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Colorado Springs possibly breaking state law by doling out millions in secret sessions
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In closed executive sessions that some legal experts say violate Colorado’s open meetings law, the Colorado Springs City Council has doled out about $5.4 million to settle a string of cases, including racial and gender discrimination. The council’s closed-door process is so secretive that it remains unclear how long it’s been going on, where much…
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Widefield aquifer contamination could be 6X more toxic than previously believed
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The Air Force’s problem with contaminated water, which it has been attempting to remedy in southern El Paso County with an unprecedented aid package, could get a lot worse. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry recently sought to publish a study revealing how perfluorinated compounds found in military firefighting foam could be nearly…
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INSIGHTS: Legislation to shape state politics for decades barely got noticed
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The day after the legislative session ended May 9, most of the Capitol’s top brass met with reporters to size up what had happened the previous four months. They had big-ticket compromises to brag about, for sure. Putting $3 billion into transportation counts. So does fixing a $32 billion shortfall in the state public employees’…
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The 8 who would be governor: Candidates square off at CoPo/Gazette forum
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For the first time, all four Republicans and four Democrats running for governor of Colorado squared off during a pair of debates Saturday in Colorado Springs, discussing policies ranging from transportation funding to gun violence, taxes to President Donald Trump. The candidate forum was presented by Colorado Politics, The Gazette and El Pomar’s Forum for…
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Denver airport provided $426,000 in travel to city for 4 years
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In October 2016, a delegation from Denver took off for Dubai to pursue “important business and tourism connections.” Mayor Michael Hancock, a top deputy, and two city council members flew business class on Emirates Airline. They stayed at The Palace Downtown hotel for a week. Total cost of the trip, including incidentals, paid for by…
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New state law forces Denver to change course on its ‘early colleges’
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A change in state law meant to rein in the cost of Colorado high schools that allow students to stay longer to earn college credit has forced the Denver district to slow down its expansion of the model. District officials were proposing adding another “early college,” as the schools are known, to the seven that…
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NREL gets federal grant to bolster less-familiar form of solar power
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The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden has received $8 million in federal grants for research to bolster “concentrating solar power,” a renewable energy technology that has been flagging as wind and photovoltaic solar power grow. The NREL grants are part of $72 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office.…
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Denver chamber-led coalition will seek sales tax for roads
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A Denver-led coalition hopes to ask voters in November for a 0.62 percent statewide sales tax to pay for transportation. Members of the coalition made the decision in a closed-door meeting at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Friday morning. Now the groups supporting the tax must collect 98,492 signatures from registered voters statewide by Aug.…
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How Colorado’s congressional delegation voted this week
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H.R. 3053: Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017 This was a vote to pass H.R. 3053 in the House. This bill provides the authorizations and procedures to begin building a repository for the nation’s nuclear wastes at Yucca Mountain in the southern Nevada desert. The U.S. Energy Department planned to transport radioactive waste from…
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Colorado lawmakers push for reforms as prison costs rise
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DENVER – A decade ago, faced with runaway costs and a growing prison population, Colorado lawmakers pushed the state Department of Corrections to transition more offenders out of prison and into halfway homes. Instead, the opposite happened. The state now uses community-based corrections programs even less than it did. And while its inmate population declined,…
