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Colorado legislative opioid committee has 6 bills aimed at treatment, prevention ready for session
DENVER – The 2018 legislative session is still more than two months out, but a package of six bills aimed at opioid addiction treatment and prevention is already queued up for consideration.
The bipartisan Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Interim Study Committee voted Tuesday to move ahead with the bills, which the lawmakers say will help curb the rising use of opioids and heroin.
The bills, according to Democratic leaders of the committee, would do several things to address the issue. Continue reading
Denver agrees to $4.6 million settlement with family of mentally-ill inmate who died in jail custody
DENVER – The family of Michael Marshall, a Denver jail inmate who died while in custody in 2015, will get $4.65 million from the city of Denver if the city council approves the settlement on November 13.
Also part of the settlement, which was announced Wednesday morning, are a series of policy and training procedure changes the sheriff’s department will have to implement to increase mental health services and training over the next several years. Continue reading
Tom Tancredo enters 2018 Colorado governor’s race, says he expects ‘ugliest’ race in third try
DENVER – Firebrand and former congressman Tom Tancredo will again run for governor of Colorado in 2018, in what will be his third straight try at the seat and what he says will be the “ugliest” race he’s ever run in.
“I think we need to shake up Colorado politics a little bit, and I’m the guy to do that,” he told Denver7, suggesting he might need a Haz-Mat suit for a race that could get dirty quickly. “This is beyond something we’ve ever done before.”
“There’s an establishment here in Colorado just like there is in Washington, I guess we can call it the swamp,” he continued, saying that he wanted to “shake up” that establishment. Continue reading
Project Unsolved: Friends and detectives continue search for Jakeob McKnight’s killer 26 years on
Twenty-six years after 10-year-old Jakeob McKnight was brutally slain at a Lakewood, Colorado park, an old friend who was among the last to see him and a cold case detective aren’t giving up on bringing someone to justice—and they say the primary suspects haven’t changed after all these years. Continue reading
Eric Bolling says his son, a CU-Boulder student, died of accidental opioid overdose
DENVER – Former Fox News Channel host Eric Bolling confirmed Thursday that his son, Eric Chase Bolling Jr., died of an overdose of opioids last month in Boulder.
“Just received some tragic news from Coroner in Colorado. Eric Chase’s passing has been ruled an accidental overdose that included opioids,” he said in a series of tweets. “Adrienne and I thank you for your continued prayers and support. We must fight against this national epidemic, too many innocent victims.” Continue reading
Denver judge upholds ruling that directive banning drug users from parks is unconstitutional
DENVER – A Denver District Court judge on Wednesday upheld a county court ruling that found a directive issued last September, which allowed officers to cite and temporarily ban drug users caught using in city parks or on the Cherry Creek trail, was unconstitutional.
But the city says a new directive is in the works. Continue reading
Government watchdog to probe Trump’s election integrity commission after Bennet’s request
DENVER – The U.S. Government Accountability Office has taken up Sen. Michael Bennet’s request to review President Trump’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
The GAO wrote back to Bennet Thursday saying it had accepted the request made last week by Bennet, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey to review the actions and motives of the commission, which was created in May after the president’s repeated, yet unsubstantiated, claims that millions voted illegally in last year’s election. Continue reading
Colorado secretary of state and ‘Hamilton Electors’ reach deal to expedite case
DENVER – A group of self-professed “Hamilton Electors” has reached a deal with Colorado’s secretary of state to drop him from the lawsuit and to only pursue $1 each in damages in the ongoing litigation.
The electors – Robert Nemanich, Polly Baca and Micheal Baca – filed their suit in August against Williams regarding a Colorado statute that required them to vote for the presidential candidate who won the state’s popular vote in last year’s General Election. Continue reading
Colorado Congress members want review of drug bill that cost Tom Marino ‘drug czar’ nomination
DENVER – Some of Colorado’s federal lawmakers say they are reviewing the ramifications of a 2016 law, of which two of the state’s congressmen cosponsored early versions, that some say has handcuffed the Drug Enforcement Administration in its fight against drug companies—something that was uncovered in a joint Washington Post-60 Minutes investigation published last week.
The two Republican members of Congress – Rep. Mike Coffman and Sen. Cory Gardner, who was in the House of Representatives when he cosponsored the bills – did not, however, put their names on the bill that contained the final language now being blamed by some for neutering the DEA’s diversion program, which aims to stop the flow of pharmaceuticals and scheduled drugs to non-official sources.
And they and other members of Congress from Colorado, who were present when the bill passed both the Senate and House unanimously, say the law may have created “unintended consequences” for the DEA’s power over the opioid manufacturers that might need to be fixed.
Several legislators have endorsed new bills that would reverse the language written into the law, but those from Colorado have yet to sign on, saying they are reviewing the matter. Continue reading
Colorado State Sen. Vicki Marble blames media, mom of Cub Scout for story hoopla in Post op-ed
DENVER – In a new editorial published Tuesday in the Denver Post, the Colorado state senator whose exchange with a Broomfield Cub Scout led to national headlines about the boy being kicked out of his den blamed the press and the Scout’s mother for causing the hoopla surrounding the incident.
State. Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, said she didn’t blame the boy, 11-year-old Ames Mayfield, for asking her the questions about her 2013 comments about African-Americans, saying, “I believe there was an element of manipulation involved.” Continue reading