May 4, 2026: Colorado's complicated pushback against ICE; 'Salvation' by Gunnison's C. William Langsfeld

Summary

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Colorado Matters

May 4, 2026: Colorado's Complicated Pushback Against ICE; 'Salvation' by Gunnison's C. William Langsfeld

Hosts: Ryan Warner, Chandra Thomas Whitfield
Guests/Contributors: Benta Berkeland (CPR), Seth Klamon (Denver Post), Taylor Dolvin (Colorado Sun), Tom Hess (CPR), C. William Langsfeld (author)

Episode Overview

This episode of Colorado Matters dives into Colorado's ongoing—and complicated—efforts to push back against aggressive federal immigration enforcement by ICE under the renewed Trump administration. The panel unpacks legislative proposals, intraparty debates among Democrats, the balance of state versus federal power, and the influence of Governor Jared Polis. The show then transitions to a rich conversation with Gunnison-based novelist C. William Langsfeld about his debut novel Salvation, exploring themes of Western masculinity, generational trauma, and small-town Colorado life. It concludes with a segment of Colorado Wonders about the history of the lakes in Denver’s City Park.

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Main Segment: Colorado’s Contentious Push Against ICE

Theme

Examining Colorado's legislative, political, and community response to a surge in federal immigration enforcement, focusing on the divisions within the state’s Democratic party and the limits of state-level resistance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Colorado Democrats and the Drive to Resist ICE

• Legislative Activism: Democrats, in control of state government, sought to counter increasingly aggressive ICE tactics—especially following high-profile killing of U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis.

  • “Colorado Democrats came into this legislative session determined to push back against the Trump administration, especially on the president's aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.” — Seth Klamon [01:30]

• High-Profile Legislation (House Bill 1275):

  • Aimed to require intervention by local law enforcement when ICE agents use excessive force, set limits on cooperation, and ban state/local police from concealing their identities.
  • Motivated by community fear and eroding trust:
    “When people believe no one will protect them, they stop speaking up. They stop reporting harm. They withdraw. And that makes all of us unsafe.” — Benta Berkeland & C. William Langsfeld [00:10–00:13; 04:02]

2. Division Within the Democratic Party

• Failed Legislative Effort:
  • Despite widespread concern, HB1275 was voted down after two Democrats (Rep. Cecilia Espinoza, a former immigration judge; Rep. Chad Clifford, a reserve police officer) joined Republicans in opposition.
  • Concerns cited: difficulty policing federal law, fear of local-federal armed confrontation, and legal uncertainty over compelling police to intervene (e.g., mask bans for ICE), plus risk of “criminal exposure” for officers.
    • "I do not want armed confrontation between peace officers and federal agents in our streets." — C. William Langsfeld (paraphrasing a legislator) [04:47]
  • Defeat highlighted the "difficult balance" between protecting constituents and staying within practical and legal boundaries. [05:25]

3. Other Legislative Proposals

• No Kings Act & Legal Recourse:

  • Two parallel bills allow private citizens to sue in state court for violations of constitutional rights by officials—one narrow (immigration only), the other broad (all officials).
    • Fear from district attorneys about increased lawsuits, opposition from the state attorney general.
    • "This bill is aimed at federal officials who can't really be sued under existing law. And they also note that state officials can already be sued right now under existing law." — Benta Berkeland [14:19]

• Information-Sharing & Oversight Bills:

  • Proposed measures requiring the state to alert the public when ICE seeks Coloradans' info, limits ICE access in jails, and strengthens oversight over detention facilities. [16:35–17:00]

4. Governor Jared Polis’s Role

• Centrist Approach: Unlike Democratic governors in other states, Polis has not actively championed anti-ICE bills, only expressing tepid or qualified support as measures evolve.

  • "When a bill passes, I weigh the good and bad and make a conclusion about whether it's in the best interest of the State." — Jared Polis [19:14–19:22]
  • While critical of ICE overreach, he has also emphasized cooperation with federal law enforcement around “dangerous criminals” [20:09], aligning with mainstream public sentiment but frustrating progressive lawmakers.

• Polis’s Handling of Federal Subpoenas:

  • Tension surfaced when Polis indicated willingness to share Coloradans' personal information with ICE, justified as part of a human trafficking investigation, drawing legal intervention and scrutiny from advocates and legislators.

5. Federal Court as the Bigger Check

• Judicial Orders on ICE Actions:
  • Recent federal judicial orders in Colorado have been more effective in limiting ICE, especially concerning warrantless arrests and requiring documentation and legal justification—a limit federal agents were seen struggling to understand or follow.
    • “None of the agents seemed to understand what the judge had ordered them to do, which is essentially refrain from arresting people who have ties to the community and therefore aren't a flight risk.” — Taylor Dolvin [27:44]

6. Community and Political Impact

• Rising Arrests, Changing Politics:
  • Under Trump, Colorado saw a quadrupling of ICE arrests—the majority involving people without prior convictions, including the elderly and children. [06:33]
  • Denver passed its own mask ban for officers, reflecting a segment of Democrats maintaining a hard stance against ICE as party dynamics shift post-Trump.
    • "We will continue to see at least part of the party push back on ice." — Taylor Dolvin [30:18]
  • Immigration remains a top-tier issue for voters after affordability, with Latino Coloradans especially concerned about indiscriminate enforcement [32:14].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "The measure faced stiff opposition... They said it would make policing even more difficult and could further jeopardize efforts to recruit and retain officers." — Benta Berkeland [04:06]
• "I am asking us to make it clear that ... anyone in immigration enforcement knows that there will be accountability should they violate our laws." — Seth Klamon (quoting a lawmaker) [02:11]
• "When people believe no one will protect them, they stop speaking up. They stop reporting harm. They withdraw. And that makes all of us unsafe." — Benta Berkeland/C. William Langsfeld [04:02]
• "One of the main themes for me is who deserves to be forgiven and why; and then who is forgiveness for?" — C. William Langsfeld [28:28, 43:40]

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Second Segment: Author Spotlight — C. William Langsfeld’s Salvation

Theme

A deep-dive interview with Gunnison writer C. William Langsfeld on his debut novel Salvation—a story probing Western masculinity, generational trauma, and small-town interconnectedness following a violent tragedy.

