Senate Bill 24-233 will save property owners an estimated $950 million in taxes compared to the legislature taking no action. It also caps future annual increases at 5.5% a year, avoiding a repeat of the 40% gain some jurisdictions faced, but carves out an exemption for school districts, which collect more than half of property tax revenues.

“It misses the mark” in actual tax relief, J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, told members gathered at the group’s annual State of the State in the Seawell Ballroom in Denver on Monday.

Backers of two ballot measures promising even more relief plan to move forward with their proposals despite the bipartisan compromise, which has the backing of Gov. Jared Polis. One measure would cut the statewide assessment rate to generate $2 billion in savings for property owners from recent increases, while another one would impose a hard 4% cap on the amount property taxes could rise in any given year.

A surge in home prices during the pandemic and the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment, which had protected homeowners by shifting a larger share of property tax burden to commercial property owners, combined to generate an unprecedented surge in property tax bills.

Ament said Gallagher needed to be repealed to relieve the crushing burden commercial property owners were facing. But despite promises to homeowners they wouldn’t be left vulnerable, the legislature sat on promised reforms for three-and-a-half years until a run-up in home values and a record surge in property tax bills forced the issue.

An earlier legislative fix, Proposition HH, was soundly defeated by Colorado voters last November, which resulted in the legislature convening a committee to study reforms. But a bill didn’t come forward until the final 72 hours of the session, bypassing the more robust public review process such an important bill should have received, Ament said.

He urged the governor, who spoke earlier at the same event, to “give this issue the time and attention it deserves,” although he stopped short of directly calling for a special session. But a special session is the only way a ballot showdown could be avoided this fall.

If SB 24-233 represents the best and final offer from the side of tax collectors, the ballot measures represent the final and best offer from the side of taxpayers, Ament said. And it is the voters who will get the final say come November.

“The bottom line, under SB24-233, Coloradans will still see an increase in property taxes from what is being paid today,” Kelly Caufield, executive director of the Common Sense Institute, a pro-business think tank that the chamber supports, said in a press release.

CSI, in an , predicts that Colorado homeowners will pay similar amounts in property taxes next year and could face higher property tax rates in 2025 under the new bill even if home values don’t rise.

CSI looked at a hypothetical home valued at $400,000 in 2022 that had a 40% increase in value in the last assessment cycle. Its property taxes would have gone from $2,364 last year to $2,877 this year and next. Under the legislative fix, the tax on that home in 2025 will be $3,229, assuming no increases in home values.

That represents a “savings” from the $3,405 that would have been due without any legislative action. But it is an increase from the current tax bill and a huge increase from the $2,364 paid in 2022.

If interest rates drop in the coming months, releasing pent-up demand and causing home prices to surge another 20% in the next two-year cycle, then the owner of that house would be looking at paying $3,875 in property taxes come 2025, CSI estimates.

“This is not a long-term fix. True property tax reform should provide more predictability to homeowners,” CSI argued in its study.

“We know we will have this issue, but it is like a train wreck about to happen where you have no brakes and you can’t do anything to stop it,” said Glen Weinberg, owner of Fairview Commercial Lending in Evergreen and Steamboat Springs, who has .

County assessors in late April will mail out valuation notices based on property values as of June 30, 2022, which also happens to be close to when home values peaked in Colorado. Although not one-for-one, looking at how much home values rose in Colorado over the two years prior to the date offers a rough proxy for potential property tax increases in 2023 and 2024.

Using the median sales price numbers from the , homes prices are up 55.9% in Boulder, 45.1% in Denver, 43.65% in Adams, 41.2% in Jefferson, and 36.6% in Arapahoe and Douglas counties. In seven counties, the median price of a home sold has more than doubled over the two-year valuation cycle — Bent, Castilla, Otero, Pitkin, Routt, San Juan, San Miguel and Otero.

Homes sales prices help determine home values, but they can be skewed by the mix of homes selling in a given period. Assessors obtain a value for every property, and although different in its approach, Zillow also tries to do the same with its . The values there are then aggregated up to the county level. While not as extreme as the gain in the sales numbers, they are big too.

