Today is Dec. 5, 2023, and here’s what you need to know:

Jarvis Caldwell, who worked for the Colorado House Republicans as a legislative aide and later as communications director, announced Monday he will seek the House District 20 seat.

Rep. Don Wilson, R-Monument, who currently serves the district, announced recently he will not seek a second term and will instead run for El Paso County commissioner.

“Colorado is at a crossroads,” Caldwell said in a video announcement. “There are two paths. The path we’re currently on has led to record high spending, taxes, fees, unaffordability, and crime. We’ve seen infringements on our rights as parents, stealing of our TABOR refunds, and attacks on our Second Amendment.”

A Washington County judge should not have disclosed a report about potential misconduct in the local child welfare agency to the state office charged with investigating the child protection system, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

In addition to finding that District Court Judge Charles M. Hobbs had already given up his jurisdiction over the case and had no grounds to release the report, the justices emphasized the clear boundaries to the Office of the Child Protection Ombudsman’s investigative powers.

The law “does not provide an unlimited grant of authority to the Ombudsman to obtain any and all information that it might deem relevant,” wrote Justice Richard L. Gabriel in the Dec. 4 opinion.

The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will review two murder cases implicating a question the court has never answered: When a child welfare worker questions a suspect in custody, must they provide a Miranda warning first?

At least three of the court’s seven members must consent to hear a case on appeal.

The justices narrowly turned down a third appeal involving Miranda warnings out of El Paso County, in which law enforcement proceeded to interrogate a suspect even after he asked if they “will get me someone to talk to right now. Like, a lawyer?”

Former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton on Monday endorsed fellow Republican Jeff Hurd, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in next year’s primary.

Calling the Grand Junction attorney a “principled, conservative leader,” Norton said that Hurd understands rural issues and stands to be an effective champion for the 3rd Congressional District.

Boebert is seeking a third term representing the district, which covers most of the Western Slope and Southern Colorado. After surviving the closest congressional race in the country last year, she’s facing challenges from two Republicans and two Democrats.

An energy cooperative said it will retire a unit in its coal-fired power station in Craig by the start of 2028, two years ahead of schedule.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission, a cooperative whose members provide power to a million electricity consumers in the West, announced in a filing to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Friday that it will shut down Craig Unit 3 by Jan. 1, 2028.

As part of that effort, Tri-State is seeking $970 million through a new program for cooperative electric suppliers through the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

The cooperative said its 2023 electric resource plan, which adds 1,250 megawatts of new renewable energy resources and energy storage through 2031, also includes the addition of a dispatchable natural gas unit in 2028 with carbon capture and sequestration added in 2031. The plan also calls for retiring another coal-fired plant in Arizona by 2031, which would also be ahead of schedule.