Key Insights

• Unorthodox Path to Publication:

  • Langsfeld published after two decades writing, without an agent, thanks to persistence and supportive community—including "Grandma Verdella," who invested in his writing career. [36:55]
    • “She wrote me a check and said, write something great... I don’t know if it’s great or not. I’ll let other people be the judge of that.” — C. William Langsfeld [36:55]

• Novel Themes & Structure:

  • Opens with a murder; the focus is on aftermath and internal reckoning, not the crime itself.
    • “What’s much more interesting... is not necessarily the crime or the big action that happens, but what are the driving factors behind it and what is the fallout from it.” — C. William Langsfeld [38:21]
  • Explores cycles of violence, effects of toxic masculinity, and ripple effects of trauma through multiple generations and community members. Set in the Colorado mountains.

• Character Dynamics:

  • Characters reflect generational stages—young boy, middle-aged men (the murderer Tom and a pastor), and an aging sheriff—each exploring different facets of masculinity and loneliness.
    • “Especially this kind of specific brand of... Western machismo that I’ve spent a lot of my life around and tried to get away from.” — C. William Langsfeld [40:54]

• On Forgiveness and Consequences:

  • The book asks: Who deserves forgiveness? And is forgiveness for the forgiven or the forgiver?
    • “One of the main themes for me is who deserves to be forgiven and why, and then who is forgiveness for?” — C. William Langsfeld [28:28; 43:40]
    • “It’s more for the forgiver than the forgivee in a lot of cases, I think.” — C. William Langsfeld [43:40]

• Place as a Character:

  • The wilderness is both refuge and crucible—a space for painful necessary introspection.
    • “The wilderness is somewhere I go when I need to reflect. There’s no people, you don’t have cell service, and you really have nothing but your own thoughts... in the wilds, it’s just there, there’s nothing else.” — C. William Langsfeld [42:07]

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Final Segment: Colorado Wonders — The Lakes of Denver’s City Park

Theme

A look at the man-made origins of Denver’s City Park lakes, their place in city history, and the ongoing impact of 19th-century civic vision.

Discussion Points & Insights

• Man-Made Lakes:

  • City Park’s lakes (e.g., Duck Lake built in 1887) are not natural features but created as part of the City Beautiful movement to offer leisure and beauty, inspired by parks in New York. [46:28–46:42]
    • Historian Tom Noel notes the lakes were originally dug by hand and horse. [47:04]
  • Fed by the City Ditch, which turned dry prairie into green space.
  • The Big Lake was renamed "Farrell Lake" for local poet Thomas Hornsby Farrell, whose poem “The Lake is Mine” is commemorated in the park. [47:51]

• Modern Use and History:

  • The lakes have shifted in use—from skating spots and reservoirs to protected leisure waters; ice skating is now prohibited. [48:10–48:17]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Episode Theme — [00:04–00:51]
• Pushback Against ICE — [01:30–10:20]
• Intraparty Conflict; Bill Fails in Committee — [10:20–12:04]
• "No Kings Act" and Legal Battles — [12:04–15:56]
• Other Immigration Proposals — [16:17–17:05]
• Governor Polis’s Response & Legal Drama — [17:59–25:09]
• Federal Courts Curbing ICE — [26:16–28:53]
• Political Landscape, Voter Sentiment — [29:19–33:13]
• Author Interview: C. William Langsfeld — [34:06–44:51]
• Colorado Wonders: City Park Lakes — [46:13–48:17]

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Notable Quotes

• "I mean, I'm just not sure how we can effectuate for the public what they want, which is a distinction between our law enforcement officers and the people who are ICE officers." — Taylor Dolvin [04:57]
• "I grew up in a small town. I live in a small town. This book is set in a small town. And whenever something tragic happens, it kind of reverberates throughout the community." — C. William Langsfeld [38:21]
• "What do you wonder about life in Colorado? Ask us at cpr.org ColoradoWonders and we may answer it on air and online." — Ryan Warner [48:17]

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Overall Tone

The episode features candid, sometimes tense policy analysis marked by empathy for those most affected by immigration crackdowns, a focus on nuance within majority politics, and a literary, reflective turn in its latter half. Both segments—policy and literature—center on how individual experiences reverberate through law, community, and story.

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For more information, visit CPR News.
Episode aired May 4, 2026.

Transcript

[Ryan Warner]

State Democrats want Colorado to push back against ice, but how is still up for debate?

[Benta Berkeland]

When people believe no one will protect them, they stop speaking up.

[C. William Langsfeld]

They stop reporting harm. They withdraw. And that makes all of us unsafe.

[Taylor Dolvin]

I'm just not sure how we can effectuate for the public what they want, which is a distinction between our law enforcement officers and the people who are ICE officers.

[Ryan Warner]

Then watie questions from a debut novel.

[C. William Langsfeld]

Who deserves to be forgiven and why? And then who is forgiven forgiveness for

[Ryan Warner]

Gunnison writer C. William Langsfeld's journey to publication is a story in and of itself. And Colorado Wonders takes us to a Denver park with a surfeit of water.

[Seth Klamon]

I'm fascinated by how the lakes in the city might have developed or evolved

[Ryan Warner]

because they weren't always. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. I'm Ryan Warner. Democrats control our state government and they want to push back against ice, but within the party, they can't agree on how. Let's get into it with Purplish, the politics and policy podcast from CPR News and the Colorado Capital News Alliance. Our hosts the this time, Taylor Dolvin of the Colorado sun, the Denver Post's Seth Klamon and our own Benta Berkland.

[Seth Klamon]

Colorado Democrats came into this legislative session determined to push back against the Trump administration, especially on the president's aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.

[Ryan Warner]

As we come on the air, homeland

[Benta Berkeland]

security operations underway in two new major American cities.

[Seth Klamon]

You can't take my phone. You cannot.

[Benta Berkeland]

That's illegal, sir. That's kidding.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Hey, hey, hey.

[C. William Langsfeld]

One man had his truck window smashed by agents despite the fact that he

[Ryan Warner]

was an American citizen.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Lawmakers started working on bills before the start of the session, including a measure to mandate that state and local law enforcement intervene when a federal immigration agent uses excessive force.

[Seth Klamon]

I am asking us to make it clear that it is the will of this body that our law enforcement act so that anyone in immigration enforcement knows that there will be accountability should they violate our laws.

[Benta Berkeland]

And in a committee hearing in March, the bill's Democratic sponsors told their colleagues the need for this legislation had only become more urgent.

[C. William Langsfeld]

Renee Nicole Good encountered ICE agents.

