Latest news with #JamesColeman
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colorado Legislature approves measure to make family visitation a right for incarcerated people
Colorado state senators listen as Colorado Senate President James Coleman, a Denver Democrat, delivers opening remarks on the first day of the 2025 session of the Colorado Legislature on Jan. 8, 2025, at the Colorado Capitol. (Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline) Both chambers of the Colorado Legislature approved a bill that would give incarcerated people the right to see their families and community, ending the current policy under which visitation can be withheld as a form of punishment. Current Colorado Department of Corrections policy says 'inmate social visiting' is a privilege that can be 'approved, denied, suspended, or revoked' by the head of a facility. House Bill 25-1013 would still allow the department to 'adopt rules to govern the administration of social visitation,' but it cannot restrict visitation beyond 'what is necessary for routine facility operations' or safety purposes. In-person visits, phone calls and video visits would become a right that cannot be taken away as punishment for an incarcerated person's actions. The Colorado Senate gave final approval to an amended version of the bill Friday in a 22-12 vote along party lines, with Democrats in support of the measure. The House later voted 43-19 to accept the Senate's amendments, sending the bill to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' desk to be signed into law. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'Families are where we find strength, healing, and support. But for too many families, the criminal justice system creates barriers that fracture these bonds,' Senate President James Coleman, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. 'Regular visits, phone calls, and moments of connection empower families to support their loved ones' journey toward rehabilitation. This bill helps to make our justice system a tool for repair and recovery, not a weapon of division.' Coleman sponsored the measure alongside fellow Denver Democrat House Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, as well as Rep. Regina English and Sen. Tony Exum, both Colorado Springs Democrats. Colorado bill would establish right to family visitation for incarcerated people All visitors and incarcerated people must still comply with department rules related to visitation. People in CDOC custody could file a grievance with the department if they are prevented from visitation under the requirements of the bill. Bill sponsors offered an amendment in the Senate on Thursday to make changes negotiated with CDOC, clarifying that the department can limit visitation for people confined in restrictive housing with certain high-level violations. CDOC will be able to limit visitation to comply with court orders related to victim safety and to prevent communication between co-defendants. The amendment also said the department will take 'reasonable measures' to increase access to telephone calls and non-contact visits for people in restrictive housing. Those in support of the measure have said it will help incarcerated people maintain relationships with loved ones and ensure they have a better chance of stability once they are released. 'Ensuring that people who are incarcerated have the right to connect with their loved ones makes all Coloradans safer,' Exum said in a statement. 'It reduces recidivism, supports rehabilitation, and eases the transition back into our communities after incarceration.' Democrats control strong majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. The 2025 legislative session ends on May 7. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
One dead after overnight I-95 multi-vehicle crash near Boynton; southbound lanes now open
A major deadly overnight crash on Interstate 95 near Boynton Beach shut down southbound lanes for most of the morning, causing massive traffic backups during the morning commute. The multi-vehicle crash involved a semi-truck on I-95 near Hypoluxo Road and Gateway Blvd, just before exit 59, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. FDOT opened southbound lanes Monday morning around rush hour, but traffic remains backed up for miles and commuters are urged to exit before Lake Worth Beach and Boynton Beach exits to avoid lengthy delays. The crash comes only a few days after an airplane tragedy also in south county when three members of a Palm Beach County family, including a teenage girl, were killed Friday morning when a six-seater Cessna 310 plane crashed onto a busy street moments after taking off from Boca Raton Airport, bursting into flames. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating that crash. This is a developing story. Check back for more details. James Coleman is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at jcoleman@ and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @JimColeman11. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: One dead after overnight multi-vehicle crash on I-95 near Boynton
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Colorado Senate debates state budget in tight financial year
Colorado state senators listen as Colorado Senate President James Coleman, a Denver Democrat, delivers opening remarks on the first day of the 2025 session of the Colorado Legislature on Jan. 8, 2025, at the Colorado Capitol. (Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline) The Colorado Senate began debate Wednesday on the annual state budget bill, a spending plan that tries to close a $1.2 billion funding gap and absorb the rising cost of Medicaid in the state. The bill, known as the 'long bill,' and the dozens of accompanying pieces of legislation creates a $43.9 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins in July, about a 3.6% increase from last year. That includes about $16 billion in general fund spending. As it stands, the general fund would end the next fiscal year with about $2.5 million above the required reserve amount. 'I've said this a number of times and I will keep saying it: This is a budget that no one will like but we can all be proud of,' Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, told his colleagues in a caucus meeting on Tuesday. 'That is because we took a $1.2 billion-in-the-hole starting point and have managed to deliver a budget that maintains our commitment to K-12, maintains our commitment to Medicaid and maintains our commitment to higher ed. We have done that largely through some pretty painful ongoing cuts, combined with one-time transfers.