News

Cory Gardner taking ‘first’ look at health care bill he helped create; Dems slam bill and process

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner said Thursday that he was taking his first look at the Senate’s version of the replacement for the Affordable Care Act, which he helped craft, and that the bill “deserves serious debate, not knee-jerk reaction.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the 142-page discussion draft of the Senate’s health care bill, which they have dubbed the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, Thursday morning after weeks of anticipation and fervor over what has so far been a secretive process without any open committee hearings. Continue reading →

It’s hot car season, but Colorado’s new Good Samaritan law won’t take effect until August

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – The Colorado Legislature made a new law this year protecting people who break into hot cars to rescue at-risk people and animals, but you could still risk punishment if you do so, as summer will be more than halfway over before the law goes into effect.

Temperatures are expected to reach near-record-breaking levels across Colorado Tuesday. The forecast high in Denver is 95 degrees—just 2 degrees below the record high of 97 set in 2007.

At 95 degrees outside, it takes just 10 minutes for the inside temperature of a car to rise to 115 degrees even if the windows are cracked or the car is parked in the shade.

The new law protecting Good Samaritans sailed through the Legislature, garnering only four “no” votes total in the House and Senate before Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the bill in April.

But it carries a provision that says it won’t go into effect until Aug. 9 – the end of the 90-day period following the adjournment of the legislative session – so people could still risk a penalty if they break into a hot car before then.

Once the law goes into effect, there will be a checklist people have to fulfill in order to not be charged as well:

  • The vehicle in question can’t be a law enforcement vehicle.
  • An at-risk person or non-livestock animal has to be in the car, and the Good Samaritan must believe that person or animal is “in imminent danger of death or suffering serious bodily injury.
  • The vehicle must be locked.
  • The Good Samaritan must make a “reasonable effort” to find the vehicle’s owner and document the vehicle’s characteristics.
  • The Good Samaritan must contact a law enforcement, fire, or animal control agency before they enter the vehicle.
  • The Good Samaritan must not interfere with the duties or direction of a law enforcement agent or first responder.
  • The Good Samaritan can’t use “more force than he or she believes is reasonably necessary.”
  • The Good Samaritan must remain with the at-risk person or animal and near the vehicle until law enforcement or first responders arrive.
  • If the Good Samaritan can’t stay at the scene until first responders or law enforcement arrive, they have to let the responders know and leave their contact information with the vehicle.

The law does not apply to livestock, the term of which the law covers: cattle, horses, mules, burros, sheep, poultry, swine, llamas and goats.

Once the law goes into effect, any person who breaks into a vehicle to rescue an at-risk person or animal, as prescribed by the law’s parameters, won’t be subject to any penalties.

People can currently face charges of criminal mischief, criminal trespass or criminal tampering involving property if a district attorney decides to pursue charges. They could also face civil liabilities from the vehicle’s owner.

Since the beginning of 2017, Denver Animal Protection has received at least 175 calls about dogs left inside of vehicles during extreme heat or cold.

In Denver, people who leave animals in hot cars face animal cruelty charges and a fine of up to $999 and a year in jail.

It’s also illegal for dogs to ride in pickup truck beds, as the hot metal and direct sunlight can burn and dehydrate animals.

Denver also requires all pets to have outdoor shelters if they stay outside, lest owners also face animal cruelty charges.

Anyone wanting to report unsafe car or outside conditions for animals is asked to call 311 or 720-913-1311 immediately.

If an at-risk person is left in a car, call 911.

No insurance companies will pull out of Colorado health exchange in 2018, state says

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – All of the insurance companies operating on Colorado’s health exchange will be back next year, quelling fears that 14 western Colorado counties would be left without insurers and that market competition would be further stymied in the state.

“The carriers that offered plans on the exchange this year filed plans to do so next year,” Rebecca Laurie, communications director for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies confirmed to Denver7 Wednesday. Continue reading →

Gardner calls for full embargo, travel ban on ‘terror sponsor’ N. Korea after ‘murder’ of American

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – The U.S. should consider an absolute embargo and travel ban on North Korea after the “murder” of Otto Warmbier, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said Wednesday.

