“A 35-year-old Fort Collins man has been arrested in connection with vandalism Sunday morning at the Islamic Center of Fort Collins,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. He was arrested Monday “after being identified as a suspect in the 4 a.m. vandalism incident at the Fort Collins Islamic Center, at 925 W. Lake St. Footage from the incident showed a man overturning benches, breaking windows and tossing a Bible into the building that was found vandalized Sunday morning.” He “faces charges of felony criminal mischief, misdemeanor third-degree trespassing and committing a bias-motivated crime, also a misdemeanor.”
“Nearly a week’s worth of negative feedback from political leaders, developers and constituents was enough to push the Johnstown Town Council to reverse its decision on the Colo. 402 interchange and commit the full $6 million to the project in partnership with Loveland, Larimer County and Weld County,” The Greeley Tribune reports. “A standing-room-only crowd attended Monday night’s special meeting, called for the purpose of reconsidering the council’s March 21 decision to contribute $1.2 million. Every person who spoke, including two Loveland City Council members, was in favor of a $6 million commitment.”
“President Trump delivered the final blow Monday to a new Bureau of Land Management planning rule backed by conservationists but panned by critics including some western Colorado counties,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Trump signed a congressional resolution to undo what was known as the BLM’s Planning 2.0 rule, which was developed under the Obama administration and designed to update decades-old planning regulations for developing local resource management plans. The agency had promoted the rule as a way to streamline the process for creating such plans, get more public collaboration and input, and adopt more of a landscape-level planning approach.”
“Recent suicides in Lafayette have shed light on a mental health crisis that has quietly enveloped Boulder County, according to police, who along with city leaders will roll out an outreach campaign dubbed “Because We Care” over the next few weeks,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Two violent and public deaths that occurred within Lafayette — the first, when a man shot himself in front of police outside Flatirons Community Church earlier this month, and another on Sunday as dozens of horrified shoppers looked on while a man set fire to himself and his car in a Walmart parking lot — have left residents in the quiet east Boulder County city at a loss for answers.”
“Glenwood Springs police should not be involved with rounding up undocumented, noncriminal immigrants, and the city should do what it can to make sure immigrant residents feel welcome and protected, candidates for three Glenwood City Council seats tend to agree,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “But that’s not to say the city should follow the lead of Basalt and other towns around the country, large and small, that have formally declared themselves a “safe harbor” or “sanctuary” from strong-handed immigration enforcement, most of the candidates also said.”
“The city and county of Boulder stand to lose a small amount of budget funding if the Justice Department makes good on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s threat to withhold grant money from so-called “sanctuary” communities,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “In a short appearance at Monday’s White House press briefing, Sessions said the Justice Department would require cities seeking some of the $4.1 billion available in grant money to verify that they are in compliance with a section of federal law that allows information sharing with immigration officials. Boulder, a self-proclaimed sanctuary city, is slated to receive DOJ funding this year, as in 2015 and 2016, in grants that go toward the salaries of two officers through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office. The amount of federal money the city receives in this three-year arrangement decreases over time, so while Boulder received about $152,000 from the DOJ in 2015 and about $92,500 in 2016, it’s been planning on somewhere between $23,000 and $25,000 this year.”
“Blue ribbons, banners and pinwheels are starting to pop up in and around Fremont County in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month in April,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Several community agencies and organizations have partnered to bring awareness to the issue and how it can be prevented.”
“Colorado State University is paying its female full professors almost 5 percent less than males and minority associate professors 5.4 percent less than their white counterparts this fiscal year, according to a report from its Salary Equity Committee released Monday,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins.
Stores across Colorado Springs will be stocked with Blue Bell ice cream again, The Gazette reports. Texas-based Blue Bell began reintroducing its ice cream Monday into stores across Colorado. In April 2015, stores in 10 states stopped selling the brand after a listeria outbreak that was linked to the ice cream. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10 people were hospitalized and three deaths were reported in Kansas.”
“Colorado lawmakers introduced a $26.8 billion state budget bill Monday that offers a modest increase in state employee salaries and education spending at the expense of cuts to hospitals and other programs,” The Denver Post reports. “The spending measure for the fiscal year that begins July 1 represents a 4 percent increase from the current budget and came together after significant consternation about how to address the state’s fiscal crunch. The state Senate will hold the first votes on Senate Bill 254 and related budget measures Wednesday, and the attention will be on who gets the $10.6 billion in discretionary spending.”