[Benta Berkeland]

Out of the car. Get out of the car.

[C. William Langsfeld]

And the world watched what happened.

[Tom Hess]

The woman killed was 37 year old Renee Good. She is said to have had three children. The Minneapolis City Council has confirmed that she was a resident of the city.

[C. William Langsfeld]

Later, we watched Alex Preddy get shot in the back.

[Ryan Warner]

Tonight, new videos raising questions of what exactly happen in the lead up to Alex Preddy's death.

[Seth Klamon]

The killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents unleashed protests and community actions in Minneapolis and across the country and raised fears in Colorado that it could be just a matter of time before similar tactics arrived here.

[C. William Langsfeld]

I want to state clearly that the concern on this bill is rogue, unlawful, violent actions by federal agents, particularly by

[Benta Berkeland]

masked, unidentified, unidentifiable agents.

[Taylor Dolvin]

The bill, House Bill 1275, also required all Colorado law enforcement to get trained up on the state's immigration laws and the limits of how they can interact with ice. And it banned any state and local law enforcement from concealing their identities in most situations. Advocates showed up to testify in support of the bill.

[Seth Klamon]

Members of our community are calling because they cannot tell whether it's an ICE agent or a peace officer or.

[Taylor Dolvin]

I also have calls where people don't

[Seth Klamon]

know if it's a security company.

[Benta Berkeland]

When people believe no one will protect them, they stop speaking up.

[C. William Langsfeld]

They stop reporting harm. They withdraw. And that makes all of us unsafe.

[Benta Berkeland]

But the measure faced stiff opposition, especially from police chiefs and law enforcement. They said it would make policing even more difficult and could further jeopardize efforts to recruit and retain officers. We lose officers out of Colorado that have gone to other states to perform their jobs because of the difficulties and the liabilities that continually are coming our direction.

[C. William Langsfeld]

I would suggest that law enforcement should not become the pivot point of shifting political priorities. House Bill 1275 creates criminal exposure for

[Tom Hess]

law enforcement officers across the state for

[Ryan Warner]

simply doing their job.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Republican lawmakers also pushed back, but ultimately, at its very first hearing, it was two Democrats who sealed this bill's fate.

[C. William Langsfeld]

I don't get to choose what federal officers do. I do not want armed confrontation between peace officers and federal agents in our streets.

[Taylor Dolvin]

I mean, I'm just not sure how we can effectuate for the public what they want, which is a distinction between our law enforcement officers and the people who are ICE officers.

[Benta Berkeland]

And after a roughly five hour hearing, those two Democrats joined with Republicans to vote the bill down. It was a pretty sudden end to the legislative journey for a major Democratic bill.

[Tom Hess]

House Bill 1275 has been postponed indefinitely. With that, the Judiciary Committee is adjourned.

[Seth Klamon]

The bill's defeat highlights the difficult balance Democratic lawmakers face. Many of their constituents are frightened and outraged by the administration's approach to immigration enforcement. But the party is not united on how best to respond. Both of you have been covering the various immigration bills closely at the Capitol and also following the issue outside of the Gold Dome, which is where the real movement is happening.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, there's been a lot to follow. So far, Colorado hasn't been targeted for an immigration surge quite like the ones in Minnesota, Louisiana or Chicago. But things have changed here.

[Seth Klamon]

Across the metro area, people woke up to federal agents banging on their door. ICE raids started early in the morning yesterday and lasted most of the day.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Federal agents In February of last year, armored vehicles and agents in tactical gear conducted immigration raids at apartment buildings in Aurora, Denver and other parts of of the metro. It was a sign of things to come.

[Kiara Damari]

Stand up.

[Tom Hess]

Fight back. Stand up.

[Kiara Damari]

Fight back.

[Benta Berkeland]

The increase in arrests and court filings amid this crackdown has been staggering. I combed through federal data and found that immigration authorities arrested more than 4,700 people without legal status in Colorado during President Trump's first year back in office. That's nearly quadruple that of the arrest total the year before.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Despite President Trump's pledge to target people who have committed violent crimes, most people ICE has arrested in Colorado have no prior criminal convictions at all.

[Benta Berkeland]

And those arrested include more than 100 people under the age of 18, including a couple of kids who were at most a year old. There was a 91 year old from Mexico and 10 Iranians detained within days of the first US bombing campaign last June.

[Taylor Dolvin]

The surge in arrests aligns with an increase in federal agents in the state. State A senior ICE official testified in court recently that the number of deportation officers in the Denver area has nearly doubled in the last year to roughly 200.

[Benta Berkeland]

And progressive lawmakers at the state Capitol want desperately to respond to this intensification of enforcement and the impact it's having on communities around the state.

[Seth Klamon]

Colorado already has laws on the books that limit state and local agencies and authorities from sharing information with immigration enforcement or from arresting or detaining People solely at ICE's request this legislative session. Democrats, at least some Democrats, are trying to push that even further. But lawmakers are also trying to figure out how much they can legally do on a state level to limit federal activity within Colorado's borders. Democrats have introduced a number of bills this session that essentially attempt to put more guardrails on federal immigration agents. For this episode, we're focusing on Democrats because this is the party trying to meet this very specific moment with legislation and because Democrats control Colorado's legislature. Whether these measures pass or fail is ultimately up to them. And we gave it away that one of the bills has already failed. But I do want to start with that bill because it was a Democratic priority and it was a pretty ambitious effort.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Yeah, for a lot of Democratic backers. Just seeing what was happening Nationally, this bill to put some guardrails on ice was a way for them to meet the moment, and it echoed policies Democrats have introduced in other blue states.

[Seth Klamon]

The bill tried to address some things that were enraging some community members and a lot of Democrats. It would have allowed federal officers to potentially face state charges for things like using excessive force. One of the biggest sticking points in the bill, though, was a provision to ban officers from hiding their identities. So did that mean federal officers wouldn't be allowed to cover their faces with masks?

[Benta Berkeland]

No. And that was a big kind of point of contention. As you noted, that part of the bill just applied to state and local police, not to federal officers. The bill's sponsors said they didn't believe that they could regulate ICE agents in that manner, and they were probably right. A federal judge struck down California's attempt at an ICE mask ban, for instance. But what they wanted to do was create a distinction for Coloradans. If the officer in front of them is masked or unidentified, then they're not local.

[Seth Klamon]

Hmm. Okay. So were either of you surprised that it failed in its first committee?

