Author: Jakob Rodgers, The Gazette

Tempers flared at a Colorado Springs town hall Thursday night amid concerns that the city isn’t addressing homelessness fast enough – particularly when it comes to helping families. Roughly 100 people packed the third of six meetings planned to gather input on the city’s latest eight-point action plan to address homelessness announced in October. Several…

If there were doubts as to Colorado’s true political colors, Tuesday’s mighty blue wave washed them away. Many political analysts and observers across the state say Democrats’ Election Day sweep signaled Colorado’s shift from a purple state teetering between two political parties to some yet-unknown shade of blue. The change didn’t happen overnight, despite Democrats…

A blue wave rushed over Colorado on Election Day as a record number of midterm voters swept Democrats into the governor’s mansion and all other statewide offices. Democrats and blue-leaning unaffiliated voters inundated ballots boxes as Democratic candidate Jared Polis easily became the nation’s first elected openly gay governor, while the crucial 6th Congressional district…

For the first time since 2013, health insurance markets will open this week without a federal tax penalty for people without coverage. But that doesn’t mean it’s OK to be uninsured, consumer advocates say. Open enrollment, which kicks off Thursday, is the only time people who don’t already have coverage through their employer or the…

Colorado Springs officials are pitching an eight-point plan aiming to expand homeless shelters, create a fund to help homeless military veterans and reduce illegal homeless camps. The plan focuses on adults without children as the homeless population grows and concerns increase about illegal camping. Hundreds more people live outside than can be accommodated in shelters,…

Colorado’s health insurance market appears to be stabilizing after years of steep, double-digit rate increases and threats of insurers leaving the state. Health insurance rates for Coloradans buying their plans on the state’s individual market will rise an average of 5.6 percent in 2019, the Colorado Division of Insurance announced Thursday. Also, the same seven…

Methamphetamine use made a deadly comeback in El Paso County and across Colorado last year while festering in the shadow of the nation’s opioid epidemic. Meth-related deaths in the county nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017, from 36 to 67, while meth ranked among the fastest-growing drugs in fatalities elsewhere in the state. The rise…

Over and over, residents and clean water advocates implored the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday evening to set enforceable drinking water standards for the toxic chemicals contaminating their water – and at tighter levels than the agency currently deems acceptable. Their pleas came during the EPA’s third stop in a nationwide tour meant to help…

COLORADO SPRINGS – The Environmental Protection Agency plans to host a two-day community forum this week in Colorado Springs on the toxic chemicals contaminating the aquifer beneath Security, Widefield and Fountain. The EPA’s forum marks the third in a series of meetings across the nation aimed at helping the agency create a management plan for…