Statement from President Joe Biden on May jobs report: “Today is a good day for the American economy and American workers. We learned this morning that the economy created 339,000 jobs last month. We have now created over 13 million jobs since I took office. That is more jobs in 28 months than any President has created in an entire 4-year term.”
Colorado Governor
Governor Jared Polis, House and Senate Legislative Leadership announced that Coloradans will receive $400 cash back this summer. “People are paying more for everyday items like gas, groceries, and rent through no fault of their own. Instead of the government sitting on money that Coloradans earned, we want to give everyone cash back as quickly and easily as possible to provide immediate relief and empower people to do what they want to with their money,” said Governor Polis.
Denver Mayor
With the NBA Finals in full swing, Mayor Michael B. Hancock has proclaimed Thursday, June 1, 2023 through to the championship clinching game as “Navy & Gold Week” throughout the City and County of Denver. Mayor Hancock is encouraging Nuggets fans across Denver, Colorado and the world – the Nuggets Nation – to wear Navy & Gold throughout the NBA Finals in support of the Denver Nuggets as they make their first championship appearance in franchise history against the Miami Heat.
Egyptian migrants expelled from Libya – At least a thousand Egyptian migrants have been deported on foot back to Egypt from Libya, according to a recent Libyan report. Libyan security forces noted that 4,000 migrants have been found during raids on people traffickers in the eastern part of the country. In Libya, there are about half a million migrants, most of whom are hoping to cross to Egypt by boat.
Gunmen target Nigerian villages, kill 30 – At least 30 people were killed by armed men in six Nigerian villages over the weekend. Some of the attacks were carried out because of reprisals for refusing to pay protection money to bandits. Recently, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised reforms aimed at tackling the country’s insecurity. He called for better coordination, consultation and timely reporting among security agencies.
Asia
Chinese Defense Minister talks relations with United States – China Defense Minister Li Shangfu spoke at a security summit, saying war with the United States would be an “unbearable disaster.” His statement was his first major speech since taking on his role. Li accused the United States of a “Cold War mentality” and said China would not allow naval patrols by the United States and its allies to be a “pretext to exercise hegemony of navigation.” The United States said it hopes to have a “predictable” relationship with China.
iPhones to be manufactured in India – Around 50,000 jobs are expected to come to the Indian state of Karnataka as Apple’s biggest supplier plans to start manufacturing iPhones in the area. The manufacturer, Foxconn, plans to invest $700 million on a new factory in the state. The project is valued at $1.59 billion, and land for the factory will be handed to Foxconn by July. Foxconn is hoping to manufacture 20 million iPhones a year at the Indian plant.
Europe
Ukraine launches offensive attack on Russia – Ukraine officials are focused on shifting to offensive actions in some areas of the country. The country is launching a series of small scale armored offensive operations, but did not say whether this was the start of a full-scale counter-offensive. Ukraine troops have made gains of up to one mile in various directions around the city of Bakhmut. Recent updates suggest Ukraine troops are moving forward toward Bakhmut and have destroyed a Russian position near the city.
Swedish soccer great retires – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the greatest soccer players of his generation, is retiring. The Swedish soccer player announced his retirement after a game for AC Milian this past Sunday. Ibrahimovic scored 511 goals throughout his career and won league titles in four countries. He retires as Sweden’s all-time top scorer with 62 international goals in 122 matches.
Latin America
Human remains found in Mexico – Mexican police discovered 45 bags containing human remains outside the western city of Guadalajara. The remains included men and women, but it is unknown how many bodies were discovered. Recently, Mexican officials have been searching for seven young call center workers. Crimes of disappearance are common in Mexico as approximately 100,000 people are considered missing.
Argentina eases access to morning-after pill – Argentina government officials announced that women in the country will no longer need a prescription to obtain emergency contraception. Feminist groups applauded the move and said they see it as a sign of progress in the country. Argentina officials said the measure will help to avoid unintentional pregnancies. Pro life groups called the measure worrying and accused the government of promoting abortive measures.
