- City of Cortez is planning to apply for a grant to help with remodeling the Journal newspaper building it is purchasing from Ballantine Communications.
- Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has signed an executive order creating a commission to study the issue of American Indian mascots in public schools.
The city of Cortez is planning to apply for a grant to help with remodeling the Journal newspaper building it is purchasing from Ballantine Communications for nearly $3 million. City Manager Shane Hale tells KSJD the city will ask for an as-yet-undetermined sum in energy impact monies from the Department of Local Affairs. Hale says the new city hall will have space to fill a variety of needs, including municipal court operations and document storage, and will allow some staff members currently in the rec center and service center to move in with the rest of the city staff. The high-ceilinged portion of the building that once held printing presses will become the council chambers. Hale says the council is still deciding what to do with the old city hall downtown. The city and county will discuss in November what to do with another old edifice, the Justice Building at Empire Street and Mildred Avenue. Hale says it would be cost-prohibitive to try to remodel it.
In other news, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has signed an executive order creating a commission to study the issue of American Indian mascots in public schools. The order states, “The use of imagery and names that are offensive and degrading to American Indians in institutions of public education dishonors the ongoing legacy of American Indians in the State of Colorado. The use of these images and names may be steeped in local traditions and important to community identity, but they may also reinforce negative stereotypes about American Indians...” The commission, which will have up to 15 members appointed by the governor including representatives of the Ute Mountain and Southern Ute tribes, will discuss the use of names and images by public educational institutions and make recommendations. Hickenlooper signed the order after the legislature failed to pass two different bills aimed at eliminating the mascots.
