Colorado

“Uncertainty” colors Colorado economic forecast as lawmakers begin to finalize budget

Published

12 months ago

March 18, 2025

“Uncertainty” colors Colorado economic forecast as lawmakers begin to finalize budget

State economists confirmed Colorado’s brutal budgetary situation Monday, kicking off lawmakers’ mad dash to fill a $1.2 billion hole in the budget.

The March economic forecasts from the governor’s office and legislative staff solidify the numbers lawmakers will use to set the final state budget. Lawmakers had been aware — and raising alarms — about the massive hole since last year, and have already set in motion some cuts to fill it.

How close lawmakers are to filling the hole should become clearer Tuesday during a planned hearing on how cuts proposed so far square with the forecasts. They will then need to finalize the budget — including any additional cuts — before the budget is heard by the entire Senate next week.

It needs to be approved by the legislature in the next month and will dictate state spending for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“We have worked so hard to find ways to have the least possible impact on Coloradans,” Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Democrat and chair of the Joint Budget Committee, said following the forecasts.

He added that he’s optimistic “that those really painful, difficult decisions have led to a place where we are very close to closing this budget in a way that creates the least amount of pain possible for the people of Colorado.”

Lawmakers have grappled with how to pay for — or cut — services like Medicaid, child care for the poorest Coloradans, and school meals, as well as core functions like education. Rocketing Medicaid costs in particular have blown open the state budget, while lawmakers are also trying to find ways to pay for Proposition 130, the voter-approved measure forcing the state to pay $350 million to bolster law enforcement.

Lawmakers from both parties agree the state faces a structural spending problem, but disagree on the blame.

Bridges faults the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, for forcing “rationing” because it limits state spending, regardless of economic conditions or needs. Republicans, including budget committee member Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, blame state spending that they say outpaces the voter-approved constitutional amendment. She points to charts from 2021 showing general fund spending on a trajectory to outpace the TABOR cap.

“We’re still in a structural deficit,” Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, said. “We cannot just expect to sweep cash funds and not reduce, not stop our spending of ongoing general funders and think we’re going to be OK the following year.”

She was less optimistic than Bridges on how close the budget committee was to filling the gap. She estimated they still needed to find about $500 million in cuts, while Bridges predicted the committee was closer by “several hundred million” dollars.

Despite the cuts hanging over lawmakers’ heads, economists still predict state tax collections will outpace the cap set by TABOR — though refunds will be far from the recent windfalls taxpayers have received in recent years. This upcoming year’s TABOR surplus may be particularly slim, nonpartisan legislative economists predicted.

That expected $108 million surplus, versus the $1.3 billion surplus from last year, may even force lawmakers next year to dip into the general fund to pay for recently passed property tax cuts.

Economists for lawmakers and from Gov. Jared Polis’ office both pointed to uncertain national policy as rippling through their forecasts. Both camps, independent of each other, predicted a higher risk of recession as the Trump administration’s tariff and tax policies materialize.

“I think the word of the day is uncertainty,” said Mark Ferrandino, Polis’ budget director.

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Colorado

Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild

Published

11 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild

The Colorado Avalanche had a chance Thursday night to regain some real separation between them and the Minnesota Wild.

It didn’t happen, and special teams were again an issue.

Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored a pair of power-play goals, while the Avalanche took too many penalties and did not convert its chances with the extra man in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena. The Wild scored on two of six power plays, both in the second period, then added a shorthanded goal into an empty net for good measure.

“We took six (penalties). Six is too many, especially against a power play like theirs,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a slow start to the second and then just kind of started getting going, then took a bunch of penalties and kind of took the momentum away and swung it back in their favor again.”

Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent early in this contest and stopped 31 of 34 shots for the Avs in his first start since the Olympic break. Colorado, which went 0-for-3 on the power play, has not scored an extra-man goal in back-to-back games since Dec. 31 and Jan. 3. The Avs are 2-for-31 with the man advantage since Jan. 16, and at 15.1% are last in the NHL.

The Wild are now just five points behind the Avs in the Central Division, though Colorado has two games in hand. Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves for the visitors.