North America
Mike Pence announces presidential bid – Former Vice-President Mike Pence officially filed paperwork to run for president. He launched his campaign during a townhall event during the early voting stage in Iowa. He will face Donald Trump, the man who he served in the White House with for four years. Pence is currently polling in third place and has support in low single digits, according to most opinion polls.
Canada braces for wildfires – Canada is preparing for what might be the country’s worst wildfire season on record. So far this year, there have already been 2,214 wildfires in the country. Wildfires are expected to increase in June and remain unusually high throughout the summer. Fires have collectively burned more than 3.3 million hectares of land across Canada.
Gloria Jean Duran was born to Mary Mendoza and Joe Manzanares in Denver. Gloria is preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Chris and Robert, her sister Mary Helen and her beloved husband, Benito Duran of 52 years.
Gloria is survived by her children, Marlene (Rich), Serena, Juaquin Sr. (April). Justina (Marcos), Regina (Manuel) and Dejon. Her grandchildren Destiny, Shawna, Chris, Danielle, April, Ashley, Jacqelynn, Zachariah, Benito, Josiah Jolyssa, Jovinna, Jolanna, Juaquin, Juaquin Jr, Darrin, Aiden, Dre, Shy, Lili, Marcos, Kianna, Esiah, Noah, Christopher, Brynn, Ryder, Aries and 20 Great grandchildren. She is also survived by her three sisters Joann, Adele and Juanita, three brothers John, Jojo and Manuel and numerous nieces and nephews.
Gloria worked as an Office Manager at LaVozColorado for over 10 years, but her greatest accomplishment was her family. Gloria was well known for her love of Christ and died peacefully surrounded by loved ones. We love you Mama always and forever.
A celebration of Life Service is scheduled on Thursday, June 8, 2023 1-4 p.m. at Romero’s Funeral Home, 4750 Tejon St., in Denver. A reception follows the service 5-7 p.m. at Correa’s Event Center, 3890 Kipling St., in Wheatridge.
As she arrived—right on time—Denver Mayoral candidate Kelly Brough wearing her signature green, took a seat on one of the picnic tables outside the FlyteCo Tavern, one of the suddenly chic joints that dot the old Elitch Gardens neighborhood. If you didn’t know she was the person everyone had come to see, you’d have thought she was just part of the meet-and-greet.
Brough has that quality that, despite a platinum resume, is more ‘regular’ and ‘face in the crowd,’ than ‘blue blood.’ She certainly does not come across as a straight-from-central-casting politician. Perhaps it’s a reflection of her small-town Montana roots.
After a few minutes of chatting with the assembled crowd, she jumps right into her reason for being there. With less than a week before the Mayoral election, she’s there to introduce herself and secure their vote. And, with the clock ticking, every vote in the June 6th election is crucial.
Brough and Mike Johnston are the last candidates standing, having outlasted a field of 15 other hopefuls. While it’s always important for a candidate to tout their latest polls, Brough candidly admits, “We don’t have the money to do polling.” But what she’s lacking in that category, she more than makes up for with an oozing confidence and affability that says, ‘I’m one of you’.
Her ever-present aides bring along their own sound equipment for stops like this, a modest but portable system with a single speaker and microphone. It may be bare bones, but it gets the job done.
It’s also more than enough today because it muffles the 38th Street traffic and works perfectly for reaching the 30 or so people who’ve come to meet the candidate.
Her presentation today is probably not much different than the ones earlier in the day or the week or the past months. People, she knows, want to hear how she’s going to address crime, homelessness, high housing costs, and a myriad of other things that would make their lives and the city’s better.
But before she gets into the nuts-and-bolts of policy, Brough explains the whole reason for deciding to commit to the task of running a 24-7 campaign for the highest office in Denver. Her decision was pretty much made a year before in Montana where she had gone to be one of her dying father’s caretakers.
“It was my Dad who said to me, ‘Your life has prepared you for this moment, your experience has prepared you for this office. If you don’t run, I’ll never forgive you.’” Of course, she added with a bit of snark and a very forgivable expletive, “That was my Dad.”
