Colorado
Leadville lawyer faces Summit County school board president in Democratic primary for seat in the Colorado House of Representatives
A Leadville lawyer will face the president of the Summit School District Board of Education in the Democratic primary for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives.
Chris Floyd, of Leadville, is running against Consuelo Redhorse, of Silverthorne, in the race for House District 13, which includes Summit, Grand, Park, Lake, Chaffee and Jackson counties. The primary election is scheduled for June 30, with ballots being mailed to voters beginning June 8. Whoever wins in June will face Republican candidate Miguel Martinez in the November general election.
In interviews, Floyd and Redhorse described what voters should know about their experience, laid out their positions on issues from housing affordability to TABOR reform, and outlined what their top priorities would be if elected.
Floyd moved from Virginia more than a decade ago to open a law practice in Leadville and has served as the Lake County attorney and a municipal judge. She has been endorsed by outgoing House Speaker and District 13 Rep. Julie McCluskie, who is term-limited.
“One of the things I came to realize is that this district really needs a strong advocate,” Floyd said. “One of the reasons for that is most of what comes out of the state legislature is driven by the 11 largest counties on the Front Range — and they just aren’t like us. They aren’t like the communities that make up House District 13.”
Redhorse, a lifelong Coloradan and member of the Navajo Nation, is serving as president during her second term on the Summit School District Board of Education after first being elected in 2019. She has lived in Summit County for about 15 years and works as an accountant for a property management company.
Being on the school board, Redhorse has learned that “everything is connected” to decisions made in the Colorado legislature, and she hopes to build on her experience as an elected official in the statehouse.
“I’ve had a really great opportunity just being really integrated with the community, talking with families and students and teachers, in a time where people have so many experiences in public education,” Redhorse said. “I thought I could take that experience and really bring it forward to be able to represent more people and really look beyond the K-12 realm of leadership that I’ve experienced.”
Housing and affordability
Both candidates said housing affordability is a top issue for voters in District 13, and one they would prioritize if elected.
Redhorse said the state Legislature has made progress “cutting the red tape” to help streamline construction of affordable housing, but said she would focus on making it easier to redevelop existing properties for housing.
If elected, Redhorse said she would examine how land-use policies affect the ability to create affordable housing, while ensuring that “local governments really get the final say and making sure we’re not mandating too much.” She said that housing has to be affordable so that service industry workers whose jobs support the local economy can afford to live in the communities where they work.
Floyd said that while many housing efforts have focused on making single-family homes more affordable for first-time buyers, there hasn’t been enough focus on the affordability of rental housing. Noting that many jobs in resort communities are seasonal, she said someone may work at a ski resort in Summit County in the winter, then move down to Buena Vista for the summer rafting season, without necessarily looking to own a home.
“But many of them end up spending more than they would pay on a mortgage for a rental property — so that’s another thing,” Floyd said. “There are a lot of different aspects that we need to look at in terms of the housing issue.”
The two candidates also said that Coloradans in their district are facing affordability concerns at every turn — from gas and groceries to healthcare and property insurance.
Floyd noted that while Front Range residents have access to several healthcare providers, most mountain residents have only two main providers and higher rates of uninsured residents.
“If you don’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid or some other type of assistance, your premiums are just absolutely outrageous,” she said. “So, we have so many people now that have dropped off of the healthcare rolls because they just can’t afford it.”
Redhorse agreed that mountain communities differ from the Front Range and need targeted strategies to address the higher cost of living. She said she would focus on finding “sustainable solutions” to reduce costs as residents balance rising expenses.
“Our prices have spiked — the cost of living, the cost of childcare,” Redhorse said. “Families are trying to make the choice between having food on their tables, paying for their basic utilities, paying for their mortgages, paying for childcare and trying to get to the places where they work.”
Candidates diverge on top priorities
Redhorse ranked protecting public lands and water among her top priorities, while Floyd said supporting small businesses is a top issue, though the candidates agreed that both issues are important.
Redhorse said low snowpack this winter highlighted the need to safeguard Colorado’s water supply and address federal staffing cuts at land management agencies, which she said have affected local governments, businesses and recreation areas.
“We experience it every day. In all of our communities, so much of our land is public land, and something that we need to keep protected for future generations,” Redhorse said. “What I’ve heard a lot is the need for responsible growth and making sure we’re not over loving our public lands, while also understanding that it’s such an important part of our economies up here.”
