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4 tidbits from Colorado’s proposed $38.5 billion budget

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

Colorado lawmakers have sent their annual budget bill to Gov. Jared Polis, which will dictate state spending for the next fiscal year and ripple out for years to come.The roughly $38.5 billion spending proposal — which includes a $1.2 billion increase to the general fund —  funds the state government’s operations and programs. Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee, which drafts the document and ushers it through the General Assembly, characterized their effort largely as a “year of implementation” after a downpour of federal money that helped buoy efforts on things like the environment, education and affordable housing.“We’re delivering for Colorado families by making record investments in K-12 education, supporting our health care workers, and creating safer communities — all while keeping our state on solid financial footing,” state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, a Democrat and chair of the committee, said in a statement. “We’ve work...

Improving Investor Behavior: The balance of trust and anxiety

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

At the time of its construction, the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the largest structures the world had ever seen. Opening in 1883 to connect Brooklyn with Manhattan, it was twice the size of any other suspension bridge. But the then-modern marvel of engineering raised suspicion from the general public. Citizens feared the massive structure was simply too big to support its own weight, and rumors circulated about its likely collapse into the East River.In an effort to subdue these concerns, developers encouraged citizens to walk on the bridge a week before its grand opening. Brave and curious members of the public cautiously stepped afoot. Anxiety was high. Suddenly a scream was heard, and panic ensued. In less than 15 seconds, the entire bridge was engulfed in fear and chaos. The resulting stampede left 12 dead and many more injured.Steve BoorenThe cause of the panic? A woman had tripped and fallen. When anxiety is high, irrational behavior often accompanies it.Controlling such emotio...

Big-game hunting interest soars beyond Colorado’s capacity

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

Soaring interest in Colorado’s big-game hunting seasons — for animals like deer, elk and bear — far outpaces the number of licenses that state wildlife officials have to offer, driving business for outfitters and raking in cash for the state.Colorado Parks and Wildlife received nearly 218,000 applications last year for deer-hunting licenses, but the agency only had about 102,000 to give, state data shows. For elk, wildlife officials received nearly 238,000 applications for just over 123,000 available licenses.For moose, the contrast is even starker. The state received more than 53,000 applications for moose hunting licenses, more than 90 times higher than the 592 allotted last year. That’s a 326% increase from the 16,494 moose applications the state saw a decade earlier.The story’s the same for bear, mountain lion, bighorn sheep and mountain goats, said Joseph Livingston, a spokesman for Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources.The rising interest is due to a rel...

Denver looks to extend deadline for exemption from new development rules

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

Denver intends to push back a final deadline determining which developments are exempt from new regulations enacted last year, a move that will give breathing room to hundreds of projects in the planning stages.Currently, projects seeking to be grandfathered in from the “Expanding Housing Affordability” ordinance must have their site-development plan approved by the city by Aug. 31, just over five months from now.But the Hancock administration is now asking the City Council to effectively push back that date by a year. Under a proposal made public Thursday, projects would need to at least receive the third round of site-development plan comments by May 17, 2024. If that deadline is met, developers would be given until Aug. 31, 2024 to get the plans completely approved.A small number of projects subject to additional subdivision or large development review would see their final deadline pushed back from Dec. 31 of this year to as late as Dec. 21, 2024.The council still needs to vote ...

Medicare advances helped get Colorado hospitals through pandemic, even as some were left struggling to repay

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

While two Colorado hospitals faced debilitating cash crunches when they had to repay interest-free loans from Medicare, others said the cash advances from the federal government were a lifeline at the beginning of the pandemic.The $25.2 million that Denver Health received in early 2020 helped cover daily expenses after revenues plummeted during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, treasurer Matt Watford said. It would have been difficult to repay all at once, but Medicare collected the money over about 18 months, and by then revenues had recovered and other federal relief funds had arrived, he said.“It allowed us to close that gap,” he said. “It kind of took care of itself, because, eventually, we were able to do elective surgeries again.”The budget shortfall Denver Health faced in 2022 was a separate problem, Watford said. The hospital lost about $34 million last year, mostly because of increasing uncompensated care and labor costs, causing the legislature to fa...

