Headlines — November 21, 2022

November 21, 2022

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Gunman Kills And Injures Several People At Colorado Spring LGBTQ Night Club

A 22-year old gunman, armed with an AR-15 style semi automatic weapon, killed five people and injured at least 25 others during a ten-minute rampage at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ night club late Saturday night. 

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said two people at the club fought and subdued the gunman and commended their heroic actions in saving lives during a news conference yesterday.

The deadly rampage came on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance. The crime also occurred as national and local politicians, churches, and extremists have increased their anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies in recent years. 

Citing an investigation, officials have declined to comment on the motive of the shooting. Suthers did remark the shooting has all the appearances of a hate crime in an interview with the New York Times.

Several politicians, including Governor Jared Polis and President Joe Biden, issued statements yesterday decrying the violence. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting the Colorado Springs Police Department with the investigation into the shooting. 

According to the Associated Press, the suspect was arrested last year after allegedly threatening his mother with a homemade bomb and multiple weapons and ammunitions.  According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the El Paso District’s Attorney’s office did not pursue formal charges against the suspect and authorities sealed the case. 

Employees At Boulder Starbucks Begin Steps To Unionize 

Starbucks employees at the Baseline and Broadway location in Boulder are the latest to declare their intent to form a union. The workers petitioned the National Labor Relations Board late last week to hold an election.

“Accountability with scheduling and wages are one of the things that have been talked about the most.”

Holden Sheftel is a shift supervisor at the Boulder Baseline store. He says he’s optimistic about the success of the unionization vote as support for it is high among the workers at the location.

“I think that when we signed support cards, close to 80 percent were willing to sign.”

A store in Buffalo, New York became the first Starbucks location to unionize in December of 2021. Since then, workers at more than 260 locations nationwide have voted to join Starbucks Workers United.

Sheftel says watching the quick rise of unionization at other locations has been inspiring.

“As the first store in Boulder to announce our intent to unionize, we hope that we can provide the same inspiration for our local stores that these other stores were for us.”

If the Baseline store’s employees vote in favor of the union, they will make the location the 9th Colorado Starbucks to unionize.

Colorado Panel Recommends Moniker Switch For Mountain Named After Disgraced Governor 

The Colorado Geographic Naming Board voted unanimously last week in support of a recommendation to rename Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky in honor of the Arapaho and Cheyenne people and whose ancestors the United States Calvary murdered during the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. 

The 14,000 plus peak near Denver is currently named after John Evans, Colorado’s second territorial governor who resigned for his role in the massacre that killed roughly 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people, mostly women and children, in southeastern Colorado.  

The recommendation moves next to Governor Jared Polis who will then decide if the recommendation proceeds to the United States Board on Geographic Names, the federal panel that has the authority to change the peak’s name.

Boulder Makes Global City A-List For Environmental Action And Transparency

The City of Boulder announced Friday the international nonprofit, Carbon Disclosure Project, has once again scored Boulder with an “A” ranking among 122 global cities for aggressive environmental action and transparency.

2022 is the fourth year in which Boulder has received the nonprofit’s recognition.

According to city officials, the Carbon Disclosure Project evaluates data disclosed by local governments, how transparent it is, and how well communities tackle the climate crisis. 

As part of Friday’s announcement, city officials said they will have the community’s 2021 greenhouse gas emissions data available on the city’s website next month. 

CU Cross Country Program Facing Allegations Of Harmful Training Practices And Other Complaints

Internal audit investigators with the University of Colorado and an outside attorney are conducting what campus officials say is an independent, comprehensive fact-finding inquiry of the CU-Boulder’s cross country program over allegations pertaining to the program’s use of body composition analysis, training methods, and overall culture. 

Allegations of misconduct and harmful practices first surfaced after a former runner revealed in a May 20th Washington Post article that she and other athletes would have to undergo a monthly body composition test where a clinician would pinch them while they were clad in a sports bra and running shorts, a practice, she said led her to having eating disorders and other mental health issues.

Runner’s World reported last week several other athletes said they too faced frequent body composition testing and if they failed the testing, coaching staff would ban them from practice and races, resulting in eating disorders, mental health disorders, and a toxic environment within the program. 

Amid the accusations, CU women placed 11th overall in the NCAA finals held in Oklahoma on Saturday, while the CU men placed eighth. 

Colorado’s Unemployment Rate Makes A Slight Increase For October 

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment released data Friday indicating that the state’s unemployment rate increased slightly during October.

BizWest reports the slight increase also incurred for Boulder County, as well as Broomfield, Larimer, and Weld counties. 

A senior labor economist with the state told BizWest that the metro areas of Boulder and Fort Collins have had the lowest rates of unemployment through the pandemic. 

Although there is an uptick in unemployment, the state’s labor-force participation rate held steady for the second month at 69.4%, a rate making Colorado second in the nation. 

Meadows Branch Library Closing Today For Carpet Replacement

The Boulder Public Library is closing the Meadows Branch location today because of carpet replacement. Meadows Branch will reopen Friday, November 25th. Patrons may still drop off books at the location for returns.