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07_10_25_am_headlines Ainsley Coogan
UFCW ratification vote
Voting is underway by union employees of Safeway and King Soopers, on whether to ratify tentative contracts with the two grocery chains.
The ratification vote began yesterday, and continues today and tomorrow. That’s according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 Facebook page, and the Denver Post, which says that union employees began hearing terms of the tentative contracts this week, at meetings throughout Colorado.
Union negotiators reached agreement with King Soopers on July 3, and with Safeway on July 5. The Safeway agreement ended a weeks-long strike against Safeway and its parent company, Albertsons. King Soopers employees went on strike earlier this year but returned to work for a cooling off period, followed by resumed contract talks.
Details of the contracts have not yet been made public. The sometimes-acrimonious bargaining included accusations by the union that Safeway and King Soopers were colluding, in order to keep wages and benefits low. Both grocers denied those allegations.
The Safeway strike affected more than 40 stores across Colorado, including stores in Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins.
Possible new ICE facilities in Colorado
Half a dozen sites in Colorado have been identified as possible locations for federal detention centers for undocumented immigrants.
Several companies have submitted documents to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, naming six places in Colorado for possible new detention centers. They include the Hudson Correctional Facility northeast of Denver, and two sites in Colorado Springs.
The plans are identified in records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, which made them public yesterday, according to the Denver Post.
There is currently only one ICE detention center in Colorado. That’s the facility in Aurora, which the Post says can hold more than 1,500 people.
Other new ICE locations being proposed for Colorado are the former Boys’ Ranch facility in La Junta, and two sites in Walsenburg, in southern Colorado.
News of these potential ICE facilities comes as congressional Republicans are giving ICE tens of billions of dollars in new funding, and the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible.
The Post reported earlier this week that ICE arrests are up nearly 300 percent since Trump took office in January.
No state tax on tips measure
A group called Advance Colorado is collecting signatures on a proposed ballot measure to eliminate state taxes on tips and overtime pay.
Federal legislation was passed in the last year eliminating federal taxes on overtime pay. The Colorado legislature later passed a bill that specified that overtime pay must be included in state income taxes.
The Advance Colorado plan would repeal that state law.
To get the measure on the 2026 ballot, it would have to pass the Title Board and gain the required number of signatures.
That’s all according to Colorado Politics.
Boulder Wind Decreasing
Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research say Boulder isn’t as windy as it once was.
High winds used to reach 120 miles an hour on a fairly regular basis. That’s strong enough to cause a lot of property damage. But the NCAR researchers say gusting winds seldom break 100 miles an hour any more.
A 100 mile an hour wind can still cause a lot of damage, one researcher told the Daily Camera. What they don’t know yet is why the winds are less intense. Their study suggests that it may be due to climate change.
Even so, Boulder remains a windy place. Winds in excess of 100 miles an hour were a major contributor to the 2021 Marshall Mesa fire. Those were the strongest gusts measured by NCAR since 1995.
Denver microbursts
At the same time, strong winds known as microbursts have been gusting in the Denver area this week.
The microbursts, which have been measured at nearly seventy miles an hour, have been strong enough to uproot trees and take down powerlines, according to Fox31.
The National Weather Service says that microbursts happen when falling rain hits dry air and evaporates. When that happens the air cools, picks up speed as it moves toward the ground, and creates the gusting wind.
Gusting winds that might have been microbursts were felt all over the greater Denver area on Tuesday.
Nederland may buy Eldora
The Town of Nederland announced on Tuesday that it signed a letter of intent to purchase Eldora ski resort from POWDR. The transaction could be finalized in October if all goes smoothly between both parties.
The mountain could bring in as much as $2 million in annual revenue. Nederland decided to annex the mountain, which allows them to collect sales tax and control land use, according to The Denver Post. Once debt is paid off, the resort could generate as much as $5 million a year.
Nederland plans to pay for the resort with municipal revenue bonds backed by the resort’s earnings. The exact sale price remains confidential.
For the first two winters, POWDR will continue to support Eldora through the transition. Current Eldora staff will become staff of the town. Once POWDR’s contract expires, 303 Ski will support it. The resort will stay on the Ikon pass.
