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After years-long fight, Colorado approves medical marijuana treatment for PTSD
DENVER – Coloradans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will now be able to treat their conditions with doctor-approved medical marijuana, bringing a close to a years-long fight.
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Senate Bill 17 Monday, which will allow physicians, after consultation and a medical background review, to prescribe patients suffering from doctor-diagnosed PTSD with medical marijuana treatments. Continue reading
Criminal justice bills will become law without Hickenlooper’s signature; ‘budget transparency’ cited
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will allow two criminal justice reform bills passed by the state Legislature to become law without his signature, saying he had “concerns that the bill’s full and true impact on the state budget was not fully transparent.”
Hickenlooper sent letters to the Republican-controlled Senate Tuesday informing them Senate Bill 12 and Senate Bill 19 would become law on June 10 without his signature. Friday, June 9 is the last day for Hickenlooper to sign or veto bills lest they become law without his signature. Continue reading
Report: Oil and gas explosions, fires may be underreported due to Colorado’s ‘lenient’ guidelines
DENVER – A new research report by Colorado scientists published last month says that statistics on oil and gas explosions and fires in the state may be lacking or underreported because of “lenient” self-reporting guidelines in Colorado.
The study will be published in the July edition of Energy Research & Social Sciences by researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Continue reading
What does the Paris climate pullout mean for US, and why do Republicans insist it’s a treaty?
DENVER – When President Donald Trump announced Thursday he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accords, his plan was widely met with blowback from most business owners, Democrats, America’s closest allies, and even energy company executives.
Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, including some from Colorado, said little of the ramifications of Trump’s decision, instead deriding the previous administration for not taking the accord—an executive agreement—to the U.S. Senate for approval. Continue reading
Why is Sen. Cory Gardner touring Asia and shaking hands with Rodrigo Duterte?
DENVER – What exactly is Sen. Cory Gardner doing in the Philippines shaking hands with under-fire president Rodrigo Duterte?
That was the question many in Colorado asked Thursday when Filipino president’s press office put out photos of the two shaking hands in a meeting that happened Wednesday. Continue reading
Marine with history of heroism disarmed suspect in Boulder murder; victim shot execution-style
BOULDER, Colo. – A Marine with a history of heroism disarmed the suspect accused of shooting and killing a man execution-style inside a Boulder bar early Monday morning, then helped try and save the victim’s life as his co-worker subdued the suspect until police arrived.
The affidavit for Louis Joseph Sebastian, 32, was unsealed and released Thursday as Sebastian was formally charged with one count of first degree murder and one count of carrying a concealed weapon. Continue reading
Questions mount after host of Colorado oil and gas incidents; safety investigations continue
WELD COUNTY, Colo. – Gov. John Hickenlooper says there is currently “no reason to believe” that the circumstances behind Thursday’s deadly explosion at an oil tank battery in Weld County are similar to those that caused a home in Firestone to explode last month, killing two.
The name of the worker who died at the scene of Thursday’s incident at the Anadarko-owned battery is expected to be released later Friday. The death was the third linked to Anadarko-owned oil and gas properties in Colorado in the past two months. Continue reading
Lawsuit: Anadarko defrauded investors with ‘materially false’ info about Firestone explosion risk
DENVER – Anadarko Petroleum, the company responsible for two oil and gas sites whose explosions have killed three people and severely injured four others in Colorado over the past five weeks, now faces accusations that it made “materially false and misleading statements” about the Firestone home explosion that defrauded investors out of money.
An investor named Robert Edgar filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Anadarko Petroleum Company, its CEO, president and chairman, R.A. Walker, and its CFO, Robert Gwin earlier this month in federal court in Texas. Anadarko is based in The Woodlands, Texas—a Houston suburb. Continue reading
CBO: GOP’s AHCA leaves 23M fewer insured; dangerous risk for those with preexisting conditions
WASHINGTON – The House-passed GOP health care bill would leave 23 million fewer people insured by 2026 than would have been under Obamacare, and costs could soar for older Americans and people with pre-existing medical conditions in some states, according to new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released Wednesday.
House Republicans forced a vote on the revised American Health Care Act late last month before the CBO could re-score the bill with its added amendments. It passed by a 217-213 vote. Continue reading
Colorado set to use marijuana money to implement opioid treatment program in worst-hit counties
UPDATE: The governor signed this bill into law on Wednesday, a day after this story was originally published.
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DENVER – Colorado is set to use a half-million dollars of its marijuana sales money each year for at least the next two years to implement an opioid addiction treatment program for two of the state’s counties hit hardest by the surging opioid crisis. Continue reading