Over the two-year valuation period, Zillow has home values up 31% in Boulder, 29% in Adams and Broomfield; 27% in Arapahoe, Denver and Jefferson counties. And those are restrained compared to other parts of the state, especially the resort areas. Zillow has Bent County home prices doubling in the two-year period, while home values in San Miguel, Pitkin, Eagle and Routt counties are up 75% or more over the two-year period.

“What we are looking at now is a statewide average increase of about 36% on valuation. The property tax will track with that in great part,” estimates Mike Kopp, CEO of Colorado Concern, an alliance of CEOs and other business leaders focused on improving the state’s business climate.

Colorado Concern modeled the tax hit from rising property values early last year, but its study and the group is now calling for urgent action from the legislature, or absent that, for a ballot measure next year. The earliest any measure could go before voters would be in November 2024, long after property tax bills have gone out.

Colorado Concern was among the groups that fought to repeal the Gallagher Amendment, which for years split the property tax base at a fixed 45% to residential and 55% to nonresidential. The problem was that residential actually represented 80% of property values in the state, leaving commercial property owners, including many small businesses, with crushing tax bills.

“Everybody that worked on the Gallagher repeal knew there had to be a second act or there would be upward pressure on residential property taxes,” said Kopp. That second act didn’t come, although the Colorado legislature did provide relief last year by shaving $15,000 off residential values and lowering the share or ratio of residential property value subject to property taxes.

Those moves will save property owners $700 million in taxes over two years, Kopp said, but represent “tire patches” rather than permanent fixes. More needs to be done given that most households don’t have the financial capacity to absorb a big increase in their taxes. And renters won’t be immune either as costs get passed through to them in one form or another.

A fundamental flaw of Colorado’s property tax system is that changes in property values, either up or down, have little bearing on how much local governments require in funding, said Chris Brown, director of policy and research with the Common Sense Institute, a pro-business think tank.

“Under the current system we are now dependent on the price of the asset, and that is a policy choice,” Brown said. “What if you start with the question of budgets and elected officials and voters have a say on what the appropriate funding level is and then you approve property taxes to achieve that?”

Home values are driven by forces far removed from the needs of local government budgets. In the ’00s, loose lending standards set off a wave of foreclosures that pushed home prices down, crimping property tax revenues at a time when demand for public assistance rose. During the pandemic, record low interest rates and supply-chain disruptions that slowed new construction contributed to historic price increases.

“From a state policy perspective, there is no question that we need a reset. What is a fair and sustainable reset that doesn’t overreact to one moment in time?” asked Scott Wasserman, president with The Bell Policy Center, which has a more progressive bent. “If something is not done there will be some really big sticker shock.”

Bell is trying to find a middle ground, aware of the squeeze that low and middle-income families in particular face, but also mindful that schools and local governments have to maintain adequate funding to provide needed services. Kopp said the issue is one that goes beyond the usual Republican and Democratic divide.

Determining property taxes in Colorado involves a three-step process, starting with setting a real value on properties, which assessors are now doing. The legislature sets a ratio of what part of that value is taxable or subject to local mill levies. That ratio would have been 7.15 last year but it was temporarily lowered to 6.95 and is set to go down to 6.76 this year, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

The third step comes from the mills on that assessed value that local taxing entities set where a property is located. That is where it gets really complicated, but it is also where the greatest relief could be provided.

“The problem is we have nearly 3,000 special districts across the state. Each one of them is running its own unique algorithm. They also have different property mixes,” Wasserman said.

Most school districts, counties or special districts probably don’t need a 20% or 40% increase in revenues, which some critics call a “windfall,” to meet their expenses. But they also face inflationary pressure on their costs and are in a predicament. If a fixed mill is adjusted lower, even temporarily, the concern is that the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights will prevent them from restoring it again without taking it to a vote.

by allowing local governments to temporarily lower the mill levy or provide property tax credits and then adjust them higher if needed. But even if it passes, local jurisdictions will still get to decide on how much they are willing to give up, if anything.

