Denver, CO
Archdiocese of Denver, two parishes say universal pre-K provider requirements violate First Amendment rights
DENVER — The Archdiocese of Denver and two parishes filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming provider requirements in the state’s Universal Preschool (UPK) program violate their First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit names Lisa Roy, executive director of Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and Dawn Odean, director of Colorado’s Universal Preschool program.
In order to become part of the program and receive state funding, preschool providers must follow the state’s anti-discrimination policy and accept any applicant without regard to a student or family’s religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.
St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood, along with the archdiocese, say this violates the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
“The Department is purporting to require all preschool providers to accept any applicant without regard to a student or family’s religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and to prohibit schools from “discriminat[ing] against any person” on the same bases,” the lawsuit reads.
“When it implemented that program, Colorado excluded a lot of religious schools because of their belief,” said Nick Reaves an attorney for the Plaintiffs.
All Archdiocese schools are required to “uphold and to affirm and to help promote a Catholic worldview,” the attorney explained. The Archdiocese also instructs its schools “to consider whether a family or child seeking placement in their schools has identified as LGBTQ, is in a same-sex relationship, or has adopted a gender identity different from his or her biological sex,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says enrollment has dropped at St. Mary’s and families have said it’s because they do not participate in Universal Preschool. It says the state has “cornered” the market on preschools, and due to lower enrollment, the parishes will have to charge significantly higher prices.
“When you’re competing with 15 hours of free preschool, even a very reasonably-priced preschool can’t compete,” Reaves said.
Conor Cahill, press secretary for Governor Jared Polis, said other faith-based providers are participating in the program.
“The Governor believes in building a Colorado for all, and a community where everyone is free from discrimination and this voter-approved program has received a 43% increase in enrollment in universal preschool including gaining the participation of many faith-based preschool providers,” Cahill said.
Of the 2,061 providers participating in Universal Preschool, 37 are faith-based, according to Cahill.
The lawsuit claims the parishes, through the program, would receive nearly $6,000 for each child that attends 15 hours per week for the school year. They would receive roughly $10,500 for children that attend 30 hours per week.
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Denver, CO
More than 250 flights delayed, another handful canceled at DIA as freezing weather continues in Denver
More than 250 flights were delayed at Denver International Airport on Sunday as a third day of below-freezing weather and snow buffeted the city.
As of 4:30 p.m. Sunday, eight flights had been canceled at DIA and another 255 failed to leave the gate on time, according to flight tracking software FlightAware.
United and its regional airline, Skywest, delayed the most flights Sunday at 164 combined, according to FlightAware data. Southwest trailed behind with 45 delayed flights.
According to flight data, United also canceled the most flights, removing six flights from its Sunday roster. JetBlue took second with two flights canceled.
Frontier, Key Lime Air, Delta, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Jazz were all affected by weather-fueled flight delays.
Winter weather in the northeast was also causing issues for DIA on Sunday, delaying and canceling flights to New Jersey’s Essex County Airport, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
New Jersey’s airport closed Sunday for winter weather and was expected to reopen Monday morning, according to FAA officials. Denver passengers headed to New York were experiencing up to 3-hour travel delays at DIA and travelers en route to Philadelphia were seeing average delays of up to 45 minutes, according to FAA officials.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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Denver, CO
Colorado weather: Colder temperatures still to come, snow returns Sunday to Denver
The Front Range and Eastern Plains saw freezing, below-zero temperatures in the double digits overnight, but the worst of the arctic blast is yet to come.
Park County, southwest of metro Denver, experienced some of the coldest temperatures overnight Saturday, National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Koopmeiners said.
Temperatures fell to minus 33 degrees at Lake George, about 40 miles west of Colorado Springs, and to minus 37 at the nearby Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir, Koopmeiners said. Some areas out east on the plains, including Berthoud, saw overnight lows near minus 19.
Everything you need to know about the polar vortex bringing extreme cold to Colorado
Koopmeiners said temperatures bottomed out around 11 degrees below zero in Denver, but the wind chill made it feel closer to minus 29.
More snow is expected to fall Sunday across the Front Range and Eastern Plains, which Koopmeiners said will keep the worst of the cold at bay.
“The clouds help insulate the area when it snows, so it won’t get as cold and we won’t see some of those negative temperatures,” Koopmeiners said.
Chances for snow will start in Denver around sunset, but snowfall will be more likely to start between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., Koopmeiners said. The city can expect an inch or two of new accumulation before the snow stops around noon Monday.
“It will be a light, dry snow that doesn’t hold a lot of moisture,” Koopmeiners said. “The kind where you shut your car door and all the snow falls off the windows.”
The coldest temperatures of the 4-day arctic blast will come Monday night into Tuesday morning, he said. Wind chill temperatures will hit minus 25 over the Eastern Plains and up to minus 50 in the mountains and mountain valleys.
Denver, alongside most of the Front Range, is under a Cold Weather Advisory until 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“Dangerously cold wind chills as low as 25 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes,” forecasters said in the advisory.
Metro Denver is forecast to see Monday night temperature lows near minus 9, with wind chills of 25 degrees below zero.
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