A man in an orange Larimer County jail jumpsuit grew defiant within moments of entering a Fort Collins courtroom — raising his voice as he spoke to a judge. As he sat at a table beside a lectern, the man said he wanted to fire his attorney that day because he believed the lawyer was trying to kill him. Each time he spoke, Chief Judge Susan Blanco calmly interrupted, and asked him to create a plan that could help him stabilize and stay out of jail. “Whatever you think is going to make you the most successful after you leave, let’s work on that, please,” she said during the April 11 court heari ..read more

In the few minutes that longtime political activist Angela Davis spoke to student protesters in Denver under a gray sky Saturday afternoon, she raised up their efforts as those that will be responsible for the change the world has long needed, branding it “the moment we have all been waiting for.” Davis, a renowned professor and author who was part of the Communist Party and the Black Panther Party, stopped by the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver where students, faculty and community members have been demonstrating since Thursday, calling for the University of Colorado — located on the campu ..read more

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

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

At her sickest, maybe on a day she puked 70 times or when walking down a hospital hallway felt like the brutal training that made her a world champion triathlete, Siri Lindley visualized running up her favorite mountain trail in Lyons.  Years before she was diagnosed with a rare and especially aggressive form of leukemia, she turned to the triathlon because, after seeing one race, she determined that’s what she needed to feel alive. Lindley had spent her life surrounded by studs — she was the first three-sport varsity woman athlete at Brown University — and yet she was awed by all the bo ..read more

A Colorado bill that would require companies to alert consumers anytime artificial intelligence is used and to add more protections to the budding AI industry cleared its first legislative hurdle late Wednesday, even as critics testified it could stifle technological innovation in the state.  At the end of the evening, most sides seemed to agree: The bill still needs work.  It passed 3-2 out of the Senate Judiciary Committee along party lines. “This bill isn’t about changing the world right now,” said Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, a Denver Democrat and the sole sponsor of ..read more

Democrat Trisha Calvarese will remain on the June 25 special election ballot in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, a Denver judge ruled Wednesday in throwing out a lawsuit seeking to dislodge her.  Calvarese “has presented a good faith effort to comply with applicable regulations and has not acted to mislead the electorate,” Denver District Court Judge David Goldberg wrote. The ruling came after a one-hour court hearing Tuesday in a lawsuit trying to keep Calvarese off the ballot based on the allegation that she hadn’t been registered as a Democratic voter in Colorado for long enoug ..read more

Just a few hours after U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists confirmed that one of the 10 gray wolves transplanted to Colorado in December was found dead in Larimer County, the state’s top wildlife official told ranchers he will not kill a wolf blamed for the death of four cows in Grand County because it is likely the mate to a wolf that appears to be denning. Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis on Tuesday said GPS points from the female wolf’s collar indicate that she is likely in a den. In early April, GPS points stopped uploading and very recently those points began to upload again ..read more

Democrats in the Colorado legislature are preparing this week to introduce a measure that would overhaul the state’s property tax system to limit future spikes in businesses’ and homeowners’ tax bills, with an eye toward providing more relief to people who own lower-value homes.  The legislation would let people exempt 10% of their primary residence’s value from taxation, up to $75,000. In most communities, that would represent a maximum savings of around $450 a year, though tax bills can vary greatly depending on local mill levy rates. Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat and main spon ..read more

Xcel Energy’s ambitious and expensive plan to develop the infrastructure to serve electric vehicles was cut by 40% to $264 million by state utility regulators who said the proposal failed to demonstrate that it “minimized overall costs and maximized overall benefits.” The Colorado Public Utilities Commission, in its April 10 decision, also said that the utility’s transportation electrification plan, or TEP, did not define “with any precision to what extent the TEP will specifically lead to greater EV adoption.” To help meet Colorado’s goal of getting 940,000 EVs on the road by 2030, regulated ..read more