DENVER CITY COUNCIL BANS CONCEALED CARRY GUNS IN PARKS, CITY BUILDINGS

The Denver City Council Monday voted 9-3 to adopt an ordinance banning concealed carry permit holders from bringing a gun into any city facility or public park. The law is expected to be enforced once signs are posted at all public entrances to buildings and throughout the city's parks. To date, carrying a gun in a city park is already illegal unless a person holds a concealed carry permit. Penalties for violating the concealed carry ban start at $50 for a first offense and can reach up to $999 for subsequent offenses.

GOV. POLIS SIGNS BILL REDUCING LEVEL OF PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS

Gov. Jared Polis Monday signed SB22-238 into law, a bill which is intended to reduce the impact of skyrocketing property values on taxes. The bill reduces the assessment rate from 6.95 percent to 6.765 percent for residential properties and the assessment rate from 29 percent to 27.9 percent for commercial properties. In a previous statement about the new law, Gov. Polis said he expects the law to save the owner of a $500,000 home about $274 a year and the owner of a $500,000 commercial property about $1,200. Polis also signed HB22-1351, which delays a 2-cent per gallon fee on gasoline from being implemented until April 2023.

DENVER ART MUSEUM HONORED AS ONE OF WORLD'S BEST "NEW" MUSEUMS

Condé Nast Traveler, in a listing released May 3, named the Denver Art Museum on its Best New Museums in the World: 2022 Hot List. Now, the Denver Art Museum has been in existence, in some form, since 1893, but the magazine considered the nearly five-year, $175 million renovation-addition project, which was recently completed, as justification of including it in "new" museums. Some of the other museums included on the World's Best 2022 list: The Fellini Museum, Rimini, Italy; M+, Hong Kong; MoMu, Antwerp, Belgium; Munch Museum, Oslo and, Murakami Library, Tokyo.

JETBLUE MAKES NEW BID FOR SPIRIT, URGING NO VOTE ON FRONTIER

JetBlue Airways Corp. is making a new bid for Spirit Airlines Inc., launching a hostile takeover attempt by appealing directly to Spirit's shareholders by making a tender offer for their shares. JetBlue is offering Spirit shareholders $30 a share but would go higher if Spirit comes to the negotiation table. At the same time, JetBlue is urging Spirit shareholders to vote against Spirit's planned merger with Frontier Group Holdings Inc. on June 10. The tender offer will remain open until June 30.

PRIVATE LAND INHOLDING ON EAST SIDE OF INDEPENDENCE PASS TRANSFERRING TO USFS

The Wilderness Land Trust acquired a 20-acre inholding of private land along the North Fork of Lake Creek Trail on the east side of Independence Pass in 2012. It is the last remaining inholding of private property in the Mount Massive Wilderness and now, the Wilderness Land Trust is transferring the land to the U.S. Forest Service. The Mount Massive Wilderness was created in 1980 and has a total of 30,540 acres, including Mount Massive. The wilderness borders the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness. The Wilderness Land Trust was founded in 1992 to acquire inholdings in wilderness areas and transfer them to public land agencies.

BOB DYLAN WILL BE IN GJ FOR A CONCERT

Maria Rainsdon, general manager for the Las Colonias Amphitheater, announced a summer concert on July 1, and noted it was just the usual summer concert, "except we've got a legend." That legend is Bob Dylan and the 80-year-old singer-songwriter-Nobel Prize winner will be in concert at 8 p.m. Dylan last performed in Grand Junction 20 years ago at a concert at the Mesa County Fairgrounds. Tickets for the Dylan concert go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday at ticketmaster.com and through links at bobdylan.com. General admission lawn tickets cost $48.50.

EGE'S CHIP TALLON HONORED BY CTO

As part of National Travel and Tourism Week, the Colorado tourism industry and the Colorado Tourism Office recognizes the Top Frontline Tourism Workers across the state. Included in the eight frontline workers in 2022 was Chip Tallon for his work as a curbside attendant at the Eagle County Regional Airport. Jodi Doney, the terminal operations manager at the airport, nominated Tallon for the award. The awards recognized employees ranging from a Cultural Specialist at the Cortez Cultural Center to a bartender in Denver to a volunteer at the Colorado Welcome Center in Julesburg to the Assistant General Manager of the C Lazy U Ranch in Granby.

