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Colorado - Mon. 04/27/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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DOJ JOINS ELON MUSK’S LAWSUIT AGAINST COLORADO’S AI STATUTE
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In May 2024, the Colorado Legislature passed Senate Bill 24-205 (the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act), which is due to go into effect on June 30 of this year. The law mandates that developers and deployers use reasonable care to avoid algorithmic discrimination. It targets systems that make "consequential decisions" impacting legal rights, employment, education, or access to services. The Legislature is currently looking at rewriting the act with a focus on transparency and, in some cases, lessening the burden on businesses, while still protecting consumers.
Earlier this month, Elon Musk's xAI filed suit challenging SB24-205, alleging the statute violates the First Amendment and that the rules are too vague and they seek to regulate products outside the boundaries of the state of Colorado. Last week, the U.S. Dept. of Justice joined xAI's lawsuit, alleging the pending rules are unconstitutional and that they “attempt to force discriminatory ideology on the AI industry,” despite their intent to stop algorithms from discriminating against students and job applicants. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to strike down the regulations.
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CRAIG COAL-BURNING POWER STATION BACK ONLINE BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN
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Tri-State Generation and Transmission had planned to shut down the Craig Unit 1 coal-burning power plant for good at the end of last year. However, federal emergency orders from the Trump administration required the co-op to instead keep the generating unit in good repair and available to operate. At the end of March, the DOE extended its first 90-day emergency order for another three months. Then on April 1, Tri-State and other utilities in the area switched their regional power coordinator to the Southwest Power Pool’s Western Interconnection, which serves to balance electricity supply and demand across multiple states and can call on individual power plants to start up when needed.
On April 7, the power pool authority issued a resource advisory for its Western region, stating that it was needed “due to load uncertainty, increased potential for low output from wind and other variable energy resources …leading into peak hours, and potential for resource outages.” The pool called on Craig 1 to start generating power April 10 to help balance the grid. Although Craig 1 is powered up and selling its electricity, there is still not a resolution to the problem created by the emergency order, i.e. Who will pay the broader fixed costs of maintaining and operating a coal unit that Tri-State preferred to shut down? The power pool only pays the market rate for the electricity it asks Tri-State to generate.
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HISTORIC DENVER CHURCH BUILDING TURNED THEATER ACQUIRED FOR RENOVATION
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The Swedish Evangelical Free Church built a church at 1080 Acoma Street in 1895. In 1921, the church underwent considerable renovation, and it became the home of the Upper Room United Pentecostal Church in 1966. Almost thirty years later, the Curious Theatre Company took over the building, and remodeled the church slightly to accommodate performances, which began in 1997. Since 2024, the Curious Theatre Company has been seeking a buyer that would retain the historic features of the property and this month, longtime Denver real estate executive David Spira bought the building for $1.9 million.
Spira and his firm, Kew Realty, have a resume of aging buildings they have renovated in Denver, including the Baur’s building on Curtis Street. Spira plans to renovate the property for two years while registering it as a historic landmark. Spira has an agreement with the Curious Theatre Company to schedule events and programming in the renovated building, while Spira looks to build a complementary development for the performing arts next door.
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SAN LUIS, COLORADO’S OLDEST TOWN, TURNS 175 THIS MONTH
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In April 1851, Hispanos from Taos, New Mexico, established a settlement called San Luis on the banks of Culebra Creek, about 15 miles north of the New Mexico border, overlooking the change in landscape from the Rocky Mountains to what would become the American Southwest. Mexico had ceded the land (which has been home to Native American tribes for thousands of years) to the United States in 1848 as a part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican-American War. Numerous villages sprouted in the area following the exchange, but the state recognizes San Luis as its oldest continuously inhabited town. San Luis has about 700 residents who work high-altitude farms, adobe structures predominate and the featured enterprise in town is the community food co-op, the San Luis Peoples Market. The food market dates back to 1857.
The town’s most famous attraction is the Stations of the Cross Shrine, also known as La Mesa de la Piedad y de la Misericordia. These 14 near-life-size bronze sculptures depict Christ’s passion, death and resurrection along a half-mile trail and were created in 1990 by local artist Huberto Maestas, whose family has been in the area for six generations. Also notable, in a state where water rights are critical and especially in arid San Luis Valley, Colorado's oldest continuously operating water right is the 1852 San Luis People's Ditch (La Acequia de la Gente de San Luis), which diverts water from Culebra Creek in Costilla County. Hand-dug around 1851-1852 by the first settlers of San Luis, it predates Colorado’s territorial status and the "first in time, first in right" doctrine.
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HOME SALES IN MESA COUNTY OFF TO A SLOW START IN 2026
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Residential home sales in Mesa County got off to a slow start this year, according to the March report from Bray Real Estate. In the first quarter of 2026, there were 551 homes sold, down 8.2 percent from the first quarter a year ago. Sales began to pick up in March, as 232 homes were sold, compared to 166 sold in February. Even so, March sales in 2026 were still 4.5 percent below March 2025 sales. The total dollar volume of residential home sales in the first quarter was just below $250 million, 7.3 percent below the $269 million in sales volume in the first three months of 2025. While sales are down, home prices are up with the median price at $409,000, which was 3 percent higher than the $397,000 median home price in March 2025. House inventory is also up, according to Bray, with 708 active residential listings on the market. That is an 11 percent increase compared to the prior month, and a 27 percent increase compared to March of last year.
