On Sunday, during a peaceful walk in Boulder, several people were burned in an incendiary attack. The suspect reportedly shouted \u201cFree Palestine\u201d as he assaulted participants, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. Their crime: being Jewish.<\/p>\n
Sadly, this was not an isolated act. According to the FBI, Jewish Americans — less than 3% of the population — are targets of more than half of all religiously motivated hate crimes. The reasons for violent antisemitism are as old as time, and each should be fought head-on. One way to fight back is to do a better job of physically protecting Jewish communities from violence.<\/p>\n
The federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program<\/a> (NSGP) helps at-risk groups fund protective measures like cameras, locks, and emergency training. But in the 2024 grant fiscal year, FEMA received over $973 million in requests — and could fulfill less than half, according to Jewish Insider<\/a>. Despite metastasizing anti-Jewish violence, Congress continues to underfund the program. This must change. Colorado\u2019s congressional delegation should lead an urgent legislative push to raise NSGP funding by $500 million annually and streamline the application process, given the acute nature of the threat.<\/p>\n When leaders in Congress condemn attacks like the one in Boulder but fail to use their authority to prevent further violence, their words ring hollow. Let\u2019s see action instead.<\/p>\n Jesse Smith, Greenwood Village<\/em><\/p>\n I fear that the attack in Boulder is merely a precursor to more attacks and more deadly ones.<\/p>\n Gaza, with tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed, is a terrorism incubator. The administration has disregarded events in Gaza and has hollowed out the FBI and intelligence services, putting fealty to the president above competence for the job. We have weakened our ability to stop attacks while doing nothing to stop the impetus behind them.<\/p>\n Dan Danbom, Denver<\/em><\/p>\n After the racist attack in Boulder, the follow-up by some members of the GOP laying blame on Democrats is disgusting. In a time when togetherness and rallying against acts of violence should unite us, these GOP members would rather double down on divisiveness and hate for political gain! Hopefully, constituents in those districts will wake up at election time and send these representatives packing! Thoughts and prayers.<\/p>\n Steve Phillips, Grand Junction<\/em><\/p>\n Re. “GOP gives oil-gas industry gifts of reduced royalties, environmental review,” May 28 commentary<\/p>\n Barbara Vasquez\u2019s commentary lacked some important context regarding oil and gas wells in Colorado. First, her language is misleading as she consistently refers to \u201cunplugged\u201d wells and conflates them with \u201cinactive\u201d or \u201cabandoned\u201d wells. There are around 900,000 active oil and gas wells in the United States (down from over 1 million). They\u2019re \u201cunplugged\u201d because they\u2019re producing the energy we need to survive and thrive in the 21st\u00a0century.<\/p>\n Abandoned or \u201corphan\u201d wells are separate issues, as are inactive or marginal wells. She references \u201chundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells\u201d in Jackson County. According to the state, 21 orphaned wells there have already been plugged with pending plans to plug the remaining 12.<\/p>\n She also says companies are allowed to walk away from their responsibility to old wells and leave \u201ctaxpayers holding the bag for cleaning up leaking wells.\u201d It\u2019s important to note that in Colorado, taxpayers are not on the hook for all orphan wells.<\/p>\nOil and gas industry working to plug orphan wells<\/h4>\n