All of that variability, both in how much home values rose in a given area, how much the relief the legislature is able to approve, and how much local governments are willing and able to bend, could result in widely varying property tax increases.

“Your actual value increase doesn’t reflect in a linear fashion what your property tax increases will be,” cautioned JoAnn Groff, Colorado’s Property Tax Administrator.

Denver County assessor Keith Erffmeyer said it is too early still to know where Denver property value increases are going to come in, although the increases captured in the home sales numbers look to be on the high side. That said, most owners probably aren’t going to be happy with the valuation notice they receive, and that discomfort will be felt across much of the state.

“What I can tell you from talking to other assessors is that they are seeing increases as high as they have seen in quite some time, if not ever,” he said.

Home values are down noticeably from the June date used for property valuations, and that could create huge headaches for assessors. In Denver County, the median sales price of a single-family home sold in , according to CAR. By January that number and could go even lower before valuation notices come out.

A perception of “phantom” value may push taxpayers to protest what is otherwise a completely valid assessment and clog up government resources.

Weinberg also notes that the big jump creates a double whammy for those who have their property taxes escrowed by a mortgage lender. Property taxes are paid in arrears in Colorado, which requires mortgage companies to try to make their best estimate and then square up.

For example, someone paying $6,000 a year in property taxes who faces a 50% increase, which could happen in some mountain counties, will have to pay $3,000 more a year. Not only is that extra amount levied going forward, but the shortfall from taxes collected in 2022 once the bill arrives in 2023 must also be collected. And if that weren’t enough, higher home values also mean higher home insurance premiums.

“Now you have higher taxes, higher insurance, and that will push some borrowers over the edge,” Weinberg said he fears.

Get more real estate and business news by signing up for our weekly newsletter, On the Block.

The local CPI report, which covers a basket of commonly purchased goods and services, comes out every two months. After showing signs of slowing in May, the two-month rate of change started accelerating again, going from a 1.33% pace in May to a 1.77% pace in July.

“Much of the two-month increase in inflation may have occurred in June, which is not reported separately in Colorado, as national inflation was flat in July,” said Chris Brown, a vice president of policy and research with the Common Sense Institute, in emailed comments on the CPI report.

The average Colorado household spent $1,642 more because of inflation in June and July than it did in the same period a year ago, Brown said. And since 2020, inflation has eroded about $7,522 from household buying power in the state.

Although wages are rising, average hourly earnings are up 4.6% nationally the past year, which covers about 54% of the price gains, Brown said.

Gasoline prices were up 33.9% year-over-year in July, not too far off the 33.7% gain seen in May. The two-month change was large at 15%, but prices at the pump have started to come down rapidly and that will likely show up in the next CPI report two months from now.

Foods purchased for home consumption are up 13.6% year-over-year in July, an acceleration from the 10.6% rate in May and the 10.2% pace in March. Baked goods and cereals had the biggest gain among food items, up 15%, surpassing the gain in the meat and poultry category, which was up 14.3%. The cost of non-alcoholic beverages rose 14.7%, while the cost of alcohol was up 7.6%. The cost of eating out was up 9.8%.

The cost of rent was up 7.8%, household utilities were up 10.6%, and the cost of medical care was up 11.2%. One of the most noticeable changes in the report involved used cars. Prices there rose 8.9% annually in July, down from 18.9% in May and 38% in March.

A consumer panel conducted by retail research firm GlobalData found that��60.4% of consumers are buying fewer non-food products,��51.7% are driving less to save on gasoline,��49.6% are doing more bargain hunting, 42.5% are trading down to cheaper brands in the grocery store and 39.9% are shopping around more to find better prices.

On Thursday, running back Jarek Broussard announced he has put his name in the NCAA transfer portal, adding to the growing list of Buffaloes to leave this offseason.

Broussard has led the Buffaloes in rushing in each of the last two seasons and was named the Pac-12 offensive player of the year in 2020.

“First of all I want to thank each and every buff fan for unmatched support,” Broussard wrote on social media. “My time here in Boulder was amazing and I’ve built some lifelong relationships that will last forever. Through the highs and the lows I would like to thank each and every member on the Colorado athletic staff for their love & support and helping me getting to where I am today.

