A former state senator, state representative and Summit County commissioner, Gibbs is the son of former Western Slope school teachers and a former arborist/laborer. He also formerly worked for Mark Udall when he was a U.S. representative.

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The Americanized idiom yields from the poem "Invictus" that states, "Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed" by William Ernest Henley in 1875. Notably, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh said the line verbatim at his execution in 2001.

Another key Polis promise, he was able to deliver in 2019, but skeptics doubt the expensive program is sustainable before or after Polis leaves office.

Business lobbyists will argue that tax breaks help support jobs and economic development, which brings in more money for the public good than higher taxes.

Based on a Montana registration fee for parks. Vehicle owners can pay $9 to get new tags or check a box to opt out, promising not to use the vehicle in a state park or to go fishing in state waters. In the bargain, parks ditch their entrance fee.

Fisher's Peak is also the state's second-largest state park. Polis is soliciting nominations to created another state park before his time in the governor's office is done.

Polis led the charge to reintroduce the gray wolf to Colorado, and now has his eye set on bringing back wolverines.

The oil and gas industry -- especially natural gas supporters -- disagree and say traditional fuels will be part of the mix for generations to come.

Polis's first campaign promise when he announced he was running for governor on July 4, 2017.

A Republican sometimes discussed as a candidate for higher office. He weighed a run for U.S. Senate in 2015, after he garnered publiclity opposing Colorado Democrats' gun control measures in 2013.

Eight firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado spent a month in Australia helping coordinate the fight against a blaze roughly the size of a quarter of Colorado that killed 25 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes, the worst wildfire season in decades down under.

Colorado's mental health services have been long-neglected, experts have told legislative committees in the past, and the wake of the pandemic and economic crisis is expected to exacerbate those problems, especially in schools and other facets of life disrupted by the opportune virus.

The Black Democratic Legislative Caucus of Colorado is chaired by Rep, Leslie Herod of Denver. The Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus is co-chaired by Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sen. Robert Rodriguez, both of Denver.

This controversial bill has a long, hard fight ahead. It was tabled last year because of the pandemic, and health care advocates say it could hurt rural hospitals and small clinics who are struggling to make ends meet, by imposing price caps and other curbs on cost.

A major health care victory for Polis in 2018, the reinsurance pool puts high-risk and high-cost patients in a pool for coverage to lower the rating and the costs for others buying policies in the area.

Colorado's first two cases were reported on March 5 last year: an older woman from Douglas County who had returned from an international cruise and an out-of-state man who flew into Denver International Airport and traveled to Summit County.

As stated before the Convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights held in Chicago in March 1966, two years before he was assassinated in Memphis.

Legislation in the upcoming session is expected to block state agencies, primarily the Department of Motor Vehicles, from sharing information with federal immigration enforcement agencies.

Colorado is home to 399,458 veterans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, including 753 deemed homeless.

Janet Buckner, the wife of the late John Buckner, who she succeeded as a state representative. He was a legendary principal and educator in Aurora.

Last year, Democratic Rep, Leslie Herod and Republican Sen. John Cooke led the latest major attempt at police reforms in Senate Bill 217 to hold cops responsible without preventing them from protecting the public.

The engaging and entertaining Susan Polis Schutz, a talented poet, businesswoman, feminist and documentary filmmaker.

The so-called negative factor -- that was renamed the budget stabilization factor -- has allowed the legislature to poach money taxpayers said they wanted to go to K-12 education, until the deficit has reached $1.7 billion.

Blue Mountain Arts, the family greeting card business the scion took online and, when it was sold, provided much of the foundation for his future fortunes in business, included online flower orders.

This figure comes from the Common Sense Institute report last month that found women, especially mothers, are especially hard hit by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Proposition EE raises taxes on tobacco products and the first tax on vaping project. It is expected to raise $276 million a year when fully implemented to support pre-school and other early childhood educational programs.

Colorado voters last November passed Proposition 118 to create a state-run paid leave insurance benefit. The measure passed with 57% support.

In most states, up to 50% of Social Security income is taxable for those whose total gross income, including Social Security, is at least $25,000, or couples filing jointly with a combined gross income of at least $32,000. Retirees who have little income other than Social Security aren't taxed on their benefits.

The tax credit helps moderate- and low-income working parents and is generally applies to a fixed percentage of earnings from the first dollar of earnings until the credit reaches its maximum.

Most commercial, industrial and agricultural property have an assessment of 29% before deductions. The tax also can apply to equipment, furniture, security devices and signs that factor in generating income.

Describing himself as a libertarian Democrat, Polis has made this promise since he began campaigning for governor.

As a rule of thumb, Colorado transportation officials have said that each hour that an interstate is closed or blocked, it costs the state's economy a million dollars.

