High Country Politics - Government, Elections and News from the American West - May 3, 2023

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs FOUR gun control bills into law | Colorado lawmakers stand with Zooey Zephyr of Montana | Anti-hate groups worry domestic extremists will be training Arizona police under new rule | A chance to see her bee business take off | Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Red Rocks and on HBO Max documentary 

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Welcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod’s Talking Politics, every Monday.

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COLORADO NEWSLINE: 
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs four gun control bills into law

GOVERNMENT
BY: SARA WILSON - APRIL 28, 2023 11:54 AM

The Governor, surrounded by gun-control advocates at a bill signing ceremony said, “Coloradans deserve to be safe in our communities, in our schools, our grocery stores, nightclubs and everywhere in between,” 

The new laws raise the minimum age to buy a gun to 21, impose a three-day waiting period for gun purchases, expand the state’s Extreme Risk Protection Order law and make it easier for gun violence survivors to sue the gun industry.

Under Senate Bill 23-170, district attorneys, educators, mental health professionals and other medical providers will be able to petition a judge to confiscate guns from a potentially dangerous person. Previously, only law enforcement and family members had that power under the state’s Extreme Risk Protection Order law, also known as the red flag law, which was created in 2019.

The expansion aims to increase utilization of the process and extend the petition authority to people who interact with an at-risk person regularly. It is a recognition that some law enforcement officials have been reluctant to use the red flag law when potentially appropriate due to concerns over the Second Amendment.

Senate Bill 23-169 raises the age to purchase any gun to 21 years old. Previously, the age restriction was 18 to buy a long gun and 21 to buy a handgun. There are exceptions for members of law enforcement and the military.

House Bill 23-1219 imposes a three-day waiting period for people to get a gun after they pay for it. Bill sponsors said that the delayed access to firearms will provide a cooling-off period for people in crisis who might harm themselves or others.

Cities will be able to establish longer waiting periods if they choose. If the purchaser’s background check takes longer than three days — which it rarely does — they would still need to wait until the background check clears to get their gun.

Finally, Senate Bill 23-168 removes a state protection for gun and ammunition dealers and manufactures against lawsuits. Previously, plaintiffs had to pay the legal fees for defendants in dismissed cases involving gun sellers. That is no longer the case.

The law makes the gun industry susceptible to lawsuits under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.

bill sponsor Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, said, “​​We finally, after 23 years of waiting, can open up Colorado courtrooms to gun violence victims and survivors seeking justice,” 

Less than an hour after the bill signing, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners leader Taylor Rhodes announced on Twitter that the group had already filed lawsuits challenging the minimum age requirement and waiting period laws. He said they are seeking plaintiffs who could establish standing against the other two new laws.

Lawmakers are also considering a bill that would outlaw unserialized firearms, also known as ghost guns. Another firearm bill that would have banned semi-automatic weapons in the state died in its first committee hearing last week.

The Legislature adjourns on May 8.

COLORADO NEWSLINE: Colorado lawmakers stand with Zooey Zephyr

Democratic state Rep. Brianna Titone of Arvada led over 75 Colorado elected officials - including two Republicans - in sending a letter to Montana lawmakers condemning the removal of Rep. Zooey Zephyr and calling for her to be allowed back in the Montana House chamber.

In the letter, Rep. Titone said the removal was an attempt to erase trans people amid growing violence against them and an increase in anti-trans laws being passed in state legislatures.

Titone said “As elected officials, it is our responsibility to act with integrity and defend our democracy, and we are deeply concerned with erosion of democratic norms we see proliferating in statehouses across the country. Regardless of your personal stance on these issues, she is still a colleague and a duly elected and sworn representative of the people of Montana. Her voice is no less important than yours.”

The letter was joined by two Republican lawmakers, state Reps. Ron Weinberg of Loveland and Rick Taggart of Grand Junction.

On Tuesday, Montana House Republicans posted a notice announcing they would take up disciplinary measures against Zephyr, Montana’s first openly transgender representative, after she said that legislators who voted for a bill that bans gender-affirming care for minors would have blood on their hands, in reference to suicide rates among trans youth. The Montana House voted along party lines Wednesday to bar Zephyr from entering the House floor or gallery for the remainder of the legislative session, only allowing her to participate in votes via Zoom.

Rep. Titone made history in 2018 when she was elected the first openly transgender state legislator in Colorado. As chair of the Colorado Legislative LGBTQ caucus, she’s worked alongside members of the House and Senate to expand and protect LGBTQ rights in the state.

