Colorado: Thornton

Hundreds of business people gathered outside the Capitol Monday to urge lawmakers to vote against legislation that would drain $500 million from a workers' compensation insurance fund to help balance the state budget.

The opponents, who included Pinnacol employees, insurance agents who sell Pinnacol coverage and some business owners with policies, gathered on the west side of the Capitol.

A Pinnacol employee with a bullhorn led the crowd in chants, including "Shame on Shaffer," a reference to Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, the sponsor of one of the bills that target Pinnacol money.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, pointed behind him and told the crowd that "we should be scraping the gold off the dome before we raid your money.

(Photo/Joe Gratz, Flickr)

A judge ruled this week that jurors won’t hear part of the confession of a man accused of killing an 18-year-old Greeley transgender woman. In addition, Weld District Court Judge Marcelo Kopcow ruled that prosecutors won’t be able to tell jurors that Allen Andrade has gang ties that could have been a motive in the brutal slaying last summer of Angie Zapata, the Greeley Tribune reports.

Kopcow ruled that police shouldn’t have continued questioning Andrade once he told a detective he wanted to stop talking during a lengthy interrogation.

“This court finds the defendant’s statement, ‘I’m done. Yeah, I’m not talking right now’ … is a clear statement of the defendant’s request to remain silent and cut off further questioning,” Kopcow wrote, according to the Tribune.

So they built them. Many roads. Bridges too. And they were vital to society. Then the Colorado state government began charging a car registration fee to maintain this new transportation infrastructure.

-And you’re okay with this. "We wouldn’t want the roads and bridges to deteriorate," you said.

- But the roads and bridges deteriorated.

-This confused you. So you approached the state and asked: "What the hell happened?"

-"We need more money," the state said. So they implemented a gas tax. Over the years, they raised this and raised this to the point where now they charge you 22 cents a gallon. (This on top of the 18 cents a gallon tacked on by the feds).

So they built them. Many roads. Bridges too. And they were vital to society. Then the Colorado state government began charging a car registration fee to maintain this new transportation infrastructure.

-And you’re okay with this. "We wouldn’t want the roads and bridges to deteriorate," you said.

- But the roads and bridges deteriorated.

-This confused you. So you approached the state and asked: "What the hell happened?"

-"We need more money," the state said. So they implemented a gas tax. Over the years, they raised this and raised this to the point where now they charge you 22 cents a gallon. (This on top of the 18 cents a gallon tacked on by the feds).