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Policy and Legislative Updates
June 15, 2020
The Policy and Legislative Advisory Network (PLAN) is committed to keeping the larger network abreast of policies, legislation, regulations, and rules being implemented across the state and nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Updates below include information through 6.15.2020 and were provided by:

Please note: This information is subject to change. In addition, some updates may be sourced from organizations that have read limits or limits on how many articles you can access in a given time period.
Local Policy Updates
Coronavirus In Colorado; The Numbers
According to today's data release, in Colorado there have been 250,523 people tested, 29,299 positive cases, 5,269 hospitalized, 1,605 deaths among cases (1,373 deaths due to COVID), 314 outbreaks at residential and non-hospital health care facilities, 60 of 64 counties with positive cases. In Adams County we have 3,759 cases and 144 deaths. Read More from CDPHE HERE
Last Day Ends With A Flourish
The normal 120-day session called it quits Monday after 84 days, though it was 160 days in the making. Most of Monday was left to unfinished business, repassing bills that were amended in the other chamber and passing resolutions — including honoring fallen officer Heath Gumm, the Adams County deputy shot and killed during a chase in 2018; declaring June Gay Pride Monday and memorializing last March as Women's History Month in the state. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE 
Colorado Bars Can Begin Reopening On Thursday; Outdoor Concerts, Fairs And Receptions Can Soon Resume
Gov. Jared Polis on Monday announced that Colorado will further loosen restrictions on people’s movement by the end of the week, allowing the reopening of bars and the resumption of outdoor events like concerts, fairs, rodeos and receptions. Barbers will also be allowed to resume offering shave and spas can offer facials by the end of the week. Additionally, Polis said conventions and other indoor gatherings can resume by the end of the week with restrictions. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
Governor Polis Takes Action In Response To COVID-19
Gov. Polis signed Executive Order D 2020 104, temporarily suspending certain statutes to maintain eligibility for Coloradans enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Basic Health Plan. Read More from Governor Jared Polis HERE 
Polis Signs Executive Orders To Help People Struggling To Pay Rent During Pandemic
Gov. Jared Polis has signed a pair of executive orders meant to help people who are struggling to pay their rent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement came late Saturday night, just hours after the Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill on housing assistance during the pandemic that Democratic lawmakers had hoped to amend to add a moratorium on evictions. That deal fell apart Saturday. Polis issued an executive order, and extended it, barring evictions tied to rent and mortgages due during the pandemic. That order expired Sunday. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Colorado Eviction Cases Can Begin In 30 Days Under Governor's New Order
Colorado's temporary statewide ban on evictions expired at midnight Saturday, but Gov. Jared Polis issued an order hours before that deadline to effectively delay legal proceedings against tenants for another month. Starting Sunday, landlords can post notices that demand payment. However, with the governor's new order, tenants are allowed 30 days to catch up on rent. Normally, it's just 10 days once the notice is posted. Polis' order also allows landlords to start charging late fees again starting Sunday, but not for the period of May 1 to June 13. Read More from CPR HERE
Governor Polis Signs HB20-1421, Delinquent Interest Payments Property Tax
Gov. Polis today signed HB20-1421, Delinquent Interest Payments Property Tax. The bill allows, upon approval of the county treasurer, a board of county commissioners or a city council of a city and county to temporarily reduce, waive, or suspend delinquent interest payments for property tax payments. Read More from Governor Jared Polis HERE
What The Last Day (Hopefully) Of The 2020 Legislative Session Will Look Like
Senate lawmakers worked into Saturday evening to give preliminary approval on some of the last bills left on the calendar. The Senate has fewer than a dozen measures requiring a final vote Monday. Senate lawmakers also have a short list of House amendments to Senate bills to consider. The House's Monday calendar is considerably lighter, a change from previous years when the House is usually the last to finish. The calendar includes three measures awaiting second reading and preliminary approval. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Police Reform And Eviction Bills - Why One Succeeded, Other Failed
