Good morning, Colorado.
Christmas could come early for Broncos fans tonight. A win over the Chargers on Thursday Night Football gets Denver into the playoffs for the first time since their Super Bowl win all the way back in 2016. In many ways that’s the last time everything felt normal, right?
Since then the Avs, Nuggets and DU hockey have helped add even more titles to Colorado’s sports legacy. But it doesn’t feel complete until the three-time champion Broncos are fully back.
While on the topic of sports, as we mentioned here yesterday Colorado is in the mix for an expansion women’s soccer team. We asked you all for suggested nicknames, and you didn’t disappoint. Here were some of our favorites:
• The Silver Plumes
• The Silverheels
• The Denver Altitude
• The Blizzards
Keep ’em coming, but for now let’s get to today’s news.
Kevin Jeffers
Product Team
THE NEWS
TRANSPORTATION
Colorado’s new hands-free law, which bans cellphone use while driving, goes into effect Jan. 1
718
Coloradans killed in distracted driving crashes from 2012 to 2022
Starting Jan. 1, driving with a phone in your hand in Colorado can get you a $75 fine and two points against your license. The hands-free law is aimed at boosting safety by targeting a leading cause of crashes and fatalities in Colorado and a practice more than 90% of Coloradans report doing, according to the state’s Department of Transportation. Olivia Prentzel explains the new law.
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United Airlines will begin seasonal, nonstop flight from Denver to Rome next year. The Italy flight will be offered daily from May 1 to Sept. 25, according to the airline. Jesse Paul has more details.OUTDOORS
National Park Service kills controversial plan to ban climbing bolts in wilderness areas
Proposed climbing management policies by the Forest Service and National Park Service would require review of fixed anchors and bolts in wilderness areas. (Mark Reis, Special to The Colorado Sun)A plan that would have allowed local land managers to ban climbing anchors in wilderness areas was given the kibosh by the National Park Service, Jason Blevins reports. This follows a nearly two-year process to create a policy that called on local land managers to inventory fixed climbing anchors in wild areas. Here’s why climbers and wilderness advocates cheered the sudden reversal.
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Congress approves continued funding for endangered fish recovery programs in Colorado, Western states. The programs, which focus on the Colorado River and San Juan River basins, aim to help rebuild endangered fish populations. Shannon Mullane has the details.BUSINESS
Never tried Enstrom’s toffee? You’re missing out on a nearly century-long Colorado holiday tradition.
Payton Hollar, left, of Grand Junction rings up a large purchase of toffee and chocolate by Hila Seevers of Loma at the Enstrom Candies store in Grand Junction on Dec. 11. (Gretel Daugherty, Special to The Colorado Sun)“Colorado crack. That’s what we call it.”
— Amy Genrich, an Enstrom’s customer
Still looking for a stocking stuffer? You’ll want to head down to the Enstrom Candies retail store in downtown Grand Junction after reading this story. But you might not have to, as Nancy Lofholm writes, since the famous toffee maker has spread its offerings to large retailers in recent years.
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MORE NEWS
Man was under the influence when he struck, killed 2 CDOT employees in Mesa County, State Patrol says. Patrick Sneddon, 59, faces three counts of vehicular homicide and other charges in the triple fatal crash Sept. 4. Olivia Prentzel has more. The Temperature ☀️ Is Medicaid eating the state budget?. Plus: A medical ethics expert on the UnitedHealthcare shooting Sun readers show off their wordsmithing in the RMMWA’s annual 6-word Mystery Contest. Entries in the Cozy and Romance & Lust categories earned finalist recognition from a distinguished panel of judges.Kevin Jeffers | Product Team
COLORADO REPORT
White House study says rent algorithms raise costs for Denver renters by $136 a month. Critics of rent algorithms say that landlords are using the technology to artificially inflate rental prices.— Denverite 16 suspected Tren de Aragua gang members in ICE custody after kidnapping, torture at Aurora’s Edge of Lowry apartments. Aurora police have not yet filed charges tied to violent home invasion this week.— The Denver Post ? Big snow could collide with heat wave next week in Colorado. On Christmas Day, Breckenridge is expected to have a high of 37 and a low of 25. Meanwhile, Denverites can expect a high of 55 and a low of 32 — with a chance of evening showers.— OutThere Colorado Keystone Ski Patrol Union holds its first collective action walk-in since unionizing last season. The walk-in comes during a time where Park City ski patrol has voted to authorize a strike against Vail Resorts for failing to engage in fair negotiations.— Summit Daily? = source has article meter or paywall
Danika Worthington | Presentation Editor
THE OPINION PAGE
COMMUNITY
Colorado’s legislature and governor cannot go back on their promise to our students. Gov. Jared Polis and lawmakers must make the new school funding formula their top priority in the upcoming budget process— Heather Tritten, President and CEO of the Colorado Children’s CampaignThe Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggest writers or provide feedback at [email protected].
What’s Happening
Dec. 19-25
A detail from “Hopi Dancers,” a lithograph print by Fritz Scholder Luiseño, on view in the Denver Art Museum’s Martin building. (Photo provided by the Denver Art Museum)SUSTAINED! The Persistent Genius of Indigenous Art. A new exhibition in the Denver Art Museum’s Martin building celebrates 100 years of collecting Native American art and artifacts. “SUSTAINED! The Persistent Genius of Indigenous Art” presents historic and contemporary items from the DAM’s permanent collection.
In January of this year, a new set of regulations was tacked onto the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, a 33-year-old law commonly referred to as NAGPRA, that strengthened the rules around repatriation by museums to tribes. The act was originally created to prevent grave looting, and push museums to return excavated items — including human remains — to the tribes they belong to, but over the past few years, an investigative series by ProPublica exposed the loopholes that many institutions were using to get around the act’s requirements. (DAM maintains that it has always complied with NAGPRA regulations, and as an art museum has never collected human remains.)
The new regulations include mandatory consent from the items’ original community for the display of things like funerary objects and sacred items. All of this to say, the process of curation for the DAM’s new display was extensive, and included collaboration with a panel of Indigenous community members, as well as months of outreach to tribes. The resulting selections — from a collection of around 18,000 Native works — represent a wide variety of Native communities, time periods and materials. The exhibition opens Dec. 22 and will stay up “through 2025,” according to a news release.
$22-25; Dec. 22; Denver Art Museum, 100 W 14th Ave., Denver
Bonedale Winter Bonanza. Shops, drinks and wintery treats up and down the main drag in Carbondale. Move around to live music with a solstice yoga class, then grab a hot cider and stroll the streets. Free; 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Dec. 21; Carbondale Creative District Grown Up Book Fair. If you yearn for the days of Scholastic book fair rolling up to your school’s blacktop, then you’ll probably appreciate what’s happening at Fiction Beer Works this weekend. Beer, books and complimentary gift wrapping. Free; 3-6 p.m., Dec. 22; 7101 E. Colfax Ave., Denver Last Chance Gift Fest. I’m almost done tossing holiday gift fairs at you — almost. The Last Chance Gift Fest in Longmont is exactly what it sounds like. Shop over 150 Colorado vendors at the Boulder County Fairgrounds. Free; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Dec. 21 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 22; Boulder County Fairgrounds, Main Exhibit Building, 9595 Nelson Road, LongmontParker Yamasaki | Reporter
See you tomorrow.
— Kevin & the whole staff of The Sun
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