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Tag: phil weiser

  • Coerced Colorado prison labor amounts to involuntary servitude, judge rules

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    Colorado Department of Corrections officials forced inmates to work prison jobs through coercion that ultimately amounted to involuntary servitude, a Denver judge ruled Friday.

    The state’s prisons unconstitutionally coerced labor by levying severe punishments — including solitary confinement — against prisoners who refused to work, Denver District Court Judge Sarah Wallace found in the 61-page ruling.

    “By creating a framework where failure to work triggers a sequence of restrictions that culminate in a more restrictive ‘custody level’ and physical isolation, CDOC has established a system of compulsion that overrides the voluntariness of the (prisoners’) labor,” Wallace wrote.

    The ruling comes out of a 2022 lawsuit in which state prisoners claimed the Department of Corrections’ approach to prison labor amounted to involuntary servitude or slavery, which Colorado voters outlawed in 2018 via Amendment A.

    The lawsuit, which went to trial in October, was brought by Towards Justice, a nonprofit law firm headed by David Seligman, a candidate in the 2026 race for Colorado attorney general.

    Prisoners in Colorado are expected to work prison jobs, which include food preparation, janitorial services and other positions within their facilities. They are paid well below minimum wage for the work.  They can choose not to work, but doing so is a disciplinary infraction for which prisoners are punished, according to court filings.

    State attorneys argued during the October trial that prisoners’ labor was voluntary, and that punishments for failing to work, while “uncomfortable,” did not rise to the level of coercion legally required to constitute involuntary servitude.

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  • Colorado sues to block Trump administration from cutting public health grants

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    Colorado filed a lawsuit Wednesday to prevent the Trump administration from canceling more than $20 million in grants for public health.

    On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified Congress it wouldn’t pay $600 million worth of grants already awarded in Colorado, California, Illinois and Minnesota — all states led by Democratic governors.

    The four states asked a federal court in Illinois’ Northern District to issue an order preventing the federal government from withholding the funds while their lawsuit plays out.

    Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office said the existing grants totaled about $22 million, and the cuts would reduce Colorado’s public health funding in the future by an estimated $4 million.

    The funding comes through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and goes toward developing the public health infrastructure and workforce, as well as finding and preventing sexually transmitted infections.

    One of the recipients in Colorado that will lose funding is using it to increase HIV testing around Denver and Colorado Springs, with a focus on gay and bisexual men of color.

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    Meg Wingerter

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  • Conspiracy theorist-podcaster joins crowded GOP race for Colorado governor, but will candidacy ‘go nowhere’?

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    A conservative podcaster who’s trumpeted false election conspiracies and called for the execution of political rivals, including Gov. Jared Polis, has formally joined the Republican race to become Colorado’s next governor.

    Joe Oltmann, who filed his candidacy paperwork Monday night, now seeks to participate in an electoral system that he has repeatedly tried to undermine.

    He is the 22nd Republican actively seeking to earn the party’s nomination in June. It’s the largest gubernatorial primary field for a major party in Colorado this century, surpassing the GOP’s previous records set first in 2018, and then again in 2022 — and it comes as the party hopes to break Democrats’ electoral dominance in the state.

    That field will almost certainly narrow in the coming months; four Republicans who’d filed have already dropped out. No more than four are likely to make it onto the ballot — either through the state assembly or by gathering signatures — for the summer primary, said Dick Wadhams, the Colorado GOP’s former chairman.

    The size of the primary field doesn’t really matter, he said, because few candidates will actually end up in front of voters. Eighteen candidates filed ahead of the 2022 race, for instance, but just two were on the primary ballot.

    On the Democratic side, a smaller field of seven active candidates is headlined by Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Polis is term-limited from running again.

    For 2026, Wadhams counted only a half-dozen or so Republican candidates whom he considered “credible,” a qualifier that Wadhams said he used “very, very loosely”: Oltmann, state Sens. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Mark Baisley, state Rep. Scott Bottoms, ministry leader Victor Marx, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell and former Congressman Greg Lopez.

    Wadhams said that other than Kirkmeyer, all of those candidates had either supported election conspiracies or a pardon for Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk now serving a nine-year sentence for convictions related to providing unauthorized access to voting equipment.

    Oltmann, of Castle Rock, has repeatedly — and falsely — claimed that the 2020 presidential election was not won by Democrat Joe Biden, while calling for the hanging of political opponents. He previously said he wanted to dismember some opponents to send a message, according to the Washington Post, before adding that he was joking.

    In his Dec. 26 announcement video, Oltmann baselessly claimed that Democrats, who have won control of the state amid demographic shifts and anti-Trump sentiment, were in power in Colorado only because of election fraud.

    He said Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, along with 9News anchor Kyle Clark, were part of a “synagogue of Satan.” Polis and Griswold are both Jewish.