The appreciative crowd joined her with a friendly chuckle. Then it was down to business—policy—something Brough has learned with the fine detail that can only be learned by being squarely in the crucible.
Over the course of the campaign and the many ‘live fire’ debates, Brough has answered every question, confidently, seamlessly, thrown her way. She has a plan for home ownership for younger people, a challenge both her own grown daughters have dealt with. “I do believe the Mayor has the capacity to recreate ‘the promise of Denver,’ and I think I can help.’
Brough doesn’t make her argument through the lens of rose-colored glasses. “I don’t mean to make it sound easy… but I think my experience will allow me to have an impact.”
While Brough has worked in some high-powered jobs, she also lived in a reality that plays out every day for thousands of Denver families. She has lived with a partner who battled both depression and addiction. He later died of suicide. As a young girl, violence claimed the life of her father. He was murdered. She attended school and had a lunch ticket the other kids knew was for the ‘free lunches’ poor kids got. She has walked in the shoes that, she says, too many in Denver walk in each day.
Brough has climbed the ladder to reach the rung she now occupies. Armed with a college degree and new in Denver, she began working for the city of Denver. But determined to use her degree, her skills and imagination, she rose to top rungs in city government and, later, in the private sector. She served as former Denver Mayor Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff and later headed the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. The first women to do so. She’s also owned her own business as a mediator and spent time in higher education, at Metropolitan State University-Denver.
Her television commercial showing her driving a snowplow is not hype. She actually did it. She was also one of the architects in the modernization of the city’s 3-1-1 system. Along the way, she’s worked seamlessly with everyone from the clerks who keep the city running to the movers and shakers who brought the 2008 Democratic convention to Denver. Brough was Denver’s point of the spear for the convention that nominated Barack Obama for president.
In her afternoon appearance on 38th, Brough tried to stress to the crowd that the issues they’re most concerned with are the ones Denver needs to address to move into the 21st century. A city with the world’s third busiest airport cannot, she said, be world class unless it can solve its homeless/ unhoused challenges. It cannot compete internationally if it can’t figure out how to revitalize center city where vacancies abound and a number of once thought of immovable tenants have been unable to meet their rents.
And while Brough has not made gender a solitary element in her campaign, the issue is important to a lot of voters. As one older woman at Saturday’s meet-and-greet told her, “I’ve just moved into Denver from Littleton,” where she was a city planner. “I’ve got three reasons I’m voting for you,” she said. “First, I want to get this homeless problem solved. I also want to see if you can help my daughter and her husband get into their own home. And third, I’m voting for you because you‘re a woman. It’s time.”
Glass ceilings aren’t new to Brough. She’s already shattered her share. Her priority, she says, is simple: a new and bold leadership for the city that “has given me everything I have.”
For the past three years, life has been eerily quiet inside the pink building that overlooks West Colfax. But those days are coming to an end in the very near future.
Sopaipillas, cliff divers, and Mexican food are all returning as Casa Bonita prepares to reopen for the first time since before the pandemic.
The iconic restaurant, located at 6715 W. Colfax Ave., was purchased in 2021 by “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and has since undergone some change — specifically to its menu.
Casa Bonita’s food earned notoriety and the cafeteria-style trays from the previous owners will stay. When people order their food, they will be able to see the food plated fresh, similar to how places like Chipotle serve their dishes.
To overhaul the menu, Stone and Parker teamed up with four-time James Beard-nominated Denver chef, Dana Rodriguez. The new menu consists of eight Mexican entrees while all ingredients, including green chile and tortillas, will be made in-house. Among the items on the updated Casa Bonita menu include enchiladas, a calabacitas dish, sauteed shrimp, taco salad, mole and more. All of the dishes comes with Mexican rice and beans, cabbage salad, and a soda.
For children, Casa Bonita offers macaroni and cheese with chicken tenders, a burrito, a Mexican hot dog, and a Mexican burger. Menu prices have yet to be released.