“I graduate from Colorado in may and will forever be a proud Alum. With that being said after talking with my family I feel it����ap in my best interest to enter the transfer portal.”

Broussard is the 18th scholarship player from CU to enter the transfer portal since September and the 14th since the season came to a close on Nov. 26. He is the fourth player to go into the portal in the past six days.

Broussard is also the fifth starter to leave, joining cornerbacks Mekhi Blackmon and Christian Gonzalez, safety Mark Perry and receiver Brenden Rice. Gonzalez (Oregon) and Perry (TCU) have already committed to other schools.

Over the past two seasons, Broussard rushed for 1,474 yards and five touchdowns in 16 regular season games. He added 82 yards and two touchdowns in the 2020 Alamo Bowl.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pound Broussard came to CU from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas and was recruited by former head coach Mike MacIntyre.

After redshirting in 2018 and missing the 2019 season with a knee injury, Broussard burst onto the scene in 2020. With 2019 leading rusher Alex Fontenot out with a hip injury, Broussard won the starting job in fall camp and then rushed for 813 yards during the five-game regular season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, Broussard became the first player in CU history to eclipse 100 yards in the first four games of his career. That stretch included a career-high 301 yards – the fourth-best single-game total in CU history – in a win at Arizona.

That season, Broussard became the first Buff since Chris Brown in 2002 to earn a conference player of the year award. He also received the Mayo Clinic comeback player of the year award.

This past season, Broussard led the Buffs with 661 rushing yards while sharing the job with Fontenot. Broussard scored both of his touchdowns in the first two games.

After a slow start to the season, Broussard had his first 100-yard game in Week 9, rushing for 151 yards against Oregon State. He added 108 yards the next week at UCLA.

Broussard added 13 catches for 81 yards last season and 20 catches for 133 yards over the past two years.

CU has had three running backs transfer this offseason, including Ashaad Clayton and Joe Davis. Fontenot, a senior, junior Deion Smith and sophomore Jayle Stacks are all slated to return. CU signed prep star Victor Venn to a letter of intent last month.

CU is still projected for 82 scholarship players in 2022, just three below the NCAA maximum. The Buffs are looking to add several players through the transfer portal or the high school ranks.

Dorrell, 57, led the Buffs to a 4-1 record and trip to the Alamo Bowl in his first season as CU’s head coach. He is the second Buffs coach to win the award, joining Mike MacIntyre in 2016.

“I am honored, but as I have said, it����ap really a team award,” Dorrell said in a news release. “It all starts with a great coaching staff and then players who are coachable and buy into what we want to accomplish, which is to get this program into a better position. I am appreciative and honored by the recognition, but honors such as these are truly a team effort.”

Broussard, a sophomore running back, became the first Colorado player to win a Pac-12 player of the year award. He is the sixth player in school history to be named a conference player of the year, joining quarterback Darian Hagan (1989), tailback Eric Bieniemy (1990), receiver Charles Johnson (1993), running back Rashaan Salaam (1994) and tailback Chris Brown (2002).

The 20-year-old had 129 carries for 813 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Pac-12 at 162.6 yards a game. He also had seven catches for 52 yards. He rushed for more than 100 yards in each of his first four games, becoming the first player to accomplish the feat in school history.

Broussard was also named the All-Pac-12 first team, along with senior linebacker Nate Landman. Senior quarterback Sam Noyer, junior offensive lineman Will Sherman, senior defensive lineman Mustafa Johnson and junior all-purpose/special teams player Jaylon Jackson were second-team selections.

Six players were all-conference honorable mentions: sophomore offensive lineman Frank Filip, junior defensive lineman Terrance Lang, junior defensive back Isaiah Lewis, sophomore offensive lineman Casey Roddick, sophomore return specialist Dimitri Stanley and junior linebacker Carson Wells.

Wide receiver Brenden Rice was an honorable mention for the offensive freshman of the year. Cornerback Christian Gonzalez was an honorable mention for the defensive freshman of the year.

