Mike’s Blog Round-up

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ first vetoes following this year’s legislative session included a bill aimed at fighting wage theft in the construction industry that he said “would not punish the real wrongdoers.” The bill sought to hold general contractors liable for wage theft committed by subcontractors. But Polis wrote in a veto letter that as passed, the measure would let subcontractors “off the hook” while penalizing good actors further up the project’s chain of command. In all, Polis nixed six bills.

The Broncos are going to be without one of their young linebackers into the regular season. Second-year player Drew Sanders tore his Achilles tendon about a month ago during the early part of Denver’s offseason workout program, sources confirmed Monday to The Denver Post Sanders, a third-round draft pick in 2023, played inside linebacker after first being drafted and then during the season switched full-time to outside linebacker. All told, Sanders played in all 17 games as a rookie, started four and finished with 24 tackles (one for loss).

A Denver Nuggets fan is suing Ball Arena owner Kroenke Sports & Entertainment and Argus Event Staffing for not hiring enough female security guards after she was assaulted in a bathroom during a 2023 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Denver resident Kathy Kim alleges she was assaulted by two women who thought she was someone else in a third-floor bathroom at the Denver arena during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets-Lakers game on May 16, 2023. In a lawsuit filed in Denver District Court on Thursday, Kim says she was washing her hands when two drunk women walked up to her and asked if she was talking trash.

The pages of fine print that skiers and snowboarders must agree to when hitting the slopes in Colorado — waivers of liability — do not protect ski resorts when resorts violate state laws or regulations, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday. The ruling, handed down in the case of a 16-year-old girl who fell from a ski lift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort and was paralyzed two years ago, likely ends a years-long push by the ski industry to use waivers to shield resorts against almost all lawsuits, even in cases where ski areas violated state law, experts said. “It’s a sea change, in terms of ski areas’ responsibilities and consumers’ ability to be protected from ski areas’ negligence,” said Evan Banker, a personal injury attorney at Denver firm Chalat Hatten & Banker.

Jonathan Drouin authored one of the best stories in the NHL this season and provided the Colorado Avalanche with incredible value. Now, the question is will both sides be able to agree on a new contract to make this short-term partnership a longer one? There is certainly a will to make it happen on both sides, but the way remains a little less certain. “I’m going to dwell on this loss for a bit.

The city of Denver announced Monday that it would pay $1,000 bonuses to qualifying young people who log at least 100 hours at a job this summer. The payments — available to Denverites ages 14 to 21 years old — are part of a broader effort Mayor Mike Johnston’s office is spearheading this summer to drive down rates of youth violence. “We are thinking about this as a multi-pronged approach to how we can engage young people into positive summer activities and how we can help prevent the risks of summer violence,” Johnston said during a morning news conference. The YouthWorks initiative will be funded through a $1 million state grant, according to city officials. City officials say the program is designed to provide payments to up to 1,000 youths in the city.