Statetap: ’tis the season (for buying guns)

“Santa’s packing some heat along with the toys this holiday season in Colorado,” is the glorious opening line of this Gazette article about Colorado’s record breaking number of background checks surrounding gun purchases this Black Friday. Granted, this is only the second holiday season since the state’s mandatory background check law has been in place, but still – 4,100 is a helluva a lot of background checks.

statetap Lest you worry this kind of news fell out of the news cycle, reports of technical glitches on Colorado’s healthcare exchange website have started to roll in again. Connect For Health Colorado officials assured the public that “we are aware that some customers have technical issues completing their application for financial assistance,” and they are “working to address these as quickly as possible.” The published an AP article that profiles one Colorado Springs resident’s experience with the enrollment site.

Not the kind of pot tourism we expected: Hundreds of families have flocked to Colorado over the past year-and-a-half in search of a special kind of medical marijuana that treats children with epilepsy. The Denver Post produced a short film, “The State of Hope,” that documents the story of a North Carolina woman who uprooted her family for the sake of alleviating the symptoms of epilepsy suffered by her 12-year-old son.

It’s the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek massacre, which left nearly 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho dead at the hands of the Colorado militia. Every year, to commemorate the tragedy, people run 180 miles from the site of the massacre in Eads to the Capitol building in Denver. This year’s no different – around 70 people participated in the healing exercise. Upon their arrival at the Capitol, Gov. John Hickenlooper issued an apology on behalf of the state. Via the Pueblo Chieftain.