Headlines Tuesday, July 21, 2026
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Children’s Hospital pleads not guilty in youth gender-affirming care lawsuit; Xcel is beginning major projects to bury power lines underground in Boulder; Voters will decide on CoCo train expansion KGNU News
Children’s Hospital pleads not guilty in youth gender-affirming care lawsuit
Yesterday, Children’s Hospital Colorado pleaded not guilty to allegations it has violated a court order to resume gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
The plea was given during a brief hearing in Denver District Court, where Judge Ericka Englert scheduled a multiday trial in September to determine whether Children’s should be held in contempt of court.
Children’s is being sued by four transgender youth and their families who say the hospital discriminated against them when it stopped writing prescriptions to patients under the age of 18 for varying kinds of gender-affirming care starting seven months ago.
Attorneys filed a motion to Englert asking her to hold the hospital in contempt. They argue that Children’s cannot evade responsibility for discrimination by passing the responsibility to its doctors, as it has tried to.
The hospital has continued to offer mental health support to trans youth. It has never performed gender-affirming surgeries for those under 18.
If the hospital is found in contempt of court, the law allows Judge Englert to sentence a responsible party to up to six months in jail. Plaintiffs in the case have asked for a fine of $50,000 per day against the hospital until care is fully resumed.
Xcel is beginning major projects to bury power lines underground in Boulder
The projects should reduce wildfire risk, protect vital infrastructure and limit future power shutoffs. Some neighborhoods have experienced more than a dozen outages in a year.
Along 75th Street, Xcel is burying a line that serves Boulder’s wastewater treatment plant and passes through heavily vegetated areas. Construction began in June. Xcel also plans to bury about 5 ½ miles of line along U.S. 36 toward Lyons.
Not every line can be buried. In mountainous areas, like Betasso, steep slopes and rocky terrain can make undergrounding impractical so Xcel plans to rebuild those parts of the system to withstand high winds and wildfire conditions.
The projects are part of Xcel’s $2 billion wildfire mitigation plan, which state regulators approved in 2025.
City leaders say improving reliability will require more than burying powerlines. City staff presented the council with a preliminary power resilience roadmap in April. The final roadmap will also identify ways to pay for the work.
Public engagement is expected to begin this summer.
The council is expected to identify its priorities by the end of the year – though how Boulder strengthens its grid, and how it pays for the work, will be decided by a future council.
Voters will decide on CoCo train expansion
The Front Range Passenger Rail, now known as the Colorado Connector, is quickly becoming a reality. Though a functioning commuter rail project has been of political interest since the early oughts, this rail connecting Denver to the major cities to its north is set to become reality by 2029.
At a press conference yesterday, officials working on the rail project confirmed the first phase of the plan will see a full build-out that connects Denver up through Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, and Fort Collins.
Sal Pace, general manager of the Front Range Passenger Rail District, says the second phase is contingent on voter approval.
If we referred a measure and it was passed. Revenue would not only cover expansion from Denver all the way to Colorado Springs and Pueblo, it would also be the foundational funding for expanding service to the north.
The ballot measure voted on by residents of the rail district would fund the project by inciting a sales tax that would be paid within the district, which is roughly the area surrounding the rail line within 5 miles.
The ballot referral is still yet to be slated as a ballot measure. A final draft of the project delivery plan will be voted for approval by the rail District board of directors on August 28.
The vote will be taking place in Pueblo. Public comment is currently open for the draft delivery plan.
The plan offers guides on how each community will be affected by having a rail station, as well as schematics for the trains used and the current financial plan in place to fund the project.
If the ballot measure passes, the second phase of the plan, which would service Colorado Springs and Pueblo, could see full service in 2032.
Public comment is open for the delivery plan now through July 27th. You can find the draft plan and a place to submit public comment at Colorado connector.com/plan.
Denver Water customers far from drought-reduction goal
Denver Water’s 1.5 million customers are missing critical water saving targets midway through the peak summer watering season.
Despite a utility goal to reduce overall water consumption by 20 percent from the five year average, residents have managed to cut just two percent.
Hot and dry July weather across the Front Range has driven spikes in outdoor watering, drastically accelerating reservoir depletion.
Officials note that while early season efforts showed promise, recent triple digit temperatures have stunted progress, with customers saving only about 10% of the target volume so far.
If voluntary conservation and two-day-a-week watering rules fail to protect dwindling reservoir supplies, the utility warns harsher restrictions could follow, including shifting to a once-a-week lawn watering schedule.
Enforcement is also ramping up, with formal warnings and potential fines ranging from $250 to $1,000 for repeat violators.
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