Colorado
Proposal to ensure customers don’t fund utilities’ political activities blasted as too weak
Rules proposed to prevent customers from having to cover public utilities’ expenses for lobbyists, advertising and political contributions are too weak to prevent potential abuses, critics said.
A public meeting Monday drew speakers who want to see the Colorado Public Utilities Commission strengthen regulations to carry out a 2023 law that was passed after a widespread outcry over high utility bills.
Besides directing utilities to look at avoiding the kind of price jumps that doubled or tripled some Coloradans’ heat bills in early 2023, Senate Bill 23-291 prohibited utilities from adding expenses for lobbying, certain advertising, public relations, political contributions and membership dues to customers’ rates.
But the bill’s prime sponsors as well as a dozen Colorado organizations and a national watchdog group have argued the proposed regulations aren’t detailed or specific enough to ensure that ratepayers aren’t footing some of the bill. They said initial reports by Xcel Energy-Colorado, Black Hills Energy and Atmos Energy reveal “glaring reporting gaps.”
In a filing with the PUC, the bill’s sponsors, members of a select legislative committee, said they support requiring more specific information from utilities “to ensure that ratepayers are insulated from these costs.”
During Monday’s meeting, Laurie Anderson, a Broomfield City Council member who was representing Colorado Communities for Climate Action, said she is concerned about “the common practice” of utilities across the country using ratepayer money to influence politics.
“Income from monthly bills should never be used by a utility to lobby or work against laws and regulations that would lower those same bills,” Anderson said.
The companies required to report information on activities targeted by the law all objected to the level of detail sought by environmental and community groups and the Energy and Policy Institute, a national organization focused on utilities and renewable energy. Xcel Energy said in a document that the suggested changes to the PUC’s draft rules would result in administrative burdens, creating little or no benefit and possibly higher costs for rate cases.
Providing even more detailed, transaction-level detail, including by employee, “would necessitate a manual review process of upwards of 30,000 transactions annually,” Xcel contended.
Black Hills Energy and Atmos Energy also maintained that the burden of requiring more specifics would outweigh the benefits. The companies said more time is needed to respond to comments on the rules.
State Administrative Law Judge Robert Garvey, who oversaw the public meeting, said there will be an opportunity to file more comments and perhaps another meeting.
During Monday’s meeting, Garvey quizzed speakers about the utilities’ arguments, including that demanding more detailed reports on items they can’t charge customers for could end up boosting the companies’ overall expenses.
“Are we going to have to increase rate expenses to show that they didn’t do anything wrong?” Garvey asked. “I think the ratepayers don’t want to pay a whole lot more for nothing.”
But David Pomerantz, the executive director of the Energy and Policy Institute, said his organization offered examples of rules from other states where utilities must submit more specific data. He said the Colorado utilities’ initial reports contain mostly aggregate rather than specific information.
“The central purpose is to ensure compliance,” Pomerantz said. “Without itemized data, it’s impossible to verify.”
A 2023 nationwide report by the policy group explored ways to ensure that utility customers don’t pay for the companies’ political operations or practices that run counter to customers’ best interests. The group suggested that the Colorado PUC require utilities to itemize lists of expenses by employee and invoice and require companies to report on employees, affiliates and outside vendors conducting the kind of political activities singled out by the law.
“They’re kind of asking for blind trust here. We’re asking the commission to take a trust-but-verify stance,” Pomerantz said.
Heavy rains in southern Colorado earlier this week have led to flooding that destroyed part of a road in the foothills just west of Colorado Springs.
City of Colorado Springs
Video posted by the city online shows high runoff in North Cheyenne Creek and heavy damage to the adjacent North Cheyenne Cañon Road. Pavement can be seen broken off from one of the lanes of the road, and the creekwaters are rushing under a collapsed section of roadway.
The washout was first discovered on Wednesday morning. It is located approximately 1.5 miles up the canyon.
Both gates into North Cheyenne Cañon Park are closed due to the damage assessment that is now taking place. The city says Gold Camp Road is also closed to everyone except for local residents.
“We are working on a plan to repair the road, and prevent further roadway damage,” the city wrote in a post on social media.
Colorado
Colorado terror attack suspect Mohamed Soliman formally slapped with 118 charges for antisemitic firebombing attack: court docs
Accused Colorado terrorist Mohamed Sabry Soliman was formally slapped with a whopping 118 criminal counts by state prosecutors Thursday for the horrific firebombing attack on people participating in a march to honor Israeli hostages days earlier.
Soliman, 45 — an Egyptian national who was living in the US illegally after his visa expired on March 28 — is now facing 28 counts of attempted murder for allegedly spraying a homemade flamethrower and hurling Molotov cocktails at the peaceful marchers in Boulder Sunday, according to court documents.
The hate-filled madman allegedly injured 15 people, ranging in age from 25 to 88, and one dog on Sunday when he attacked Run for Their Lives, an organization advocating for the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Three burn victims remain in the hospital, according to reports.
Soliman, who lived in Colorado Springs, reportedly said “he wanted them to all die and that was [his] plan. He said he would go back and do it again and had no regret doing what he did,” Boulder Detective John Sailer wrote in an affidavit for his arrest warrant.
Soliman – who shouted “Free Palestine” after the attack – stood behind a transparent partition in court Thursday as the charges were announced.
In addition to attempted murder, the alleged terrorist was also charged with several counts of use of an explosive or incendiary device and assault on a person over the age of 70, and one count of cruelty towards animals, according to court docs.
If convicted, Soliman could be looking at nearly 700 years behind bars, according to Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
“The charges reflect the evidence we have regarding this horrific attack that took place and the seriousness of it,” Dougherty told reporters outside the courthouse. “I encourage all of us to continue to lift up the victims, and support them and their loved ones and the Jewish community in response to this crime.”
Additional charges could be brought by prosecutors as new evidence is unearthed in the ongoing investigation into the antisemitic Boulder attack, authorities have said.
Soliman, who overstayed his visa, is also facing charges from federal prosecutors — including federal hate crime charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Since the attack ICE detained Soliman’s wife and five children who now face expedited deportation.
His next court date is on July 15.
US President Donald Trump participates in a Summer Soiree on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2025. Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban Wednesday targeting 12 countries, saying it was spurred by an attack on a Jewish protest in Colorado that authorities blamed on a man they said was in the country illegally.
The ban, which strongly resembles a similar measure taken in his first presidency, targets nationals of Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It will go into effect on June 9, the White House said.
READ: ‘Antipathy’ to US: Tourists turning away from Trump’s America
Trump also imposed a partial ban on travelers from seven countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, the White House said.
“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,” Trump said in a video message from the Oval Office posted on X.
“We don’t want them.”
Trump compared the new measures to the “powerful” ban he imposed on a number of mainly Muslim countries in his first term, which he said had stopped the United States suffering attacks that happened in Europe.
READ: What we know about the suspect and victims in Boulder, Colorado, attack
“We will not let what happened in Europe happen in America,” Trump said.
“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen. That is why today I am signing a new executive order placing travel restrictions on countries including Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, Libya, and numerous others.”
Rumors of a new Trump travel ban had circulated following the attack in Colorado, with his administration vowing to pursue “terrorists” living in the US on visas.
Suspect Mohammed Sabry Soliman is alleged to have thrown fire bombs and sprayed burning gasoline at a group of people who had gathered on Sunday in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
US Homeland Security officials said Soliman was in the country illegally, having overstayed a tourist visa, but that he had applied for asylum in September 2022.
“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said on X.
“These commonsense restrictions are country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information.”
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