Scott Franz
Scott Franz is a government watchdog reporter and photographer from Steamboat Springs. He spent the last seven years covering politics and government for the Steamboat Pilot & Today, a daily newspaper in northwest Colorado. His reporting in Steamboat stopped a police station from being built in a city park, saved a historic barn from being destroyed and helped a small town pastor quickly find a kidney donor. His favorite workday in Steamboat was Tuesday, when he could spend many of his mornings skiing untracked powder and his evenings covering city council meetings. Scott received his journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is an outdoorsman who spends at least 20 nights a year in a tent. He spoke his first word, 'outside', as a toddler in Edmonds, Washington. Scott visits the Great Sand Dunes, his favorite Colorado backpacking destination, twice a year. Scott's reporting is part of Capitol Coverage, a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.
-
State Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, said Tuesday he was not able to find the $2 million to pay for the new camera program this year. He also blamed Republican filibuster attempts that started Monday on other bills as a reason the camera program cannot advance before the legislative session ends Wednesday.
-
Juneteenth will be observed as an official state holiday for the first time next month. State Rep. Leslie Herod says she wants Coloradans to celebrate the rich culture of Black people in the state.
-
It is still unclear whether the draft opinion, published Monday night by Politico, will be the court’s final decision. But officials in Colorado swiftly reacted to the leak and vowed to protect the state’s unrestricted access to the procedure.
-
The bill signing ceremony in the governor’s mansion Monday evening marked a major turning point for the state. Less than two years ago, Polis was signing what he called the most difficult budget in state history. It included more than $3 billion in cuts, with public schools losing more than $500 million.
-
One measure invests in companies making modular and tiny homes. Another gives cities tens of millions to build more developments.
-
One initiative will spend $25 million to help factories and other big polluters buy the equipment they need to capture methane and reduce other emissions. Another will invest $65 million to help school districts purchase school buses.
-
Democrats passed the measure in response to several conservative-led states adopting abortion restrictions. Polis said Colorado also needs the new law because federal protections for the procedure may end soon.
-
Loud calls for gun reform in Colorado immediately followed a gunman killing 10 people at a Boulder supermarket last year. Since then, lawmakers have delivered on some of those requests, including a measure to block gun sales to people convicted of violent misdemeanors. But other new laws are still in the works a year after the shooting.
-
The bill is Democrats' response to Texas and Florida passing laws to restrict abortion access.
-
City Council member Rachel Friend said several people are just starting treatment for depression a year after a gunman killed 10 people at a busy King Soopers grocery store.