ROUTT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SUPPORT STEAMBOAT STR TAX

Only one of the three Routt County commissioners will be able to vote on the issue of placing a tax on short-term rentals in Steamboat Springs, as Beth Melton is the only commissioner living within the city limits. However, in a joint meeting with the Steamboat Springs City Council on Monday, all three county commissioners said they support the measure to place a tax of 7 percent to 10 percent on short-term rentals and use the revenue from the tax to build the infrastructure needed at Brown Ranch. The Steamboat Springs City Council will have a first reading of an ordinance that would place a question on the ballot at their regular meeting June 20.

BAN ON OPEN BURNING IN SUMMIT COUNTY ALL SUMMER

Summit Fire & EMS suspended all active open-fire permits and has prohibited open burning from Memorial Day to Labor Day permanently. It will also no longer issue slash-burn permits from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year. If the current drought conditions continue, the date range could be extended in coming years. The policy also matches similar regulations of the Red, White & Blue Fire Dept. in Breckenridge.

WILDFIRE RISK FOR EVERY HOME IN THE U.S.

A Brooklyn-based nonprofit, First Street Foundation, is mapping the wildfire risk for every house in the country. First Street uses satellite imagery, property tax data, a wide variety of factors such as construction type, roof type, and weather to calculate the wildfire risk score. In the U.S.:

• Approximately 71.8 million homes have some level of wildfire risk in 2022
• That will grow to 79.8 million by 2050
• 2.7 million properties have severe risk (26 percent maximum cumulative burn probability)
• 6.0 million properties have major risk (14 percent maximum burn probability)
• 20.2 million properties have moderate risk (6 percent maximum cumulative burn probability)
• 49.4 million properties have minor wildfire risk (with a cumulative burn probability below 1 percent)

GREATER COLORADO PITCH SERIES OPEN TO FUND RURAL ENTREPRENEURS

The Greater Colorado Pitch Series is ready to fund businesses of all shapes and sizes. Applications are now open and close midnight June 10. The series awards investments that range from $50,000 to $1 million to eight rural Colorado companies. Winners will be announced July 12 during a hybrid virtual and in-person event as part of West Slope Startup Week. The series started in 2020 with the Greater Colorado Venture Fund as the sole funder, and has added three additional capital partners to facilitate over $7 million in investments to date. Visit the link below to apply and for more information.

VETERANS COALITION TO HOST TOURNAMENT AT LAKOTA LINKS ON JUNE 3

The Western Slope Veterans Coalition will host its second annual Veterans Golf Tournament on Friday, June 3, at Lakota Links Golf Club in New Castle. The tournament is seeking team and individual players, volunteers and hole sponsors as well as donations. All proceeds from this event help sustain the Western Slope Veterans Coalition and the many programs it provides for veterans in the region. Registration for this scramble event begins at 11:30 a.m. on the day of the event, with a shotgun start at 1:30 p.m. For more information regarding this event or the Western Slope Veterans Coalition, visit the link below or call 970-233-8735.

NOURISHING KIDS THROUGH THE SUMMER FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM

Ensuring that children in our community have enough to eat is always a top priority for Food Bank of the Rockies, and meeting that need becomes an even more prescient challenge during the summer months. Currently, one in seven kids in Colorado are projected to be food insecure. To make sure the children in our community continue to have access to food when school is out of session, Food Bank of the Rockies partners with the USDA Summer Food Service Program, which provides parents and caregivers access to free, nutritious meals for children and teenagers.
To locate a pick-up site near you, visit the link below, click on "Summer Meal Site Finder," enter your ZIP Code or text “FOOD or ENGLISH” or “COMIDA or SPANISH” to 304-304. Food Bank of the Rockies provides upwards of 1,700 nutritious meals and snacks daily to Hunger Relief Partners to distribute to kids facing hunger across the Metro Denver region, Eastern Plains, and Western Slope. If your organization is interested in partnering with Food Bank of the Rockies to provide summer meals, please visit the site below.