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
Bringing the border to the Front Range
Area faith communities host asylum seekers as border shelters reach capacity “Does it snow here in December?” she asks me, sitting in the shade of a tree outside a Denver church on an 80-degree June day. “Yes,” I tell her, through an interpreter. “Sometimes it snows an inch, other times feet. It snowed recently in…
Pressure points
High HOA fees are a challenge for affordable homeowners In the seven years Adam Perry has owned his affordable unit at Iris Hollow, there have been times when his monthly homeowner association (HOA) fees have exceeded his monthly mortgage payments. First the outdoor stairs needed repair. Then the roof needed replacing, and instead of paying…
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…
‘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…
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 first step
BVSD updates its discipline policy and looks at ending its relationship with police departments In one of the first moves following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in late May, Minneapolis public schools moved to cut ties with law enforcement on June 2. Supported by thousands of letters from students…
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…
Coloradans rally around immigrant parents seeking reunification with their children
On Monday, July 23, attorney Laura Lunn with the Rocky Mountain Immigration Advocacy Network (RMIAN) went to immigration court at the Denver Contract Detention Center in Aurora unsure of what would happen. She was scheduled to represent a client from Central America, who had been separated from her son at the U.S. southern border, in…
Angela K. Evans 