acquitted in August after a one-day jury trial in Colorado Springs municipal court.

After listening to closing arguments on Wednesday, a Denver judge could become the first in the country to rule the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on insurrectionists holding office applies to Donald Trump and, as a result, he is disqualified from Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.

Earlier this month, District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace held a five-day hearing where she heard testimony and viewed evidence purporting to show Trump, through his actions leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, stoked the U.S. Capitol attack and intended to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

Two weeks later, the parties returned to her courtroom to make their closing arguments.

“The rule of law must apply whether a candidate has no chance of winning an election or if they are a frontrunner,” said Sean Grimsley, an attorney for the four Republican and two unaffiliated voters who are seeking Trump’s disqualification. “Trump engaged in insurrection against the Constitution. The Constitution is clear. He cannot be president again.”

Trump’s attorney, Republican former Secretary of State Scott Gessler, stressed that Trump’s candidacy is an issue for voters and not subject to a judge’s views about the 14th Amendment.

The Colorado Board of Health on Wednesday voted unanimously to adopt new, stricter regulations that could increase fines dramatically against assisted-living facilities in cases of preventable death or the serious neglect or abuse of residents.

Final approval of the often contentious rule came nearly 18 months after a law to impose stricter fines was passed by the General Assembly on May 25, 2022. Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law eight days later.

The new regulations will go into effect in January.

Under Senate Bill 154, the maximum fine for facilities found to have severe deficiencies that leads to the death or serious harm to residents will increase to as much as $10,000 per incident, with the ability to go even higher if the circumstances are considered especially egregious.

Currently, the maximum fine against a facility is $2,000 per year no matter how many violations are found or how serious they are. One national advocate for assisted living residents and their family has called Colorado’s current system of fines “absurd.”

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday rebuffed Washington County’s request to apply a tougher standard for parents who seek to access government documents in child neglect cases, instead adopting the more lenient threshold for civil proceedings.

The ruling makes it easier for a father and mother in an ongoing custody case to obtain records Washington County claimed to be protected by attorney-client privilege. The county withheld the files after the parents asked for materials relating to the county’s troubled Department of Human services, which the state is currently investigating.

When Washington County attempted to terminate the legal rights of the father and mother over their three children, the father subpoenaed records related to the department’s former director, Grant Smith. The father believed Smith made denigrating statements about him. Earlier this year, 9News reported that the state’s Child Protection Ombudsman had raised the alarm about systemic bias under Smith’s watch.

“Specifically, our research suggests that staff of the WCDHS held negative opinions of parents which impacted the WCDHS’ willingness to provide families with the required services and care,” wrote Amanda Pennington, the office’s director of client services. “The CPO is concerned that WCDHS actions may have created unnecessary or prolonged separation of families as well as compromised the safety and well-being of children in Washington County.”

Civil claims against the city of Aurora and three of its police officers for actions during Denver’s 2020 George Floyd protests can move forward, a panel of federal appeals court judges decided this week.

According to the case, Zachary Packard was shot in the head by an Aurora officer with a lead pellet-filled bag on May 31, 2020, which knocked him unconscious and caused fractures to his skull and jaw, along with brain bleeding.

He was hit right after he kicked away a tear gas canister thrown by an officer that landed near Packard, according to the lawsuit, and Sgt. Patricio Serrant told officers under him to “go ahead and frickin’ hit ’em” if protesters kicked canisters.