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Yesterday I was out running and I looked a bat in the eyes. It was pretty early for a bat to be out, with the sun still very high and bright, which is partly why I was able to make eye contact so clearly. It was also just hovering, not darting around as I usually see them at dusk. Just hovering.

I’m sure the bat was just trying to score some early dinner, but its behavior jostled me. I was reminded of a daunting but hilarious article by John Jeremiah Sullivan about the impending war between humans and animals — but then my mind quickly turned to all of the social media content I’ve been getting about welcoming fall and spooky season. Most of it is facetious, playing up the two cool days we’ve had on the Front Range, men in sweaters sipping pumpkin-spiced lattes, gazing at a single, barely yellowing leaf.

I’m not ready for all that. Instead, I’ll be in Crested Butte this weekend where there are hopefully flowers and not fall leaves, dipping into creeks, clinging to every little notion of summer.

Here’s the news.

The Colorado House of Representatives convenes Jan. 10 on the first day of Colorado’s 2024 legislative session. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

Sept. 6

Deadline for lawmakers to remove initiatives from the November ballot

Gov. Jared Polis has called lawmakers into a special legislative session to talk property taxes. Polis is hoping to pass a package of tax cuts in exchange for the removal of two consequential property tax measures from the November ballot that some lawmakers fear would decimate state and local budgets. Other groups say the fears are overblown. Brian Eason and Jesse Paul have the details.

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The proposed site of the Mount Princeton Geothermal plant, Aug. 28, 2023, near Buena Vista. The site, with views of 14,196-foot Mount Princeton, is on state land trust land, which, when leased, helps fund things like public schools and institutions in Colorado. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

There is an untapped well of energy bubbling beneath Chaffee County, and two geothermal energy developers may have finally gotten the go-ahead funds to investigate it. The pair have been studying geothermal potential at a site just outside Buena Vista for over a decade, but it wasn’t until they linked up with the Colorado Energy Office and an Icelandic investor that the ball got rolling. Tracy Ross has more.

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An heirloom eggplant, grown by Switch Gears Farm in Longmont, will be in the weekly produce bags as part of the Colorado Nutrition Incentive Program. Vanita Patel, co-founder of Switch Gears, gets the seeds for this particular eggplant from a Pakistani farmer in California. (Rebecca Slezak, Special to The Colorado Sun)

220

Local farms that sold food to groups with LFPA funds

A pandemic-era relief program gave Colorado food banks nearly $10 million to spend specifically on locally grown food, solving both hunger and small farm sustainability. But the last of the funds was divvied up this spring, and the state expects most of the money to be spent by the end of fall. I spoke with farmers and food banks about what comes next.

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$25 million

Spot’s original ask to drop the matter and avoid a lawsuit

In 2008 Denver’s Gates Corp. debuted a special belt-drive system to replace the century-old chain on bikes, but needed a bike-maker with a frame to accommodate it. Family-owned Spot Brand in Golden rose to the occasion with the innovative “Drop Out” frame. Now Spot claims that Gates Corp. has been shopping around the belt-drive and frame design without any credit, or money, going to Spot. Jason Blevins has the story.

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In “What’d I Miss?” Ossie wonders why “success stories” tout working for free as an almost magical formula for achieving financial success.

CARTOON

Jim Morrissey imagines the conspiracy-minded MyPillow guy doing his best to make convicted former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters comfortable.

CARTOON

Drew Litton captures the melancholy of leaving summer fun behind and getting back to the schoolhouse grind.

CARTOON

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Have a good weekend and see you back here Monday.

— Parker & the whole staff of The Sun

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