    In his announcement, Oltmann painted an apocalyptic picture of the state and said he hoped that three of its elected leaders — Polis, Griswold and Weiser — would all be imprisoned. He pledged to eliminate property taxes, to focus on the “have-nots” and to pardon Peters, whom President Donald Trump has also sought to release by issuing a federal pardon that legal experts say can’t clear Peters of state convictions.

    Oltmann’s decision to join the field is an example of “extreme candidates” from either major party “who file to run but will go nowhere,” predicted Kristi Burton Brown, another former state GOP chair. She now sits on the Colorado State Board of Education.

    She said the size of the Republican primary field was a consequence of Republicans’ difficulties winning statewide races in Colorado. Democrats have won all four constitutional elected offices for two straight election cycles.

    Burton Brown said it “might be a good idea moving forward” to require candidates to do more than just submit paperwork to run for office. That might include a monetary requirement: She said she didn’t support charging candidates significant sums but thought that “requiring some skin in the game” could prevent “unreasonable primaries.”

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    Seth Klamann

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  • Record-high 8 children killed in Colorado domestic violence incidents last year is ‘a wake-up call’

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    Eight children were killed in domestic violence incidents across Colorado in 2024 — the highest number since the state began tracking annual domestic violence deaths eight years ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board.

    The youngest child to die was 3-month-old Lesley Younghee Kim, who was found dead with her mortally injured mother in a Denver home in July 2024.

    The oldest were each 7. They include Jessi Hill, whose father killed her and her 3-year-old sister, Summer, before dying by suicide in January 2024, as well as 7-year-olds Dane Timms and Tristan Rael. The remaining children who died were toddlers: Xander Martinez-King, 1, Xena Martinez-King, 2, and Aaliyah Vargas-Reyes, 1.

    “It’s a wakeup call, I hope, for people in Colorado,” said Whitney Woods, executive director of the Rose Andom Center, which helped compile the board’s report. “This is a real problem.”

    Seventy-two people died in domestic violence incidents statewide in 2024. That’s up 24% from the 58 domestic violence deaths in 2023 but remains below pandemic-era peaks, when 94 people died in 2022 and 92 people died in 2021.

    The pandemic years also saw elevated numbers of children killed, with four children killed in 2021 and six in 2022. Across the other years, no more than three children died in any given year, the board’s reports show.

    Five of the eight children killed in 2024 died amid custody disputes between their parents, the report found.

    “These findings highlight custody litigation as a high-risk period for families experiencing domestic violence and point to the urgent need for stronger safeguards within family court proceedings,” the report concluded. The legislatively-mandated board, chaired by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, began tracking domestic violence statewide in 2017 and makes annual recommendations for policy changes aimed at preventing deaths.

    The fatality review board last year recommended that the state’s child and family investigators and parental responsibilities evaluators go through training on domestic violence, particularly around understanding the dynamics of domestic violence and how to evaluate the risk of lethality during the custody process. The Colorado Judicial Department is still developing such training, with work continuing in 2026, the report noted.

    “That is to my mind a call to action,” Weiser said. “And we are working with the court system on this right now — how do we make sure our family courts and the general system for addressing domestic violence provides protection, support, services, so that we don’t see these deaths happen?”

    The increase in domestic violence deaths came even as statewide homicides declined 17% to a five-year low. Roughly one in six homicide victims in Colorado in 2024 died during domestic violence incidents. Domestic violence victims account for 18% of all homicide victims statewide, the highest proportion in five years, the annual review found.

    “That is really alarming in this line of work, for us,” Woods said.

    The increase in domestic violence homicides amid the drop in overall homicides “suggests that while broader public safety interventions may be reducing general violence, they are not having the same impact on (domestic violence fatalities),” the report found.

    The increase also comes at a time when many organizations aimed at preventing domestic violence and supporting survivors are facing funding shortfalls and uncertainty, Woods noted.

    Among the 72 people killed in 2024, 38 were victims of domestic violence, 26 were perpetrators of domestic violence and eight — all of the children — were considered ‘collateral victims.’ The victims were overwhelmingly female and the perpetrators overwhelmingly male.

    Across all 72 deaths, guns were used 75% of the time. The second most common type of attack was asphyxiation, which was involved in 8% of all deaths, followed by a knife or sharp object, used in 7% of deaths.

    “Occasionally, people will make comments like, ‘If someone wants to kill someone they can kill them with a knife,’” Weiser said. “I think it’s fair to say access to firearms makes it far more likely that a domestic violence perpetrator will kill somebody.”

    Removing guns from a suspect when domestic violence begins can be an effective prevention strategy, Woods said.

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  • Arvada West High School students host town hall on gun violence, mental health in wake of Evergreen shooting

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    ARVADA, Colo. — Students at Arvada West High School organized a town hall to address gun violence and mental health in schools following the Sept. 10 shooting at Evergreen High School.

