‪The Home Front: Despite new law, some Colorado hospitals reject aid-in-dying drugs‬

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Some hospitals in Colorado will not offer aid-in-dying drugs after voters approved a ballot measure in November that allows terminally ill Coloradans to obtain drugs to end their lives.

“Though the aid-in-dying proposition overwhelmingly passed in Colorado last fall, hospitals throughout Southwest Colorado have opted out of the program, leaving local residents with few options for care,” reports The Durango Herald. “Recently, both Centura Health, which operates Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango, and Southwest Health System in Cortez announced they would refuse to offer terminally ill patients the option of aid-in-dying medication, though Southwest officials said they will continue to amend the policy. A spokesman for the Pagosa Springs Medical Center said the hospital’s board and staff are reviewing the law and have not come to a decision on the matter. In the Nov. 8 election, Proposition 106 passed with 64.5 percent of the vote – more than 1.765 million residents – and was signed into law Dec. 16.”

The Greeley Tribune fronts an Associated Press wire story under the headline “Trump suggests huge tax” about the new president’s import tax plan with Mexico. In local news the paper reported on antibiotic use for farm animals.

“The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will leave the agency next month, clearing the way for President Donald J. Trump to appoint a majority of the commission,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

The Longmont Times-Call reports how Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman “contended Thursday that Boulder County’s latest moratorium on accepting and processing new applications for oil and gas development in unincorporated parts of the county is illegal. If Boulder County doesn’t rescind what Coffman called “its ban on oil and gas development” by Feb. 10 — or if the county “takes other steps to impede the efficient and responsible development of oil and gas resources” — the attorney general said her office “will take appropriate legal action.” Boulder County commissioners and their staff, however, maintained later Thursday that the county’s current moratorium — set to expire on May 1 — is a legal, short-term, temporary timeout that county officials contend the Colorado Supreme Court has indicated could appropriately have in place to give it the time needed to complete and adopt updates to Boulder County’s oil and gas development regulations.”

Northern Colorado is booming, according to real estate people, The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports. Consider: “$351,486: the average price of houses sold in Loveland and Berthoud last year.” Also :10,247: the number of homes sold in Larimer and Weld counties in 2016, which amounted to an 11 percent increase over 2015 in Fort Collins and Loveland/Berthoud and 13 percent in Greeley/Evans.”

The Pueblo Chieftain reports that “neither Pueblo County nor the city of Pueblo are ‘sanctuary’ communities that would face a cut in federal funding under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump this week, according to local officials. Trump’s order gives the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security authority to block federal grants to cities and communities that have declared themselves sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, or do not cooperate with federal immigration officials.”

“The Fort Collins police sergeant at the center of a lawsuit that alleged discriminatory and retaliatory practices existed within the department has been placed on leave,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Sgt. Gary Shaklee was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday, Fort Collins Police Services Assistant Chief Jerry Schiager confirmed. Schiager would not answer questions about whether Shaklee’s leave was related to the lawsuit settled last week, saying only he was “unable to provide any further information on this personnel matter.” He did, however, note policy that states ‘placement on administrative leave is not disciplinary in nature.'”

The Boulder Daily Camera reports the Turley’s Kitchen restaurant “is up for sale as the owners of the four-decade-old eatery seek to move on to a newer, less demanding venture. Paul Turley and his brother, Jim, opened a Good Earth franchise on 17th and Pearl in 1977.”

“After Christo’s announcement that he was canceling his Over The River temporary work of art project Wednesday, Fremont County received email notification from the Over The River Corp. relinquishing a Temporary Use Permit issued in 2011,” The Cañon City Daily Record reports. “Christo said in a statement that after 20 years and going through five years of legal arguments, he no longer wished to “wait on the outcome” and would rather devote his energy, time and resources into the realization of The Mastaba, Project for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which he and his late wife Jeanne-Claude conceived 40 years ago. The only remaining case pending for Over The River is one that was issued in 2015 by Rags Over the Arkansas River against the Bureau of Land Management’s 2011 approval of the project.”

The Denver Post reports on a bill that would allow bicyclists to roll through intersections. “Senate Bill 93, introduced Jan. 18 by Sen. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, would permit a person riding a bike or ‘electrical-assisted bicycle’ to pass through intersections without stopping if the rider ‘slows to a reasonable speed, yields to vehicles and pedestrians, and can safely proceed or make a turn.’ Bicyclists could also legally ride through — and make right turns at — red lights if they stop, look around and determine it’s safe to proceed.”

“Protesters and alt-right British provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos had their say Thursday at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, as guaranteed by the First Amendment,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.,” protesters chanted. “Build That Wall,” Yiannopoulos’ audience chanted back. Yiannopoulos was in town to speak on “Why the Left Lost the Working Class,” as part of a college campus tour. More than an hour before the event started, dozens of protesters from Colorado Springs Anti-fascists, Showing Up for Racial Justice and other groups faced off against a long line of ticket holders queuing up for the sold-out event at the Upper Lodge on the campus of the state university.”