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Denver mayor blames Republicans and Trump for $5M cuts to pay for migrant crisis

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Denver mayor blames Republicans and Trump for M cuts to pay for migrant crisis

Denver is cutting $5 million from public services used by its residents in order to pay for its spiraling illegal immigration costs, with the city’s mayor pinning the blame on Republicans and former President Donald Trump.

Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, announced on Friday that hours will be cut at recreation centers, and in-person vehicle registration renewals at the DMV will end, while the planting of spring flower beds will also be stopped to save the much-needed cash.

The cuts follow the mayor’s decision last month to divert $25 million from the city budget to the migrant crisis. That plan included pulling $10 million from a contingency fund and $15 million from a building remodel. Those actions followed the city’s decision to hold many positions vacant and review new or expanded contracts and programs.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and former President Donald Trump. Johnston, a Democrat, is blaming Republicans and Donald Trump for his decision to shave $5 million from public services to pay for its migrant crisis.  ( Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post, left Mario Tama/Getty Images, right)

800 MIGRANT FAMILIES BEING BOOTED FROM DENVER SHELTERS AS CITY NEARS BREAKING POINT

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Johnston says the crisis will cost the city around $180 million in 2024.

“The choice by Republicans in Congress to purposefully kill a historic, bipartisan border deal this week will have a devastating impact in Denver,” Johnston said after the Republicans blocked a bipartisan border deal, which included a foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel, from advancing Wednesday.

“I’m incredibly proud of how city team members have stepped up over the past year, but it is clear that the federal government is not going to support our city,” he said, fighting back tears at a Friday press conference.

Along with these department budget cuts, the city will decrease the number of migrants it serves and will continue to monitor spending, Johnston said. Earlier this week, the city began ejecting around 800 migrant families from shelters as it scales back on aid for illegal immigrants. 

About 40,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have arrived in Denver over the past year, and more than 3,500 are living in city-funded hotel rooms, according to the Colorado Sun.

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A migrant lie on the sleeping pad at a makeshift shelter in Denver, Colorado

Migrants at a makeshift shelter in Denver, Colorado on January 13, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

DENVER MAYOR WARNS CITY IS ‘VERY CLOSE’ TO A ‘BREAKING POINT’ WITH MIGRANT SURGE

“I want it to be clear to Denverites. Who is not responsible for this crisis that we’re in [is] folks who have walked 3,000 miles to get to this city,” he said. 

“Despite broad bipartisan support, I think [former President] Trump and Republican leaders saw this as a chance that if this bill actually passed, it would have successfully solved the problem facing cities and the border, and they would have rather seen it fail, so they could exacerbate these problems, extend the suffering of American people and of newcomers for their own electoral changes this November,” he said, according to The Hill. 

“That was far beyond what I expected from even the most cynical of political operators.”

“Denverites have done their part, the city will do our part. The federal government failed to do their part. Addressing this crisis will require shared sacrifice, but we will continue to work together to meet this moment.”  

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Johnston has previously said that Denver has received more migrants per capita than any other city in the nation.

As part of the new cost-cutting measures, recreation centers will close one day each week, while DMV satellite offices will alternate closing one week at a time beginning March 4. The city will not recruit a class of nine new DMV employees.

Furthermore, Denver Parks and Recreation will cut spring programs by 25%, and regional centers will go from seven days of weekly operation to six days. Local and neighborhood centers will continue to be open six days a week but with a reduction in hours of operation. 

Venezuelan migrants wait in line for food from a food truck at a migrant-processing center on May 9, 2023, in Denver, Colorado.  ((Photo by Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images))

Johnston said that full-time city officials will not lose their jobs, but seasonal employees may have their hours cut or positions left open.

The sanctuary city has been struggling to stretch its limited resources to support the growing number of migrants there. Texas has transported thousands of migrants to sanctuary cities like Denver, to showcase the problems that border states face when migrants flood their cities. Johnston told Fox News last week that the city was “very close” to a breaking point due to the crisis.

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The influx of migrants has also put the city’s health system at a breaking point.

About 8,000 illegal immigrants recorded about 20,000 visits to Denver Health last year, receiving services such as emergency room treatment, primary care, dental care and childbirth. The health system has also called for a federal bailout.

