We gather this week as we start summer under what's being called a heat dome, which means there's a large area of high pressure above us that is trapping heat here down below.

Like we need any more high pressure or heat these days.

For the next half hour, let's all try to bring the temperature down as we listen to our insiders talk through this week's happenings on Colorado inside out.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

Let me get right to introducing you to this week's insider panel.

We have Patty Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword.

Eric Sanderson, columnist with Colorado Politics and the Denver and Colorado Springs Gazette's Elena Alvarez, reporter with Axios Denver.

And Adam Berg, senior policy advisor at Foster Graham Law firm.

The No Kings protests last weekend in cities across the country, including here in Colorado, have further fueled the Trump administration's determination to cut down on any illegal immigrations.

Ice officials have been told to step up deportation of undocumented, documented immigrants in Democratic cities.

Also this week, news got out that Colorado immigration enforcement laws were not followed when a college student driving back to Denver was stopped near Fruita, first by a mesa County sheriff deputy for a traffic violation, and then the 19 year old, her information was detected to Texas immigration officials, who later stopped her again and detained her.

Patty, this teenager has no criminal record and has a pending asylum case, and she's been in this country since she was seven.

So there's no question how this Mesa County sheriff's deputy worked was beyond the pale.

And he is now.

He's been suspended.

But there are more instances all over the state, all over the country.

Jeffco is already protesting that Ice is lying about, someone who was released from Jeffco and Ice didn't pick them up, and they're saying we weren't warned while they were.

It's just like the Aurora situation when Ice had people escape.

And then they said Aurora didn't didn't cooperate.

Well, Aurora didn't know about it.

There's so many things happening right now.

Yesterday in Rhode Island, apparently they work on Juneteenth.

The judge did put a stay on the feds, cutting transportation money to states that are alleged sanctuary states.

So that's in play.

You've got the Homeland Security now saying that you need 72 hours notice for an elected official to go to an Ice facility, which is appalling.

If we can't keep an eye on what is happening in our country, have our elected officials do that?

That is inexcusable.

Eric, ditto to everything Patty just said.

in our society these days, we deal in absolutes.

Everything is black, everything is white.

You're either pro-immigrant, you're anti-immigrant, you're pro-Trump, you're anti-Trump.

And as with most things there are there is complexity here.

And there needs to be nuance.

There is a distinction between illegal immigration and illegal immigration.

Even in the case of illegal immigration, you still need humane treatment, and you need to be a nation of laws.

And you can't just do things on a personal whim.

This thing is so complex.

So many people are caught up in the middle of it.

And yet we also need to recognize that is a function of a system that went wildly out of control in the previous administration.

And the voters of this country finally rebelled and said, we've had enough.

Now, if this is what, quote, enough looks like, I find that very troubling.

Elena, we've reached a moment where even Republicans and Trump loyalists, including Congressman Gabe Evans, who represents ranchers and farmers in Colorado's eighth district, are saying maybe we've gone too far.

He, Gabe Evans, talked to my colleague, seven Hernandez recently and said that Trump the Trump administration should not be focusing on, immigrants who have not committed crimes.

That should be the priority is only focusing on people who have committed crimes.

And we're seeing there's no sign of slowing down, as you mentioned.

You know, Trump has ordered ice to really crack down on Democratic cities in a new way.

Ice is also under pressure to triple their daily arrests from 1000 to 3000.

And we're seeing this play out and new places in Denver, for example, the courthouses are a new a new target.

A few weeks ago, we heard reports of a toddler and a six year old being part of the group of eight that was detained earlier this week.

There was a father who had no criminal record, was appearing at his court hearing and was detained in a bathroom, separated from his wife and his child.

And at the same time, you know, protests are growing and growing.

And it really just begs the question, where do we where do we go from here?

Also, police are getting trapped up in all of this.

You know, people are protesters are throwing things at them.

They're having to arrest people and they don't, you know, have a direct role in any of this.

So it's just it feels feels like it will be really hard to watch where this keeps going if things keep escalating on both sides as they are right now.

Yeah I agree with everything.

Everyone said.

And this stems from when Trump came into office in January.

One of his first initiatives was executive orders aimed at ice and putting Ice more in the public and, you know, pushing them to go make these arrests.