[Taylor Dolvin]

I was surprised because it seemed like there was so much momentum for these policies right after the killings in Minneapolis,

[Seth Klamon]

and that's what I thought, especially in a blue state like Colorado.

[Benta Berkeland]

I was surprised, too, although, you know, in the Capitol, nothing's ever a sure thing. The bill's sponsors had expanded the scope of it after Minneapolis, and I remember checking with folks who were backing the bill before I left the Capitol. That night. When the hearing was happening, though, there was a little anxiety. They felt they had the votes to pass it, but obviously that wasn't the case.

[Seth Klamon]

All the Republicans on the committee opposed this bill, and they needed two Democrats to join them to defeat it. And the two Democrats who did vote against it both have unique perspectives on the policies. Representative Cecilia Espinoza, she's a former immigration judge, and Representative Chad Clifford is a reserve police officer.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Espinoza said she was voting no because the bill would not accomplish the protections that advocates had hoped for, mainly banning masks for ICE officers.

[Benta Berkeland]

And I spoke with Clifford the day after the bill died, and he had some of the same concerns as Espinoza, but he also seemed very defensive of local police.

[Seth Klamon]

There was also a real concern from opponents that this law could be challenged in federal court. A state trying to control the behavior of federal officers gets into real issues of jurisdiction, and the Constitution clearly does give the federal government supremacy over immigration. States don't have that authority, and those

[Benta Berkeland]

legal challenges aren't an empty Fear. We were just talking about the mask ban in California getting struck down. And the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just recently found that states cannot compel federal officers to show id.

[Taylor Dolvin]

There was also confusion about a provision in the bill that would have required state and local police to intervene when federal immigration agents use excessive force.

[Benta Berkeland]

Theoretically, state and local law enforcement can arrest anyone who breaks the law. Federal agent protester. State law also requires local police to intervene when they see another officer using excessive force, but that doesn't apply to feds. And how that would work in practice, Say, if an ICE agent shoves someone at a protest and a local police officer intervenes, that's a dicier proposition.

[Seth Klamon]

So this bill fails. There are still plenty of policies moving forward from Democrats on immigration. One of those bills that is moving forward would make it possible for private citizens to sue in state court. If their constitutional rights are infringed upon, they could sue any official. This could be state or federal.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Sponsors are calling this bill the no Kings Act. It's already generating a lot of discussion, as you can imagine.

[Benta Berkeland]

So this is a fun bit of legislative drama because there are actually two bills out there to do this. If you're a Pokemon fan, you can think of one as the evolved version of the other.

[Taylor Dolvin]

At the start of session, Democrats introduced Senate Bill 5 to allow Coloradans to sue federal agents who violate their rights during civil immigration enforcement. But there's some concern that Senate Bill 5 wouldn't survive a court challenge, and it's not broad enough to cover concerns related to, say, federal agents interfering with elections, another big concern on the horizon right now.

[Benta Berkeland]

So to address both of those issues, lawmakers recently introduced this broader version, the no Kings Act. It would allow lawsuits against any federal official who violates a Coloradan civil rights.

[Seth Klamon]

This is inherently a very political bill. How much do you think the pushback will be along those familiar lines, or will we see a lot of practical concerns?

[Taylor Dolvin]

I think it's going to be a bit of both. So the Trump administration is already suing Illinois over a law that gave people the right to sue ICE agents in state court. That's a narrower version than either of Colorado's proposals.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, and I think the concerns will be both practical and political. You know, you'll almost certainly see Republicans opposing it politically. And then there are already concerns about the potential price tag. We don't yet have an estimate for how much the bill would cost, although Kevin Balmer, the Colorado Municipal League, has raised that issue of the price trickling down and how it'll impact the court system. And any bill with a sizable cost is going to have a tough time this year, given how bad the budget is. But the bigger part of the opposition thus far is coming from the state's district attorneys, who argued that the bill would chip away at their prosecutorial immunity.

[Seth Klamon]

Can you explain that a little bit more? Because clearly this bill is not intended to go against district attorneys. Right. So why are they so opposed to this?

[Benta Berkeland]

So the bill says that lawsuits can be brought against any official, state or local, and that's in order to get by this court challenge. Right. So the DAs are arguing that means prosecutors and other public officials will face waves of new lawsuits of people alleging their constitutional rights have been infringed. The proponents of the bill are adamant that's not true. This bill is aimed at federal officials who can't really be sued under existing law. And they also note that state officials can already be sued right now under existing law. But still, this is what the DAs are hammering away at all the same. And Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser is also opposed to this, which is notable given how much he's focused on suing the Trump administration.

[Seth Klamon]

So two bills on legal actions for constitutional rights infringement, one's broader, one's narrower. Lots of concerns about both. Seems like they're probably going to move through the legislative process a little bit further. I know one already has. But, Seth Taylor, what do you think ultimately will happen with both of these bills?

[Benta Berkeland]

Well, there's a world in which both pass or neither does.

[Seth Klamon]

Thanks for the deep insight, Seth. This is how the state Capitol works. One on one. They can either pass or fail.

[Taylor Dolvin]

The narrower bill that focused just on immigration cleared the Senate along party lines and is now moving through the House. And the opposition to the new broader bill might mean that the narrower one has a better chance of passing.

[Seth Klamon]

I can definitely see that Democrats don't want to end this legislative session empty handed on immigration. I mean, they want to pass something.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Exactly. And they want to push back on Trump, even if that means a narrower policy and a more uncertain legal fight. Because those narrower policies focused only on immigration agents, have struggled to survive court challenges.

[Seth Klamon]

We've touched on the fact that Democrats aren't united on how and when to push back on these federal immigration actions. Another question they've been wrestling with is what to do when immigration authorities come to Colorado seeking information from the state, for instance. State agencies.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Yeah. So lawmakers are trying to tackle this with yet another bill that would do a few things. It would require the state to publicize when ICE tries to subpoena Coloradans personal information from state agencies. It would set more guardrails on how ICE officers can access non public areas of jails. And it would increase public health agencies power to inspect and even potentially fine immigrant detention facilities.

[Benta Berkeland]

That bill passed the full House on a party line vote in late April, and it's now headed to the state Senate.

[Seth Klamon]

I think it's important to point out that this bill is somewhat of a response to Governor Jared Polis and how his administration has responded to federal requests for information about immigrants. And that's what we'll get into next.