Ride-sharing services reported big losses since the pandemic began, but they are moving quickly into new home delivery options, Uber and Lyft have reported.

A span of 331 miles across northern Colorado.

Directions

The administration's 10-year transportation plan will need $500 million each year to stay on course, money the legislature has been reluctant to provide other governors.

An elusive national goal that Polis fully embraced when President Obama proposed the Affordable Care Act a decade ago, when he was a congressman. Polis cited Obamacare for a "historic reduction in the number of uninsured Coloradans" in the aftermath of the politically divisive legislation.

This is debatable. There was plenty of complaining from Republicans, who lacked the votes to alter the majority's course. GOP members have been especially out out with the governor's use of executive orders, bypassing the legislative branch.

Colorado Politics could not verify the existence of this proverb as quoted.

Most Americans will have access to a COVID-19 vaccine by mid- to late May or early June, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, 704,052 Coloradans -- of a population of 5.9 million -- have been vaccinated with one dose of the vaccine as of Feb. 16, and 313,842 have received two doses.

As of Tuesday, 406 people were in Colorado hospital due to COVID-19, using 29% of the state's adult critical care ventilators and occupying 73% intensive care unit beds. So far, 22,847 people in Colorado have been hospitalized.

A Jew, a spy and a woman, Senesh joined the British Army and parachuted into war zones to rescue Hungarians from exile to death camps. She was captured by the Nazis, tortured and executed in 1944. Polis is Colorado's first Jewish governor.

The day after Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday kicks off the Lenten season lasts 40 days before Easter, when Christians believe Jesus was resurrected. The ashes symbolize death and repentance.

Palacio is the former director of the Colorado Democratic Party, the first Latino to serve in that role, and a noted party activist who was a candidate for vice chair of the national party in 2017. He was an advisor to former Gov. John Hickenlooper's presidential campaign in 2019.

The director of the state health department is a former Eagle County commissioner and health and environment consultant, including previously serving as director of health disparities for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The state department of health said Monday that more than 90% of all health-care workers in Colorado are vaccinated. About 10% of the state's hospitals report staffing shortages caused by the viral onslaught.

The governor is fluent in Spanish. On International Mother Language Day last year, Polis said he also speaks German. "Not sure if Pig Latin counts. it's never too late!" he posted on Facebook.

A tech millionaire, Polis donated to the fund after Colorado Politics' Marianne Goodland asked him why he had not.

An ongoing struggle for the governor, who, despite his orders, has seen members of the legislature and his own National Guard officers flout it.

Polis sometimes wears glasses.

A number of Coloradans attended the June 6 rally with President Trump, including freshman Republican Rep. Ron Hanks. Tuesday Democratic Rep. Don Valdez called for an investigation into Hanks' involvement. Six Coloradans, though not Hanks, have been arrested so far.

A Denver Post analysis last year indicated that while Black peoplemake up only 5% of Colorado's population in 2019 they made up 10% of those involved in police-involved deaths or shootings.

The three largest wildfires in Colorado history occurred in 2020: the Cameron Peak fire in Larimer County burned 202,253 acres and destroyed 461 buildings; the East Troublesome fire in Grand County consumed 193,812 acres and consumed 366 residences and 214 outbuildings and commercial structures; and the Pine Gulch fire north of Grand Junction, which burned 139,007 acres. Before the Hayman fire in 2002, Colorado had never had a fire of more than 100,000 acres.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment said Tuesday that the state has endured 415,037 cases, 5,828 deaths related to the virus and 5,655 deaths directly due to COVID-19.

Polis is a native, too, born at Boulder Community Hospital in 1975. He lived in San Diego as a high school student, graduating from La Jolla Country Day School.

The governor's office has been sensitive about the role of the first gentleman, since he received a vaccination as an essential state worker, which Republicans scoffed at.

Colorado has recorded 5,326 deaths and more than 366,000 cases of COVID-19 so far. Lawmakers cut nearly a quarter of the state's operating budget and raided reserves to balance the books, as the state's economy reels from shutdowns, imposed by the governor.

"Political parties do not determine what improves the lives of Coloradans," Garcia said in his oending day address ini 2019. "Good policy does, and no one party has a monopoly on good ideas."

Brady lists track law enforcement officials with integrity issues, criminal histories, lying or other misconduct. The registry was created in 1963, when the U.S. Supreme Court in Brady v. Maryland ruled that police and prosecutors could not withhold evidence related to past dishonesty by officers

Senate Bill 217 passed on a broadly bipartisan vote in June to curb excessive use of force and discipline police officers. Cooke is the former Weld County sheriff.

