Colorado’s property tax picture was muddied Friday afternoon when members of a bipartisan state commission tasked with overhauling the tax code called for big changes to a draft proposal created by Democrats in the legislature, saying parts were either totally unworkable or needed major reworking.  The disconnect, with less than two weeks left in Colorado’s 2024 legislative session, will heap pressure onto state lawmakers as they race to come up with a bill to head off measures cutting property taxes placed or being pursued for the November ballot by a conservative group.  The legi ..read more

A jury on Friday found a former sheriff’s deputy guilty of reckless endangerment after he shot and killed Christian Glass, who called 911 for help when his car became stranded on a mountain road. But the jury deadlocked on the more serious charge of second-degree murder, as well as another charge of official misconduct. The verdict, handed down in a Georgetown courtroom, came on the third day of deliberation following a nearly two-week trial. Prosecutors argued former Clear Creek County deputy Andrew Buen was not justified in forcing Glass out of his car and that the decision directly led to ..read more

By Colleen Slevin and Matthew Brown, The Associated Press A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine avoided prison and was sentenced to probation Friday after his homicide conviction in the Black man’s death, which helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests. Jeremy Cooper faced up to three years in prison. He administered a dose of the sedative ketamine to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after police stopped him as he was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019. The sentencing caps a series of trials that stretched over seven months and ..read more

GYPSUM — A ninth grader from Eagle Valley High School died Wednesday after being stabbed multiple times in a Gypsum park, officials from the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said.  Jackson Davis died of injuries sustained in the stabbing. Officials said a suspect was taken into custody shortly after the attack, which is being investigated as a homicide. Deputies responded around 10 p.m. Wednesday to a disturbance at Second Street Park in Gypsum, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.  There they learned multiple teenagers had been involved in an altercation and that during the in ..read more

Greg Lopez speaks during the GOP assembly at the Broadmoor World Arena on April 9, 2022, in Colorado Springs. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun) Former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez has pitched his placeholder bid in the special election in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District as a selfless way to prevent Republican infighting during the GOP primary that will be held on the same day. By choosing him, Lopez told district delegates last month before he was selected as the Republican nominee for the race, the GOP would avoid handing an advantage to anyone also running in the primary. “If you want to mak ..read more

Good morning, Colorado. The tree in our front yard has proudly displayed a Colorado Avalanche flag for the past week. It flaps in the wind, quietly communicating to our neighbors that “we” are in the Stanley Cup playoffs. “We,” in this case, includes my husband as well as the Avs. He’s a lifelong Avs fan who rattles off stats and player contract details constantly. I’m a more, ahem, casual fan. But even for me, someone who is not religious about sports, it’s an exciting day in Colorado. We have game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight, two new quarterbacks for the Broncos and the Nuggets a ..read more

Colorado was once a leader in connecting individual rooftops and community solar gardens to the grid in support of building a renewable energy economy, solar advocates say, but the state fell behind as others wrote more efficient laws or offered enticing incentives.  Two new developments could help push Colorado back toward the top of clean energy lists, those advocates say. Here’s a quick recap:  Colorado wins federal solar grant Colorado’s Energy Office on Monday won a $156 million grant from the federal “Solar for All” program, meant to create low-cost loans and other incentives ..read more

Yes. The state anticipated conflicts when Parks and Wildlife officials released five gray wolves onto public lands in Grand County in December to reestablish wolves in Colorado. Lawmakers created a compensation fund offering up to $15,000 once Wildlife officials confirm wolves have killed livestock or working animals. Owners file a claim in which they can ask for the value of the animal or the production lost because of the killing. Colorado law also requires Parks and Wildlife to help ranchers prevent and resolve conflicts. The state offers “a suite of non-lethal tools” and expertise, Colora ..read more

The Sun partners with Gigafact to ferret out the truth on viral claims. Fact briefs examine questions that grow out of conversations online about policy, politics and current events — providing a definitive “yes” or “no” answer on whether they’re backed up by the facts in 150 words or less. We will not weigh in on opinions or address claims for which no definitive sources are available, or that lack a clear answer. Each item links to the original claim as we found it online, as well as the sources that drive our fact checking, allowing readers to retrace our steps. The finished product is res ..read more

Facing outcry from local officials, Colorado Democrats this week said they would back off a plan to withhold highway maintenance funding from cities that don’t meet proposed state targets for housing density near transit stops. But even with the biggest penalty in the bill on the chopping block, local government leaders across the Denver metro area remain divided over the legislation, the centerpiece of Gov. Jared Polis’ plans to reduce housing costs in Colorado. House Bill 1313 would require a number of urban and suburban local governments to allow more apartments and townhomes along major ..read more