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The budget includes $150 million in new K-12 spending and a 1.6% Medicaid provider rate increase. Those are lower increases than advocates hoped for, but it is not the apocalyptic scenario some feared. The larger picture of education funding is left to the School Finance Act, which has not yet been introduced. The Senate gave preliminary approval to the budget on Wednesday night. It still needs to undergo a formal recorded vote before heading to the House for consideration. It is written by the six-member, bicameral Joint Budget Committee, which includes Democrats and Republicans, after months of meetings and presentations from state departments and agencies. The primary goal this year was to craft a balanced budget as required by the state constitution while facing down a massive funding gap created by ballooning costs of state programs like Medicaid. Part of the issue is that Colorado is constrained by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, which restricts how much revenue the state can keep based on inflation and population growth. That revenue cap is not rising as fast as those program costs, at the same time pandemic-era federal funding dries up. This year, the general fund appropriation for the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers Medicaid, is larger than the one for the Department of Education for the first time. It would grow by 6.8% under the proposed budget. But TABOR limitations should not be blamed for the budget woes, Republicans argue. Rather, they say the blame should be on the expanding state government and the associated spending. 'We've created a structural deficit with the way we've been spending over the last six years. We need to restrain our spending, not claim that we need more money,' Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican, said ahead of debate on Wednesday. Most of Wednesday was spent debating amendments to the long bill, attempts by individual lawmakers to put their mark on the budget and signal the programs and investments that are important — or not — to them. That ranged from failed amendments to cease funding transgender health care in the Department of Corrections to a successful one that would create more spending for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program administration. The House will vote on its own series of amendments to the long bill and then the bill will head to a conference committee made of JBC members. It's rare that budget amendments stick around until the final version that heads to the governor's desk. Overall, about a dozen departments will see a budget reduction compared to last year. The budget balances itself by proposing various repeals and adjustments to current programs, including some that were only recently created through legislation. One cut changes the state's responsibility to cover 75% of phone calls for incarcerated people, instead of 100% as passed into law in 2023, and would save about $2.3 million. Another repeals the Kidney Disease Task Force formed in 2021. The state's transportation department is poised to absorb a large share of the budget cuts. One cut would slash about $64 million in the budget by adjusting the schedule of transfers of general fund money to the State Highway Fund, which was created through 2021 legislation that requires a certain amount of investment over a decade. The state will eventually meet that investment obligation, but on an adjusted schedule. It wouldn't be on the hook for $50 million earmarked for next year, for example. The budget would also eliminate $7 million for the Revitalizing Main Street program, which helps local communities improve their downtown infrastructure. And it takes back about $71 million in awarded transportation grants to local governments for small-scale improvements like bike lanes and walking paths. That money has been awarded but the projects are not under contract. 'These are great investments, valuable stuff. But given the budget shortfall we have this year, we identified this as a place where an investment we made some years ago, we can probably put those dollars to better use this year,' Bridges said. 'If you can find $72 million worth of cuts somewhere else, then let's talk. But this is the single largest piece we will be transferring into the general fund.' About $34 million would be cut from the Healthy School Meals for All program in the Department of Education, which provides free breakfast and lunch for public school students. It leaves $8 million to sustain the program until December. Voters will likely face a ballot question this fall proposing to raise more tax dollars to fund the program. Senators wrestled with a cut that would repeal Medicaid coverage for services provided by community health workers as defined in a 2023 law, which would save about $11.7 million in the upcoming budget year and $13.7 million in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. That reimbursement program was passed in 2023 and was set to be implemented starting this July. An amendment to fund community health workers for at least the first year using excess general fund reserve was approved. 'We know the benefits that community health workers are to all our communities, whether it's Front Range or rural. They offer wraparound services, whether it's social services, transportation, other things that lead to better outcomes for the people of Colorado,' said Sen. Kyle Mullica, a Thornton Democrat. Democrats control strong majorities in both the House and Senate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
![[Grace Kao] BTS J-Hope's New York concert](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F03%2F17%2Fnews-p.v1.20250317.973f005f77d6442380e4680fa73e555f_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
![[Grace Kao] BTS J-Hope's New York concert](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fkoreaherald.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Korea Herald
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
[Grace Kao] BTS J-Hope's New York concert
