News
Colorado Democrats and Republicans pick new leadership in House, Senate
DENVER – Though neither the Colorado House or Senate changed hands in Tuesday’s General Election, both have new leadership with budget experience after elections Thursday morning.
Republicans continue to have a majority in the state Senate, while Democrats control the House.
Sen. Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, will serve as the new Senate president, and Democrats picked Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, to serve as House Speaker Thursday morning.
Both have served on the Joint Budget Committee and bring experience in handling state spending to their respective chambers.
Duran has served as the House Majority Leader since January 2015. The Speaker seat opened up after Dickey Lee Hullinghorst was forced to retire due to term limit rules. She will be the first Latina speaker in state history.
“Regardless of whether you have an R or a D next to your name, we will work to rise above partisan politics,” Duran said in a news release from the Democratic caucus. “Now that the election is done, it is time to govern together.”
Bill Cadman, a Republican from the Colorado Springs area, was the previous Senate president, but was also forced to retire because of term limit rules.
Jerry Sonenberg will serve as Senate President Pro Tem, and Chris Holbert will be Senate Majority Leader.
Republicans picked conservative Castle Rock Rep. Patrick Neville to serve as House Minority Leader.
KC Becker, a Democrat from Denver, will serve as House Majority Leader. Lucia Guzman, who had previously been the President Pro Tem of the Senate, was elected Senate Minority Leader.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.
What does the future hold for Coloradans after Tuesday’s General Election?
DENVER – Tuesday’s General Election marked a monumental shift in American politics, as voters elected a new president, shifted the makeup of Congress and approved several measures in Colorado that will have long-lasting effects in state politics.
Voters elected Republican Donald Trump to the presidency via the Electoral College and also confirmed that both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate will remain in control of the GOP, which means Republicans now should have a better chance of passing laws than had been the case in most of the past years, when the presidency and the two chambers of Congress were held by different parties. Continue reading
Aurora officer narrowly escapes serious injury after being shot in face by suspected murderer
DENVER – An Aurora Police Department officer was shot in the face and narrowly escaped serious injury in the shootout with a murder suspect Tuesday afternoon.
Aurora and Denver police held a news conference Wednesday to give further details on what turned into a confusing officer-involved shooting incident that spanned two cities.
Aurora police were first called out to Del Mar Circle Tuesday after a person with a weapon was reported. When officers arrived, they found a man with gunshot wounds at the scene. The man was taken to an area hospital, where he died.
That man was identified by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office Wednesday as 35-year-old Antonio Norwood.
Witnesses at the scene told officers the suspect had left the shooting scene in a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and gave police the car’s license plate number.
The plate was traced back to an address on 46th Avenue in Denver, where Denver and Aurora police went and found the Monte Carlo.
The suspect, identified by the Denver OMI as 23-year-old Juan Ramos, came out of a home on the street carrying an infant in a baby carrier, which he placed inside the car.
Officers decided to try and arrest Ramos then, pulling up on him in an unmarked vehicle, according to DPD. The department says Ramos started to shoot at officers, three of whom returned fire.
DPD confirmed two officers from APD and one DPD officer shot at Ramos, who later died.
An Aurora officer who was driving the department’s tactical vehicle was shot in the face during the exchange.
The officer, who has not been identified, was shot just inches below his right eye, according to a photo of the wound released by police Wednesday.
“Had that round taken a different trajectory or been a half-inch higher or lower, it would have been a different story,” Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said. “We would have been planning a funeral.”
Though the officer hasn’t been identified, Metz said he has been with the department since 2003 and was recently assigned to the SWAT team.
“I feel this is a miracle, if not a blessing that he is still with us,” Metz said.
The officer earned a service ribbon in 2015 for his handling of an armed suicidal person, and another award in 2011 for rescuing a shooting victim, according to Metz.
Metz thanked DPD for their response, and gave extra gratitude to the DPD officer who drove the wounded officer to the Anschutz Medical Center in their patrol car. He also thanked the hospital for its work on the officer and for helping getting his family to Colorado.
Police said the baby in the the suspect’s car is “fine” after being checked out and is now with other family members.
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.
Suspect accused of planting bomb at Nederland PD pleads not guilty, will remain in custody
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. – The suspect accused of planting a bomb outside the Nederland Police Department last month pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday.
David Ansberry, 64, was denied bond after his plea, as prosecutors argued he was a danger to society and a flight risk, which the judge agreed with.
