Democrat Adam Frisch brought in the biggest financial haul of any of Colorado’s congressional hopefuls during the first three months of the year, raising $1.4 million — nearly six times as much as his main Republican rival in the 3rd Congressional District, Jeff Hurd. And U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, after switching in December from the Western Slope-based 3rd to seek election in the 4th Congressional District in eastern Colorado, raised the least amount of money for her campaign in a single quarter dating back at least a year — a bit over $462,000. But her campaign account still had nearly $980 ..read more

Colorado’s only psychiatric hospital west of the Front Range is in danger of closing in the coming months if it doesn’t receive a cash infusion, the head of its parent organization warns, after the facility spent its reserves trying to prove it had fixed problems flagged in state audits. West Springs Hospital, in Grand Junction, has 48 beds for inpatient treatment of mental illnesses and substance use disorders, and is one of only 11 behavioral health hospitals in the state. The facility also operates a psychiatric emergency room, which is an alternative to a general emergency department for p ..read more

Early on a mid-February morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in unmarked vehicles gathered in an empty parking lot in Denver, nearly a quarter mile from the workplace of a man they had been tracking. In a briefing, the officers described how they planned to arrest the 25-year-old, who was born in Mexico, as he arrived — a step in the deportation process. He had a felony conviction for soliciting for child prostitution on his record, and he would be among the last of 19 people targeted by ICE’s Denver field office and arrested as part of this year’s national Sex Offender A ..read more

Colorado ranked sixth worst among U.S. states when it came to job creation last year, according to estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But was that weakness a statewide issue or a more localized problem? Job losses, assuming they hold following revisions due out next month, were primarily centered in metro Denver with Pueblo. Fort Collins had one of the strongest metro economies when it came to adding jobs last year, with Colorado Springs and Boulder in the top tier as well. Metro Denver suffered a 0.9% decline in nonfarm jobs, which ranked 385th worst out of 396 metro areas th ..read more

Apparently, Russell Wilson and Ciara didn’t buy what Sean Payton was shoveling on radio row during Super Bowl Week. A fairly newsy seven days — congrats, Jenny Cavnar and welcome home, Troy Renck — in the Grading The Week offices got even newsier Friday. Because just when we were about to wax poetic on Christian Braun’s knuckleball of a jumper or the latest chapter in Carmelo Anthony’s revisionist history, word got out that Big Russ, the Broncos’ soon-to-be-ex-starting-QB, was putting his family’s Cherry Hills Village mansion on the market. This little tidbit, of course, came to light just a f ..read more

The greeter at a 21-plus party in Denver offers guests free psilocybin-infused gummies as they walk in the door. A panelist shares psychedelic fungi from his home grow after speaking at the Telluride Mushroom Festival. More than 100 people convene at a Mile High City coffee shop to exchange “magic mushrooms” without exchanging money. And everything these individuals are doing is technically legal. In 2022, Colorado voters approved a sweeping drug reform measure that, in addition to legalizing psilocybin therapy, decriminalized five psychedelic drugs — psilocybin, psilocin, dimethyltryptamine ..read more

The money train kept rolling for U.S. House hopeful Adam Frisch in the last quarter of 2023. But with erstwhile opponent Lauren Boebert leaving the 3rd Congressional District to run in the 4th, the fundraising dynamics across Colorado’s two largest districts are in for a shakeup. Boebert, the 3rd District’s incumbent, raised $540,000 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, according to her newly filed campaign finance report, part of her instant money advantage in the 4th District’s crowded Republican field. The new reports show that had Boebert continued to run for reelection to her current seat, she aga ..read more

People cleaning a recently sold home just outside Grand Junction city limits found a human head and hands, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday. Related Articles Crime and Public Safety | Denver judge wrongly excluded hearing-impaired juror — but court can’t be held liable, judge finds Crime and Public Safety | One hospitalized after fights break out at high school basketball game in Arapahoe County Crime and Public Safety | Man charged in Broomfield crash that killed 2 was sentenced for prior DUI days before, had been deported 4 times Crime and Public Safety | U.S. 40 over ..read more

Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag. Pose a Rockies- or MLB-related question for the Rockies Mailbag. Patrick, am I crazy to be a little optimistic as hope springs eternal? With the younger players continuing to grow and the Rockies attempting to acquire more pitching depth, can they hang around in contention a little deeper into the summer this year? Or is this all just a lost cause until expansion happens and the current division format is blown up? And with rumblings of wanting another OF bat, wouldn’t that just create more of a logj ..read more

Lauren Boebert’s current congressional district shares a border with the one she wants to represent next year. But she’d have to drive nearly 300 miles from her home to reach it. That distance underscores the surprised reactions prompted by her decision last week to abandon the 3rd Congressional District, where she narrowly avoided a reelection defeat in 2022. The controversial right-wing Western Slope firebrand’s announcement of a switch for the November election to the 4th Congressional District, on the state’s Eastern Plains — seeking to represent an even more politically conservative distr ..read more