Photo from The Atlantic
Denver Council Considering Sugary Drink Ban
A new ordinance being weighed by the Denver City Council would ban sugary drinks like juice and soda off the kids menu at restaurants. If adopted, kids menu drink options would be reduced to milk or water, though all drink options would still be able to be sold separately.
Other cities in Colorado like Longmont, Golden and Lafayette, have adopted similar ordinances. Studies have indicated that consuming soft drinks increases a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
CBI Scientist Manipulated Test Results
An agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reportedly tampered with the DNA results related to hundreds of criminal investigations, casting doubt on many convictions. This comes as a months-long internal investigation concludes lab agent Yvonne Woods cut corners in operating procedures and omitted facts in records made to the criminal justice records, as well as manipulated at least 650 cases.
The bureau expects to spend at least 7 million dollars on retesting more than 3,000 DNA tests as well as reviewing and reimbursing the lawyers in many of these cases.
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Pearl Street May Soon Be Electrified or Face Major Shutdowns
Restaurant owners, city officials and Xcel expect to be stuck together between a rock and a hard place in regards to what to do with Pearl Street’s aging gas infrastructure. Currently, the gas line undercutting much of the pedestrian sections of Pearl Street is coming to the end of its 60 year lifeline, necessitating either switching away from gas or replacing the line.
A proposed plan, titled Clean Heat, would electrify Pearl street for around half the cost it would take to replace the gas line, as well as leave the vibrant commercial center open to the public during construction. Electrifying Pearl is an important and likely inevitable transition because shifting away from fossil fuels like natural gas is a cornerstone of surviving the Climate Crisis.
The key drawback to this plan is that it would require each business to move away from their myriad uses of natural gas, something that restaurants in particular may be reticent to do because it would mean adopting electric induction stoves.
Currently though, Colorado law requires businesses of a certain size to reduce their carbon output by 20% by 2030, which makes the transition away from natural gas not an if, but a when.