LAWYERS

Colorado hands out grants aimed at college

regulators may allow the industrial polluters to keep spewing damaging air into neighborhoods but then o set it through buying carbon credits or stu ng the carbon underground in long-term storage, an ethically controversial tradeo .

Community groups also want tough enforcement language written into the rules, Lehman said. If she gets too many speeding tickets, her driver’s license is taken away, she said. But companies like Suncor have years of and ready to start today and tomorrow — it will help power economy and help Colorado shine in terms of workforce readiness,” said Gov. Jared Polis in an interview with Chalkbeat Colorado.

Eve Lieberman, the executive director of the O ce of Economic Development and International Trade, said, “Increasingly we were hearing from businesses that they want to be partnering with educational institutions and creating these innovative models. at’s exactly what we’re doing here is forming grant opportunities to allow for that innovation, those partnerships, and to have industry help co-create that talent.”

In 2021, Colorado lawmakers passed legislation that created the Student Success and Workforce Revitalization Task Force Report to determine how to spend federal pandemic relief money. e task force’s main suggestion was to create a statewide grant program for innovative ideas that connect community groups, colleges, and employers. e state is now using $85 million of the one-time federal money on the grants.

St. Vrain Valley Schools is using its $7 million grant to partner with multiple multiple air violations and never lose their permits.

“It is a dual system of justice,” Lehman said. “Big polluters continue to do what they want, and our government doesn’t have the courage to just say we are in the business of protecting our citizens and you have to shut down. How is that so hard?” e air pollution division knows the lawyers on their pro bono list will bring those arguments, and more, to the industrial pollution rules, and other upcoming policy battles.

“We absolutely have a deep commitment to environmental justice,” McDonell said. “But we can only say that so many times.” organizations and school districts, including Estes Park R-3, Weld RE-3J, and Adams 12 Five Star Schools, to further develop its early childhood/K-12 education, technology, and advanced manufacturing workforce pathway programs. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun,

St. Vrain currently partners with CU Denver in a program for high school juniors and seniors to take dual education enrollment courses that can transfer to CU Denver after graduation. With the new funds, CU Denver will develop classes for adult working professionals and high school students to access college coursework and earn additional credits. e credits will be free to students and district professionals.

“Being able to remove so manynancial barriers, it gives students a real strong feeling of success and our older working professionals, where many of them haven’t been in school for a number of years, the same feeling,” said Diane Lauer, St. Vrain Valley School District’s chief academic o cer.

Students will be able to earn certicates in the technology or advanced manufacturing elds in welding, metal fabrication, pipe tting, electronics, and machinery operation.

Colorado State University of Pueblo was awarded over $1.39 million to help address the healthcare crisis, especially for Coloradoans who are Hispanic, rural, and low-income. e money will help address the state nursing shortage with new nurses and instructors in the graduate program.

“One of the reasons that nursing shortages exist is because there’s a shortage of nursing instructors. is is due to retirements in the healthcare workforce, and could be a university or college-level nursing program not being able to admit the number of students that are applying because there are not enough quali ed faculty with the credentials to instruct,” said Alexandra Hansen, CSU Pueblo’s regional development o cer.

Hansen said that the university wants to listen to its community and encourage those in the southern Colorado region to join an in-demand, high-paying occupation.

People who have experienced limited access to healthcare may nd the nursing eld a ful lling career, Hansen said. Limited access could be due to visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

In an interview from July 25, District 1 County Commissioner Christopher Richardson weighed in on the CR 13 damage and other weather-related road issues around the county.

“We can’t nd any records dating back 40 years where County Road 13 has overtopped in that area. e road didn’t keep up with the very fast rate of rain. We were getting 5 inches per hour of rainfall. After the second big storm, at the end of mid-to-late June, that brought us 37 inches from May through June. e county on average gets less than 18 inches a year,” said Richardson. “ e area has two ood control dams. Both of those were completely lled prior to the rain last week, so there was nothing to save it.”

Elbert County Road and Bridge is now installing culverts at the CR 13 washout that will allow for 6,000 gallons of water ow per minute. is is about 2.5 times larger than the initial 40% increase from earlier this year. Richardson said July 25 that he was con dent CR 13 would be reopened within a week or two.

Elbert County is working on a public damage assessment in collaboration with Road and Bridge, Elbert County Emergency Management, representatives from FEMA and CDOT, and the Colorado Department of Public Safety. is will help document the areas of damage around the county.

“Our biggest focus is on making sure houses make it through this ooding,” said Richardson. “ ere’s only one home I know that was completely surrounded by water. “We haven’t lost any homes so far.”

Elbert County recently hired an in-house engineer who will help determine the best way to move forward with construction around the county. Coming from El Paso County, County Engineer Darren Adame is Elbert County’s rst inhouse engineer. Previously, experts were consulted from outside the county.

“Adame has quite a lot of experience in ood zone management. He came on a week after the initial damage. He will help decide the best way to move forward,” said Richardson. “To have somebody on site all the time that can actually respond and provide advice for construction design, is going to pay o tremendously for us. He’s the right person and came at the perfect time.”

In his conversation with the Elbert County News, Richardson emphasized that several road closure signs have been stolen from around the county, citing how dangerous this is for residents. “We’ve had quite a few of our road closure signs disappear. Removal of those can endanger people lives.”