Headlines Tuesday Sept 23, 2025
Tribe House Closes
Tribe Recovery Homes, a Denver-based drug addiction treatment and sober living provider, has closed its residential program in Boulder, citing loss of federal funding.
Tribe ran an 11-bed residential program on Pearl Street where people could stay for a month or more, with access to peer support and treatment.
Tribe opened it’s Boulder facility in 2023 with a federal grant. The program was overseen by both the city and county of Boulder. When start-up federal funding ended, both the city and county declined to provide ongoing funding.
With this transition, Boulder county transferred oversight fully to the City of Boulder. The city recently issued a request for proposals to select another provider to operate a similar program at the same Pearl Street location.
Instead of receiving grant funding, the future operator would be expected to bill Medicaid and other insurance providers for services.
Thomas Hernandez, the founder of Tribe, said the group plans to continue outreach work in Boulder but they chose not to apply to be the next operator. One reason, Hernandez said, was because of the city’s emphasis on serving homeless people, while Tribe primarily serves formerly incarcerated people. This is according to the Boulder Reporting Lab.
The city expects to select a new operator by early October.
Local citizens group, Save Our Saint Vrain Valley, is concerned about aerial herbicide spraying in Boulder county scheduled for early next month
Residents near Table Mountain in Boulder County were notified by e-mail last week that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration “would conduct weed spraying via helicopter Friday Oct. 3rd through Sunday Oct 5th” and that “A helicopter will be flying above and around Table Mountain during that time.”
The herbicides PANORAMIC and Rejuvra are scheduled to be sprayed to control the growth of noxious weeds and cheatgrass on Table Mountain and to prevent spreading to neighboring properties.These herbicides have been used, and are considered safe, by the Boulder County Invasive Plants/Noxious Weeds Office. Citizens from the Save our Saint Vrain Valley, however, are concerned about the potential for runoff that could impact people, livestock, pets, pollinators, and drinking sources downstream from Left Hand Ditch and Table Mountain. The group wrote to the Boulder County Commissioners asking for further information about the spraying, citing the 2024 Integrated Weed Management Plan which explicitly excludes helicopter aerial spraying as an authorized weed control method without separate approval.
For a map showing the location of Table Mountain or more information about this aerial spraying, go to KGNU.org/headlines.
Boulder County Integrated Weed Management Plan
Save our Saint Vrain Valley group
Copy of the Sept 15th NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) e-mail to neighbors available upon request.
Donald Zuckerman Leaves ahead of Sundance Film Fest
Donald Zuckerman is resigning from the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media, and is being replaced by Arielle Brachfeld, the former deputy film commissioner. Zuckerman was one of the primary voices stewarding the Sundance Film Festival’s move to Boulder.
The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, which houses the Film office, told Denver 7 that Zuckerman declined to say why he’s choosing to leave, only citing the office’s policy against revealing personal matters.
The news of Zuckerman’s leaving comes as Colorado is seeing massive growth in its film industry presence. The state now has the massive pull that is the Sundance independent film festival, as well as a soon-to-be opened horror movie exhibit opening at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. The Shining centered event is bringing film partner Jason Blum of Blumhouse productions, known for the paranormal activity movies.
Denver 7 reports that Zuckerman could be the point person for getting the Sundance film festival move to Boulder going, after he reached out to friend and producer Gigi Pritzker, who now sits on the Sundance Board
Denver Employee Keeps Job After Judge Halts her Layoff
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2025/09/18/federal-judge-halts-denver-city-employees-termination/
A federal judge in New York has stopped the termination of Jessica Calderon after she and many of her colleagues in the Denver Mayor’s Office of Social Equity & Innovation had their jobs terminated in layoffs last month as result of the Denver city budget deficit.
Last week, NY U.S. District Court Judge Nina Wang issued a temporary restraining order blocking Calderon’s termination until after until parties can meet on or before Sept. 24 for a preliminary hearing.
Calderon claims she was denied promotions that were given to male colleagues and that director of her office, Ben Sanders, repeatedly confronted her about her connection to Latinos United Neighbors Association (LUNA) and its founder, Lisa Calderón. This is all according to Colorado Politics, who say the two women are unrelated.
Jessica Calderon also sued her boss in June for discrimination, before the most recent layoffs in Denver. U.S. District Court Judge Nina Wang wrote in her decision QUOTE, “…the Plaintiff has established a likelihood that her termination was motivated by her political associations, the Court cannot conclude that Defendants would have taken the same actions if she were not associated with LUNA and Dr. Calderón.”
Judge Wang also emphasized that temporary employment restoration for other laid off employees should not concern the city, as Calderon’s case specifically meets requirements for an injunction and does not show any evidence of QUOTE ‘eroding the city’s fiscal integrity.”
