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STANDARD BLADE B R I G H T O N

SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1903

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VOLUME 119

Issue 44

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3, 2022

SHINING SMILE

Some local businesses hope liquor license ballot measure fails BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

we respond will determine our standing in the world.” This year’s results reaffirm what Colorado education leaders and teachers already knew thanks to statewide assessments: Students fell behind. But parents, teachers, and students are working hard to rebound, said Joyce Zurkowski, Colorado Department of Education chief assessment officer. “There are some indications that things are on the way back up,” she said. “But there’s work to do.”

Mollie Stephans walked into Westminster’s Pecos Liquors for the first time to pitch Loveland Aleworks’ newest beer. The answer she got was promising. “We’ll be in touch,” said Jazz Singh, the owner of the store since 2018. Stephans is one of the small brewery’s 10 employees. She makes sales calls to local liquor stores up and down the Front Range, asking that they put Aleworks’ beer on shelves. The personal touch is what makes the company unique, she said. But the owners the Aleworks said that may need to change if voters approve Proposition 124 in the upcoming election. The ballot initiative will increase the number of retail liquor store licenses an individual may own. The current maximum is three. The number would rise to eight by 2026, 13 by 2031, 20 by 2036 and be unlimited by 2037. With the increase, large retail stores like King Soopers, Safeway and Total Beverage would be able to sell alcohol in more locations. Opponents of the measure argue that will funnel business away from the local and neighborhood stores. “It’s hard to tell ahead of time, but we will almost have to change the way that we sell our beer and change the things we pride ourselves on,” Stephans said. “One big thing for us is we want to keep Colorado as local as possible.” Most of Loveland Aleworks’ accounts are local liquor stores. That’s because they’re able to meet with owners directly. When they get a green light from a store, it can happen on the spot or shortly after. But getting their product onto the shelves of a big chain is a different matter. It can take about a year to get an approval, if one comes at all. For liquor store owners like Singh, the proposition changes the liquor store experience and that’s a reason to vote

SEE MATH, P5

SEE LIQUOR, P2

Ashley Chavira’s painted Calavera Skull has rhinestones with elaborate artistry. Chavira and her family were celebrating Dia de PHOTO BY BELEN WARD los Muertos Oct. 28 as Brighton opened up a new art exhibit. See more photos on page 3.

‘The nation’s report card’ shows big declines in math BY JASON GONZALES CHALKBEAT COLORADO

Colorado students posted the lowest scores in more than a decade on the test known as “the nation’s report card,” with the steepest declines in middle school math and with Hispanic students losing the most ground. And while Colorado students posted better reading scores than did students in 27 other states, that was largely because other states lost even more ground. The learning loss from 2019 to 2022 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known

as NAEP, points to the devastating impact the pandemic has had on the education of children in almost every pocket of Colorado and the nation. While research has already shown that academic progress reversed, NAEP results released Monday provide the most detailed and authoritative accounting yet, with data coming from a representative set of students nationwide and allowing for comparisons across states and some cities. “The results are appalling and unacceptable,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said. “This is a moment of truth. How

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