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GRAND JUNCTION REGIONAL AIRPORT: RECORD NUMBER OF SUMMER FLIGHTS
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In 2025, Grand Junction Regional Airport set a record for passengers going through the airport. This summer, GJT is on track to go beyond those numbers as it will have a record number of flights. Grand Junction Regional Airport CEO Angela Padalecki notes, “All of the airlines except Delta have more service this summer than they did last summer, and the summer before." American Airlines’ previously twice-a-day flights to Phoenix and Dallas will both bump up to three for the next several months. Phoenix is set to drop back to two in August, while Dallas is scheduled to bump up to a fourth flight in the fall. Breeze Airways’ previously offered twice-weekly service between GJT, Las Vegas, and Orange County. For the rest of 2026, Breeze will have three flights a week to Las Vegas. A new permanent daily flight between Grand Junction and Denver via United began in April. It is not an additional summer flight, but now there are seven flights to Denver.
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LA PLATA PLANNING COMMISSIONERS SUPPORT MAJOR REVIEWS OF BIG PROJECTS
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Last week, the La Plata County Planning Commissioners made a unanimous recommendation to the board of county commissioners to change the county’s land-use code to restore major-level review for larger or more impactful projects in the Animas Valley when they meet countywide impact thresholds, such as project size or traffic intensity. All projects in the valley have been required to meet only the minor-level review after a change was made several years ago. The La Plata County commissioners will have the final decision on the change at their scheduled meeting in May.
Major-use permits, which represent high-density residential or larger, intense commercial activity, would be subject to a more rigorous review by the board of county commissioners. Minor-use permits represent lower-intensity development and are reviewed and approved by the planning commission. Under the current code, a wide range of “special uses” are automatically treated as minor projects, including RV parks, apartment complexes, condos, townhomes, motels, restaurants and manufactured home parks.
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COMMUTERS ON HWY. 82: ROCKFALL WORK WILL RESUME THIS WEEK
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The Colorado Dept. of Transportation announced that rockfall mitigation work along Colorado Hwy. 82 near Red Hill outside of Carbondale is planned to resume today, Monday, April 27. The work will take place between mile points 11.7 and 12.2, east of the Colorado 82/Colorado 133 intersection. Crews are expected to work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, according to CDOT. To finish the work more quickly, crews will use a helicopter to help lift and place the heavy metal mesh netting. During helicopter operations, both northbound and southbound traffic will be stopped for safety. Drivers should expect delays of up to 20 minutes during helicopter work. Flaggers will be on site, and the speed limit through the work zone will be reduced to 45 mph. The project is expected to be completed in two weeks. Crews had already installed about 85,000 square feet of mesh netting before the shutdown, with about 30,000 square feet still needed to complete the system.
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WORKERS STILL HAVE NOT RETURNED TO DOWNTOWN DENVER
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As the Downtown Denver Partnership, city of Denver, as well as businesses, seek to get a return of visitors and workers to downtown Denver, numbers still lag below levels seen in the pre-pandemic years. Workers have been especially slow to return:
- In the Denver area, 22.6 percent of workers aged 16 and older work from home. In comparison, just 14.9 percent of workers in the Los Angeles area and 12.9 percent in the New York area work from home
- Denver’s rate is much higher than the national average of 13.3 percent
- Denver’s total downtown office vacancy rate reached 38.2 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025
- That is up from 35.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2024
- In the first quarter of 2026, the downtown total office vacancy rate reached 38.9 percent, according to CBRE’s latest data
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USA TODAY’s TOP WORKPLACES 2026
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Ten Colorado-based companies were ranked in the top 100 for companies of their size in the USA TODAY Top Workplaces awards for 2026. The top Colorado companies (with their rankings in their respective categories) were:
- Elevations Credit Union, a Boulder-based credit union (No. 12)
- Housecall Pro, a Denver-based maker of construction business management software (No. 20)
- LONG Building Technologies, a Littleton-based provider of building automation, security systems, commercial HVAC service and parts and building analytics (No. 39)
- Bloom Healthcare, a Lakewood-based provider of in-home healthcare (No. 39)
- DaVita, a Denver-based provider of kidney dialysis and kidney care services (No. 40)
- Empower, a Greenwood Village-based financial services company (No. 46)
- Simpson Housing LLLP, a Denver-based property manager (No. 54)
- Encore Electric, a Lakewood-based electrical contractor (No. 63)
- Ping Identity Corp., a Denver-based digital security company (No. 83)
- LINX, a Denver-based technology integration firm (No. 95)
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MARKET UPDATE - 04/24/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 04/23/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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