We’re looking into some unknowns next week here in Colorado. What will become of Colorado’s 5th largest wildfire of all time? Will firefighters still be facing near-impossible conditions in their attempts to gain control? How effective will the special legislative session be in terms of finding ways to get our state budget under control? And what will Monday be like for Denver city workers who will find out if they will keep their jobs, or have to leave that day as part of the city’s plan to deal with a $250 million shortfall.
We don’t have a crystal ball to look, but we do have the sharp insight of our Insiders. Here’s some of our conversation from this week’s Colorado Inside Out.

Colorado Wildfires: The Increasing Scale & Active Management: The Lee Fire in Rio Blanco County has become the fifth largest fire in state history. Other fires continue to break out and disaster declarations are being announced amidst the dry and hot weather. On Thursday, Governor Polis left the Capitol to meet with those fighting the Turner Gulch fire in Mesa County. And at the federal level, some funding has come into Colorado from FEMA to help with fire mitigation and management.

• Independence Institute Research Director David Kopel talks about how these fires could have been prevented: “These aren’t man-made fires but they are man-aggravated by about a century of mismanagement by the U.S. Forest Service, of not thinning trees, of not doing controlled burns, and of not letting natural fires burn to some extent, because then you get these incredible fuel loads that make the fires hotter and worse and spread further…. it’s a lack of prioritization within the state government where we give so much welfare to big businesses, on the one hand, and to ordinary people who just don’t want to work able bodied adults on the other… and we don’t spend the money on tree thinning and, appropriate fire prevention and protection.”
• When I ask if lawmakers might bring up funding for firefighting when they gather next week for a special legislative session to make cuts in the state budget, Colorado Sun Legislative Reporter Jesse Paul doubts it: “The Governor’s office has a pretty good sense of where they want to make those cuts. They have this like $800 million-ish that they need to find in the budget. Probably a third of it’s going to be accounted for by cutting some corporation corporate tax loopholes… a third of it is going to come out of the state’s reserve, and then a third of it is going to be cut from existing programs and services. I guess there’s a chance that you could see some firefighting money that was spent being pared back… but.. I don’t think they’re going to do that.”

Extra Insight: While on the topic of state funding, I ask Jesse Paul for his thoughts going into next week’s special legislative session, as he will be there covering it in its entirety for the Colorado Sun: “We don’t know how many bills are going to come up.. I’ve heard there are several dozen out there. The Governor’s office has a roadmap for this. I think what’s going to be interesting is going to be kind of the ancillary stuff that lawmakers talk about like AI, health insurance, things that maybe people are not focusing on for the special session, but they are the ones that are honestly more complicated. It’s easier to kind of just axe things than it is to try and deal with these complex policy problems that are on the legislature’s table.”

Immigration Private Bill & a Potential New ICE Facility for Colorado:

• Jesse Paul says Immigrations, Customs and Enforcement is set to open a new detention facility in Hudson, Colorado, according to Democratic members who toured the Aurora ICE facility this week. The move is said to be a surprise to local leaders in Weld County and Hudson, and possibly even the Governor, but he points out it shouldn’t be a surprise: “These are private prisons. They don’t have to communicate with folks… but the broader situation here, one of the interesting things that kind of gets lost is a lot of these communities used to have these prisons. There’s an economic story here. Burlington, for instance, had a huge portion of its economy go away when that private prison closed. Walsenburg, same thing.. the Hudson prison had been operating previously. So, you know, I’m curious about what it means for these communities if these things do come back… this might help out folks who are unemployed in that area.”
• Patty Calhoun, editor-in-chief of Westword, cautions: “On the other hand, you also have a very large Latino population out there, migrants, people working on those farms… so you’ve got to be sure that the community is informed and can deal with it.”
• David Koppel mentions how CD1 Representative Diana DeGette has sponsored a private bill to legalize Jeanette Vizguerra, an immigrant rights activist who was detained outside of her job back in March. DeGette met with Vizguerra at the ICE Detention Center in Aurora this week. David explains: “A private bill is something that affects the status of one person. In the last ten years, there have been only two private bills passed by Congress.. both of them related to somebody who was having immigration trouble. The bill says… ‘we’re going to give this woman permanent legal status in the United States and then reduce by one.. the total number of immigrant visas that are made available to natives of Mexico (where she’s from).’ So, if you legalize her, who’s been breaking our laws contemptuously for decades, then there’s one fewer person who’s waiting in line for Mexico doing it the proper way, who’s going to get to come in.”
• To that, Denver Advocacy Leader Alvina Vasquez argues: “ICE is going to be the most over-funded government agency, and yet they’re going to be completely inefficient. To say somebody can ‘come in the right way,’ it’s not even true anymore because people are getting arrested at their court hearings to go through the system the right way.”

Primary Challenge to Longtime Colorado Congressional Rep. Diana DeGette: Two Gen Z-aged first-time candidates in Denver are planning primary challenges for DeGette’s seat. She has never had a serious challenge to her position which she was first elected to in 1996. Could this be the year? The consensus among the Insiders is a resounding ‘no.’

• Patty Calhoun points out the length of DeGette’s time in office and the age of her challengers: “The two Democratic candidates, opponents right now, weren’t even born when DeGette was first elected to Congress. That’s pretty astonishing when you think about it. And of course, she’s taking over for someone who was also there for a very long time, Representative Pat Schroeder. And one of the things you have to remember is…. it’s not just the longer you’re there, it’s the more power you may have gained, the more influence.”
• Alvina Vasquez agrees: “DeGette is the leading Democrat on the
  House Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee. When people’s health care is at risk with our federal administration trying to cut back on health care for folks, that’s a huge risk. When is the right time when you get a newcomer in there? I don’t think right now is the right time. There’s too much to defend… but primaries are good because it forces candidates to answer questions, and give new ideas. You don’t want somebody sitting in office and not being challenged. However, I just don’t think this is going to go anywhere.”
• David Kopel describes a YouTube ad for one of the challengers as being “well-produced, and also very childish in the way it says ‘Democrats never deliver on change.’ DeGette’s legislative record shows a very long record of actually delivering on various issues.”

Back to School Changes: No More Valedictorians, Class Rankings.. what is the Future of Achievement? The Cherry Creek School District is eliminating decision to valedictorians and class rankings. Some schools within the district have already started to do this with the rationale being the academic recognitions are no longer necessary or relevant.

• Alvina Vasquez agrees with this move: “Kids aren’t really attaching their lives in the physical space of schools anymore and school districts are finding ways to build that culture up again by potentially taking away some of those measurements.”
• Jesse Paul worries about the push way from accountability in the classroom, and beyond: “I have taught a few college classes, and I do think there is a movement away from giving feedback and trying to push people in the right direction. I think that is a mistake because you get feedback and criticism in the real world, and if you don’t face that in your learning process, it will be a rude awakening when once you enter the real world.”
• David Kopel calls it the race to the bottom. “You’ve got Cherry Creek School District doing this and also the Poudre Valley School district. Poudre’s pretext is equity and mental health. And by equity, what they mean is mediocrity… bringing down the top people, by refusing to recognize excellence and achievement.”

One Book, One Denver Returns: Patty Calhoun ends this week on an educational touch with a shout-out to the One Book, One Denver program which is coming back after an 11 year hiatus. The city-wide reading initiative is aimed at connecting people through shared story. This year’s book is Stay True, a coming-of-age story set in the 1990s. Denver Public Library branches have activities planned to kick off this program, including a meet and greet with the author Hua Hsu in early September. Here’s more information.