Long-form news stories about local, state and national policies with a specific emphasis on human migration, socio-economic disparities and perceptions, and the criminal justice system
‘In the interest of justice’
ICE detaining and deporting those with pending criminal charges harms victims and the accused When Boulder County Deputy District Attorney Christina Rinke found out that Jose Lopez-Gutierrez had been deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), she petitioned the district court in Boulder to revoke his bond and issue a warrant for his arrest should…
Tribal leaders engage Colorado Senator Bennet to ensure universal access to clean water on reservations
Lorelei Cloud grew up in a house without running water. Every week, her family would travel to her uncle’s place and haul water from his garden house back to their house. Eventually they moved and did have a water line coming in, but even then, it wasn’t drinkable due to naturally occurring methane in the…
Opposite of America
Asylum seekers fearing death at home find only prison and discrimination in the U.S. Four hundred and sixty-two. That’s how many days Mishkat Sarkar has been in America. That’s how many days he’s been in immigration detention, including the last 15 months in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver Contract Detention Facility in…
No confidence in the system
A man was released from prison only to be detained by ICE — now he’s in the hospital with COVID-19 Alma Rosa Perez-Aguirre cried all the way back to Longmont from the Sterling Correctional Facility. She had left Boulder County around 5 a.m. on May 15 with her daughter and niece, driving more than 120…
The new front line for ‘water protectors’
Colorado activists head to Minnesota to protest the Line 3 pipeline, while one Boulder resident sits on the board that can stop it The week of Joe Biden’s inauguration began with the news that he planned to rescind approval for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, as part of his…
The other DAPL protest
Landowners in Iowa fight controversial pipeline over claims of eminent domain Protesters in North Dakota claimed victory in their fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on Sunday, following the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ refusal to issue an easement to drill under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe. But the issue is far from…
A lot of moving parts
A rundown on affordable housing in Boulder County Known as a desirable place to live, with its high quality of life, progressive values and natural landscape, Boulder County has become increasingly unaffordable over the last several decades. For many workers — teachers, firefighters, civil servants and those in the service industry — rent and home…
Oil and grouse
The sage-grouse debate isn’t just about a bird, it’s about saving the West as we know it Sandra Goodwin, a private landowner from Boulder, Wyoming, has personally seen the effects of oil and gas development on greater sage-grouse populations near her home. When a gravel mine began hauling an average of 350 semi-truck loads a…
Only the 11th state
Why was the gay/trans panic defense, recently banned by state law, ever even a thing? As protesters called for racial justice outside of the Capitol in early June, one chant stood out in particular to Rep. Breanna Titone (D-Arvada). “Black trans lives matter,” she heard over and over again. And it’s one she could not…
ICE detaining transgender individuals despite widespread calls for their release
In Estella’s home country of Cuba, transphobia is rampant, she says. She’s been attacked. She’s been targeted by police. There are no human rights, she says. There is no access to HIV medication. “I preferred to risk my life than continue that way,” she says through her lawyer at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network…
Angela K. Evans 