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Opinion: What happens now that Prop. HH has failed? A few tough options remain.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

Proposition HH has failed. Good policy doesn’t always make for a good ballot measure. You can overcome opposition from one front, but not two, even if their arguments completely conflict with each other.On the one hand, conservatives attacked it for being a hidden tax increase by using TABOR surplus dollars for local backfill. On the other hand, local governments opposed the measure because they didn’t think there was enough funding in the measure to backfill local community needs. I’m quite sure neither group agrees on what an alternative to HH should be.Regardless, Prop HH wasn’t good enough and now our elected leaders must figure out how to construct a property tax relief package that prioritizes low and middle-income homeowners, renters, and small business owners. Importantly, just like they did in the past, they must include a way to pay for this relief, making especially sure to protect school district funding.Two policy questions loom large right now.First, is there any way t...

Highlands Ranch father and son plead guilty in U.S. Capitol riot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

A father and son from Highlands Ranch have pleaded guilty in federal district court to disorderly conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building during the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.David Christian Tyner and his son, Christian Peter Tyner, were arrested on June 21 and charged with four counts each for their involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot.In identical plea agreements filed on Oct. 27, David Tyner and Christian Tyner pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building and grounds and one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.They face up to one year in prison and five years of probation and will each pay $500 in restitution for damage caused during the riot, according to the plea agreement. They are set to be sentenced on Feb. 16.Related ArticlesCourts | Trump’s relationship with far-right groups under scrutiny during ‘insurrection’ trial in Colorado Courts | Colorado Springs ...

Keeler: CU Buffs QB Shedeur Sanders would be nuts to test 2024 draft, NFL legend says. Here’s why

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

BOULDER — Why take a pay cut to turn pro? Shedeur Sanders is worth an estimated $4.6 million in name, image and likeness value this fall. The first quarterback taken in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Titans’ Will Levis, landed a signing bonus of $3.9 million.“Aren’t we having a great time here?” CU Buffs football coach Deion Sanders asked Tuesday when I asked about his QB1’s NFL prospects. “When we appreciate and we love where we are, it’s hard to look at someone else.”Painkillers ain’t cheap, Shedeur, but math is math. Caleb Williams and Drake Maye will be rich and miserable in the winter of ’25, leaving a hole at the top of the NFL Draft that only a man with a diamond watch flex can fill.But hey, if you don’t want to listen to me, fair enough. Listen to the man with the gold jacket from Canton.And I don’t mean your dad.“Past players never had those NIL deals, or any of those options, s...

Proposition HH goes down in defeat as Colorado voters reject complex property tax relief measure

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

Colorado’s wide-ranging Proposition HH, a property tax relief and education-funding measure pressed by the state’s Democratic leaders, has gone down in defeat as voters rejected it by more than 20 percentage points. As of 8:15 p.m., results showed nearly 61% of voters had rejected Proposition HH while 39% supported it out of 1.1 million votes tabulated so far. The Associated Press called the measure’s defeat just before 8 p.m.While 56% of Denver voters were supporting HH, suburban voters were handily rejecting it — “no” votes had a 57% share in Arapahoe County, a 60% share in Jefferson County and a 66% share in Douglas County.“It is a clear message to the governor and the legislature that people want clean property tax relief, and they should call a special session and do that before people get their bills next year,” said Michael Fields, president of the policy arm of Advance Colorado, an advocacy group for fiscal conservatism that led oppo...

Denver Referred Question 2P: Voters approve extension of preschool tax

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

Denver voters approved Referred Question 2P, which would permanently extend the existing city sales tax that provides preschool tuition for Denver kids, preliminary results released on Tuesday night show.In updated results posted by the Denver Elections Division at 8:30 p.m., 76.2% of voters favored the measure while 23.8% opposed it. The question held a more than 50,000-vote lead with roughly 96,000 ballots counted as of that update.With the measure’s passage, the city’s 0.15% sales tax — or 15 cents on every $100 purchase — that raises money for preschool tuition for Denver kids will become a permanent fixture of the city’s tax hierarchy.“We are extremely grateful to the voters of Denver,” Elsa Holguín, the president and CEO of the Denver Preschool Program, said after the first batch of results rolled in Tuesday.As the law is currently written, the city’s preschool tax would sunset in 2026. But Holguín and supporters felt strongly th...