Denver passed laws to become a sanctuary city, but it doesn’t include a right-to-shelter provision, which means there is no official policy that compels the local government to provide shelter indefinitely. 

Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.

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San Francisco, CA

At Manny’s cafe, group therapy for newly hopeful Democrats

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At Manny’s cafe, group therapy for newly hopeful Democrats


SAN FRANCISCO — They filed in tentatively, taking seats on plush couches and folding chairs arranged in a semicircle in the cafe’s gently lit backroom. Here would be safe to share their deepest feelings, they were assured, to unspool their still-fresh emotions.

And the Democrats gathered at Manny’s — for what looked and sounded a lot like group therapy — had a lot to unpack.

In one of America’s most liberal cities, this is where San Franciscans come when they need a place to process the latest political bombshell. So they did Monday, gathering after President Biden ended his reelection campaign and ceded the spotlight to one of the Bay Area’s own. In confessional tones, person after person reported how their mood had changed overnight: from depression to delight, anxiety to excitement.

The preceding weeks had been traumatizing, the previous 24 hours life-affirming.

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“I think for the first time in months I feel so optimistic,” said Chandru Murthi, a 77-year-old resident who was the first in the circle to share.

Manny Yekutiel imagined exactly this type of discussion when he founded his hybrid coffee shop, bar, bookstore and event space in the Mission district in 2018. The 34-year-old political science major is a longtime Democratic fundraiser and strategist, and he decided to open shop after Donald Trump’s election.

Since then, Manny’s has become a pillar of the city’s political scene, a physical retreat for like-minded souls to talk at a time when so much discourse is chronically online. The back of the cafe is decorated like a living room, with floor lamps, house plants, even a red vintage rug from Yekutiel’s childhood home in Los Angeles.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and first lady Jill Biden are among the prominent Democrats who have all stopped in. Vice President Harris, now the party’s likely ticket-topper in the November election, is also a fan. “You’re amazing,” she told Yekutiel during one of her visits.

For anyone looking to do a wellness check on the psyche of a deeply blue stronghold at this historic moment, Manny’s is where to go.

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Responding to Biden’s news, Yekutiel reworked the week’s schedule, starting with Monday’s session. He kicked things off as discussion leader. “Let’s ground this in how we feel right now,” he told the crowd of about three dozen people. “How are we feeling as Democrats, as San Franciscans, as people who have a lot at stake in this election?”

“I feel excited, I feel hopeful,” said Angelina Polselli, 24. “It feels like everyone finally woke up from a long, long nap.”

As Manny’s resident Gen Z expert, she noted that young people have some concerns with Harris, particularly her record as a prosecutor. But there’s also the “brat” factor, which Polselli had to explain to an audience who appeared largely unfamiliar with the catalogue of Charli XCX.

“It feels exciting to have a young candidate who is energized and youthful and who is also talking to young people and using the language we use,” she added.

Soon, however, that familiar fear crept back in.

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“I’m a little bit worried about a San Francisco liberal carrying the battleground states,” said Dan Rink, 81 and himself a liberal from the Bay Area.

“I’m not sure she’s a liberal, I view her as more moderate,” David Anderson, 55, a film industry veteran, chimed in.

Yekutiel took a poll: “How many of you, if you’re willing to raise your hand, are worried about her ability to win?” About half the circle responded, though several acknowledged they were “more hopeful than 24 hours ago.”

Hope has been in short supply all year for this crowd. Enthusiasm, even shorter.

“The last few weeks were really difficult because people have just felt this dread, that there’s no point,” Yekutiel said. “And now I have all these ideas, my mind has been racing, people are reaching out to me, asking how they can help. That was not happening 24 hours ago.”

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Two nights later, Manny’s hosted a watch party for Biden’s Oval Office address, his first since exiting the campaign. Despite the new themed drinks — “Kamalattes,” sweetened with coconut syrup, of course — the affair was solemn.

As the president’s speech played on a small TV opposite the barista station, some 20 people fell silent and clustered around the screen. Passersby stopped to watch through the cafe’s open front windows. A woman named Lydia walked in to order a mocha and wound up staying for the whole thing.

