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| |  | Protestors speak out against immigration raids at the Denver capitol building in 2025. (Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images) |
| 🧊 What’s ICE Been Up To in Denver Lately? | On Tuesday, a federal judge in Denver found ICE officers guilty of “routinely” violating a federal law that says federal immigration enforcement officers cannot arrest people without a warrant, unless they can prove “probable cause” that the person might flee. The same judge that issued this week’s ruling had ordered ICE officials to stop "warrantless arrests” in Colorado back in November, but apparently, they continued. | - “No confidence”: After hearing from three ICE officers in court, the federal judge said he had “no confidence” that they understood how to conduct warrantless arrests, and that they “entirely failed” at following federal rules for documentation. [Colorado Politics]
- New rules for ICE in Denver: The judge who’s been overseeing Denver’s ICE violations has issued an order requiring officers to follow new procedures for training, reporting, and documentation. In other words, ICE officials don’t just have to follow the rules — they have to prove they’re doing so. [Colorado Newsline]
- Fresh analysis of the ICE effect: The argument that undocumented immigrants take jobs from law-abiding Americans is driving the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown. New data from CU Boulder shows that mass deportations harm the labor market, because U.S. citizens don’t take the job openings left behind by people who got deported — especially in industries like construction, where 16% of the workforce is comprised of undocumented people. [Denver Post 🔒]
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| | | Denver voted to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms back in 2019 and Colorado decriminalized in 2024 — and now Denver Health has the data on what that actually meant for our community. A new Denver Health study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that the law change itself — not cultural trends or media buzz — directly led to more people using psilocybin in Colorado. | What that means: Real answers to real questions, for life's journey.Learn more. |
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| What Denver's Talking About |
|  | Affordable housing in Denver has a higher vacancy rate than units renting at market price. (Timothy Hurst / The Denver Post) |
| 🏘️ Is Affordable Housing Just a Big Hassle? | Affordable housing units designated for people making 80% of the area median income are 18.7% empty, which is quite a bit higher than the market-rate vacancy rate last quarter (8.3%). Experts say that some people who qualify for affordable housing may be opting for market-rate options because the qualifications are too burdensome. The overall surplus of apartments in Denver has driven rents down and made them more accessible — a trend driven in part by Denver’s stagnant population growth. [The Denver Post 🔒] | | 📝 2026 Legislative Session Winds Down | Colorado lawmakers ended the final day of the 2026 state lawmaking session yesterday with few updates. The tight state budget meant most of the money available had already been allocated to things like road renovation and K-12 school updates. Interestingly, members of both political parties, who tend to be at odds over key issues, say a major victory was their ability to compromise on initiatives to make Colorado more affordable. [Colorado Public Radio] | | 🚲 Bikers, We Want Your Opinion! | Denver Bike Fest, a free gathering of cool people celebrating the art of riding on two wheels, is back for a second year next month. Think music, art, food trucks, and bike-friendly vendors, all happening at York Street Yards on June 13th. We’ll be emceeing from the stage all afternoon, so come say hi! | - Want to help elevate the conversation around biking in Denver? If you ride a bike in Denver, we would love for you to participate in our first-ever Denver Bike Community Poll below to share your experiences and help improve policies and infrastructure around biking in Denver.
| | | | 🎧 When the Food Ain’t Special, But the Vibes Are Immaculate | Kevin Nguyen is an architect and designer responsible for the look and feel of some of Denver’s best restaurants, like Brutø, The Wolf's Tailor, Hey Kiddo, Hop Alley, Xiquita, and more. So we invited him on the podcast to talk about everything that goes into making a restaurant cool (that’s not on the plate). [City Cast Denver] | - What restaurant has the best vibes in town? Respond to this email with your pick and, most importantly, why?
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Need something to look forward to as the summer heat descends? Plan a trip to one of these great Colorado watering holes to cool off. |
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