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Welcome back to The Spot, where The Denver Post’s politics team captures what’s happening this week — from the Colorado legislature to Denver city hall, with a stop through the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C.

It’s another edition of “Who’s on the ballot, anyway?” in Colorado politics. (More on the soap opera that is election 2018 below.)

At the Colorado Capitol, lawmakers are gearing up for the legislative session’s final push, tackling everything from drones听迟辞 teacher strikes听补苍诲 gerrymandering. We’re all starting to go a little crazy under the gold dome…

鈥楴uff said.

— Charles Ashby (@OldNewsman)

In Denver, the harassment scandal embroiling Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is still … boiling. Reporter Jon Murray has been keeping close tabs on that.

And if you’re looking for stories about selling human body parts, gravel mining and abandoned shopping carts — well, we’ve even got those too. I’m babbling; you want the news, and I’m going to stop talking now.

Fresh news:听His back against the wall, six-term U.S. Rep.听Doug Lamborn challenges Colorado court ruling that tossed his name from the GOP ballot.

Also:听Doug Robinson is back on the Republican ballot for Colorado governor, a Denver judge has ruled. (Here’s who is running for governor.)

Also also: Democrats will听again try to expel GOP Colorado Sen. Randy Baumgardner after a new report has validated more harassment allegations against him.

ROLL CALL

COLORADO: THE STATEHOUSE & BEYOND

• And then there were two. Democrats Amy Padden and Brad Levin are out of the Colorado attorney general’s race. (For now…)
• Why Colorado state employees are mad and lawmakers are under pressure. (How would you like getting a partial paycheck?)
• Colorado victims now must be told where out-of-state inmates are听locked up after Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill into law this week. Proponents were happy he signed it, but not happy about听how听he signed it.
• Democrats have a candidate on the ballot in every single major 2018 race听in Colorado. Republicans are brushing it off.
• What you need to know about why Colorado teachers are walking out of classes and into the Capitol.
• Speaking of which, these Colorado school districts are canceling classes for teacher protests Thursday, Friday.
• Also speaking of which: Two GOP state lawmakers have brought a bill that would bar educators from striking. Those who do so anyways — under the legislation — could face fines or even jail time.
• 颁辞濒辞谤补诲辞鈥檚 small towns have seen their tax money dry up. State lawmakers know it抖阴ap a problem, but no fix is in sight.
• The Suncor oil refinery spews 8.5 tons a year of cyanide gas听over low-income north Denver neighborhoods, state records show.
• Colorado lawmakers want to ask voters to outlaw gerrymandering in the state鈥檚 constitution, The Associated Press reports.
• Former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll is packing heat as a Colorado Ranger. But the training these reserve officers get is murky.
• Should a gravel mine be allowed next to a Colorado Springs wildlife preserve?
• They’ve been a problem, for years and now the Colorado legislature is trying to deal with them: rogue drones near wildfires and other emergency situations.
• State lawmakers are moving to make the state one of the first in the country to regulate companies that sell human body parts. (Yes, you read that right…)

DENVER & THE SUBURBS

• This week brought a bombshell in听the harassment scandal听involving Mayor Michael Hancock: Some of his suggestive texts to a security detail officer听were seen by the city’s legal office听as early as 2013.
• A City Councilman says the text-message disclosure timeline听gave him “heartburn.”
• Speaking of claims, the payouts to the police officer and to a former city attorney in an unrelated case were just the start. Denver also听paid big fees to outside lawyers听who assisted with the cases.
• The听Colorado Supreme Court has upheld the legality of taxes for special districts, like RTD.
• Greenwood Village will be taking a close look at what to do about drones flying over, through and in the city. The city manager says the Denver suburb doesn’t want to become the “drone police,” but it does want to stop people from using the vehicles inappropriately.
• Denver police Chief Robert White is retiring.

A high-ranking city official just told me there will not be a national search for a new Denver police chief. The mayor believes there are qualified candidates within the ranks.

— Noelle Phillips (@Noelle_Phillips)

• In a rare joint letter, Denver’s mayor and nearly all members of City Council听chided Attorney General Jeff Sessions听over a federal decision to suspend funding for a program that aids detained immigrants.
• It’s official. Lakewood is cracking down on abandoned shopping carts.
• At Denver’s annual 4/20 festival this year, the massive gathering was devoid of marijuana politics. That’s despite last year’s highly publicized problems.

D.C. POLITICS FROM A COLORADO PERSPECTIVE

• The Barack Obama Highway?听It could be a thing if one Democratic state lawmaker gets his way.
• The day net neutrality died in Colorado.
• Students from around the country gathered to remember the Columbine High School shooting last week —听 and to听rally other teens to vote.
• This Denver brewery is mixing .
• Colorado senators throw their support behind Majority Leader .
• Two cannabis organizations are on Capitol Hill.
• U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck at the federal level
• U.S. Rep.听Doug Lamborn’s political career is in serious jeopardy after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled the six-term, Colorado Springs Republican should be kept off the ballot.
• Meanwhile, behind the lawsuit imperiling Lamborn鈥檚 re-election are key figures who gave thousands of dollars to the congressman’s GOP rival, state Sen. Owen Hill.

A few important things to note for the world:

— Lamborn could still challenge this
— Lamborn's seat is unlikely to leave GOP hands despite this ruling (he beat his Dem challenger by more than 30 points in 2016)
— Lamborn is just 58 signatures short

— Jesse Aaron Paul 鈽� (@JesseAPaul)

THE WIRE

• Denver听is expected to 听in travel costs for a recent trip to Paris and a French sister city for a delegation that included Denver’s mayor. — CBS4
• What did the Colorado GOP assembly showcase? , says University of Denver political science professor Seth Masket. — Vox
• Democrats’ chances of reclaiming the U.S. House may rest on flipping GOP strongholds in cities across the U.S. — The Associated Press
• See where members of on a bipartisan index. — The Lugar Center
• “In the corridors of American power, it can be as easy to .” — The New York Times
• Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former state senator Mike Johnston covered a lot . — Colorado Public Radio
• The segment below is just downright scary. I can’t speak for it, so just watch.听— CBS This Morning

By 2020, China plans to give all its 1.4. billion citizens a personal score, based on how they behave. Some with low scores are already being punished if they want to travel. Nearly 11 million Chinese can no longer fly and 4 million are barred from trains

— CBS News (@CBSNews)

• Colorado immigrant advocates a federal judge’s DACA ruling. — Denver7
• The Colorado House of Representatives has approved . — The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
• A small band of Five Points residents won a victory this week听as the 听in a way that prevents the building of apartments and large houses.听— Denverite
• National Democrats in party primary fights. — The New York Times
• Former FBI Director James Comey was last week. Here (below) is one of the better/funnier ones. —听The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

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And thanks for reading!

P.S.听Please consider backing The Denver Post () or journalism wherever you might be. And thanks for your support, whatever it might be.

P.P.S. Here is your GIF reward for making it to the end of this newsletter.

Current mood:

— Jesse Aaron Paul 鈽� (@JesseAPaul)

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Staff writers John Frank, Jon Murray, Mark K. Matthews and John Aguilar contributed to this newsletter.