[ Boulder County ]

• Longmont City Council voted to move forward with Ordinance 9C. This would authorize the city to charge aircraft operators for using the airport’s runways, with the intent of creating a more self-sustaining enterprise fund. 
• Boulder City Council unanimously voted last week to move forward with a temporary ban on graywater reuse systems, setting the ordinance to last two years, stating there are not enough policies in place to make use safe. This is despite the Colorado Bill that passed in 2024, allowing graywater for reuse starting in January of 2026
• For the third consecutive year, Niwot High School brought home the state 5A championship in both boys and girls cross country.
• In an attempt to support small entrepreneurs, Erie starts a 100+ business directory for small, home-run businesses.

[ State ]

• Colorado Ethics Commission advances complaints brought by Colorado Common Cause against Colorado Democrats who attended dark money-funded retreat. The retreat was held in Vail on the weekend of October 4 and was attended by sixteen local lawmakers.
• On Tuesday, November 17th, hundreds of parents, advocates, and mental/behavioral health professionals gathered at the state capitol to demonstrate against the Medicaid cuts to behavioral health therapy. This comes in the wake of a projected $1.2 billion shortfall in Colorado funding. These cuts will largely impact children with Autism.
• With a projected $100,000, Coloradans losing their health insurance in the next few months, Weld County has deployed a public health unit, which drives to lower-income areas to provide health care, testing, and vaccines.

[ National ]

• Construction began on the East Wing of the White House to build a new ballroom. This project is funded by three major lobbyist groups: Miller Strategies, Ballard Partners and Michael Best Strategies.
• Former Director of the FBI, James Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017, brought complaints against his release from his position against the Department of Justice, stating that it had been a vindictive and selective dismissal.
• After some back and forth, Trump expected to sign bill to release the Justice Department’s Epstein files. This comes after the House voted 427-1 for this release of information.

[ International ]

• Israeli military airstrikes in Lebanon create more tension between the countries. Israel stated that their initial strike was to destroy a weapon storage facility; however, the airstrikes hit a Palestinian refugee camp, killing dozens of people.
• Japan has warned its citizens in China to step up safety precautions and avoid crowded places, amid a deepening dispute between Asia’s two largest economies over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi‘s comments on Taiwan’s potential to be attacked by China.

Quotes

“The detainment of Mohammad Dadfar — an Afghan ally who risked his life alongside American troops to fight the Taliban — is a disgrace, and yet another example of this administration’s draconian immigration policies.”

-Rep. Joe Neguse, who is petitioning to have Dadfar released from ICE detainment in Aurora

“When we talk about my politics, I call myself a democratic socialist in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. King from decades ago, who said, ‘Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country,”

–Zohran Mamdani, the  new Mayor Elect of New York City, who ran on a progressive platform.

“He was into the barely legal type, like, he liked 15-year-old girls. I’m not trying to make an excuse for this, I’m just giving you facts — that he wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds. But he liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were, but would look legal to a passer-by.”

-Talk show host Megyn Kelly, explaining away pedophilia on behalf of the late Jeffrey Epstein.

“I don’t believe the White House is involved in that planning, or at least hasn’t-, hasn’t gotten to it yet. I know the president is aware of the former vice president’s passing.”

–Karoline Leavitt regarding Trump’s indifference towards former Vice President Cheney’s passing. Cheney was a critic of Trump and his policies.

“Nobody’s coming to a healing center to do an imperceptible dose of mushrooms. People are coming for big experiences, to have the doors of their mind kicked open.”

–Theresa Crossland, co-owner of Boulder’s first psilocybin healing center

By the Numbers

$22K

The amount of money given by the Louisville City Council to local nonprofits to provide emergency food assistance.

1,600+

The number of species and their habitats that are protected by the Endangered Species Act. Trump’s administration plans to roll back this act, putting the animals at greater risk of extinction.

97%

The percentage of immigrants detained in Chicago with no criminal record, according to the Department of Justice.

1.7 million

The number of counterfeit pills in Colorado’s largest Fentanyl seizure.

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