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All across the world, homelessness seems to be becoming more of an issue each year. In Colorado, the number of homeless people has increased over the last several years due at least in part to rising housing costs. According to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, 2,455 people identified as being homeless in 2022 which was an 85 percent increase from the 1,326 homeless people in 2020. Chronic homelessness has increased by 130 percent over the last 10 years.

Providing an escape or clearing one's mind through biking can be a freeing experience, but many do not get that opportunity because of a lack of funding, availability, or instruction. At Kids on Bikes, Executive Director Daniel Byrd, who has been with the organization since 2013, tries to improve kids' lives with bikes as they did his.

As the Maverick Observer has covered, Colorado has an illegal drug use problem. That's true for the US as well. As such, harm reduction is gaining popularity in the media, academia, and elsewhere. In Colorado, a bill to allow the opening of so-called overdose prevention centers made it far but was quashed in late April.

llegal drug use has been an issue that has plagued the country for decades. The war on drugs that began in the 1970s has done little to stop illegal narcotics from entering the country. Cartels use various methods to sneak the drugs across the border and then once they get into the U.S. they get distributed all across the country with drug smuggling pipelines.

After the recession struck the nation over a decade ago, people started to race to Colorado. Once the nation started recovering from the economic downturn of 2008, the Centennial State saw tremendous growth. In fact, the growth seemed to happen so quickly that the state’s housing market couldn’t keep up. As more people bought houses across the state, the inventory of homes started to dwindle.

Manuel Pulido has always had a penchant for artistry, but he wanted it to mean something and integrate into his approach to the land and as a Native American. He needed his art to reflect the meanings of life with stewardship, cultural identity, and the importance of nature.

Periodically, local building departments in charge of regulating building codes are required to update codes based on International Building Codes. This year, the codes will see a drastic change that focuses more on energy conservation methods. At the end of June, building regulations in El Paso County changed as local building departments were required to implement new requirements for the construction of new structures. The changes are in effect for anyone pulling a building permit on or after July 1, 2023.

Fentanyl-related deaths in Colorado have more than quintupled since 2020. A Democratic politician, media, and activist-fueled drive is on to accommodate the use of illegal drugs in hopes of preventing fentanyl and related drug-use deaths.

It has been known for a while that many Colorado natives tend to look down on transplants who came from California. Through the years, attitudes have changed to Coloradans blaming Californians for many of the issues Colorado has that it didn’t have in the past.

Finding a dream and realizing a dream are two different things. Creating the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort required many puzzle pieces that were and continually being put in place. Owner Torie Giffin realized that each part made it better while giving her the ability to handle life's tribulations and joys.