    The student-led organization Team ENOUGH A West hosted the event in the school’s auditorium Tuesday afternoon to foster open dialogue about these issues and push for meaningful change.

    “The real wake-up call was Evergreen with how close in proximity that was,” said Spencer Robuck, one of the student organizers.

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    Izaiah Brees, another member of Team ENOUGH, said he knew other students shared his desire to take action.

    “I knew that I wasn’t the only one wanting to do something in response to this,” he told Denver7.

    The town hall featured Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, whose office operates Safe2Tell, a statewide anonymous reporting system for students, staff and the community. Weiser is also running to become Colorado’s next governor.

    Students shared personal experiences with Safe2Tell, including Robuck, who credited the platform with saving his life during a mental health crisis.

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    “One of the things that really helped me was one of my friends ended up calling Safe2Tell on me, and the officers came, and it helped me mightily,” Robuck told the crowd.

    However, some students expressed concerns about slow response times and insufficient awareness of the program within schools.

    “That is one of the biggest questions we’re working on,” said Weiser. “When you see something, please say something. And what haunts me about Evergreen is, did anybody see something and not say something?”

    The students proposed several changes, including the addition of mental health education to the school’s curriculum. They are also pitching new safety measures such as clear backpacks and metal detectors.

    “The more that you can have an open conversation about gun violence and gun safety, the more kids feel like they have a voice and that they can help participate in change,” Brees said.

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    Weiser praised the students’ initiative.

    “One of the parts of today’s conversation that I am incredibly inspired by is these kids here today at Arvada West, they’re taking action,” Weiser said. “They’re not waiting for adults. They’re developing plans to make their school safer.”

    Brees said he’d like to see his school hold more lockdown drills during unstructured periods, like lunch. Arvada West Principal Micah Porter said the school is planning to hold one next week, and more information will be released to students and parents soon.

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    Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Claire Lavezzorio

    Denver7’s Claire Lavezzorio covers topics that have an impact across Colorado, but specializes in reporting on stories in the military and veteran communities. If you’d like to get in touch with Claire, fill out the form below to send her an email.

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    Claire Lavezzorio

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  • Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg donates $500,000 to Bennet campaign

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    A windfall for the Colorado gubernatorial campaign of Sen. Michael Bennet from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

    The Colorado Secretary of State’s records show Bloomberg donated $500,000 to Bennet’s super PAC “Rocky Mountain Way.” It is by far the single-largest donation.

    Bloomberg, a billionaire philanthropist, was a three-term mayor of New York City and candidate for president.

    The Colorado Democratic primary for the 2026 governor’s race is between Sen. Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

    Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg donates $500,000 to Bennet campaign

    Denver7 Anchor Shannon Ogden spoke with University of Denver political science professor Seth Masket about the impact Bloomberg’s donation will have on the primary race.

    “It certainly helps out Bennet. It also emphasizes Bennet’s ties to sort of national Democratic political figures — stuff that he’s been burnishing over his years in the Senate. (Mean)while Weiser is still a little bit ahead in the money race and I believe more of his support comes from within Colorado,” said Masket.

    Bennet has served in the Senate since 2009 and ran for president in 2020.

    Bennet’s campaign for Colorado governor announced it raised more than $946,000 in the second reporting period of his campaign bringing in more than $2.6 million in the first six months.

    Phil Weiser for Governor’s website says it topped $3.8 million at the end of the third quarter of this year.

    There are nearly 20 Republican candidates running for governor. Term limits prohibit Gov. Jared Polis from seeking reelection.

    Click here for donations to Bennet’s super PAC.

    Click here for Weiser’s campaign fundraising totals.

    Click here for Bennet’s campaign fundraising totals.

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    Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Shannon Ogden

    Denver7 evening anchor Shannon Ogden reports on issues impacting all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in covering local government and politics. If you’d like to get in touch with Shannon, fill out the form below to send him an email.

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    Shannon Ogden

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  • Dollar General to pay $400K for overcharging at the register in Colorado

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    Discount retailer Dollar General will pay a $400,000 fine after state inspectors found the chain repeatedly charged more for items at checkout than their listed shelf price.

    The Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office conducted 23 inspections at different Dollar General stores between April 2023 and February. The chain failed 15 of the inspections by charging more at checkout than what was listed on store shelves.

    Dollar General denied the allegations that it violated the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, but agreed to pay a fine, according to an agreement provided by the attorney general’s office. It will also post notices in its store that it will honor the lower of the two prices, conduct internal audits and improve staff training.

    “When shoppers are going to the store, they are entitled to pay the price at the cash register that they see on shelves,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “In this case, Dollar General was telling their customers that they would be charged one price and actually charging them another, and I am now holding them accountable for this wrongful conduct. I will always fight for the rights of Colorado consumers and work to make sure they are treated fairly by businesses.”

