Denver, CO
Colorado State House District 16 candidate Q&A
Go to: Candidate Q&A home page • Denver Post Voter Guide
Rebecca Keltie Rep
Residence: Colorado Springs
Profession: Engineer
Education: Military and civilian degrees
Experience: My experience includes 21 years in the military, working with foreign leaders, government agencies and private sector business leaders.
Campaign website
What are your top three priorities, if elected?
– Education and parental rights
– Veteran and senior issues and programs
– Protecting business rights and smart development
Recent polling has shown trust in government hovering at historically low levels and stark partisan divides in views of election integrity. What will you do to bridge those gaps?
Offering mutual respect and having effective conversations without emotions. Election integrity is of utmost importance. It should be treated with the same level of security as our military.
What specific actions would you support to improve affordability for Coloradans, whether aimed at housing costs, tax burdens or other impacts?
Lowering taxes and fees is where we need to start. Cutting unnecessary spending and plugging leaks is next. When we are in times like we are in, pulling back and tightening the purse strings isn’t just needed, it’s of utmost importance. In addition, I would like Colorado join other states in removing taxes for our seniors on Social Security.
What should the legislature do when it comes to addressing greenhouse gas emissions and regulating oil and gas development?
Having worked in atmospheric sciences for nearly two decades, I know where the issues are and are not when it comes to climate challenges.
There’s nothing better than a “monster” under the bed to motivate people to loosen their wallets to get rid of it. Most of Colorado’s current legislators are unqualified to make such decisions. This is where experts must be brought in with realistic facts and reliable data without emotions or agendas. Until that happens, nothing should be done legislatively other than picking up our trash and cleaning up our local surroundings.
Whether your party is in the majority or minority next year, where do you see actionable common ground with the opposing party?
I believe once we put emotions aside there are more things we agree on than not. Let’s start there. With the new leadership elected this term I am hoping better conversations will be had with more open minds with the voices of the people of Colorado heard and honored.
Steph Vigil (i) Dem
Residence: Colorado Springs
Profession: Independent contractor
Education: Some college
Experience: Service industry, independent contractor
Campaign website
What are your top three priorities, if elected?
Housing and transportation: Colorado needs housing for every budget and transportation for every lifestyle to ensure a good quality of life for all, a more vibrant economy, and a healthy, sustainable environment.
Worker empowerment: the way we work is changing, and we need new tools and protections to ensure that the future of work serves all Coloradans.
Civil rights: we’ve seen an increasingly hostile far right movement that’s already tried to overthrow an election and is undoing decades of progress via activist SCOTUS justices. Colorado must lead by defending our core values of self-determination, free expression, and robust civic engagement.
Recent polling has shown trust in government hovering at historically low levels and stark partisan divides in views of election integrity. What will you do to bridge those gaps?
Colorado’s election system is unparalleled, and it’s unfortunate that it’s become a partisan issue after all these years of serving us so well. I strongly encourage everyone to learn how the system works, and be skeptical of anyone who sows distrust without evidence, or insists that any election they lose couldn’t have been fair; that’s someone who just doesn’t want to earn your vote. Governments get their legitimacy from the consent of the people, and therefore every candidate for public office should want to maximize participation, support our election workers, and then get out there and earn the votes.
What specific actions would you support to improve affordability for Coloradans, whether aimed at housing costs, tax burdens or other impacts?
Over the last 20 years there has been a $50 trillion transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%, which has dealt a terrible blow to working families. We have simultaneously suppressed housing and transportation choices with overly restrictive land use policies, and put insufficient public investment into essentials like child care, healthcare, and higher education. If you work hard at any job, you shouldn’t be too poor to live. We must free up our housing market and promote infill development, strengthen working people’s right to collectively bargain, and hold big business accountable for their excesses.
What should the legislature do when it comes to addressing greenhouse gas emissions and regulating oil and gas development?