Among the biggest issues before state lawmakers during the wrap-up of the 2020 Colorado legislative session were a sweeping police reform and accountability bill and a measure intended to extend an expiring moratorium against evictions amid the COVID-19 crisis. But while both would affect an enormous number of individuals in this state — an estimated 400,000 people could lose their housing through this fall — the anti-eviction bill failed to gain widespread traction, while the ongoing Denver protests over law enforcement excesses continue to attract attention...and support. Read More from Westword HERE  
Colorado Lawmakers Approve Education Cuts, Advance Tax Code Bill With Changes To Appease Business Groups
Colorado lawmakers have passed a budget and a school finance act that cuts school spending across the board and reduces or delays many grant programs that support education. On Saturday night, the Senate gave initial approval to a tax code bill with significant changes that increase its chances of becoming law. The Senate also gave initial approval to sending a nicotine tax to the ballot. Legislators return Monday for final votes. Read More from Chalkbeat Colorado HERE
Colorado Among States Least Dependent On Federal Tax Dollars, Report Finds
Colorado is one of the states that is least dependent on federal tax dollars, while it neighbors the states with the greatest and least federal dependency, a new analysis has found. WalletHub, a personal finance website, examined the share of federal jobs in each state, the amount of federal money returned to residents compared to tax collections, and federal funding as a share of states’ revenue. By those measures, Colorado ranked thirty-seventh, near the bottom in proportion of federal aid. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Medicaid, Schools, Pregnancy, Opioids - Here's Where Colorado's Cuts May Hurt
Lawmakers have almost finished up work on a drastically slashed budget to keep Colorado’s state finances in the black, but it may be months or even years before the effects truly become apparent. In all, lawmakers have cut about a quarter of their discretionary spending, totaling $3.3 billion. The results will be most noticeable in education and health care, but it will filter through in countless smaller ways, too, from shrunken government staffs to reduced health benefits. Here’s how just some of these budget decisions will affect the real world. Read More from CPR HERE
State Supreme Court Turns Away Challenges To 4 Oil, Gas Ballot Measures
The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the titles of four ballot initiatives seeking to modify local governments’ jurisdiction and the state’s regulatory authority over oil and gas development. Timothy Steven Howard objected to the title set by the three-member Title Board for Initiative 300, which would amend the constitution to give counties and municipalities as much control over oil and gas operations as they wished. The measure stops short of allowing localities the ability to enact moratoriums on drilling. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Graduation Rates Could Suffer After Lawmakers Cut A Program To Help Colorado Kids Entering High School
About a dozen of Colorado’s 178 school districts have implemented a year-old, state-funded program that provides extra support to incoming freshmen, with resources like tutoring and mentoring, to help them get in a groove with their academics. But just as schools gained momentum in helping their new high schoolers, funding for the program was slashed as legislators scrambled to cut $3 billion from the budget with an economic crisis spurred by the coronavirus. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
Adams 14 Budget Draft Avoids Worst Cuts This Year, But Still Considers Them In Future Years
The Adams 14 school district is planning more than $5 million in cuts to its general budget for the next school year. That’s more than an 8% budget reduction. The budget cuts are prompted both by a loss in state revenue and declining enrollment in the Commerce City-based school district. Even as the district is looking for ways to save money, it’s also trying to invest more in programs that officials hope will improve student performance and provide a better remote learning experience. Read More from Chalkbeat Colorado HERE
Colorado Lawmakers Put Cigarette Tax On November Ballot
A tobacco tax that couldn't get untangled from last year's legislative session looked pretty wound up in amendments well into Saturday night. Voters in November could decide whether to raise taxes on tobacco and nicotine products, as well as electronic cigarettes, vaping devices and nicotine liquids. The money will pay for K-12 schools and early childhood education, health care and housing. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Colorado Passes Bill To Improve Low Vaccine Rates
After failing in a similar attempt last year, the legislature gave final approval Saturday to a bill aimed at improving Colorado’s worst-in-the-nation childhood vaccination rates. The bill preserves the rights of parents to receive exemptions for public school students, but it requires them to either obtain a note from a doctor stating there is a medical reason, or, in the case of parents who have religious or ideological reservations, take an online education course about vaccine science. Read More from The Denver Post HERE
