WEEK OF MAY 8, 2025
VOLUME 37| ISSUE 19
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Lawmakers brace for Medicaid session Budget director estimates cuts to federal funding could reach $1 billion BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN
The impact is huge, according to Robert Ferguson from Westminster Public Schools’ Random Innovation Center. He teaches the aviation engineering pathway, including drone classes, pilot training, engineering design, aviation electronics, and aerospace.
Lawmakers and other state officials have for weeks been bracing for the possibility of coming back to the Capitol later this year to deal with potential federal cuts to Medicaid likely to be included in Congressional Republicans’ stillbeing-written budget proposal. “There certainly are a lot of indicators that would suggest that we might end up having to come back in the event that there’s a dramatic cut to Medicaid,” state Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat and member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said in March, as first reported in The Colorado Sun’s politics newsletter, The Unaffiliated. Speaking to a group of health care leaders in April, Gov. Jared Polis’ budget director put it a little more bluntly. Mark Ferrandino said the state is estimating up to $1 billion in cuts to Colorado’s federal Medicaid funding under proposals being discussed in Washington, D.C.. “Just to be clear to everyone,” Ferrandino said, “if that’s the cut, we are not backfilling, which means we have to make cuts both in Medicaid and other places in the state budget to deal with it.” Medicaid is the state’s most expensive program. The agency that runs the program has an $18 billion budget for next year. More than $10 billion in that budget comes from federal funds, meaning Colorado could be facing a 10% cut in that funding if Ferrandino’s projections are correct. Colorado contributes about $5 billion to the Medicaid program out of the state’s general fund, making it the largest source of general fund spending. When Ferrandino says the state will not backfill, he means the state won’t chip in more general fund money to make up for the possible federal cuts. There just isn’t enough cash to do so.
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8th grade students Henry Kovacs, from Thunder Ridge, Blake Chyou, home-schooled, Ben Santos, Eagle Crest High School, and Teagan Bura, Colorado Skies Academy watch to see how the tower they constructed fares against a stiff wind during the Go For Launch program at the Colorado Air and Space PHOTO BY BELEN WARD Port. They claimed second place for the stability of their tower.
Go for Launch program aims to inspire students • Vestas to lay off 200 employees •27J Schools moves online-only Dec. 1
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Space travel experts and astronauts offered STEM at Air and Space Port BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
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Michelle Lucas, founder of Higher Orbits Go for Launch, has worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and made her reputation preparing people for space flight. She traveled the world teaching people how to live on board the International Space Station. But the satisfaction she received from that job is nothing compared to thrill of seeing a new generation get interested in space flight. “Don’t get me wrong, training astronauts for space was fulfilling, but being able to prepare the next generation is a next level of fulfillment,” Lucas said. That’s what she and her team
were aiming for April 26 and 27 at the Colorado Space Port near Watkins. The space port hosted the Go for Launch Higher Orbits event, a special STEM program, for 35 Denver-area middle and high school students. Lucas said it’s incredibly fulfilling to inspire the next generation of space enthusiasts, especially for kids that don’t have access to these kinds of opportunities. She said she can relate. “I’m a kid who is in love with space, from the south side of Chicago with no access to spaceinspired STEM programming,” she said. Post-its, tape and teamwork
The students learned about teamwork, communication, technology, leadership, science,
engineering and brainstorming during the two day program. Their tasks include working as teams to create a tower made of paper stable enough to support the miniature NASA Orion Capsule placed on top. Each tower was tested with a small fan to assess its strength. Global Village Academy’s Colton Burke, Prospect Ridge Academy’s Eshaan Valles and Colorado Skies Academy students Yiri Yerikanis, and Zach Schultz worked as a team. The group of 8th grade students brainstormed how to best build their tower, each participating with structural engineering concepts and feeding off each other for inspiration. Their final tower was made of Post-its, paper and some tape
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with room for the Orion Capsule on top. Their project was tested for strength, and they won first place. Not only that, but they had fun doing it. That’s the goal, Lucas said. Being able to create something that she can bring to the backyards of students across the country is so meaningful to her. Dreams of space
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