Hello, readers. Today's roundup includes a story I've been working on for most of the week, Adrian's excellent Amazon coverage and a lot more you should know about Colorado. Let's go.
Housing & health:
Former director Bennie Milliner has been transferred into a brand new “community engagement” role at the sheriff’s department after five years leading Denver's Road Home. Here's what we learned about Denver's homelessness efforts from a lot of conversations with homeless advocates and nonprofit leaders, including some significant criticism. I report. (Denverite)
An investigation found improper waitlists are making it impossible to tell whether veterans are getting proper care. Nick Riccardi reports. (AP)
Amazon & tech:
Gov. John Hickenlooper wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: "We’re committed to building the most pro-business state government with the highest environmental and ethical standards." Here's what we know is in the bid.
Of course, the bid made available to the public was redacted. Here's what Colorado doesn't want us to know about the offer yet. Adrian reports.(Denverite)
Colorado email startup SendGrid went public and raised $131 million, April Bohnert reports. (BuiltIn)
Harassment:
Former interns, staffers and lobbyists accused two more state legislators of inappropriate sexual comments. Sens. Randy Baumgardner and Jack Tate, both Republicans, deny the charges. Bente Birkland reports. (KUNC)
Denver's comedy scene is experiencing a wave of sexism, sexual harassment and intimidation allegations. John Wenzel reports.(DP)
Politics:
Rep. Ken Buck, the congressman covering much of eastern Colorado, voted yes on the tax bill -- but only after lobbying from the president and Paul Ryan, as Mark Matthews reports. (DP)
A new poll shows Democrat Cary Kennedy leading Republican Tom Tancredo by 16 points in the race for governor. Both are expected to be strong contenders to win their parties' nomination. Ernest Luning reports. The message is supposed to be that Kennedy is a stronger general election candidate than another front runner, Rep. Jared Polis. (ColPol)
Transportation:
RTD may have to cut service as it struggles to hire enough bus drivers. Meanwhile, statewide bus ridership is up 25 percent.(Streetsblog, CPR)
Athletics:
Denver wants to host the NFL Draft, which last year brought 250,000 people to Philadelphia. (9News, BillyPenn)
The president of the Universal Society of Hinduism said the airport's new yoga space should be free, Ben Miller reports. (DBJ)
