The Home Front: Denver will pay $999,999 to the family of a teen shot by Denver cops

“Rather than fight a long, expensive and painful court battle, the city of Denver and the family of a 17-year-old girl killed by police chose a different path,” reports The Denver Post. “Instead, city officials and the parents of Jessica Hernandez, the girl shot to death in an alley in January 2015, sat down to reach an agreement they hope will resolve the tension surrounding a controversial police shooting that prompted protests and forced the department to change its policy on shooting at moving cars. City officials on Wednesday announced a settlement that includes a $1 million payout and an agreement that police will no longer voluntarily release criminal histories of those they killed. The City Council will be asked on Monday to approve the $999,999 payment of taxpayer dollars.”

“A boisterous crowd that included dozens of progressive activists peppered U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Wednesday with questions, comments and jeers on health care reform, federal budget cuts and the cruise missile attack on a Syrian air base during his first town hall meeting of the year in Colorado Springs,” reports The Gazette. “The overflow crowd of more than 140 at the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Stetson Hills substation included dozens of vocal members of the Colorado Springs-Colorado Action Network, created after President Donald Trump’s election last November as a forum for progressives, liberals and others opposed to the new administration. At least 40 people waited outside the substation, unable to get into the overcapacity meeting room, including network members with protest signs that called for voters to “repeal and replace” the six-term congressman who is again up for election next year.”

“U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo,. hiked through 10,000 years of human history Wednesday morning in a walk up Devils Canyon, to the site of a development that failed in the wake of the oil shale bust and then was revived as a destination of a different sort,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Gardner snapped photos, examined interpretive signs and studied the red-rock backdrop of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area with representatives of Fruita, the Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Canyons Association. The Devils Canyon Trail weaves up the Uncompahgre uplift, passing through what remains of the subdivision, at which some golf-course tee boxes, utilities and a road to the most expensive lot still remain. Money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund was used to acquire the land for public use after the 1982 bust, said Katie Stevens, BLM Grand Junction Field Office manager.”

“A bill that would have pushed oil and gas drilling in Colorado farther from schools died Wednesday on a party-line vote,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “House Bill 1256, sponsored by Rep. Mike Foote, D-Lafayette, failed 6-5 after two hours of testimony in the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resource and Energy committee. It’s a vote that will prompt Patricia Nelson of east Greeley to put her incoming kindergartener in a different school this fall. ‘There are risks and those are some risks I’m not willing to take,’ Nelson said Wednesday after learning the bill failed.” (Read our own coverage of the vote here, and about environmental groups suing the state’s oil and gas commission over a Greeley proposal here.)

“As of Wednesday morning there were 754 inmates at the Pueblo County jail, a jail designed to hold a capacity of 509. Of those inmates there are 21 suspected of felony 1 crimes, the most serious offense someone can be charged with,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “Felony 1 crimes include, among other offenses, first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and drug possession with intent to distribute based on the amount of drugs with which the person was found. That’s usually in excess of 100 grams. Of the suspects in jail on felony 1 charges, 13 are in on suspicion of homicide and awaiting trial, according to Jeff Teschner, the detention bureau chief with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.”

“Fort Collins dispensaries sold more than $34.3 million worth of marijuana in 2016. Since added tax revenue for schools was a selling point of legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado, you might be wondering how those sales benefit a school near you,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Whether you’re hoping your latest joint or edible helped local students or are just wondering why schools are crying foul on state funding when marijuana taxes are on the table, here are five things to know about how marijuana taxes trickle down to education.”

“The Flatiron Flyer bus service’s success could be its Achilles heel,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “Commuters crammed onto the routes connecting Boulder, Denver, Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville and Superior 40 percent more in 2016 than they were the year before along that corridor, and riders are feeling the growing pains. Ben Heinemann is a frequent Flyer rider from Denver to downtown Boulder every morning for work. He praised its speed and reliability, but there are a few things he wished were different about the service that launched at the start of last year. “It gets really packed,” he said. “I think it has to do with the timing of classes at CU. If you get one when kids are getting out of class at that Euclid and Broadway stop, it’s definitely crowded with students. It’s fine, but those FF1 buses, especially, get super crowded.”