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MorningMagazine_2025-01-09 Jack Dawson
CPW denies petition to pause wolf releases
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission denied a petition yesterday from ranchers that sought to pause wolf reintroductions.
The hours-long meeting resulted in a 10-1 vote to accept CPW’s recommendation and turn down the petition brought forward by livestock producers back in September. To learn more about the petition – and responses from environmental advocacy groups – heard to kgnu.org and listen to the story on wolf reintroduction that aired yesterday.
The vote to deny the petition means that the reintroduction program will stay on schedule – with up to 15 wolves from British Columbia expected to move down here before the end of January, according to the Deputy Director of Policy for CPW.
Colorado is currently home to 14 known gray wolves: seven surviving from the first reintroduction in 2023, five pups, and two that moved south from Wyoming.
Colorado to send aid to California wildfires
Colorado is sending aid to California, to help crews fighting wildfires near Los Angeles.
The coastal Golden State requested one of Colorado’s two multimission aircrafts. The plane took off from the Centennial Airport yesterday, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
The Pilatus PC-12 airplane is equipped with infrared and color-sensing technology. These types of planes help detect and provide reconnaissance on wildfires, allowing ground crew to help attack the fires.
The Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires are the three largest currently burning near Los Angeles, though others have popped up since. They’re all fueled by intense Santa Ana winds moving up to 100 miles per hour, and all together have burned nearly 30,000 acres so far.
The first fire – the Palisades fire – began Tuesday morning. Two people have been killed and over 70,000 people are under evacuation orders.
Ski patrollers reach agreement that could end Park City Mountain Resort strike
Patrollers at the largest ski area in the U.S. went on strike at the end of December, demanding an increase in pay. That left Park City Mountain unable to open nearly three quarters of its ski terrain during the busy holiday season.
After 12 days of striking, the ski area operator and Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association announced a new tentative agreement for the 2026-27 ski season. The union’s bargaining committee, which represents around 200 Park City patrollers, unanimously endorsed ratification of the new contract. The unionized patrollers spent months negotiating with Vail Resorts for increased pay and benefits before going on strike.
This is the first known ski patrol strike in recent decades, making national and international headlines. The Colorado Sun says the strike is a reflection of the skyrocketing costs of living in mountain communities, and the growing influence of collective bargaining for resort workers.
New bill would ban the sale of semi automatic guns that accept detachable magazines
Colorado’s 2025 legislative session started yesterday, and already lawmakers are wasting no time getting to work.
Democrats introduced a new bill that would ban the purchase, sale and manufacture of semiautomatic guns that accept detachable ammunition magazines.
Senate Bill 3 would affect many pistols and rifles from manufacturers who don’t produce versions of the weapons without removable magazines The legislation would also outlaw rapid-fire trigger activators and bump stocks.
Similar legislation has failed at the Capitol in recent years; however, according to The Colorado Sun, SB3 appears to have a better chance of reaching the governor’s de it sk. They cite two reasons for that: because the bill has support from state Senator Tom Sullivan, whose son was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, and because of its 18 cosponsors.
While The Sun reports a high likelihood that governor Jared Polis will receive the bill, it’s less clear whether or not he would sign the bill since he has expressed skepticism of measures seeking to ban certain firearms.
Republicans are expected to uniformly oppose the bill, but they are the minority group of both the House and Senate. If Senate Bill 3 passes, the gun ban will go into effect September 1.
Six Republicans objected to the certification of November’s election
Also at yesterday’s opening day of session, six Republican state representatives refused to approve the 2024 election results.
The push was led by two Colorado Springs Republicans, who allege that the results of the election were compromised due to the voting system passwords leak.
They also called for an investigation into Democrat Jena Griswold, the Colorado Secretary of State. That’s because the passwords were accidentally posted to the Secretary of State’s website for months last year before being identified and taken down.
The passwords were promptly changed in late October, and there was no evidence that the leaked passwords had been used to access any voting equipment without permission.