Fan favorites like complimentary sopaipillas will return with other dessert options like a Carlota de Limón cake, cake pops, strawberries and cream cake, vanilla flan, and even an ice cream sandwich.
For drinks, Casa Bonita will offer Margaritas, Palomas, old fashioned, Cosomos, and Manhattans.
Rodriguez’ tequila brand, Doña Loca, will also be offered in the restaurant’s signature cocktails. Craft beer will also be offered from local breweries like WestFax Brewing, a brewery that is located along the same strip mall as Casa Bonita.
The atmosphere of Casa Bonita historically outshined the food offered at the restaurant. And not much has changed inside.
The interior received an updated coat of paint, a deep cleaning, and new technology, including sound systems that play jungle and animal noises. Mexico City street signs hang above ramp walkways along with art pieces. Other features, like the underground cave, waterfalls, and cave divers, will all still be inside the restaurant.
Photo courtesy: Casa Bonita Twitter
Casa Bonita is launching a soft opening with limited dinner hours. To access the soft opening, customers must subscribe to the restaurant’s email list. Those who are interested in eating at Casa Bonita before its official opening can register for the email list at CasaBonitaDenver.com. It is still unknown exactly when the restaurant will open to the general public.
Casa Bonita first opened its doors in 1974, and in 2015, the Lakewood Historic Society named the restaurant an official landmark.
On Monday, the Eastern Conference Finals game seven was played in Boston where the Celtics looked to add a fourth consecutive win to complete a 0-3 comeback. The unbroken record however would have to wait to be broken at another time.
The Miami Heat who took an early 3-0 lead over the heavily favored Boston Celtics who managed to dig themselves partially out of the whole by winning the next three games forcing a game seven in Boston on Monday.
The Miami Heat came to play on Monday outscoring the home-team 22-15 in the first quarter, 30-26 in the second and was leading Boston 52-41 at the half. While Boston outscored the Heat in the third it wasn’t enough to bring Boston close enough to orchestrate any type of comeback. Boston fell to the Miami Heat 103-84.
The Denver Nuggets have been off since their game four win and sweep of the L.A. Lakers last Monday in L.A. The Nuggets would have a total of nine days off before the start of the Finals, and after Monday nights win, we now know who the Nuggets will be facing Thursday night in Denver.
Many look at the finals and are perplexed at the two final teams standing but if you ask either of these teams about their journey to this moment I’m certain they will both tell you that this was the plan, dating all the way back to the start of the season.
The Denver Nuggets have expressed their frustrations with how critics counted them out using the disrespect as fuel and shutting down the National narratives. The Heat are similar in their journey but have had to overcome much larger obstacles.
While the Nuggets outhustled the West in the regular season taking the number one seed heading into the postseason, the Heat on the other hand have largely been one of the biggest underdogs at the number 8th seed in the East. The Heat overcame the play-in-tournament to go head-to-head with the East’s number one seed in the Milwaukee Bucks where they defeated the Bucks in five games.
Miami went on to defeat the New York Knicks in 6 games before heading to Boston to win their first three games in a seven game series with the Celtics.
Photo courtesy: Denver Nuggets Twitter
The Denver Nugget’s journey was a bit more expected despite being unexpected. Being the number one seed in the West the Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games, then moving on to Phoenix (who many thought would defeat the Nuggets) to defeat the Suns in six games. The Nuggets then went on to play the L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, a team that like Miami came rose from the ashes and defeated a series of teams they weren’t expected to. Did we mention they swept the Lakers?
The Miami Heat have been a team that has defied the odds over and over again this post season, and the Nuggets are probably the most complete team in the league heading into Thursday night’s game one which is expected to be one of the most entertaining (or not) series in recent NBA history.
The stage is set and basketball fans get to watch two underappreciated juggernauts battle for the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Business is brisk at the 16th Street Mall Where the Buffalo Roam, a store that sells team memorabilia. Locals and tourists alike are walking in and walking out with anything that says Denver Nuggets, hats, hoodies, tee shirts, key chains, decals—whatever fits their budget. Sports fans want a piece of something that may never come this way again.