They quickly wave sensitive locations, which used to be sort of, off the table.

We're talking schools, hospitals, churches, people showing up, Ice agents at graduations and grabbing people as they're meant to be graduating high school.

And as was discussed, this quota requirement of jumping to 3000 per day is now the goal that Stephen Miller has said to Ice in terms of, arrests and then moving people through the process.

The flip flops back and forth in just a couple weeks.

And now you have farmers, cattle ranchers, hotel owners, restaurant owners who have serious workforce concerns because Ice is showing up on their on their job sites, arresting people broadly without checking criminal record.

And now we're going to have a workforce shortage in these really essential service areas because of these confusing directives and sort of this Wild West approach to how we're going about, addressing immigration in this country.

We'll see how what we're talking about this next big protest on July 17th, but there might be others in the meantime, July 17th.

Is that where a nationwide nationwide again.

And now just like the no Kings okay.

All right okay.

One thing that is certain these days is the economic uncertainty.

State economists are saying that there is a 5050 chance Colorado will dip into a recession.

And as our one of our regular insiders, Jesse Paul, wrote in the Colorado Sun this week, in the best case scenario, the legislature is projected to face a $700 million hole next year if it wants to maintain its current spending plans.

But that's assuming there's no recession and the current version of the Republican federal spending plan does not pass.

Eric, this was the outlook provided to the Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday.

It was.

And it's sobering stuff.

Anywhere, anytime somebody tells you there's a 5050 chance that it's going to turn severely south, that gets your attention.

And even on the upside, 50 that it doesn't go into recession.

As you quoted Jesse Paul, you're still well, well, short, going on $1 billion short of the current rate of spending.

It strikes me that up until the very end of his administration, and Governor Polis has basically had the good fortune to preside over boom times.

those times seem to be changing.

Whether it is Michael Bennet or Phil Weiser or Person X to be the next governor of Colorado, they're going to preside, and lead during a very different environment.

And we need to hear from them during this campaign.

Front and center needs to be this issue there are a number of causes to this.

And yes, spending is down.

And yes, whatever happens with the quote, big, beautiful bill, is a huge factor.

But it's not the only factor.

And some of it has to, be a reflection in the mirror.

Elena, it really cannot be overstated the massive impact that uncertainty in Washington is having on the state and local levels.

Both of the independent, forecasts that were presented to lawmakers this week had a bunch of interesting numbers.

The $700 million is one of them.

Another few that caught my eye was $1 billion.

So if Congress were to pass the House version of that reconciliation bill, that would be the potential negative impact on the state budget.

1 billion with a B, 4.8%.

So that's our current state unemployment rate.

This is higher than the 4.2, percent national average.

And this is the first time in 25 years that Colorado has had, an unemployment rate that's exceeded the national rate, for an extended period of time.

The third number is zero, which is the percent chance of anyone receiving a Tabor refund.

Any taxpayers receiving that refund in 2025 or 2026?

Meanwhile, at the local level, you've got we've talked about this at this table, Denver, battling the $250 million deficit over this year and next, which they're currently working through layoffs.

They've already implemented a hiring freeze.

Agency cuts are imminent.

You also have Boulder, that's facing a $10 million deficit.

They've also put in the hiring freeze through the end of the year.

It's a mess.

And it's inevitably going to have consequences on people's daily lives, whether it's, you know, you're a city worker or you depend you're depending on that Tabor refund that you're not going to get anymore, or, you know, agencies that are going to curtail their services that you might rely on.

Yeah.

And, it's a complicated time.

And as everyone knows, there's so many factors leading into this.

I thought Axios and Molina highlighted had some really great points on the actual numbers.

We're talking about, consumer sentiment at a 20 year low.

So American consumers across the country are feeling nervous.

They're feeling anxious, they're holding on to their money more and choosing not to spend.

And we see that has tangible impacts at the local level where there's less tax revenue coming in, which reduces services.

I think when we're talking about the state budget, one of the big factors of all this that deserves some conversation is also Tabor, you know, we have for years, do the Tabor financially constrain some of the state's ability to actually generate revenue and spend that money down?

And we were at a time where we are in a financial crisis as a state.