As our civil liberties dissipate in the US, music has continued to lift my spirits. On March 13, I attended BTS' J-Hope's concert 'Hope on the Stage' in Brooklyn, New York, at the Barclays Center. He had two sold-out dates at this venue, which seats about 17,000. J-Hope was perfection personified, and I wanted to share my experience attending this concert. As all the members have completed or are in the midst of their mandatory military service, fans have been desperate to see them live. Of course, the risk of losing fans exists for any K-pop boy group while on hiatus due to military service. I had heard horror stories about the line for buying merchandise (the 'merch line') at BTS concerts, but when we arrived at 1 p.m., we only waited 15-20 minutes before purchasing our goods. As my light stick — Army bomb — broke just before the concert, I had to buy a new one. This cost $59. I also purchased a T-shirt ($50) and extra batteries for my light stick ($2). By 2:30 p.m. or so, the front of the concert hall was full of people milling around. Some were in the merch line, but many were just hanging out. I had made 100 packets of J-Hope and BTS stickers in preparation for the concert, and this was a good time to begin handing them out. I realized later that only a select other Army had brought their own freebies to share, so it was ideal to trade with those who had come prepared. I received about 30 sets of freebies. Some people simply handed out a single sticker or photo card. However, what was more typical were little packets of items, such as a few photo cards or stickers. I received two handmade bracelets, two rings, pieces of candy and several keychains. One person gave me a crocheted jack-in-the-box figure, inspired by J-Hope's album titled 'Jack in the Box.' Everyone was happy to receive and give gifts, which works to strengthen communities. As sociologist James Coleman described the concept of social capital, one of the effective ways of building social ties among individuals is through reciprocal gift giving. It was amazing to see Army of all different ages and ethnicities. I think the age range was 10 to 80, but most were probably between 18 and 50. However, it seemed about 98 percent female. As it approached 4:30 p.m., we decided to stake our place in line. We stood next to two very nice young women who were first-years at George Washington University in DC (about three hours by train or 330 kilometers away). They had been fans of BTS for about seven years, but admitted that J-Hope was not their favorite. Still, they were thrilled to see him. This pales to the two other young women we met earlier in the afternoon — they traveled from Ecuador: about 4,800 km away! At a BTS cupsleeve event earlier this month, I met a woman in her mid-20s who was planning to drive from Maine to Chicago, Illinois. I don't know what city she lived in, but the distance from the largest city in Maine to Chicago is about 1,800 km. This is about a 17-hour drive. There were no negative judgements on one's love of J-Hope and BTS. People exchanged information about their favorite songs — I heard 'Dimple.' When I said that I loved 'Just One Day,' 'Just Dance' or 'Bapsae,' everyone I met knew what I was talking about — no one assumed that one could only sing to 'Butter' or 'Dynamite.' In fact, J-Hope would not perform those songs that night, but I doubt anyone minded. I felt pure excitement inside the concert hall. The woman who sat in front of us told everyone around her that it was her birthday. At the end of the concert, she shouted, 'This is the best birthday of my life!' About 80 percent of people brought their light sticks. Many people dressed up as characters recognizable to other Army. Almost everyone wore a little symbol of BTS, whether it was a keychain of Mang on their handbag or a BTS scarf or a fully handmade outfit. I was lucky that one of my sisters made me a J-Hope handbag, and my husband printed me a purple phone case with the Korean words that "BTS" stands for on it. Concerts are communal experiences where the audience and performers share a collective sense of euphoria — Emile Durkheim referred to this as 'collective effervescence.' Ethnomusicologist Christopher Small describes the experience of performing and consuming music together as 'musicking.' Along with the gift-giving activities in many K-pop concerts, I felt happy not only as a BTS fan but also as a witness to sociology in action. However, I really could have used a purple sweater or jacket! Maybe next time. Grace Kao is an IBM professor of sociology and professor of ethnicity, race and migration at Yale University. The views expressed here are the writer's own. — Ed.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Five tips on how to save the most money on gas in Palm Beach County
Fuel prices aren't as high as they were a few years ago, but gas is like any other commodity — and people are always looking for a way to cut expenses here and there. Everything counts when it comes to your monthly budget, and even if prices drop in 2025, everyone can use additional savings. Aside from more cost-effective transportation options such as walking, biking, public transportation or ride-share services, there are some ways you can save at the pump. Here are five tips to help drivers: One of the more popular apps is GasBuddy, a super-helpful crowdsourcing tool that updates pricing information at virtually every gas station in the United States. You can download the app for free and look at local prices instantly. You can also set up a pay account, which issues you a debit-like card that links to your checking account. There are other gas-saving apps such as Google Apps, Waze, MapQuest Gas Prices and Gas Guru. Many gas stations will charge the consumer with the credit card a processing fee, so paying with cash will often result in a slightly lower price per gallon. The other advantage of paying with cash is that you avoid the possibility of card-skimmer fraud. Many card readers on pumps are unattended and are easily manipulated by criminals. Palm Beach County always, on average, sells the most expensive gas, but that is because Boca Raton and areas west of that municipality are so high. There are parts of Lake Worth Beach and northern West Palm Beach that offer significantly cheaper prices. Generally, anything in the western suburbs is higher-priced than stations adjacent to Interstate 95. Why are prices so high here? A year in the life of gas prices at one Palm Beach County station Gas stations will adjust prices based on demand. Customers preparing for weekend trips on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays or right before holidays generally see the highest prices of the week. Sundays are also a good option. According to GasBuddy, the best day to buy gas in Florida is Monday and the worst day is Thursday. We asked the experts: Can the President of the United States really influence gas prices? Most gas loyalty programs are free, and they can help you save money over time. It's best to choose a rewards program from a station that you frequently visit — that way you can get the highest return. According to CNBC, some of the best gas rewards credit cards are PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature Card, Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express and Citi Strata Premier Card. Each card offers at least three times points or 3% cash back on gas purchases. More: Why I've only been to this gas station twice in 14 years - and it's only a block away James Coleman is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at jcoleman@ and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @JimColeman11. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Five tips on how to save the most on gas prices in Palm Beach County