And why would it? The last time the Nuggets played for a championship was the bicentennial year, 1976. Back then, they were in the old ABA and playing with the old red, white and blue basketball. The team was loaded. It had David Thompson, one of the league’s best players, if not the best. It also had two future Hall of Fame players, Bobby Jones and Dan Issel. They lost.
But this year is different. The Nuggets have been the most dominant team in the NBA. Since the end of the regular season, the Nuggets have played with an abandon not seen around these parts in, well, through forever. No team has been as dominant through the playoffs.
They’ve swept through the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs, winning all but three games. The coup de grace may have been sweeping the LeBron-led Lakers, a team that plenty of television talking heads were picking. They won in four—on the Lakers’ home court.
The NBA’s newly-crowned Eastern Conference Champions, Miami Heat, are set to play against the Denver Nuggets and fans are waving their Nuggets flag in any way they can. “Once the Nuggets hit the playoffs,” said Drea Copeland, manager of the mall Sportsfan, “they got a lot more popular. So, a lot more people are coming in.” The team’s popularity and the opportunity to make history—Denver history—has been such that stores like Copeland’s have had to “get more inventory.”
While stores like Copeland’s are traditional brick-and-mortar, the chance to make a buck on this once-every-fifty-years opportunity is creating a moment for small scale entrepreneurs to get a piece of the pie, too. Pop-up tent ‘stores’ can be found on corners on some of the metro area’s busiest streets. There you can buy many of the same Nuggets’ stuff but, in some cases, for less.
The championship series will be special for not only the city and state, but perhaps even more special for the players who, in 1976, came oh-so-close. Denver business- man Chuck Williams played three years with the Nuggets. In fact, without him, the last ABA contest might not have even included theNuggets.
To advance to the championship, the Nuggets had to get by the Kentucky Colonels. “We were down by two,” Williams recalled. Time was running out. The last possession was drawn up for Nugget legend David Thompson, but somehow, he either couldn’t get open or something went wrong. The ball, instead, came to Williams. “I hit the shot.” Denver went on to win the game and the series and, in doing so, advanced to the title game against the Nets.
Williams, a Denver native and University of Colorado graduate, thinks the Nuggets have all the ingredients for a championship. “I’ve been watching them the whole year,” he said. With Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and “the pieces they’ve added to the team,” he likes their chances. “Jokic continues to play on a high level and Murray’s been amazing…they’ve both elevated their game,” he said. They’ve also elevated their games at just the right time, said the former Nugget. While Jokic is winning praise for his play, Williams says this Denver team has the right combination of stars and role players to win it all. But, he cautions, there is one concern.
Between the Nuggets last game and tomorrow’s start of the championship series, the Nuggets will have been off for ten days. That, he said, is something that could either work for or against a team.
“I don’t really like the idea of laying off that long,” he said. “Players get in a rhythm,” as, perhaps Boston and Miami are in right now. But time off also gives players “a chance to get well,” from aches and pains. “That could serve them well.”
Another member of that ABA team was a very young Gus Gerard who played the game fast and loose, underrated by all except those he drove past, shot over or simply owned on the court. He was a lighter version of the team’s defensive stopper, Jones.
Gerard also played on the ’76 Nuggets team that, in the old ABA, by virtue of owning the best record in the league played and won against a team of ABA All Stars. The game was played in Denver. It was also the first time an All-Star Game featured a ‘slam dunk’ contest. Dr. J. won it with his unforgettable dunk in which he took off from the foul line. While David Thompson won the game’s MVP award, a relatively unknown Gerard did get a single vote.
Photo courtesy: Denver Nuggets Twitter
Gerard follows the Nuggets from his home in Virginia and said in a Facebook chat, “I’m all in on the Nuggets. They’re the best team…they should win.”
Williams, also an ABA All-Star and member of the last great Nuggets team, is bullish on the Nuggets chances. Playing the teams they’ve played to get to this point, Williams believes, has tested this team’s mettle. “They’ve showed they’re a championship team.”
