Today is Feb. 26, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Hundreds in Denver rally to support Ukraine on 2nd anniversary of Russian invasion

Hundreds of Ukraine supporters gathered at a rally at the Colorado state Capitol in Denver on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the U.S. ally.

“Today, we are asking members of U.S. Congress to step up and vote for help to Ukraine,” said Marina Dubrova, president of Ukrainians of Colorado, which organized the rally.

The crowd, many wearing the blue and gold Ukrainian flag draped on their shoulders, applauded and nodded in agreement.

Donald Trump won South Carolina’s Republican primary on Saturday, easily beating former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state and further consolidating his path to a third straight GOP nomination.

Trump has now swept every contest that counted for Republican delegates, adding to previous wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Haley is facing growing pressure to leave the race but says she’s not going anywhere despite losing the state where she was governor from 2011 to 2017.

A 2020 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden is becoming increasingly inevitable. Haley has vowed to stay in the race through at least the batch of primaries on March 5, known as Super Tuesday, but failed unable to dent Trump’s momentum in her home state, despite holding far more campaign events and arguing that the indictments against Trump will hamstring him against Biden.

Republican Jeff Crank endorsed by Koch network's Americans for Prosperity Action in Colorado's 5th CD

Americans for Prosperity Action, the deep-pocketed political arm of billionaire Charles Koch’s conservative advocacy network, on Thursday announced it’s throwing its support behind Republican Jeff Crank in the crowded GOP primary for the seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn.

Calling Crank — a podcaster and political consultant who previously served as state director of Americans for Prosperity’s Colorado branch — a “conservative patriot,” a spokesman for AFP Action said in a release that the group “intends to put the full weight of our grassroots capabilities behind Crank’s candidacy to ensure he’s elected to the House of Representatives come November.”

Crank is one of six Republican candidates seeking the nomination in the GOP-leaning 5th Congressional District, whose boundaries nearly coincide with El Paso County.

Appeals court says car rental companies can be sued as insurers

Colorado’s second-highest court clarified last week that car rental companies can be sued as if they were insurance companies when they fail to pay benefits on policies they offer in the course of renting vehicles.

After a hit-and-run driver caused two passengers to sustain more than $700,000 in medical bills, they sought payment from the company that owned the car they were riding in, Hertz. The driver, upon renting the vehicle, opted to purchase insurance covering injuries up to $1 million and the injured passengers alleged Hertz breached that contract.

Hertz insisted it was not the insurer, but the entity being insured. By purchasing extra coverage, the driver and the passengers similarly became insured by Hertz’s own insurer.

Patients, Colorado lawmakers debate placing price caps on 'orphan drugs'

Placing upper payment limits on “orphan drugs” will either increase or decrease their access and affordability, depending who you ask.

Orphan drugs are defined as medications used to treat conditions that affect 200,000 people or fewer in the U.S. These “orphan” diseases, as they’re known, encompass both widely recognized illnesses, such as muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and ALS, as well as lesser-known conditions like Duncan’s Syndrome and Madelung’s disease.

Because these medications are not widely used among the American population, they are not considered profitable by pharmaceutical companies and can often cost thousands of dollars for a single prescription.