[Ryan Warner]

Purplish on Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. It's Colorado Matters from CPR News. I'm Ryan Warner. How can Colorado oppose federal immigration policies that some believe go too far? Before the break, you heard about the debate and division this is creating among Democratic state lawmakers. Now, where the governor fits in. Let's return to Purplish. Here again, Seth Klamon of the Denver Post, Taylor Dolvin from The Colorado Sun, NCPR's Benta Berkeland.

[Seth Klamon]

I think it's time to talk about Governor Jared Polis because he really does loom large on this issue. As with so many other policies, his approach appears to be pretty different from members of his own party, especially the more progressive lawmakers.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Yeah, I did a story about how other Democratic governors around the country have led on immigration. They've been out there proposing policies and championing bills that would push back against the federal crackdown. But Polis has taken a very different approach.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah. And he hasn't really signaled his support, at least publicly, on any of these proposals that we've been talking about. I've heard repeatedly that his office is supporting the new right to sue federal agents bill, though his spokesman told me the governor's office is only, quote, open to the idea. But he's been even more lukewarm on the other bill, one related information sharing that Taylor was just talking about.

[Seth Klamon]

Reporters asked Polis about this information sharing bill, the one on subpoenas and detention facilities having more oversight. And this was at a recent press conference. And the governor said it's hard to discuss a bill that can change a lot as it moves through the legislature

[C. William Langsfeld]

we are generally supportive of, which is inspection of detention facilities. There's other things we might not be.

[Benta Berkeland]

So we're always happy to provide feedback to legislators about where we are when a bill passes. I weigh the good and bad and

[C. William Langsfeld]

make a conclusion about whether it's in

[Benta Berkeland]

the best interest of the State.

[Seth Klamon]

Not a ringing endorsement of this bill, but not an outright I'm going to veto this.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah. And this isn't new. Lawmakers passed another immigration bill late in the 2025 session, and it was delayed in part because they were negotiating with the governor's office.

[Seth Klamon]

Now, Polis has definitely pushed back against the Trump administration on a number of things. Tariffs, LGBTQ rights, and the president stripping funding from Colorado. Polis has also been critical of ICE before. He blasted ICE for, quote, snatching up children and breaking up families. And this was when two children were detained in Durango. That family had an active asylum case and then eventually decided to return to Colombia just because of the trauma of this detention.

[Benta Berkeland]

But the governor has also been more open to ICE enforcement here than many Democratic lawmakers. I remember his State of the State last year. So that's 2025 for those keeping count. And he was talking about immigration in a way that actually got Republicans in the state House excited. I mean, they were actually clapping for him. I truly hope that President Elect Trump and Congress can work together quickly to secure the the border, stop human trafficking and stop the illegal flow of guns and drugs,

[Seth Klamon]

which feel that's fairly rare for one of his speeches.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah. And what he said specifically is that the state welcomed federal help to arrest and deport, quote, dangerous criminals.

[Taylor Dolvin]

That said, in the same breath, he warned against federal immigration overreach and said he supports Congress creating a better legal pathway to citizenship. Still, the more middle of the ground tact he's taking is different than other Democratic governors of blue states who've come out stronger against ice Polis approach support

[Seth Klamon]

for arresting undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. But not going after law abiding people who've made lives in this country is very much in line with what polling suggests most Americans think.

[Benta Berkeland]

But still, how that crackdown has been carried out has been decidedly less popular.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Popular, yes. Polling from earlier this year shows that the majority of Americans believe that ICE agents have gone too far, even though Trump insists he's targeting the worst of the worst. We know that ICE is mostly going after people who don't have criminal convictions. But Polis has continued to take ICE at its word. When the governor tried to comply last year with a subpoena from ICE for Coloradans personal information, he got a lot of pushback from his party. His action inspired the part of this bill that would further limit how state agencies can comply with ICE subpoenas.

[Seth Klamon]

Let's dive into this incident with Polis a little bit more because it really highlights that Even if a state like Colorado passes laws they think will protect immigrants, interpretation can be up to the people fielding these requests, including the governor.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, so that's a really good point. So this. This was a case brought forward last June by Scott Moss. He's the now former director of Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, which is part of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

[Seth Klamon]

Walk me through Moss's allegations here.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Moss alleged that the governor directed him to comply with an ICE subpoena in April of last year. That subpoena from ICE requested information about 35 people serving as sponsors for unaccompanied immigrant kids in Colorado. The feds wanted the personal data, like phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, paid leave info, unemployment benefit filings, and other things.

[Benta Berkeland]

And as a quick reminder here, Colorado law prohibits that kind of data sharing unless it's part of a criminal investigation. And even that exemption was only really made totally clear in legislation that Polis signed last year. Right. As they were discussing whether to comply with the subpoena.

[Seth Klamon]

So when Democrats passed that law, it seems like it was designed for this kind of scenario. They thought it was clear that the state couldn't share this type of data with federal immigration authorities.

[Benta Berkeland]

Exactly. And so last summer, a Denver district judge said, sorry, Governor, but that requested info does not appear to be related to a criminal investigation. And he blocked Polis from ordering Moss or any of his subordinates in that division to comply with the subpoena. But the judge didn't specifically stop POLIS or other state employees from complying. He just said doing so would likely be illegal.

[Seth Klamon]

What did Polis say about why he originally wanted to comply with this subpoena in the first place? Was the administration essentially viewing the subpoena as a legitimate criminal inquiry?

[Taylor Dolvin]

Yeah. Polis insists that he thinks the subpoena is part of a criminal investigation into human trafficking. Eventually, he agreed not to respond to that subpoena, but he wanted to reserve the right to respond to others in the future. So Maass's lawyers have stepped in to try and block that.

[Seth Klamon]

But ICE did send a new subpoena, Right, Seeking this same information, correct?

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, on several of the same people. But this time, they directly linked it to a criminal investigation, and they used those exact words.

[Seth Klamon]

And at least publicly, the POLIS administration seems to have accepted this federal explanation here.

[Benta Berkeland]

We, of course, support working with our federal law enforcement partners to fight crime and to go after, apprehend and convict criminals.

[C. William Langsfeld]

We also do not cooperate with purely civil investigations that have nothing to do with crime.

[Taylor Dolvin]

This interpretation has really angered Democratic lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates because it does undercut the state law. We've had several instances where the state has had to sue our very own governor because he has broken the law when it comes to providing personal identifying information. So this is just a process so

[Seth Klamon]

that everyone knows when and how and

[Taylor Dolvin]

when and if and all of that. And we asked for an I vote.

