john cooke
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Senate bill seeks to stop Hickenlooper from following Paris climate accord
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A Senate committee debated a bill Wednesday to take away Gov. John Hickenlooper’s ability to keep Colorado in line with the Paris accord, the multi-nation agreement to address climate change. When President Trump made that call to pull the U.S. out last year, Hickenlooper signed an executive order to say Colorado would join the U.S.…
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Anti-squatters bill wins unanimous vote from crucial House committee
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For five months, Ryan Parsell watched a neighbor’s house in eastern El Paso County become a haven for drugs, prostitution and theft. The neighbor had passed away and squatters moved in, Parsell told the Colorado House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee in a hearing last month. Parsell’s story is unfortunately not unusual, and Senate Bill 15,…
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Bill to notify victims of inmate’s location heads to governor
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Before Colorado’s legislative session started, state Rep. Cole Wist told Colorado Politics it wasn’t right that crime victims or their families put their heads on their pillows each night not knowing where the inmate is jailed. He said that when an inmate is housed outside the state, victims and their families can go years without…
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Capitol M: Week ending April 6, Budget Edition
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Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the crowd, or, what goes on at the Capitol when lawmakers are not sitting at Coors Field, or as it was briefly known as on Friday, Citizens Bank Park. The next time Rep. Leslie Herod offers you donuts around April Fool’s Day…Capitol M advises…
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Colorado Concern has a radio message for lawmakers: Fix roads
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DENVER – The business alliance Colorado Concern has a message for state lawmakers coming to a car radio (and traffic jam) near you: Make a deal to fund transportation. The organization is spending $25,000 to run that message during morning and afternoon drive-times on far-reaching Denver AM radio stations 850 KOA and 630 KHOW, including…
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Sen. Randy Baumgardner prevails in Senate vote on expulsion
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DENVER – The Colorado Senate tied 17-17 over whether to expel Sen. Randy Baumgardner Monday night, falling seven votes short of the two-thirds needed to remove him. The Republican from Hot Sulphur Springs is accused by a former legislative aide who said he “grabbed and slapped her buttocks on four separate occasions” during the legislative session…
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Transportation funding without tax hike bogs down in Colorado Senate
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The Colorado Senate considered a bill to beef up funding for transportation without raising taxes Wednesday, but it bogged down in amendments about where the money would go, as well as delivering a tacit protest of the bill’s sponsor. Senate Bill 1 would ask voters in November to set aside more than $300 million a…
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Colorado Senate Republicans: Still a ‘NO’ on banning bump stocks, but yes to RMGO money
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The Trump administration is OK with a ban on bump stocks. The Florida Legislature, despite opposition from the National Rifle Association, last week approved a package of gun control measures, including a ban on bump stocks that increase the firing capacity of normal rifles. Colorado’s state Senate is a week away from hearing a bill that…
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Bell Policy Center asks Colorado lawmakers to ‘stop digging’ for tax cuts, transportation
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Two left-leaning policy think tanks in Denver are calling out the Colorado legislature to put people over roads in transportation and tax-cut bills. “Colorado is one of the strongest state economies in the country, it’s in a ‘hole’ when it comes to funding the public supports that help many Colorado families and communities thrive,” states…
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Bill to toughen law on false shooting reports barrels toward the House
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For some sick reason, some pranksters think it’s funny to call in false reports to summon a SWAT team. But Sen. John Cooke of Greeley has a bill with momentum that could make them think twice. The former Weld County sheriff’s Senate Bill 68 would increase the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony. The…