Redhorse noted that because so much recreation happens on public lands and waters, protecting them also protects local economies that rely on tourism. She said that small businesses in particular are being impacted by cuts to federal land management staff and ongoing drought.
Floyd said that main streets in mountain towns “are kept alive by our small businesses” and that she would work to expand broadband access and workforce training, including in the trades, for rural areas. Especially in winters with low snow or summers with low water, residents need opportunities to pivot to other work when tourism slows, she said.
“A lot of our younger workforce, I fear they’re leaving not only the area but the state, because there’s no opportunity for them here,” Floyd said. “So, I really think we need to invest more in workforce training.”
Over the past year, Floyd said that she has engaged with the Colorado Water Congress to learn more about the state’s water issues. She believes that District 13 communities need a strong negotiator to advocate to balance rural and urban water needs and she supports “having a very assertive approach to protecting Colorado’s water interest.”
State budget crunch and TABOR Reform
As Colorado’s legislature has faced budget deficits in recent years, both Floyd and Redhorse said they would support changes to the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights to allow the governments to keep more tax revenue.
Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights — or TABOR — limits the amount of revenue that state and local governments can collect and spend. Passed in 1992 as a constitutional amendment, it requires voter approval for all tax increases and places caps on government spending based on inflation and population growth. Democrats in the legislature have tried in recent years to change the TABOR cap through ballot measures, but voters have rejected those efforts.
“Colorado has grown so much that the TABOR formula, the way it’s structured — it just doesn’t work. It can’t work anymore,” Floyd said.
She said Colorado also needs to look at where it can reduce costs and operate state agencies more efficiently.
Redhorse also described TABOR as “outdated” and said it has limited the governments’ ability to provide services, especially as Medicaid costs have grown faster than the caps on state spending. She said, “it’s just arbitrary, the caps don’t truly show the increase in the cost of all the services Colorado is providing.”
Both Floyd and Redhorse said they support the “Cut the Ropes” ballot initiative, which will ask voters in the November election to change how much tax revenue the state and school districts can keep to spend on education.
Immigration, law enforcement and privacy
Both Democratic candidates said that they support Colorado laws that protect immigrants and limit local law enforcement participation in federal immigration enforcement.
Redhorse said she is concerned about what she described as “racial profiling” by the federal government, which affects both immigrants and U.S. citizens. She said she also believes that some local law enforcement agencies are cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in violation of Colorado law, eroding trust within their communities.
“The lack of trust that immigration enforcement has caused in so many of our communities, especially our Latino communities, is huge,” Redhorse said. “We have people out there that are victims of crimes or needing protection, who are too afraid to go to our local law enforcement, who are really there to serve the people and keep communities safe.”
Floyd said that she also believes that local law enforcement should focus on enforcing state laws and protecting communities, rather than assisting the federal government with immigration enforcement. She said she is particularly concerned that immigration enforcement has impacted “vulnerable individuals” and children.
“I absolutely reject any attempts to try to remove folks that have made a good pathway in this country,” Floyd said. “With that being said, I also support law enforcement and their duty to protect our communities. To the extent there are lawbreakers who don’t have legal status, I think there are current legal avenues to address that.”
Both candidates also expressed concerns with the Flock Safety cameras that law enforcement agencies across the state use, saying the license plate reader technology collects too much information and could violate Coloradans’ privacy rights. Both said they support reining in the use of the technology, after the state legislature rejected a bill that would have done so during this year’s session.
Colorado
What’s really killing a lot of cattle in Colorado? Hint: wolves aren’t the culprit (Opinion)
The livestock industry has been running a smear campaign against wolves for years.
It intensified when the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association joined forces with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Colorado Farm Bureau, the National Rifle Association’s electioneering arm, and the Colorado Woolgrowers’ Association to oppose Proposition 114 — a 2020 citizens’ ballot initiative requiring Colorado to reintroduce wolves to the western part of the state.
Fearmongering was a big part of the campaign to prevent the restoration of wolves to their native Colorado habitats: The hunting groups peddled the narrative that wolves would kill all the elk. The ranching interests claimed that wolves would drive cattle and sheep operations out of business.
Notably, neither outcome has materialized since the 1995 wolf reintroductions in Yellowstone and Idaho, and indeed elk populations and cattle and sheep ranches there remain abundant three decades after wolves returned. In 2020, the Stop the Wolf Coalition lost the election, 51% to 49%. But the hysteria over livestock losses from wolves was only beginning.
So it makes sense to put these fears, and the livestock industry messaging that amplifies them, into perspective.
