CUPITMUSIC

No one should be surprised that Denver is scaling back hiring and spending for 2025 and 2026.

The city has been living high on the hog for more than a decade, growing city government services and hiring hundreds, if not thousands, of new employees. Like a majority of Denver taxpayers, The Denver Post editorial board has supported much of the spending (as both investment in our city and as a way to recover from the dark days of COVID).

We’ve also opposed some of the more outlandish pet projects that we feared frittered away the city’s sales tax revenue. It’s too late now to rededicate those millions of dollars in sales tax increases to the city’s general fund operations.

Almost two years after taking office, Mayor Mike Johnston will oversee a reduction in staff and services for the first time since the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis and Great Recession. Sales tax revenues will be down $50 million this year from projections and down $100 million in 2026 from 2025 levels. That represents about a 7.5% reduction in revenue, not accounting for anticipated increases in costs for inflation and city growth.

Layoffs, furloughs coming for Denver employees amid budget crisis, mayor says

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Given that bleak outlook, we are disturbed that up until last week, the city was considering hefty raises for staffers in upper management positions. City Council smartly sidelined that proposal from the mayor’s office, and in sharp contrast, Johnston’s furloughs will be graduated, so lower-income employees will take two days unpaid, and higher-income employees will take up to seven days unpaid.

The cuts will come at a terrible time – reductions in staff from President Donald Trump have left thousands of federal employees who live in Colorado out of a job, and the state of Colorado is slowing the pace of growth in accordance with TABOR spending limits. Luckily, private-sector hiring has remained strong across the U.S., according to the most recent jobs report, cutting the risk of a possible recession.

Johnston is correct, however, to make adjustments now in the budget.

Certainly, this could just be a mini-downturn that could be weathered with a combination of discretionary spending reductions, contingency funds and rainy day funds. But federal policy is causing uncertainty, to put it mildly, and that can have disastrous consequences.

Consumer confidence is extremely low, meaning more people are spending less across the country, including downtown Denver, where the majority of the city’s sales tax revenue is generated. Big cities like Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Houston, New York, Miami and San Francisco are also being hit by the effects of vacant office buildings. Cities across the nation are cutting their budget.

In Denver, office buildings are selling for far less than they did even 10 years ago, and vacant office space means fewer commuters spending their dollars in the city. Add on top of that a false perception that Denver is unsafe or that it is filled with homeless encampments, and you’ve got a perfect storm.

Getting Coloradans and tourists back to the city, and spending their money, is a key part of recovery for the city. Recovery is also crucial for our small businesses, especially retail stores, restaurants and bars. No one can patronize businesses that aren’t open.

Johnston has a plan to bring people back downtown. Some of those plans are immediate – finishing the 16th Street project and increasing the presence of police and other security services. Some of those plans are ongoing — Johnston has already cleaned up the homeless encampments in downtown, leaving not a single tent in the urban core as the city has provided housing options to more than a thousand people. The city will continue to spend millions on the program so the camps don’t just spring right back up.

Most of the city’s capital improvement projects are funded with dedicated bonds paid for by property tax mill levies. That revenue stream is still growing despite the sharp decline in commercial real estate evaluations. The increase is  driven by the continued growth in residential home values.

These are strange economic times, and even top economists are finding it hard to predict what will happen next.

In such days, fiscal conservatism is prudent. Hiring freezes, furloughs and layoffs may seem dramatic for a city that only a few short years ago had 16% fiscal reserves, but taking action today will forestall more dramatic cuts should the economy take a turn for the worse.

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This saddening news of President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis has added fuel to questions about his health during his presidency.

No one wants to see the former president and long-time senator facing a serious illness, and I hope that his treatment is effective.

This announcement was made the same week of the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s explosive book Original Sin. This deeply reported book is based on interviews with over 200 people — many of them Democratic operatives and insiders — and details the astonishing lengths to which President Biden’s team and the broader Democratic establishment went to conceal the president’s cognitive and physical decline from the public.

Original Sin exposes one of the most cynical political cover-ups in modern American history, and it explains why Democrats have a trust issue with the American public. This well-earned lack of trust has led to questions about whether Biden may have hidden his prostate cancer too, although there is no evidence to support that he did.

