Lindstedt to Finish Winter’s Term; 2025 Was Bad for Public Lands; No More Period Product Taxes in Boulder County

Headlines Thursday, December 25, 2025

  • cover play_arrow

    Lindstedt to Finish Winter’s Term; 2025 Was Bad for Public Lands; No More Period Product Taxes in Boulder County KGNU News

 

Lindstedt will Finish Winter’s Term 

A Democratic vacancy committee has selected Representative William Lindstedt to serve out the term of state Senator Faith Winter, who died last month in a car crash. Lindstedt, of Broomfield, will serve through January 2027. He says his priorities include education funding, environmental protection, and Medicaid access. More than one in four members of the Colorado General Assembly have now been appointed through a vacancy committee.

READ MORE

 

2025 Was Bad for Public Lands

2025 has been one of the worst years on record for public lands. That’s according to a new report for the Center for American Progress. According to the group’s analysis, Donald Trump is the only president to have stripped more lands of their protections than to give new protections. It says the policies initiated by the administration would strip protections from 88 million acres of public lands.

Drew McConville, the report’s author, says that includes changes to longstanding conservation rules, rolling back protections for specific lands, and big cuts and land management agencies. “With deep funding cuts, firings, and the elimination of conservation protections along with this reckless push to mine and drill, that’s what we’re gonna see in the future is our historic sites, archeological resources, sensitive wildlife habitat at risk,” said McConville.

But he says rolling back conservation measures and selling public lands are both deeply unpopular, and the bipartisan backlash we saw this year could put pressure on the administration in the future.

This story was reported by Caroline Llanes for Rocky Mountain Community Radio.

 

No More Period Product Taxes in Boulder County

On Jan. 1, many new laws will go into effect. One of those laws – Boulder County will no longer apply its sales tax to period products and diapers. The Daily Camera reported that a student group at the University of Colorado Boulder called Queers United Against Capitalism advocated for the new law to the Boulder County commissioners.

In 2022, Colorado eliminated state sales tax on diapers and menstrual products, opening the door for cities and counties to then eliminate their own local sales tax. The city of Boulder had eliminated the products from the city’s sales tax in 2023, but Boulder County still had to pay the sales tax. The tax exemption was approved on Nov. 13.

Boulder County residents will no longer pay the county’s 2026 1.335% sales tax on period products or diapers. The tax exemption covers everything from pads and tampons to other products like diapers and incontinence products.

READ MORE

 

Colorado River Water Negotiations 

Last week, water users from around the Colorado River Basin gathered in Las Vegas to discuss the state of the river, and the negotiations over how to allocate its water after 2026.

Attendees say the mood at the conference was serious, as the seven states that use the river were no closer to an agreement than they were in November. “Pessimism and frustration are kind of the words of the day, I think,” said Doug Kenney, the director of the Colorado River Research Group at The University of Colorado Boulder.

If the upper basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico can’t reach an agreement with the lower basin states of California, Arizona, and Nevada, the federal government could step in and create an operating plan for them. Said Kenney, “35 years of studying the Colorado River, this is the first time in my life that there’s a lot of people I talk to who would welcome the federal government stepping into this issue.”

But, he says, that could be problematic, because the Trump administration has been cutting staff and budgets at the agencies that manage the river, like the Bureau of Reclamation. The states have until Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, to submit their own plan to the Department of the Interior.

This story was reported by Caroline Llanes for Rocky Mountain Community Radio.

 

You can hear daily headlines on the Morning Magazine, KGNU’s weekday morning show with coverage of local and regional public affairs and news with headlines and commentary. Click here to listen to full episodes of the Morning Magazine.

Picture of KGNU News

KGNU News

Search

Now Playing

play_arrow

Live Broadcast

Recent Stories

Upcoming Events

KGNU PARTNERS

Want to help us build a better radio station?

We’re conducting a survey to help us understand how our listeners are using new technology. Please spend 15 minutes to let us know what you think.

Public media moves forward because you listen, watch, share and support. Thank you for being part of this community — and for helping us continue the journey during Public Media Giving Days.