Last weekend, while visiting Maryland, a friend of my mother's who used to bring her family out here to ski, said to me, I'm not hearing good things about Colorado lately.

And then she changed the subject and went on to something else.

And I didn't get to respond.

And since then, I've read reports on homelessness in Colorado.

Executive orders targeting Colorado and the 15th lawsuit against the administration, another ICE raid and stories that captured the tension of the final days of the legislative session.

So let's talk about what's happening in Colorado, the lows and yes, there are highs as well.

On this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

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

We have Patti Calhoun, the founder and editor of Westword.

Marianne Goodland, chief legislative reporter with Colorado Politics and the Colorado Springs and Denver Gazette.

And Kristi Burton Brown, executive vice president at Advance Colorado and former chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party.

Now, before we get into any political action from this week or what remains to be done before the end of the legislative session, I want to talk about the reality of homelessness in Colorado.

Two different reports came out this week.

Both have alarming headlines like how Colorado is now fourth in the nation when it comes to an increase in homelessness.

And also how more than 52,000 Coloradans reached out to shelter and housing services over the last year.

Patti, your paper actually took the two reports side by side and compared them.

Remember, it was not that long ago when homelessness was on the front page of every paper on the leading the news because really during COVID it became a prominent, prominent concern, not that it hadn't been an issue in Colorado for a long time and truly across the nation.

So the first study that had been announced, it was in the works, the state subsidized it.

It was looking at all of the state, if its most alarming, found finding really was not just that 53,000 people had looked for services and that doesn't mean they were all homeless.

It meant they were trying to get housing or food or different kinds of training.

So but definitely people are feeling the economic crunch.

But it's around the state now is not just in Denver proper or around Denver.

The Common Sense Institute, which tends to do this, found out that this study was being done, kind of parachuted in and released its own the same week, which is a lot more shallow doing, a lot of comparison between Aurora and Denver.

But again, the biggest issue is that we are looking at homelessness outside of the metro area.

And that is a really hard thing to solve because there are no services.

Mary Ann, your thoughts?

I was sort of fascinated by a statement that came out from the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless that was about do you see this report, which they called loosely informed and misguided and and pointed out to a lot of a lot of things that kind of ties into when an organization helicopters into a subject and then comes right back out and goes and does something else, which is kind of see a size model for these things.

One of the things that I thought the the CCI report that the coalition pointed out was that homelessness happens in a vacuum and is due to personal failings rather than the housing market and landscape.

And I found that really sad that that that that that's part of the attitude here.

and the Coalition's point was a person needs to a person can only get a job when they have stable housing.

So, you know, saying that that work is the only solution to homelessness is incomplete.

I think.

So.

Aurora has the work first model.

Yeah, Denver has a housing first model.

Correct.

And I feel like this debate has been going on for years now about which which is the right way.

That's really generations.

Yeah.

Christine Sure.

Well, I think it's kind of a mischaracterization of a workforce model to think it's solely focused on get a job.

That's the only thing you can do with a workforce.

First model really does is it says, Let's train you how to get a job.

Let's give you those skills that you're missing that are preventing you from being able to be gainfully employed.

And it also focuses on treatment programs.

Lot of people who are homeless also have drug addiction issues or mental health issues, and they actually need treatment.

So that's what I like about the Aurora program.

I think another point that I think some people are missing in this is how Aurora came to decide their program.

Clearly, they didn't want to model it on Denver, a city that has been failing on homelessness for years despite some attempts to solve it for sure.

Aurora went around the nation, sort of world leaders did.

They visited cities that had successfully dealt with homelessness, and that's how they came by.

The model that they are now implementing.

So I think it's going to be very worthwhile to watch Aurora see their success rates and see if they can match those rates in the city as they were modeling themselves after.

But Aurora and the Competence Institute diving into what Aurora is doing, very research based, very based on models that have seen success around the nation.

Yeah.

It's interesting.

We have a story that we put up today, compare comparing migrants.

And remember, we had 43,000 migrants come into Denver over two years.

Probably half of them moved on is the assumption.

Most of them are out of any kind of subsidized housing now.

And the difference in some of this with housing first is if you have a support structure and many of the migrants do, they've got relatives here.

They have found jobs somehow.

They have fewer psychological issues and physical issues really than many of the people on the streets.

