The Home Front: Access to ‘long-acting contraceptives’ credited with decline of teen birth rates in Colorado

“Widespread access to long-acting contraceptives is credited with declining teen birth rates in La Plata County and across Colorado,” reports The Durango Herald. “It’s been almost a 10-year effort that produced these phenomenal results,” said Liane Jollon, executive director of San Juan Basin Public Health. In La Plata County, teen births fell from 18.7 births per 1,000 female teens in 2013 to 12.2 births per 1,000 female teens in 2016, according to recently released Kids Count data. Across Colorado, the teen birth rate has fallen from 22.3 births per 1,000 teens in 2013 to 17.8 births per 1,000 teens in 2016. Preventing unintended pregnancy helps teens finish school and pursue college if they choose. Unexpected children are also more likely to experience poverty, difficulties in school and health problems, Jollon said.”

“Twice in the past three years, the state was ordered to reinstate an employee fired after an internal investigation found that the worker had abused one of Colorado’s most vulnerable citizens,” reports The Denver Post. “In one case, the victim was an adult with severe disabilities allegedly covered with a blanket and kicked at Pueblo Regional Center, and in the other, it was a teenager whose head was slammed to the floor in a youth detention center. Both employees appealed to the State Personnel Board and won their jobs back, an outcome the Colorado Department of Human Services hopes to avoid in the future with new legislation on the way to Gov. John Hickenlooper.”

“At Wednesday night’s honors banquet for the Greeley Dream Team, Mark Morales stood among 18 Greeley high school seniors with a rose in his hand,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “Each of them would present the rose to the people who helped the low-income or first-generation college students receive scholarships. Morales, of Northridge High School, overachieved even among that group. Morales won both the prestigious Boettcher and Daniels scholarships, giving him a full-ride to any university in the United States. He took his rose across the ballroom to his dad and brother, and they collapsed in each other’s arms and cried.”

“Three popular bike trail systems bring almost $14.6 million to Mesa County per year, according to a study recently published by researchers with Colorado Mesa University,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “The study, called the “Grand Valley Public Trails Systems Socioeconomic Study,” provides a look at how mountain bike trails benefit the area financially and also explores who exactly is using those trails.”

“St. Vrain Valley Superintendent Don Haddad is one of four finalists for the superintendent job in Nevada’s Clark County School District,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Clark County is the fifth largest school district in the country with more than 320,000 students. The district encompasses 358 schools and about 8,000 square miles in southern Nevada and includes Las Vegas. Haddad, who couldn’t be reached for comment on Sunday, was promoted to St. Vrain Valley superintendent in 2009.”

“Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony Doerr will discuss his novel, ‘All the Light We Cannot See,’ in Loveland this September during the 15th year of Loveland Loves to Read,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “Advertisement Doerr will make one of his rare author appearances in Loveland on Sept. 24, and tickets for the event will go on sale April 21, according to Friends of the Library members.”

“Records show Routt County Treasurer Brita Horn spent almost $1,000 in February to have a Denver-based attorney help Horn respond to allegations she was improperly working on her state treasurer’s campaign from her office,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The legal bill is drawing scrutiny from other elected officials in Routt County who are questioning whether the county’s taxpayers should be on the hook for the legal bill. An invoice Horn’s office submitted to the county finance department shows that the day Steamboat Pilot & Today reported Horn used her county office line to call a campaign consulting firm she selected to help run her campaign for state treasurer, Horn started paying a lawyer in Denver $350 an hour to review and help respond to allegations of improper electioneering.”

“Ryan Harris first learned about Islam while watching a video on world religions in a social studies class,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “Harris, a former Denver Broncos lineman, said he ended up converting because the religion meshed with his own ideas on spirituality. “I always had a companion with me — Allah,” he said Harris was one of the panelists who spoke Sunday at the Islamic Center of Boulder’s annual “Getting to Know Your Muslim Neighbors” open house. The well-attended event was created to open a community dialogue and showcase Islamic teachings and customs.”

“A scarcity of snow and bare ground that isn’t yet starting to green could result in hungry bears with few options for food. State and local authorities last week got a bit of an early start on bear awareness information,” reports Vail Daily. “The start of the information campaign this year has come before any bear reports in either Vail or Eagle. Neither police department has received any reports of people spotting the animals yet. Still, bears have come out in places along the Front Range foothills.”

“Sanctuary cities, opioids, the state budget and whether or not Senate President Kevin Grantham has plans to run for governor,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Those were the topics state legislators addressed Saturday during Legislative Hour, where Grantham and representatives Jim Wilson and Judy Reyher fielded questions from an audience in the Fremont County Commissioners’ chambers. For Grantham, the Cañon City Republican who is approaching the end of his term limit, the answer to a question about whether he intends to put in a bid for governor was simple: ‘No.’ “There’s plenty of ambitious people who want to do that. I’m not one of them,” he said. “We’ll have an interesting governor’s race, and there’s plenty of people in it, plenty of people to find to support.'”

“Along with reducing tourism, the potentially permanent closure of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway also could derail city funding of security officers at Manitou Springs schools,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “As city leaders scramble to address a projected annual tax revenue loss of $500,000 from the train closure, they say they can’t consider such a request from Manitou Springs School District 14. But school officials suggest the city could raise recreational marijuana taxes, an idea city officials are considering.”

 

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