When we look to the financial horizon, it's deeply concerning, and Tabor makes it all that much more complicated.

On the health care front, as we talked about last session, it was the first time that health care spending, was higher than education spending in Colorado.

So that's a growing program.

And if we do not receive these federal dollars to subsidize those costs, another billion dollars to the state budget, I don't know what that means for how we balance a budget that is that that horrific.

So lots of concern and something I'm sure we're all going to keep an eye on.

And House Republicans, Colorado House Republicans are kind of pointing the finger this week.

They've posted on social media, kind of like I told you.

So, that we mentioned this is going to happen.

No one listened to us, and here we are.

I think people were listening.

They were just hopeful that something would be worked out.

And they really didn't see this big, beautiful bill coming down the line and being as draconian as it is, even though some Republicans would like it to be stricter.

So we will probably see a special session if we will see one if it passes.

In the meantime, you see the is trying not to have quite as many interim committee meetings to save money because it is going to be so grim.

It's not going to be good, even if the big beautiful bill doesn't pass.

But it's so tough.

Denver is right now you've got employees rebelling because they're looking at new rules for career service, which would change the whole when people are eligible, when people are eligible to be laid off.

And we're looking at 15 to 20% cutbacks in the city's employment.

So it's a long, hot summer for a variety of reasons.

It is okay.

In the wake of last weekend's shootings and killings of Minnesota state lawmakers, Colorado's secretary of state took down the public campaign finance database, which is filled with leaders, addresses information about donors, those kinds of things which are made public, a public matter now.

Axios Denver was the first to report this story of this site coming down.

And it's hard because while protection of our leaders is so vital, their job is to be reachable and approachable and transparent.

How can there be both?

Thanks.

Thanks for the shadow.

All credit goes to my colleague John Frank for breaking this story.

It's a tough balancing act as you've, as you've illustrated, you know, Colorado is a state that really prides itself on transparency and tracer.

This, campaign finance database that's public facing is one way that it really, you know, or like that it really stands on in this way.

But there is not a state law like in other states, where public officials information is shielded in many other states, they've passed a law where, it you can only basically access that information through a public records request.

And again, Colorado being the transparent state, doesn't have that kind of law in place.

There are certain protections for different kinds of workers, like health care workers.

There's a few other, you know, domestic violence, victims, people, that have, you know, a special need for that.

But public officials aren't part of that.

And so in our reporting, we've learned that at least 31 state lawmakers have requested their information be redacted, which is part of the reason why, Secretary of state took down that website to to make that happen for them.

And that is allowed in state law to, to personally request, redactions like that.

But it's just not an automatic thing that's given to them.

But in Jon's reporting, he talked to Senate President James Coleman, who said that in this upcoming session, next year, that lawmakers are going to seriously be looking at changing that law to shield some of this.

But again, you know, a big balancing act between being open, transparent, holding people accountable, making them accessible to their constituents and protecting their public safety and their families.

And, you know, it's so easy with the internet to look to access this kind of information.

And these are dangerous times as we've seen.

Adam.

And we've had some of these conversations in Colorado during the pandemic actually around health care workers and protecting people's information because of threats from the public.

So sadly it's not something that's necessarily new.

I do think part of this conversation and what's leading to a lot of this is there is this inherent sense across the country of a mistrust in government and in government leaders.

I was looking at a poll this was actually from March of 2024.

That said, 81% of people believe democracy in the US was under threat.

This was from Georgetown long before we had the results of this election.

I can only imagine things have gotten worse for a lot of Americans, and I do think there is a responsibility from the top to have these conversations about elected officials and civil servants.

In the wake of the mass shootings, the president of the United States chose not to call the governor, and refused, to, you know, Governor Walz and really, really talk about how horrific this is, how inappropriate this is that no one, you know, politics should not cause someone in their life in these circumstances.

And that's, to me, is a real threat and is really going to push people away from running for office, who may be really good, competent leaders because they don't want to put themselves, literally and sadly in the firing line.

I think that might happen, too.

That would be so unfortunate.

Patty.

It's so easy now to find someone's address that maybe redacting it from that from tracer will help, but you will still find them.

And people do want transparency.