So they have gotten out of the program a lot faster out into their on their own now, whereas homelessness, many of those people are really severely damaged psychologically or physically.

They need other things besides just getting a job.

And you may be critical of Common Sense Institute's report because it was kind of said parachuted in.

They report 90% increase between 2020 and 2024 throughout Colorado for homeless.

And that's a disturbing number.

What what can we what can be done that isn't being done?

I hope these reports kind of guide lawmakers or is there anything left to do?

Well, I think we can do what Aurora is doing.

I mean, that's why I think it's so interesting to watch them.

And they're in the beginning stages of creating this facility that's going to provide training, treatment and housing for people.

And so they are coming in with an innovative approach that Denver hasn't tried.

And Denver's tried all these different paths over years and continues to see rises in homelessness.

So I think Aurora is the one to watch while.

They're doing the model Colorado Springs did, which is like the model Houston did.

So when the point of time count comes out, which is a federal count done every January, we'll have a more accurate not assessment of the real numbers all over.

And that comes out when I see this summer, right?

This summer.

It was done at the end of January.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Now, let's go to the legislative session, which is scheduled to end this coming Wednesday.

Governor Polis has approved the budget, but debates continue over these remaining days over transgender rights, parental rights, First Amendment rights.

The governor vetoed a bill that called for social media regulations at the saying that they would, you know, infringe on our rights as users.

The state Senate vote veto.

I voted to override that veto, but then the House didn't have enough to do the same.

There are lots of twists and turns in these remaining days that I am learning from you every year.

Mariette, and I'll start with you.

I'll start with the veto of Senate Bill 86, the social media bill.

That bill, the governor vetoed it on a week ago Thursday, and the Senate sponsors brought it up the next morning.

It was the first thing that they wound up doing the next morning.

They wanted to move lightning fast.

They had the votes.

They had 29 votes and we needed 24.

And they actually and there was a little bit of vote swapping that went on between the final vote in the Senate and what happened a week ago Friday.

So then they then they and they sent it over to the house and the house could have done it that day.

But they held it over until Monday, which gave the governor the weekend to do whatever arm twisting or persuasive tactics he might have in his his back pocket.

And it and Monday morning, we were hearing the votes aren't there They never even got to the vote.

They just decided to kill the bill and lay it over till after the session was over with.

And that was the end of that.

But is overriding a vetoes hasn't happened a long time.

my gosh.

We have had three veto overrides in the last 37 years and two of them were tied to the budget, which is kind of a different critter when you talk about it.

The last time a bill was actually had a veto override was during Roy Romer's administration in 1988.

I think the last big fight of this legislative session is going to be over a bill on artificial intelligence.

This was a bill that this was a law that was passed last year and the governor signed it.

But with a lot of irritation.

So that bill got the the fix bill got introduced this past Monday.

And immediately you heard some grumbling from the tech and investment sectors over what they claimed was not enough.

That had been done to address the concerns.

And I think this is going to be a huge, huge fight over the last couple of days of the session.

And I'm hearing there going to be a lot of amendments.

All right, Christie, I'm curious in your take on what transpired in the state house on Wednesday night.

Sure.

I mean, a huge day.

I think it was a record setting number of testimonies.

All these people who signed up to testify in the Senate, I believe over 700 people showed up at the Capitol, wanted to testify.

The committee chair limited it to 8 hours of testimony.

They're active about 1:30 a.m.

But what was really significant in 1312, this bill they were hearing is that, you know, talk about parental rights, so-called transgender rights.

But what it did is it would have threatened the custody of parents who don't agree with the state's viewpoint on the transgender ideology.

Basically, parents who don't want to let their child transition into a different gender.

It would have allowed courts to use that against parents in custody hearings and call it coercive control, had all these definitions written into it.

So a lot of people across the state, across party lines, were activated to oppose this bill.

And so in the end, there were a lot of amendments offered, a lot of them in its past.

But that entire section about parents parental custody rights was cut from the bill pages taken out of the bill.

I think the huge victory for parents rights, obviously I still don't like the bill.

I think there's a lot of bad pieces in it, especially relating to schools and dress codes and businesses across the state.

But Huge victory for parents who showed up to the Capitol.

Sometimes it really does work to show up and let your voice be heard.

