This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 24 million people would lose their insurance by 2026 under a new House health-care plan intended to replace Obamacare. That number will likely include many poor people and seniors in Denver, whose tax credits will be significantly smaller according to figures collected by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The Colorado Legislature is halfway through its session, so action inside the State Capitol will heat up this week. But the action will heat up outside, too, with rallies and protests. Keep reading for thirteen ways to get active at political and educational events this week.
On Monday, March 12, Jerry Burton visited the Denver Police headquarters, where he was able to retrieve a tent, a sleeping bag and some blankets from one of two locations where he had items taken by police officers as “evidence” that he’d violated Denver’s urban camping ban.
Senator Michael Bennet is set to take part in his first town hall in more than two years, and rather than scheduling it in a majority Democratic area, he’s venturing into the Republican stronghold of Colorado Springs.
Two things are happening this week: one, a House committee will debate HB17-1226, which is a bipartisan attempt to normalize the clocks in Colorado and stay on Daylight Saving Time permanently. And two, having just suffered through another spring forward weekend, everyone is going to be pretty damn cranky.
Cory Gardner didn’t show up to a town hall meeting planned in his honor, but Representative Jared Polis will have two in the Second Congressional District on Sunday. If that’s not enough political action, you can sit through an entire day of the Colorado Democratic Party Reorganization meeting, or party with GENeration Frontlines, a benefit for the Youth of Standing Rock. Keep reading for details of these events, and more.
This week, homeless advocacy group ASAP took to Facebook to announce plans for a tiny-home village to be located within the RiNo Arts District, at 38th and Walnut streets. Called “Beloved Community Village,” the tiny home village is being proposed as a 180-day pilot project, with a supporting crowd-funding campaign…
A not-safe-for-work Tumblr page featuring images such as a Pokémon named Squirtle having sex with a naked woman mistakenly wound up linked on the website for Colorado state senator Kevin Priola, a conservative Republican who prides himself on his family values platform.
Last night, Senator Cory Gardner was scheduled to take part in his second telephone town hall over the span of eight days, a tactic apparently intended to undermine criticism about his failure to conduct in-person town halls, despite multiple demands that he do so and even a late February forum in Denver that went on in his absence. I wasn’t planning to take part, but a Gardner robo-call urged me to do so, albeit when the event should have been almost over.
On Tuesday, March 7, a group of demonstrators gathered at Denver International Airport to welcome refugees and protest President Trump’s new “travel ban,” which he signed on March 6 and which goes into effect on March 16. The protest was an echo of a larger demonstration that took place at…
SB17-027 would increase the penalty for texting and driving by $300 and four points per offense.
Colorado supporters of President Donald Trump made their presence known on Saturday, March 4, by staging a rally on the steps of the State Capitol building. Hundreds came to the rally, some wearing patriotic costumes (like Uncle Sam suits) and others waving “Don’t Tread on Me” or “Trump/Pence” flags. By…
Early on March 6, North Korea launched four missiles off the country’s west coast, and Colorado Senator Cory Gardner is calling for a strong U.S. response, including new sanctions and a speed up in deploying a system designed to shoot down such projectiles before they can reach their destinations.
Team America PAC, an organization backed by Tom Tancredo, a former Colorado congressman and two-time gubernatorial candidate who ran for President in 2008, has been dubbed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Since Tancredo, a longtime conservative, considers SPLC to be a dubious organization whose left-wing agenda is designed to collect as much cash as possible, he isn’t especially upset by this designation. But he’s admittedly irritated by a 7News report on the subject that he sees as having essentially endorsed the hate-group tag.
President Donald Trump’s hard-line stance on immigration has sent immigrants, their attorneys and sanctuary cities like Denver into a tizzy. Rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and checkpoints are running rampant, and local attorneys are scrambling to provide accurate information to concerned, often frightened immigrants. Keep reading for ten…
Surely you’ve heard about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. There’s an entire website dedicated to the rare and endangered species, complete with news articles, FAQs, tree octopus sightings, even a store. According to the site: The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of…
When asked about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reject the Independence Institute’s appeal of a decision involving issue ads mentioning Senator Michael Bennet and ex-Senator Mark Udall, Jon Caldara, the think tank’s president, says, “I blame all the people who murdered Antonin Scalia.”
“How many of you have heard rumors or have fears about immigration enforcement?” asks Julie Gonzales in Spanish before a packed room. Multiple hands shoot up into the air. “I’m concerned that immigration will come to my house and knock on the door,” one man says. “There are rumors about…
The first person Brad Allen came out to was his brother. Growing up in a conservative Christian family in the South, Allen was convinced his homosexuality was a sin, and he wanted to change it. “I told my brother, and we did research to find out what we could do…
Senator Cory Gardner isn’t alone when it comes to a lack of in-person town halls, given that Senator Michael Bennet hasn’t held one since 2014, as we reported earlier today. But while Bennet is able to bash President Donald Trump for conflicts of interest, among other things, Gardner, as the National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to maintain loyalty to the chief executive even as evidence of alleged improprieties among his cabinet appointees continues to mount, as demonstrated by the grilling he received on National Public Radio this morning in regard to serious questions about Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
#ClawAndOrder, a hot, hot, hot Twitter hashtag created by HBO’s John Oliver and his staff at Last Week Tonight, is connected to a contest involving Neil Gorsuch, the Colorado-born judge nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court by President Donald Trump, and three lobsters named Cindy Clawford, Pinchers Von Shellington III and Mike. Yes, just Mike.
Congress is back in session, and political pundits in the Beltway are still digesting President Donald Trump’s address. But outside Washington, D.C., the activism continues. Here are more political education and advocacy events in metro Denver this week.
