Stories in this list received the most page views on postindependent.com from April 6-April 13:

1.The cost of a Colorado program providing health care to undocumented immigrants ballooned. Now, lawmakers are eyeing cuts. 

When Colorado lawmakers passed a bill in 2022 to grant Medicaid coverage to pregnant immigrant women and children, regardless of their immigration status, they did so under the assumption that it would cost the state roughly $14.7 million in the program’s first full fiscal year. 

In reality, Cover All Coloradans, which launched in 2025, will end up costing the state over $104.5 million for the fiscal year that began on July 1 and runs through June 30, a more than 600% increase over its original estimate. 

Now, the program faces cuts as lawmakers prepare to close a roughly $1.5 billion shortfall in the upcoming state budget, including an enrollment cap and benefit reductions. It’s among a list of health care cuts proposed by the Joint Budget Committee, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers that crafts the state’s annual spending plan.

-Robert Tann

2. Rifle couple grows River Valley Roll-Offs with local, family-run approach

When Taya and Jeremy Bullock launched River Valley Roll-Offs two years ago, they were chasing a goal they had talked about for years: building a business of their own.

Now, the Rifle couple has grown that dream from a one-trailer operation into a family-run roll-off and hauling business serving communities from Aspen to De Beque, as well as Meeker and Eagle.

“For years, my husband and I had a dream of owning our own business,” Taya Bullock said. “Two years ago, that dream became a reality, and we’ve been working hard toward our goals every day since.”

-Taylor Cramer 

3. Colorado moves to eliminate teacher preparation program, leaving students without a clear path forward

As rural school districts continue to struggle with educator shortages, a new bipartisan bill wants to end a program that helps Colorado students access pathways to teaching — something high school seniors say would leave them in an unfair spot.

The Teacher Recruitment Education and Preparation program was created through Senate Bill 21-185 in 2021 as a way to encourage high school students to pursue careers in education. The program currently offers up to $10,000 in tuition assistance to program participants who remain enrolled in a fifth and sixth year of high school to take postsecondary courses related to a teacher career pathway.

House Bill 1357, introduced in early April, would phase out the program over a two-year period to put money back in the State Education Fund.

-Andrea Teres-Martinez

4. Driver of CDOT snowplow involved in fatal crash with youth hockey van on I-70 charged with 8 misdemeanors

The Colorado State Patrol has charged the snowplow driver who was involved in a fatal crash with a van carrying a youth hockey team on Interstate 70 in Clear Creek County in January.

One person was killed and several were injured when the snowplow lost control and crashed through the median into oncoming traffic on Jan. 29, according to the State Patrol. Officials later identified 29-year-old Littleton resident Colton Wiedman, who was working for the Colorado Department of Transportation at the time, as the driver of the snowplow.

Wiedman has been charged with one count of careless driving causing death, four counts of careless driving causing serious bodily injury and three counts of careless driving resulting in bodily injury, all Class 1 Traffic Misdemeanors. He also faces a single count of failure to drive in a designated lane, a Class A Traffic Infraction.

-Ryan Spencer 

5. Glenwood Springs approves Eighth Street development, advances charter updates, extends employee housing assistance

Glenwood Springs City Council on Thursday approved a downtown mixed-use project at 210 Eighth St., directed staff to prepare possible charter updates for a future ballot, and voted to continue the city’s employee housing assistance program.
-Taylor Cramer