NOW YOU KNOW

This week’s news in Boulder County and beyond

BY WILL MATUSKA

Bicyclist Dies On Diagonal

Our community grieves the tragic loss of Magnus White, a 17 year old on the U.S. national cycling team, who was struck by a driver on the Diagonal Highway (CO 119) while riding his bike.

The rising star in off-road cycling won the 2021 USA Cycling National Championship and represented the U.S. in the Cyclo-cross World Championship last year in Arkansas.

The cities of Longmont and Boulder, Boulder County and the Colorado Department of Transportation are working on plans to pave a separated bikeway on the Diagonal to connect Boulder and Longmont. The project is in its final design phase, with constructruction scheduled for 2024.

was an anonymous blog called Safer Leaks that used screenshots to call attention to comments made in a Slack group chat by members of Safer Boulder, a grassroots citizens’ group focused on crime and safety, of which Rosenblum is a member. The comments made disparaging and violent remarks about people experiencing homelessness.

Some comments proposed allowing wild animals to attack encampments and using fire hoses or rubber bullets to disperse residents.

The Safer Leaks blog also included a link to an anonymous Reddit account containing other alarming remarks about homeless people. While Rosenblum admitted to writing in the Safer Boulder group chat, the

To justify the defamation claim, a plaintiff has to provide evidence the defendant acted with “actual malice,” knowledge that what they were doing was false or blatant “disregard” for the truth. The court of appeals found that Rosenblum has a “reasonable likelihood of success” at trial in regards to the defamation claim because the Twitter account and link were published together, which Fox says created a false endorsement. Budd may have acted with “actual knowledge” that it was false.

Budd says the Court of Appeals’ decision was “overall positive.”

“I think it’s important that the Court of Appeals affirmed the right to engage in local elections and free speech, and that I really tried to make sure that all of my actions are always in that vein,” Budd says. “And so that’s my priority in working through these as they go forward.”

Rosenblum is free to move forward with the additional claims against Budd in court.

Minimum Wage Increase For Boulder County

Unincorporated Boulder County will see an increase in minimum wage starting Jan. 1, 2024. The move by Boulder County Commissioners will raise the minimum wage to $15.70 per hour in Allenspark, Niwot, Eldora, Coal Creek Canyon, Eldorado Springs, Gold Hill, Gunbarrel and Hygiene. Colorado’s 2023 statewide minimum wage is $13.35 per hour.

Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette and Boulder are partnering to coordinate minimum wage increases starting Jan. 1, 2025.

A Vote On Occupancy

Boulder City Council will vote on updating the occupancy limit ordinance on Aug. 17.

At its June 15 meeting, the Council showed support for increasing the occupancy to five unrelated people throughout the city (News, “Now you should know,” June 22, 2023). The current ordinance allows three unrelated people to live together in low-density zoning districts and four in high-density zones.

Raising the limit has been on the table since a ballot initiative failed in 2021. Council will hear public comment prior to vote.