Every day, Andrea Cunningham drives Grover, her 3-year-old wirehaired pointing griffon, four miles roundtrip to Fuller Dog Park in northeast Denver — even though she lives just blocks from Cheesman Park. She makes the trek to avoid getting ticketed for an unleashed dog, but she hopes Denver will expand its offerings of dog-friendly outdoor spaces. … Read more
Colorado’s new voter-approved universal free school meals program is already tens of millions of dollars short, jeopardizing some of the auxiliary programs tied to the ballot measure as lawmakers scramble to keep the initiative solvent and meals paid for. The state faces a combined shortfall of about $50 million to pay for students’ food under … Read more
Jodi Lovejoy can look out the window of her Westminster apartment and see the mountains of the Front Range. She can track the rolling clouds and watch the weather change over the peaks, something she used to do with her children. The neighborhood is quiet, dotted by mature trees. She doesn’t own the two bedrooms … Read more
A bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers is again moving to direct a special $5 million infusion to Denver Health amid rising concerns about the hospital’s financial security and fears of a potential descent into a “death spiral.” Members of the powerful Joint Budget Committee, which gave initial approval to the allocation Wednesday night, acknowledged that … Read more
Metro Denver’s largest off-leash dog park could be cut to less than a tenth of its size as Westminster city officials look for ways to reduce the strain of a million visits a year on protected prairie land. The prospect of drawing down the off-leash area at Westminster Hills Open Space from 420 acres — … Read more
Colorado Democrats are eying a large portion of the state’s $1.8 billion-plus surplus this year to provide child tax credits targeted to help lower-income families — along with another slice devoted to helping people working in health- and child-care fields. The proposals are costly policy moves that could put state lawmakers on a path for … Read more
Sandip Patel stabbed 39-year-old Marina Koppel more than 140 times in a flat in Westminster on August 8, 1994. The deceased was a mother of two children. Forensic Science Crime Scene: This is a crime story that seems to have come out straight from a suspense thriller novel or a movie where a 51-year-old man … Read more
Colorado lawmakers are drafting legislation that would deliver a sweeping overhaul of the Regional Transportation District — significantly reshaping and downsizing the governing board to remove nearly all elected seats while attempting to align the transit agency’s planning with broader housing and climate initiatives. As formulated by the legislation’s three Democratic sponsors, who represent suburban … Read more
Colorado legislators are set to give new anti-fraud powers to state Medicaid authorities, months after regulators uncovered an unprecedented, multimillion-dollar scheme allegedly perpetrated by a group of medical transportation providers. Legislators introduced a bill this week that would allow the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to temporarily suspend Medicaid providers if regulators … Read more
Hundreds of thousands of dollars already are being dumped into Democratic primary elections for several safe statehouse seats, including an unprecedented trend of sitting Democratic legislators giving money to their colleague’s opponent. Across 10 contested Democratic primaries along the Front Range, for instance, more than $1.1 million already has been raised ahead of the June contest, according … Read more