    Dollar General did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning. It operates more than 20,700 stores in 48 states, according to its website, 68 of which are in Colorado. Officials inspected stores in Milliken, Loveland, Greeley, Evans, Strasburg, Eaton, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Commerce City and Federal Heights.

    The attorney general’s announcement did not specify where the fine money would go. A $3 million settlement with Walmart over similar allegations in 2023 helped pay for food and diaper assistance programs, according to the attorney general’s office.

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    Nick Coltrain

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  • Colorado voters are dissatisfied with Democrats. Polis, Hickenlooper and Bennet can’t hide (Editorial)

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    Americans are recoiling from the Democratic Party, and even in blue states like Colorado, Democrats are feeling the burn.

    With Republicans fielding the best candidate for governor they’ve had in a decade – Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer – liberal politicians would be wise to address the root causes of this dissatisfaction publicly, frequently and head-on. The reality is that Americans are struggling — our politics are becoming more violent, everything is more expensive, and the job market is tightening.

    After years of enjoying popularity, Colorado’s top Democrats are now showing a remarkable drop in their approval ratings among voters. President Donald Trump remains deeply unpopular in the state, but Gov. Jared Polis, Sen. Michael Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper are failing to break a 50% approval rating, meaning more of those asked than not said they were unhappy with the politicians’ work.

    These results from a poll conducted in early August of 1,136 registered Colorado voters by Magellan Strategies mirror what we are seeing across the nation. Americans are dissatisfied.

    According to a New York Times analysis of available voter registration numbers, the Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters across the board and particularly in swing states. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is gaining voters after years of losses.

    Part of the shift is voters simply changing their affiliation to unaffiliated, but the Magellan Poll clearly indicates that there is more afoot than voters just looking to participate in open primaries.

    Magellan, a conservative-leaning Colorado firm, found that among voters who supported Kamala Harris in 2024, 47% have unfavorable opinions of the Democratic Party.

    To be clear, voters who were polled still said they were more likely to support a Democrat for governor next year. Only 38% of those polled said they would likely support a Republican for governor. Kirkmeyer has an uphill battle to be certain, but her opponents are weakened.

    We’d hazard a guess that the non-existent Democratic primary in 2023 to challenge a sitting president who was showing cognitive decline while in office is part of the reason voters are upset. It will take time for voters to forgive – and no one will ever forget – the disastrous presidential debate.

    But national politics can’t take all the blame.

    Gov. Jared Polis has served almost eight years in office and 52% of voters told pollsters that they had an unfavorable opinion of his work, and 35% strongly disapprove. That is softened only by the fact that 56% of voters polled strongly disapproved of the job President Donald Trump is doing, but Colorado has rejected Trump three times in general elections and the Republican Party rejected him in the 2016 caucus.

    U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is doing slightly better with 44% of voters reporting disapproval of him, and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper was at 49%.

    Bennet is going to face Attorney General Phil Weiser in the Democratic Primary for governor. Weiser wasn’t included in the poll and neither were any of the Republican candidates.

    The bottom line is that Democrats cannot spend this election talking about Donald Trump, and pretending that voters don’t have real concerns about the governance of both political parties. Voters may still put many or even most Democrats into office, but if the party wants to recover, its top leaders must start this election cycle with something more than fear and loathing.

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    The Denver Post Editorial Board

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  • Colorado sheriff’s deputy who alerted ICE to Utah student resigns; AG drops lawsuit

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    A Mesa County sheriff’s deputy resigned Tuesday, almost three months after he was accused of violating state law by sharing information with federal officials that led to a Utah college student’s immigration arrest, according to court records.

    Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Thursday dropped the lawsuit he filed against Investigator Alexander Zwinck over the incident because of the deputy’s resignation, according to court records. Weiser agreed to dismiss the case because the law no longer applies to Zwinck after his resignation, according to a motion filed last week.

    A larger investigation into whether other state law enforcement officers in the region collaborated with federal officials in a Signal group chat for the purposes of federal immigration enforcement will continue, said Lawrence Pacheco, spokesman for the attorney general’s office.

    “Because the laws he is accused of violating apply only to state and local employees, the attorney general’s office is dismissing the lawsuit against Mr. Zwinck but retaining the right to re-file the case if Mr. Zwinck becomes a state or local employee in the future,” Pacheco said.

    Weiser alleged in the lawsuit that Zwinck knowingly assisted in federal immigration enforcement by sharing information about 19-year-old Caroline Dias Goncalves in the Signal group chat during a June 5 traffic stop on Interstate 70 near Loma.

    Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement officers from carrying out civil immigration enforcement and largely blocks local police agencies from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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    Shelly Bradbury

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