Good morning. Get ready for another possible monster storm this afternoon. Also, here's my take on the morning's news, from the grand bargain at the statehouse to legal weed's impact on the labor market.
Hail:
More thunderstorms, flooding and hail expected today. Yesterday, a storm forced the closure of Colorado Mills. (Denverite)
The grand bargain is near:
Erica has a really clear explanation of the long-awaited compromise on how the state will fund rural hospitals and the rest of the government. It includes a potential 2 percent cut to all departments and, briefly, seaplanes. (Denverite)
Restaurant labor:
"Colorado’s restaurant labor market is in Defcon 5 right now, because of weed facilities.” In other words, it's hard to get people into kitchens when greenhouses pay better, as Kate Krader reports. Of course, that whole housing crisis thing doesn't help either... (Bloomberg)
Sleepy baseball:
Love this Christian Clark story about sleep deprivation in major-league baseball. (Denverite)
Oil money:
A top oil-and-gas executive gave a Colorado Republican super PAC $40,000 in the middle of the session, just before the legislature took on some drilling legislation. David Sirota reports. (IBT)
Computers in prison:
About 8,000 prison inmates in Colorado now have tablet devices that can send texts, play games, stream music and make calls, all monitored by prison staff. Advocates say it's a way to reduce tensions between inmates. The rub: The private provider charges for texts, calls and subscriptions, as Kirk Mitchell reports. (DP)
Police behavior:
The police oversight board is "extremely troubled" by the "short" suspensions for deputies involved in Michael Marshall's death. Marshall choked to death while being restrained in jail. Erica reports.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit claims that Denver police profiled and subsequently arrested a man at gunpoint because his car was registered in Aurora. (Denverite)
Weird airport temple:
DIA is considering ripping up the ancient-temple-looking garden in Terminal C, as Patty Calhoun reports. (Westword)
Calder:
Corey Jones has a writeup of the new Calder sculpture exhibition at Denver Botanic Gardens, which has excited a lot of arts people. (CPR)
Apple to LoDo?
Sources tell Aaron Kremer that Apple is looking at 15,000 square feet of office space in the Dairy Block. (BusinessDen)
REI to Greenwood Village:
REI will move its Centennial store into the former site of Sports Authority in Greenwood Village, as Molly Armbrister reports. (DBJ)
Inside Cheyenne Mountain:
Sarah Scoles visits the super-bunker near Colorado Springs. (Wired)