Based upon recent revelations, there can be no question that Republicans and many others, including myself, were justified in sounding the alarm about Biden’s fitness to serve during the re-election campaign.

At the time, Biden’s team hit back with performative outrage and engaged in kabuki theatre.

His team dismissed concerns about his age and acuity as dirty politics. But those close to Biden knew they were handling a president who was no longer fit for office. According to accounts of Original Sin, his team choreographed nearly every aspect of Biden’s life — including limiting unscripted interactions, scripting meetings down to the minute, and escorting him to and from Air Force One helicopter to prevent a potential, devastating fall. They even contemplated putting Biden in a wheelchair after the election.

The cover-up extended to his cognitive decline too. Biden reportedly forgot key names, including major celebrities like George Clooney and even senior members of his own team. Cabinet secretaries were sidelined, and staff members devised elaborate strategies to avoid placing him in situations that might expose his decline.

Just this past week, audio from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s October 2023 interview with President Biden was released. Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland was held in contempt by the U.S. House of Representatives for refusing to release them. In February 2024, Biden and his covert operations team were apoplectic about Hur’s decision that it would be difficult to prosecute Biden in the classified documents matter because Biden was a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and it would be difficult to prove the mental state of willfulness. Biden angrily responded that his memory was fine and his team exalted that this was a “partisan hit job”.

The audio proves otherwise as the recordings show Biden was confused, rambling, and couldn’t even remember when his son Beau died.

Biden’s team continued to trot out his disingenuous talking points, insisting that he was sharp and physically fit.  Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates asserted that “not only does the president perform around the clock, but he maintains a schedule that tires younger aides, including foreign trips into active war zones.”  Apparently, however, Biden had difficulty functioning outside of a 6-hour window between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Like the man behind the curtain in Oz, Biden’s team spun a grand illusion, staging a show of leadership while concealing Biden’s fragility, more devoted to self-preservation and power than being honest.

Here’s where the culpability deepens, Democratic leaders knew. They saw the same signs the public saw and in many instances saw it firsthand and acknowledged it privately. Yet instead of standing up, they continued to vouch for Biden’s fitness.

A month before his disastrous debate with Trump, I wrote a column calling President Biden unfit for office.  At that time two-thirds of voters had little or no confidence that Biden was physically fit to be president.  Anyone who has watched a family member or close friend decline with senility, dementia or physical ailments had all of the evidence they needed when they watched even his composed public appearances provide clear and unsettling clues with his often incoherent rhetoric and gaffes, confusion and instability.

And, following his disastrous debate performance, Biden’s team tried to convince us that it was simply a bad night, blaming the debate preparation team for his poor performance. And, in the days following the debate train wreck, Democratic leaders were conspicuously silent, failing to speak out publicly. My column calling for him to withdraw just a few days after the debate, was one of the very first of its kind in the country and published well before any major Democratic leader called on him to publicly step aside.

And, the longer they failed to speak truth to power made it more unlikely the Democrats would win in November.  When they finally did, Biden had no choice but to step aside, but behind closed doors, in classic backroom style, Democrats had already crowned his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris.

This isn’t just a Biden problem that can be conveniently swept under the rug. It’s a Democratic Party problem — a failure of leadership, transparency, ethics and accountability.

The result? Democrats lost national trust and the party’s favorability rating stands at 29%, a record low. To be fair, that isn’t simply about the cover-up and lack of leadership. It also reflects a party in the wilderness, confused about their values, and unable to muster the leadership to meet Americans where they are on key issues. It is no wonder that only 35% of surveyed Democrats are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party.

Democrats would love nothing more than to move on — to refocus on President Donald Trump and reframe the midterm elections as a battle for democracy. But its not that simple. They can’t claim hindsight when they bear collective responsibility for the outcome of the 2024 election.

Until Democrats acknowledge the cover-up, they undermine their own credibility and won’t be able to regain public trust.

It will surely be impossible for them to authentically critique Trump’s mental acuity and fitness.