All-Pac-12

First team

Offense

Defense

Specialists

Second team

Offense

Defense

Specialists

(1) Two-time first team selection

Honorable mention

ARIZONA: RB Gary Brightwell, Sr.; DB Lorenzo Burns, Sr.; K Lucas Havrisik, Sr.; DL Roy Lopez, Sr.; LB Anthony Pandy, Sr.

ARIZONA STATE: OL Kellen Diesch, Grad.; DB Evan Fields, Sr.; DL Jermayne Lole, Jr.; LB Kyle Soelle, Jr.; RB Rachaad White, Jr.

CALIFORNIA: WR Kekoa Crawford, Sr.; OL Jake Curhan, Sr.; LB Kuony Deng, Sr.; DB Josh Drayden, Sr.; DL Brett Johnson, So.; DL Zeandae Johnson, Sr.; WR/RS Nikko Remigio, Jr.; OL Michael Saffell, Sr.; TE Jake Tonges, Jr.

COLORADO: OL Frank Fillip, So.; DL Terrance Lang, Jr.; DB Isaiah Lewis, Jr.; OL Casey Roddick, So.; RS Dimitri Stanley, So.; LB Carson Wells, Jr.

OREGON: OL Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, Jr.; OL T.J. Bass, Jr.; RB Travis Dye, Jr.; DL Austin Faoliu, Sr.; DB Jamal Hill, So.; WR Johnny Johnson III, Sr.; LB Noah Sewell, Fr.; LB Isaac Slade-Matautia, Jr.

OREGON STATE: RS Champ Flemings, Jr.; DB Jaydon Grant, Jr.; DL Isaac Hodgins, Jr.; AP/ST Jesiah Irish, So.; OL Nous Keobounnam, Sr.; TE Teagan Quitoriano, Jr.; LB Hamilcar Rashed Jr., R-Sr.; DL Simon Sandberg, Jr.; LB Omar Speights, So.; DB Nahshon Wright, Jr.

STANFORD: DB Malik Antoine, Sr.; RB Houston Heimuli, Sr.; RB Austin Jones, So.; DB Kyu Blu Kelly, So.; QB Davis Mills, Sr.; RS Nathaniel Peat, So.; LB Curtis Robinson, Sr.; OL Walter Rouse, So.; P Ryan Sanborn, So.; DL Thomas Schaffer, Sr.; WR Michael Wilson, Jr.

UCLA: DB Stephan Blaylock, Jr.; LB Caleb Johnson, Jr.; DB Qwuantrezz Knight, Sr.; OL Sam Marrazzo, Jr.; WR/RS Kyle Philips, So.

USC: DL Nick Figueroa, Jr.; DB Olaijah Griffin, Jr.; P Ben Griffiths, So.; K Parker Lewis, Fr.; OL Jalen McKenzie, Jr.; OL Brett Neilon, Jr.; DB Isaiah Pola-Mao, Jr.

UTAH: WR Britain Covey, Jr.; DB JaTravis Broughton, So.; ST Keegan Markgraf, Sr.; LB Nephi Sewell, Jr.

WASHINGTON: OL Henry Bainivalu, Jr.; OL Victor Curne, So.; AP/ST Kyler Gordon, So.; QB Dylan Morris, R-Fr.; OL Luke Wattenberg, Sr.

WASHINGTON STATE: WR Renard Bell, Sr.; OL Brian Greene, Jr.; WR Travell Harris, Jr.; DB Daniel Isom, Sr.; DL Brennan Jackson, R-So.; K Blake Mazza, Jr.; OL Liam Ryan, Sr.; DB Jaylen Watson, R-Jr.; LB Jahad Woods, Sr.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better narrative in college football than Karl Dorrell’s 4-0 CU Buffs right now. You sure as heck won’t find 25 better teams.

You pick the tempo, they dance.

Chip Kelly samba against UCLA? Fine. They’ll put up 48.

A tango against Stanford on the road? A Stanford bunch that just beat Washington in Seattle? These Buffs had a 35-16 lead in the fourth quarter against the Cardinal on the Farm.

A waltz with San Diego State on short notice? They held the Aztecs (4-3), who’d come in averaging 29 points per game, to just 10.

