Featured
Denver law group suing DEA over its blanket classification of cannabinoids
DENVER – A Denver-based law firm specializing in cannabis law is suing the Drug Enforcement Agency over its December announcement that it would be applying a Schedule-I classification to extracts with any cannabinoids derived from the cannabis plant.
The Hoban Law Group filed the lawsuit Jan. 13 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in California, on behalf of three of its clients: the Hemp Industries Association, RMH Holdings, LLC and Centuria Natural Foods, Inc. Continue reading
Proposal to fix K-12 funding shortfall calls for higher pot tax, less in senior property tax breaks
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper wants the state Legislature to cut a property tax exemption for senior homeowners and to increase the state special sales tax on marijuana for the upcoming fiscal year in order to bridge a state budget gap that hits K-12 education the hardest.
The request, made by the governor and the Office of State Planning and Budgeting and submitted Tuesday to the Joint Budget Committee, seeks to address a projected $106.2 million shortfall in the budget first submitted last November. Continue reading
Colorado GOP pushes bill to repeal state health care exchange, but governor will fight
DENVER – Two of the first bills filed in the Republican-controlled Colorado Senate aim to make huge changes in state health care – one that would repeal the state’s health exchange and one that would require state Medicaid recipients to enter into a written agreement if they use a non-enrolled provider.
Both bills are being pushed by new Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City. Senate Republican Leader Chris Holbert, R-Parker, affirmed the party’s opposition to the state exchange Thursday. Continue reading
Declassified intel report finds Putin, Russia meddled in US election to undermine faith, help Trump
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A declassified version of a report by the three top U.S. intelligence agencies on possible Russian meddling into the 2016 General Election says Russia and President Vladimir Putin aimed specifically to undermine faith in the American electoral process and discredit Hillary Clinton in favor of Donald Trump.
The report (click to read in full) from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and national Security Agency (NSA) “is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment,” according to the document, but its findings are “identical” to the classified version. Continue reading
‘Hero’ slackliner Mickey Wilson, who saved man at Arapahoe Basin, recounts rescue in own words
ARAPAHOE BASIN, Colo. – Mickey Wilson was so busy skiing more than two feet of fresh powder Thursday that he didn’t know the man whose life he saved a day earlier had been released from the hospital.
And late Wednesday morning — as he was being called a hero just after cutting a fellow skier from a backpack strap that had caught the skier around his neck, leaving him dangling unconscious a story above the snow — Wilson didn’t even know whether or not the man had survived. Continue reading
Man hanging by neck from Arapahoe Basin chairlift rescued by quick-thinking slackliner who cut strap
DENVER – A man who was dangling unconscious by his neck from a chairlift at Arapahoe Basin Wednesday likely had his life saved by a professional slackliner from Golden who was able to scale the lift and cut the man down.
Mickey Wilson, a professional slackliner who has won Red Bull competitions, among others, posted the tale of his rescue of the man to Instagram and Facebook Wednesday evening. Continue reading
Man suspected of murdering wife, infant son in Texas arrested in Glenwood Springs
DENVER – Police arrested a man suspected of murdering his wife and 3-month-old son in Texas in Glenwood Springs on Wednesday, according to the Fort Worth Police Department.
Craig Vandewege, 35, is accused of killing his wife and infant son on Dec. 15 in Texas. Shanna Vandewege and her and Craig’s son, Diederik, were found dead in a bedroom at their home. Both of their throats had been cut. Continue reading
After raucous electoral vote in Colorado and removal of elector, Trump reaches 270 votes anyway
DENVER – In a raucous occasion at the Colorado state Capitol Monday, the state’s nine Democratic electors voted for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine as state law requires them to, but only after several last-minute court decisions were made regarding electors’ oaths and one elector was replaced when he failed to vote for Clinton.
The vote happened after more than a week of court filings and arguments over interpretations of the state and federal constitutions, as a group of “Hamilton electors” argued the constitution does not bind electors to vote for a certain candidate and pushed for the Electoral College to put someone other than Donald Trump in the White House. Continue reading
Colorado electors appeal to state Supreme Court, arguing that state has no jurisdiction to punish
DENVER – The attorney for two Colorado electors seeking to block a state law requiring them to vote for Hillary Clinton has filed an emergency appeal with the Colorado Supreme Court to try again to have the case heard before they have to cast their electoral votes on Monday.
Polly Baca, a former state senator from Denver, and Robert Nemanich, an elector from Colorado Springs, are a part of the so-called “Hamilton electors” movement that is trying to keep President-elect out of the White House and send the election to the House of Representatives for the third time ever. They filed suit last week. Continue reading
Lawsuit filed by 18 disabled patients of Pueblo Regional Center who were strip-searched
PUEBLO, Colo. – Eighteen disabled people housed at the troubled Pueblo Regional Center and their families are suing Colorado’s governor, the Colorado Department of Human Services and a handful of former and current employees over claims they were illegally strip-searched in March 2015.
The plaintiffs and their attorneys say almost a dozen CDHS employees illegally strip-searched people housed at the center, which is operated by CDHS, without consent or a warrant. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Pueblo District Court. Continue reading