The elated embrace of Harris expanded to a tearful appreciation of Biden.

“I felt in his voice and his speech and his words so much love for this country,” Michelle Jeong said, choking up. “The hope, unity and the lack of ego.”

For Mike Madison, who had also attended the Monday gathering, the sentiment was overdue. Lost in the memes and the Harris hullabaloo was the fact that Biden had just made a tremendous sacrifice, he said.

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“I wanted people to remember what he’s done, his real accomplishments,” Madison said.

If night one’s theme was relief and celebration and night two’s was gratitude, a third event Thursday was something of a reality check. It was also the largest gathering of the week, squeezing about 175 people into Manny’s backroom for a panel featuring two journalists dissecting the upcoming campaign and Harris’s prospects for victory.

“It’s not going to be easy, let’s be clear. It’s not going to be easy to win in November,” said Scott Shafer, politics editor at KQED, a Bay Area public radio station.

The evening served as a call to action: “This is our hometown candidate, she’s one of us,” Yekutiel said. “So we are going to be needed to propel her to this highest office.”

For those interested in getting involved, he announced a very San Francisco option: A “disco for democracy” party, with proceeds going to get-out-the-vote efforts in neighboring Nevada. Only days earlier, when Biden was still heading the Democratic ticket, such festivities were a harder sell, Yekutiel said. But now there was something to dance about.

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Lalita Abhyankar, a physician, was ready to volunteer. “I want to knock on doors,” she said. “I’ve never felt this way about a candidate, not even Obama. … I can vote for her instead of just voting against Trump. It feels amazing.”

Thursday was her first time at a Manny’s discussion, she said. A friend told her it was the place to be this week, and she wanted company as she reveled in her new enthusiasm. Sometimes even those who didn’t know they cared leave Manny’s fired up — like the woman who happened to walk in just before Biden’s address.

“She came in for a mocha and participated in a major historic moment,” Yekutiel said. “That was my vision for this place — you trap people with beer and coffee so they don’t even realize they’re walking into a political space. And then, they’re in.”





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Denver, CO

Rockies, dominated by Giants’ Kyle Harrison, lose ninth straight in San Francisco

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Rockies, dominated by Giants’ Kyle Harrison, lose ninth straight in San Francisco


The Rockies lost their momentum in San Francisco. Again.

Coming off a 4-2 homestand culminating with a 20-7 bombardment of the Red Sox on Wednesday, the Rockies were manhandled by left-hander Kyle Harrison Friday night at Oracle Park.

Harrison allowed one run on one hit over 6 2/3 innings as the Giants routed Colorado 11-4 Friday night at Oracle Park. Harrison matched a career-high with 11 strikeouts.

Harrison got a big assist from sizzling rookie shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald, who launched a pair of two-run homers as he continued his magical July. All told, the Giants hit four home runs.

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The Rockies, 14-37 on the road, have lost nine consecutive games at Oracle. Since the start of the 2021 season, they are 5-24 in the City by the Bay.

“Overall, it was a tough one tonight,” Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters in San Francisco. “Harrison was the key.”

With left-hander Kyle Freeland on the mound, the Rockies took the field with a puncher’s chance. After all, Freeland came in riding a streak of five consecutive quality starts, during which he posted a 1.95 ERA.

Although Freeland struck out eight and escaped jams in the second and third with clutch punchouts, he was tagged for two home runs. Jorge Soler led off the first with a blast to left, and Fitzgerald ripped a two-run homer to left in the fourth. Heliot Ramos and Casey Schmit also tagged Freeland for triples to right-center field.

Freeland got the hook after four innings, charged with six runs on eight hits.

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“Kyle had to work hard and they had some good at-bats against him,” Black said. “Kyle’s stuff was good, but they worked him hard, they really did. And he just couldn’t seem to find the inside corner enough with the fastball.”

Fitzgerald’s second two-run homer came in the sixth inning off Tyler Kinley, extending the Giants’ lead to 8-1.