Prosecutors said the bomb left outside police headquarters contained arsenic and was designed to go off instantly, and that Ansberry posed a threat to society should he be released since he allegedly is capable of building such a device.
Ansberry is charged with use or attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was indicted on the charge Nov. 2.
Ansberry allegedly dropped the explosive device off in backpack outside the police station sometime in the early-morning hours of Oct. 11. An officer took it into police headquarters before realizing the explosive was inside. Bomb squads eventually detonated the backpack.
Days later, Ansberry was captured in the Chicago area. He was identified as the suspect by people who had seen him near the police station around the time the bomb was place.
Another identifier was an old “STP” sticker placed on a business nearby, which led authorities to Ansberry because he was associated with the STP Family, a gang of mostly transients that lived in the Boulder area in the 1960s and ‘70s.
He will remain in custody pending his next court date, which has yet to be set.
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.
Initial ballot return numbers show strong effect on Colorado outcome made by unaffiliated voters
DENVER – Though ballots are still being counted in Colorado and final tallies won’t be known for several weeks, data released Wednesday by the Secretary of State’s Office give some insight into how powerful the unaffiliated vote was in the state’s presidential election.
Colorado went to Hillary Clinton – the current tally shows her receiving 47 percent of the vote compared to 44.8 percent for Donald Trump, who won the presidency in the election. Continue reading
Colorado voters reject increased cigarette, tobacco taxes in Amendment 72
DENVER – Colorado voters on Tuesday rejected a proposed amendment that would have increased the state’s cigarette and tobacco taxes.
As of 12:26 a.m., 54 percent of voters rejected Amendment 72, with 75 percent of votes reported.
The amendment would have increased the taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco and distributed the new tax money to various health-related programs.
Every pack of cigarettes in a pack of 20 is currently taxed at $1.01 by the federal government, and an additional $0.84 by Colorado.
Non-cigarette tobacco (excluding e-cigarettes) is also taxed. The federal government taxes those products, which include cigars, pipe tobacco, dip, snuff and chewing tobacco, based off the product’s weight or price, and Colorado taxes them at 40 percent of the manufacturer’s price.
If approved, Amendment 72 would have increased the state cigarette tax from $0.84 per pack to $2.59 per pack, which means cigarette smokers would have been forced to pay an extra $1.75 per pack.
The non-cigarette tobacco tax would have increased from 40 percent to 62 percent.
Current tax rates will now stay the same on both cigarettes and tobacco products.
“We are pleased that voters examined this deeply-flawed constitutional amendment and decided that it should be defeated,” Michelle Lyng, a spokesperson for the No on 72 campaign, said in a Wednesday news release.
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.
Colorado re-elects all 7 of its Congressional Representatives
DENVER — Coloradans made no changes to the people serving our state in the House of Representatives.
Coloradans voted to re-elect all seven Congressional representatives this year — Diana DeGette (D), Jared Polis (D), Scott Tipton (R), Ken Buck (R), Doug Lamborn (R), Mike Coffman (R) and Ed Perlmutter (D).
Here is a look at the results as of early Wednesday morning:
U.S. House District 1 Denver (61 percent reporting)
- x-Diana DeGette, Dem (i) 172,623 – 68 percent
- Charles Stockham, GOP 71,594 – 28 percent
- Darrell Dinges, Lib 8,985 – 4 percent
U.S. House District 2 (89 percent reporting)
- x-Jared Polis, Dem (i) 233,300 – 57 percent
- Nicholas Morse, GOP 152,724 – 37 percent
- Richard Longstreth, Lib 22,444 – 5 percent
U.S. House District 3 (81 percent reporting)
- x-Scott Tipton, GOP (i) 177,802 – 54 percent
- Gail Schwartz, Dem 133,076 – 41 percent
- Gaylon Kent, Lib 15,678 – 5 percent
U.S. House District 4 (90 percent reporting)
- x-Ken Buck, GOP (i) 231,884 – 64 percent
- Bob Seay, Dem 113,365 – 31 percent
- Bruce Griffith, Lib 16,623 – 5 percent
U.S. House District 5 (84 percent reporting)
- x-Doug Lamborn, GOP (i) 204,994 – 63 percent
- Misty Plowright, Dem 100,506 – 31 percent
- Mike McRedmond, Lib 21,085 – 6 percent
U.S. House District 6 (84 percent reporting)
- x-Mike Coffman, GOP (i) 162,208 – 52 percent
- Morgan Carroll, Dem 133,963 – 43 percent
- Norm Olsen, Lib 14,473 – 5 percent
- Robert Lee Worthey, Grn 4,039 – 1 percent
U.S. House District 7 (90 percent reporting)
- x-Ed Perlmutter, Dem (i) 160,804 – 55 percent
- George Athanasopoulos, GOP 117,061 – 40 percent
- Martin Buchanan, Lib 12,489 – 4 percent
Get more updates and results on our live election blog.
