Good morning southern Colorado and here's what you need to know on your Thursday, May 20.
If you'd like to read the full story, be sure to click on the story headline.
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The Rebound Colorado: The Success Collective
As we continue to work to rebound from the effects of the pandemic, one women’s networking group in Colorado Springs was already working to help female entrepreneurs navigate tough times, and give back to the community at the same time.
“You want to talk about a group of women with ideas,” Gillit said, “I mean, we, collectively, there’s probably thousands of ideas that we give other business owners.”
The group of female entrepreneurs with all different job titles and backgrounds meets every Thursday. One of the things they do is a Pitch and Pour, where a business owner, from inside or outside the group, comes in and the women just pour ideas into them.
The women’s group was co-founded by CEO Jessica Daniels who said they love seeing other women build their empires.
The group believes these days women can have it all. Their dream job, family, kids, and when other like-minded individuals are right there alongside them, understanding them, supporting and lifting each other up, they’re unstoppable.
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Stricter regulations on Colorado THC concentrates could be coming with proposed legislation
A bill introduced in Colorado's state legislature could enact new regulations on THC concentrates for both medical patients and recreational consumers. HB21-1317 will go to the Committee on Finance on Thursday, after passing unanimously out of the Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee this week.
In a draft of the bill that was circulated earlier this year, a 15% potency cap on THC products was proposed. Since then, the bill has been dramatically revised. A potency cap is no longer included.
The bill aims to create a program through the Colorado School of Public Health to conduct a meta-analysis of worldwide research already available on concentrates. Representative Caraveo said the researchers would identify any gaps in information and report it to a committee. Then, what's been learned would be presented to legislators in June 2022, to determine if more research needs to be done or if conclusions can be drawn from the present data.
Representative Caraveo said leaders in the cannabis industry argued there was not enough research to support a THC potency cap. If the bill is passed, Representative Caraveo said she wants those with the Colorado School of Public Health to study limiting the amount of THC in products.
READ MORE in this 360 Report
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New program offering unemployed Coloradans incentive for returning to work
Under the Colorado Jumpstart incentive program, unemployed individuals are eligible to receive an incentive of up to $1,600 to support the transition into full-time work.
To be eligible for the incentive, individuals must have received at least one week of unemployment benefits of $25 or more between March 28, 2021, and May 16, 2021, and have verified their identities via ID.me.
A full list of eligibility requirements is available here: ColoradoUI.gov
Eligible claimants who return to work full time in May will receive $1,600. Those who return to work full time in June will receive an incentive of $1,200. To receive the full incentive, workers must maintain full-time employment for at least eight weeks after finding a job.
The Governor's Office said the incentive payments are expected to be issued during July and August of 2021 and will be distributed in two installments. Claimants will become eligible for the first half of the incentive after approximately four weeks of full-time employment and will become eligible for the remaining half after approximately eight weeks.
Claimants currently receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits, workshare claimants, and out-of-state claimants are not eligible for the incentive program.
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Pikes Peak Cog Railway is on track to open to the public on Thursday
After years of planning, research and construction, the Cog Railway will be open to the public starting Thursday.
The nine-mile trip up Pikes Peak will run the same route, and you might see some familiar faces. "We are bringing back our conductors, who are the ones who give the spiels and talk about the history, geology, and corny jokes we are known for," said Ted Johnson, Broadmoor Pikes Peak Cog Railway Assistant GM.
Johnson also says the trip will be a multi-generational experience. "We get a lot of customers who come back as grandparents because they rode it as parents, and now they are bringing their grandchildren back," said Johnson.
It is the same familiar route, on an all-new set of tracks. "Tomorrow when that train pulls out with customers, it will be a sense of relief," said Johnson.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for June 30th, the Cog's 130 anniversary.
To purchase tickets click here.
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Get your latest First Alert 5 Weather forecast
We're looking at a hot and dry forecast across most of southern Colorado. Behind all the cold and rain from earlier this week, we'll see more sunshine today and strong southerly winds, some of which will come off the mountains as downslope flow.
We should get much warmer today with the help of our afternoon winds that could gust into the 30 mph gusts very easily. Highs will warm into the 80s and even a few places near 90 in the plains.
A dry line could fire up some storms in the eastern plains this afternoon and so we might get severe warnings in Baca and Prowers counties. Overnight we'll be dry with lows in the 50s.
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