Pueblo’s Mike Sexton is sitting on a lot of money, and he wants to give it away. Well, maybe ‘give it away,’ isn’t exactly accurate. He wants to hire a bunch of young people looking for summer jobs and let them earn it.
“I would like to consider Pueblo Parks and Recreation the top-used employer in the city,” said Sexton, Assistant Director of the city’s parks system. Sexton said he’s in full hiring mode as the summer season gets underway. Parks and Recreation, a name linked to the television show of the same name and a reference Sexton’s heard a hundred times, oversees more than 600 acres of green space across the city. Right now, it needs young workers to meet the mission.
The city needs lifeguards, ride operators at the City Park, cashiers, concession workers, gardeners, tree trimmers—basically, Sexton’s looking for workers to serve the community in every venue run by his department. Put another way; if you’re a young person looking to earn a paycheck this summer, there’s probably a job for you.
Certain positions, like lifeguards, do require special training. “Our training has to be top-notch, and we take it seriously,” he said. “You have lives in your hands every day.”
And Sexton knows what he’s talking about. His first job, after all, was a summer gig with the department he’s been with for years. He worked the kiddie rides at the city’s biggest park. Looking back, said the native Puebloan, he still considers that job a great foundation for the career he’s had. It taught him both “responsibility and accountability… how to be respectful and how to do the thing you say you’re going to do.”
Staffing for each position, Sexton said, has been a little slower this season. “It’s been a tough spring,” he said. Not only have there been the lingering effects of COVID, but the rush to apply, for some reason, just wasn’t as brisk as he’d thought despite advertising, job fairs and banners announcing employment opportunities.
Still, while Sexton is still looking for a few good young men and women—college students, too—he’s not worried that a shortfall will diminish what Parks and Recreation will be handling. “We’re at 85-90 percent staffing,” he said. The pay isn’t bad, either. “We start at minimum wager ($13.65 an hour),” but with experience, especially those returning workers, top scale can hit $20 an hour.”
For those who know or have visited Pueblo, its park system is among the best in the state. The city operates 80 parks across its 600 acres of green space. But, said Sexton, don’t be fooled because it’s a ‘parks and rec’ job. “It takes a lot of trimming, mowing, watering. It’s a lot of work.” There are also nearly 30 miles of trails that need to be maintained and, just a few years ago, he said, Lake Minnequa was added to the system.
One of the newest and most popular offerings that needs full staffing are the pickleball courts. For the last several years, pickleball has grown exponentially across the country. To meet the need for the growing field of players, Pueblo’s Parks and Recreation opened eight new courts at the north end of Mineral Palace Park in the fall. For the uninitiated, pickleball is a hybrid game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis. No longer do pickleball players have to draw lines on tennis courts in order to play.
The official start of the Pueblo Parks and Recreation summer operation is set for this weekend. While there are still jobs to be filled, Sexton is confident that his department will have enough workers to meet the mission until all of his positions are filled. Anyone interested in a summer job with Parks and Recreation is urged to visit Pueblo.us/jobs. There you can navigate the site to see which jobs remain open.
Funding comes as Denver Health provided $120M in uncompensated care in 2022, a doubling since 2020
For more than 160 years, Denver Health has played a critical role as Denver’s core safety-net hospital, providing care regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. But recently, the health system has experienced unprecedented financial challenges, largely due to the dramatic increase in uninsured patients, uncompensated care and higher costs.
Kaiser Permanente and Denver Health jointly announced a new $10 million commitment from Kaiser Permanente* to assist Denver Health with vital health care services for the community, including continued access to primary and specialty care for those who do not have the means to pay.
Kaiser Permanente will fund a $5 million grant to address the immediate need. Another $5 million will be available as a matching donation—an incentive for local organizations, members of the business community, health care industry and others—to step up to help Denver Health. When the match is complete, this gift from Kaiser Permanente will be the single largest gift to Denver Health.
