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02_25_25_Headlines Gabrielle Mendoza
DA Michael Dougherty launched bid to become Colorado’s attorney general
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty wants to become Colorado’s next attorney general.
Dougherty has announced he will run for the position in the 2026 election cycle.
The Democrat originally ran for attorney general back in 2018, but dropped out of the race to pursue the role of Boulder County’s top prosecutor. He was reelected to the position in 2022.
Colorado’s current attorney general Phil Weiser is term-limited and can’t run for re-election in 2026. Weiser plans to run for governor next, according to The Colorado Sun.
Of Dougherty’s prosecutions, the most notable was his sentencing of Ahmad Alissa, the man who killed 10 in a mass shooting at a Boulder King Soopers in 2021. His office also led the probe into the cause of the Marshall Fire.
In his campaign launch video, Dougherty said he’d push back on the Trump administration and its policies if elected as A-G.
He also told The Sun that he’d spend his term focusing on investigating public corruption and public safety.
Some other Democrats rumored to run for attorney general in 2026 are former House Speaker Crisanta Duran and Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason. The Sun says Secretary of State Jena Griswold is weighing whether to run for governor or attorney general.
There are no Republicans running for attorney general yet. There hasn’t been a republican elected to statewide office in Colorado since 2016.
Audit finds Colorado paid millions to care for dead Medicaid members
The federal government has claimed that Colorado paid more than $7 million to insurance companies on behalf of dead Medicaid recipients. KGNU’s Andraa von has the details.
The new audit from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General estimates that the state paid insurers for care for nearly 9,000 dead Coloradans.
Like other states that contract with private companies to manage Medicaid recipients’ care, Colorado pays a monthly rate for each member assigned to a company. While the payments are a relatively small portion of the $15 billion that Colorado spends annually on Medicaid and other coverage programs, the state currently faces a billion-dollar hole in its budget. The Denver Post reports that lawmakers are considering Medicaid cuts as one of the major solutions to the deficit.
Colorado might have to return that money to the feds, though the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services didn’t answer The Post’s questions about whether they would seek repayment.
The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing told The Post that if the state did need to return any funds, a settlement could take two to three years.
State officials have agreed with recommendations to identify when enrollees die moving forward.
SBA administrator calls for regional offices to leave “sanctuary cities”
The U.S. Small Business Administration will pull its regional offices out of “sanctuary cities” with immigrant-friendly policies.
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced the change yesterday in a “Day One” memo. She said the federal institution will relocate their offices to rural areas and “ less costly, more accessible locations in communities that comply with federal immigration law.”
Denver is currently home to the SBA’s Region VIII, which covers Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
The Denver Post attributes the Colorado office relocation to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and his outspoken opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Loeffler also mentioned in the memo that SBA will: eliminate their Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility; pause all grants that “do not comply with President Trump’s executive orders”; and make all full-time staff return to office.
