Very windy up here in Colorado’s high country as I write this. Also, very dry up here. We haven’t had the snowfall that the ski areas and the southern parts of the state have had. You can tell by the lack of snow that we have large patches without moisture. We may get more during our wetter months after the new year, but I’ve not had a brown Christmas up here since we moved here six years ago.
Colorado has been rather quiet. I don’t know much about political issues going on in the run-up to the legislative session beginning next month. Two issues that have been gathering what press attention there is have been flavored tobacco, which has a proposed ban in Denver. That’s being discussed and I believe voted on tonight. The only issues with that are that Mayor Hancock vetoed a similar measure in 2021 and Jared Polis (both Democrats) indicated he wouldn’t back a state-wide measure, preferring it be up to the cities. From Colorado Politics.com
“Smokers incur 40% higher healthcare costs due to the treatment of smoking-related diseases,” said Dr. Donna Lynne, CEO of Denver Health, in a recent committee meeting. “And that ultimately affects everybody in this room and everybody in this city, through higher healthcare expenses due to those treatments.”
According to city documents, the economic impact of flavored tobacco products in Colorado amounts to $2.2 billion in annual healthcare costs, $4.4 billion in smoking-caused productivity losses and $415 million in estimated Medicaid, a $772 per household tax burden.
Gabe Evans, Representative Yadiro Caraveo’s successor to her seat for Colorado Representative in HD8, is now going to be on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Lemme guess — Drill Baby Drill and not caring about Denver’s brown cloud will be his top two issues.
Colorado History— From the Colorado Sun:
In the early-1900s, a dentist arrived in Colorado Springs and made an observation that was something like: Holy cow, the people in this town have strong but ugly teeth.
Residents’ teeth looked gawdawful — stained dark brown with what the dentist, Dr. Frederick S. McKay, called “mottled enamel.” But there was a shockingly low incidence of tooth decay in those chocolate-colored chompers.
McKay’s decades-long quest to understand what was going on led to a revolution in dental medicine and drinking water treatment that continues to stir debate today and now may take center state as one prominent piece of a massive shift in the U.S. public health system.
The issue has to do with fluoride, a chemical naturally abundant in drinking water in Colorado Springs a century ago. The realization that fluoride could make teeth resistant to decay led to widespread fluoridation of drinking water by utilities across the country — a movement considered by many to be among the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. (The discoloration, dubbed the “Colorado brown stain,” was due to fluoride levels quiet a bit higher than what is in drinking water today.
This is of interest to me because the Estes Park water system does not fluoridate our water. I wonder what the history of that decision might be.
Also from the Colorado Sun:
Colorado has spent $360M preserving its history since 1990. Here are some success stories.
BUENA VISTA
For decades, Avery-Parsons Elementary in Buena Vista had a building problem.
It wasn’t the school, but the old gymnasium next door.
The school district owned the McGinnis Gym, but it was a wreck. And the deeply underfunded district was at a loss for what to do with it.
The long, brick building that had once been Buena Vista’s main gathering space was not only an eyesore but it was filled with asbestos and lead. It was built in 1936 through the Public Works Administration program that employed Americans during the worst days of the Great Depression. But it fell out of use in 1986 and was condemned in 2008.
There is much more to this story and others.
Just a reminder, I will need stand-ins to write the Open Threads for every Monday in February. Please let me know in the comments or through direct Kosmail if you would like to take one or more of them.