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MorningMagazine_2025-02-13 Gabrielle Mendoza
Denver Public Schools sues Department of Homeland Security
Denver Public Schools (DPS) is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Through the lawsuit, the school district is attempting to block federal immigration agents from making arrests at schools. Just last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) raids prevented school buses from picking up children.
Though ICE agents have yet to make any arrests at Denver schools, district leaders and educators are concerned about that possibility. That’s because the Trump administration rescinded a 2011 policy that deemed schools as “protected areas” from immigration enforcement.
DPS superintendent Alex Marrero told The Denver Post that the goal of the lawsuit is to have the sensitive locations policy reinstated so that immigration activity at schools is once again restricted.
Since Trump took away these protections, fewer students are attending Denver schools according to the lawsuit.
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Judge rules in favor of tenants at Aurora apartment complex
An Arapahoe County District Court Judge has ordered Aurora landlords, as well as a rental company, to stop harassing its Venezuelan tenants based on their citizenship status.
The decision comes after the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a lawsuit, alleging that apartment complex managers repeatedly intimidated their renters with the goal of forcing them out of their unit without due process. According to the suit, the apartment complex owner, assistant manager, and rental company PHS Rent LLC threatened to report a Venezuelan couple with pending asylum applications and their 15 and 3 year old sons to immigration authorities.
The judge says the tenants proved that “immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage will result” if their landlords were to disclose their immigration status to anyone.
Now, the case will proceed toward trial.
Trump picks Colorado oil and gas advocate to lead BLM
Donald Trump has nominated oil and gas advocate Kathleen Sgamma (SKA-ma) to run the Bureau of Land management. KGNU’s Pam Johnson has the details.
Sgamma has been the head of the Western Energy Alliance since 2006, which protects the interests of oil and gas producers. She’s an outspoken critic of former President Biden’s increased regulation of the oil and gas industry, as well as his changes that made BLM put land conservation at the forefront of their energy development and recreation management.
Just last year, the Alliance joined a lawsuit with petroleum associations in neighboring states challenging new Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, leasing rules. Those rules increased rates and requirements for companies drilling for oil and gas on federal land.
And back in January, Sgamma openly supported Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, which expanded energy exploration and production on federal land and eliminated incentives for electric vehicles and energy-efficient appliances. That’s all according to The Denver Post.
Local advocates are already speaking out against the nomination. The Southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity told KGNU that “Sgamma would be an unmitigated disaster for our public lands as the head of Trump’s Bureau of Land Management” and that “everyone who treasures the outdoors should oppose her nomination.”
The BLM manages 245 million acres of land above ground, and 700 million acres of underground minerals.
Colorado promised $339 million for health insurance
The federal government awarded Colorado $339 million about a month ago for health insurance programs – but the state has yet to see that money.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the funding on January 15, just days before the end of then-President Joe Biden’s administration. The money is part of an annual allotment known as pass-through funding, authorized through the Affordable Care Act., and will be allocated to programs that make health insurance more affordable.
But, according to The Colorado Sun, the state Division of Insurance has not yet been able to pull down award money from the federal payment system.
To be clear, The Sun says funding can take a couple weeks to show up in state systems after being awarded. But, the delay is officially stretching on longer than normal.
While it isn’t clear if the delay is directly related to Donald Trump’s funding freeze, the money joins hundreds of millions caught in limbo between the federal government and the state.
The Trump administration has also directed many federal agencies to stop nearly all external communications, making the already unclear situation even foggier.
Colorado is one of many states that have sued the Trump administration over its funding freeze.
A meteorological phenomenon spotted after snow storm
Amidst snowy and frigid weather yesterday morning, people from all over Colorado sent in photos of a meteorological phenomenon showing colorful spots on either side of the sun. The phenomenon is known as “sun dogs.” The spots are officially known as “parhelia,” coming from the Greek translation of “next to the sun.” The National Weather Service said this occurs due to light refracting off of ice crystals.
According to reporting from KDVR, sun dogs are similar to rainbows – they just involve sun interacting with ice crystals rather than rain drops.