I’m proud that Colorado is a national leader in pursuing a just and equitable transition to all-renewable energy. The dust is still settling on the big agreement with oil and gas to pay extraction fees, but it’s promising to have dedicated funds for reducing emissions from transportation and buildings, and furthering our conservation efforts. Importantly, environmental damage does not hurt everyone equally: Black, indigenous, and other communities of color historically get hit with the worst air quality problems and other environmental hazards, and we must center those communities’ needs and voices as we move into a clean, renewable energy future.
Whether your party is in the majority or minority next year, where do you see actionable common ground with the opposing party?
I’ve observed a couple of such policy areas. One is preserving and protecting our beautiful state, and taking care of the great outdoors, even if we disagree on how exactly to go about it. Another area of common interest is having reliable and efficient public services. This is why I passed a bill to raise the bar on county coroner qualifications, for instance. There are a variety of opinions on what all should be public, but we do tend to agree that the public services we have should simply work, and deliver effective outcomes for residents whenever the need arises.
How candidate order was determined: A lot drawing was held at the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office on Aug. 7, 2024, to determine the general election ballot order for major and minor party candidates for U.S. House, State Board of Education, CU Regent, State Senate, State House, and District Attorney races. Colorado law (1-5-404, C.R.S.) requires that candidates are ordered on the ballot in three tiers: major party candidates followed by minor party candidates followed by unaffiliated candidates. Within each tier, the candidates are ordered by a lot drawing with the exception of the President and Vice President race, which is ordered by the last name of the presidential candidate. Questionnaires were not sent to write-in candidates.
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Originally Published:
Denver police arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of first-degree murder in a fatal shooting near East Colfax Avenue and North Dahlia Street.
Joseph York was arrested Thursday after detectives identified him as a suspect through interviews and surveillance video, the Denver Police Department said in a news release Friday.
Detectives believe York was arguing with the victim, 25-year-old Elijah Barr, before the shooting in the early hours of June 7, the Denver Police Department said in a news release Friday. The intersection is between the city’s South Park Hill and Hale neighborhoods.
Barr was found with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
York is being held without bail in the Downtown Detention Center and is set to appear in Denver County Court on Saturday, jail records show.
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Denver, CO
Claimed by Christ, Free in Him: Archbishop Golka Celebrates First Juneteenth Mass in Denver
The annual archdiocesan celebration highlighted human dignity, Black Catholic faith and the healing power of Christ’s love.
“This is my first Juneteenth celebration as a priest or a bishop. I’m honored that this could be my first, right here,” Denver Archbishop James Golka said during the Mass commemorating Juneteenth at Curé d’Ars Parish in Denver on Sunday, June 14.
Celebrating the day the Emancipation Proclamation reached enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in the United States. This year’s annual archdiocesan Mass, organized by the Office of Black Catholic Ministry and bringing together parishes and groups from across Northern Colorado, also served to welcome the recently arrived archbishop, who was warmly greeted with processions by the Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary, liturgical participation by the Curé d’Ars youth group and choir, and additional music by the Queen of Peace African Catholic Society.
“You have a very beautiful church here. The building is okay, also,” Archbishop Golka remarked, noting the beauty of the people of God, the Church, amid laughter and applause.
Carolyne Richardson, member of the Knights of Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary at St. Ignatius of Loyola, was particularly touched by Golka’s quiet enthusiasm.
“The church was overflowing with diverse ethnicities joining in this celebration. Everyone was elated to meet Archbishop Golka. He seemed to look each parishioner in the eye with genuine care and concern,” she noted. “It was sheer jubilation watching him sing the gospel songs along with the choir.”
Recalling his time with fellow bishops at their annual spring meeting in Florida, the archbishop reflected on Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, and its discussion on the reality of slavery.
“Although there was not always consistency in practice — slavery was long tolerated before being unequivocally condemned — there has been a continuous affirmation throughout history of the dignity of every human being created in the image of God, even if it took eighteen centuries for the full incompatibility with slavery to be explicitly recognized,” the Holy Father wrote. “This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one for which we cannot consider ourselves detached. It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord” (Magnifica Humanitas 176).
