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Week of January 5, 2023
ADAMS & JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
WestminsterWindow.com
VOLUME 78 | ISSUE 11
Caraveo wants to tackle healthcare, climate and affordability BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
As Congresswoman-elect D-08 Yadira Caraveo inches closer to beginning her first term as a U.S. Representative, she’s squaring away the logistics. For housing in Washington, D.C.,
she’s in an apartment building that houses many other members of Congress. Her medical practice will remain and the office is planning to hire a replacement, but she’s planning on taking a few shifts when she’s in the district.
“Just to keep my skills up,” she said. She plans to come back to the district as often as possible to be able to spend time with her family as well as to strengthen her connection to the community. When it comes to a congressional mentor, many people have been help-
Ten things we talked about in 2022 From term limits to water quality and new projects, we had to a lot to discuss in the past year Thornton Shopping Center
SEE 2022, P4
SEE CARAVEO, P9
Counties navigate future after Tri-County Health breakup Former system expired Dec. 30
BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The city is in the midst of acquiring the property and relocating the existing tenants in the building of the Thornton Shopping Center. Demolition and environmental remediation will begin in the first quarter of 2023 and redevelopment in 2025. The Thornton City Council voted unanimously Dec. 14, 2021 to move forward with acquiring the Thornton Shopping Center through eminent domain. Eminent domain would give the property to the government with compensation. The property has two major problems. First is the contamination of the soil and groundwater with perchloroethylene (PERC), a drycleaning chemical. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment enforces the remediation of that chemical. The second set of issues is structural and aesthetic ones with buildings, parking lots and sidewalks. The city enforces those by issuing
ful to her while finding her bearings but hasn’t thought about a specific person she wants to spend most of her time with. People from the Hispanic Caucus and the Democratic Coalition all come to mind, she said.
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Following the news of the deadly shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, a queerowned auto shop started a fundraiser for the victims. In just two weeks, it grew to COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS have more than $800,000.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 15 | SPORTS: PAGE 16
SOCK IT TO ‘EM
Charity offering hosiery to the homeless
P12
The mask mandates implemented during the pandemic left a legacy in region’s health care. They fueled the breakup of Tri-County Health, the state’s largest public health agency, serving Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties for more than seven decades. Douglas County officials took issue with mask mandates put in place by the health agency. Looking back, Tri-County Health Director John Douglas, a doctor, said masks were meant to protect the public as the virus swept through the metro area. “I’m sorry the dynamics of the politicization of the pandemic put us in a place where we had to make choices, specifically referring to the mask mandate, that were going to create acrimony with Douglas County,” Douglas said. Tri-County Health Department’s choices were tough to make, he SEE HEALTH, P6