Headlines – April 28, 2023

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Bennet Reintroducing Superbug Antibiotic Development Bill

Lawmakers have reintroduced a bill they hope will encourage the development of new antibiotics that target drug-resistant infections.

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet joined in re-introducing the bipartisan bill, known as the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance Act (PASTEUR). Senator Bennet said in a press release Thursday that disease experts warn the threat to human health posed by antimicrobial resistance will likely get worse in the years ahead.

Market failures in the healthcare system have tanked previous efforts to address the antimicrobial resistance problem. If the PASTEUR Act becomes law, it would establish a subscription-style system to offer drug manufacturers an upfront payment in exchange for access to their antibiotics.

The Centers for Disease Control says antibiotic-resistant infections kill at least 35,000 Americans every year.

UNICEF Helps Boulder Launch Child-Friendly City Initiative

The City of Boulder is working towards formal recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly City. The Child Friendly Cities initiative is meant to bring communities together to improve children’s health and well-being. 

Officials will join UNICEF USA and Growing UP Boulder to announce the partnership Saturday at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, during its annual Día del Niño celebration.

Boulder plans to create the program with input from young people, including historically underrepresented youth. The planning period will take about 18 months. The City will launch the first phase of youth activities using $2 million in funding it received from the sale of the Broncos stadium.

After one year of successful efforts, the City can earn formal recognition from UNICEF USA following an independent evaluation of its efforts.

Denver Adding More Police Officers

The Denver Police Department will add over 100 officers over the next year. Chief Ron Thomas said at a press conference Tuesday that 36 new officers were sworn in last month, and 27 are expected to graduate from the police academy in June. Dozens more are in training or starting in December.

Finding recruits has been a challenge for the department. 

Colorado Bill Will Allow DACA Recipients To Enter Police Force

In related news, Governor Jared Polis signed a bipartisan bill Thursday that will allow people with DACA status and asylum seekers to work as armed police officers in Colorado.

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, allows people brought to the U.S. as children to live and work legally in the U.S. Under the new law, police and sheriff departments can hire eligible immigrants to become law enforcement officers. The measure, House Bill 1143, is expected to go into effect in about three months.

Parents Get Probation For Underage Prom Drinking Case

Two parents took a plea agreement for providing alcohol to minors in a grand jury case surrounding a deadly DUI crash in Boulder last year.

According to The Daily Camera, Todd and Charlene Hoffman were sentenced to one year of probation, a $750 fine, and will have to complete community service hours.

The grand jury indicted a total of five parents, two businesses that made fake IDs, and a Boulder liquor store after an investigation into the 2022 crash.

The Hoffmans were known to allow minors to drink in their home. The night of the prom, then-Boulder High student Natalie Hill attended multiple house parties where drinking by juveniles was not monitored. This included a pre-prom party at the Hoffmans’ home.

Later that evening, an intoxicated Hill drove from another family’s home to purchase more alcohol. While driving the wrong way down Foothills Parkway she hit and killed two adults in one vehicle and seriously injured a third person in another vehicle.

Hill pleaded guilty to two counts of DUI vehicular homicide and one count of DUI vehicular assault. The 18-year-old was sentenced to nine months of work release and three years of probation.

Related cases are still pending.

Colorado Snowmelt Being Used To Replenish Grand Canyon Dam

Federal officials allowed surplus snowmelt from Colorado’s mountains to simulate a forceful, spring flood through the Grand Canyon.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation allowed billions of gallons to flow from Monday through Thursday, according to The Denver Post.

The so-called “High Flow Experiment” required 270,000 acre-feet of water, which officials hoped would help refresh drought-stricken Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The two lakes have shrunk to less than one-fourth of their former levels.

Federal dam operators have not released water for simulated floods since 2018 because of water conservation concerns. The simulated floods are a requirement of the 1992 Grand Canyon Protection Act, which was established to ensure the ecological health of the waterways.

CU Study Finds Obstetric Racism In U.S. Delivery Rooms

According to a new study from CU Boulder researchers, systemic racism is widespread in hospital labor and delivery rooms in the United States. They say racial bias may be linked to a sharp rise in risky labor inductions that harm Black and Latina mothers and babies.

After looking at data from 46 million births over almost 30 years, researchers are calling it evidence of “obstetric racism.” While the study’s authors say they do not blame individual doctors for obstetric racism, they say the data points to medical care that’s wholly focused on the needs of white women.

Medical induction of labor in the U.S. almost tripled between 1990 and 2017, going from about 12 percent of births to almost 35 percent. The higher rates of induction among white women tended to be associated with risk factors like high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, advanced age and smoking. But for women of color, the higher trend in inductions did not have the same medical explanations.

Early labor induction can lead to low birth weights in babies and health problems later in life.

The researchers say they hope their findings will encourage change so that people of color will receive equal care in pregnancy and childbirth.

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