Proposition II results: Colorado voters approve measure allowing state to keep excess tobacco taxes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

Colorado’s tobacco and nicotine taxes will remain unchanged and the state will reap an extra $23.65 million in preschool program funding after voters on Tuesday night approved Proposition II.As of 8:25 p.m., about 66% of voters were supporting Proposition II while 34% voted against it, out of more than 1.1 million votes counted.Prop. II is a tax-retention measure that asked voters to allow the state to keep excess tax collections under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. It’s a sequel to 2020’s Proposition EE, which raised taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products and created a new tax on certain nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes and vapes. Voters approved that tax increase by a 2-to-1 margin.Prop. EE added $1.10 to the price of a pack of cigarettes on top of an existing 84-cent tax; the EE portion of the tax is set to increase to $1.40 in July and then to $1.80 in July 2027. Tax increases on other items included an initial 50% tax on e-cigarettes and v...

12-year-old boy found shot to death on Santa Clarita roadside

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

A person who was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Monday was identified as a 12-year-old boy.On Tuesday night, authorities confirmed the body belonged to Willians Lemus Ayala, a Canyon Country resident, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.Ayala’s body was discovered near the intersection of Sand Canyon and Placerita Canyon roads in Canyon Country at around 6:30 a.m.vAuthorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a body was discovered in the Santa Cl...

Cold case homicide victim identified after 43 years

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

The remains of a homicide victim discovered in Orange County 43 years ago have finally been identified and the victim’s family notified, authorities announced Tuesday.  The skeletal remains of what investigators determined to be a Black male between the ages of 17 to 24 were discovered in May 1980 adjacent to an oil well in an unincorporated area of Tonner Canyon near the city of Brea, according to a news release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.  Attempts to identify the young man over the years were unsuccessful and the case had remained cold.  In Dec. 2021, the sheriff’s department was contacted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to conduct a forensic investigative genetic genealogy analysis of the victim. The young man was exhumed in May 2022 so investigators could collect DNA samples. In June, a private forensic biotechnology company developed a DNA profile from the skeletal remains and submitted it to the Federal Bureau of Investigat...

In showy late-game swing, Oakland mayor calls for MLB owners to reject A’s move

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

OAKLAND — Ahead of a decision by Major League Baseball owners on whether Oakland’s last major sports franchise can leave the city for Las Vegas, Mayor Sheng Thao on Tuesday urged them to offer a clear “no” vote.“This is more than just a game,” Thao, at a City Hall event, said of the A’s, who will need 75% approval from the owners next week to secure the right to relocate. “These are intergenerational memories, tradition, culture.”It’s unclear if the public showing by Thao and the City Council — which later on Tuesday approved a resolution affirming that the “A’s belong in Oakland” — will move the needle among MLB owners. While some retired A’s players and many fans have called for the team to stay, none of the MLB owners have indicated that they will get in A’s owner John Fisher’s way.The A’s are focused on clearing legal hurdles in Nevada to build a 33,000-seat ballpark...

Ohio votes to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, becoming 24th state to do so

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:50:53 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters approved a measure legalizing recreational marijuana on Tuesday, defying Republican legislative leaders who had failed to pass the proposed law. Passage of Issue 2 makes Ohio the 24th state to allow adult cannabis use for non-medical purposes. “Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,” said Tom Haren, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “Ohioans demonstrated this by passing State Issue 2 in a landslide. Ohioans are being extremely clear on the future they want for our state: adult-use marijuana legal and regulated.”The new law will allow adults 21 and over to buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and to grow plants at home. A 10% tax will be imposed on purchases, to be spent on administrative costs, addiction treatment, municipalities with dispensaries and social equity and jobs programs supporting the industry itself. The election’s outcome represents a blow to GOP lawmakers, Republican Gov. Mike ...