Gardner has been one of the leading voices in the Senate over the past year in pushing for sanctions against North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un, who last month called Gardner a “psychopath” in response to Gardner saying that Kim was a “madman.” Continue reading →

Despite being part of Senate health care work groups, Colorado’s Cory Gardner still hasn’t seen bill

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, who is one of a handful of Senate Republicans working in small groups to craft the Senate’s version of the American Health Care Act, said Wednesday he has still not seen a text version of the bill just a week before the full chamber is set to vote on it. Continue reading →

Hickenlooper: ‘Kind of crazy’ that Senate Republicans are crafting health care bill in secret

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper joined Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich on CNN Monday night to argue that the secretive health care legislation being crafted by a handful of Senate Republicans would be better off with input from both sides of the aisle and from the governors who will have to implement any new health care system in their respective states.

“I’ve never had a good idea in my life that the moment I started talking about it with staff or people around me, that it didn’t suddenly get better,” Hickenlooper told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “And to think that a small number of one party is going to come up with the right solutions is kind of crazy.”

Hickenlooper and Kasich were among a group of seven bipartisan governors who sent a letter to the U.S. Senate’s majority and minority leaders Friday criticizing the House-passed version of the American Health Care Act—the bill Republicans aim use to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

The governors said in the letter that the House-passed version of the bill “calls into question coverage for the vulnerable and fails to provide the necessary resources to ensure that no one is left out, while shifting significant costs to the states” and that provisions in the bill involving hundreds of billions in Medicaid cuts were “particularly problematic.”

In their interview with Cooper Monday, both Hickenlooper and Kasich criticized Republicans who have kept the crafting of the Senate’s bill secret from even some of their Republican colleagues.

Cooper asked Kasich if he felt, as a Republican, that the Senate secrecy, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, was something he was supportive of.

“No, you think I’m going to say yes, Anderson?” Kasich quipped. “Of course it’s not. I mean they’ve got to let people know what they’re doing. This is like 1/6 of the U.S. economy. They have to do an analysis of this bill and know how many people it affects and how much it costs.”

Reach out to Senate Democrats,” Kasich continued. “Work this thing together. If you don’t, it’s not sustainable and the next administration is going to overturn this, and we never get to the issue of what’s driving up health care costs.”

Hickenlooper said that he and Kasich had been discussing the health care bills, and figured they only disagreed on about 5 percent of the issues.

“We could find compromises on almost everything,” he said.

Hickenlooper also added to Kasich’s call for Republicans, like Colorado’s Republican senator, Cory Gardner, to reach across party lines.

He also suggested that the governors should be more involved in the process, as they will be the ones who actually have to figure out how their states will put in place any changes to the nation’s health care system.

“Not only should Republican senators reach out to Democratic senators, but I would volunteer there are a bunch of governors, who actually have to implement what they come up with, who could give some substantive and meaningful suggestions on how to control costs and how not to have to roll back coverage,” Hickenlooper said.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Tuesday that McConnell was writing the bill, and that the ongoing working committees Republicans like Gardner have pointed to as crafting the bill weren’t having as much input.

“We can say the budget committee, we can say the health committee, but McConnell is writing the bill.”

Three Democratic senators went on a quest Tuesday morning to find a copy of the secretive bill, paying a visit to the Congressional Budget Office, but coming up empty.

The Republican senators crafting the bill are expected to send it to the CBO to score this week, and McConnell has said he would like a vote on the new bill before the July 4 recess, and possibly as soon as next week.

But McConnell and other Republicans have been widely panned as hypocrites because of their secrecy.

McConnell complained about the process in passing the Affordable Care Act, which had more than three weeks of total floor time and discussion over the months it was put together in open session, in both 2009 and 2010.

“The real bill will soon be cobbled together in a secret conference room somewhere in the Capitol by a handful of Democratic senators,” he said in 2009, before saying just months later that Americans were “tired of giant bills negotiated in secret, then jammed through on a party-line vote in the middle of the night.”

Gardner, who is reportedly one of the 13 senators crafting the Senate version of the bill, hasn’t addressed the transparency concerns despite sharing those same concerns just four months ago.

