DENVER — The Trump administration has rescinded $24 million in federal grants promised to the City of Denver, following through on a threat to withhold funding over the city’s sheltering of newly arrived immigrants.

Denver7 first reported on the threat in March. During a Department of Finance presentation to the Denver City Council on Monday, it was publicly confirmed that the city will not be reimbursed millions of dollars.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) terminated three Shelter and Services Program grants, which totaled roughly $32 million. During Monday’s meeting, Budget Director Justin Sykes said only about $7 million to $8 million has been received, meaning the remaining amount of roughly $24 million will not be reimbursed to the city.

It’s one of the largest grants the city has been monitoring, according to Sykes.

In a letter dated April 1, a FEMA official wrote, “The Department, consistent with President Trump’s direction, is focused on advancing the essential mission of enforcing immigration laws and securing the border.” As a result, “grant programs that support, or have the potential to support, illegal immigration through funding illegal activities or support for illegal aliens that is not consistent with DHS’s enforcement do not effectuate the agency’s current priorities.”

• Read the full letter from FEMA below

Sykes said the city typically uses $100 million to $200 million worth of grants each year, with a “vast majority” being federal grants.

“The city does not have the capacity, if all of that federal funding were to go away, to backfill it. And so, that is another risk that we are carefully monitoring and very concerned about,” Sykes told the councilmembers. “There have been several grant terminations. The federal government will have to pass a new budget for its fiscal year that would start in October, and so, we don’t have a lot of answers. That’s something we’re concerned about and continuing to monitor.”

Since late 2022, Denver has served 42,911 newcomers.

The conversation with Denver City Council came on the same day as a new executive order from President Donald Trump that asks Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to compile a list of states and local jurisdictions that “obstruct federal immigration laws.” The order calls such locations “sanctuary jurisdictions,” and the goal is to bring them “into compliance” with the federal government when it comes to immigration.

As part of the order, federal funds like grants and contracts that are given to sanctuary jurisdictions can be identified for suspension or termination.

Four Democratic mayors, including Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, were called to testify before Congress in March about their so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Denver has never officially called itself a sanctuary city. It was given that title under President Trump’s first administration.

In 2017, the first Trump administration asked for “sanctuary cities,” including Denver, to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its crackdown on immigration. In response, then-Mayor Michael Hancock signed an executive order that created a legal defense fund for people threatened with or in removal proceedings and ordered the Denver Sheriff Department, which operates the city’s jail, not to seek federal funding that required the department to gather and release information about a person’s immigration or citizenship status.

In response to the executive order, a spokesperson for Colorado Governor Jared Polis said, “Colorado is not a sanctuary state, and Governor Polis has been clear that when it comes to criminal investigations or prosecutions, local law enforcement should be working with federal partners, in accordance with state and federal law, to fight crime. Governor Polis continues urging Congress to do their jobs to secure our border and pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

The Denver Broncos’ list of players invited to try out at rookie mini camp includes one quarterback and two running backs.

Denver has invited quarterback Blake Stenstrom (Princeton), running back Aaron Young (Old Dominion) and running back Travis Theis (South Dakota), plus at least nine others.

Stenstrom spent two years as a backup at Colorado before transferring to Princeton. He went 209-of-352 for 2,250 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2023 against five interceptions. The Highlands Ranch native went to rookie minicamp with the Philadelphia Eagles last year.

Young spent five years at Rutgers before transferring to Old Dominion ahead of the 2024 season. He rushed 172 times for 887 yards and eight touchdowns in 11 games last fall.

Theis earned first-team All-MVFC honors in 2024 after rushing 187 times for 1,172 yards and 19 touchdowns. Young and Theis will be joined by second-round pick RJ Harvey at the rookie camp.

In addition to drafting seven rookies, the Broncos have also reached agreements with 15 undrafted free agents. As it stands now, the drafted rookies, UDFAs signees and invited players will give the team a 34-player squad for rookie camp. More signings and tryout invites could be on the way. View the list of known invites below.

Broncos rookie minicamp invites

1. QB Blake Stenstrom, Princeton (source)
2. RB Aaron Young, Old Dominion (source)
3. RB Travis Theis, South Dakota (source)
4. TE/WR Mikey Harrison, San Diego State (source)
5. OL Gabe Clark, Central Missouri (source)
6. OL Justin Mayers, Colorado (source)
7. OL Cameron Cooper, Lindenwood (source)
8. DE Zach Kennedy, UC Davis (source)
9. OLB Makeah Scippio, CSU Pueblo (source)
10. S C.J. Baskerville, Texas Tech (source)
11. K John Hoyland, Wyoming (source)
12. LS Christian Johnstone, App State (source)

The Broncos have not yet officially announced dates for their rookie camp, but in a story about offensive lineman Cameron Cooper being invited to camp, Lindenwood University said the camp will run from May 8-10.

Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Aaron Gordon was a high school basketball get-out-of-jail-free card. His athleticism was stress medicine for trapped teammates. His dexterity, a mulligan for inaccurate passes.

At Archbishop Mitty in the Bay Area, the varsity team believed in an unofficial doctrine.

“If you were ever in trouble — if I’m on the wing and I’m getting doubled — the failsafe is just: Throw it in the air,” Brandon Abajelo said, “and Aaron will go get it.”

One decade later, Gordon’s teammates still abide by that code. Even the consensus best basketball player in the world.

As Nikola Jokic backed himself into a proverbial corner Saturday by dribbling away from the basket, the Nuggets’ season was sinking into deep trouble. They had coughed up a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter. Their legs were cooked, like the stuffed chicken nuggets being used as props to heckle them at Intuit Dome. Overtime almost certainly would mean defeat in Game 4 of a first-round series they already trailed 2-1 to the Clippers.

Jokic hoisted a desperate shot — his signature “Sombor Shuffle” fade-away — thinking to himself, “this is going to be bad.” He was resigned to an overtime fate.

“I mean, to be honest, I didn’t want to give them enough time to shoot the ball,” he said. “So in my mind, I just wanted to wait (until) the last second and just jack it. So I did a couple dribbles. And that was a mistake.”

But Jokic has a failsafe for his mistakes. Throw it in the air. Gordon will go get it.

With the first walk-off dunk in NBA playoff history, Gordon might’ve saved the Nuggets’ season. For a few days at least, he instilled new hope and fended off the existential dread of a 3-1 series deficit. All he needed to do was correct the crooked parabola of Jokic’s shot. Elevating and snatching the ball above the rim, Denver’s power forward transformed an airball into a glorious rainbow. He plunked it in the pot of gold at the buzzer.

Nuggets 101, Clippers 99.

“AG was in the right spot,” Jokic said. “Like he always is.”

But did he arrive there too late? While Gordon navigated through chest bumps and embraces from teammates on an ecstatic beeline toward the locker room, scrutiny was already underway. By rule, the ball must be fully out of the shooter’s hands before the buzzer, or else the shot doesn’t count. In this unusual case, Gordon’s fingertips were attached when the ball was almost halfway through the net.

The replay-review process at Intuit Dome was its own spectacle. Every angle seemed to reveal a new truth and elicit a different reaction. Nuggets and Clippers players gazed up at the jumbotron together and tried to litigate the nanoseconds.

“We were debating back and forth about it,” Peyton Watson told The Denver Post.

Confidence on the Denver sideline depended on the individual.

“I knew it was good,” Watson said.

“I thought the game was over,” Gordon said, “so I was just trying to get off the court.”

“A lot of doubt,” Michael Porter Jr. said with a laugh. “It was like somewhere between the 0.1 (seconds) and 0.0 range.”

“I was walking off the court like, ‘I don’t think so,’” Christian Braun said, chalking it up to his tendency to assume the worst.

“I didn’t want to have excitement and then go down,” Jokic said. “I thought that it was close, but it was really, really close.”

That’s how the Nuggets do business in the playoffs these days. Twice last year, they needed dramatic shots from Jamal Murray to break the Lakers’ hearts. They suffered a 20-point collapse in a wild Game 7 loss to Minnesota. Their two wins in this series have been decided in overtime or at the buzzer. That 22-point lead was too simple.

Gordon has a heroic playoff moment worthy of his importance to Denver now. And it was the most fitting type of play — dirty work in the dunker position. He once claimed to have the “best hands in the business.” Mostly, they serve Jokic’s fondness for trying adventurous no-look passes at close proximity. But this time, Gordon bailed out an unpredictable heave that had zero intention of being an assist.

“One of the best things about him was the way he gets rebounds,” Gordon’s high school coach, Tim Kennedy, remembered. “His ability just to get a feel for where the ball is coming and get his hands on it. That competitive nature of his.”

Denver’s locker room was buzzing in the afterglow of the dunk. The next playoff game was on the television in the middle of the room. At halftime, ESPN relived the buzzer-beater from every conceivable camera angle. A small handful of Nuggets crowded around, teasing Gordon with fake amazement that he was on TV. Gordon remained seated at his stall across the room. He responded with a bashful smile.

His final stat line in Game 4 was productive but fairly modest, at least compared to the box-score contributions of Jokic and a couple of other starters — 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.

If those numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, maybe that’s the most fitting aspect of an instant classic.

“Aaron doesn’t care if it’s 12, 8 and 4 … as long as we win,” said Nuggets interim coach David Adelman, who also coached Gordon in Orlando. “And some nights, it’s 22, 12 and 6. If we lose, he doesn’t care. He wants to win.

“There are certain people in our league that I would define as championship pieces. I think we say that too much. He is one of those people. He is the definition of that, and he always has been, since he got to us.”

Originally Published: April 27, 2025 at 7:50 AM MDT