KOA’s Jack Corrigan tells Rockies stories with words and a paintbrush

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

An art collection hangs on the wall of the KOA radio booth at Coors Field, vibrant oil paintings portraying a who’s who of Rockies icons.Here is Todd Helton, arms stretched overhead as he realizes he’s going to the 2007 World Series. And there is Nolan Arenado, his face bloodied, his jersey covered with infield dirt, as he emits a primal scream after hitting a walk-off home run to complete the cycle on Father’s Day 2017.“Tulo” is captured, too, as are “CarGo,” “Chuck Nazty” and Matt Holliday’s famous crash-landing slide into home plate to win Game 163 against the Padres during Rocktober.There is also a quiet, subtle portrait of the late Keli McGregor, the team president who died unexpectedly in 2010 at age 47.The artist in residence is Jack Corrigan, now in his 21st season calling Rockies games and his 38th in Major League Baseball.“I have known and worked with Jack for 14 years, but I didn’t know until recently...

They spent their lives teaching California’s children. Now, they say they’re spending their retirement paying for it

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

For weeks, 73-year-old Ann Jaramillo had been bracing for the decision that could redefine her golden years. It had been nearly a decade since the retired Salinas teacher found out her benefits package had been miscalculated by her school district — and nine years since CalSTRS, the teachers’ state retirement agency, told her that she owed them $75,000.But last month, the state Supreme Court declined to review the case of Jaramillo and 27 other teachers after five years of legal back-and-forth, dashing their hopes of overcoming a bureaucratic mess that has pitted thousands of California teachers against one of the country’s largest pension funds.“It feels like fighting a dragon with a fork,” said Jaramillo. “You might get a poke in here and there, but it doesn’t bleed, and for sure, it feels no pain.”Jaramillo is one of 9,623 retired educators who have had their benefits reduced between 2016 and 2022, and one of many who are now paying back tens of thousands of dollars in “ove...

Antioch Police text scandal raises broader question: What can be done about racist cops?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

In San Jose, four cops in 2020 engaged in racist commentary in a private Facebook group dubbed 10-7ODSJ — police code for a fire alarm or prowler — where one remarked “black lives don’t matter” and others shared a “Sharia Barbie” meme depicting a Muslim woman with a black eye and “stoning accessories.”Around the same time in Oakland, a group of current and former officers shared racist and sexist memes on an Instagram account they called @crimereductionteam — one featured a White woman “cop that just wants to fight crime” surrounded by leering Black men labeled as criminals, command staff and police overseers.From coast to coast, discriminatory banter has turned up in private message groups linked to law enforcement that critics say captures an undercurrent of racism among police dating back decades.So this past week when the Bay Area News Group obtained documents detailing how more than two dozen Antioch Police officers shared p...

Five areas to analyze as 49ers’ offseason program opens Monday

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

Time for the 49ers to start another offseason program as the NFC’s reigning runners-up.Yes, that’s a clunky, deflating title, and they also lugged it into last year’s offseason program.So how do they eventually become Super Bowl champs, after a 28-season drought? This is the starting point of their 29th try.Coach Kyle Shanahan enters his seventh season with a robust roster, with most starting spots set, with playoff experience galore, and with quarterback uncertainty yet again.Before we list what to expect over the next two months, the offseason program’s rules:— This initial phase is restricted for two weeks to strength and conditioning plus rehabilitation and, as always, meetings.— Players can reconvene for on-field workouts in two weeks, though no offense-vs.-defense drills are permitted.— Phase Three covers four weeks of organized team activities, leading into the mandatory minicamp June 11-13. No live contact is permitted in the offseason.The 49ers’ first acce...

Little detail in Logan Webb’s SF Giants extension makes contract extra special

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:46:19 GMT

DETROIT — In a fun social media video Saturday morning, Giants players were asked what the first thing Logan Webb should do after signing his $90 million extension that will keep him with the Giants through 2028. If their suggestions hold true, Webb is going to be buying a lot of dinners, a few Rolexes and his wife, Sharidan, more than a few gifts.But Webb had something else in mind when he inked his five-year extension: His cousin, Kade, who died last December, two nights before Webb’s wedding, when he was sold a counterfeit pain pill that was laced with fentanyl, the powerful opioid that takes the lives of 150 Americans every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was 20 years old.“It was devastating,” Webb said. “We were very close. My whole family is very close.”Within Webb’s $90-million contract is a provision that includes an annual donation to the Giants Community Fund, which Webb plans to direct to raise aware...