Good morning and happy first Monday of the summer!

One of the best things about the strange and beautiful business of journalism is that, in many ways, I get to be curious for a living. And it truly delights me when I learn new stuff, especially about topics I thought I had a pretty complete handle on.

This weekend, one of my favorite urban planning TikTok accounts (yes, I follow enough of them to have a favorite), The Happy Urbanist, was in Colorado Springs and made a great little two-minute video about an architectural feature on homes all around the city. Spoiler: It’s related to tuberculosis, like so much of our state’s early modern history.

But the thrill of learning a little something (like the fact that a case of Manitou Springs water went down on the Titanic) is just one of the many rewards of staying in tune with where you live, whether that’s through daily news like The Sunriser or some long lost bits of history that help explain how we got here — and where we’re going.

So let’s unearth some new stuff to learn and dive into today’s packed newsletter, shall we?

Eric Lubbers

CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

P.S. — We are just days away from the finish line for our Democracy Days donation drive. Thank you to everyone who has helped us raise more than $25,000 so far! A donation of any amount will help us get closer to meeting our goal of $30,000 by Wednesday. Contribute today at coloradosun.com/donate. Your support directly helps The Sun bring you the news you need about your state. Thank you!

THE NEWS

ELECTION 2024

A procrastinator’s guide to Colorado’s primary elections on June 25

For you very on-top-of-things readers who have already mailed in or dropped off your ballot, this isn’t for you. But for everyone else who hasn’t overachieved, here’s everything you need to know about how to make sure your vote is counted.

READ MORE

• Group tied to Kent Thiry drops $1.1 million into Colorado legislative primaries in final days before election. The money from Let Colorado Vote Action, tied to the former CEO of DaVita, targets 13 races and supports more moderate Democratic and Republican candidates in their races against their more liberal or conservative opponents. Sandra Fish and Jesse Paul have more.
• Colorado GOP spent $20,000 supporting Chairman Dave Williams’ congressional campaign in May, report shows. The money spent on the Williams campaign represented the single largest expense of the party last month, Sandra Fish reports.
• Supporters raise enough money to conduct first year of Colorado racial equity study.  Proponents of Senate Bill 53 have secured the remaining $30,000 needed to kick-start the study of racial equity in Colorado, and a committee can now be convened to help qualify and quantify the financial impact of slavery, racism and discrimination on Black Coloradans and the state’s economy. Tatiana Flowers has more on the next steps.

OUTDOORS

Two different plans for winter athletes will build leagues and teams competing throughout the season

Thirty years after the launch of the X Games, the most storied action sports organization announced a major transformation into a global X Games League, featuring teams of athletes competing in four winter and four summer events per year. But before the action sports community could totally digest that news, Shaun White announced a new global winter sports competition called the Snow League. Jason Blevins breaks down the seismic shift in the halfpipe.

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

PERA’s investments bounce back in 2023, but the Colorado pension plan’s finances falter

In a tiny bit of financial symmetry, PERA saw 13.4% growth on its investments in 2023, after suffering a 13.4% loss the year before. But that growth hasn’t been enough to right the pension fund’s listing ship. Our in-house PERA expert Brian Eason lays it all out.

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WILDLIFE

A new rule aids ranchers in killing wolves attacking their livestock at night

After a 6-4 vote by the Parks and Wildlife commission, ranchers can now use artificial light to aid in killing wolves caught in the act of attacking livestock at night. That change was just one of the updates requested by ranchers ahead of the June 13 meeting, and Tracy Ross has more on what made it through the commission — and what didn’t.

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• Fact Brief ☀️Are there any native wolverines left in Colorado? After a Reddit user claimed to have come across a wolverine on Guanella Pass, Justin George dug into the history of wolverines in Colorado.

WATER

Groundwater in the Colorado River Basin will struggle to recover from warming temperatures, study shows

A new study in western Colorado shows that as temperatures rise, groundwater levels will fall — and they can take streams down with them. Shannon Mullane digs into the new study and what it could mean for the larger river systems downstream from these areas of rising temperatures.

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MORE NEWS

• 2024 Colorado Book Awards honor writers in 15 categories — including a new one. The new “Best Novel” category went to Nazli Koca for her debut “The Applicant: A Novel,” while Chip Colwell’s  “So Much Stuff: How Humans Discovered Tools, Invented Meaning, and Made More of Everything” took home the prize for General Nonfiction. Click through for a complete list of winners to find your next read.
• Colorado employers may finally have found enough workers, as job openings flatten. Colorado had the largest one-month increase in workers who quit jobs or left involuntarily in April, but as Tamara Chuang explores in this week’s “What’s Working,” employers are saying they’re feeling less frustration about finding workers than earlier this year.
• Family of Black man who was shot, killed by Aurora police while holding cellphone wants murder trial. A SWAT officer shot Kilyn Lewis May 23 as he stood in a condo parking lot. He was holding what later was identified as a cellphone. 

COLORADO SUNDAY

16th Street Mall reaches a tipping point as business frustration grows with delayed renovations

For decades, large national chains anchored the 16th Street Mall, a place once considered a retail hub and popular public hangout in Denver. But delayed construction, safety concerns and fluctuating public transportation options have some business owners wondering if the city’s iconic stretch of real estate can survive as downtown Denver continues to transform, Robert Davis writes in this week’s Colorado Sunday.

READ MORE

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE COLORADO REPORT

• Mud and rockslides temporarily interrupt popular train service in southwest Colorado. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad said Saturday that its tracks north of Needleton are covered in debris, rendering it impassable.
  — KKTV
• Denver lacks comprehensive approach to cybersecurity risks, city auditor says. The city’s current system to assess potentially disastrous cybersecurity risks was described as “informal,” especially when it came to oversight of independent city agencies and cultural facilities like the Denver Zoo or Denver Art Museum.
  — The Denver Post ????
• Bill of rights adopted for Colorado students involved in criminal justice system. House Bill 1216 outlines different paths for K-12 students who are involved in the criminal justice system to get back into school, earn school credit for work they do in the system and work toward graduation.
  — Newsline
• Folk legend Judy Collins becomes ambassador for Rocky Mountain National Park. Before her seven Grammy nominations, Judy Collins baked bread for hungry hikers in Rocky Mountain National Park. CPR’s Ryan Warner interviews the American singing-songwriting legend.
  — Colorado Public Radio

???? = source has article meter or paywall

Section by Olivia Prentzel | Reporter

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Charter schools are trying to buy Colorado’s Board of Education. Dark money is infiltrating the race in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, and the results could upend public education if voters aren’t paying attention.
  — Trish Zornio
•  It’s shocking, but the Supreme Court has ruled that some dangerous people shouldn’t have guns.  We shouldn’t get carried away, though. It took 16 years for the Supreme Court to make a major pro-gun-safety ruling.
  — Mike Littwin 

CARTOONS

• How to drive off Colorado’s persistent summer pests. Six strategies for making sure some of our 90 million summer guests take Colorado off their must-hit-up list and head to Utah instead
  — Peter Moore 

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggest writers or provide feedback at opinion@coloradosun.com.

Thanks for starting out another week with us! Have a great Monday and we’ll see you back here soon.

— Eric and the whole staff of The Sun

The Colorado Sun is part of The Trust Project. Read our policies.

Corrections & Clarifications

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