A dozen states win approval to restrict soda, candy for SNAP recipients.
The trend is part of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda to “make America healthy again” by inviting states to apply for waivers to change SNAP rules to limit what types of food recipients can buy.
When the state budget boomed, Colorado cut taxes. Now it’s paying the price.
Due to sweeping federal tax cuts signed into law last month by President Donald Trump, Colorado expects to find itself below the TABOR cap for the first time since 2020. That has left lawmakers searching for as much as $800 million in spending cuts or new revenue to close a budget hole created just days into the new fiscal year.
STUDY: Aurora’s older adults face housing, transportation and healthcare challenges
To guide future planning, programs, and resources for residents older than 60, the Older Adult Needs Assessment was developed by the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Department in partnership with the Aurora Commission for Older Adults and JSI Research and Training Institute, a research partner.
Aurora Police Department adopts support program for people with disabilities.
According to APD, the department launched a Blue Envelope Program this week, becoming the 21st local agency across Colorado to do so in nine months. The program provides the namesake blue envelopes to community members who wish to provide officers with information about their conditions — such as explaining that they have autism, Tourette syndrome or are deaf — and how that might impact their behavior or accommodation needs.
The national suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ kids went dead. States are scrambling to help.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said a month earlier that it would no longer “silo” services and would instead “focus on serving all help seekers.” That meant the elimination of the “Press 3” option, the dedicated line answered by staff specifically trained to handle LGBTQ+ youth facing mental health issues ranging from anxiety to thoughts of suicide.
Colorado’s harsher fentanyl laws aren’t working, report says.
In 2020, there were a total of 919 opioid overdose deaths in Colorado and 64 deaths among non-Hispanic Black adults, according to the new report, which drew on data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. By 2023, there were 1,157 total opioid overdose deaths overall, and 117 deaths among non-Hispanic Black adults, the new report says.
Blue states that sued kept most CDC grants, while red states feel brunt of Trump clawbacks.
In blue states, nearly 80% of the CDC grant cuts have been restored, compared with fewer than 5% in red states, according to the KFF Health News analysis. Grant amounts reported in an HHS database known as the Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System, or TAGGS, often don’t match what states confirmed. Instead, this analysis focused on the number of grants.
Youth violence arrests in this Denver neighborhood dropped 75 percent.
Northeast Park Hill had an annual arrest rate of 1,086 per 100,000 people in 2016 for suspects aged ten to 24 accused of committing murder, assault, robbery and other violent offenses. By 2021, it plummeted to 276 per 100,000 people, researchers with the University of Colorado Boulder announced on August 12.
RTD says drug and crime deterrence efforts are working.
A new study titled “The Impacts of and Response to Drug Use on Transit” by the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) evaluated RTD and transit systems in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, to examine strategies to deter illicit drug activity. RTD’s Customer Experience Elevator Program, wherein elevator doors at select rail stations remain open when at rest, was highlighted as a deterrence strategy; it is now being replicated by LA Metro Authority.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from cutting off or conditioning the use of federal funds for so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. His earlier order protected more than a dozen other cities and counties, including San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
Goodwill Colorado’s Excel Center in Aurora readies for second wave of grads
The school, at 15445 E Iliff Ave., was created to help bridge the skills gap Colorado is estimating in the coming years, with the state currently struggling with employers facing tens of thousands of unfilled positions, according to the statement.
Proposed ordinance targets parents of minors caught riding dirt bikes on Aurora streets.
Parents who plead or are found guilty of the proposed measure would face a minimum fine of $250, according to the bill language. The new measure would levy penalties separate from those imposed for infractions by the minor dirt-bike driver.
Colorado prisons reach critical overcrowding, reform efforts scrutinized.
The Office of Community Corrections is required to identify open beds that CDOC can use on a weekly basis until the vacancy rate rises above 4% for 30 consecutive days, according to CDOC spokesperson Alonda Gonzalez. The department must also provide a list of people who are incarcerated who meet a specific set of criteria that would make them eligible for parole to the state parole board.
Concerns grow in Colorado over the VA’s push to send veterans to private care.
The 95-year-old led the push for Denver’s modern Veterans Affairs medical center, which opened in 2018 to serve Colorado’s nearly 400,000 veterans. Rogoff still calls it one of his proudest achievements. He remembers it finally felt like “someone is listening.”
A mother of three faced eviction. Denver’s safety net didn’t catch her
The 34-year-old mother and her three daughters had loved their two-bedroom in a southeast Denver apartment complex. The neighborhood felt safe and the amenities were nice. But eviction day was coming.
Denver’s eviction cases defy national trends. What’s going on?
The city is bucking national trends. Most other U.S. cities are seeing a drop in the number of eviction cases going to court, according to Juan Pablo Garnham with the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. But Denver, like Austin, Las Vegas and Phoenix, is trending in the opposite direction. These Western cities tend to have policies that are friendlier to landlords, he said.
What the Colorado legislature did during its special session to tackle a $750M budget hole.
State lawmakers voted this week to increase the tax bills of Colorado businesses and business owners by about $150 million to help close a roughly $750 million hole in the state budget. But they deferred to the governor for perhaps the hardest part of addressing the gap: cutting as much as $300 million in state programs and services.
That will save the state about $38 million by forgoing a planned 1.6% rate hike. That’s the single biggest cut made by the governor. Polis also said he will slash spending on higher education (by some $12 million) and grants (like $2 million to tackle health disparities) as part of $252 million in total cuts and redirected spending to help balance the budget this fiscal year, which began July 1. The governor said he is making changes to about 20 budget line items.
Denver to lay off 171 and close hundreds of open jobs, cutting $100M from budget.
The city announced 171 workers would be laid off. In addition, 665 open positions will be eliminated and nearly 100 other jobs will be transferred to other funding sources. The layoffs and job closures represent 7.6 percent of the workforce budgeted in the general fund.
Denver mayor expects no more layoff, balanced budget in 2026.
Unlike city budget cuts made in February 2024 to handle the influx of migrants, the city won’t be cutting DMV or Parks & Recreation services, according to Johnston. He also stressed that no one lost their job in the Denver police, fire or sheriff departments. Trash pickup and permitting times will be unaffected, too, he said.
Mayor nominates his second-in-command to lead Denver’s police, fire and sheriff’s departments.
The position was vacated by Armando Saldate in July, who left to become the head of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Coincidentally, [Al] Gardner succeeded Saldate as Denver Deputy Mayor when Saldate left that position earlier this year.
More than 80 percent of members voted in favor of the new bargaining agreement that gives teachers a salary hike and most important to educators, addresses working and learning conditions. Some members of the 4,000-person union had rallied against the tentative agreement, calling for firm caps on class size and cost-of-living adjustments that are closer to inflation.