Okay.

All right, Patty.

So many interesting things coming at the last minute.

I have to give a shout out to Senator Bright because obviously your mother's friend didn't listen to him talk about how little toddlers are going to daycare centers with backpacks full of marijuana.

I'm pretty sure that is not the case in Colorado.

So that was a light moment during a marijuana hearing which would let you buy two ounces instead of one, which I think will not impact preschools all that much.

The air is so interesting because it shows how fast their technology is moving that what looked like a fix last year or a reasonable to some legislation.

We're so far behind the times.

Things are moving so fast and we think the legislature moves fast.

The last three few days, even if they come up with something that is good with the technician, with the tech technocrats, with policy.

The odds of us making yet another mistake for something that women need to be fixed again next year, depending on what's been developed with AI, that's going to happen too.

So a week from today it'll all be over until we have to go back and fix all the messes.

Will there be a special session, Marianne?

if they do a special session, if Congress does adopt a budget that makes these very huge cuts in Medicaid, that the states will have to figure out where to get $1,000,000,000 that they don't have right now.

They struggled enough to find enough money to cover $1,000,000,000 shortfall in the budget the governor signed just a few days ago.

Where do you come up with $1,000,000,000 to backfill the federal the loss of federal funds?

I honestly don't know where that's kind of where that's going to come from.

One suggestion I've heard is changing the criteria for Medicaid, and that means kicking people off the rolls.

And I and I find that a really disturbing prospect.

If there is a special session and according to The Colorado Sun who wrote about this first, we're probably not looking at this until late summer or in the fall, And Axios Denver headline this week said Denver's defiance of Trump peaks at 100 days.

That 100 day mark came the day after the administration rescinded $24 million in grants to Denver that would have covered what the city has already spent on migrant shelters.

Not only is the mayor outspoken about this city council members, the new D.A.

in town.

And Christie, I want to start with you.

This all comes, too, after that big ice raid down in the Springs, Colorado, is definitely in focus for the administration right now.

Absolutely.

And it's because Colorado has some of the worst sanctuary state laws in the nation.

Add to that that they're trying to pass another one this legislative session that would prohibit all local governments from cooperating with ICE and homeland security at all and find them tens of thousands of dollars if they decided even to cooperate when we're dealing with violent criminals and repeat felons.

So, yes, there's a reason that the administration has Colorado in its sights.

What I find interesting is you see Mayor Johnston, you see Phil Weiser almost try and build their career off of defying the federal administration right now.

And yet at the other side of their mouth, they're begging for money from the Trump administration.

And just it just doesn't work that way.

You can't defy a federal administration and not expect them to remove federal funds.

So I think that it should have been very, you know, an expected result for Denver.

You're going to lose millions of dollars in funding if you refused to comply with federal standards that are designed to keep the citizens in Colorado safe.

And, you know, Colorado, Denver has a really terrible public safety record right now.

U.S. News and World Report calls us the third most dangerous state in the nation.

If you listen to the El Paso County sheriff on that raid that went down in Colorado Springs.

He his hands are tied in a lot of ways for cooperating initially before it gets this bad because of state laws in Colorado.

So a lot of these drug rings, trafficking rings, many of them made up of gang members who are illegal immigrants here in Colorado.

We could crack down on that a lot easier and faster if state law would change.

Didn't I see the mayor of Colorado Springs welcomes more raids?

I feel like I read that, he says.

Yes, we need help.

Yeah.

I mean, in Colorado Springs, in many cities, they want these people out and their hands are tied because of state law desperately needs to change.

If we care about the safety of our people.

Okay.

Well, Colorado Springs, one of the things that was so interesting is how many servicemen were also there during the raid at this underground club in Colorado Springs.

Why is there I mean, we now are part of 15 suits, cities filed 15 suits against the Trump administration or different departments and actions.

We're not the only state doing that.

Of course, there are many involved and they range and they go across the board on all the various cuts that have gone on.

This is very true to Denver's brand that Denver is has always been a socially liberal city in the middle of a not very socially liberal state.

The big changes that around Colorado, more areas have become more socially liberal over the last few decades.

But so it's not a surprise that Colorado, Denver and Colorado would defy what they think is wrong headed actions by the feds.

And this federal funding is what is parceled out to the states and what's been allotted to the states.

