Author: CHRISTOPHER OSHER
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Colorado judicial system makes public memo detailing alleged misconduct in alleged hush money contract
Judges in Colorado — apparently including members of the state’s Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court — have engaged in personal misconduct without repercussions, according to the contents of a memo Colorado’s judicial system made public Monday. The memo details sexual relationships between a lower court judge and his staff, pornographic videos sent over…
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Lawsuit may shed light on misconduct allegations in state’s judicial department
A federal lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices at the Colorado Supreme Court is poised to shed light on the recent allegation that former Chief Justice Nathan “Ben” Coats and other court employees gave a contract worth up to $2.75 million to a former judicial employee to keep her from divulging the personal misconduct of 20…
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CDOT supervisor: ‘We don’t do things here that comply with the rules’
On Dec. 14, 2018, at 3:51 p.m. John Olson, an appraisal supervisor for the Colorado Department of Transportation, sent an email to an employee he managed. At issue was the employee’s urgent complaint that proper appraisal procedures weren’t being used by “good ole boys” at the state agency, which spends billions of dollars in taxpayer…
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Lawsuit claims El Pomar engaged in illegal lobbying to kill El Paso County quarry proposal
A lawsuit filed this week against the El Pomar Foundation accuses the nonprofit of violating state law by secretly lobbying members of then Gov. John Hickenlooper’s staff to kill a controversial proposal for a granite quarry south of Colorado Springs, reducing the property owner’s potential income. The lawsuit filed on behalf of the RMBC Group,…
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Olympic reform legislation meant to address sexual abuse culture passes U.S. Senate
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed Olympic reform legislation that will demand greater accountability from the Colorado Springs-based U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and is meant to transform a culture that has allowed sexual abuse of athletes like that perpetrated by Dr. Larry Nassar to proliferate. Both U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican of…
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Colorado board that writes rules for management of sex offenders rife with conflicts, state audit finds
Members of a state board that writes the rules for how Colorado sex offenders are supervised voted on policy revisions that benefited their firms, which held state contracts worth millions of dollars annually, according to a scathing performance audit the state auditor released Tuesday. The audit further found that most of the standards the Sex…
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‘Backdoor’ lobbying effort to kill quarry in El Paso County may have violated law
Officials in then Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration helped an influential Colorado Springs nonprofit privately lobby a member of the state mining board to kill plans for a granite quarry, setting up a secret briefing that legal experts described as a potential violation of state law and that proponents of the quarry believe doomed their chances…
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Improving COVID-19 testing capacity just one issue for Colorado’s high-powered Innovation Response Team
A lack of nasal swabs has rendered Colorado’s 10,000-a-day supply of test kits for determining who has contracted COVID-19 mostly useless. That problem is one of the top issues a high-powered group of influential business leaders and public officials are helping Gov. Jared Polis tackle as COVID-19 shutters businesses and confines residents to their homes…
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Colorado Watch | Home-owned: Better results at Larimer County halfway house
Tim Hand, department director of Larimer County Community Corrections Facility, greets a program participant.Skyler Ballard, The Gazette At one Colorado halfway house delivering better outcomes than other programs in the state, residents are eager to share their stories of success and give praise to the staff for helping them become productive members of society. “We’re…
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Colorado Watch | Criminal Injustice: Sex assault in a Denver halfway house
J.H. (not his real name) was sexually abused by a counselor in 2018 while serving time for his third DUI at the Tooley Hall halfway house in Denver. J.H. is suing GEO Group over sexual assaults he suffered while in a halfway house in Denver from a counselor who worked at the facility. J.H. was…