WEEK OF NOVEMBER 21, 2024
VOLUME 35| ISSUE 47
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FLOWERS FOR VETERANS
Adams County Veterans Memorial gets weekend-long decoration P6
Activists uncertain of future after election Immigrant program organizers face feelings of uncertainty BY JACKIE RAMIREZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
needs,” said Superintendent Karla Loria in the released statement. “The fact that we were just shy of 300 votes on both measures shows that the community is beginning to rebuild trust in the District. This is a clear sign that we’re moving in the right direction and working toward uniting our community for the benefit of our students.” The district has previously struggled to increase local funding. Voters haven’t approved a tax measure in more than 10 years. For about as long, Adams 14 has struggled to increase student achievement on state tests but did successfully rally against state orders for reorganization which could have dissolved the district. Still, Adams 14 has one of the highest rates of students
A week has passed since voters were sitting on the edge of their seats, watching election results come in, anxious to see a glimpse into the future. At 3:38 a.m. on Nov. 6, the Associated Press called the presidential race, saying “Donald Trump is elected the 47th president of the U.S.,” on X, formerly known as Twitter. However, for many people in the immigrant community, their first concerns were how programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and President Joe Biden’s executive order, “Keeping Families Together,” would evolve under the new national leadership beginning January 2025. The president-elect pledged to end birthright citizenship on Day One of his presidency, bringing to an end a long-standing constitutional right. Concerns also stem after the United States District Court issued a final judgment on a case against “Keeping Families Together,” invalidating the parole-in-place process on Nov. 7, 2024. Krysta Heard is part of American Families United and is a recipient of DACA and directly benefited from “Keeping Families Together.” Heard was brought to the United States when she was 3 years old and was raised in Los Angeles for the first part of her childhood, but she then moved to Colorado’s Eastern Plains with her family. Like many DACA recipients today, Heard saw the impacts of being undocumented once she graduated from high school in 2004. “Unfortunately for me in 2004, immigration and child-
SEE ADAMS 14, P8
SEE REACTION, P7
• Vestas to lay off 200 employees •27J Schools moves online-only Dec. 1
• Page 9
BUSINESS LOCAL
Adams 14 questions pull ahead • Page 3
Votes for mill levy, bonds for pay raise, building work in a dead heat BY YESENIA ROBLES CHALKBEAT
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LOCAL OBITUARIES LEGALS CLASSIFIED
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The latest election results posted by Adams County on Nov. 9 and 10 showed that two tax measures for the Adams 14 school district have pulled ahead, despite earlier results showing both measures failing. The votes for and against 4A and 4B had narrowed Friday to nearly a dead heat when more than 30,000 ballots were left to be counted, according to unofficial elec-
tion results and Adams County officials. A $10 million mill levy override to raise teacher pay was failing by a single vote. And a $113.9 million bond question to build a new school was failing by 124 votes. By Saturday night’s last update, the mill levy override was ahead by 225 votes and the bond was ahead by 90. On Wednesday, when the vote spread was wider, the district had released a statement saying leaders were disappointed in the outcome but found solace because the measures were only about 300 votes short of passing. “While we were hopeful for the passage of these measures to support facility improvements and teacher salaries, we respect the outcome and will continue to seek ways to address the district’s critical
BRIEFS: 2 | OBITUARIES: 5 | CLASSIFIEDS: 11
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