“Finally, Pope Leo says this to you, to all of us,” the archbishop noted as he finished quoting the Holy Father’s encyclical. “‘For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”
(Photos by Matt Walker/Denver Catholic)
In his characteristically deeply pastoral way, Archbishop Golka offered the deep, personal love of Christ as a spiritual foundation and antidote to any and all attacks against humanity, be they in the form of slavery or the lurking dangers of artificial intelligence.
“At your Baptism, you were claimed by Jesus Christ. That’s our identity. The evil one tries to make us forget that. We forget that we are beloved children of God. We begin to think that maybe we are worthless, that there’s no reason why we’re here. That is a lie,” the archbishop emphasized. “When God created the universe, he had you in mind, to be here at this time, and this place for his purposes. And he wants to use you in everything. That means, he can use your weakness and your mistakes if you let him.”
The call to surrender more completely to the Lord of love, whose Sacred Heart burns in love for souls, resonated deeply with those in attendance.
“The Mass was more beautiful than I could have imagined,” said Kateri Williams, director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministry. “Archbishop Golka’s homily deeply touched those in attendance, and many were moved to tears as he spoke of the Father’s unconditional love and as he reminded us that each of us has a unique purpose and calling in God’s plan.”
Osahon “Osi” Ogbeide, one of several members of the Youth Ministry at Curé d’Ars who read the Prayers of the Faithful, was also taken by the seeming contradiction in Archbishop Golka’s homily.
“The homily focusing on being a slave and surrendering to the lord was very impactful because it reminded me that God wants the best for us. And that can only be achieved in surrendering to him,” he said.
As we continue to surrender to God and follow his plan, even when it surprises and confounds us, we participate in the Kingdom of God, the archbishop concluded.
“God’s purposes are much more immense than my plan. My plan is pretty puny,” Archbishop Golka said. “God’s purposes began with creation, and they’re going to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the Reign of God. We get to participate in the Reign of God coming, if you use God’s gifts for God and God’s purposes.”
Factors such as declining birth rates and families moving out of the city are contributing to declining enrollment at Denver Public Schools. In turn, it’s reshaping the district’s future.
“I think we’re in a good position, but it’s responsible for us to always be looking in the future and knowing we have to make some adjustments,” said Chuck Carpenter, the district’s CFO.
In a two-year span between this past school year and next, DPS expects a decline in enrollment of around 1,700 students.
“We haven’t really seen anything like this,” said Carpenter in response to the consistent decline.
Because of this trend, the district is facing a $28 million structural deficit over the next five years.
“We have a balanced budget now, and we’re not predicting that we’ll have an unbalanced budget in three years,” said Carpenter. “We’re saying we need to make adjustments over the next three, four years, so that our budgets are balanced.”
DPS’s Director of Campus Planning, Andrew Huber, told CBS Colorado in an interview last month that those adjustments will likely include closing down more schools.
“Additional school closures will be necessary in the upcoming years. When exactly that would be is hard to forecast right now,” said Huber.
The district’s CFO says his biggest takeaway from a recent round of closures is to make sure to give families options for what’s next.
“No one wants their school closed, but the second-best option isn’t going to be the same for every family,” said Carpenter.
This issue could be one Denver faces for years to come.
“We sort of say, how many kids are born here? Because in five years, those kids will be kindergartners,” Carpenter added.
The city’s birth rate peaked in 2005, meaning those babies have already graduated high school. And, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, more young families move out of Denver and into surrounding counties than move into the city.
“I think school consolidation is very — I understand why people want to talk about it, but I think it’s more about, like, how do we make sure that the programs that are offered are rich programs,” said Carpenter.
Carpenter also says the district is closely monitoring some potential cuts to federal grants for students of poverty and language learners. He says those decisions will be made by October for the start of the new fiscal year, and cuts would have a “terrible” impact.
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