Headlines — February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023

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Boulder City Council Receives Second Complaint Concerning Its Actions Towards Candidates For Police Oversight Panel 

The Boulder City Council approved Thursday evening to appoint special counsel to investigate a second complaint concerning grievances surrounding new candidates for the Police Oversight Panel. The Daily Camera reports panel member Zayd Atkinson issued the second complaint last Thursday, on the same day the city council approved new members for the panel following two previous vote delays. Atkinson, who Boulder police confronted while he was picking up trash in 2019 and whose incident propelled the formation of the panel, told the Daily Camera ahead of last night’s meeting that he wants to see more stability and cooperation come from his complaint and that he hopes to see a continuous partnership between law enforcement and the community. 

Council members appointed municipal lawyer Claybourne Douglas, who is already investigating another complaint by Boulder resident John Neslage who is alleging that the process is flawed with bias, prejudice, and conflict of interest. Atkinson’s complaint alleges the city council violated city code by twice delaying the vote on recommended panelists and by asking the committee to share confidential deliberations behind each candidate selection.  

City council members also approved last night changes to the ordinance covering the Police Oversight Panel by permitting both the panel and the independent police monitor to speak about general cases they review without revealing the confidentiality of those involved. The transparency update to the ordinance also allows the independent monitor to report monthly to the panel any final disciplinary decisions by the police chief and any recommendations by the police monitor.

FBI Issues Warning Regarding Cryptocurrency Scams

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Denver issued a warning Thursday that as cryptocurrencies become more prevalent, so are crypto scams. The Denver office says they are seeing an emerging trend where fraudsters are tricking mature adults with fake crypto investment scams, especially with Tether and USD Coin. 

The agency says a common scenario involves fraudsters luring victims by approaching them using online platforms, such as social media and dating apps, and directing the victims to a link or phone number to set up an investment account under a fictitious support site. Once the victim transfers the funds online, their money disappears. 

According to the Denver FBI, Coloradans lost almost $25 million to investment scams in 2021, with Coloradans 60 and older tricked by fraudsters more than any other age group.

Reproductive Rights Groups Seek Additional Funding Before State Joint Budget Committee

Reproductive rights advocates are seeking an additional $2 million for family planning programs before the Colorado Joint Budget Committee.  As Colorado’s Budget Committee prepares for next year, reproductive rights advocates say the funding would support approximately 80 clinics that provide low-cost services like sex education, disease screening, and birth control. These services would reduce unwanted pregnancies all over the state and prioritize uninsured and low-income people.

Abortion bans and restrictions in neighboring states and at a federal level have prevented public funds from investing in accessibility to all reproductive health services. A spike of out of state patients has strained Colorado’s abortion care clinics. 

According to the Colorado Newsline “an additional $2 million would allow the program to serve 5,000 more people. It currently serves about 53,000 people.”

Boulder County Law Enforcement Acquiring Technology To Investigate Opioid Trafficking 

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office says it is using roughly $80,000 of the county’s first year opioid settlement money to purchase technology and equipment that will help law enforcement investigate opioid trafficking. Cmdr. Nick Goldberger of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office told the Longmont Leader Wednesday the agency plans on speeding up investigations by using the tools Cellebrite Premium, Graykey, TruNarc, Magnet AXIOM, and Nighthawk. 

Golberger says Cellebrite and Graykey will help law enforcement unlock or decrypt electronic devices that officers obtain by search warrant in order to catch drug traffickers and dealers who are selling high quantities of pills. Golberger stressed that the purpose of investigations is not to go after a user or an individual with an opioid use disorder, but to catch dealers and traffickers. 

According to Goldberger, the other technologies will help officers detect unknown substances such as drugs or explosives and analyze and recover deleted data.

Resource Central To Provide Free Water Saving Perennial Plants For Marshall Fire Residents 

Resource Central, a Boulder-based non-profit, announced Wednesday it will provide its popular Garden- In-A-Box perennial plants free to people who had a home destroyed or damaged during the Marshall Fire. According to the nonprofit’s press release, a recent grant from the Community Foundation of Boulder County made the free giveaway of yard plants possible for victims of the Marshall Fire. 

Resource Central says its water-wise gardening kits contain approximately 25-50 starter plants that can cover up to 200 square feet of landscaping or roughly the size of a typical front yard. The non-profit also says the kits include do-it-yourself plant-by-number designs to make it easier for people to grow a vibrant and water-saving yard. The non-profit plans on making the plants available this spring and fall.

Colorado Business Entity Filings Surge During 4th Quarter 2022

A recent report by the Colorado Secretary of State and the University of Colorado Boulder says Colorado’s business filings drastically increased in the last quarter of 2022. The Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report, says the state received nearly 49,000 new entity filings for the fourth quarter, making it the largest quarter in the report’s history.

Although there was a surge of new business filings, business delinquencies and dissolutions did increase last year by 17% with the last quarter seeing a 14.5% increase compared to the previous quarter.

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