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07_15_25_am_headlines Ainsley Coogan
Andrea Gibson dies
Andrea Gibson, Colorado’s poet laureate, died yesterday at the age of 49, at their home in Boulder.
They were first diagnosed with ovarian cancer four years ago.
Gibson was an award-winning spoken word artist. They were an advocate for LGBTQ rights, and their poetry tackled themes like gender identity, politics, gun violence and social justice — issues they continued to explore after their diagnosis.
Speaking on KGNU in 2024, Gibson told Outsources host Karen Raforth that they were still writing about those same issues, but after their cancer diagnosis, they approached it through a different lens.
“One of the ways that my writing, I think, changed after cancer was that I’ve still been talking about many of those same issues, but it’s the nature with which I’m talking about it or the angle that I need to enter the poem through so that I’m nurturing my spirit in the process,” they said.
Gibson was a guest on KGNU many times, particularly on the show Outsources, and we’ll revisit some of those interviews in the coming days on the morning magazine.
Western Colorado wildfires
Four wildfires in western Colorado have now burned more than 7600 acres, and at last word were all at zero containment.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blazes, which are in three different counties. Governor Jared Polis issued an emergency order on Sunday and more resources are expected.
The four western Colorado fires were sparked by lightning. A fifth wildfire is burning in eastern Utah but has not crossed into Colorado at this time. That wildfire is also included by the governor’s emergency order.
The South Rim fire in Montrose County has burned nearly 4,000 acres, and has an estimated containment date of August 10. Much of the area remains under mandatory evacuation. More than three hundred fire personnel are fighting the South Rim fire, along with two aircraft and two dozers.
Two wildfires are in Mesa County: the Wright Draw fire, and the Turner Gulch fire. Both are in mountainous terrain and have consumed more than 1,700 acres. More than two hundred firefighters are at those fires.
The Sowbelly fire is burning in parts of Montrose, Delta, and Mesa counties. It’s burned more than 2,200 acres and is at zero containment.
In eastern Utah, the Deer Creek fire has burned more than ten thousand acres and could cross the state line into Colorado. Crews there have dug containment lines in an effort to stop its spread.
All of this is according to InciWeb, an interagency incident information management system, and the Denver Post.
Colorado, 23 other states sue Trump over withheld funding
Colorado has joined 23 other states in a new lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that the government is illegally withholding billions of dollars in education funding.
The federal government unexpectedly froze $6.8 billion in K-12 education funding slated for the 2025-26 academic year. Of that amount, $80 million was set to come to Colorado. The lawsuit alleges that the funding was legally required to go to states on July 1.
The frozen funding was appropriated by Congress four months ago. It was for programs teaching students learning English, teacher training, as well as after-school and summer programs.
The U.S. Department of Education is saying that it told state education officials earlier this month that the money was being withheld pending a review and hasn’t said if it will be released.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said during a news conference, “I am here appalled; I am here in disbelief,” and “…We will have the backs of parents, teachers and kids.”
Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero and Board of Education President Carrie Olson said earlier this month that “delay the distribution of congressionally appropriated education funds is a dangerous overreach of executive authority…”
Many of the Colorado school districts expecting the federal funds have already budgeted that money into the coming academic year, according to the Denver Post.
Other states in the lawsuit include California, North Carolina and Rhode Island, where the suit was filed in U.S. District Court.
Boulder County ending 360 Foster Care Program
Boulder County will end its 360 Foster Care Program, set to shut down by Sept. 2. The county will no longer manage the supervision of foster cases, something they had done for decades. They will retain legal and oversight responsibility, though.
Newly placed children will be matched with foster families through one of 18 nonprofit agencies and one for-profit agency.
The change is a result of a decline in foster placements of 47 percent since 2021. This is driven by the Family First Prevention Services Act, which was adopted in Colorado in 2021. The act focuses on placing children with relatives or close family friends whenever possible.
Fewer placements led to the county’s cost model becoming difficult to sustain. Under the new system, the county will need six fewer employees to run the system, saving them up to $700,000 per year.
The changes won’t impact any children already in kinship care. When new children need to be placed, the staff of Family and Children’s services will instead meet with the placement agencies to decide the best fit.
Foster families have expressed concerns about these changes, citing worries of the possibility of placement outside of Boulder County as well as in group homes.
Safeway ratification vote
Union employees of Colorado Safeway and King Soopers stores have voted to accept new contracts with the two grocery chains.
Bargaining on new contracts between the two companies and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7 produced separate, tentative agreements on the July 4 weekend. Employees began voting on whether to ratify the two agreements last week.
The agreement between Local 7 and Safeway ended a weeks-long strike. King Soopers employees had gone on strike earlier this year, but returned to work and stayed on the job through the contract bargaining process.
The union announced the contract ratifications on its Squarespace page. It covers workers at stores in Boulder, Denver, and throughout the state. The union previously said that the new contracts would improve worker health care benefits, fully fund pensions, provide wage hikes, and address the problem of understaffing.
