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Colorado Wildfires, Budget, and Local Developments Jack Armstrong
Headlines Friday August 8, 2025
Boulder braces for budget cuts
Amidst Colorado’s 1 billion budget deficit, Axios reported that Boulder is bracing for cuts.
The state was already looking at a tight budget when Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” worsened the situation. By law, Colorado has to address the deficit, so this week, Gov. Jared Polis called for a special legislative session. It will start Aug. 27.
Axios Boulder spoke with Democratic representatives Judy Amabile and Lesley Smith about what areas might be on the cutting board -and how the city will be impacted. Both representatives hope education and medical care are not affected, but representative Amabile told Axios, quote “Everything is on the table.”
Wildfires
The National Guard was called to combat wildfires in Northwestern Colorado. The Lee fire has doubled in size since Wednesday night. It is now over 58,000 acres.
Gov. Jared Polis has declared a state of emergency and almost 500 firefighters are trying to contain the fire in the midst of drought in the Western Slope. People in the outsides of Meeker, Colorado, are being evacuated to a shelter at Moffat County High School, and the town is entering a pre-evacuation order. Residents have to be prepared to evacuate if needed.
To the east of Meeker, the Elk fire has also grown to almost 15,000 acres. While the Elk Fire is moving opposite of the town, resources are limited between these two wildfires and a dozen more across the western slope.
As of Thursday night, the fires are growing rapidly and the state is almost covered by a red flag warning for extreme fire risk. The drought is also expected to continue and air quality alerts are also in effect.
Uncollared Wolves Blamed For Sheep Deaths
State wildlife officers plan to track and kill a wolf believed responsible for killing livestock in Blanco County. But for now, the wildfires burning in the area have kept them from getting started.
An investigation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed three wolf attacks on livestock in recent weeks. The situation meets the agency’s definition of chronic depredation, according to the Colorado Sun. Officials said that since their primary concern is the safety of its staff, they’ll wait until wildfires in the area are sufficiently contained to move against the wolf.
The wolf involved in the livestock attacks is not collared, according to the Sun. The gray wolves brought to Colorado in a voter-approved reintroduction plan, as well as a litter of pups born to them, are all collared and tracked by the wildlife agency.
Meanwhile, one of those collared wolves was found dead in Wyoming late last month. The Denver Post says that the female gray wolf was among those first reintroduced to Colorado in December 2023. Wildlife officials say it’s unclear how the wolf died.
Longmont began taking nominations for municipal elections
The City of Longmont this week began accepting nomination petitions for municipal races in this year’s election.
There will be two at-large City Council seats, one City Council Ward 2 seat, and the mayoral race on this year’s ballot.
The deadline to submit nomination petitions is August 25th. The deadline to file as a write-in candidate is August 29th.
More information is on the city’s election webpage.
New School Bus Law
As the new school year begins, a new Colorado law changes how cars must stop near school buses.
The new law, enacted in May, instructs drivers to stop when approaching a school bus from the oncoming lane -except when there is some median or physical barrier separating both traffic lines. This comes as the state patrol saw five crashes involving school buses in the last five years.
Colorado law also states that drivers must stop 20 feet from stopped school buses that have their red lights flashing, regardless of whether they are in the opposite lane, at an intersection, or on the side of the road.
Drivers have to remain stopped until the red flashing lights of the school bus are turned off. Still, driving cautiously is recommended as children may still be around.
