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07_29_25_HEADLINES(JACK) Ainsley Coogan
Boulder housing plan paused
A housing project near Boulder’s Eben G. Fine Park faces uncertainty after the developer said the plan is no longer financially viable. The construction plan, which has been paused for over a year, may reduce the amount of affordable housing at the site from 45% to 24%.
That decision still requires approval from Boulder City Council, although it was approved by the city’s Planning Board last week.
The setback is in part due to high costs, unexpected site work, increasing construction expenses and landmarking the Silver Saddle Motel. That’s according to Curtis McDonald, the president of Canyon Creek Villas.
The proposed units were intended to be for-sale homes for buyers earning between 60% and 120% of the area median income.
Boulder’s planning board recommended that city council approve the reduced affordable housing requirement and remove the landmark status, citing that maintaining the structure could become a burden to those who would eventually live there. That’s according to Boulder Reporting Lab.
Kurt Nordback was the only member of the planning board to vote against the proposal. He said that reducing the number of affordable housing units could encourage developers to “provide an incentive for future developers to be very optimistic in making their annexation agreements, knowing that a precedent has been set.”
Frontier Airlines bomb threat
Federal officials are investigating a bomb threat on a Frontier Airlines flight that landed at Denver International Airport on Monday. The plane was evacuated but no devices were found.
Two threatening notes were found by crew members on the plane during its flight from Seattle to Denver. It is unknown what the notes said, or how they were discovered, according to the Denver Post.
The FBI is investigating the incident. They have not commented publicly on the case.
Trump order threatens homeless plans
A new executive order signed by Donald Trump could disrupt the city of Denver’s strategy to address homelessness. KGNU’s Andraa Von explains.
Trump’s executive order, signed last week, is called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.”
An analysis by Denverite says it is an attempt to defund what are known as “housing first” programs, like the one in Denver. Housing First programs prioritize housing and harm reduction as a means of addressing homelessness. Many researchers say these strategies are backed by evidence.
This Executive Order would penalize cities like Denver using these programs with civil and criminal investigations, along with major funding cuts.
Don Burnes, the co-founder of the Burnes Center for Poverty Research, said Trump’s approach to the homeless situation is to put people in institutions. But,he said, there aren’t enough institutions.
Mayor Mike Johnston defended Denver’s efforts, saying in a statement that the city had provided “a blueprint for how cities across the country can address this crisis that to many seems unsolvable.” However, in a recent speech, he also implied the city could embrace at least some of the strategies Trump is now ordering.
If implemented, the executive order could trigger sweeping federal funding cuts to Denver’s current homeless and public health strategies.
Planned Parenthood Medicaid funding must continue
A federal judge has blocked a Trump administration effort to defund Planned Parenthood.
District Judge Indira Talwani ruled yesterday that Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the country must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding.
The ruling protects Planned Parenthood affiliates, like Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, from a defunding provision in the Republican’s reconciliation bill signed by the President on July 4.
Yesterday’s preliminary injunction replaces an earlier order handed down by the same judge, according to the Associated Press. That earlier order granted an initial injunction aimed at blocking the administration from ending Medicaid payments for a year, to organizations that provide abortions, and also got at least $100,000 in federal funding two years ago.
The judge said in yesterday’s ruling that “patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable.”
The judge also said that her ruling does not forbid the government from regulating abortion. She said that instead, her decision blocks the federal government from excluding groups like Planned Parenthood from Medicaid reimbursements.
Planned Parenthood argued in a lawsuit that it might have to close nearly two hundred clinics if they lose Medicaid funds, resulting in more than 1 million patients losing care.
Colorado ICE prisons
Local government leaders in several Colorado communities say they are short on solid information about the plans of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to build detention centers in their communities.
ICE has shown an interest in reopening facilities in Walsenburg, Colorado Springs, Hudson and La Junta, and using them to jail immigrants. That’s according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union.
If they reopen they would be operated by private companies.
While they have not been informed about specific plans, local government leaders also acknowledged that ICE could reopen them without their approval, since they would be privately owned.
ICE already has a Colorado detention center in Aurora. It is owned and operated by a private prison company called GEO Group, according to the Colorado Sun.
Earlier this month, Republicans in Congress voted to increase ICE’s detention system funding to $45 billion, as the Trump administration steps up its effort to detain and deport immigrants.
Education funding itemized
Colorado education officials are applauding a Trump administration decision to release all of the federal education funding it had planned to withhold.
That totals about $7 billion nationally. For Colorado it means nearly $67 million.
An analysis by Chalkbeat, based on last year’s funding, says Colorado will get about $26 million for recruiting, training, and retaining teachers and reducing class sizes.
About $13.5 million dollars will go to student mental health services, music and art programs, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM initiatives.
$11.2 million is for multilingual and immigrant students.
About $8.8 million will go to adult programs such as literacy and workforce skills.
Another $7.2 million is for migrant students, and pays for health screenings, summer programs and mental health support for the children of farmworkers.
Governor Jared Polis said that while he is thrilled the federal education funding has been restored, the plan to withhold it caused a lot of uncertainty and chaos for families and school districts throughout Colorado.