Fitzgerald, who homered in five straight games from July 9-23, is riding an eight-game extra-base hit streak, the second-longest by a Giants rookie since 1900. It trails only Hall of Famer Hack Wilson’s nine-game streak in 1924.

Fitzgerald’s overall hitting streak is now at nine games, during which he’s hit .452 (14 for 31).

Plain and simple, Harrison owns the Rockies. He’s 3-0 with a 2.22 ERA and 28 strikeouts. On May 7 at Coors Field, he pitched a career-high seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits in San Francisco’s 5-0 victory.

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Powered by a two-run double by Brenton Doyle in the eighth, the Rockies’ hibernating offense woke up late. But it was too little, much too late, especially after Heliot Ramos crushed a three-run homer off reliever Ty Blach in the eighth.

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.

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Seattle, WA

Former Seattle mayor Charley Royer dies at 84

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Former Seattle mayor Charley Royer dies at 84


Charley Royer, Seattle’s longest-serving mayor, has died at age 84. He was the city’s 48th chief executive.

Royer was ahead of his time in many ways. He established low-income housing to combat homelessness. Royer decided that the city would recognize domestic partnerships and provided city benefits to those families. He oversaw the development of the Washington State Convention Center.

Royer was born in Medford, OR in 1939. He joined the Army in 1961 and after leaving the Army studied Journalism at the University of Oregon. Royer worked for KING 5-TV.

KIRO Newsradio last spoke with the three-term former mayor in 2023, when he weighed in on the whereabouts of the “Seattle Spirit” in modern times.

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“Our spirit is not pep rally spirit,” Royer said. “It’s almost a ‘golden rule’ kind of spirit, and it’s something that I think still exists. But when you start growing as fast as we have been growing, you get a lot of people who don’t know the handshake,” he continued, using the metaphor of fraternal organizations with arcane traditions. “They don’t know that they’re supposed to not be angry about gay people. They don’t know that Republicans sometimes, like Dan Evans and a bunch of Republicans we had in office, are for the environment, they’re for people paying their fair share of taxes.”

As Royer told it, it was almost like that 19th-century Seattle Spirit morphed and evolved into the 20th-century Seattle Process, which is the sometimes – OK, often – pejorative name for a style of big-tent public engagement in decision-making which can seemingly go on for years or even decades, which can often frustrate citizens watching from outside the big tent.

Royer said the modern version of the Seattle Spirit is also about getting over old rivalries like the one with Tacoma – which dated to the railroad age but which continued until recently.

“I couldn’t believe it when the Port of Tacoma decided that it would partner up with the Port of Seattle,” Royer said. “They were fierce competitors. Tacoma and Seattle have always competed for business, and it’s been unhelpful to everybody.

“Our cities in the region have not collaborated and so those grudges and competitions have blinded us to some opportunities,” Royer added.

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When asked by KIRO Newsradio to give advice to incoming mayor Bruce Harrell, he said good working relationships with the city council and the media are key.

“Don’t criticize the council, even in private with your department, and don’t engage in bad mouthing the council with the citizens or with others who have some case against the council,” Royer said. “They know it when you’re doing that, it’s almost like an animal kind of sense that they sense that you have been talking about them, or they hear about it, and that will negate any entreaties you make with the council, or any approach you make for the council to try to work with them. So don’t engage in that, and certainly don’t engage in beating up the press.”

One big part of that skill and leadership emerging and taking action, said Charles Royer, is about the timing and about a critical mass of the public having the will and the stomach necessary to tackle the big issues.

Royer said honesty is critical to a functional political system. Even though Royer didn’t share the political views of Ronald Reagan, who was president during much of Royer’s tenure at Seattle City Hall, he did admire him.

“I thought he was a pretty good president. And he was an honest man, I think, and he was a caring person,” Royer said. “But he also told the truth. He may occasionally have, in some of his stories, bent the truth a little bit to his advantage – particularly if he was campaigning – but he didn’t outright lie.”

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Royer is survived by his wife Lynn Claudon, two children; Suzanne Royer McCone and Jordan Royer, and 4 grandchildren and one great grandchild. The cause of his death is not known.

Contributing: KIRO 7

You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News, read more from him here, and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks here.

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here. 

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