Today is May 28, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

'Build the wall, deport them all': Boebert calls for return to Trump's border policies in new TV ad

With less than two weeks to go until Colorado voters can start casting primary ballots, Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert this week launched a five-figure TV ad campaign touting her support for former President Donald Trump’s border policies and efforts to increase domestic energy production.

“We need to shut down the border, build the wall and deport them all,” the two-term lawmaker says in a 30-second spot devoted to what the ad’s narrator calls “an invasion at our southern border.”

Another ad that began airing on cable stations and streaming platforms this week takes a more homespun approach, featuring an exchange between Boebert and her 11-year-old son, Roman, in what appears to to be the family kitchen.

Q&A with Scott Wasserman | Colorado Democrat worries about the rise of illiberalism

Scott Wasserman, a longtime political observer in Colorado who is Jewish and a liberal, distinctly remembered his response upon hearing about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked another war in the Middle East. 

“It was a gut wrenching event,” he told Colorado Politics. “I remember waking up, I remember hearing about it. I remember realizing, as the news was coming in the scale of the attack, this was not just a terrorist attack. This was on a level that was inconceivable for anyone who had ever paid attention to the issue, who cared about Israel, (who) cared about the Palestinians.”

Then he noticed something else, too, which he described as the “disorienting” experience of seeing allies on the political left somehow blame Israel for the Oct. 7 massacre. 

Denver mayor's push to revitalize downtown runs into difficult realities on the ground

Editor’s note: This is the first in a four-part series looking into Mayor Mike Johnston’s priorities for 2024. This installment focuses on the mayor’s goal of “revitalizing” downtown Denver.  

The debate swirling around converting empty offices into housing  — a key component of Mayor Mike Johnston’s push to inject renewed life into downtown Denver — falls into two camps: It is either the area’s saving grace or it’s not worth the effort.

Denver’s Venture Architecture founder Martin Goldstein said he falls in the middle. 

“It’s not the panacea. It’s also not proven that it doesn’t work,” Goldstein said. “It’s just hard.”

Colorado justices signal intervention in 4 ongoing cases, including jury trials for evictions and Ouray rape prosecution

The Colorado Supreme Court recently signaled it may intervene in four ongoing cases in the trial courts on subjects that include a tenant’s right to a jury trial in eviction proceedings, whether defendants should remain incarcerated pending a sanity evaluation and a judge’s decision to sanction prosecutors for late-disclosed evidence.

Although most of the Supreme Court’s decisions come at the conclusion of a case and after the Court of Appeals has rendered its ruling, the justices sometimes elect to immediately hear appeals from the trial courts when the standard appellate process does not provide adequate relief or the legal issues have significant public importance.

In those instances, at least four of the seven justices must agree to take up an appeal.

Colorado Supreme Court returns 3 cases to trial courts with instructions

The Colorado Supreme Court decided three appeals this month in ongoing civil and criminal cases, either overturning trial judges’ faulty decisions or providing clarification for further proceedings.

Although most of the Supreme Court’s decisions come at the conclusion of a case and after the Court of Appeals has rendered its ruling, the justices sometimes elect to immediately hear appeals from the trial courts when the standard appellate process does not provide adequate relief or the legal issues have significant public importance.

In its latest round of orders, the Supreme Court found a Denver judge required a plaintiff to disclose confidential information without the proper analysis, agreed an El Paso County defendant could inform the jury to a limited extent about his alleged victim’s prior sexual assault, and threw out a felony child abuse charge against a Jefferson County mother for lack of probable cause.