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| |  | Colorado Senator Michael Bennet (right) and Attorney General Phil Weiser (left) will face off in tonight’s debate. (Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post) |
| 💸 New Funding Details in the Race for Colorado Governor | Fresh reports are giving Coloradans new insights into how much money gubernatorial candidates have raised — and who it’s from. Senator Michael Bennet leads the Democratic race in overall backing with more than $10 million total. Victor Marx leads fundraising on the Republican ticket at just over $2 million. [The Denver Post] | - Who is funding the race? Before May of this year, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $2.5 million to Rocky Mountain Way, a Democratic Colorado super PAC supporting Bennet's campaign. Another major donor to Rocky Mountain Way is Brighter Future for Colorado, which has already given half a million dollars this year, but they don't disclose their donors. This continues to raise questions about who, exactly, is influencing the political landscape of Colorado. [Colorado Sun]
- Is Bennet’s money … dark? Although Bennet has raised millions more than his Democratic primary opponent, Attorney General Phil Weiser, the majority of Bennet’s money comes from super PACs — a point Weiser is now using to his advantage. In a recent press release, Weiser states: “Our campaign is powered by the people of Colorado — not out-of-state billionaires, big corporations, or dark money.” [Denver Post, Phil Weiser]
- Tune into the debate: Weiser and Bennet will face off in a live debate tonight at 6 p.m. [Colorado Public Radio; Denver7]
- What to watch for: When we last discussed the Bennet/Weiser race on the podcast, we were dissecting the talking points and early posturing we saw at a transit and housing-focused forum back in February.
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| | | Meow Wolf Denver cranks up the chorus this summer with a stacked concert calendar, from burlesque to bluegrass, funk to folk, trance to trap. Keep it only for the grownly at 21+ shows like Danceportation - a multistage, multilevel, multidimensional takeover with more speakers for more booty shaking. Or, check out an all-ages concert, so no one gets a case of FOMO - even Junior. |
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| What Denver's Talking About |
|  | A new city council measure could increase the number of units being built in Denver. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post) |
| ⚒️ New Apartment Construction Gets a Boost | Brad Buchanan, who leads Denver's Community Planning and Development Office, pushed a measure through city council that would give recently approved development projects three more years to secure their building permits. These projects, which could bring 23,000 new units to Denver, were started when favorable interest rates helped spur development, but have stalled as construction costs rose. Buchanan’s hope is to get some of these projects moving to maintain the supply of new apartments and keep rents from spiking. [Business Den; Colorado Politics] | | 💔 Bad Luck Plagues Local Restaurateurs | Within a span of three months, local restaurant owners Jason and Hallie Alfonso faced an uncanny pair of disasters. In February, a fire broke out at Odyssey, the couple's Sicilian restaurant, and it’s been closed for repairs ever since. Last weekend, they were forced to close their second restaurant, Ollie & Park’s, after a moving truck drove straight into the eatery’s bar area. | - “We’ve owned multiple restaurants, but I’ve never had a fire like we did at Odyssey and I’ve never had a U-Haul truck crash into our restaurant before,” Hallie said. [Westword]
| | 🗺️ Colorado Could See a New Congressional Map | The Colorado Supreme Court is reviewing a proposal for a new congressional map that could help Democrats win a number of districts currently represented by Republicans. Coloradans for a Level Playing Field — a nonprofit tied to Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives — hopes to get their redistricting measure on the ballot. Voters would then decide if a new map is adopted for the 2028 and 2030 elections, but ultimately, a constitutional amendment would be needed to make the change. [Colorado Sun] | | ⛽ Westwood QuikTrip Project Slows to a Halt | After The Westwood Community Action Team, a registered neighborhood organization, formally opposed the construction of a new QuikTrip gas station at 3490 W Alameda, community leaders learned that the project has officially become “inactive.” A senior city planner told us via email the project “wasn’t necessarily cancelled,” but QuikTrip would need to restart the proposal process if it still wants to build a gas station there. |
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Here’s a question for you: What’s an unspoken rule about living in Denver that’s never in writing, but everyone seems to know? Respond with your thoughts! | | |
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