It’s March 3, aka 303 Day in our beloved state where seemingly everyone has at least one T-shirt, baseball cap or beanie with the iconic Colorado C. And this year, our state is celebrating its first official Buy Colorado Day. We’ve got a whole story about it that includes the added bonus of the Sun staff’s favorite homegrown businesses, and I’ll add my local coffeehouse, Lost. It started as a food truck in 2010 and now has five shops in the south Denver ’burbs. Try the scratch-made caramel syrup.
Another great way to celebrate Buy Colorado Day? Support your favorite, locally owned journalism startup with a monthly membership for you or a friend, or if you want more state-spirit wear, check out the T-shirts and camping mugs in our online store.
Jennifer Brown
Reporter
THE NEWS
HEALTH
270 Colorado kids ran from foster care and treatment centers in one year. Now lawmakers are talking about a fence.
Elizabeth Montoya’s 12-year-old son, Timmy, was killed after running away from Tennyson Center for Children and being struck by a car. (Anna Hewson, 9News)In the two years since an investigation by The Colorado Sun and 9News found a dangerous trend of kids running away from youth centers across the state, the state legislature has been studying the problem. And as Jennifer Brown reports, a package of bills to target the problem includes the option of making it legal for a state-owned youth center to put up a secure fence — something currently only allowed at juvenile detention centers.
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EQUITY
Colorado School of Mines project hopes to warm houses, lower bills in mobile home communities
Colorado School of Mines researchers knock on the door of a manufactured home in Leadville on Oct. 26 in a neighborhood where they are working on energy efficiency and indoor air quality improvements. (Kathryn Scott, Colorado School of Mines)“How can we produce technologies that can work for everybody, not only for people that make $500,000?”
— Paulo Tabares-Velasco, a Mines associate professor of mechanical engineering
A three-year project to improve and repair mobile homes — while switching to more efficient electric appliances — is targeting the biggest monthly bill facing people living in Lake County. Mark Jaffe has more on how students are engineering solutions for long-term savings.
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HEALTH
Western Slope senior center tackles mental health challenges among older adults
Gunnison Senior Center member Jane Knight participates in the “Muscle Boom” class taught by instructor Gwen Pettit. (John McEvoy, Special to The Colorado Trust)“We do get isolated here. This has been life-changing for me. It has really helped me mentally.”
— Pam Hatcher, 72
A 2023 Western Colorado University study of Gunnison County’s senior population revealed some sobering problems. Nancy Lofholm has the story of how a lack of mental health care and in-home caregivers — and a rising rate of suicide among older residents — pushed the Gunnison Senior Center to create a program designed to tackle some of the most pressing problems at the root.
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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
Legislation designates March 3 — aka 3/03 — as “Buy Colorado Day”
69%
The share of Colorado’s 13,000 restaurants that are independently owned
Senate Joint Resolution 8 designates March 3 — known as 303 Day, for Colorado’s formerly statewide area code — as Buy Colorado Day and March 3-10 as Buy Colorado Week. Jason Blevins digs into the state of Colorado business and what lawmakers are hoping the resolution will accomplish.
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MORE NEWS
Michael Bennet is “very, very seriously” considering a run for Colorado governor in 2026, senior aides say. The Democrat has been in the U.S. Senate since 2009. What’s Working: Lesser-known Colorado agriculture programs are feeling the federal funding freeze, too. It’s not just U.S. park and forestry workers. Plus: SBA may move out of Denver office, tipped workers protest changes to tipped wages and more in this week’s column on the Colorado economy. Northern Water, environmentalists reach $100M settlement, allowing reservoir project to continue. Northern Colorado communities will pay $100 million to settle an environmental lawsuit and allow a $2 billion reservoir project to continue. Denver Public Schools lays off 38 central office staff, which will save the district $5 million a year. Funding uncertainties at the state and national level along with declining enrollment are requiring DPS “to make difficult decisions,” Superintendent Alex Marrero wrote in a memo. Would Colorado’s proposed ban on certain semiautomatic guns exempt people who take gun classes? Yes. Senate Bill 3 now includes an exemption for people who are vetted by a sheriff’s office and take certain gun safety courses.COLORADO SUNDAY
6% of Colorado land is supposed to be protected by conservation easements. But who enforces them?
With more than 7,500 parcels of land in Colorado under some form of conservation easement, the legal mechanism to keep land undeveloped “in perpetuity” has been put to work for decades. But what happens when the trusts charged with enforcing the rules drop the ball? Jerd Smith digs into how a two-story home off I-25 is making some question how permanent easements really are.
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Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler
THE COLORADO REPORT
? = source has article meter or paywall
A farewell to The Washington Park Profile and Capitol Hill News. Our friends over at Colorado Community Media announced the end of the newspaper group’s two urban Denver publications that have been serving neighborhoods since the 1970s, citing changing news habits in the state’s biggest city.— Colorado Community Media “This can be the worst drive of your life.” Colorado Public Radio spent the day with a truck driver dealing with the realities of driving on Interstate 70 in the winter.— Colorado Public Radio An Arvada West basketball coach pushed a Ralston Valley player. A year later, the coach’s tires got slashed. A yearlong controversy between a basketball parent and Arvada West High School culminated with the slashing of a coach’s tires and the parent, Justin Pfeifer, charged with criminal mischief.— The Denver Post ? Granby’s only recycling program volunteer is leaving. If no one steps up, it could disappear. For 12 years, every Saturday, Nancy Franz showed up at Country Ace Hardware in Granby to help Grand County residents recycle. But after a fall on her driveway, the 72-year-old is leaving Grand County — and the recycling program. — Sky-Hi News Del Taco closes 18 of 19 Colorado restaurants without warning. Now where will people get objectively mediocre but extremely satisfying tacos and fries at 3 a.m.?— 9NewsSection by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler
THE OPINION PAGE
COLUMNS
The cruel consequences of moving fast and breaking things. Trump’s policies are not aimed at creating good government services or upholding the law. Cruel consequences are the point.— Diane Carman Trump and Vance try to humiliate Zelenskyy in Oval Office clash, but end up only humiliating themselves. Trump threatens to abandon Ukraine in its war with Russia if Zelenskyy doesn’t agree to make peace — Trump’s way.— Mike Littwin Here’s how Democrats could turn 2026 into a midterm wave election. The onus is on Democrats to match the passion Republicans harnessed in 2010 if they want a similar outcome just under two years from now.— Mario NicolaisThe 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].
Enjoy this sunny 303 Day, friends.
— Jennifer and the whole staff of The Sun
The Colorado Sun is part of The Trust Project. Read our policies.
Corrections & Clarifications
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