By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon of Solutions and Rebecca Jones of Education News Colorado
The federal government is cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado for the first time, today ordering 23 dispensaries near schools to shut down within 45 days or face criminal prosecution and seizure of their property.U.S. Attorney John Walsh sent warning letters to the unidentified dispensaries and said in a news release that many are closer than 1,000 feet to K-12 campuses.
“When the voters of Colorado passed the limited medical marijuana amendment in 2000, they could not …

In a 10-month investigation, the I-News Network and Education News Colorado found online K-12 schools get millions in state tax dollars while their students fall further behind.
We filed public records requests for internal documents, analyzed previously unreleased state education data, and interviewed lawmakers, educators, experts, parents and students. What we found was big business with little state oversight and dismal performance.
Read the series here:
Part 1: Half of online K-12 students leave, but virtual schools keep millions in tax dollars.
Part 2: Online schools produce three dropouts for every graduate, and …

Play a game and help make journalism better!
I-News is part of the Public Insight Network, which encourages people to add their insights to in-depth reporting. You can learn more here.
And if that weren’t fun enough, PIN periodically offers news-related games. Here’s the latest. It’s called Budget Hero and it lets you try your own hand at balancing the federal budget.
U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado was one of a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the unveiling of the game in Washington, D.C.
“The point of the game is to …

A growing number of companies in Colorado and nationwide are joining an elite corporate club that lets members avoid regular federal safety inspections. But some of those companies remain in the program despite serious safety violations – even death – a joint investigation by I-News and the Washington-based news organization Center for Public Integrity has found.

Last November, an I-News investigation uncovered dangerous and illegal treatment of hazardous electronic waste that even Colorado regulators didn’t know about. State lawmakers have introduced legislation attempting to fix some of the problems I-News found.

Here’s the latest from I-News reporter Kristin Jones:
 
It’s hard to imagine: A flourishing local trade in hazardous electronic waste. Brokers buy it by the container-load, and sell it to the highest bidders. Their customers store it in their basements, douse it in acid or burn it in their driveways, truck it to local landfills, or ship …

Here are two short audio reports from I-News reporter Burt Hubbard.
The first report is about recently released census data. I-News partners can localize this report with census numbers from their own cities and counties. Instructions follow the script.
Lower on the page is a report on aviation safety.
Census Round-up
[Duration 00:40 seconds]
Script of audio report:
BURT HUBBARD: Colorado became more diverse and older during the last decade, the 2010 Census found. Our partners at the Rocky Mountain I-News Network analyzed the newly released data. Here’s I-News’ Burt Hubbard with more.
Colorado is 70% …