Doug Friednash grew up in Denver and is a partner with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck. He is the former chief of staff for Gov. John Hickenlooper.

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When a malnourished and dehydrated 7-year-old died in Grand County with deadly levels of sodium in his blood, the response from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office was to send an investigator and an assistant county coroner to assure the child’s parents that the investigation would go no further and that documents surrounding the death would never be made public.

A Colorado boy likely died from drinking too much olive brine. Grand County tried to make the suspicious case disappear.

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Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin made good on the 2020 promise to Isaiah Stark’s parents. This year, he refused to release to The Denver Post any documents and videos related to the investigation, saying it would be “contrary to the public’s interest.” Schroetlin is hiding behind bad laws to prevent public scrutiny of how his department, the coroner and the district attorney handled the death investigation.

The public’s interest in this case is more than justified. Anytime a child dies under suspicious or questionable circumstances, there must be an investigation. The records The Post was able to obtain from other, less obstructionist sources cast serious doubt on whether a thorough investigation ever took place, despite the fact that records also show officials received reports that the boy had been forced to drink olive brine, which is high in sodium content, as a punishment.

Fortunately, Colorado’s child protection ombudsman and the state’s Child Fatality Review Team have not allowed Stark’s 2020 death to slip silently into history, unmarked and uninvestigated. The Post’s Sam Tabachnik used records obtained from both to produce an in-depth news story that was published last Sunday. Unfortunately, the review team did not release all the documents from its investigation, something they can and should do immediately in the name of transparency.

We need these watchdogs digging for the truth. Isaiah Stark’s tragic death was likely preventable, and the adults in this state tasked with protecting children had multiple opportunities to intervene to help Isaiah. Records show his mother repeatedly asked for help, and that there were warning signs missed. It is too late to save Isaiah Stark, but right now, somewhere else in this state, another child is suffering. Public scrutiny of our systems could be what saves that child.

The ombudsman, Stephanie Villafuerte, told Tabachnik, “We have many unanswered questions, and those responsible for giving these answers are unwilling to do so.”

The Child Fatality Review Team praised Grand County and Jefferson County health officials for compiling reports about the familys’ interactions with their human services teams, but concluded in its report: “It was a systemic gap that there was a lack of accountability for the child’s death, which the team believed was needless and could have been prevented, had the child received appropriate monitoring and intervention from the medical and mental health professionals.”

Unacceptable.

We know that the coroner ruled conclusively what had killed Isaiah — hypernatremia or too much sodium in the blood. We wouldn’t even venture to guess at what undiagnosed medical conditions or maltreatment could result in such an unusual death.

But we are horrified that the public officials in positions of power have failed to do the basic investigative work required to find out what happened in the days and weeks leading up to Isaiah’s death.

We call for three basic things to happen in response to what the public now knows about Isaiah’s death:

First, Schroetlin can release all records his department holds related to the investigation, including body-worn camera footage of interviews.

Second, lawmakers can undo a horrible mistake they made in 2018 when they shielded children’s autopsy reports from the Colorado law requiring records to be open for public scrutiny. As we noted at the time, Senate Bill 223 prevents public scrutiny of questionable child deaths. The Post has used child autopsy reports historically to cover the lapses in our child welfare systems that can result in child deaths.

Third, the findings by the Child Fatality Review Board should be heeded and changes made. According to the report, “The team identified a systemic gap in services when the family decided to cease all services as soon as the child’s adoption was finalized. This created a scenario where there were no longer professionals watching out for the child. Prior to the finalization of the adoption, the family had the option to access family therapy and other family preservation services.” The Colorado Department of Human Services and lawmakers can make more resources available to ensure that children are still getting care and review even after their adoption. Known as post-permanency services, adoptive parents and adopted children, even in the most stable home environments, benefit from additional contact with professionals and experts. Especially in rural parts of the state, that contact can be difficult to obtain or cost-prohibitive.

Colorado officials failed Isaiah both before and after his death, but taking these three small steps will help make amends.

