Colorado

Some Colorado lawmakers are trying to clear the backlog in the state’s driver’s license program for people living in the US illegally.

As The Denver Post reports, a proposal introduced last week would allow applicants to use a Social Security number as part of their application instead of just an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, because allowing only the latter, advocates say, has cut out a host of otherwise eligible applicants.

Lottery proceeds in are benefitting open-space projects in Colorado, making it more likely that a proposed bill to make the state lottery permanent will pass.

As The Denver Post reports, a new study found that grants from Colorado Lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado directly supported 11,800 jobs, providing $507 million in labor income and, by protecting land and water and open space for recreation, helped spur $392 million in spending on sporting goods over the past decade.

Colorado is among the least prepared states in the country for the next recession.

As The Denver Post reports, a new analysis from Moody’s Analytics found that the state’s rainy day fund of $613 million is less than half the money needed for even a moderate economic downturn.

The Colorado Department of Corrections is asking the state to add $11 million to this year’s budget to lease a private prison while it attempts to reopen a closed one in Canon City.

As The Denver Post reports, the department of correction’s supplementary budget shows it wants $10.9 million to open a 250-bed private prison because of an unexpected increase in prisoners.

What’s the difference between a tax and a fee?

As The Denver Post reports, that's the question being asked in three major court cases in Colorado.  

What do High Plains folks hate the most?

There’s a new app called Hater that works like Tinder, except it matches users based on common things they loathe.

As The Houston Chronicle reports, according to the app’s users, the most common thing Texans hate is . . . “sleeping with the window open.”

This may come as a surprise, as there are so many things to hate in Texas, like rattlesnakes and poorly constructed tacos.

Emmanuel Garza moved from Texas to Colorado so his baby daughter could get the medical marijuana treatment she needed. Legislation to legalize the same treatment in Texas failed to pass during the regular legislative session.

By Alex Samuels, The Texas Tribune

Madelynn Garza had her first seizure at three months old.

Political strategists from both parties are expecting the 2018 governor’s race in Colorado to shatter state campaign spending records.

Fueling this belief, as The Denver Post reports, is the entry of one – possibly two – wealthy candidates who could take advantage of Colorado’s campaign rules to overwhelm the opposition with money from their own pockets.

Marijuana operations are currently prohibited in Prowers County, Colorado, but members of a local economic board recently discussed the dramatic tax growth other Colorado communities have seen from the sale of marijuana in their towns.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis joined the ever-increasing ring of candidates running for governor of Colorado.

Polis announced his plans to enter the race during an interview with The Denver Post on Sunday.

Polis, a Democrat from Boulder, says he wants to work at a state level to fight the Trump Administration – that he can do more good working in Colorado on renewable energy and improving education than he can in Washington right now.

Colorado’s $26.8 billion state budget bill headed to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk Wednesday after the Senate approved the final version on a 33-1 vote.

As The Denver Post reports, the Senate approved the final version of the budget despite reservations about a move to balance the budget by cutting $264 million from hospitals – a move that is worth double that once federal matching dollars are added.

A train-hopping runaway adolescent showed up in Dumas, Texas, this week, complaining that she’d run out of candy.

As The Denver Post reports, 13-year-old Adelie Rivera, a resident of Lubbock, was on vacation in Colorado with her family when she decided to shed the shackles of bourgeois life and hop a freight car to freedom.

Unfortunately, Rivera had failed to supply her hobo sack with a sufficient supply of Skittles.

Colorado is being sued by an environmental group over the state’s controversial plan to kill mule deer predators.

Residents of Colorado will need to provide proof of ownership for certain recreational vehicles to meet a new requirement enacted by the Colorado Legislature to assure that stolen vehicles are not being bought or sold.

As Democratic lawmakers in Colorado push back against the GOP’s attempt to repeal Obamacare, some Coloradans who benefited from it are wondering what it will be replaced with.

In his State of the State address Thursday, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper proposed boosting rural access to high-speed Internet.

To boost economic development in rural areas, one of the governor’s proposals is to create an office focused on expanding broadband Internet access to the 30 percent or so rural households in the state that don’t have it, with an overall goal of ensuring that 100 percent of rural houses have it by 2020.

The future of legalized marijuana isn’t certain as President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. 

As The Economist reports, over half of the states in the union have legalized marijuana in some form or another. Pot remains illegal under federal law, however, so any pot shop could technically be shut down at any time.

The Colorado Legislature begins the 2017 term today with what The Denver Post describes as a daunting to-do list and divided chambers.

The issues facing this year’s Legislature include questions on how to improve the state’s roads, how to put more dollars in the classroom and how to boost the state’s economy.

As they seek compromise on how to best tackle these areas, The Denver Post reports, there are 10 issues facing lawmakers during the 2017 session.

Colorado’s retirement system for the state’s employees is causing some to worry about its stability.

As The Denver Post reports, just six years after the Colorado Legislature approved changes aimed at shoring up the state pension fund, the stability of the public employment retirement account (PERA) is again under scrutiny.

Colorado has been among the top 10 fastest-growing states in the country over the past few years, but a Census Bureau report shows that the growth rate slowed a bit in 2016.

There is a new Rocky Mountain high in Colorado – marijuana sales.

Colorado could take center stage on the topic of climate change under a Donald Trump Environmental Protection Agency.

Going forward, it will be more difficult to get constitutional amendments on the ballot in Colorado.

Colorado residents may be changing the way they carry their driver’s licenses, according to KDVR.

The Centennial State is part of a pilot program that would make it one of the first states in the nation to offer a digital driver’s license. Colorado participants will download their license onto a mobile app.