Deal On Tax Bill Reached In State Senate
Senate Democrats on Saturday night announced a deal on a controversial tax bill intended to boost K-12 education funding but that was roundly opposed by business groups, and the bill won preliminary approval. It goes to a final vote on Monday, and if passed, will go back to the House for a decision on the amendments. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Colorado Legislature Approves Restaurant To-Go Liquor Sales
The next round's on the Colorado Legislature, because state lawmakers just passed Senate Bill 20-213, which extends Governor Jared Polis's executive order allowing restaurant and bar takeout and delivery of booze for another year. The bill was originally written with a two-year lifespan, but the final version was amended to a one-year extension; it will expire on July 1, 2021. Read More from Westword HERE
Colorado Lawmakers Prepare To Send $180 Million Tax Bill To Governor
Colorado lawmakers came closer Saturday to a deal that would undo certain tax cuts for corporations and high income earners, with the idea those funds, about $180 million over several years, would be spent on schools and to provide tax credits to lower income earners. Read More from CPR HERE
Statewide Primary Ballots Mailed Last Week
Last week, county clerks across Colorado mailed ballot packets for the June 30 Statewide Primary. Unaffiliated voters who did not indicate a party preference before the June 1 deadline will receive both a Democratic and Republican party ballot, and should only return one voted ballot. Voters who do not receive a ballot by June 17 should contact their county clerk and recorder. Voted ballots must be received by county election officials by 7 p.m. on June 30. Read More from Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold HERE
State To Provide Funding For 100 Additional Ballot Drop Boxes
Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office will provide funding for 100 additional ballot drop boxes for the Nov. 3 general election, and she is encouraging each of the 64 counties to install at least one additional apparatus. The state will reimburse the counties for installation of boxes for up to $10,000 each. The federal CARES Act, which Congress passed in March, is providing the money out of the $400 million total allocated for elections. Griswold’s office indicated that more election-related grants will be forthcoming. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Colorado Offers $4.1 Million To Cities That Use Pavement For People, Not Cars, As Part Of Coronavirus Recovery
Across Colorado, communities large and small are diverting cars around main streets to allow more open-air, socially-distanced dining, shopping and strolling. And now the state is stepping in with a new $4.1 million grant program to encourage more creative uses for public streets as businesses revive after the pandemic shutdown. Denver, Boulder, Littleton, Louisville, Arvada, Frisco, Breckenridge, Carbondale, Erie, Fort Collins and Estes Park are among the first municipalities to experiment with shifting pavement built for cars to pedestrian-only pockets. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
Colorado Oil And Gas Company Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Denver-based Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday after reaching agreement with some of its lenders to restructure billions of dollars of its debt. Extraction Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: XOG) and its subsidiaries seek to restructure in the face of $1.55 billion in long-term debt obligations and $600.5 million in short-term borrowing. The debt situation and a downturn in crude oil prices pushed a company to seek bankruptcy protection Sunday. Read More from Denver Business Journal HERE
Fearing Economic Uncertainty, Residents Seek To Buy Their Boulder County Mobile-Home Park To Avoid Evictions
With rents rising precipitously, stoking fears of “economic eviction” within their long-established community, residents at the Sans Souci mobile home community in Boulder County sought to embrace a relatively new strategy in Colorado: Buy the park from its owner and run it themselves. A handful of other parks have done it by creating a cooperative that gives them control over everything from rent to rules. But becoming a resident-owned community involves a lot of moving parts, helpful financial partners and, the toughest hurdle, a willing seller. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
Colorado's Fitness Industry Starting To Reawaken, But Some Studios Will Never Reopen
Gyms, fitness studios and rec centers across Colorado are beginning to reopen in limited fashion under strict guidelines, but many are not. Gyms and rec centers managed by the cities of Denver and Lakewood remain closed “until further notice,” while Englewood’s two rec centers will reopen next week. Read More from The Denver Post HERE