[Seth Klamon]

That was Democratic Representative Lorena Garcia, one of the sponsors of this information sharing bill, and she's talking about it on the House floor. Where do things stand now, though, with all of this and this situation with polis? You know, he said the state will continue to work with federal agents until certain situations.

[Taylor Dolvin]

That same judge just recently ruled against the Pulis administration again and barred the governor from ordering some state employees to comply with the new subpoena from ICE for personal information.

[Seth Klamon]

So even though the federal government said it's part of a criminal investigation, the judge did not buy that.

[Taylor Dolvin]

Yeah, exactly. The judge said again that these subpoenas do not have to do with criminal investigations.

[Benta Berkeland]

Like the first time. He didn't go further than that. He didn't say polis couldn't direct other people to respond to the subpoena or go get the date data and respond himself. And the ongoing court fight has also exposed how different state officials can interpret these things. As you guys were talking about in this case, what constitutes a criminal investigation and how much state officials should trust ICE at its word.

[Seth Klamon]

We've talked about what lawmakers are trying to do on immigration this session and how laws they've passed in recent years are being interpreted by polis. But so far, the biggest limits on what ICE can do in Colorado haven't come from any state laws. Maybe not surprisingly, it's from the federal court. Federal immigration authorities were in Colorado not too long ago to talk about warrantless arrests. And that stemmed from a judicial order in federal court in Colorado last fall that was trying to restrict ICE from arresting people without a warrant, saying that in a lot of cases, those arrests are illegal.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah. And so to be clear, it's legal in certain circumstances to conduct warrantless immigration arrests, but you have to do some things to get there. And the judge basically told ICE to follow the law and to better document these arrests. There has to be a legal reason. You have to determine that the person you're arresting is a flight risk, that they're probably in the country without legal status. Taylor and I both went to this court hearing when ICE agents testified in defense of these practices. And listening to those agents, none of whom were Brand new hires was pretty eye opening.

[Seth Klamon]

How so?

[Benta Berkeland]

Just how these ICE agents understood or didn't understand the law and their own limitations in the court's order. I mean, at one point, one of them was asked what the court had ordered them to do on warrantless arrests, and he sat silently for 30 seconds. We counted 30 seconds until the judge finally intervened and told him, you can say you don't know.

[Taylor Dolvin]

And none of the agents seemed to understand what the judge had ordered them to do, which is essentially refrain from arresting people who have ties to the community and therefore aren't a flight risk.

[Seth Klamon]

What happens next?

[Taylor Dolvin]

After this hearing, immigration lawyers say ICE officers aren't complying with the original order limiting how they can arrest people without warrants. And the lawyers are now asking the federal judge to require ICE to hand over more records of the reasons behind their warrantless arrests. We're still waiting on that decision.

[Benta Berkeland]

And it's worth noting there's some extensive national history here of ICE not complying with federal court orders elsewhere.

[Seth Klamon]

So we've got this ongoing challenge to ICE's arrest practices in Colorado. What about how immigrants are detained by ice?

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, when immigrants are arrested, ICE has made a series of moves to keep them detained. Taylor and I have both covered a really sharp increase in voluntary departures. That's sort of like requesting a deportation from inside detention. The family arrested in Durango took a voluntary departure, for instance. And that increase comes from ICE's really unprecedented effort to unilaterally reinterpret federal law and deny whole swaths of people access to bail.

[Seth Klamon]

For this particular issue, people being detained in a federal facility without bail, is there anything state lawmakers could do about this?

[Benta Berkeland]

No, it's very much a fight on the federal judiciary and between federal agencies. It will very likely have to get settled at the Supreme Court at some point, you know, in the next months to years,

[Seth Klamon]

We hear from voters across the country and in Colorado, from all political parties, that affordability is the major concern this election cycle. But not too far behind is immigration. It's another top issue, especially when people are seeing how things are playing out nationally in states like Minnesota. And then, of course, ongoing concerns about border security. And that was a big reason Trump won the presidency.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, it's sort of an interesting time politically for immigration issues right now because we're seeing this kind of teeter tottering.

[Seth Klamon]

What do you mean by that?

[Benta Berkeland]

Well, I think when Trump was elected, there were some folks in the Democratic Party who wondered if they needed to tack to the right on immigration. I mean, it was such a difficult thing for President Biden, the Biden administration to get passed. I think some folks thought that there was going to be a realignment after November 2024.

[Seth Klamon]

And then Taylor, do you think that's happening or do you think some Democrats seeing what's happening with ice, don't want to have that realignment?

[Taylor Dolvin]

Yeah, I think we're seeing like for example in Denver, Denver passed an ordinance in March banning any law enforcement officer from wearing a mask while working in the city. Clearly the city council thinks that's a viable political move. And I think we will continue to see at least part of the party push back on ice.

[Benta Berkeland]

It's worth noting a little over a year ago, a number of Democrats, not a majority, but a fair amount, voted for the Lake and Riley act, which was this big immigration bill in Congress. And now there aren't enough Democrats to provide funding for ICE and DHS fully. So I think that shift has been real. You see a lot of of members of Congress, down to state lawmakers, talking about defunding and abolishing ice, which had sort of become a fringe issue in the Biden years.

[Seth Klamon]

Immigration has certainly been an issue Trump has zeroed in on throughout his political career and campaigns. And enough swing voters in the last few years have tended to agree with the Republican argument that Democrats have not done enough to curb the influx of immigration immigrants. And last election cycle, I spent quite a bit of time in Congressional District 8. That's the toss up seat in Colorado, and it's likely going to be one of the closest races in the country this fall. When I talked to voters across the political spectrum, so Republicans, unaffiliated Democrats, a lot of them did say they were concerned about the number of immigrants coming to the US and concerned that they weren't coming the right way and they wanted to make sure they weren't criminals. And people talked about public safety concerns and worried about crime in their neighborhoods. I haven't been out as much yet to talk to voters. I've been covering the legislative session, but we will be doing that, of course, And I'm very curious to see how that sentiment has shifted or maybe it hasn't shifted at all.

