Today is Feb. 19, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

With just weeks until precinct caucuses and less than a month to go before nominating petitions are due, it’s crunch time in the Republican primary for Colorado’s safest GOP-held congressional seat.

At last count, 11 candidates are vying for the chance to replace Republican Ken Buck, the former state GOP chairman who said in early November that he isn’t running for a sixth term representing the sprawling 4th Congressional District.

Capping months of speculation that the former Weld County prosecutor was moving toward retirement, Buck’s announcement set off the political equivalent of a gold rush, as Republicans eyed one of the only promotions available in a once-purple state that hasn’t elected a GOP candidate to major statewide office in a decade.

Republican primary candidates in Colorado's 4th Congressional District

These are the 11 declared Republican candidates running in Colorado’s open 4th Congressional District, which has been represented for five terms by GOP U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, who announced he isn’t seeking reelection on Nov. 1, 2023.

Fundraising totals reflect campaign finance filings with the Federal Election Commission through Dec. 31, 2023 and are rounded to the nearest thousand dollars. Candidates who entered the race after the most recent deadline won’t report activity until April.

Candidates are listed in the order they made their candidacies official.

Colorado lawmakers scramble to find funds for schools, communities grappling with immigration crisis

Colorado’s policymakers are looking for ways to help communities grappling with the costs of accommodating roughly 40,000 immigrants who arrived in Colorado in the past year.

The Department of Public Safety is requesting nearly $10 million in supplemental funding for organizations that offer services and assistance to immigrant families.

More specifically, the money will go toward housing and legal aid for the immigrants who came to Colorado after illegally crossing America’s southern border.

First Amendment expert: Proposal from Democratic leaders 'completely' exempts lawmakers from open meeting laws

Leaders of the Colorado General Assembly, along with several Democratic members, are seeking sweeping exemptions for lawmakers from the state’s open meetings law, which contains guarantees of transparency when officials craft policies.

The exemptions only apply to the legislature, not to other policymaking bodies such as a city council or county commission.

The proposal introduced by House Speaker Julie McCluskie and Senate President Steve Fenberg would change the laws so that written communication, “electronic or otherwise,” that is exchanged between members of the General Assembly is not subject to open meetings laws.

In addition, the bill would redefine “public business” to not apply to matters that are “by nature interpersonal, administrative, or logistical or that concern personnel, planning, process, training, or operations, as long as the merits or substance of matters that are expressly defined as being public business are not discussed.”