Headlines — August 17, 2022

August 17, 2022

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BVSD Students Return to School

Today is the first day back to school for elementary school students in the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts. The remaining students from those districts will start their school year either tomorrow or Friday. Classes in the Poudre Valley School District began yesterday. The first day of Denver Public Schools and for CU Boulder is August 22. 

Fire Restrictions Lifted Throughout Colorado After Rains 

Colorado’s Front Range has seen plenty of rain recently, leading to a lifting of at least a couple of fire bans.

Western Boulder County’s fire restriction has been lifted as of Tuesday. The fire restrictions have been in place since June. 

The fire ban at the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests has been lifted for the first time since May. Authorities say these national forests are no longer experiencing drought conditions after recent rains. 

Fire restrictions range from 1-5. The national parks were ranked as a level one fire restriction, which allows for campfires in supervised areas such as campgrounds. According to a press release, fuel moisture levels, which are measured both in small vegetation grasses and shrubs and in large vegetation like standing and fallen trees, are a big part of the scaling process. 

Colorado is expected to keep experiencing flash flood levels of rain. At the regional level, the scale is ranked at a 2, and at the national level at a 3.

Loan Forgiveness for ITT Students 

The U.S. Department of Education will forgive nearly four billion dollars in student loan debt from people who attended ITT Technical Institutes. More than 24 hundred Coloradans will benefit from the loan forgiveness program. 

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser led a bipartisan coalition with 24 other states to file a borrower defense application. Weiser said in a press release that “When hardworking Coloradans sought to further their education, ITT convinced them to take out substantial loans by offering empty promises of future employment that would allegedly allow them to pay down their debt.”

The Department of Education found evidence that ITT Technical misrepresented the value of its education saying that students who attended ITT would graduate with high-paying jobs. ITT operated its for-profit school from 2005 to 2016. Borrowers struggling with student debt could file a complaint through the attorney general’s office with the student loans ombudsperson

Wyoming Primary Election Results

Last night, the primary election results for Wyoming came in. Incumbent representative Liz Cheney lost the Republican nomination to challenger Harriet Hageman with around 40,000 votes compared to Hageman’s 85 thousand. 

Harriot Hageman, who trump officially endorsed, is an attorney who specializes in natural resources and water litigation. She previously ran, unsuccessfully, for governor in 2018. She said she decided to run this year because “she believed Cheney betrayed Wyoming” and the country. 

According to Politico, Trump showed up at her home in Wyoming last year to plan her campaign as a Cheney take-down. Trump endorsed 42  republican candidates in recent primary elections. Many of his endorsements are now running in the upcoming general elections.

Hageman will compete with Democratic opponent Lynette GreyBull in November’s general election; GreyBull only received about 3,000 votes.

Also in Wyoming, last night, Incumbent, Republican, governor Mark Gordon won a race against Brent Bien. Gordon will go up against Democratic challenger Theresa Livingston in November.

The City of Boulder Invites Community to Climate Conversation Webinar 

Next Monday, the city of Boulder will be hosting its last of three sessions in the summer webinar series “Climate Conversation.” City staff members from the Climate Initiatives Department will lead the conversation on natural climate solutions which is a focus of a “Cool Boulder campaign.”

Cool Boulder is a government-led community-wide effort to cool the city, foster biodiversity, and absorb carbon through natural climate solutions. It includes “pollinator pathways,” where diverse plants support cooling temperatures, and “connected canopies,” a program aimed at maintaining and improving the health of the existing tree canopy.

More information about both Cool Boulder and the Climate Conversation Series can be found on the city’s website.

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