Stapleton Neighborhood Announces Its Taking Steps To Change Its Name
After increased pressure from several groups and individuals, including Denver Public School Board member Tay Anderson, the Master Community Association (MCA) announced Sunday it is "taking steps to remove the name "Stapleton" as it relates to the community and its operations." Read More from Denver 7 HERE
Memorial Held For 3 Grocery Store Workers Who Died Of COVID-19
Three people who worked at local grocery stores died of COVID-19 – all three were members of UFCW Local 7, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Colorado, which held a memorial in their honor on Sunday. Local 7 hosted the memorial service and motorcade to honor 75-year-old James McKay, 67-year-old Karen Haws and 51-year-old Randy Narvaez. Read More from 9 News HERE
National Policy Updates
Cory Gardner's Major Public Lands Bill Is Poised To Pass The Senate
A landmark public lands package is on the precipice of clearing the Senate. The bill would help fix ailing National Parks and help states and local communities acquire land for new parks. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner has gotten a lot of credit for getting the bill to the finish line. The Great American Outdoors Act started out as two different bills, both alike in nature, and both of which were stymied in the legislative process. Republican Cory Gardner was a co-sponsor on both. Read More from CPR HERE 
Workers Can't Be Fired For Being L.G.B.T. Supreme Court Rules
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled 6-3 in a landmark decision that gay and transgender employees are protected by civil rights laws against employer discrimination. A set of cases that came before the court had asked the justices to decide whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which forbids discrimination on the basis of "sex," applies to gay and transgender people. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the opinion for the six-member majority, said that it does. Read More from The Hill HERE, The Wall Street Journal HERE , and The New York Times HERE
Killing Of Black Man In Atlanta Puts Spotlight Anew On Police
Atlanta’s top prosecutor said his office will decide this week whether to bring charges against the police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks, a black man whose killing outside a Wendy’s on Friday sparked a fresh wave of protests against police violence in the Southern city and added fuel to nationwide anger over racial injustice. Family members on Sunday recalled Brooks as a good father who was getting his life back together when he was shot and killed in a confrontation with Garrett Rolfe and another Atlanta police officer after a DUI stop. Read More from The Washington Post HERE
Many Health Officials Are OK With Police Protests Despite COVID-19
As thousands of people poured into the streets around the country to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, a microscopic menace was almost certainly there too, eager to propagate and spread through the jostling and shouting crowds that gathered for hours on end, day after day. It’s a scenario that would seemingly give health officials trying to quell the worst pandemic in a century heartburn and distress. But in fact, a sizable contingent of medical professionals across the country have defended — and even encouraged — the enormous gatherings as a vital response to systemic racial disparities and police brutality in America. Read More from The Denver Post HERE
Congress May Decide Dreamers' Fate
The Supreme Court could soon force Congress to act on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. House Democrats want the Senate to take up their bill from last June to permanently extend the program, but Senate Republicans are also calling for a crackdown on unauthorized immigration more broadly and want reforms for foreign worker visas. Read More from Politico HERE
Sparks Could Fly At Surface Transportation Markup
Ahead of a markup this week, the House Transportation Committee made some tweaks to its surface transportation bill. The additions, including new provisions on toll credits and the numbering of highway interchanges, appear minor and don’t address complaints by committee Republicans. For that reason, the markup on Wednesday could be a feisty (and lengthy) affair, with amendments expected to fly in. Read More from Politico HERE
Stocks Decline On Fears Over Fresh Virus Outbreaks
U.S. stocks slumped Monday but pared some of their early losses after a pickup in coronavirus cases rattled investors and threatened to hinder nascent efforts to reopen economies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently down 263 points, or 1% to 25348, after dropping more than 600 points at the start of Monday’s trading session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.7% and 0.2%, respectively. Read More from The Wall Street Journal HERE
Stocks Rebound From Morning Dive Over Rising Coronavirus Concerns
