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Local Newscast for August 30th

KDNK's Local Newscast airs weekday mornings at 6:41 and 7:41 during Morning Edition.

HEADLINES: Colorado voters will not get to decide on two constitutional amendments seeking to better regulate the oil and gas industry this November. The Secretary of State’s office says the initiatives in favor of mandatory setbacks and other local controls over fracking had roughly 75 thousand valid signatures but failed to get over 98 thousand signatures needed to make the ballot. BenteBirkeland reports from the Capitol. 

FEATURE: Xcel Energy is calling the settlement they filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission earlier this month, the largest of its kind in Colorado history. Katharine Rushton with Sunsense Solar tells Gavin Dahl all about why it’s a big win for renewable energy. 

PLUS: The town of Basalt continues its work on proposed ballot language and dollar amounts for the purchase of land and park improvements for the Basalt River Park tonight at 6 o’clock with an hour-long open house to take input from residents. Then at 7 the council will hold a work session on the issue. A bond could total as much as ten million dollars in public funds. The meetings are set to take place at Town Hall, but could be moved to a larger location as needed. The council will meet at 5:50 to vote on retention of attorney Steve Dawes. The Eagle County Board of Commissioners meet this morning at 10AM in Eagle and their agenda includes consideration of two questions for the November ballot, the expanded use of existing county open space funds and funding for affordable housing. As proposed, the open space question would allow county open space funds to be used to construct and maintain paved and unpaved trails without raising the existing 1.5% mill levy tax. The ballot question also asks for bonding authority to complete the Eagle Valley Trail. The affordable housing question would create a new .3% sales tax to support countywide housing efforts. The tax equates to three cents on every 10 dollar purchase and could generate over 5 million dollars per year. Proposed uses of the funds include increasing the number of affordable rental housing units; acquisition of land for future affordable housing developments; and providing down payment assistance loans to facilitate home ownership. The tax would sunset in 20 years.

Gavin became one of the youngest station managers in public radio on February 1, 2017. He is a writer and producer with a passion for community media. Prior to starting at KDNK as news director in 2016, Gavin worked for national radio programs Alternative Radio with David Barsamian and Nonprofit Radio with Tony Martignetti along with local stations KGNU Boulder, KYRS Spokane, KRBX Boise, KAOS Olympia, and Air America Radio affiliate KPTK Seattle. His nonprofit management experience includes Open Media Foundation, where he led a government transparency team, and Common Frequency, where his policy advocacy supported dozens of noncommercial radio startups. Boulder Weekly, Raw Story, Austin American-Statesman, Boise Weekly, and The Sopris Sun have published his reporting. His TV credits include directing teams at Colorado Channel, crewing for Democracy Now!, and hosting on Free Speech TV. He graduated from the Evergreen State College in 2008 with a BA in media production and community organizing.