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Hall needs to check its hypocrisy

Re: “Lifting Hall of Fame ban on Pete Rose, ‘Shoeless’ Joe came decades late,” May 15 commentary

I have long believed that the Baseball Hall of Fame has excluded a number of outstanding players for arbitrary reasons. Pete Rose is a notable example, as pointed out in the commentary. However, there are several others, and as a result, I think the relevance of the Hall of Fame is diminished.

Rose’s gambling violations had nothing to do with his performance as a player. The fact is that he was one of the greatest hitters in history. He exceeded Ty Cobb’s record for career hits. That should be enough to put him in the Hall. It is sad that this didn’t happen while he was alive. Whatever you may think about Rose as a person, clearly he should be celebrated in the Hall of Fame. If they want to put a footnote on his plaque (e.g., that he gambled when he was a manager), that’s fine, but excluding him was always phony.

And while they’re at it, add other outstanding players: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and Shoeless Joe Jackson, to mention a few. Without those names, the Hall of Fame is a mockery. If we’re going to have character tests for entrance to the Hall, we should eject some players.

I would also like to point out the incredible hypocrisy of Major League Baseball regarding gambling. They excluded Rose for gambling on his team to win, but now a primary sponsor of MLB is the sports gambling industry. Every time I see a gambling ad during a game, I think about Pete. If gambling is wrong for players, it is wrong for MLB.

James W. Craft, Broomfield

Shocking provision in budget bill

Re: “Trump’s clash with the courts raises prospect of showdown,” May 19 news story

Did I read this correctly? In Monday’s Denver Post, buried more than 20 paragraphs into the article, The Associated Press’ Nicholas Riccardi writes, “The provision in the Republican budget bill would prohibit courts from enforcing contempt citations for violations of injunctions or temporary restraining orders — the two main types of rulings used to rein in the Trump administration — unless the plaintiffs have paid a bond.”

I’m no lawyer, but I take this to mean that if the GOP-ruled Congress wants to pass a bill/law that essentially allows them to do any illegal thing they want, the courts would be virtually powerless to stop them. If the government can violate the rule of law and the Constitution with impunity and flout any legal ruling without fear of restraint or consequence, then it has ceased to be a government and has become a criminal enterprise. Is this what the American people want?

Flint Whitlock, Denver

Cartoon spreads false narrative

The cartoon on the May 17 opinion page spreads a false narrative that Democrats want to free MS-13 gang members, rapists and murderers.

Here’s the truth: Democrats protesting at the ICE facility in New Jersey did not demand that the government free the immigrants detained there. Democrats (and other ethically-minded people) simply want to have the Trump administration use due process to determine which detainees should be deported, which should be tried for crimes, and which have the right to remain in the USA. Democrats are not clamoring to have gang members, rapists, and murderers turned loose.

Democrats are opposed to the rendition of legal residents of the United States, which seems to be the policy of the Trump administration.

People like cartoonist Dana Summers are keen on spreading the lie that Democrats are pro-criminal and against law and order. Of course, making them look unhinged in the cartoon only helps to widen the divide between MAGA and the rest of the political spectrum. While Summers has the right to spew this propaganda, I am disappointed to see The Post helping to spread it and further inflame this divisiveness.

Jay Miller, Lafayette

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Virtue signaling: City council costs residents $300K

Re: “City Council rejects $25M contract with Suncor,” May 7 news story

How arrogant and misguided is Councilwoman Shontel Lewis who said she would vote no on the asphalt contract because Suncor is a major contributor to ongoing environmental justice problems in North Denver. As if this has anything to do with getting our roads paved for a reasonable price.

The Commerce City refinery will make asphalt. It is what they do. Asphalt is a (small) percentage of every crude oil barrel. The crude oil barrel also includes other refinery products such as gasoline and jet fuel. Suncor’s crude oil comes from the tar sands in Canada, which are heavy oils and have higher residue (asphalt), and the local Denver-Julesburg Basin crude, which is a sweet, honey-like domestic crude. So, to get the valuable products like gasoline and jet fuel, the refinery will make asphalt.

Now, however, the residents of Denver get to pay an additional $300,000 over the life of the contract for the Denver City Council’s arrogance.