The upper middle class neighborhood next to the lower upper class neighborhood of Cherry Creek.

A study last year at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University affirmed this. “There are many reasons to believe the Covid-19 impacts might be larger for children in poverty and children of color,” according to the study. "Their families suffer higher rates of infection, and the economic burden disproportionately falls on Black and Hispanic parents, who are less likely to be able to work from home during the pandemic."

Sen. Kerry Donovan, the co-author of last year's public option bill, said she would introduce it again this session.

A bill introduced by Democrats the same week as the legislative shutdown would have created a public insurance policy with below-market rates based on price caps on hospitals.

Past efforts to shorten or lengthen the legislative session have gone nowhere. The legislature met for 160 days until it was shortened to 120 in 1988.

Positions on shutdowns and masks have fallen along party lines, starting with President Trump, who has questioned safety protocols and only sporadically worn a mask in public.

Republicans have complained for months that Gov. Jared Polis has exercised aggressive emergency orders to shut down businesses he deems a risk to public health during the pandemic.

The problem and solution spans the state. Businesses in Fort Collins asked for the same variance from health restrictions that businesses in Grand Junction receive for following stringent safety guidelines.

Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument, a former House member, is widely considered a fast-rising Republican destined for higher office.

Government euphemism for taxes or fees.

The measure requires voters' approval on government fees that accrue to more than $100 million in the first five years.

The tax reduction passed easily. Besides letting workers keep more of their income, it was projected to cost the state budget $203 million this year and $154 million next year.

The ballot question that asked Coloradans to forego future refunds under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights to fund education and transportation. The measure failed 54% to 46%.

Long a politically red state, Colorado has gone blue, controlling the state House, Senate and governor's office, as well as state treasurer, secretary of state and attorney general. Democrats have the majority's power behind their promises.

The Joint Budget Committee holds hearings before writing the first draft of the state budget. The six-member committee is made up of three Republicans and three Democrats from the House and Senate.

Mark Twain said, “If you want love and abundance in your life, give it away.”

Lawmakers are technically employed for the 120-day legislative session and off-session committee meetings. to many, though, it's a full-time job.

The people's house usually applies to the U.S. Capitol, but the term also has been applied to White House. It comes from an Old English term that meant a gathering place.

The Colorado Capitol is about one mile above sea level, depending on which floor you're on, which is why Denver is called the Mile High City.

McKean succeeded Brian Del Grosso, the former House Republican leader from Loveland.

Democrats hold a 41-24 majority in the House.

The founding fathers referred to creating a democratic nation as "the grand experiment," but over time it has become called the great American experiment.

245 in July.

Six counting a suicide Saturday by a Capitol police officer who was involved in the Jan. 6 melee.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden campaigned on the phrase "Build Back Better."

The legislature is expected to adjourn Friday and return on Feb. 16.

A General Assembly meets in two regular sessions, The first met on Nov. 1, 1876,

The distance from Denver to the U.S. Capitol is 1,678 miles, a 25-hour drive, according to Google Maps.

Most bills that pass the legislature are bipartisan, though the most consequential issues weather partisan rancor in the Colorado statehouse.

Denver Public Schools reopened in-person learning for preschool through fifth grade students Monday. Middle and high school students begin a gradual phase-in to in-person learning Jan. 19-29, as individual schools decide if classes are online, in-person or hybrid.

The governor signed Senate Bill 1 on , Dec. 7 to provide $57 million in direct aid, grants and annual fee waivers to struggling small businesses, as well as create grants for art and cultural organizations as well as minority-owned businesses.

This was one of Gov. Jared Polis' top policy agendas when he ws campaigning for his 2018 election and the fast work Democrats have put into the issue, before the pandemic.

In August 2019, the website Move.org ranked Denver No. 20 among the 75 largest U.S. cities for cost of living, calculating Denverites' average monthly household expenses at $1,869.97.

The General Assembly is adjourning after Friday until mid-February to allow cases to subside and for authorities to distribute and administer the vaccine.

The theme of Democratic President-elect's campaign for the White House was "Build Back Better."

Colorado is fast distributing vaccines and distributing federal and stare relief money.

A reference to the collision of historic events: the pandemic, the challenges to a democratic election and peaceful transfer of power, as well as the recovery from a dire economic collapse.

The U.S, Capitol was overrun by protesters immediately after the president gave a speech nearby on Jan. 6. Colorado elected leaders, including U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, has supported the president's call for investigations into voter fraud but denounced last week's violence.

Colorado's unemployment rate is 6.4%. Since Nov. 14, Colorado has seen more than 144,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits.

Lawmakers adjourned last March because of the COBIC-19 emergency, as small businesses and individuals have struggled under the pandemic since.

