Author: Nicole C. Brambila The Denver Gazette
-
DOJ joins challenge to Colorado U-Visa law
The U.S. Department of Justice has moved to challenge Colorado’s U-Visa law, arguing it conflicts with federal immigration rules by broadening who qualifies for law enforcement certifications used in visa applications. HB21-1060 was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in 2021. The law was designed to create uniformity and fairness for immigrant crime survivors.…
-
Tapped: Facing similar drought conditions, Utah declares emergency while Colorado relies on Phase 2 response
Editor’s Note: The Front Range sits at the center of one of the American West’s most complex and consequential water challenges. This series examines the interconnected systems that determine how the region secures, stores, and conserves its water while navigating the competing demands of fast‑growing urban communities and the increasingly unpredictable mountain snowpack that underpins…
-
Colorado River overallocation collides with Colorado snowpack conditions
Tapped: Colorado’s Front Range is at the center of one of the American West’s most complex and consequential water challenges. This series examines the interconnected systems that determine how the region secures, stores, and conserves its water — while navigating the competing demands of fast‑growing urban communities and the increasingly unpredictable mountain snowpack that underpins…
-
Hantavirus outbreak is not like COVID-19 pandemic, CDC says
Hantavirus is not a COVID-19 sequel. Infectious disease experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who refer to the outbreak on the cruise ship that’s been in the news as the Andes virus, describe the risk to the American public as “extremely low” because it is not spread as easily from person-to-person as…
-
Snowstorm offers little relief as Colorado snowpack ranks among worst on record
A late-season snowstorm may look like relief, but it can’t salvage a historically bad snowpack year. While it’s too early to measure Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s storm’s impact, water experts said a single snowstorm won’t reverse months of below-average snowpack. “This year is proving difficult to quantify,” Brad Udall, senior water and climate research scholar at…
-
Colorado measles cases surge, near highest level in decades
With nearly 20 measles cases so far this year, Colorado is on track to record its highest number of infections since the disease was declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000. Last week, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed a measles case in an unvaccinated Lake County teenager. As of April 28,…
-
9 Colorado hospitals at risk of closing due to Medicaid cuts, non-profit says
The $900 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade could threaten the viability of more than 400 hospitals nationally and at least nine in Colorado, a new report has found. The hospitals span the Front Range and rural communities, from Denver Health — the region’s primary safety-net provider — to smaller hospitals in places…
-
Unsustainable: How Colorado’s Medicaid spending exploded
The state’s Medicaid program — which covers about one in four Coloradans — is poised for its largest single-year jump in at least two decades, with officials proposing a $2.3 billion increase, even as lawmakers face a $1.5 billion budget shortfall. The data shows Medicaid enrollment has grown steadily, while spending has increased far more…
-
Measles outbreak prompts 80 exclusions at Broomfield schools
Eighty unvaccinated students and staff at Broomfield middle and high schools are not allowed to attend class in the wake of a measles outbreak, state health officials confirmed Tuesday. The majority of the exclusions are students, but they also include several staff members, Hope Shuler, a spokesperson with the Colorado Department of Public Health and…
-
Unvaccinated child in Broomfield County tests positive for measles
Public health officials have confirmed a measles case in Boulder County. The child was not vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella and had not traveled outside the state or had a known exposure, according to state health officials. The case brings the total number of measles infections in Colorado to two. “The lack of a…