Bill Koch, Broomfield

The alarming threat of Medicaid cuts

Cutting Medicaid benefits for millions of Americans who are disabled, retired, caregivers, between jobs, or working but not making enough to afford other health care is cruel and unnecessary. It is not about saving money but increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. Many Americans will die or become homeless because of these cuts.

We need to keep opposing these attacks on our safety-net programs as loudly as we can.

Cheryl Kasson, Denver

To some of us just-getting-by families, it’s just another push down. Funding is cut to the people who need it the most. They rely on it to stay alive. Party affiliation means nothing when it comes to a cry for help from citizens. We’d all like to enjoy our lives and care for our children without additional burden.

This program should never be tampered with until you come up with something that would curb hospital costs and provide coverage that benefits humans equally.

Robert Auerbach, Centennial

Keep resources available to nurture our young talent

Re: “CU reporting that 54 research awards have been terminated or been halted,” May 8 news story

With great alarm, I read the May 2025 CU report that 54 research awards have been terminated or halted. America’s young adults, who are striving to develop careers and families for our future, are facing the greatest economic challenge in decades. Especially brutal are the thousands of DOGE and Trump-era cuts to tuition assistance and the slashing of internships and research grants in the science, medical and engineering fields.

I have encountered dozens of people who have informed me of canceled government funding sources that are demolishing career prospects for many who do not have family or other monetary safety nets.

Reaching back to the early 1970s, had I not had an engineering college co-op program job with U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base providing funds for tuition and even my basic living needs, my long engineering career in nuclear and aerospace might well have been extinguished. Let’s get more tax contributions from the ultra-rich and not smash the formation of young talent for our future.

Ronald L. Puening, Centennial

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Colorado lawmakers vacated the state Capitol more than a week ago, having done extraordinary bipartisan work with the state’s tightening budget. But Gov. Jared Polis’ vetoes have kept some of the Democrats’ more ambitious goals in check.

On Friday, Polis struck down an attempt to make Colorado more union-friendly, a bill that would have undone decades of compromise between big businesses and big unions in this state. The veto preserved Colorado’s middle-of-the-road Labor Peace Act, but Polis’ decision is one of the most controversial vetoes in recent history. We had joined Polis in calling for a compromise that respected the importance of organized labor and also the importance of keeping union dues and fees in check. Unfortunately, a compromise could not be found, and Polis was right to veto Senate Bill 5.

The entire process of Senate Bill 5 proves that Colorado’s functioning legislative system is good for this state. While Congress refuses to act — on immigration, on the national debt and deficit, on any number of critical measures — Colorado’s General Assembly is having healthy debates and nuanced policy conversations.

The disagreement on Senate Bill 5 came down to a few percentage points, illustrating just how important compromise was. Instead, the issue will head to the ballot box. Colorado voters will likely see competing measures on the ballot this November, asking whether to make the state more pro-business and more pro-union.

Also, in sharp contrast to Congress, Colorado lawmakers were able to balance the budget, despite having to return millions of dollars collected to taxpayers through the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refunds. We were disappointed to see that after cutting proposed spending levels, lawmakers dipped into the state’s Unclaimed Property Trust Fund to pay for unfunded projects. While the projects were worthy — funding for safety-net hospitals and fire districts — the move continues a dangerous precedent. Already, the state owes about $700 million to the trust — an unfunded liability.

Polis said he was comfortable signing the two bills because the additional amount — $100 million — is relatively small and the claims on the unclaimed property fund are predictable and steady, meaning it is highly unlikely for the fund to become insolvent in the future. This would be one place we would have liked to see Polis use his veto.

Lawmakers must stop pulling from this fund, unless it is to make loans that are low-risk and present a return on investment to begin paying off the liability. One such proposal was killed this year and would have given homeowners low-interest loans for solar panels.

Aside from our wish for vetoes on those spending bills, we were disappointed in Polis’ veto of Senate Bill 86. The veto rejects reasonable regulation of social media companies, instead allowing Facebook, X, Snapchat, TikTok and others to continue their failure to regulate users who engage in illegal activity like selling drugs or sharing child pornography. The Senate voted to override the veto but the effort to revive Senate Bill 86 died in the House.

