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Colorado News Miner 122
Aurora gangs, zoning, mandated green space, banned books suit, tourism subsidies, and more.
Copyright © 2024 by Ari Armstrong
December 31, 2024
Gangs of Aurora: Denverite: An Aurora police "investigation may have revealed that alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have been extorting monthly payments from residents of the apartments." The ACLU is not happy about how police conducted the related raid, but, when dealing with a large number of obviously viciously violent people, what in the hell are the police supposed to do? At some point we have to let police do their jobs, and confronting violent people is an inherently unpleasant affair.
New Laws: For a rundown see Westword or Colorado Newsline. The big ones include a ban on using cell phones while driving and requiring eggs to come from cage-free hens.
Unemployment Reports: Aldo Svaldi: "Colorado's employment counts have become so unreliable the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in an unprecedented move, has stopped issuing reports based on them."
Insurance Failure: CPR: "New research suggests nearly 75 percent of homeowners were underinsured immediately after the Marshall fire." Costs are going up, and American National is pulling out of the Colorado market.
Littleton Zoning: The town is considering easing its zoning restrictions to allow for the building of more housing. People have a right to build more housing on their property if they want. The state should override the local socialism violating property rights.
Mandated Green Spaces: Denver7: "Under current city rules, a developer who does not want to dedicate some of the existing green space on a property they bought to the city for park land, must then pay a fee in lieu of the dedication." Some people want to require the green space. My take: Government originally should have established property rights with green spaces preserved. But that was long ago. Now, if local governments want to preserve specific green spaces, they should buy them from the current owners, at the expense of local tax payers. It's easy enough to demand green space when someone else is paying for it. See also Suzie Glassman's article about a lawsuit over a proposed development near Belmar Park.
ACLU Sues over Banned Books: The Gazette is mad that the ACLU is suing the Elizabeth School District for removing certain titles from school libraries, characterizing the suit as the ACLU "bullying" schools and parents. Unmentioned is that some parents did not want the books removed, that a tax-funded institution has an obligation not to discriminate against LGBTQ people when removing books, and that the books in question are worth some kids reading.
Water Data: KRDO: "The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) announced it will be temporarily suspending water testing at the State Laboratory after an investigation revealed a second chemist manipulated water quality control data."
Prison Suit: Michael Roberts: A 2022 lawsuit now moving forward argues that state law "prevents the state from forcing prisoners to work under threat of losing privileges, being placed in isolation or adding time to their sentence."
Colorado Tourism Subsidies: KRCC: The Colorado Tourism Office is handing out subsidies to local governments and private interests to promote tourism. Don't tell me about budgeting shortfalls when the state is funding such nonsense.
Woodrow's Self-Dealing: Justin Wingerter: "A recent crop of class-action lawsuits against local apartment landlords could change how they bill tenants. The litigation has been made possible by tenant-friendly legislation from the Colorado General Assembly in the past five years, much of it championed by Rep. Steven Woodrow. The Denver Democrat is a class-action attorney who files cases under laws he changes."
Vouchers: Mike Rosen makes some good arguments in favor of school vouchers. The main arguments against them is they turn "private" schools into government-managed ones, and they reinforce people's dependency on government wealth transfers.
Youth Intervention: CPR: Mesa County is trying to intervene with youth before they get into crime, such as when they start missing school. Sounds good, but "there's not much to point to as far as results but there is promise." No doubt it's very hard to predict which kids will do better regardless, which will fall into trouble regardless, and which will respond to intervention.
CBI DNA Debacle: Stephanie Butzer: "More than 1,000 cases were impacted by a former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist's mishandling of DNA."
They're Eating the Geese: CPR: Denver killed "more than 2,000 birds in 2019 and 2020" and fed the meat to poor families. Good idea, provided the meat is of adequate quality.
More on The Order: Steve Rabey has an article on the film and about white supremacy.
Fifth-Year High School: Jason Gonzales: "A Colorado program that allows students to stay in high school for a fifth year to take free college classes should be realigned to focus on low-income, at-risk students" (says a report).
No Class Soper: Rep. Matt Soper marked the death of Jimmy Carter by calling the man a "despot" and giving thanks that he'd died. He apologized.