Headlines Friday, June 5, 2026
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Appeals court overturns convictions in Elijah McClain death; Trump administration threatens funding for Jefferson County schools; Polis signs one immigration bill and vetoes another KGNU News
Appeals court overturns convictions in Elijah McClain death
An appeals court has overturned homicide convictions for two paramedics convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain.
McClain was a 23-year-old unarmed Black man who died after Aurora police put him in a neck hold and paramedics injected him with an overdose of ketamine.
In 2023, paramedic Jeremy Cooper and supervisor Peter Cichuniec were charged with criminally negligent homicide, and Cichuniec was also convicted on one count of second-degree assault for unlawful administration of drugs.
The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed Cichuniec’s homicide conviction, but upheld his second-degree assault by drugging conviction, saying “the district court erred by failing to properly instruct the jury on the standard of care applicable to the criminally negligent homicide charge.” The cases will be retried.
Trump administration threatens funding for Jefferson County schools
The Trump administration is warning Jefferson County Public Schools that federal funding is at risk unless the district addresses alleged Title IX violations. The U.S. Department of Education issued a letter Wednesday ordering Jeffco to comply with federal policy within 10 days. It’s the second time this year the agency has targeted the district over transgender students competing in female sports and using women’s bathrooms. Jeffco said in a statement that the warning is based on an “erroneous claim” and a misunderstanding of data it previously provided.
The district received an initial warning for alleged Title IX violations back in March.
Polis signs one immigration bill and vetoes another
Governor Polis has weighed in on a pair of bills that are Colorado Democrats’ response to immigration agents’ aggressive tactics under the Trump administration. He signed one into law, but vetoed the other.
The bill Polis vetoed would have let Coloradans sue federal immigration officers in state court over alleged constitutional rights violations. Supporters said the measure would create a necessary legal pathway for challenging misconduct. But Polis argued it would likely be struck down in court and worried that could threaten existing protections. State Representative Javier Mabrey is one of the bill’s sponsors.
“We often pass laws that we anticipate that the Trump administration is likely to disagree with, and so no, I don’t think that was a good reason to veto the bill,” said Mabrey.
The other measure – the one Polis signed – creates new rules around how federal immigration agents operate in Colorado. Among other things, it requires immigration-related subpoenas to be made public.
Federal government expects to reach an agreement on Colorado River rights
The federal government expects to have a short term agreement for the Colorado River later this summer. The seven states that use the river have spent the last several years working on a plan to determine who will take cuts to water usage as climate change significantly reduces flows.
They’ve missed several deadlines in the past year to present a plan, with the new water management year starting in October.
Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, Scott Cameron, spoke at a conference at CU Boulder on Thursday. He said the Bureau had been going back and forth with the states for months. But with the water management year starting in October, he said it’s crunch time for a deal.
“We’d have loved to have a 20-year deal, or a 30-year deal. But frankly we haven’t even been able to get seven states to agree on what a two year deal would look like. So we’re using a ten-year framework that the department would use to issue operational guidelines at two year intervals,” said Cameron.
Cameron said because water supply has been so bad this year, the Bureau has had to make tough decisions and he recognizes that some of those have made stakeholders angry, like the plan to release millions of gallons of water from Flaming Gorge reservoir to supplement Lake Powell.
Colorado ski industry collapse
Following one of the driest and hottest winters on record, Colorado ski areas reported a massive 24% drop in visits over the past season.
While visits to the ski areas plummeted, ski operators avoided taking a major hit to ticket revenue through an increased reliance on season pass sales. Vail Resorts, the state’s largest ski operator, only reported a 5.6% drop to its ticket revenue, according to the Colorado Sun, with most passholders making their purchases before the season started.
A 24-25 season survey by the National Ski Association found that ski operators across the country are hauling in record profits with the industry’s margins sitting at 33% over the past decade.
CU Boulder to offer abortion medications
CU Boulder will offer access to abortion medications for students beginning in 2027. This comes following a new law that requires schools with pharmacies to keep a stock of abortion medications on hand.
Performing an abortion through medication involves taking two pharmaceutical drugs at specific times over two days. Medicated abortions are considered safe, with a study finding that there’s less than a 0.4% risk of serious complications.
The medication has an effectiveness rate between 91.6% and 99.7% and can be performed up to 12 weeks after one’s last period.
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