Author: Paula Noonan

Paula Noonan No, no, 83 times no. That’s how many times Colorado state House Republicans voted no, unanimously, on bills that passed both chambers. Yes, yes, 62 times yes. That’s how many times Colorado state House Republicans voted yes, unanimously, on bills that passed both chambers. Perhaps you’re surprised by the number of unanimous yes’s…

Paula Noonan Why is the state waging a three-front war on the Adams 14 School District that serves much of Commerce City? Gutted environmental laws and rules affecting the Suncor Refinery, anti-democratic actions by the state Board of Education, and unleashed charter school advantages with free transportation offerings have attacked Adams 14 and Commerce City…

Paula Noonan Kids don’t play kick the can anymore, but our legislators do. They’ve created or added responsibilities to numerous task forces on a slew of issues. This is their game of kick the can. Sometimes a task force is created as a placeholder because bill sponsors and the governor can’t agree on how to…

Paula Noonan We need more humanities education immediately. Here’s why. Three men who had to be STEM majors, along with Gov. Jared Polis, wrote the property tax reduction bill. This bill is inscrutable to most people. If someone educated in the humanities tradition was in charge of the bill writing team, the bill would be…

Paula Noonan How has the 2023 General Assembly performed? Democrats have a supermajority in the House and a strong majority in the Senate, but leadership of both chambers has held tight to the political “center.” Did that leadership save us from anarchy, tyranny and/or catastrophe? Let’s do firearms first. The chambers passed HB23-1291, a waiting…

Paula Noonan Four women legislators in the north metro area are taking air quality actions the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) and Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) have ducked since the passage of SB19-181 on protecting public health and safety and the environment in the oil and gas industry. Two male legislators with districts…

Paula Noonan This week is the post-colored-egg-hunt time of year when the weather gets nice and Colorado’s public school children stay indoors in their classrooms for up to 7 hours and 45 minutes each for third and fourth graders to 12 hours and 45 minutes for eighth graders to endure the state-required but possible-to-opt-out-of CMAS…

Paula Noonan It’s spring so it must be snowing. It’s time to be outside tending our gardens so it must be budget week at the capital. The legislative session is more than half over and there’s much more to be done. Here’s how the chambers and parties have landed so far. The House has 149…

Paula Noonan Now that the General Assembly has said everything that can possibly be said about firearms, bullets, legal recourse regarding gun manufacturers, and guns/mental health, perhaps legislators can take some time to think through two education bills: HB23-1241 to create a task force to study the K-12 accountability system and HB23-1239, local innovations for…

Paula Noonan Location, location, location. Location is the No. 1 rule in real estate. It’s also the No. 1 rule with ozone. Stratospheric ozone is the “good” kind in the upper atmosphere that protects against the sun’s ultra violet radiation. Tropospheric ozone is the “bad” kind at ground level that causes smog. The Front Range…