Today is Jan. 29, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Lauren Boebert finishes in middle of the pack in straw poll at inaugural GOP primary debate

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s middling finish in a straw poll Thursday night drew gasps from the crowd that had just witnessed the Colorado lawmaker face off against eight other Republicans in a congressional primary debate at a rec center in Fort Lupton.

The headline-grabbing incumbent’s performance in the decidedly non-scientific survey — Boebert landed in fifth place with just over 10% of the vote, behind three veteran state lawmakers and a former talk radio host who ran last cycle for the U.S. Senate — surprised some in the room but drew shrugs from others, who pointed out that the hall was filled with local Republicans loyal to other candidates who shared the debate stage.

The 90-minute debate, which drew national attention, took place less than a month after Boebert, the state’s most prominent elected Republican, joined the already crowded GOP primary in the sprawling 4th Congressional District, which covers Colorado’s Eastern Plains, anchored by suburban Douglas County.

Former Colorado Springs state lawmaker Janak Joshi jumps in GOP primary in Colorado's 8th CD

Former state Rep. Janak Joshi on Friday joined the field of Republicans hoping to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.

Vowing he’ll be “big government’s worst enemy,” the former physician, who represented Colorado Springs districts for three terms last decade in the legislature, said his unabashedly conservative track record makes him the best candidate to win the battleground seat, which could decide which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives after this year’s election.

“I’m the only candidate in this race with a proven conservative record to show that actions speak louder than mere words,” Joshi said in statement to Colorado Politics. “We already have too many say-anything politicians that voters can’t trust. To win this primary and general election, we need a citizen-focused, conservative leader who fights for everyday Americans and not the corrupt insiders who are ruining our country.”

Heather Morris named Aurora interim police chief following Acevedo's departure

Heather Morris was sworn in as Aurora’s new interim police chief this week, taking over the department’s top position after former chief Art Acevedo resigned earlier this month.

As interim chief, Morris said she is proud to lead the team and excited to continue to reduce crime and make progress with the consent decree the Aurora Police Department entered with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in 2021 to implement changes to policing — notably in the use of force and how officers engage with residents.

The corrective plan was prompted by the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, who died after an encounter with officers in 2019 as he walked home from a convenience store.

With the city under the consent decree with the attorney general, Acevedo left Aurora in a crucial time with the department in the middle of implementing sweeping changes to its policing and still reeling from recent court rulings that found its paramedics and a police officer guilty of several charges over the death of McClain.

Mesa County judge's errors prompt new trial for fertility doctor who used own sperm on patients

Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned a multimillion-dollar jury award to a pair of patients whose doctor artificially inseminated them with his own sperm, concluding a Mesa County judge’s cascading set of errors warranted a new trial.

A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals conceded Paul B. Jones, a retired obstetrician-gynecologist from Grand Junction, did not have a particularly strong defense to the claims he acted improperly by using his own sperm without his patients’ knowledge. But the panel determined the decisions in the trial court tilted the playing field against Jones.

“We do not reach this outcome lightly, and we are aware that a retrial may well have adverse effects on the patients and their families, who will again be required to describe the emotional impact that Jones’s actions have had on their lives,” wrote Judge Katharine E. Lum in the Jan. 25 opinion. “Nevertheless, we must base our decisions on the law, unaffected by our personal feelings.”

Jury orders Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll

Former President Donald Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in a defamation lawsuit on Friday stemming from his denial of her claim that he raped her in the mid-1990s.

A jury found Trump should pay $65 million in punitive damages to former Elle magazine columnist, as well as $18.3 million in compensatory damages.

Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York in the mid-1990s. He denied the accusations and called them a “hoax” and Carroll a “liar.”