The governor was also right to strike down an ill-advised attempt to slow public records access for everyone except “real journalists.”

Colorado lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis had a good, albeit imperfect, year.

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Valor Christian’s former head football coach is the canary in the coal mine for Colorado high school sports.

Bret McGatlin, pushed out after 32 months with a winning record, issued a strong statement read to concerned parents at a February meeting with school leaders. The statement decries the gladiator culture in high school sports.

“At the heart of the issue is a leadership style characterized by a culture of fear, comparison, and uncertainty. Coaches have felt unsupported and undervalued, leading to an environment where fear and anxiety replace passion and purpose. I can say without hesitation that I would not have resigned if not for this leadership dynamic,” McGatlin wrote, as reported by The Denver Post’s Kyle Newman on Sunday.

Valor Christian athletics faces turmoil, discontent in wake of football coach’s resignation

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We want Colorado to have world-class athletics departments for our students. Programs should push youth to excel not only in sport but in life. Programs should help students perform at their highest potential in the classroom and on the field. We say yes to 5 a.m. weight lifting sessions and two-a-day practices. Yes, build programs with rich traditions of team dinners and booster support. Leave behind the screaming and belittling behaviors that breed unsafe environments for students.

Whether it’s elite private schools using tuition waivers to recruit the best players in the state or our outstanding public schools competing head to head on the same field, one thing Coloradans cannot tolerate is toxic environments that do more harm than good to student athletes.

Parents and coaches from Valor, many of whom spoke with Newman only on the condition of anonymity, are right to speak out if they feel something is broken at Valor.

We do not pretend to know how to walk the line between sports excellence and extremism, but we also know that many high school coaches, athletic directors, and school leaders maintain the right balance. And the critical thing to remember is that young teenagers would benefit more from a program that erred on the side of not pushing hard enough than one that pushes too hard.

Statistically, few Coloradans go on to play college sports, about 6% of all high school athletes, and even fewer do so with scholarships. According to statistics from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), only 2% of high school student-athletes receive college scholarships for their freshman year. Division I and II schools provide about $2.7 billion in athletics scholarships annually to 150,000 students. While another 180,000 students play for Division III schools without scholarships.

Beyond that only a handful of athletes – 2% of college athletes — go on to play a professional sport.

High school sports exist to serve the remaining 94% of students who will not play in college. Losing sight of that is what leads to toxic programs that are filled with drama and dissatisfaction. While adults quibble and argue over how to improve the program to win a few more games and a few more championships, it is the students who suffer.

Valor’s assistant coach Darren Krein, who also resigned recently, compared his experience as a coach in the National Football League to his time working at Valor.

“In the 20-plus years I’ve been a player and coach in the NFL — and it’s a rough situation there. … I’ve never been treated as bad in the NFL as I was treated here,” he said. Krein made the statement to parents in the community meeting and did not talk to The Post for the Sunday story.

The benefits of high school sports are immeasurable. Students get many of those benefits whether they are from a tiny school on the eastern plains competing to defeat a local rival in volleyball or vying for the 6A football state title under the bright lights at Canvas Stadium.

No student benefits from parents who blame coaches and staff for hard losses, or worse, who scream and yell at coaches like spoiled children on the sidelines. Unfortunately, we are not shocked by reports of such behavior from Valor parents, and all schools and club sports programs need to look at how to help parents and athletes adopt a healthier relationship with competition.

High school athletic departments do not become poison pits overnight or all on their own. Blame can be spread through school and district culture, and to state leaders. The solution will take years of reform, and we think it must start at the top with the Colorado High School Activities Association doubling down on its mission of creating a “positive and equitable environment” for all students in this state.

Colorado students deserve better than what Valor and other high schools lost to the gladiator ethos are serving up at the moment.

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The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit to end “sanctuary laws” in Colorado and Denver begins with a lie that undermines every other argument in the overwrought complaint.

“At the end of last year, the nation was shocked by images and videos of members of Tren de Aragua seizing control of apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado,” wrote Yaakov M. Roth, acting assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Division. “It is the direct byproduct of the sanctuary policies pushed by the State of Colorado.”

