DENVER – Colorado’s U.S. senators praised the inclusion of extra money for firefighting in the latest $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill hours before they were set to vote on the measure. The wildfire funding fix, according to Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and Cory Gardner (R), will be a boon to the U.S. Forest Service and Interior Department as they work to fight wildfires, primarily across the West. Currently, both agencies have to “fire borrow” money from fire prevention and other funds when they... Read more

DENVER – Several of Colorado’s members of Congress say they will continue to work toward passing protections for recreational marijuana programs after the protections they’d sought weren’t included in the omnibus spending bill, though similar protections for medical marijuana were included. Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and Cory Gardner (R) joined Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D) and Jared Polis (D) in saying they were disappointed that an amendment Polis had offered wasn’t included in the final measure. The ... Read more

WASHINGTON — The House Science Committee favorably reported bills March 22 that would recognize a NASA center as a center of excellence in rocket propulsion and would resolve a commercial space regulatory issue. The committee approved H.R. 5345, the American Leadership in Space Technology and Advanced Rocketry (ALSTAR) Act, and H.R. 5346, the Commercial Space Support Vehicle Act, on voice votes and with no opposition. “Together, the two bills help ensure that America remains competitive in space... Read more

WASHINGTON| The House easily approved a bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending bill Thursday that pours huge sums into Pentagon programs and domestic initiatives ranging from building roads to combatting the nation’s opioid abuse crisis, but left Congress in stalemate over shielding young Dreamer immigrants from deportation and curbing surging health insurance premiums. The Colorado delegation’s vote was anything but partisan. Reps. Ed Perlmutter, Scott Tipton and Doug Lamborn were “yes” votes. While... Read more

The lack of availability of the bulk of data stolen in the Equifax breach is worrying cybersecurity experts who keep waiting to see if the hacked info on millions of Americans will be used in a nation-state attack, a congressional panel heard last week. Last year’s hack exposed personal information including Social Security, credit card and driver’s license numbers of some 148 million Americans. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terroris... Read more

WASHINGTON — A letter signed by more than 60 House members calls on the Senate to advance the stalled nomination of fellow congressman Jim Bridenstine to be NASA administrator. In the March 20 letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the House members, led by space subcommittee chairman Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), argued that the impending retirement of Robert Lightfoot as the agency’s acting administrator “makes it all the mor... Read more

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Quincy native Korey White has found her passion in advocating for inclusiveness in a predominantly-male field. A 2007 Quincy Notre Dame graduate, White, 29, is an architect with Stantec in Arlington, Va. She recently received the American Institute of Architects' 2018 Young Architect Award -- a national designation given to architects with 10 or fewer years in the field -- in large part due to her advocacy work. White was one of 18 architects across the country to receive the a... Read more

For Fort Collins, Loveland and other Northern Colorado residents, train horn noise is an issue they've discussed for years but one that hasn't gone away. When local elected officials met with Congressman Jared Polis, D-Colo., at the end of February about infrastructure, they brought it up again. And now that the Federal Railroad Administration has a new representative, Ronald Batory, national elected leaders are urging Batory to update the "Train Horn Rule." Train horns not only create a nuisanc... Read more

A 500- to 600-unit homeless housing project proposed for a piece of federal land in Lakewood — in what would be the largest community of its kind in Colorado — is under increasing fire, with residents taking to social media to denounce it and city officials meeting this week with federal lawmakers in Washington to vent frustration with the plan. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless has laid out a two-phase approach to housing up to 1,000 people on the 59-acre site next to the Federal Center t... Read more

NASA’s space technology program has long struggled to find its place within the agency. While the idea of investing in new technologies to enable the agency’s wide range of missions has its logic, that program has often been irresistible to appropriators looking to find a little extra funding for other programs. Throughout the previous administration the space technology program typically received a little less than requested, and often with some of that funding directed for specific programs. N... Read more