I talked last week about Aurora ending there in public city council meetings.

For now, you at the very least, should be able to see your public officials in action at their place of work.

The home issue is so tricky.

We saw Supreme Court justices in Colorado.

We saw people who filed lawsuits to keep Trump off the ballot, getting threatened and actually having some protection at their homes.

So you want to be sure if someone's going to be brave enough to be a public official to keep their private life.

It might not be private, but you want to be able to keep it safe that you've got the children of the the Minnesota lawmaker now putting out an incredible statement, especially compared to no statement from Trump.

Just what it takes for families to go out in public now.

And it's not even just leaders like Amy Coney Barrett's sister in a different state was also threatened.

Like, how can we control all this?

Can you know, Eric, Elena started this conversation by referring to this as a balancing act.

And that is the right phrase.

And that's the right analysis.

And different people are going to come to different places of where that balance is achieved.

For me, particularly given that transparency has not been the number one calling card of Colorado lawmakers and others over the last few years.

And there have been cutbacks in that vein.

I, I'm going to argue for continued transparency.

That doesn't mean a home address cannot be redacted.

Here and there.

I have zero problem with that.

I'm not sure you need to take down the entire website or why you do that.

That's not complicated.

Technology.

But, you know, I think transparency still needs to remain the order of the day while recognizing that this is a new reality we are living with.

Pray God, I'm wrong, but I'm fearful that these kinds of random acts of violence against people involved in the public space, you know, are going to become more common.

And it's not going to be completely a one off.

I would just end by saying, I still think for a typical lawmaker, whether it is in Colorado or in Washington DC or in some other state capital around the country, they are at greater risk in their car driving to or from the workplace than they are to this kind of greater, I mean, random violence.

And I think we need to keep that risk equation in mind when all this stuff is going on.

I feel like a lot of us like to escape to our beautiful places in Colorado that are just so quiet and serene and beautiful.

This next topic was recommended by a viewer named Barbara.

And she's not the only Colorado and who's thinking about where this is going to play out.

14 million acres of federal public land in Colorado could be put up for sale if the budget bill passes, as is.

Adam.

We're talking about hiking trails, wildlife habitat, areas that but up to waterways and ski resorts.

It's a lot in this western U.S. but a lot in Colorado.

Yeah, we're learning more and more that, you know, old triple B is it's got everything in it.

It's a little bit of a Christmas tree, some tucked in or these different provisions, one that is causing a lot of concern from Westerners.

Because we are talking about, you know, Vail and Copper Mountain are both on national forest land.

You have lunch loops near Grand Junction, Big Thompson Canyon, Hartman Rocks and Gunnison and the City Mountain in Durango, all potentially included in this bill.

And the thing is, once public lands are sold, they are gone.

That's usually how this has worked.

Historically, 70 to 90% Westerners, often even mega according to polls, are opposed to this concept of selling off public lands.

We have a really proud Western culture here.

We'd love to get outside, we'd love to get out in the mountains, and we love access to those amenities.

It's part of why we choose to live here.

There's also a provision stuck in this bill, which I would encourage everyone to look at that says, well, you know, these lands can only be used for housing or related infrastructure.

That's only for ten years.

There's a stop on that.

At which point then they would be much more flexible for other use.

So once again, keep looking at this very comprehensive long piece of legislation because, there are concerning things in that bill.

Okay.

In the version that went to the House, there were a proposal for public lands in the West to be sold.

It didn't include Colorado that had to get pulled before it passed the house.

But now Colorado has been at it's been added back in with Colorado.

And you can look to our own, prairie pen Lee, David Bernard, people who've been involved with the, with administration for coming up with the plan and pushing and project 2025 pushing, selling public lands.

Adams.

Right.

Even Mego supporters do not approve of this.

There was a big poll like two months ago.

People in the West want to keep the lands public, and let's hope this makes it through.

All right.

This is certainly become a hot issue up in Grand County where we spend most of our time as it is throughout the state, but particularly the mountain communities and where, this public land, largely exists.

I, I'm just left thinking, you know, this description of the big, beautiful bill, big no one can argue with the big part of it.

Beautiful.

When we're starting to attack or jeopardize the beauty of this state and the beauty of this country.