Coloradans know better than to believe that revisionist history, and the case Roth is referencing is the perfect example of how law enforcement in this state partnered successfully with federal officials to catch the criminals in the video. Two were in custody days after police were called to the scene of the fatal shooting.

Sanctuary policies did not hinder the successful apprehension of five of the six men shown brandishing weapons outside an Edge of Lowry apartment and the “sanctuary” policies do not prevent or even slow good law enforcement work.

Rather the laws keep local law enforcement from doing work that would only distract from catching criminals — checking for citizenship, visas, and work permits. President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are trying to tear down sanctuary policies so they can use local law enforcement to conduct mass deportations — the rounding up of millions of residents whose only crime is immigration related.

Roth is clearly confused about the important distinction between dangerous criminals and hard-working neighbors, but that’s no surprise. Roth was recruited from what Bloomberg Law called a “Trump-aligned” law firm, and Trump ran for office this year, promising to deport 11 million people.

Tren de Aragua got a foothold in Aurora, not because of Colorado’s policies, but because of a refugee crisis in Venezuela that has caused an estimated 8 million people to flee the country in search of food, medicine and safety from gang violence. And yes, some gang members used the exodus to sneak into America.

Now, Trump and the Department of Justice are using the refugee crisis and subsequent illegal immigration influx as a pretext to deport anyone and everyone without legal status. It’s a goal they cannot achieve without police, deputies and troopers helping in the roundup.

Colorado law and specifically Denver Municipal Code Sections 28-250 to 253 will keep law enforcement from tearing communities asunder at the behest of the president.

Denver’s ordinance prevents the city from using funds or resources to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws but it also includes key provisions to make sure that police and deputies are working hand in hand with all federal agents to catch criminals. The city code is abundantly clear: it does not prohibit criminal investigation collaboration but only work relating to “alleged violations of the civil provisions of federal immigration laws.”

Denver police can assist federal officials targeting violent gang members operating a chop shop, but they can not go door to door in an apartment complex asking people to show their papers without a warrant for someone specific.

Denver Police can and should work with ICE to apprehend Tren de Aragua gang members but shouldn’t ask people they pull over for broken taillights for proof of citizenship.

One section of the law prohibits federal immigration officials from entering secure areas of the city or county jail or other city-owned property without a warrant. We’ve addressed this portion of the law in a previous editorial, and think revision is necessary to allow ICE officials into facilities to detain people who have deportation orders or a court-ordered detainer.

None of these provisions would have prevented Denver law enforcement from pursuing the criminals in the Edge of Lowry complex, and Colorado law certainly didn’t delay Aurora’s good police work. Two days after the shooting, Aurora Police had already apprehended two of the six suspects on investigation of first-degree burglary and menacing with a firearm. Federal immigration officials in New York City used Aurora’s arrest warrants and investigation to arrest three more of suspects. Leaving only one suspect unaccounted for.

As Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain told The Denver Post as it pursued the criminals: “Like most major cities, Aurora deals with crime issues and it deals with gang activity … But we are not by any means overwhelmed by that issue, we are not by any means overtaken by Venezuelan gangs, TdA or any other gang.”

The lawsuit from the Department of Justice is not about Tren de Aragua gang members or the terrifying crimes they have committed. The lawsuit is about apprehending parents and grandparents, construction workers and Dreamers, homeowners and renters, students and fruit pickers.

Trump is looking to fulfill his campaign promise. He should quit obfuscating his intent and be honest that sanctuary policies are standing in the way of a massive police state needed to round up millions. Reports indicate that Trump is increasingly frustrated. His efforts at mass deportation have been hampered at every turn by judges who bravely uphold due process in the face of personal attacks. We are inspired by the legal advocates and neighbors who inform immigrants of their rights even as ICE rolls into a neighborhood with armored cars.

Trump won the election, but just because millions of Americans support his call for mass deportation doesn’t make the president’s plans morally right. This lawsuit is one step in his effort to steamroll America’s legal system and Colorado laws.