In February, Gardner himself said, “It’s important to me that this debate be open and that the American people see what’s happening and taking place,” according to a transcript from HuffPost. “I think as this committee hearings and legislation is being drafted, it’s not going to be something behind closed doors. Everybody is going to be a part of it.”

Gardner says he will “continue working with my Senate colleagues on legislation that strengthens Medicaid, protects people with pre-existing conditions, and allows Coloradans to have access to more affordable insurance plans.”

But even some of his Republican Senate colleagues were starting to share the same transparency concerns Gardner and others have been derided over in recent weeks.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., lamented that no one had seen the Senate’s version possibly less than 2 weeks before a vote.

“We used to complain like hell when the Democrats ran the Affordable Care Act. Now we’re doing the same thing,” McCain told NBC News.

Sen. John Cornyn said Tuesday that Democrats would get to see the bill as soon as Republicans saw it, and McConnell said early Tuesday afternoon he believes a “discussion draft” of the Senate’s bill would be released on Thursday.

Fire at former home of person of interest in Kelsie Schelling case probed as possible arson

Posted on by Blair Miller

PUEBLO, Colo. – Authorities are investigating a fire at the former home of a person of interest in a young Denver woman’s disappearance as a possible arson, they said Monday.

Fire crews had to put out a small blaze at a home in the 5000 block of Manor Ridge Drive early Friday morning.

The home used to belong to the grandmother of Donthe Lucas, who has long been considered the prime person of interest in the 2013 disappearance of Kelsie Schelling, a 21-year-old Denver woman who was pregnant with Lucas’ child when she disappeared. Lucas lived there on and off over the years.

Crews dug through the house and backyard in April for possible evidence in the case.

But amid the ongoing investigation into Friday’s fire, Pueblo Police Department spokesman Sgt. Eric Gonzales told Denver7 Monday that there was not yet any evidence that the fire was connected to the Schelling case.

“We are investigating the fire as a possible arson,” Sgt. Gonzales said. “At this point there is nothing to suggest the fire is connected to Kelsie Schelling’s case, but we are not ruling out anything until the investigation is complete.”

The police department said in April it had found evidence in connection with the case at the home, but never specified the nature of the evidence aside from saying it wasn’t a body.

On Friday, KRDO reported that Pueblo Fire Department officials said the fire was suspicious, but that investigators didn’t know if it had been set intentionally.

The spokesman for Pueblo Fire was out of the office Monday and could not return requests for further comment.

Schelling was 21 years old and eight weeks pregnant when she vanished on Feb. 4, 2013. She had her first doctor’s visit and had seen a sonogram of her baby earlier that day.

After the trip to the doctor and a shift at work, the Denver woman drove two hours south to Pueblo to visit Lucas, and has never been seen since.

Lucas was found to have parked her car at an area Walmart the day after she disappeared, and an unidentified man picked it up and eventually dropped it off again at the St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center. Police recovered the vehicle Feb. 7.

Schelling was never seen in surveillance video at either location.

Investigators discovered through text messages that Schelling and Lucas had talked to one another once she had reached Pueblo, but the messages stopped shortly after she got there.

Pueblo police say the investigation into the Schelling case remains ongoing and that they are looking for tips related to the case. To submit anonymous tips in the case, contact Pueblo Crime Stoppers at 542-STOP or go to their website. You can also contact the Colorado Bureau of Investigation at 303-239-4300.

Health insurance rate deadline for Colorado hits as Hickenlooper, DeGette talk health care Monday

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – Health care is slated for a big day in Colorado Monday, as several Democrats are holding high-profile events on the same day that insurance companies are supposed to submit their rate hike proposals to the state’s insurance division.

Gov. John Hickenlooper will join Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 at 6 p.m. Mountain Time Monday to extrapolate on a letter they and a bipartisan committee of governors sent to the U.S. Senate Friday asking for better protections in the Senate’s version of the American Health Care Act.

The Friday letter came from governors from both sides of the aisle in states that opted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The governors say that the House-passed version of the bill “calls into question coverage for the vulnerable and fails to provide the necessary resources to ensure that no one is left out, while shifting significant costs to the states.”

