Headlines — January 21, 2022

Headlines Jan. 21, 2022

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King Soopers Union Announces Tentative Agreement

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 Union has announced this morning it has reached a tentative three-year agreement with King Soopers/City Market. The union said the strike will end immediately and workers will be able to return to work as soon as today.

The union did not provide details of the agreement but said it will make details public in the coming days following ratification by its members.Voting on the agreement will begin Monday, January 24th. 

Marshall Fire Financial Assistance Will Cover Lost Tools And Trade

Boulder County announced the expansion of financial help through the Wildfire Fund to residents who have lost wages, employment or their trade tools because of the Marshall Fire. The Community Foundation of Boulder County operates the Wildfire Fund in partnership with Boulder County. 

According to a statement by Tatiana Hernandez, CEO of Community Foundation of Boulder County, the foundation through the Wildfire Fund has already distributed $5.5 million to over a thousand individuals and families with damaged and destroyed homes. The foundation plans to disperse an additional $1.5 million to those that have lost wages or their tools of trade. 

Residents who have lost wages, employment, or their trade tools may find more details and an online application at www.boco.org/MarshallFire.

Boulder County Disaster Assistance Center To Close Saturday

The Boulder County Disaster Assistance Center in Lafayette will end in-person services tomorrow, Jan. 22, at 5 PM. 

According to the county’s news release, the county will shift its disaster response to longer term recovery but will maintain resource and assistance information at the county’s website and will provide additional targeted outreach.

Joint federal and state disaster response agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration, will continue to operate at the Lafayette location within the hours of 9 AM to 5 PM daily until further notice. 

A Group Of Boulder-based Nonprofits Are Proposing A 24-hour Shelter For Unhoused Residents

Several Boulder-based nonprofits sent a proposal to the city asking for a site large enough to sleep up to 100 people. The Boulder Reporting Lab reports that the proposed shelter would provide housing and services to homeless residents.

The proposal says that the shelter would cost about $1.4 million per year to operate and serve up to 100 people a day. It would provide meals, showers, lockers and access to legal services and healthcare resources. 

This shelter would supplement the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless which, because of capacity issues, has turned away dozens of people this winter. 

In recent years, the city’s homeless policy has prioritized getting people housing vouchers that subsidize housing costs. Kurt Firnhaber, the director of Housing and Human Services, said that Federal funding for homelessness has largely shifted to housing-first solutions and not shelters. He feels the city should prioritize spending money on helping people get into a home rather than expanding the number of shelter beds in the city. 

Students From Two Denver High Schools Stage Walkout Over Covid Safety Regulations

Students from Denver North and Thomas Jefferson high schools staged a walkout yesterday alleging the school district lacks necessary COVID-19 safety protocols.

In an online petition that began last week, the students said they expect better safety regulations and did not feel safe going to school until numbers from the recent Omicron surge have dropped.

The list of the demands by the students include the availability of KN95/N95 masks, ventilation and airflow in all classrooms, PCR and rapid testing, integrated learning for students who are at home, access to more outdoor spaces, and more social distancing measures. 

In a school board statement reported by The Denver Gazette, board members said the district has increased efforts to provide safeguards including the availability of N95 masks and would remain committed to keeping schools open because of the importance of students receiving socioemotional support and a learning environment provided by school personnel.

Mined Land Reclamation Board Imposes $17K Fine On Owner Of Cross And Caribou Mines Near Nederland 

Colorado’s Mined Land Reclamation Board has issued a reduced penalty to Grand Island Resources, the owner of the Cross and Caribou mines near Nederland. 

Officials from the Water Quality Control Division issued a cease and desist order to Grand Island Resources in late 2021 that said the company failed to comply with state water quality standards by releasing excess heavy metals from December 2020 to August 2021 as well as a failure to submit required pollutant reports. 

The board imposed a $17,000 fine to Grand Island Resources because of the water quality violations but suspended all but $5,000 of it as long as the company continues its efforts to install containment and cleanup equipment.

Staff for the board acknowledged the operator has taken a number of different actions to bring the site back into compliance. 

According to The Colorado Sun, the Cross and Caribou mines are not currently producing gold ore, but the company has a permit to build an ore processing facility and is spending millions of dollars rebuilding tunnels and cleaning up past operations. 

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