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Pam Philip Armour
Club Q shooter hate crimes guilty pleas
The man who committed a mass shooting at Club Q—a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub—pleaded guilty to 74 federal hate crime and weapons charges on Tuesday.
24-year-old Anderson Aldrich killed five people and wounded 22 others at Club Q back in 2022. In addition to pleading guilty, he received an additional 55 life sentences plus 190 years in prison.
Aldrich was already serving five life sentences plus 2,208 years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and related charges in state court last year.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney accepted Aldrich’s plea deal with federal prosecutors, avoiding a lengthy court process, and allowed the mass killer to avoid the death penalty.
The judge made Aldrich admit for the first time that the shooting was bias-motivated, targeting victims due to their sexual identity or gender identity.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Aldrich declined the judge’s invitation to address the Club Q victims and families present in the Denver courtroom.
Colorado Supreme Court hears arguments in anti-discrimination case
The Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit against a Christian baker who refused to make a pink cake with blue icing to celebrate a gender transition. KGNU’s Pam Johnson has the story.
The Court considered a variety of hypothetical cake-design scenarios while discussing two cases involving Lakewood baker Jack Phillips. The first case was back in 2012, when Phillips refused to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding. He partially prevailed before the U.S. Supreme Court in that case in 2018.
The more recent case originated when Phillips initially agreed to make a cake for attorney Autumn Scardina, but then refused when he found out it was going to be used to celebrate her gender transition.
The Colorado Court of Appeals sided with Scardina, ruling that the cake—which was not to have any writing on it—does not qualify as speech protected by the First Amendment.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court asked attorneys for both sides to describe what kind of cake without any writing on it a baker could refuse to make.
The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits refusing to provide services based on protected characteristics such as race, religion, or sexual orientation.
There are currently three cases in Colorado pitting LGBTQ+ [plus] civil rights against First Amendment rights.
Colorado in-person primaries voting begins
Colorado voting centers are now open across the state for those who want to vote early in-person for next week’s primary election.
Election day is June 25th and voters have up until 7 p.m. on Election Day to register to vote at a polling center.
Voters can find the location closest to them by going to the Secretary of State’s website.
According to Colorado Newsline, Registered Democrats may vote in the Democratic primary, and registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary. Unaffiliated voters may vote in either, but not both.
Voters will also find congressional district races, the state Board of Education, the statehouse, and other local races on their ballots.
Denver Basic Income Project report
A first-year pilot program provided 807 homeless adults with no-strings-attached cash, and saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands in the process. KGNU’s Philip Armour has more.
That’s according to a new report by Denver University’s Center for Housing and Homelessness Research, which found that the program participants stayed in homeless shelters less frequently. They also required fewer ambulance rides, emergency room visits and hospital stays, and spent fewer nights in jail or drug and alcohol treatment centers. As a result, taxpayers saved nearly $600,000 according to The Denver Post.
The program is also connected to an increase in employment. Roughly 23% of participants had jobs at the start of the program, and that number grew to 27% after one year.
The Post reports that the project paid out $9.4 million over the past 14 months
The Denver Basic Income Project split enrollees into three groups. One received $1,000 a month for a year, the second received a $6,500 lump sum at start and then $500 a month over 11 months, and the third received $50 a month for a year.
Researchers found a significant increase in housing security for all three groups after 10 months of payments.
Wapiti Trail rerouted for eagle protection
The new Wapiti Trail route at Heil Valley Ranch opened on Tuesday.
During the extended park closure due to the Cal-Wood fire, Golden eagles built a nest in the area. The new route was built to protect them.
Now, all of Heil Valley Ranch is restricted to on-trail use only because of the new critical wildlife habitat, and burn areas.
Eldorado Springs sues Boulder County
A bottled water company has filed suit against Boulder County for allegedly standing in the way of its newly-renovated resort facilities.
Eldorado Artesian Springs spent the last several years upgrading their popular spring-fed swimming pool, originally opened in 1906, and remodeling the site’s historic ballroom.The lawsuit accuses county officials of withholding occupancy permits for the facilities, and imposing requirements that weren’t agreed upon, among other allegations.
The company is also seeking a temporary restraining order to block the county from continuing to prevent the opening of facilities.
That’s according to the Daily Camera.
Eldorado Artesian Springs owns the road through town that accesses Eldorado Canyon State Park. The company and county commissioners agreed on roadway and parking improvements that would be funded jointly by Boulder County, the state of Colorado, and Eldorado Artesian Springs Inc. That work has not been completed.
