Author: By MARIANNE GOODLAND [email protected] and MARY SHINN [email protected]

Jared Polis is Colorado’s 43rd governor, first elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022 as Democrats swept to victory in races across the state. Following his fifth State of the State address on Jan. 17, he sat down with Colorado Politics to look ahead to his second term. Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited…

Gov. Jared Polis received generally high marks for his 70-minute State of the State address from Democrats, but not entirely; and Republicans downplayed some of his ideas, but a few found areas where they can find common ground. Polis gave his fifth State of the State address before a joint session of the House Tuesday,…

Powder across Colorado’s high country has pushed snowpack above average and eased drought conditions across the state, but it is still too soon to make predictions about the water year. The Natural Resources Conservation Service estimates the state’s snowpack is 124% of the median, with only the Arkansas River basin’s levels of snow tracking well…

The Southern Nevada Water Authority, which manages that state’s share of the Colorado River water, has suggested that the time has come for Colorado and its upper Colorado River Basin neighbors to contribute some of its water to help with the situation at Lake Powell and Lake Mead. In a Dec. 20 letter to Tanya…

Seven wildlife mitigation projects — underpasses, overpasses and fencing — have just been awarded funding, the result of bipartisan legislation passed during the 2022 session. Senate Bill 22-151, the Safe Passage for Colorado Wildlife and Motorists, received $5 million in general fund support to set up fencing and wildlife crossings that would reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions in rural…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday issued the final federal permit required for the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which proposes to build two new reservoirs in Northern Colorado, to move forward. A “404” permit, under the U.S. Clean Water Act, allows for discharge of dredged or fill material into all waters of the United States,…

The Colorado Department of Public Safety announced Wednesday that Arron Julian has been hired as the director of the newly formed Office of Liaison for Missing or Murdered Indigenous Relatives within the Division of Criminal Justice. His first day was Nov. 21, 2022. The office, one of more than a dozen new offices and agencies…

The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory board took its most significant vote Thursday in its three-year history — a unanimous decision to recommend the renaming of Mount Evans, the most prominent fourteener overlooking Denver, to Mount Blue Sky. The renaming comes just a few days before the 158th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. An exhibit…

The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory board took its most significant vote Thursday in its three-year history — a unanimous decision to recommend the renaming of Mount Evans, the most prominent fourteener overlooking Denver, to Mount Blue Sky. The renaming comes just a few days before the 158th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. An exhibit…

Dan Prenzlow, director of Colorado’s Division of Parks and Wildlife since 2019, has retired following an investigation into a racially offensive remark he directed at a CPW employee during an April conference. The Department of Natural Resources in a statement indicated the probe — initiated after Prenzlow while speaking at a conference allegedly highlighted a Black…