A bolero at Arizona, where CU had posted a 1-3 record since 1990? Despite a new center, and a gruesome injury to left guard Chance Lytle, the Buffs rushed for 407 yards, averaging 8.8 yards per tote, and won 24-13 early Saturday night.

“It wasn’t the prettiest,” Dorrell said after the Buffs opened a league slate 3-0 for the first time ever in Pac-12 play and for the first time, period, since the Big 12 salad days of 2002. “But we got the job done, basically.”

It����ap what they do. It����ap all they’ve ever done, from the jump.

Rank ’em.

You start a script, they’ll figure out a way to write a happy ending. For weeks, we wondered how these guys would look playing from behind, forced to improvise while down two scores on the road. Sure, Sam Noyer looks like a kung fu master when he’s playing with a lead. But what if you force the quarterback-turned-safety-turned-quarterback-again to circle the wagons?

Saturday, we found out. The Buffs came out committing sins they’d largely avoided for three games. Penalties. Turnovers. Missed tackles.

Wildcats quarterback Will Plummer wasn’t Khalil Tate, thank The Lord, but he handed the Buffs a taste of their own formula: Zone-read runs and the threat of the quarterback keeper, keeping an aggressive CU linebacking corps guessing on holes and mesh points.

What was remarkable was how many of those guesses landed wrong early, leading to massive daylight for Arizona tailbacks Gary Brightwell and Michael Wiley. After the first 15 minutes, the ‘Cats were outrushing the Buffs, 106 to 27.

Over the next two quarters, CU outran Arizona by a margin of 286-80.

If Dorrell is the Coach of the Year candidate the rest of America can’t believe, Buffs tailback Jarek Broussard is the dark horse Heisman Trophy candidate nobody saw coming. Until he went whizzing by them.

Broussard’s 301 yards on the ground in Tucson were the most by a CU back since Chris Brown rumbled for 309 against Kansas in October 2002. And, of course, it happens on the fourth anniversary of the death of Buffs legend Rashaan Salaam, CU’s last Heisman winner.

“Every day we walk into Champions Center, we walk past that (Heisman) trophy,” Broussard said. “And it just means a lot to be in that type of company with that sort of player.”

Broussard didn’t score a touchdown, having been caught from behind after long runs, pay-dirt runs, on a handful of occasions. As Dorrell cracked Saturday night, imagine what this kid could do once he’s got two healthy knees to work with.

“I told him, as soon as he sheds that knee brace, he might have three touchdowns,” Dorrell joked when asked about his sophomore, who missed the 2019 season with a knee injury.

As of Sunday morning, the Pac-12 — yeah, yeah, we know, Pac-12, roll your eyes, yada-yada — has only two unbeaten squads left. Dorrell’s been at the controls for one of them. In spite of everything.

“It����ap just momentary, the things we’re dealing with right now,” the coach said after being told, to his surprise, that Washington had fallen to Stanford and Oregon was upset by Cal. “We’re having success. We’re going to keep trying to take advantage of those things, and you know, everything else will work out in the end.”

Rank ’em.

You want an underdog, a feel-good story? As Lytle was picked up off the turf in the third quarter, mighty blond locks at rest, medical crews wrapped his left leg in a massive black brace.

Every CU player went to a knee, then rose as one to personally wish him good-bye. A line of Buffs, a chain of love and prayers, with Noyer at the front of the sled.

“We’re creating a family culture here,” the quarterback told reporters early last week. “And I think that����ap really important. That����ap something that we had in 2016.”

They’ve got it again. They’ve got each other’s backs. Hearts and hands on the same rope, pulling as one. Right back into the top 25.

Beyoncé picked up song and record of the year bids with “Black Parade,” which she released on Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. The song, which reached the Top 40 on the pop charts, is also nominated for best R&B song and best R&B performance.

Beyoncé’s “Black Is King” film that highlighted Black art, music, history and fashion is up for best music film while “Brown Skin Girl,” a song dedicated to dark- and brown-skinned women, is nominated for best music video. The singer also earned three nominations for her slick guest appearance on Megan Thee Stallion’s No. 1 hit “Savage,” including record of the year, best rap performance and best rap song.