The 35-member chamber has seven new members, including four -- Buckner, Coleman, Jaquez-Lewis and Liston -- who were in the state House last session.

Lawmakers face a number of threats in Denver, including COVID-19 and the threat of violence from protests, including for racial inequity and over alleged voter fraud.

Senate Republican leader Chris Holbert made the same point about who really sets teacher pay on Wednesday. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/premium/legislature-lawmakers-line-up-on-how-to-pay-more-for/article_7deaee78-327b-11ea-8e76-5b5e76a573bb.html

The U.S. Census Bureau says about 8.3% of American workers have more than one job. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/06/about-thirteen-million-united-states-workers-have-more-than-one-job.html

School finance advocates consider the factor to be debt owed to K-12 education. Since the recession in 2009, lawmakers have used the factor to balance what a 1994 school funding rule says they should provide against tax money the legislature has that year to pay those costs. The deficit is more than $8 billion and counting. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/colorado-schools-are-getting-a-major-bump-in-the-state/article_47dfc34f-5e40-5768-99cf-8ee133d0fdd9.html

The Colorado Department of Higher Education announced it December it was beginning to accept applications to forgive $5,000 annually for five years in student loans for educators. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/state-opens-application-for-educator-loan-forgiveness/article_54db7cf8-1c20-11ea-923b-239a0fbad3c6.html

The Colorado Children's Campaign says "A child’s earliest experiences greatly affect the way his or her brain develops. In the first years of life, the brain is developing rapidly. More than 700 neural connections are being formed every second, setting the stage for children to acquire skills like working memory, language development, and self-control."

Hosmer works in academic support at Erie Middle School. http://ems.svvsd.org/staff/samantha-hosmer

As Polis mentions, sort of, this was a Republican idea for years -- namely state Rep. Jim Wilson of Salida, a retired principal and superintendent -- embraced and passed by Polis. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/with-a-stroke-of-his-pen-polis-aces-full-day/article_ecd84870-7c0b-11e9-b42c-3f6fce8a392c.html

Yes, our governor wears the coolest kicks on the block. The sneakers he work Tuesday came from VF Corp., a Colorado company. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/quick-hits/polis-signature-blue-sneakers-replaced-say-it-ain-t-so/article_ac9460e2-9370-11e9-b49c-8bea038d816e.html

A favorite program of former Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Colorado Trail Explorer puts the public in touch with the best places to get outdoors within the state. https://trails.colorado.gov/

State Sen. Brittany Pettersen, a Democrat from Lakewood, has worked for years to pass better retirement options for Coloradans. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/partisan-divide-over-colorado-public-retirement-savings-plans-offers-little/article_494311c8-4dbe-53f2-802c-838a41d57f0a.html

The governor laid out an aggressive agenda during the 2019 session and he has cited expected savings with Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera and his new office of Saving People Money on Healthcare. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/polis-unfolds-roadmap-for-cutting-health-care-costs/article_84b07b72-5709-11e9-88ae-4352024b1fba.html

Economic mobility is an issue that belies the state's robust economy, according to the Bell Policy Center and other economists. https://www.bellpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Guide-to-Economic-Mobility-FINAL.pdf

Pugh and Horan were Colorado members of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/quick-hits/polis-honors-us-women-s-soccer-team-members-at-rapids/article_4b86e4ec-a7fb-11e9-9b5a-e343c7082651.html

Shiffrin is a member of the U.S. Ski Team and hails from Edwards. She is the three-time reigning overall World Cup champion and four-time reigning world champion in slalom, among other titles. eventhttps://usskiandsnowboard.org/athletes/mikaela-shiffrin

The new decade begins in 2021. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/27/791546842/people-cant-even-agree-on-when-the-decade-ends

Another political trope, it's mathematically true but somewhat misleading if it suggests broad agreements between Republicans and Democrats. The vast majority of legislation that flows through the Capitol are not controversial at all, including resolutions honoring service members and such. The most important bills, however, deliver plenty of partisanship and gridlock, including abortion rights, guns, taxing and spending.

The Colorado way and the Western way are political tropes used often by Western politicians.

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/insights-the-western-way-is-lost-on-the-political-frontier/article_6157e1b2-a04a-11e9-a86f-677b9925bf44.html

Court, a member of the legislature since 2008, is stepping down effective Jan. 16 after she was hospitalized on New Year's Eve and diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

From reporter Marianne Goodland's article: "Lewis was a fierce advocate for rural Colorado, especially on issues like "country of origin" beef labeling and conservation easements. She also was a leader in the successful effort to fight the Defense Department over its efforts to expand the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado more than a decade ago. That expansion was canceled due to landowner opposition in 2013."