Today is April 5, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

A veteran Republican campaign operative and political commentator filed a formal complaint on Thursday alleging that the Colorado GOP and its chairman, Dave Williams, violated campaign finance law by improperly spending party funds to support Williams’ congressional campaign.

Kelly Maher, a political expert with Colorado Politics news partner 9News, charged in a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission that Williams and the state Republican Party have used party resources to promote Williams and launch attacks on Jeff Crank, one of his GOP primary opponents for the open 5th Congressional District seat.

“Based on public reporting and documentary evidence, there is strong reason to believe that Williams is using the State Party as a slush fund to benefit the Williams Campaign, resulting in unreported and impermissible contributions from the State Party to the Williams Campaign,” Maher writes in the three-page complaint.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Agriculture announced last night they’re hiring range riders to protect livestock.

Rancher Don Gittleston said that’s just another tactic that doesn’t work.

Gittleson, who has lost at least six or seven cows to wolves, and possibly more, told a House committee earlier this week nothing has proven effective enough at keeping the wolves away.

He estimated that his ranch has invested as much as $90,000 in “nonlethal coexistence strategies,” including range riders and strobe lights.

Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, is entering a rehab facility tied to alcohol use, according to multiple sources.

Winter, who is in her second and final term in the state Senate, has been battling a number of health issues, including an auto-immune disorder, over the past year. She also suffered a traumatic brain injury last year after hitting a curb while riding her bicycle to the state Capitol. That injury required surgery.

But a recent incident in the state Senate, where she fell down multiple times, led to more concerns of possible alcohol use from her Senate colleagues and other Capitol observers.

Wednesday night, she appeared at a Northglenn City Council meeting, to participate in a discussion around aMental Health Transitional Living Home proposed for the city. She appeared to be intoxicated, sources told Colorado Politics.

Progressive House Democrats won the latest skirmish Wednesday night in their efforts to allow facilities where people can use illegal drugs under the supervision of medical professionals.

House Bill 1028 would allow municipalities to set up such facilities, which the bill calls “overdose prevention centers.”

Under the bill, as amended, drug users would be able to bring and use “controlled substances” under the supervision of medical providers.

The sun was an hour away from setting when lawmakers began debate on HB 1028. By the end of the debate, the midnight hour was not far away.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, is the founder and executive director of the Colorado Freedom Fund, which hired lobbyists to work for its passage.