Weather events can kill a lot of cattle. In 2007, a single blizzard caused an estimated 15,000 cattle deaths in Colorado, according to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. In 2024, a single lightning strike knocked 100 cattle off their feet, killing 32 of them as well as a rancher, who was engaged in branding the calves. That’s more than Colorado wolves have killed in an entire year. The weather slaughters far more livestock than predators in the state.
Then there is cattle rustling. In late 2025, 23 cattle disappeared in a single incident on the High Plains of northeastern Colorado, and law enforcement characterized the incident as unlikely to be random chance and likely meant they had been stolen. In 2024, 187 cattle went missing on the Uncompahgre Plateau in Western Colorado. Fifteen of them eventually turned up, demonstrating that missing cattle are sometimes simply lost by inattentive ranchers. The Colorado brand inspector estimated in mid-December of that year that about 500 cattle were expected to be reported missing for the year in the state.
Mystery deaths and sickness also plague Colorado’s cattle herd. In May of 2025, 15 cattle in south-central Colorado keeled over from brain swelling and seizures in a single day. Was it eating poisonous plants? An abandoned oil well on the property? Water contamination? While some sort of toxin was suspected, there have been no definitive answers. A 2010 USDA report calculated that 38.9% of all cattle lost in 2007 died from sickness, injury, or poisoning. Only 0.1% of the losses were attributable to predators of any kind.
In Colorado, the number of cattle killed in slaughterhouses in 2025 was 2,269,600, according to the USDA’s Livestock Slaughter Report. The number of calves slaughtered in the state was “[w]ithheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations,” but would presumably add to that total.
The most important predator of cattle in Colorado, by a vast margin, was humans. Specifically, the livestock industry has raised such a hue and cry over a comparatively tiny number of wolf-caused mortalities. We have met the enemy (of cattle, at least), and he is us.
It’s hard to tell how many cattle and sheep have been killed by wolves, because Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Confirmed Depredation Reports lump together livestock that are killed with livestock that are injured, but recover.
There were 13 cattle killed or injured by wolves in the two years prior to the wolf reintroduction, or an average of 6.5 cattle per year. In the slightly more than three years since reintroduction, there have been 44 cattle killed or injured by wolves, 37 sheep and one llama. That’s an average of 15 cattle and 12 sheep confirmed killed or injured per year.
The fraction of Colorado’s livestock losses attributable to wolves is minuscule, and some of the state’s news outlets are starting to get it. The general public, and lawmakers in particular, need to be aware of the tiny proportion of Colorado’s 2.6 million cattle that are falling prey to wolves, and we can all rest easy in the knowledge that when a livestock loss is reported, and wolves are suspected, there is a full investigation.
And when a wolf kill is confirmed, the rancher in question gets a payment from the state that not only covers his losses, but might also cover up to seven times the value of the animal(s). That’s an excessive level of generosity, which creates a perverse incentive to blame wolves.
But when ranchers are getting paid – in fact, paid far more than the fair-market value they deserve – when beef is what’s for dinner for one of Colorado’s new population of wolves, who really cares whether the diner is wildlife or human?
Erik Molvar is a wildlife biologist and the executive director of Western Watersheds Project, a nonprofit conservation group working to reduce the harmful effects of livestock grazing on public lands to protect and restore wildlife and watersheds throughout the American West.
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There are lots of cities and towns in the Denver area that are hosting professional fireworks shows on the Fourth of July this year.
Here are the shows taking place on July 4 in the Denver metro area:
Arvada
The City of Arvada’s annual fireworks display is scheduled to take place at Stenger Soccer Complex.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: Stenger Soccer Complex
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Aurora
The “4th of July Spectacular” takes place at the Aurora Municipal Center, located at 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Aurora Municipal Center
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Brighton
Brighton’s Fourth of July festival takes place in Carmichael Park at 650 East Southern Street. Fireworks will be set off after the band Thumpin’ performs.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: After concert
Location: Carmichael Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Broomfield
Broomfield’s Great American Picnic takes place at Broomfield County Commons Park, which is located at 13200 Sheridan Boulevard.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15
Location: Broomfield County Commons Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Castle Rock
The Town of Castle Rock is planning to launch their Independence Day fireworks display from Miller’s Landing. The town is hosting a Independence Day Celebration at Festival Park, and the fireworks can be viewed from there, or several other locations in town.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Former Acme Brick facility
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Commerce City
Fireworks will be set off outside Dick’s Sporting Goods Park as part of Commerce City’s 4thFEST celebration. They will be launched after the third of three rugby matches in the stadium.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: At the conclusion of the World Rugby Nations Cup
Location: Outside DICK’s Sporting Goods Park
Admission: 4thFEST is free, paid tickets required to see the rugby games
Link: More Info
Denver – Colorado Rockies games
Fans attending the July 4 Colorado Rockies home game at Coors Field will be treated to fireworks at the conclusion of the baseball game. There will also be fireworks for the game the night before — July 3.