In the letter, Titone applauded Zephyr for her efforts in the Montana Legislature, saying that she has “placed a spotlight of truth on the very real damage anti-trans legislation could have on Montanans who are already struggling with discrimination and growing fear of physical harm.”

The Montana state legislative session ends on May 10, and Zephyr is unlikely to be reinstated before the end of the session. 

Aside from state Rep. Brianna Titone, here are the elected officials from Colorado who signed Titone’s letter to the Members of the Montana House of Representatives:

Statewide officials:

Colorado Secretary of State Jena GriswoldColorado State Treasurer Dave Young

Colorado state senators and representatives:

House Speaker Julie McCluskieSenate President Steve FenbergHouse Majority Leader Monica DuranSenate Majority Leader Dominick MorenoRep. Ruby DicksonRep. Jenny WillfordRep. David OrtizRep. Kyle BrownRep. Sheila Lieder Rep. Cathy KippRep. Lindsey DaughertyRep. Steven WoodrowRep. Mary YoungRep. Barbara McLachlanRep. Meg FroelichRep. Lorena GarciaRep. Steph VigilRep. Jennifer Lea ParentiRep. Michael J. WeissmanRep. Mandy LindsayRep. Junie Joseph Rep. Karen McCormickRep. Said SharbiniRep. Elizabeth VelascoRep. Regina EnglishRep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez Rep. Elisabeth Epps Sen. Lisa A CutterRep. Tammy StoryRep. Naquetta RicksRep. Dafna Michaelson JenetRep. Andrew Boesenecker Rep. Iman JodehRep. Emily SirotaRep. Shannon BirdRep. Marc SnyderRep. Meghan LukensRep. Jennifer BaconRep. Chris deGruy KennedySen. Janet Buckner Sen. Julie GonzalesSen. Nick HinrichsenSen. Janice MarchmanRep. Eliza Hamrick Rep. Matthew MartinezRep. Ron Weinberg Sen. Rhonda FieldsSen. Faith WinterRep. Javier MabreyRep. Judy AmabileRep. William LindstedtSen. Rachel ZenzingerRep. Leslie HerodRep. Bob MarshallRep. Rick TaggartRep. Tisha MauroSen. Sonya Jaquez LewisSen. Chris HansenSen. Dylan RobertsSen. Jeff BridgesRep. Alex ValdezSen. Jessie DanielsonSen. Tony Exum

Local government:

Castle Pines City Councilman Roger D. HudsonBroomfield Mayor Guyleen CastriottaArvada City Councilmember Randy MoormanArvada City Councilmember Lauren SimpsonErie Trustee Emily BaerErie Trustee Daniel HobackErie Mayor Justin BrooksBoulder County Commissioner Ashley StolzmannGreeley City Councilor Tommy ButlerGreeley City Councilor Member Deborah L DeBoutezBoulder Mayor Aaron BrockettDouglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon

ARIZONA MIRROR: Anti-hate groups worry about Arizona law enforcement training

BY: ISAAC STONE SIMONELLI/AZCIR - MONDAY MAY 1, 2023 11:32 AM

Warnings issued by high-profile civil rights and advocacy groups to Arizona’s governor and attorney general failed to stop a rule change that effectively lowers the bar for extremist organizations attempting to radicalize law enforcement officers through government-funded training.

Letters sent in March by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center warned the rule creates a loophole that could be exploited by domestic extremist groups.

The contentious rule change, as first reported by AZCIR in 2022, shifted the responsibility of continuing education training oversight from the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to local law enforcement heads. 

In their letters, the groups cited an increase in extremist and conspiratorial rhetoric espoused by Arizona public officials, specifically, publicly elected sheriffs. 

“We are deeply concerned by the possibility that this amended rule will open the door for Arizona peace officers to receive training from adherents of the ‘constitutional sheriffs’ movement and other actors who urge local law enforcement to assume authorities beyond those allowed by law,” wrote Mary McCord, the executive director of Georgetown University Law Center’s ICAP, a nonpartisan institute focused on constitutional rights and protecting democratic processes.

McCord warned that such taxpayer-funded trainings “would place residents at risk of improper activity by county peace officers” and pose a particular threat to brown and Black communities, “who are at the greatest risk of harm from abuses by law enforcement.”

The letters cited previous reporting about so-called “constitutional sheriff” groups, which include the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. The group is part of a national movement built on the idea that a local sheriff’s power supersedes that of higher government entities including the U.S. president and the U.S. Supreme Court, and that sheriffs have a duty to nullify laws they interpret as unconstitutional.

