The Home Front: Boulder abortion doctor calls federal probe a ‘witch hunt’

One of the country’s few late-term abortion doctors, who lives in Boulder, blasted a congressional probe into his practice as a despicable witch hunt and called the Tennessee congresswoman who launched it, Marsha Blackburn, a “shameless coward,” The Boulder Daily Camera reports. Doctor Warren Hern believes the investigation is a way to paint a target on his back. “Blackburn, a member of the transition team for President-elect Donald Trump, sent Hern — one of the country’s few late-term abortion providers — a letter Nov. 2 informing him that he is the subject of an investigation into ‘the practices of second and third trimester abortionists.'” Hern wrote the congresswoman, saying, “Nothing that happens in my office is relevant to your ‘investigation,’ a term which, in this context, is simply a euphemism for ‘persecution.'”

The Denver Post reports how Denver and Aurora could lose funding under Donald Trump’s pledge to cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities. “Taken to the extreme, Trump’s policy would have a major impact on Denver. The city received more than $175 million from federal sources in 2015 — a big chunk of the city’s total annual budget of about $1.9 billion. Aurora received about $11.5 million in federal funds out of its 2015 budget of roughly $627 million.”

The University of Northern Colorado has increased tuition more than expected and is now in the back, declaring a “victory,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “The university hit students with a 9 percent increase this year, not counting housing and fee increases. And UNC plans near-7 percent tuition increases each of the next two years.”

“The Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management on Thursday announced the cancellation of 25 undeveloped oil and gas leases covering 33,000 acres in the Thompson Divide area southwest of Glenwood Springs,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. SG Interests, which owns the leases, “considers the cancellation of the leases a breach of contract and/or a private property taking, and plans to take the issue to court.”

The Longmont Times-Call reports on a program that welcomes veterans to get free care at an American Legion. “Post 32 Cmdr. Tom Daschofsky said 38 homeless, low-income and at-risk veterans from across Boulder County walked through the doors of 315 S. Bowen St. between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. for free services, such as two hot meals, flu shots, haircuts, massages and bicycle tune ups.”

Police are still investigating the overdose deaths of two people in Routt County, according to Steamboat Today. “Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg said Thursday that the two men who recently died from drug overdoses had a combination of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and alcohol in their systems.”

The Pueblo Chieftain has a piece about Cornell West coming to town. “He is at once a philosopher, academic notable, social activist, author and intellectual giant,” the paper reports. “And Thursday before an overflow crowd at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Hoag Hall, the indomitable Cornel West riffed like a firebrand preacher with a beat poet’s flow, a truth teller’s heart and an advanced degree.” Trump, West said, is just another moment.

It could be years before accused Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Dear stands trial, according to a Denver Post report on today’s front page of The Cañon City Daily Record. A judge determined he is incompetent, “continuing the indefinite holding pattern in the prosecution against him almost a year after his alleged attack.”

It snowed, the Fort Collins Coloradoan reports.

The Colorado Springs Gazette looks at the construction of a new homeless shelter downtown. “Springs Rescue Mission plans to open its long-awaited new shelter Friday evening, a watershed moment three years in the making for a community that has long been short on beds for the homeless. The nonprofit’s facility marks the first step in a massive renaissance on its campus – a nearly $28 million endeavor to help ferry people from homeless campsites to their own apartments.”

“For the first time in well over a century, the city of Durango will rely exclusively on the Animas River for its water supply throughout the winter,” reports The Durango Herald. “Normally, the city supplies its reservoir in the winter solely from the Florida River, a waterway further east of town, which Salka said is the preferred option,” the paper reports. “There’s always a first time for everything,” Steve Salka, the city’s utilities director told the paper.