Today is April 17, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Adam Frisch again tops quarterly fundraising totals; Lauren Boebert leads money race in new district

As he has every quarter this election cycle, Democrat Adam Frisch bowled over Colorado’s other congressional candidates in the campaign finance department in reports filed this week covering the first three months of the year.

Meanwhile, in her new district, Boebert out-raised a crowded field of Republican primary rivals and finished the quarter with nearly $1 million in the bank — more than all the other candidates for the 4th CD, Republicans combined. 

And in what’s expected to be the state’s closest-fought race in the 8th Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo raised $855,172 and finished the quarter with nearly $2 million on hand.

Finally, in the race to replace retiring nine-term U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn El Paso County-based 5th Congressional District, Jeff Crank, an executive with Americans for Prosperity, raised $301,916 and ended the quarter with $227,753 in cash. Meanwhile, Dave Williams, the Colorado Republican Party chairman and a former state lawmaker who put over $100,000 into his campaign, reported receipts of $171,511 and finished March with $198,000 in debt, including $98,000 left over from his 2022 campaign, when he challenged Lamborn.

A resolution that will ask voters to allow the legislature to pass a retrospective bill tied to sex abuse lawsuits is on thin ice this week, while Senate Democrats try to find the one Republican vote that would allow the proposal to advance.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 1, which was introduced on Jan. 31 and passed its only committee hearing on Feb. 7 on a 3-2 vote, has sat in the Senate, waiting for a second reading debate, for more than two months.

The delay is due to the one thing Senate Democrats don’t have: a supermajority of 24 members.

A concurrent resolution, which goes to the ballot, needs at least 24 votes in order to move forward. With 23 Democrats, that means the sponsors, Sens. Rhonda Fields of Aurora and Jessie Danielson of Wheat Ridge, need one Republican to flip — and that has been a tall order.

Denver schools' Superintendent Alex Marrero uses NDAs to prevent employees from speaking out, former official says

Denver Public Schools — under Superintendent Alex Marrero — has offered severance packages to employees only if they are willing to sign a confidentiality agreement that prohibits them from speaking about their experiences in the district for three years after their employment.

The explosive revelation came Monday night during the time the board of education has set aside for monthly public comment.

Will Jones, the former executive director of communications, said he was dismissed by Marrero in February after nearly nine years with the district. Jones was hired under previous Superintendent Tom Boasberg.

“The ‘P’ in DPS is public,” Jones said. “That’s who we answer to.”

10th Circuit says couple convicted in marijuana grow operation cannot skirt mandatory minimum sentence

A husband and wife who were convicted of a large-scale marijuana grow operation at their Thornton home cannot take advantage of the legal provision that exempts some drug offenders from mandatory minimum sentences, the federal appeals court based in Denver ruled last month.

Huosheng Xian and Youlian Zhong, who arrived in the U.S. from China in 2016, are serving 10-year sentences after police discovered 1,500 cannabis plants and more than 50 pounds of processed marijuana at their Glencoe Street home. A jury convicted them on three counts of manufacturing or possessing marijuana with an intent to distribute.

Federal law, however, provides a “safety valve” for certain defendants convicted of drug offenses that permits judges to impose sentences below the mandatory minimum. There are multiple factors — including lack of criminal history — and prosecutors agreed Xian and Zhong fit most of the criteria. The government only contested whether the couple, by the time of sentencing, “truthfully provided to the Government all information and evidence the defendant has concerning the offense.”

Federal judge dismisses negligence claim against hospital in death of Montezuma County jail detainee

A hospital in Cortez cannot itself be liable for negligence in the death of a Montezuma County jail detainee, a federal judge ruled last month.

Kelroy Newman arrived at the jail on July 17, 2021 with a blood alcohol concentration five times the legal limit, 0.421, and injuries to his head. Police took him to Southwest Memorial Hospital, where a doctor evaluated Newman and returned him to the jail. One day later, Newman died from complications of chronic alcohol use.

Newman’s daughter and her mother filed suit against several defendants, including Montezuma County, the elected sheriff, the hospital and Randy Gene Davidson — the doctor who evaluated Newman. The bulk of the lawsuit pointed to alleged failures at the jail, but the plaintiffs claimed the hospital’s negligence was also responsible for Newman’s death.