That, of course, doesn't mean it doesn't go away.

And we might see other things go away.

We've seen Boebert is talking about, hey, go ahead and take away the money for the front range train plan.

Certainly a lot of different plans across the country are losing their money.

It's a shame as we head into spring summer season that we're going to national parks that have been decimated with their hiring.

It is not just what people consider wrongheaded attitudes about migrants.

It is about everything we hold dear in this state.

I, i. I don't fault Weiser for going after the administration on all these issues because the administration has absolutely no regard for the rule of law.

These are funds that were approved by Congress, and the administration does not have the right to just say, we're going to take away your money.

You know, this this defies congressional approval, which, you know, the executive branch is not in charge of Congress, no matter what the administration thinks that it might.

The other the other thing, of course, regarding the raid in Colorado Springs, I had read, I think late last week, late Wednesday night, not a single charge has been filed on any of them.

So how do we know that this these were these dangerous trend agua criminals or some of these some of these other people that that they don't want in the state when there's no criminal charges that have been filed or at least not yet announced?

Christie, have you heard any more on who was arrested or any charges yet?

It's been multiple Ms. 13 gang members, the dangerous Salvadoran gang that 20 years ago, gang members and a host of people I believe they released the number was over 100 who were in the country illegally and not allowed to be here.

So I think I think sometimes in huge rage, you can't expect all information to be revealed immediately.

It's going to be revealed there.

They're doing a good job of researching and knowing they're bringing the charges that are going to stick.

And I think it's more important that they get it right than they do it immediately.

I think we're still waiting for information on the raid that nabbed 50 people at an Adams County underground.

We're still waiting for info on that.

Yeah, we are.

Okay.

All right.

Now that we are in May, kids are counting the weeks until summer break, maybe even the days.

And things could look very different when they return to school at the end of summer.

The new budget does provide some more money for education, but not as much as educators had hoped for.

There are also concerns over free breakfast and lunch programs at schools.

Federal cuts to a program that provided mental health support at schools.

And just this week, Reading Partners, a literacy program that's been here in Colorado for about 13 years, announced it is ending because of financial challenges.

Christi, since you do sit on the state board of Education, I'm just curious, how does education look in Colorado right now?

Sure.

I mean, you know, I think there are some good parts and there's some difficult parts in education here in Colorado.

I think people love to look at the funding numbers, but the numbers we don't look at quite so often are accountability numbers, academic accountability.

And I hear this all across the state Board of Education, from our Democrat members to our Republican members.

And they look at the performance rates of our kids and how few kids in our states can actually read and do math at grade level.

That number hasn't moved much in the last few years, even with increased funding.

I think the problem is when we say more money is always the answer, it's not.

We've been putting more money into schools and getting worse results here in Colorado.

So I think there are other solutions we need to focus on.

We need smaller class sizes.

We need to take the money that we do have and pay teachers more lower administration.

The rate of other money in Colorado going to administration is honestly crazy in Colorado.

We need to stop hiring some of the administrators and have the funds to hire quality teachers who want to stay in the district.

Let them afford a life in the district.

So I don't think it's more money.

I think it's how we're spending the money needs to be more effective and focused on that academic accountability that can actually improve our kids education.

And I'll just say to when you improve kids education, you put them on a path to success for their entire life.

And that's why this matters so much.

This is why it cuts across party lines.

We all want to see our kids improve in school and have more educational options and choices because that is what keeps them out of prison.

That's what sets them on a path to success.

It opens up trade and college opportunities.

So we have to figure this out and not only look at funding, but look at accountability metrics as well.

All right, Paddy.

Let me agree with Christy.

It's absolutely true that too much money is spent on administration and sometimes incompetent administration.

at the DPS, but they're fighting over whether or not to extend the superintendents contract.

It's still not up for a year, but they're fighting over transparency and how much parents are allowed to know.

So this is not a good a not a good example for students when they are not being transparent, when there is a lot of closed door things.

So that's a big issue.

But also coming out of Denver, you've got the Emily Griffith opportunity School, which is doing some great things and now has a new innovative program to allow training that will get degrees.

So there are good programs out there.

Let's applaud them.

Let's make sure they have the funding they need and just make sure the kids can succeed.

There's two things I want to look at.