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, there was that poll last year of registered voters in Colorado who were Latino. And to bend his point, their primary concerns remained the cost of living. But a really significant number of them expressed concerns about being swept up in immigration enforcement, having concerns about this crackdown, even though they had legal status in the country, whether they were citizens or some other type of legal permanent resident

[Taylor Dolvin]

and there's a Democratic primary race in Congressional District 8, which has the highest percentage of Latino voters in the state. And so one of the people running for Congress there, one of the Democrats, is facing a lot of backlash for a vote she took when she was in the state legislature against one of the immigration protection bills and is facing attack ads for that vote. So this will definitely continue to be a really important issue in that primary and I think in primaries and races in November statewide.

[Ryan Warner]

Taylor Dolvin of the Colorado Sun, Seth Klamon from the Denver Post and CPR's own Benta Berkland with Purplish, the podcast about policy and politics from CPR News and the Colorado Capital News Alliance. The alliance also includes KUNC News and Rocky Mountain pbs. I'm Ryan Warner. I'll catch you after a short break on Colorado Matters. You're back with Colorado Matters from CPR News and krcc. I'm Ryan Warner. In the first few pages of a debut novel, there's a murder, but it's the feelings that unspool afterwards. C. William Langsfeld of Gunnison wants readers to sit with his novel is Salvation, and he spoke with Western Slope producer Tom Hess about capturing small town Colorado, the pitfalls of Western mascul, masculinity and isolation.

[Tom Hess]

This is a debut novel. Selling a debut novel in the 2026 publishing world is no small feat. How long did it take you to get Salvation over the finish line?

[C. William Langsfeld]

So I have kind of an unorthodox publishing story. I never got an agent. I was introduced to my editor, Harry Kirchner at Counterpoint Press and worked with him on a collection of short stories that Counterpoint passed on. Then I kind of pitched the idea for this novel that would become Salvation and spent a few months I was living outside of Crested Butte on this ranch as a caretaker, had a lot of time on my hands and kind of busted out a rough draft in a few months and then worked with my editor over the course of basically a year or so. So all in all, it was probably like a 3, 3 ish year, 2 and a half, 3 year process. In a year and a half after the contract was signed, when did you

[Tom Hess]

decide you had a novel in you?

[C. William Langsfeld]

I've been writing fiction for almost 20 years now. Salvation is, you know, I've got four other novels I've written. This is just the first one I've published. I think a lot of people do it that way. And I, you know, so I started writing in my early 20s. I'm 40 now so it's been a while since I decided to write novels. It took a while to be able to write one that was worthy of publication.

[Tom Hess]

Well, and worthy of publication and actually getting publication are two totally different things. I think we all know some writers out there who have books that could be sold. But it's just. It's a very difficult industry. I guess, what is it to stick with it that long, knowing that it's a really, really challenging thing to get published now.

[C. William Langsfeld]

You know, for a long time, this was just, you know, an intense hobby. You know, just something I. You know, you spend a lot of time asking yourself, why am I writing for me, something. Something that I love. You know, I was. I was lucky. I was the right place, the right time, meeting the right people. You know, my connections kind of came through people I know in my day to day life. Another author gave me a reference to this, to this editor. But it's something I've wanted to do for a long time and. And had some good community around me encouraging me to keep going. And you just kind of tell yourself through denial that it'll happen eventually.

[Tom Hess]

Speaking of encouragement, I'm glad you brought that up, because I want to start in an odd place, which is the acknowledgment section of your book. And you thank Grandma Verdella, who told you to write something incredible. And of course, nobody has more faith in a project than grandmothers. Would you mind telling us something about Grandma Verdella?

[C. William Langsfeld]

Yeah, yeah, I mentioned both my grandmothers in there. And I came back from the Peace Corps in 2014. I think my sister and my brother and I are her only three grandchildren. And she had allotted a certain amount of money, you know, in her will to each of us. And she had given my sister hers early so she could put a down payment on a house. So I kind of pitched the idea to my dad, could I get my inheritance a little early so that I could pay off student loans and have a nest egg to focus on writing. And she was amenable to that. And she wrote me a check and said, write something great. And I don't know if she would have liked the novel or not. I don't know if it's great or not. I'll let other people be the judge of that. But that certainly helped a lot. I spent my 20s kind of buying plane tickets to Latin America and just traveling till my money ran out. And then working seasonal jobs and being a ski bum and not doing the things that people would consider to be financially responsible, per se.

[Tom Hess]

Well, let's talk about the novel Salvation opens with this violent tragedy and it becomes clear that our characters are going to be sitting with that and the thoughts that it stirs up for the next couple hundred pages. What appealed to you about structuring the book that way?

[C. William Langsfeld]

What's much more interesting to me in this novel and in everything I read is not necessarily the crime or the big action that happens, but what are the driving factors behind it and what is the fallout from it. I'm interested in what drove this person, the. The character Tom Horrock, to. To murder his best friend. What has led him to this point in his life? I go into a lot of his childhood and this kind of concept of generational trauma and the. This toxic masculinity and abuse and how it affects generation upon generation. Violence and dysfunction is carried on and then also the fallout from it. You know, the guy who gets murdered, has a 12 year old son, gets taken into custody by a Lutheran pastor, kind of going through a midlife crisis. I grew up in a small town. I live in a small town. This book is set in a small town. And whenever something tragic happens, it kind of reverberates throughout the community. And you know, I'm interested in kind of that ripple effect.

[Tom Hess]

The novel's characters are demographically set against each other. You have this younger man, somebody kind of closer to what we might call middle age. Sheriff Tomlinson, that character is older in the book. When you were balancing these characters out, why did you make that decision? To have all of these people who are reflecting on their lives, what they've done, what happened, but also the difference in their ages and what it says about men, how they grow, how they think about things.

[C. William Langsfeld]

So like the murderer Tom and the pastor, Morris Green, I wanted them to be kind of foils to each other a little bit. They've both come to this point in their lives where they feel there's things that are lacking. You know, they're both very lonely people. There's things that they wanted when they were younger men that they never got. You know, maybe a family, a partner. But they go about dealing with those shortcomings in wildly different ways. I'm interested in how people feel about their lives and how they go about getting the things they want or trying to get the things they want. And you know, and then the sheriff character is this older character for me. He kind of represents this. There's these old timers I know in my community who've lived here forever. They just have a unique perspective on life in a Small town and maybe an outlook on life in general. That sheriff character, Marshall Tomlinson, I kind of use him to go on these philosophical rambles on fatherhood and in life and death. So I don't know that it was a conscious decision. But then I also wanted the boy in there. You know, it's a book about men and masculinity and so the different generations, the young boy, the middle aged men, the old man and how, how you interpret masculinity throughout your life. Especially this kind of specific brand of, I don't know what I'd call it, Western machismo that I've spent a lot of my life around and tried to get away from. And it's there, it's something you have to think about and deal with.