Date: July 3 & 4 (against the San Francisco Giants)
Time: The fireworks are usually launched 20 to 30 minutes after the final out.
Location: Coors Field
Admission: Tickets required
Link: More Info
Englewood
In addition to all of its residents, the city of Englewood invites residents of Littleton, Sheridan, Arapahoe County and the South Suburban Parks & Recreation to their Independence Day Celebration.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: Cornerstone Park and Belleview Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Lone Tree
Lone Tree’s city fireworks display will be launched from Prairie Sky Park, and they’ll be viewable from many different locations in the city.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Prairie Sky Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Longmont
You can watch a fireworks show in Longmont at 9:30 p.m. There will also be a drone show right before then.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Fireworks can be viewed “from many vantage points across the city.”
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Louisville
The city of Louisville launches their annual fireworks show from Coal Creek Golf Course.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Coal Creek Golf Course
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Northglenn
Fireworks are part of the July 4th Festival in Northglenn at E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Parker
Fireworks on July Fourth will be visible from many parts of the town of Parker.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Fireworks launch northeast of Salisbury Park, although town officials encourage watching the fireworks from other areas, too
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Thornton
Thornton’s fireworks display is called “Red, White & BOOM!” Fantabulous Fireworks.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Carpenter Park Fields
Admission: Free
Link:
More Info
Westminster
Date: Saturday, July 4
Location: Westminster City Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
There are other fireworks displays taking place in the Denver area on days other than July 4, including Lafayette (June 27), Glendale (June 2), Erie (July 3) and Littleton (July 3).
DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today the team has signed defenseman Brett Kulak to a five-year contract extension through the 2030-31 season.
Kulak, 32, was originally acquired by the Avalanche in a trade with Pittsburgh on Feb. 24, 2026 and tallied three points (0g/3a) in 27 regular-season showings for Colorado over 19:08 of average time on ice per game. His 2025-26 regular season consisted of playing for the Edmonton Oilers and Penguins in addition to the Avalanche where he totaled 12 points (1g/11a) in 83 contests. Kulak was the only NHLer to skate in 83 games last season. Additionally, he dressed in his 600th career NHL contest on Nov. 15 at Carolina and notched his 100th career assist on Dec. 30 vs. Carolina.
The 6-foot-1, 192-pound defenseman was in the lineup for all 13 Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Avalanche in 2026 and chipped in five points (1g/4a) and logged 20:38 of time on ice per game. The goal was his first with the Burgundy and Blue, regular season or postseason, and it came as the overtime-winner in Game 5 of the Second Round (May 13) to send the Avalanche to the Western Conference Final. It was the third time a defenseman scored a series clinching overtime goal in Avalanche/Nordiques history and the first since Sandis Ozolinsh (Game 6 of the 1996 Conference Semifinal) did it 30 years to the date prior to Kulak’s. Additionally, Kulak’s marker was the 10th time an Avalanche/Nordiques skater sent the team to the next round with an overtime tally and the first instance since Artturi Lehkonen in Game 4 of the 2022 Western Conference Final (June 6, 2022).
A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Kulak has registered 137 points (29g/108a) in 663 career regular-season games with Colorado, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames from 2014-26. The last 370 of those games have come consecutively and he enters 2026-27 with the ninth-longest active “Iron Man” streak in the NHL. The left-shot defenseman has also added 29 points (4g/25a) over 111 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests and has been a member of three teams that have made it to the Stanley Cup Final (2023-24 and 2024-25 Oilers, 2020-21 Canadiens). Kulak’s 111 playoff games lead all NHL defensemen since making his postseason debut in 2020 and are second among all skaters in that span behind only Corey Perry (126).
Originally drafted by the Flames in the fourth round (105th overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft, Kulak appeared in 136 AHL games over parts of the 2012-19 campaigns (13g/41a). He was also a member of the then-ECHL Colorado Eagles for part of 2014-15. Prior to turning pro, Kulak played for the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants from 2010-14 and amassed 128 points (35g/93a) in 216 regular-season contests.
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