Number one, the School Finance Act is still working its way through the legislature.

There was some activity on that Thursday morning when there was some additional funding put toward school districts, toward 19 school districts that all have declining enrollments.

Most of them are rural schools, some of them are the smallest schools in the state.

And under the School Finance Act that was rewritten where the rules were rewritten a year ago.

Those schools aren't going to get any additional money this year.

And but that doesn't mean that their costs are going down.

the healthy meals issue is interesting.

You're going to see and in all likelihood, you're going to see this on the ballot in November, a request to allow the state to keep all the money that's been collected under Proposition F, which is the 2022 measure that created this program.

It has far exceeded the cost, as far exceeded what the estimates were by millions of dollars.

if voters say no, it's very clear that there's going to be cut more cuts in this program.

And right now, it's not income based.

Every child is eligible for breakfast and lunch.

In all likelihood, it would go to an income based program If the voters don't approve, a change in that is likely to come on the November ballot.

I'm curious about how the lunch thing will go, because we used to have it be income based, correct?

Correct.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

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

We'll start on a low point so we can end on a high note.

Patty, go.

The crazy circus around Trader Sanders and the NFL draft.

We have him speaking and NFL officials not being impressed with his behavior beforehand.

We have Donald Trump being very upset that he wasn't picked in the first round and his phenomenal jeans that he shared with his father.

We have the prank that came up and then finally he's picked in the fifth round, maybe a little too much publicity on this in advance.

Yeah, I think that prank, though, is awful.

I think that was just wrong.

Okay, I'm going to pick up on Patty's a little bit here.

One of the things that I that I found intriguing is that when President Trump weighed in on Twitter Sanders, I thought that is the worst thing that he could possibly do because the NFL owners don't like Donald Trump.

He's been trying to buy an NFL team for years and years and years.

They won't sell him because they don't like him.

And it's like, yeah, tell tell those NFL owners who don't like you anyway what they should be doing.

Okay, Christi.

Okay.

Well, I'm not a football person, but I'm a hockey person, so I have been watching all the NHL playoffs.

Milo would be the avalanche losing to the stars 3 to 2.

They still can come back.

I'm rooting for them.

I think they will, but not a great spot to be in right now.

Bummer.

All right, let's go in a high note, Patty.

Cinco de Mayo.

The celebrations start on Saturday, even though it's not till Monday.

Get out to Civic Center.

Enjoy Civic Center while you still can.

Before the misguided renovation project starts next year.

In the fall.

You said late fall because Chris Kendall market's already moved.

Okay, All right, Mary, something good?

The Kentucky Derby is this weekend.

And there are two horses that I'm particularly interested in, what is called publisher.

The other journalist is the favorite at 3 to 1.

And my guess is that this is the only time.

It's a good time.

It's a good bet to bet on journalism.

All right.

I'll place a bet.

All right, Christie, that's.

A great I'll pick this one a little personal.

My kids are wrapping up their school year as a lot of our kids are.

And my daughter was trying really, really hard all year long to qualify for nationals in her speech and debate.

And she actually her last third of the year was able to qualify a Nationals in three different events, including debate, which is her favorite.

So that's super proud of her.

She she takes off after her mom, I would say.

She's even better.

But even better.

Okay, well, my high is my high that I'm still on after attending my high school reunion last weekend.

I know we all get this reunion invites and think, Do I really want to go?

And some have a hard No, but if you're toying with it I'd say go.

It was so awesome to pick up with my friends where we left off many years ago and to my favorite teacher who really made me who I am today was there, Eleanor Higginbotham and I talked about counting headlines.

That is a technology that doesn't exist anymore for the student journalists at my high school who were kind of like, What are you talking about?

But it was so fun to see the high school or the high school journalists who are now producing the paper that I used to run talk about their love for reporting and finding new stories and telling storytelling.

So that made me happy.

As their former editor in chief 40 years ago.

To my current journalists advocates, leaders in our community, I thank you for coming.

Elena Alvarez.

We miss you.

She was not feeling well today, so we hope you are feeling better.

Thank you all for watching or listening to our podcast.

I am Kyle Dyer.

I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

PBS's 12 believes in the power of original local programing.

Help us bring more shows like the one you just watched by donating at PBS's 12 Dawgs program Support today.