[Tom Hess]

Speaking of, there was a line that stood out to me in the novel that I think was reflective of that. And the line refers to the Tom character and it is nothing to pass the time but the haunted corn maze of his own thoughts. And this is a character who's running from consequences and he has to hide out. And that hiding out comes with some uncomfortable introspection. What did you like about settling a character and these chapters of the book in that concept of it's just them in a cabin and they have to think through these things.

[C. William Langsfeld]

The wilderness is somewhere I go and I need to reflect. There's no people around, there's no civilization, you don't have cell service and you really have nothing but your own thoughts, which I think some people try to avoid. And I've leaned into in certain times in my life. And it's a place where you can reflect and when you have nothing else except your head, a lot of stuff can come up, you know, and I think this character Tom, he had a traumatic upbringing. He's just been through this traumatic event where he murdered someone. And you know, he has this love for this young boy that he doesn't quite know how to deal with. And it just felt very natural for me to stick him in the middle of nowhere where he has nothing else to do except reflect on his life and the choices he's made and the thing that has happened to him, the people he may or may not want to forgive and, you know, and sit with that resentment and that anger that he has, it just out in the wilds, it's just there, there's nothing else. And so that's just something I felt that character needed to do.

[Tom Hess]

It's quite clear early on in the novel that the bill is going to come due on these actions, the reader is under no illus and that somehow they're gonna see these characters dance between the raindrops in a way that doesn't end up with the most obvious of consequences. In structuring the book that way, do you think it helped focus the reader's attention maybe more on some of the themes you wanted to spend more time with?

[C. William Langsfeld]

Yeah, I mean, one of the main themes for me is who deserves to be forgiven and why, and then who is forgiveness for? What is the point of forgiveness when the person you need to forgive is no longer capable of receiving that forgiveness? You know, it's more for the forgiver than the forgivee in a lot of cases, I think. But also, you know, I wanted it to reflect what I see as, as real life. And things don't always work out perfectly where everything gets tied up in life, you know, there are people who never let go of their pasts. There's people who hold to resentments forever. You know, Tom is a little bit of a cautionary tale, you know, at least for myself as someone who never took the time to deal with the things that bother them and it affects his life, the masculinity, the cycle of abuse. You know, I can highlight how that affects things because it in a lot of ways, some people never move on. It felt important to tell that side of the story as well because things don't always work out.

[Tom Hess]

Thanks so much for your time.

[C. William Langsfeld]

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.

[Ryan Warner]

Our Western Slope producer Tom Hess speaking with Gunnison author C. William Langsfeld. His debut novel is Salvation.

[C. William Langsfeld]

You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this.

[Ryan Warner]

Turn the page with Colorado Matters. Dizzy is a memoir by Rachel Weaver about her years of mysterious dizz.

[Taylor Dolvin]

I set out to write a book that made people understand the depth of

[Seth Klamon]

what it is to live in this

[Taylor Dolvin]

way, because I think that story is one of the best ways to create empathy and understanding.

[Ryan Warner]

Speaking there to the Write the Damn Book podcast. Read Dizzy ahead of lit fest in Denver June 12th and join me and this Colorado author on stage [e-mail]. This is Colorado Matters from CPR News. It's Colorado Matters from CPR News. I'm Ryan Warner. City park is considered a crown jewel of Denver, with lakes that draw folks and foul. But how did those lakes end up on the high plains? Denverite's Chiara Damari has the answer for Colorado wonders.

[Kiara Damari]

Growing up in Denver, Ann Lemberg would read poetry by the lakes in City park. When she wasn't skating on them.

[Seth Klamon]

I'm fascinated by how the lakes in the city might have developed or evolved, why they stopped by skating.

[Kiara Damari]

Like most of Denver's bodies of water, the park's lakes are recent developments. They are man made, part of a big, ambitious park conceived in the late 1800s. Here's historian Tom Noel, aka Dr. Colorado.

[Benta Berkeland]

Well, it was Denver's first city park, and it was the dream of Mayor Richard L. Sopress.

[Kiara Damari]

Sopress wanted Denver to have a big park like he'd seen in New York, and he wanted it to be a leisure space for Denverites. And part of that design was Duck lake, built in 1887, complete with an island for birds. Another one, the Big Lake, followed a few years years later.

[Benta Berkeland]

I'm just assuming, especially in the earlier ones, it was horse drawn matter, digging up the dirt and having horses paw it out to create the pond and probably build up the edges around the park.

[Kiara Damari]

The lakes are fed by the City ditch, an ambitious 19th century infrastructure project that transformed dry prairie into urban gardens with water from the South Platte. The lakes have changed over time. The Big Lake used to have gentle shores and was once used as an irrigation reservoir and emergency water source. Along the way, Mayor Robert Speer added and expanded features like the museum, the boathouse and the Denver Zoo, part of the City Beautiful movement. Do you think he accomplished his goal?

[Benta Berkeland]

Yeah, I think so.

[C. William Langsfeld]

It's beautiful today.

[Kiara Damari]

The Big Lake also had its name

[C. William Langsfeld]

changed, the Faro Lake, in honor of

[Benta Berkeland]

the poet Thomas Hornsby Farrell, our greatest poet who wrote a famous poem, walking around City Park.

[Kiara Damari]

The Lake is Mine can be read on a plaque at City Park.

[C. William Langsfeld]

We walk an hour. An hour's an increment of history to any hickory stick.

[Kiara Damari]

And as for ice skating, the city has banned it on the lakes for many years. I'm Kiara Damari, Denver 8.

[Ryan Warner]

What do you wonder about life in Colorado? Ask [e-mail] ColoradoWonders and we may answer it on air and online. And that is colorado matters for now,

[Kiara Damari]

with thanks to our team, sandy botoulga,

[Tom Hess]

tyler bender, carl bielek, anthony cotton, pete

[C. William Langsfeld]

kramer, andrea dukakis, zan huckpachoni, matt herz,

[Tom Hess]

tom hess, michael hughes, pedro lumbra, shane

[Taylor Dolvin]

rumsey, haley sanchez, chandra, thomas whitfield.

[Ryan Warner]

And I'm ryan warner at cpr news and krcc.

[C. William Langsfeld]

Sam.