The Home Front: Gov. Hickenlooper ‘taking steps toward a presidential run in 2020’

“Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is taking steps toward a presidential run in 2020, holding meetings with veteran political players, ahead of a visit to Iowa next month for an official trip that is sure to draw attention,” reports The Denver Post. “The Democrat’s actions in recent months signal to his closest associates and top party strategists that the former Denver mayor and two-term governor is more serious than ever about mounting a White House bid against President Donald Trump. “John’s sense of timing in politics is his lucky star. It served him well when he ran for mayor and then governor. It may do the same for a run in 2020,” said Alan Salazar, Hickenlooper’s former chief political strategist.”

“The Trump administration, led by Utah’s congressional delegation, proposed unprecedented rollbacks to public-lands protections last winter,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “The outdoor recreation industry, which depends on public lands for survival, fought back. But it’s unclear how much political and economic clout the industry has (“Outdoor rec industry defends public lands,” HCN, 2/10/17). This winter, gear companies carried out their threat to move the renowned Outdoor Retailer show out of Salt Lake City. The multi-day event debuted in Denver in late January.”

“In early 2017, three and a half years after the University of Northern Colorado’s Monfort College of Business launched its MBA program, officials in the college realized the program had a choice: evolve or die,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “The program wasn’t meeting enrollment goals. And the people it was trying to reach — business professionals looking to advance their careers — rarely had time to attend school on campus full time. So, starting in August, UNC’s MBA program will be online-only. “How do we remain dynamic and innovative if we don’t try new things?” said Linda Black, the dean of UNC’s graduate school. The online MBA will launch in August, and will have five enrollment periods per calendar year: two each in the fall and spring and one in the summer. Monfort College of Business Dean Paul Bobrowski said classes will be taught in seven-week cohorts, and students will be able to complete the program in as little as a year if they take a heavy courseload.”

“Boulder County Democrats may narrow some of the fields of candidates vying to advance to their party’s June primary election ballot, during a March 24 county assembly at Boulder High School,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Boulder County Republicans, who will meet in their own county assembly at Longmont’s Skyline High School that day, are not currently being asked to pick favorites in any intra-party rivalries for primary-election ballot spots for the county government and Boulder County-based state legislative seats up for election this year. But no GOP candidates have yet stepped forward to seek those county government and state legislative posts in either the primary or November’s general election, and the March 24 assembly may result in some people volunteering to represent the party and its policies on June’s ballots.”

“Eric Grey loves sharing the natural surroundings of Boyd Lake State Park with the many campers, picnickers, boaters, anglers, swimmers and hikers who visit the park, tucked inside Loveland,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “Despite being swallowed up by the urban growth, we still have an area you can come into and get away from it all,” said the park manager, who recently was named Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s 2017 Ranger of the Year. “It’s a backyard escape.” Grey has worked for Colorado Parks and Wildlife for 23 years as a ranger and senior ranger before, in 2010, being named park manager of Boyd Lake. Since then, he has worked to connect visitors to the park and improve their outdoor experience, including putting together a redevelopment plan to boost the campgrounds, roads and facilities in the park, which boasts about 500,000 visitors each year.”

“Silverthorne snowboarders did well enough at the 2018 Olympic Games that the hometown breweries have taken notice,” reports Summit Daily. “Leading the way in Pyeongchang, South Korea, 17-year-old Red Gerard won the goal medal in the men’s slopestyle competition, America’s first gold of the 2018 Olympic Games, on Feb. 11. Thirteen days later, Gerard’s close friend Kyle Mack scored silver in the men’s Big Air competition, while Chris Corning, a third snowboarder with ties to Silverthorne, also competed in the event, but did not medal. Since then, Corning took second place in slopestyle at last week’s Burton U.S. Open Snowboarding Championship in Vail.”

“High temperatures during the work week are expected to be in the 50s, but winter is not over yet,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “Steamboat Springs meteorologist Mike Weissbluth, who runs snowalarm.com, described the coming week’s weather as unsettled with some chances of precipitation before a potentially significant storm comes through Sunday. “It is too soon to talk about the details of the Sunday storm, other than it may slow down and it will likely be significant,” Weissbluth wrote. ‘For what it’s worth, further storms are forecast to be lined up in the Pacific for more snow chances following the late-weekend storm.'”

“Concerned about sequencing, and fearing any appearance of bias toward the developers at 311 Mapleton Ave., the Boulder City Council will hold its own public hearing on a hotly contested quadrant of the development site,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “At issue are about four acres of land at 311 Mapleton, the 16-acre property that once housed the Boulder Sanitarium, then Boulder Memorial Hospital and later Boulder Community Hospital. A team of developers seeks to build The Academy on Mapleton Hill, a campus proposed to include 93 independent housing units for seniors, plus a wellness center and a memory care facility. Most of the site has a land-use designation of “Public,” but the four acres in question are designated as “Open Space — Other” — a little-used category that, in spite of its name, does not always apply to actual open space. In this case, the four “Other” acres include a large swath of paved surface parking.”

“On the eve of last year’s Horsetooth Half Marathon, Stephen Small got a call from a friend in Colorado,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Small had signed up for the annual Fort Collins race weeks before, but a work trip had unexpectedly taken him to Texas. “I was just going to forfeit my spot (in the race),” said Small, now 25. That’s when his friend Jake Lord called. Lord asked if he could run the half marathon in Small’s place. “So ‘Stephen Small’ ran the Horsetooth Half last year in two hours and 27 minutes,” Small said, with a laugh.”

“The Lincoln Park Superfund Site, which was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in 1984, is under new ownership,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “The Cotter Corp. owned the non-operating uranium mill property south of Cañon City for decades before it was sold Friday to Colorado Legacy Land. The Central City Schwartzwalder Mine was sold to the company. Colorado’s State Radiation Program, which is part of Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment, is an agency that reviewed and approved the Radioactive Materials License transfer.”

“People have bullying and cyberbullying on their minds after a teenaged girl took her own life last month,” reports Vail Daily. “However, students are being bullied and cyber bullied at about the same rate as in recent years, according to a local survey of middle and high school students. The data addresses “who” and “how often,” it does not speak to “why.” While police continue their investigation, regional research has uncovered a few certainties, said Michelle Stecher, executive director of the Eagle River Youth Coalition. The school district’s Healthy Kids survey questioned 1,000 local middle school and high school students and found: Twenty percent of local middle and high school students say they’ve been electronically bullied. Middle school girls are three times more likely to be victims of cyber bullying than boys.”

“More human remains, clothes and a backpack were discovered Sunday near a hiking trail in Teller County where a missing Colorado Springs woman’s abandoned vehicle was found in September, the Teller County Sheriff’s Office said,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “The bones and other articles were found about 200 yards from where a human skull was discovered by a hiker Friday afternoon near the Ring the Peak Trail near Catamount Reservoir west of Green Mountain Falls. The Sheriff’s Office is treating the death as suspicious.”

“Marijuana sales totaled $27.7 million in La Plata County in 2016, generating $36.9 million in economic output and 351 jobs, according to a study released last week by Local First,” reports The Durango Herald. “The impetus for the study, said Monique DiGiorgio, managing director of Local First, was that La Plata County considered in June 2017 implementing excise taxes on marijuana sales, and the Durango City Council had a similar discussion in August 2017. Both boards ultimately decided against implementing a tax.”

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