Budget cutting will continue for another week

Good morning, Sun readers.

The spring-green blades of daffodils poked through the old mulch in my front yard over the weekend, my favorite sign that warm days are ahead. It took us years, like 10, to remember to plant daffodil bulbs, and so for a long time, even though I was happy to see the tulips and daffodils blooming around the neighborhood, I was also annoyed that I had missed the boat another year.

But not anymore — now I can watch my very own little green shoots grow into the yellow blooms that, to me, manifest the whole feeling of spring.

I hope you have some time today to look for signs of spring, after you read about what’s going on around Colorado.

Jennifer Brown

Reporter

THE NEWS

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Colorado lawmakers delay budget introduction as they agonize over final cuts

On Friday morning, Joint Budget Committee Chair Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, finally conceded defeat: There was too much left to do, and not enough time to do it. Brian Eason reports on what the six-member, bipartisan panel responsible for closing the $1.2 billion budget gap has been fighting over — and why they won’t be delivering the budget until next week.

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WATER

Northern Colorado towns on the hook for $100M reservoir settlement bill “couldn’t be happier” with agreement

For the first time as a city, Fort Morgan will actually own its water supply instead of leasing from whomever had water to spare. That’s just one of the positive outcomes from the massive settlement that will create the Northern Integrated Supply Project and change how water is managed along the Cache la Poudre River basin, Jerd Smith reports.

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• How some rural Colorado businesses tapped an unheralded state resource and reaped financial returns. Speaking of Fort Morgan, this week’s “What’s Working” column features a success story in the town of 10,000, boosted in part by the East Colorado Small Business Development Center.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

What Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said during their Colorado stops

With around 10,000 people showing up in Greeley and another 30,000-plus in Denver later in the day, the duo’s “Fight the Oligarchy” tour became a space for Coloradans frustrated with spending cuts and chaos brought on by the Trump administration. The Colorado Capitol News Alliance has more from both stops.

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• How Colorado Republicans plan to navigate the town hall trap this time around. Jesse Paul reports on how Democrats are trying to deploy the same tactics they used to sink the reelection campaigns of U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman in 2018 and U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020 to oust Republican Gabe Evans in 2026.
• AOC, in Colorado and across the US, tries to broaden her appeal within a Democratic base spoiling for a fight. In a leaderless Democratic Party out of power in Washington, Ocasio-Cortez has a message and a connection with a segment of liberals feeling disenchanted with both parties.

CULTURE

Telluride’s decision to add another major concert series irks some in the already busy small town

How much bluegrass can one town handle? Freelancer Gavin McGough reports on the pushback after the town of Telluride approved a second Planet Bluegrass concert series — with an estimated crowd of 8,000 on each night — for the same weekend as the Telluride Mountain Run.

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MORE NEWS

• Federal judge orders ICE not to remove immigrant activist Jeanette Vizguerra, who was detained this week. The judge said Vizguerra, whose attorneys had asked for an injunction, deserves a hearing in federal court before federal immigration authorities deport her to Mexico.
• Fact Brief ☀️ Did Boulder County ban firearms on hiking trails? Yes. Firearms are prohibited in all parks and open space in unincorporated areas, along with paintball guns, bows and slingshots.
• One of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, a Colorado man, remembers struggle for recognition amid Trump’s DEI purge. Col. James H. Harvey III, 101, is among the last few airmen and support crew who proved that a Black unit — the 332nd Fighter Group of the Tuskegee Airmen — could fight as well as any other in World War II and the years after.

COLORADO SUNDAY

A Navajo Nation community has running water after waiting nearly 25 years

Despite its name and its location along the Colorado River a few miles from the state line, residents of the community of Westwater have been hauling water to their homes from a nearby artesian well for decades. Now, just two years after Westwater got connected to the electrical grid, residents are turning on the taps in their homes. Shannon Mullane digs into the project.

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Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE COLORADO REPORT

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• Buzzer beater ends Colorado State’s quest for a second upset. After Colorado State pulled off the most convincing upset of the first round of the NCAA Tournament, they were just one Hail Mary shot by Maryland’s Derik Queen away from another.
  — ESPN.com
• Trump criticizes his portrait in Colorado’s Capitol: “Nobody likes a bad picture.” The president claimed that the portrait, painted by artist Sarah Boardman and hanging in the Capitol’s Gallery of Presidents, “was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before” and compared his portrait unfavorably to one of Barack Obama by the same artist.
  — The New York Times
• Homeless families living in cars ask Denver for shelter. Then they wait. Families, even those with children as young as 6 years old, say they’re not admitted to most of the city’s homeless shelters, which serve individuals. They feel invisible — unseen because they’re in cars, not camped out in obvious spots in downtown Denver.
  — Denverite
• Xcel Energy taking on $1 billion in debt. The day after announcing the Colorado arm of the Minnesota-based parent company would be selling a billion dollars worth of bonds to investors, Xcel submitted another SEC filing disclosing it was going to borrow an additional $1.1 billion.
  — Denver Business Journal ????
• Amazon building a “last mile” facility near the Eagle County airport. The Gypsum town council says the facility will be a boon for the area, while other residents, like real estate agent Scooter Slaughter, wonder “Where’s everybody going to live that’s going to work there?”
  — Vail Daily

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Big law capitulating to Trump’s whim further erodes the rule of law. After being targeted by an executive order by President Trump, one of the nation’s most prominent law firms immediately capitulated.
  — Mario Nicolais
  

COMMUNITY

• The Affordable Care Act has transformed health access for Coloradans. Congress must act to preserve and strengthen it. For the past 15 years, the ACA has been a lifeline for Coloradans across urban and rural communities.
  — Kevin Patterson, Connect for Health Colorado CEO & Michael Conway, Colorado Insurance Commissioner

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.

Now that you’ve caught up on politics and water news, go get your daily dose of spring. The forecast is full of sun.

— Jennifer and the whole staff of The Sun

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