Stocks rebounded from a sharp opening dip Monday to finish with slight gains as the market set aside concerns driven by surging coronavirus cases in several states. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a gain of 157 points Monday after falling roughly 650 points after the index opened for trading. The S&P 500 index also sprang back to finish with 0.8 percent and 1.43 percent higher, respectively. Read More from The Hill HERE
Fed Proposes Expanding Main Street Loan Program To Nonprofits
The Federal Reserve is proposing an extension of its emergency loan program to include U.S. nonprofits like universities and charitable organizations. On Monday, the Fed released a framework for how it might offer loans as small as $250,000 or as large as $300 million under its Main Street Lending Program. Broadly, the Fed would make eligible any 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19) organization with between 50 and 15,000 employees, as long as the applicant’s 2019 revenues were less than $5 billion and had less than 30% of those revenues sourced from donations. Read More from Yahoo Money HERE
Mnuchin, Lawmakers To Negotiate Business Bailout Disclosure
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday he is planning talks with lawmakers seeking details of $512 billion in emergency small business loans backed by the government during the pandemic, as Mnuchin faces a growing backlash for refusing to reveal the recipients of the aid. Mnuchin last week said details of individual loans issued under the Paycheck Protection Program were "proprietary" and "confidential" — an announcement that outraged members of Congress who had been demanding information on one of the most widely used programs in the COVID-19 bailout. Read More from Politico HERE
Disease Experts Are Warning The Virus Isn't Going Anywhere
Leading infectious disease experts in the United States are warning that the virus will be making life difficult for the foreseeable future. And as strict social distancing wanes, some leaders in New York and Texas are threatening renewed lockdowns in an effort to get people to take the persistent threat of the virus seriously. Experts have estimated that without a vaccine, about 70 percent of the population will need to be infected and develop immunity in order to stop the virus’s spread, a concept called herd immunity. Read More from The New York Times HERE
Surging Coronavirus Cases Raise Fears Of New Lockdowns
Sharp increases in the number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in states across the nation have some local elected officials considering pauses in reopening their economies. Officials have also pointed to a troubling trend in the number of people who must be hospitalized for treatment, raising anew the frightening prospect of an overwhelmed health system. Read More from The Hill HERE
What We Mean By A 'Second Peak' Of Coronavirus
Coronavirus will surge again when summer ends; infectious disease experts are almost certain of that. But they don't know how severe that resurgence will be. The World Health Organization offered one bleak hypothesis for what the next few months of coronavirus could look like. While we're still living through the first wave of the pandemic, and cases are still rising, infections could jump up suddenly and significantly "at any time." The second peak could be worse than the first. Read More from CNN HERE
For Experts Who Study Coronaviruses, A Grim Vindication
The now prophetic words could be found buried at the end of a research paper published in the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews in October of 2007: “The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic animals in southern China, is a time bomb.” The warning — made nearly 13 years ago and more than four years after a worrying first wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, killed nearly 800 people globally — was among the earliest to predict the emergence of something like SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the current pandemic of COVID-19. Many other warnings would follow. Read More from Government Executive HERE
Huge Gaps In Racial Disparities On COVID-19
The Trump administration doesn’t know the race or ethnicity of more than half of all Americans infected by COVID-19, a shortfall that means we may never know the extent of the disproportionate impact on black Americans and other minorities. That could further exacerbate enduring racial inequities in health care, even amid historic momentum for confronting the nation’s broader history of systemic racial and economic disparities. The CDC is missing race/ethnicity data for 52 percent of cases – or more than 925,000 Americans. Read More from Politico HERE
The F.D.A. Withdrew Emergency Approval For Malaria Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it was revoking emergency authorization of two malaria drugs to treat COVID-19, saying that they are “unlikely to be effective.” The drugs, hydroxychloroquine and a related drug, chloroquine, were heavily promoted by President Trump after a handful of small, poorly controlled studies showed that they could work in treating the disease. Read More from The New York Times HERE