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Colorado’s clinics and hospitals are already feeling the strain of losing half a million patients from the post-COVID Medicaid wind-down, and now Congress is threatening to slash and burn the nation’s safety-net health insurance.

We’ve been down this road before, about a dozen times since Obamacare first became law in 2010. The Affordable Care Act dramatically increased the number of people who would qualify for Medicaid health insurance, which is funded by a combination of state and federal dollars. That expansion was expensive, but it helped reduce uncompensated care costs that were stressing the private health care and insurance systems.

Remember when Sen. John McCain saved the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion with a dramatic thumbs-down vote on the Senate floor that rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt at a skinny repeal? Well, McCain isn’t in the Senate anymore, and now Republicans are trying (again) to roll back the Medicaid expansion.

That is bad news for all Coloradans, not just those on the Medicaid bubble who are making more than the bottom threshold for Medicaid (about 35% of the federal poverty level) but less than the expansion threshold (138% of the federal poverty level).

Those already living on the bubble would likely lose their insurance immediately if Congress were to dramatically slash funding to states for Medicaid programs. And the program also wouldn’t be available to those who suffer a job loss in the future. Medicaid isn’t just for those who find themselves in chronic poverty. Our health care system is so broken that private insurance is cost-prohibitive for most Americans unless their employer is picking up much of the tab, and incentives on the Obamacare exchanges rarely are enough to fill the gap. Job loss is stressful. Add in the cost of intermediary health insurance, and savings, if they exist, can get depleted rapidly. Going uninsured is an unacceptable risk for most, as a single hospital stay could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The popular refrain from supporters of ending the expansion is that able-bodied, single individuals shouldn’t be eligible for government-funded health care. But the KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation) found that data from the Census Bureau shows that only 8% of single people aren’t working, and we’re pretty certain that traumatic injuries, cancer, and liver failure aren’t solely reserved for people with children and spouses.

For reference, 138% of the federal poverty level is about $21,000 for individuals and $36,000 for families. Annual premiums on the exchange vary widely by county but can range from $1,700 a year to $3,756 a year for someone who is single.

Republicans who are backing the Heritage Foundation’s plans in Project 2025 to reduce the federal government’s coverage of the Medicaid expansion need to know that their decision will cost lives and life savings.

Colorado could be particularly hard hit. Gov. Jared Polis told The Denver Post that the result would be some combination of a reduction in the number of people covered, a reduction in coverage, and a reduction in reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals.

The state covered the relatively small amount needed for the expansion population by creating the bipartisan Hospital Provider Fee, landmark legislation that assessed a fee on hospital stays to cover the cost of expansion to the state. That fee could, in theory, be increased to cover some of the funding lost from a Republican drawdown, but political support for further taxation on hospital stays is unlikely to emerge, especially given that hospitals are not transparent about the fee.

Republicans are not wrong to attempt to tackle this issue. Medicaid is a hungry federal program that gobbles up a huge share of our out-of-control federal budget. Reducing the federal portion of the expansion from 90% to 50% could save the federal government $1.9 trillion over 10 years, according to a KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) analysis from 2025.

Those savings will be illusory.

The impact to hospitals and clinics would be dire, and states would be forced to step in with their own funding. Unlike the federal government, Colorado can’t go into debt to cover a shortfall, which is a blessing of fiscal responsibility but a curse when overnight federal funding is getting slashed left and right.

The KFF also estimates that 20 million people across America would lose Medicaid coverage and that a majority of those enrollees would be unable to get alternative coverage. Because in America, we don’t deny people suffering acute emergencies urgent care because they cannot pay, uncompensated care would soar, hospitals could fail, or more likely, states will pick up the costs one way or the other. Solving the federal budget crisis by passing it off to states is taking money from one pocket to put it in another. Our taxes are still our money, no matter the level of government.

Is there another way to save $1.9 trillion in Medicaid spending in the next decade? Maybe, but it’ll take a lot more work and nuanced policy analysis than this slash-and-burn effort that hides the damage being done by Congress, instead handing the knife to states to do Congress’s dirty work.

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