The governors wrote that the provisions in the bill involving Medicaid were “particularly problematic.”

They said they were ready to work with senators “to develop a proposal that is fiscally sound and provides quality, affordable coverage for our most vulnerable citizens.”

The letter asks that Congress focus on “improving” the private health insurance system in the U.S., and says that the House version of the bill fails to protect “millions of Americans, including many who are dealing with mental illness, chronic health problems, and drug addiction.”

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., had some strong words for his Republican colleagues Monday, who have been accused of keeping all details of the Senate’s health care bill secret — even from the Republicans not working on the bill.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R) has drawn criticism for being one of the 13 Republican senators reportedly developing the bill in private months after he called for transparency in the process to reform health care in the U.S.

“[Senate Republicans] are so ashamed of health care bill, they won’t even share it with GOP colleagues–much less Dems or American [people],” Bennet tweeted, following up with a hashtag: #NoHearingNoVote.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., brought further light to some of those concerns Monday morning when she hosted a news conference with providers, families and young people who might be affected by the potential cuts to Medicaid.

Though the Senate is reportedly working on a version of the AHCA that differs from the House-passed version, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the House bill would cut more than $800 billion in Medicaid funding over the next decade, something that has caused concern and pause to Democrats, health care groups and groups serving low-income families and people with disabilities.

Estimates have shown that more than 400,000 people in Colorado added Medicaid coverage under the ACA’s expansion, and that nearly 1.3 million total Coloradans rely on Medicaid coverage.

DeGette said Monday that the AHCA was an “assault on our health care” and said it was time for lawmakers “to do the right thing for our kids.”

Monday is also a big day for Colorado’s insurance market, as it is the last day for insurance companies operating in the state to file their rate requests with the Colorado Division of Insurance.

Those filings could have huge ramifications in Colorado. Depending on the rate hike requests, and if Anthem decides to stay in Colorado, the coverage for people in more than a dozen Colorado counties could be up in the air.

But the Division of Insurance tells Denver7 that the requests will have to be analyzed and will likely not be publicly available until mid-July.

In a weekend story, The Denver Post reported that Kaiser Permanente was the only Colorado health care provider that explicitly committed to selling plans next year on the state health exchange, Connect for Health Colorado.

Spokespersons for Cigna and Anthem would only say they were eyeing the market conditions in the state.

Two of the seven companies operating on the state exchange, Colorado Choice Health Plans and Rocky Mountain Health Plans, did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.

After the rate requests are made public, they will be open for public comment into August before the state decides whether to approve the new rates or to deny them.

The Senate continues to craft a bill through various committee meetings with Republicans and the president, though most senators admit they have yet to see a text of the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has floated the idea of trying to vote on the Senate’s version of the bill before the July 4 recess.

Democratic senators are also expected to try and hold the Senate floor Monday night to open up the debate on the health care bill. It’s unknown at this time if Sen. Michael Bennet will join them.

Centennial doctor murdered trying to help neighbor honored with Carnegie heroism medal

Posted on by Blair Miller

DENVER – Dr. Kenneth Atkinson, the man shot and killed while trying to protect his neighbors from a gunman in Centennial in April 2016, is being honored posthumously with a Carnegie medal for heroism.

Atkinson is one of 19 people receiving the honor Monday for bravery, and one of four people being honored who died during his act of heroism.

Atkinson’s killer, Kevin Lyons, was sentenced June 4 to life in prison without parole, plus 352 years, for Atkinson’s murder and other charges related to the shooting.

Lyons shot his wife at their home in early April 2016. She ran out of the home and across the street, where other neighbors, including Atkinson, tried to help.

Atkinson was on the phone with 911 when Lyons shot him, first in the leg, then again from close range—a shot that killed him.

Lyons’ wife and another woman were both also wounded in the shooting.

After Atkinson’s death, those who worked with him at a Centennial clinic he ran said he had been committed to his patients for decades, and said he was a loving family man who would do anything for others.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission has given out nearly 10,000 of the medals for heroism since 1904.