Voters pass Amendment 71, which will alter the process for changing Colorado’s constitution
DENVER – Colorado voters on Tuesday passed an amendment that will require any proposed amendment to the state constitution be signed off on by voters in each of the state’s 35 Senate districts.
The measure, Amendment 71, passed with 57 percent approval as of 12:22 a.m. Wednesday, when 73 percent of state votes had been reported.
Instead of being able to collect the required number of signatures from anywhere in the state, proponents of a measure to add a constitutional amendment will have to get signatures from at least 2 percent of the total number of registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 Senate districts.
For instance, District 35 is comprised of 16 counties in southeastern Colorado and has 88,962 registered voters. Under an approved Amendment 71, 1,779 signatures would have to be gathered on a ballot drive and approved for the measure to go on November’s ballot.
The amendment won’t change the process for drives to change state statutes, only the constitution.
Currently, any constitutional amendment approved by 50 percent, plus one vote, of voters in an election will become law.
But now that Amendment 71 has been approved, that threshold will be raised to require any constitutional amendment be approved by 55 percent of voters.
That change wouldn’t apply to the repeal of an amendment – only to changes to the constitution. In the case of a repeal, a simple majority vote would remain the threshold for approval.
Read more about the measure here.
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.
Colorado voters approve $12 minimum wage hike by 2020
DENVER – Colorado voters on Tuesday approved a proposed amendment that will increase the state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020.
The measure, Amendment 70, had 55 percent support with 64 percent of Colorado reporting as of 10 p.m.
Amendment 70 would change the state constitution to increase the statewide minimum wage to $9.30 per hour starting Jan. 1, then raise it every year by $0.90 per hour until it reaches $12 an hour by Jan. 1, 2020.
State law mandates tipped workers make $3.02 less than the state minimum wage, and by 2020, the tipped worker minimum wage would rise to $8.98 per hour.
Currently, the Colorado minimum wage is set at $8.31 per hour for most workers and $5.29 per hour for tipped workers.
Voters approved a $6.85 per hour minimum wage in 2006 that included a provision that it be adjusted yearly in comparison to movement in the state’s consumer price index (CPI) – which measures the changes in prices of the statewide prices of goods and services each year.
The wage was increased to $6.85 per hour from $5.15 per hour. It has since gone up every year, except for in 2010, when it dropped by 4 cents an hour.
The current federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour for non-tipped workers and $2.13 per hour for tipped workers.
State law forbids cities from setting a higher minimum wage than the state’s.
Starting in 2021, the minimum wage would again be tied back to the CPI, though Amendment 70 would change the constitution to prevent a decrease in the minimum wage if the cost of living falls.
WHAT AMENDMENT 70 DOES FOR NON-TIPPED WORKERS
For non-tipped workers, who comprise most of Colorado’s workforce, the minimum wage will rise incrementally over the next three-plus years:
- 2016: $8.31 per hour
- 2017: $9.30 per hour
- 2018: $10.20 per hour
- 2019: $11.10 per hour
- 2020: $12 per hour
Under current rules, a recent economic forecast projects the minimum wage to be around $9.18 per hour in 2020 if the amendment is not approved.
WHAT AMENDMENT 70 DOES FOR TIPPED WORKERS
For tipped workers, the rules get a little more complicated. Tipped wages will remain at $3.02 less than the wage for tipped workers, which put the wage at the following stages as it increases each year:
- 2016: $5.29 per hour
- 2017: $6.28 per hour
- 2018: $7.18 per hour
- 2019: $8.08 per hour
- 2020: $8.98 per hour
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.
Colorado’s voter turnout tops 2012 presidential election; Republicans double ballot submission lead
DENVER – Voter turnout in Colorado has already topped turnout in the 2012 presidential election, and Republicans doubled their voting lead over Democrats in the first half of Tuesday.
Unaffiliated and Republican voters in Colorado continued their strong turnout during Election Day, according to numbers released Tuesday afternoon by the Secretary of State’s Office. Continue reading