I think beautiful might be in some dispute.

There's so many red flags being raised around this issue.

We've already had a lot of them.

There was a recent report from Headwaters Economics that found that less than 2% of public lands in the West, near towns with increased housing demand, are even suitable for housing.

And that 2% is even further complicated because of wildfire risks.

The second is the way that it was introduced, Senator John Hickenlooper, who sits on the National Resources Committee, told CPR that he was completely blindsided by this bill because none of the Democrats that are on that committee were given advance notice.

They didn't get to look at this bill.

They had no input on it, even though their states are on the list of, you know, places where these public lands are going to be sold from.

The financials are also a big one.

You know, we have no idea the kind of impact, negative impact that this would have on the outdoor recreation industry, which generated 1.2 trillion in economic output in 2023, supported 5 million jobs.

And lastly, Adam hit on this is the finality of it all.

You know, once public lands are sold, there's no there's no do overs.

They're gone.

And that's that's huge.

And the ranching community in Colorado, I mean, that will really hurt.

You can't have big development near cattle ranches, you know?

All right, we'll see what happens.

Let's go down the line now and talk about some of the highs and lows of this week.

We'll start with the low notes.

We can end on a happy note, Patty, with a low, the the circus.

It's federal government.

Sorry.

The federal courts over Mike Lindell for defamation trial.

He was.

He did lose, which is good.

But the fact that Joe Altmann, a Colorado podcaster who really set a lot of this in motion, is unapologetic, is now being fined $1,000 a day pro judge for contempt of court.

The fact that these election deniers are still selling their story from 2020 is appalling.

Yeah.

Okay, Eric, quote unquote, to what Patty just said, mine's more of a personal pique.

I'm tired of watching the Stanley Cup go to Florida.

This is four out of the last six years where the cup has been won by a Florida team.

It's time, you know, the only non sunbelt team to win the Cup in the last six years was Colorado back in the Avs back in 2022.

Canada hasn't won a cup in 33 years.

Florida can be known for other stuff.

They should not be the hockey state.

Yeah, okay.

The white House did not issue a proclamation for Juneteenth.

And on Juneteenth, President Trump on social media said there are too many non-working holidays in America and that it must change to make America Great Again.

So, I think it's, you know, he's making it quite clear where he stands on a federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the city of Denver.

Budget is top of mind with that Career Services Board meeting this week, where they postponed some of these decisions about how do you go about firing long term workers?

But we're talking about a legitimate reduction of both people in programs in the city of Denver that's going to be felt by this community.

Okay.

All right.

Let's talk about something good, Jenna Griswald, because she is refusing to comply with a ridiculous request for federal election records that her office really shouldn't have.

And in all states from this 2020 election denier campaign, Colorado lost one of its preeminent citizens this past week.

Charles Burrell, musician par excellence, but more importantly, a human being par excellence.

Passed away at age 104.

What a life.

Yes, indeed.

We learned this week Denver is getting a new music venue, the 102 year old Federal Theater, which has been empty for decades, is getting new life thanks to the owners of the Oriental Theater.

So super excited to see what they do with it.

We all need more music.

I agree with you.

That caught my attention.

Yes, I the No Kings protests.

You know, the numbers are debatable about what we saw.

I've seen some that say 5 billion people, 21,000 rallies.

But the reminder that, you know, this country is a democracy.

We have the right to protest and we have the right to criticize our government, Republican or Democrat, and do it in peaceful ways.

And we saw a lot of peaceful people out there having their voice heard.

And that always just gives me hope that, you know, we have a bright future, hopefully ahead of us, no matter the circumstances we're in now.

Okay.

All right.

Good.

What makes me happy today is that our friend and regular insider, Ian Thomas Tafoya, got married today.

The new Mr. and Mrs. have been together for years.

And today they pledge their love to each other in front of family and friends.

And of course, knowing Ian in the most picturesque Colorado setting.

So we wish them lots of love.

And my love also goes out to my in-laws who are celebrating 60 years of marriage this week.

Thanks to you, insiders for joining us this week and for all of your work and insight.

Thank you for being engaged with us and watching our show or listening to our podcast, and I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

Stay cool Colorado.

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