Marijuana Training Program Approved In Colorado

March 22, 2013Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A marijuana proposal aimed at training people who work in medical marijuana businesses awaits the governor’s pen in Colorado.

The Senate voted 23-12 Tuesday to create a “responsible medical marijuana vendor” designation.

The optional designation would allow pot shops to train employees in state marijuana regulation and how to spot fake marijuana cards. In exchange, the businesses could get a break if they run afoul of state regulations. A similar designation already exists for the alcohol industry.

Looming recreational marijuana shops wouldn’t be covered by the measure. The Legislature is still hammering out rules for non-medical pot shops, though a “responsible vendor” analogy is considered likely.

The marijuana industry backed the “responsible vendor” measure. It passed the House last month.

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Widow Sues Psychiatrist in Colorado Theater Shootings

January 17, 2013Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticle2 Comments

The widow of a man killed in the Colorado movie theater shootings has sued a psychiatrist who once saw suspect James Holmes as a patient, saying the doctor should have asked police to detain Holmes before the shootings.

Chantel Blunk filed suit in Denver federal court Monday alleging psychiatrist Lynne Fenton was negligent in not asking police to place a 72-hour psychiatric hold on Holmes. The suit says Holmes told Fenton on June 11 that he fantasized about killing people.

Fenton works at the University of Colorado, Denver where Holmes was a student. Holmes withdrew about five weeks before he opened fire in the theater on July 20, killing 12, including Blunk’s husband, Jonathan, authorities said. Another 70 people were injured.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. He has not entered a plea.

The university said in a written statement it is sympathetic to the victims and survivors but that the suit is not well founded legally or factually.

Fenton’s attorney declined to comment.

The lawsuit does not ask for a specific amount in damages.

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SEC Charges Oil CEO in Insider Trading With Colorado Insurance Exec

November 28, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced charges against the former CEO of a Denver, Colo.-based oil-and-gas company at the center of an insider trading scheme involving a Colorado insurance executive that the SEC began prosecuting last month.

According to the SEC’s complaint, the insider trading occurred in advance of Delta Petroleum Corp.’s public announcement that Beverly Hills, Calif.-based private investment firm Tracinda had agreed to purchase a 35 percent stake in the company, which pushed its stock value up by nearly 20 percent.

The SEC initially charged insurance executive Michael Van Gilder for his illegal trading in the case, and is now additionally charging his source: Delta’s then-CEO Roger Parker.

Van Gilder, who is charged with five counts of insider trading, is taking an indefinite leave of absence as an employee of the company and as a member of its board of directors. Van Gilder pleaded not guilty in federal court in Denver in late October after the company said he was stepping down as chief executive for personal reasons. A January trial has been set for Van Gilder.

Van Gilder is accused of trading Delta stock in late 2007 and early 2008 based on nonpublic information, including information from an executive that Delta Petroleum was doing fine despite a published report expressing pessimism.

Don Woods, president of Van Gilder Insurance, has assumed Van Gilder’s management responsibilities.

The SEC’s amended complaint made public on Wednesday alleges that Parker, who lives in Englewood, Colo., illegally tipped his close friend Van Gilder and at least one other friend with confidential information about Tracinda’s impending investment. Despite his duty as CEO to protect nonpublic information, Parker repeatedly communicated with Van Gilder following meetings and other developments as the deal progressed, the complaint states. Parker also illegally tipped information about Delta’s quarterly earnings. The insider trading in this case generated more than $890,000 in illicit profits, according to the complaint.

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EEOC Sues Colorado Company for Axing Employee with Bipolar Disorder

September 24, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticle3 Comments

Dillon Cos., which does business in Colorado as King Soopers Inc., a large retail food company, refused to accommodate and unlawfully fired a receptionist at its company headquarters because of her bipolar condition, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in federal court in Denver.

According to suit, EEOC v. Dillon Companies, Inc., d/b/a King Soopers, Inc., King Soopers refused to accommodate Kelly Ferris’s need for sufficient time off to manage her bipolarism.

Hired as a receptionist in 2003, Ferris worked at King Soopers’ headquarters on Tejon Street in Denver for five years before she was discharged while on medical leave. Ferris requested use of the company’s 18-month medical leave policy saying she needed the time to manage a flare-up in her disability.

During her fifth month of company leave, King Soopers fired her for failing to report to work without permission, according to the EEOC suit.

Disability discrimination violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to engage in an interactive process with employees in good faith, exploring what accommodations for a disability are possible. The EEOC suit seeks monetary damages on behalf of Ferris, training on anti-discrimination laws, an injunction, posting of anti-discrimination notices at the work site and other injunctive relief.

