Scott Franz
Aspen Public Radio Capitol Coverage ReporterScott Franz is a government watchdog reporter and photographer from Steamboat Springs. He spent the last seven years covering politics and government for the Steamboat Pilot & Today, a daily newspaper in northwest Colorado. His reporting in Steamboat stopped a police station from being built in a city park, saved a historic barn from being destroyed and helped a small town pastor quickly find a kidney donor. His favorite workday in Steamboat was Tuesday, when he could spend many of his mornings skiing untracked powder and his evenings covering city council meetings. Scott received his journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is an outdoorsman who spends at least 20 nights a year in a tent. He spoke his first word, 'outside', as a toddler in Edmonds, Washington. Scott visits the Great Sand Dunes, his favorite Colorado backpacking destination, twice a year. Scott's reporting is part of Capitol Coverage, a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.
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Bill Bruton is noticing some surprising changes in his mountain town nine months after the state’s second largest wildfire ripped through it, destroying more than 300 homes. -
A recent survey of 4,600 mountain town residents in Colorado found that record housing prices, rising rents and a dwindling supply is making it harder for many people to afford to live where they work.
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Gov. Jared Polis signed a $5.4 billion transportation package on Thursday , one he said will benefit the very stretch of road the outdoor signing ceremony took place under
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Colorado lawmakers ended a tumultuous, impactful session Tuesday night after passing dozens of new laws that are poised to change everything from how the state pays for roads to who can purchase guns.
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Even some Democrats who voted to send the bill to Gov. Jared Polis are questioning whether the bill will actually do what supporters say it will.
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The visible signs of a deadly pandemic are fading quickly inside the state Capitol. Staff have removed the yellow caution tape that blocked the basement cafeteria for many months. Swarms of lobbyists and tourists are back. And people like Brett Frizzell are even taking off their masks deep inside the poorly ventilated building that historians once labeled a “disease breeding ground.”
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Together, the measures would temporarily prevent people convicted of some violent misdemeanors from purchasing guns, create a new state office focused on preventing gun violence and allow cities to adopt stricter gun laws than the state.
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Sen. Majority Leader Steve Fenberg previewed the legislation at a town hall Wednesday night. He says the Boulder delegation is focusing on three kinds of reform, including expanding background checks to ensure people with a violent past cannot buy guns.
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A gun-owning Democrat who leads horseback adventure in San Miguel County is torn over the idea of an assault weapons ban. A former corrections officer living in Cortez says lawmakers should focus on strengthening laws already on the books.
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Colorado lawmakers have passed a bill requiring gun owners to call police within five days of noticing a firearm has been lost or stolen.If they do not,…
