FREE
January 7, 2021
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
VOLUME 94 | ISSUE 9
COVID-19 prompts delay for Legislature After a few days in January, General Assembly will pause until mid-February BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN
the isolation that has marked this year for so many has taken on a new meaning for her: Much of her family is still unreachable and her grief is invisible to most Americans who know nothing of Ethiopia and the trauma of its wars.
The Colorado Legislature will delay its full return for at least a month because of the prevalence of coronavirus in the state. The General Assembly was originally set to reconvene for the 2021 lawmaking term on Jan. 13 and work uninterrupted into May. Instead, lawmakers will “gavel in” on that date and address urgent business, including swearing in new members, before “gaveling out” after a few days. The plan is to return in full on Feb. 16 to carry out the rest of the 120-day lawmaking term. Gov. Jared Polis’ State of the State address will be delayed until February as well, his office said. Democrats, who are in control of both the state Senate and House, announced the delay on Dec. 21, though it has been planned for more than a week. Republicans were not part of the rolling out the news. “I was asked my opinion,” said Senate Republican leader Chris Holbert of Parker. Holbert said he
SEE REFUGEE, P4
SEE LEGISLATURE, P5
Millete Birhanemaskel, 39, of Denver, moved to the United States from Ethiopia in 1982 and owns the Whittier Cafe, a business that she said is focused on social justice. She still has family in Ethiopia and is concerned for their well-being and safety PHOTO BY MARC PISCOTTY as a civil war has broken out in the Tigray region where her family lives.
Her ‘mind is the hardest place to be’ Refugee is consumed with worry about family caught in renewed civil war BY SUSAN GREENE COLORADO NEWS COLLABORATIVE
Millete Birhanemaskel, a refugee, longtime Denver resident and businesswoman, grappled with 2020 as many others have: She tried to protect her family, her employees, her tenants from COVID’s reach. She worried about the presidential election. And she managed to keep her coffee shop, the Whit-
tier Cafe, from going under. She knew already what it was to be separated from the people you love, whether that separation comes by virus or by war. And she knew, too, what it was to live with uncertainty and powerlessness because each is a refugee’s emotional wallpaper. But the anxieties of 2020 for her became magnitudes greater on Nov. 3. On that day, as Americans and much of the world awaited election results, civil war flared again in her family’s home country of Ethiopia and her grandmother and two aunts went missing in the shelling. In the days since,
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 6 | LIFE: PAGE 8 | CALENDAR: PAGE 9
CALL FOR HELP Whatever you are going through, crisis counselors and professionally trained peer specialists are available to help. Call the Colorado Crisis Service hotline at 1-844-493-TALK (8255). There is no wrong reason to reach out.
SETTING GOALS, PRIORITIES
Experts offer advice for new year’s resolutions amid the pandemic P8