TOP STORY: Colorado Governor Jared Polis made a brief stop in Paonia on Monday for a bill signing hosted by Orchard Valley Farms and Market. The Governor was flanked by State Representative Marc Catlin and State Senator Perry Will.
Polis spoke just a few feet from the rapid flowing North Fork of the Gunnison River where he talked about HB24-1436, a bill on determining where revenue from sports betting will go.
The second bill signed by the Governor was SB24-126 a bill to improve and increase funds for Colorado's Conservation Easement Income Tax Credit.
Colorado's hourly earnings have been higher than the U.S. average for years, reports the Colorado Sun. Since January 2021, they've increased even more: In January 2021, the hourly wage in Colorado was $31.05 .The U.S. average hourly wage was $29.94 That is a 3.7 percent difference In April this year, the U.S. average hourly was $34.75 Colorado's was 9.4 percent higher at $38.00 The minimum wage in Colorado is also double the federal minimum wage: $14.42 an hour vs $7.50 an hour.
There’s growing backlash regarding the proposed Dolores Canyon Monument. Last week, the board of the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, which is a council of governments representing cities and counties in Mesa, Garfield, Rio Blanco and Moffat counties, passed a resolution opposing the proposal to designate the Dolores Canyon region a national monument, reports the Daily Sentinel. The action came the same week that the Mesa County commissioners passed a resolution opposing the monument designation. Montrose County, has also come out in opposition to the monument proposal.
CDOT increased the number of travel times for the County Road 26 US 50 bypass for those traveling between Montrose and Gunnison. The new piloted travel times which began Monday include Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. There will be a midday closure on Wednesday to make repairs to the road when staff and materials are available.
Eastbound travel start times in the mornings are: 6:30; 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. Afternoon times are 1:30; 4:30; 6:30 and 9:30 pm.
Westbound travel start times in the morning are 7:30: 9:30 and 10 a.m. Afternoon times are 12:30: 2:30; 5:30; 7:30 and 10:30 pm