“We are immensely grateful to Kaiser Permanente for their commitment to serving Colorado with this generous financial support,” said Denver Health and Hospital Authority CEO Donna Lynne, DrPH. “None of us can imagine a city or a state without Denver Health. This community relies on us, and we need a coordinated community-wide effort to ensure we are sustainable now and into the future.”
Kaiser Permanente is the state’s largest nonprofit health plan and this support for Denver Health is part of the organization’s mission to improve the health of the Colorado community.
Health care organizations like Denver Health, community-funded clinics, rural health clinics, free clinics, school-based health centers and federally qualified health centers are vital parts of Colorado’s health care safety net, providing quality care for the state’s most under-resourced populations.
“Denver Health plays an essential role in taking care of patients in our state with significant medical needs,” said Mike Ramseier, president of Kaiser Permanente in Colorado.
“A strong health care safety net benefits our entire community. It is imperative for us to come together now to support Denver Health.”
As a comprehensive health care system, Denver Health cares for nearly 30 percent of Denver’s population each year, and it provides the highest percentage of care to uninsured patients of any hospital in Metro Denver. Since its founding, Denver Health has provided billions of dollars in uncompen- sated care. On the heels of the pandemic, many people delayed care, and Denver Health has seen patients sicker than they otherwise would have been coming to their emergency department, as well as other clinical settings, which has been driving increased health care costs.
Denver Health’s uncompensated care has doubled from an annual average of $60 million in 2020 to $120 million in 2022. Like many safety-net hospitals across the country, Denver Health also experienced inflationary costs for staff, medical equipment and drugs. On average, U.S. hospitals’ costs have risen 17.5 percent since 2019. Many of those costs disproportionally hit safety-net hospitals.
“Denver Health provides broad, vital and responsive access to quality care for Medicaid members, the uninsured, and many other Coloradans,” said Kim Bimestefer, executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.
“I applaud the leadership of health care organizations who are stepping up financially to support Denver Health, and I encourage communities and hospitals across the greater Denver area to do the same in support of Denver Health as a pillar of our state’s healthcare system.”
Furthermore, Denver Health addresses critical health inequities for low-income communities, communities of color, immigrants, refugees and people experiencing homelessness. The additional financial support helps ensure that underserved communities have access to a strong safety net that equitably meets patients’ needs and improves health outcomes. Kaiser Permanente is committed to providing Coloradans access to high-quality, affordable health care. Supporting the health care safety net and promoting health equity are part of that commitment.
Kaiser Permanente has invested significantly in supporting charity care throughout its history. This includes direct financial assistance for those who receive care in the Kaiser Permanente system and are unable to pay, as well as investments like this one in the broader health care safety net. In 2022, Kaiser Permanente invested $100 million in community support, partnerships, programs, and charitable care and coverage to improve the health and equity of all Coloradans. This snapshot highlights some of Kaiser Permanente’s work in 2021 to address the root causes of health, such as economic opportunity, affordable housing, safe and supportive schools, and a healthy environment.
Statement from President Joe Biden on Bipartisan Budget Agreement in Principle: “Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement in principle. It is an important step forward that reduces spending while protecting critical programs for working people and growing the economy for everyone. And, the agreement protects my and Congressional Democrats’ key priorities and legislative accomplishments. The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want. That’s the responsibility of governing. And, this agreement is good news for the American people, because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost.
Colorado Governor
Governor Polis released the following statement welcoming Susana Cordova as the incoming Colorado Commissioner of Education. “We are thrilled to welcome Susana Cordova as Colorado’s next Commissioner of Education. Her prior work boosting academic progress and improving access to high-quality education for learners of all backgrounds as Superintendent of Denver Public Schools is sure to benefit students across the state as she brings this passion and experience to this new role,’ said Governor Jared Polis.
Denver Mayor
Denver celebrated installing 137 miles of new bike lanes in five years, surpassing the goal of 125 miles set by Mayor Hancock in July of 2018 to connect riders of all abilities to the places they want to go. “In the last five years, we’ve transformed our streets with new neighborhood bikeways, protected bike lanes and traffic calming measures to slow cars and create a safer city-wide transportation network for all,” said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock.
