Polis announces incentives to curb 'crisis of the unvaccinated Gov. Jared Polis announced Sept. 2 the state will offer grants of up to $120,000 to doctors for supporting COVID vaccination and discussing the benefits and risks of the COVID-19 vaccine with patients.

With more than 75 percent of Coloradans vaccinated with at least one dose, Polis said, “we know that the best way to reach the remaining 25 percent is through their family doctor, whom they trust to treat them for common health issues — which is why we are empowering our local doctors across Colorado to order and administer the COVID vaccine right then and there.”

The new COVID-19 Primary Care Providers Grants range from “up to$60,000 to up to $120,000depending on practice size,” and applications are open until Dec. 1, 2021 at COPCPVAX.com. The state will review them on a rolling basis until all funding is distributed.

At the same briefing, Polis announced announced incentives for students to get tested via the state’s free, voluntary statewide COVID-19 testing program in schools through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

All students in participating schools whose parents have opted into COVID testing are eligible to receive gift cards of $25 for the first test and $10 for each subsequent test.

Additionally, v=any school that participates in the School Testing Initiative program will receive $2.50 per test administered and reported to CDPHE== as a reimbursement for the testing administrative costs. The program is available to all Colorado K-12 schools, and all students and staff can participate regardless of vaccination status or presence of symptoms.

“These new initiatives — testing incentives for students and grants for primary care providers — will protect the public good and in-person learning while providing more motivation to get more Coloradans to get the safe and effective vaccine,” Polis said.

“What we’re seeing every day is that this is acrisis of the unvaccinated,” he added. “While those who are vaccinated can contract the virus, there’s a decreased likelihood that they will, and they have a much more minor impact from the virus. We really want to encourage everyone to get vaccinated.

“We have 796 of our fellow Coloradans that are in the hospital right now with COVID. Of the 796, 103 are vaccinated — they’re breakthrough [cases].

"To put that into perspective, about 75 percent of our adult population is vaccinated; out of that 75 percent, there are only 103 hospitalizations. Out of the 25 percent [of the state's population] who aren’t vaccinated, we have 693 hospitalizations.”

==Polis said for those aged 12-17, the vaccine has “very close to 100 percent efficacy.v=

“There is no reason for any child 12-17 right now to be hospitalized from COVID, because it is all but entirely preventable for that age group,” he said.

At the briefing, Dr. Marc Moss, head of the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine-Anschutz, shared his experiences working on the frontlines of the pandemic.

“This pandemic has caused enough economic loss, sadness, tragedy, and far too many deaths,” Moss said. “On behalf of the tens of thousands of healthcare professionals in the great state of Colorado and the other front-line workers who have worked on your behalf, we urge you to get vaccinated.

https://www.csbj.com/news/polis-announces-incentives-to-curb-crisis-of-the-unvaccinated/article_6f933aee-0c34-11ec-a715-8373b30e0cb7.html

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) – Governor Jared Polis recommends ending Colorado's state income tax.because he is up for re-election?

At a news conference, Polis said the income tax should drop to zero. Instead, he said the state should find other ways to generate revenue without discouraging growth.

During the Freedom Conference on August 27, Polis said, "if we can move away from taxing income which is something you don’t want to discourage because we want people to make income, we want companies to make income, that’s a great thing."

However, that change won't be happening anytime soon. Ending the state income tax would need to be approved by the state legislature, or be sent to a ballot before it could be enacted.

Until then, the governor was able to reduce the state income tax by 0.78% in 2020 as part of a ballot measure. Many conservative groups plan to push a similar proposal next year.

https://krdo.com/news/2021/09/03/gov-polis-recommends-ending-colorados-state-income-tax/

Everyone is paying for it!

>>14519812

Meant for >>14519792

Colorado's nonpartisan redistricting commission has proposed a congressional map that would create a new swing seat in the northern Denver suburbs and lump conservative firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert into a Boulder-The congressional map keeps the four Democratic seats relatively safe, as well as preserving three as based solidly Democratic seat currently held by liberal Rep. Joe Neguse.

solidly Republican. It would add a new swing seat running from Adams County to Greeley that voted Democratic by 1.9 percentage points in last year's Senate election.

That could make the final breakdown of the state's congressional districts 4-4, an underwhelming split for Democrats in a state they won by 13 points in last year's presidential election.

Still, Democrats see the map as an improvement over the initial map, which had a similar partisan division. This one splits the conservative western slope into two separate districts. Grand Junction and below stay in the 3rd congressional district, now stretching out to the southeastern plains, Pueblo and Huerfano County. Boebert, a Republican, represents that district, but her home in Garfield County would now go into a northern district stretching to the Wyoming border with most of its population in the liberal bastions of Boulder and Ft. Collins.

“The new process is designed to gather public comment to improve upon the preliminary plan and, at first blush, this map seems to have moved in that direction,” said Curtis Hubbard, a Democratic strategist.

Boebert has the option to move south back into her district or even run for her seat there from her home next door if she didn’t want to face the liberal voters of the new district.

Republicans were steamed at how the proposal divides rural Colorado, but acknowledged that, from a partisan position, they are in decent shape.

“As a Coloradan, I hate the map,” said former State Sen. Greg Brophy, who lives in Wray. “As a Republican, it could be a lot worse.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/colorado-commission-releases-new-congressional-map-proposal/ar-AAO5ggU

>>14519803

this

5.5

A principal in Tucson, Arizona, was confronted by three men, one carrying zip ties, who threatened to make a citizen’s arrestafter the son of one of them was told to quarantine because of possible Covid-19 exposure.

My door is open to talk to parents. But the way he did it was not OK," said Diane Vargo, principal at Mesquite Elementary School. "Bringing zip ties to a principal’s office — that’s not OK.”

Vargo said Thursday's incident came after a father was told his child had to quarantine for at least a week under Pima County Health Department guidelines. When the father showed up at the school, Vargo directed him to her office because he was being aggressive and loud with office staff, she said.

Two men, who the father was clearly in communication with, then arrived, she said. One of them carried zip ties. The other two men did not have children at the school, but the student told to quarantine was at his father's side during the encounter, Vargo said.

“He had video in my face, and two other men barged into my office. And one of them was carrying zip ties. … They were three big men. I was scared. My assistant was scared,” Vargo said.

She said the men appeared not to want to listen to her explanation that she was following county guidelines to keep the school open. She said each of the men was recording her and her assistant “and threatening to arrest us."

I asked them to leave and they would not," Vargo said.

Vargo said she tried to de-escalate the situation, but Tucson police were eventually called, and she left her office while the men and boy remained inside. She said it was important to make sure the men were isolated from the students and staff.

Tucson police declined to answer questions Friday. A spokesperson said in an email that police went to the school because “of a fight brewing” and that a 40-year-old man was cited for trespassing. Vargo said the man was the parent.

Although police named the man, NBC News generally does not identify suspects in minor crimes. The man declined to comment Friday.

John Carruth, superintendent of the Vail Unified School District, called it an "isolated incident."

“They crossed the line,” he said. “This incident is not indicative of our community. It’s not indicative of our schools.”

Vargo said she and her assistant plan to file restraining orders against the men, and the community has been overwhelmingly supportive.

In a videotaped statement Friday, Vargo teared up and said it was difficult to see the student witness what transpired in her office.

“His father wanted him here," Vargo said. "He sat right next to him, and he witnessed all of it. He saw the threats. He saw the aggressiveness. He saw the large zip ties. He saw it all and I felt really, really bad for him.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arizona-principal-threatened-with-zip-ties-after-student-told-to-quarantine/ar-AAO51VE