The civil rights and advocacy organizations highlighted numerous connections between the CSPOA and a variety of hate groups, with the NAACP denouncing some CSPOA members as “prominent antisemites, QAnon conspiracists, white nationalists and neo-confederates.”

Sarah Kader, community manager for ADL Arizona, a state-level branch of a national organization that combats hate groups in the U.S., wrote “If the revised rule goes into effect, we fear that domestic extremists, based on their previous actions, will rush to take advantage of the opportunity,” 

Rachel Goldwasser, a senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, warned that the rule change could be used as a blueprint for creating workarounds allowing extremist organizations to train law enforcement in other states.

Neither the governor, Democrat Katie Hobbs nor the attorney general, Democrat Kris Mayes, directly addressed concerns about neo-confederates and other domestic extremists running law enforcement trainings.

ADL confirmed it did not receive a response from Gov. Hobbs’ office until after the rule change took effect, though a spokesperson indicated the group had “every reason to believe that the Governor’s office understands the concerns we have raised in our letters and is taking them seriously.” 

In their letters, ADL, SPLC and the NAACP all expressed concerns that more than half of Arizona sheriffs are at least partially aligned with the constitutional sheriff movement—connections AZCIR highlighted in its 2022 reporting.

Rachel Goldwasser of SPLC said “Arizona has a large extremist presence in the Legislature, sheriffs’ offices and among the public, unfortunately. They’ll exploit any opportunity for these extremists to spread their ideology.”

Three of the four letters also issued a warning about Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who has known ties to CSPOA and is the frontman for Protect America Now, another so-called “constitutional sheriff” organization.

Lamb, who announced a bid for the U.S. Senate in April, has developed a national presence by appearing on a slew of fringe right-wing news networks and podcasts, including those espousing QAnon conspiracies. Lamb did not respond to a request for comment.

Sarah Kader of ADL said “In recent years, extreme ideologies have been mainstreamed and normalized at an alarming pace. This is due in large part to the growing number of elected officials and other high-profile individuals who traffic in conspiracies and hate.”

This article first appeared on Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

DENVER WESTWORD: How Hard Can it Bee? Zzzzzz

Bee Here Now: Capella Ranch Has a Honey of an Idea

CATIE CHESHIRE APRIL 25, 2023 6:53AM

In countries like Germany and Slovenia, inhaling the aerosol created by bees in an apiary, or collection of beehives, is an authorized treatment for respiratory diseases. But in the United States, there are only three places that offer the experience: one in Georgia, one in Michigan, and Capella Ranch in Lafayette Colorado, which just opened for its second season.

Carolyn Peterson, who owns the ranch with her family said “I'm going to be out here all summer, talking to people and enjoying them and hearing their stories. They're going to come stressed out, and then they're going to leave relaxed.”

Capella Ranch currently has sheep, Nigerian dwarf goats, Nubian goats, ducks, chickens, a few turkeys and, of course, bees, the first of which arrived in 2018. 

To create their bee therapy Shangri-la, the Petersons started by building two cedar huts shaped like irregular pentagons. The cedar contributes to the aroma in the huts, although its durability in the Colorado weather is its chief asset here. 

The slanted roof of the hut concentrates the aerosol so people can breathe it in while they're lying flat. “Everyone comes out with a different experience,” Carolyn says. “They get in there. They lie down. They take in the whole thing, and then they just sort of concentrate on the humming of the bees.”

When bees make honey, there’s a lot of water in it at first, so the insects work to reduce the moisture content by flapping their wings. As it evaporates, the moisture is carried into the air to form an aerosol that people find therapeutic.

The bees also create an electromagnetic field with their vibration, which is at a frequency that’s calming to the human parasympathetic nervous system - a network of nerves that helps relax the body. Some people can feel the field, but most notice the smell first. Underneath the scent of cedar, there is the aromatic tang of the bees at work. Almost like the smell of a newborn baby, but with an extra oomph.

“That is all the pollen, nectars, amino acids and essential oils that the bees are bringing in to make the honey,” Carolyn says. “It's just kind of an odd smell, and it’s supposed to be very good to breathe in.”

In Slovenia, the bee experience has been used to calm firefighters after hard jobs, children who have behavioral problems at school, and parents of those children, who might need some relaxation as well. The Petersons note that they aren’t medical professionals, so they don’t consider their huts medicinal.