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Colorado Hotel Owner Settles Discrimination Suit

October 4, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A Hampton Inn & Suites franchise in Colorado has agreed to pay $85,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to non-Hispanic employees who alleged they were fired because the owners believed non-Hispanics are lazy.

The franchise in Craig is owned by Rawlins, Wyo.-based Century Shree Corp. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged the company fired at least three Caucasian housekeeping and laundry workers and replaced them with Latino workers, believing Hispanics work harder.

Century Shree’s lawyer Tim Kingston said Tuesday the alleged discrimination was by one “rogue” employee who has been discharged and that the owners deny wrongdoing.

The company has agreed to offer the fired workers reinstatement to their jobs, and the owners, managers and supervisors of the company will undergo training on federal anti-discrimination laws.

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Colorado Officials Take Sides in Fracking Dispute

September 25, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Some 60 mayors and city council members from 17 communities have asked Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper to have the state drop a lawsuit over fracking that challenges oil and gas drilling rules adopted by the city of Longmont.

The (Grand Junction) Daily Sentinel reported that the signers include the entire boards of Carbondale, Crested Butte, Lyons, Westminster and Bennett.

At issue is whether the state alone has the power to regulate oil and gas drilling, or whether local communities can add stipulations to how and where drilling can be performed. Hickenlooper and the energy producers argue that a patchwork of regulations is unworkable.

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The State of LGBT Health in Colorado

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Colorado Wildfire Compensation Compromise Moving Along

May 9, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A compromise proposal to allow Colorado wildfire victims to seek state compensation in excess of liability limits remains on track for approval in the Legislature.

A Senate committee voted 5-0 Monday in favor of a bill to retroactively add state-set wildfires to the list of state immunity exemptions. The change would give victims of the recent Lower North Fork Fire the chance to seek state compensation beyond a $600,000 liability cap.

The measure already cleared the House and appears likely to reach the desk of Gov. John Hickenlooper, who supports the compromise.

A separate bill pushed by House Republicans on fire liability was amended by the Senate committee, giving that measure a longer road to becoming law.

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Colorado Driving Instructor Gets Six Months For Phony Tests

April 9, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A man accused of falsifying the driver’s licenses of at least 1,500 people who took tests at the American Driving Academy in Arvada has been sentenced to six months in prison.

The Denver Post reported Dennis Sieving was sentenced in federal court after previously pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud in connection with the scheme.

Prosecutors say he the former driving instructor accepted money to sign off on tests that were either not passed or not even taken.

Immigration officials said they began investigating when the Department of Motor Vehicles noticed an anomaly in the licenses it was issuing. Too many were going to the same address and predominantly to Burmese citizens.

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Colorado Death After Emergency Wildfire Calls Questioned

April 5, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Sam Lucas was among the first to call about a wildfire burning near his Colorado home. But the busy emergency dispatcher cut him off, saying it was a controlled burn and the forest service was on the scene.

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Calls Show Residents Panicked Over Colorado Wildfire

April 4, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A man who was found dead in his burned home was among the confused and panicked residents who called Colorado authorities as a wildfire raged near them.

Police tapes obtained by KMGH-TV show that Sam Lucas expressed surprise after responders told him the fire was a controlled burn, despite winds that reached 80 mph. Lucas and his wife were found dead at their home last week.

Another resident urged authorities to rescue a woman who apparently died in the fire. A friend of Ann Appel was concerned for her safety because she was being treated for cancer.

The Colorado State Forest Service has accepted responsibility for the fire, which charred 6 square miles in a mostly rural, mountainous area southwest of Denver.

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Colorado Wildfire Victims Returning to Homes

April 3, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

The Lower North Fork wildfire in Jefferson County, Colo. is nearly 100 percent contained, and with all remaining evacuation and pre-evacuation orders lifted on Tuesday residents were returning to their homes.

The fire, believed to have been started by a prescribed burn by Colorado State Forest Service and fanned by high winds on Monday, consumed 4,140 acres and destroyed 25 structures. It also killed three people.

At one point the fire had forced the evacuation of 900 homes, and required more than 700 firefighting personnel, plus numerous aircraft and helicopters to drop fire retardants and water.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been assisting with funding and firefighting activities. FEMA Urban Search and Rescue had been conducting a search for one person still missing in the area. That person was later found dead in a burned down residence.

There are no estimates available yet on insured losses.

If the Forest Service is found to be responsible for starting the fire, under a Colorado law, which limits liability for the state and its taxpayers, the state would only be liable to pay up to $600,000 total.

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