“I think we crated enough chances to win the hockey game,” Bednar said. “We give up the (second power-play goal) and that’s the difference in the hockey game for me. We had a chance (on the power play) … we score and it’s a tie game. We haven’t had an easy time capitalizing on some of our chances that we created in the last month.

“I’d like to see that turn around a little bit.”

Minnesota took advantage of three penalties on Colorado in a span of 53 seconds to take the lead with 2:23 left in the second period. Captain Gabe Landeskog was sent to the box for elbowing Eriksson Ek away from the play at 14:15 and Valeri Nichushkin was called for cross-checking at 15:04.

That gave the Wild a 5-on-3, but it went from bad to worse in a hurry for the home side. Brock Nelson won the 3-on-5 in his own end, but Brent Burns’ backhanded attempt to clear the puck out of the zone went into the stands for a delay of game.

Minnesota had a 5-on-3 for 1:56, which Colorado successfully killed off, but because Burns’ two minutes didn’t start until Landeskog’s penalty ended, there was more 5-on-4 time and Eriksson Ek scored his second of the night. The Swedish Olympian was trying to send a cross-crease pass to Kirill Kaprizov, but it hit the inside of Blackwood’s right leg and pinballed across the goal line.

Because of the extended penalty time, both Eriksson Ek and Boldy officially logged a shift of more than four minutes, leading to that goal.

“I’m not a big fan of the penalties we took, necessarily,” Landeskog said. “Obviously, mine is a penalty. Val, I felt like he was protecting himself and Burns, that’s a penalty. There’s nothing to argue about there. But yeah, that tilts the ice for sure and just gives them unnecessary momentum.

“So yeah, undisciplined and we’ve got to be better there for sure.”

Eriksson Ek put Minnesota in front at 7:48 of the second period. Cale Makar was called for slashing when his one-handed swipe while Yakov Trenin was attempting to shoot from the left wing. Trenin’s stick broke, so Makar went to the box.

Blackwood made the initial save on Matt Boldy’s shot from the high slot, but Eriksson Ek was there near the left post to clean up the rebound.

Martin Necas continued his hot run with a goal to even the score at 13:30 of the middle frame. Nathan MacKinnon picked up the puck in his own zone and carried it into the offensive end. He left a drop pass for Necas near the right point and then played fullback, driving Wild defenseman Daemon Hunt back to give Necas space and then providing a screen on a lethal wrist shot from his Czech linemate.

That was Necas’ 24th goal of the season. He added a second goal in the final minute after the Wild had built a three-goal advantage to give him 25 on the season.

It’s also three in two games since the Olympic break. Necas had three goals and eight points in five games for Czechia at the Olympics in Milan, equaling his country’s record for points at the event.

MacKinnon missed Colorado’s first game back on Wednesday because of maintenance. He actually slipped to third in the NHL scoring race as of Thursday morning, in part because Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov has now has 53 points in his past 23 games to track down MacKinnon and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid to make it a three-man race for the Art Ross Trophy.

McDavid (five times) and Kucherov (three) have combined to win the Art Ross in eight of the past nine years. MacKinnon has never won it, but has finished second each of the past two seasons.

Minnesota scored a second goal off a Colorado player to make it a 3-1 game and then added two empty-net tallies around Necas’ second goal to seal the Wild’s sixth win in a row.

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Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon

Published

23 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon

Updated on: February 26, 2026 / 1:18 PM MST
/ CBS Colorado

Late Thursday morning, a house fire spreading into the nearby woods in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon prompted officials to issue a pre-evacuation order to nearby residents. Firefighters have since brought the blaze under control.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, a house fire broke out around 11:30 a.m. in the 10600 block of Ralston Creek Road in Golden Gate Canyon, located around 25 miles west of Denver. The fire then began to spread into the nearby trees and grass.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office

Multiple fire units quickly responded to the scene, and the JCSO issued a pre-evacuation notice to all residents within a three-mile radius, warning them to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

At 12:34 p.m., the sheriff’s office announced that the fire is no longer spreading and the burn area has been contained to less than an acre. A photo shared by JCSO shows a structure nearly completely destroyed by the fire.

Pre-evacuation orders were lifted around 1 p.m.

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Colorado

Toyota Game Recap: 2/25/2026 | Colorado Avalanche

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Toyota Game Recap: 2/25/2026 | Colorado Avalanche

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