“If it happens to help, great,” Carolyn says. “It's relaxing. It's thirty minutes of nobody bugging you.”

One person who says the bee huts have helped is Marsha Ruggeri, who lives in Lafayette. She went to Capella Ranch four times during its inaugural season.

She first came with a friend who'd bought a deal on Groupon. After struggling with heightened asthma symptoms the past two years — which she attributes to wildfires and air pollution — Ruggeri was excited to learn of a potential way to alleviate her symptoms.

And, it worked!

“I'm not saying it was a panacea,” she says. “It felt like I was actually doing something that wasn't an inhaler or medication and I was regaining some control over how my body was reacting to all this shit in the air.”

On Ruggeri's third visit, she experienced the electromagnetic field produced by the bees.

“I was laying on my side, and then all of a sudden, I could feel it,” she says. “It really deserves more than one treatment. It's kind of like people who go for acupuncture, and they're like, ‘Well, it didn't do anything for me.’ You really need to try it more than once.”

Along with the eight hives in the huts, there are six to eight more near a special pond on the ranch where the bees drink. Last summer, over a hundred people came to Capella Ranch to check out the bees; a TikTok Charlie made announcing that the huts were open has gained about 20,000 views.

One of those visitors, a reiki and yoga teacher from Fort Collins named Yarmey, found Capella Ranch 

on Instagram. “I'm really interested in energy and grounding and our connection to nature,” she says. Reiki is a practice of directing energy to help facilitate healing.

After her first visit, Yarmey came back a second time, when she says she was really able to share a meditative space with the bees, reveling in their presence in a way that humans rarely get to do with other species.

“When else in your life do you get to share space with a million other beings who all are very clear about their purpose and their path and what they need to be doing? Everything felt a little slower, more grounded.”

The huts are now open for a second season; anyone is welcome except those allergic to bee or wasp stings. A thirty-minute session is $35; an hour runs $60. 

CONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK

DENVER POST: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, with Angel Olsen - this Thursday and Friday night at Red Rocks.

By JOHN WENZEL | [email protected] | The Denver Post

April 28, 2023 at 6:00 a.m.

Jason Isbell’s voice can be a strapping, mournful thing, muscular and dripping with vulnerability as he chronicles his life in song. And on this day, it’s still waking up.

“This time of year I drink my black coffee cold so I can get it down quicker,” the 44-year-old singer-songwriter said over the phone 

from his Nashville porch on Monday. “I’ve spent so many years working late at night that it makes it hard for me to get on with normal life. It’s tough, you know? But I think it’s tough no matter how you do it.”

Isbell’s family and acclaimed music career test his resolve while giving him motivation to stay sober and productive. He has won a quartet of Grammy Awards since 2018 — about a decade after getting kicked out of his former alt-country band, Drive-By Truckers, for drinking and drugs 

In the HBO Max documentary “Music Box: Jason Isbell — Running with Our Eyes Closed,” which was released on April 7, we’re afforded a close-up on his life as he records the album “Reunions” with his band, the 400 Unit. His intimate musical and romantic partnership with wife Amanda Shires (who is an acclaimed solo artist herself), his love of his daughter Mercy Rose, his past divorce, and the shock of the pandemic are all there in vivid cross-section.

“If you’re a recording artist or entertainer with any kind of success, you don’t want to spend too much time looking back,” said Isbell, who was born in Green Hill, Ala., to a 17-year-old mother. 

“It’s a self-centered way of living. But one thing I was surprised by watching the (documentary) is that I’d forgotten how hard those old days were, growing up where I did and having addiction issues. It was nice to see but painful to watch, that all of this was real and really happened to me, even if it’s long in the rearview.”

Isbell will headline Red Rocks Amphitheatre May 3 and 4 with the 400 Unit, on tour for their new album “Weathervanes,” to be released June 9. The lead single “Death Wish” has already been covered by Jack White and featured on “American Idol.” Isbell’s melodies channel Americana, folk, country, and rock and roll. His lyrics are cutting, urgent, and full of visceral metaphors. On “Death Wish,” he sings:

“I wanted action, she wanted answers / Sunrise with the dealers and the dancers / It takes a whole lot of medicine to feel like a little kid.”

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit With Angel Olsen, Two shows, May 3 and 4, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Tickets at axs.com, and I think Adam may have an extra still, too. 

Welp, that’s it for me! From Denver I’m Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today’s show comes from Colorado Newsline, Arizona Mirror, Denver Post, and Denver’s Westword.

Thank you for listening! See you next time.

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