Good morning, Colorado.
According to the brand new calendar sitting on my desk, today is Jan. 3. Also according to the calendar, when fishing, one should “anchor at the head of a pool so your lures can drift back into it for river steelhead and salmon, or alongside a deep run that you can cast and drift a lure or bait through.”
That might seem like a helpful — if not entirely random — fun fact. But it’s par for the course when you walk away from the family White Elephant with an annual calendar of fishing tips.
I can neither confirm nor deny claims that I am absolutely “dreadful” at fishing. It doesn’t help that these claims come straight from the source — me. But this calendar could turn things around. And if not, well, at least now I know that stripers in schools tend to run in about the same size range.
Now, the news.
POLITICS
Top Republican at Colorado Capitol jumps into crowded 4th Congressional District race
Colorado House Minority Leader Mike Lynch in the Colorado Capitol during the 2023 legislative session. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
“I’m sick of being represented by people that are not sincere in their service. I think what’s wrong with this country is (Congress) has become a job where your first concern is yourself. I think the people of CD4 deserve to have somebody that’s fighting for them who knows how to do it.”
— Colorado House Minority Leader Mike Lynch
The top Republican in the Colorado House of Representatives, Mike Lynch, has thrown his cowboy hat into the ring in the increasingly crowded 4th Congressional District alongside U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. (In case you missed it last week, the congresswoman announced she would abandon the 3rd District to run in the more favorable 4th.) The 4th District, which spans the Eastern Plains and includes much of DougCo and Loveland, is considered the most Republican congressional district in the state. Jesse Paul has more.
Gun rights groups sue Colorado over ban on “ghost guns,” which lack serial numbers. Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Association for Gun Rights allege the ban, which started Monday, infringes on Second Amendment rights.IMMIGRATION
Denver’s migrant influx soars to highest per capita in the nation as city cleans up encampment, Democrats demand federal help
Migrants from Venezuela who have arrived in Denver in recent weeks have stayed in and around a Quality Inn hotel, near Speer Boulevard and Zuni Street, used as a temporary shelter by Denver Human Services. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
Nearly 36,000
Migrants arrived in Denver over the past year
In December, 144 buses dropped off migrants in Denver, bringing roughly 100-200 people per day. Mayor Mike Johnston claims the city has received more migrants per capita than any other.
An encampment outside a Quality Inn has grown to stretch blocks. Now, the city plans to tear down the tents and bus people to shelters. Colorado’s two U.S. senators and five Democratic U.S. representatives are demanding the federal government pay for more emergency shelter, Jennifer Brown reports.
EDUCATION
Did your child’s school ace the state’s report card? Explore this map to see how Colorado schools are performing.
“Just like teachers grade students in every subject each year, the Colorado Department of Education grades schools on how well they are educating students,” reporter Erica Breunlin writes. The high-level takeaways:
More schools and districts got higher ratings in 2023 than in 2022 But the number in good standing remains lower than before the pandemic More were newly labeled as low performingHow did your kids’ school do? We partnered with the nonpartisan Keystone Policy Center to create an interactive map for you to find out.
HEALTH
UCHealth’s merger with a 100-year-old Pueblo hospital strengthens its dominant spot in the health care market
Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo. (Parker Seibold for KFF Health News)
The country is seeing a sweeping trend of hospitals consolidating. The latest example here in Colorado was finalized last month as the UCHealth system absorbed Pueblo’s 100-year-old Parkview Health System. Why merge? Look at the balance sheets. John Ingold explains.
THE COLORADO REPORT
Snowmass considers giving locals an advantage in town’s employee housing lottery. While discussing requests to allow for children of people in Snowmass employee housing to inherit the home when the original owner dies, the Snowmass Village Town Council moved forward with a “locals’ advantage” option that would increase the number of entries in the employee housing lottery based on how long the applicant has lived in the village.— Snowmass Sun Need help paying rent and utilities? Denver’s assistance programs are taking applications again. The Temporary Rent and Utility Assistance program ran out of funds far before the end of last year as the city saw record eviction filings, but the new year means the program is accepting applicants once again.
— Denverite Is vaunted Vanguard fair to students with disability needs? Some argue no. Teachers and parents are alleging that The Vanguard School — an academically top-ranked charter school in Colorado Springs — has displayed a pattern of discrimination against children with special needs, up to and including shirking legal responsibilities.
— The Gazette Colorado should finally license funeral home workers, state regulators recommend. Colorado is one of the only states in the country to license funeral home businesses — and not the workers running them. “It is clear that the public is harmed by the general lack of regulation of funeral service professionals in Colorado,” read a 51-page report by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.
— The Denver Post 🔑 Food giant strikes deal to sell Colorado-born dairy business. The Boulder-founded Horizon Organic milk brand is being (mostly) sold off from the French food giant Danone to Platinum Equity Advisors, a Los Angeles private equity investment firm.
— Denver Business Journal 🔑
🔑 = source has article meter or paywall
The Bookies Bookstore has picks from family drama to mystery
Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from bookstores across Colorado. This week, the staff from The Bookies Bookstore in Denver recommends:
Family Family by Laurie Frankel, an adoption story like no other OnceThere Were Wolves: A Novel by Charlotte McConaghy, a tale of wolf reintroduction The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger, a story of getting aheadRead what the bookstore staff had to say about each. Pick up a copy and support your local bookstores at the same time.
I’ll leave you with one last thought:
A good selection of shallow water plugs — for the uninitiated, like me, that’s a type of fishing lure — includes some that run less than a foot deep, some that run 1 to 3 feet deep, and a few that run 3 to 6 feet deep.
— Danika & the whole staff of The Sun
Corrections & Clarifications
Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing [email protected].
Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
English (United States) ·