Why The U.S. Has Been Slow To Adopt Coronavirus Contact-Tracing Apps
For all the attention on Apple and Google's joint effort to help track COVID-19 exposure, adoption of the technology in the U.S. has been limited, especially compared to other countries. The companies' exposure notification technology could augment the labor-intensive work of contact tracing that experts say is key to controlling the spread of a disease for which there is no treatment or cure. Even some of the states that expressed support for the project have yet to move forward with apps, with others saying they have no plans to leverage the technology. Read More from Axios HERE 
America Is Done With COVID-19. COVID-19 Isn't Done With America
It’s been months now since U.S. President Donald Trump announced that come April, when the weather got warmer, the coronavirus would “miraculously [go] away.” It didn’t. Instead, the U.S. is very much on fire, well into a second phase of the crisis, with the COVID-19 caseload steadily rising to more than 2 million confirmed cases and more than 113,000 deaths. Read More from Time HERE
More Than 60% Of Recent Federal Employee Hires Left Within Two Years
About 60% of federal employees hired in recent years left their jobs within two years, according to a new report that focused on hiring and retention of individuals with disabilities. The disabled population within federal government followed a similar path between fiscal years 2011 and 2017, the Government Accountability Office found, with roughly 60% also leaving within two years. This means while agencies have improved their hiring rates of disabled individuals, they have failed to ensure those employees stick around. Read More from Government Executive HERE
President Trump Wants $2T In Next Relief Package
$2 Trillion. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro signaled that’s how much funding President Trump is looking for in the next coronavirus bill. Navarro said in an interview on Fox broadcast Friday evening that the White House would also like to see a “critical” payroll tax cut and a focus on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. However Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stressed to Trump that he would prefer a smaller package, no more than $1 trillion. Read More from Politico HERE
Gallup - Americans' National Pride Hits Record Low
63% of U.S. adults say they are either "extremely" or "very" proud to be American — a seven-point decline from 2019 and the lowest figure since Gallup began tracking the question in 2001. It comes as the country faces multiple simultaneous crises like the coronavirus pandemic and a reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality after the killing of George Floyd. 49% of white respondents said they were "extremely" proud to be American, compared to just 24% for nonwhite respondents. Read More from Axios HERE
When Child Welfare Cases Police Women In Their Homes
In the fast-gentrifying neighborhood of Harlem, you could sort most families into two categories. There are those who have never given a thought to the idea that a government agency might threaten to remove their child. And then there are those who live with the fear that one wrong move could mean a child protective investigator will come knocking. If you're wealthy and white, you likely fall in the first category. And if you’re poor and of color, chances are that you or someone close to you has experienced the terror of a child welfare investigation launched on dubious grounds. Read More from CityLab HERE
Fresh Concerns About AI Bias In The Age Of COVID-19
Businesses facing unprecedented demands during the coronavirus pandemic have boosted their use of artificial intelligence in some of society's most sensitive areas. Algorithms and the data they rely on are prone to automating preexisting biases — and are more likely to do so when they're rushed into the field without careful testing and review. Read More from Axios HERE
Democrats Are Grappling With Calls To "Defund The Police"
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) explicitly rejected the “defund the police” slogan that has emerged among progressive activists fighting against police brutality and racism in recent weeks, saying on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday that “nobody is going to defund the police.” Later on the same program, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) embraced the term. She suggested defunding efforts are often misunderstood, and argued that they do not mean “that the community is not going to be kept safe.” The disconnect between the two prominent Democrats symbolizes how “defund the police” is emerging as a wedge issue between the activist left flank of the party and its more moderate leadership. Read More from Vox HERE
Racism And The Task Ahead For The 2021 White House
If ever there were a singular moment for the Executive Branch to advance racial justice, it is now. With demonstrations continuing around the country to mourn the brutal murder of George Floyd, it will be both politically and morally imperative for whomever assumes the Presidency in January of 2021 to have a well-defined strategy to answer this moment. Read More from Brookings HERE
How To Read 2020 Polls Like A Pro
We’re about to enter the thick of general-election season, which means we’re about to get a boatload of polls. Problem is, it can be hard to know which polls to trust or how to make sense of them all. But don’t worry — it doesn’t take an advanced degree in statistics to interpret polling in a smart way. So the next time you come across a poll and are wondering what to make of it, just follow these 10 steps. Read More from FiveThirtyEight HERE
An Urban Exodus? Not Yet, New Research Shows
Since the beginning of the pandemic, many have predicted the demise of U.S. urban living . A new report by City Observatory researcher Joe Cortright, made available as an interactive dashboard, suggests that such hand-wringing may be premature. Searches for urban properties on real estate website Zillow increased in 29 of the 35 largest U.S. metropolitan markets in April, compared with April of last year. Data from another website, Apartment List, show that more people were looking to live in New York City during that same month, the darkest one in terms of lives lost in New York, and much of the northeastern U.S. Read More from CityLab HERE
The High Cost of Panic-Moving
When the going got tough, many residents—and especially the wealthy—got out. The outflux was most pronounced in New York City, where an estimated 5 percent of the population vacated the premises for some period of time, according to a New York Times analysis of cellphone location data. Some of the earliest leavers headed to their more spacious vacation homes, while others went to hunker down with their extended family in the suburbs. Read More from The Atlantic HERE
International Policy Updates
COVID-19 Forces Courts To Hold Proceedings Online
he coronavirus pandemic has forced courts around the globe to modernize with unprecedented haste. America’s COVID-19 stimulus package includes a provision for federal judges to use teleconferencing. Its Supreme Court conducted hearings by telephone for the first time. A branch of government built on precedent is now procedurally breaking it. The speed with which it is doing so means the effects are hard to predict but certain to reshape the judicial system, even after COVID-19 has subsided. Read More from The Economist HERE
President Trump Says He Wants The Number Of U.S. Troops In Germany Cut In Half
President Donald Trump said Monday he is planning to withdraw a little more than half of the U.S. troops now stationed in Germany, despite concerns that such a move would reduce American influence throughout Europe. Claiming Germany is not paying enough toward the NATO military alliance, Trump said the total deployment of American troops in Germany would drop to 25,000. Read More from USA Today HERE
SpaceX Launches 58 Starlink Satellites, Three Planet SkySats On Falcon 9
SpaceX completed its ninth bulk Starlink launch June 13, a mission that included a rideshare customer for the first time. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 5:21 a.m. Eastern, carrying 58 Starlink broadband satellites instead of the usual 60. The rocket carried slightly fewer Starlink satellites to make room for three remote-sensing SkySat satellites for Planet.  Read More from SpaceNews HERE
Beijing Carries Out Mass Testing As Coronavirus Spreads In The Chinese Capital
Beijing has set about testing hundreds of thousands of people for the coronavirus in an exhaustive effort to stamp out a new eruption of the disease in the Chinese capital. After dozens of cases were reported over the weekend, continuing into Monday, Chinese authorities mobilized almost 100,000 community workers to test everyone who has worked in or visited the Xinfadi market in the southwest of Beijing. Read More from The Washington Post HERE
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) happens each year on June 15th. It was officially recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 66/127,December 2011, following a request by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA), who first established the commemoration in June 2006. It represents the one day in the year when the whole world voices its opposition to the abuse and suffering inflicted to some of our older generations. More from the United Nations HERE
About Rocky Mountain Cradle to Career Partnership (RMC2C)
The Rocky Mountain Cradle to Career Partnership (RMC2C) Backbone team is working to support network partners in their efforts to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Backbone continues to be in a position to bring people together to work collectively, specifically around emergency response and recovery related to COVID-19.

Previously, RMC2C has exclusively focused on supporting youth from Cradle to Career. However, in light of the crisis our community currently faces, there is an immediate need to provide the Backbone's expertise, skills, and resources to the larger community.
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