A winner of 24 Grammys, Beyoncé becomes the second-most nominated act in the history of the awards show with 79 nominations. She is tied with Paul McCartney, who earned a nomination this year for best boxed or special limited edition package.

Beyoncé is only behind her husband Jay-Z and Quincy Jones, who have both earned 80 nominations each. Jay-Z picked up three nominations this year for his contributions to Beyoncé’s songs: He co-wrote “Black Parade” and “Savage,” thus earning nominations for song of the year, best R&B song and best rap song. Jay-Z has won 22 Grammys throughout his career.

Beyoncé’s domination this year came as a surprise since the singer did not release a new album. Other surprises, well snubs, include pop star the Weeknd being completely shut out and earning zero nominations despite having a No. 1 album, multiple hit singles and winning the coveted Super Bowl halftime performance slot. Luke Combs, who dominated the country charts and set records on streaming services this year, was also surprisingly shut out of nominations.

When Harvey Mason Jr., the Recording’s interim president and CEO, was asked if he was surprised the Weeknd didn’t earn a single nomination, he told The Associated Press: “You know, there’s so many nominations and there’s only so many slots, it����ap really tough to predict what the voters are going to vote for in any given year. I try not to be too surprised.”

Instead, multiple nominations went to Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Roddy Ricch, who each earned six nominations and followed Beyoncé as the second-most nominated acts.

Lipa, who won two Grammys last year, earned bids for album of the year with “Future Nostalgia” as well as song and record of the year for her hit “Don’t Start Now.” Swift, whose last two albums didn’t garner nominations for album of the year, is competing for the top prize with her surprise album “folklore.” If she wins, she would become the first female artist to win album of the year three times.

Other album of the year nominees include: Post Malone’s multi-hit “Hollywood’s Bleeding”; Coldplay’s “Everyday Life,” which featured world music sounds and politically-charged lyrics; HAIM’s sophomore release “Women In Music Pt. III”; Jhené Aiko’s atmospheric R&B project “Chilombo”; English musician Jacob Collier’s multi-genre release “Djesse Vol. 3”; and the deluxe edition of Black Pumas’ self-titled debut album.

Tracks competing with Beyoncé’s “Black Parade” and “Savage” for record of the year include DaBaby and Ricch’s “Rockstar,” Malone’s “Circles,” Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted,” Black Pumas’ “Colors” and Doja Cat����ap “Say So.” The latter track was produced by controversial music figure Dr. Luke, and he earns his first Grammy nominations since 2014, the year his former collaborator Kesha accused him of sexual assault. Dr. Luke, who used the moniker Tyson Trax on the credits for Doja Cat����ap song, has vigorously denied the allegations.

“Black Parade,” “Don’t Start Now,” “Everything I Wanted” and “Circles” are also nominated for song of the year — a songwriter’s award — along with Swift����ap “cardigan,” Ricch’s “The Box,” JP Saxe and Julia Michaels’ “If the World Was Ending” and H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe,” her protest anthem addressing police brutality.

Several songs that emerged following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor were nominated for Grammys, including Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture” (best rap song, best rap performance), Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown” (best melodic rap performance, best music video), Mickey Guyton’s “Black Like Me” (best country solo performance) as well as Beyoncé’s “Black Parade.”

“I think it����ap meaningful. I think it����ap reflective of what����ap gone on in our world,” Mason Jr. said of multiple protest songs earning nominations this year. “Musicians and artists and writers and producers, they write about what����ap going on in their lives. We tend to be fairly emotional people. When there’s things happening, it����ap going to come out in our music and our art. It only makes sense that those types of songs would be nominated and celebrated by our voters. It really resonated with people. You listen to some of those songs and can’t help but be moved.”

Megan Thee Stallion, who released her highly anticipated debut album last week after finding success with hit singles and mixtapes since 2018, scored four nominations including best new artist. She will compete with rapper-singer Doja Cat, pop singer Noah Cyrus, country singer Ingrid Andress (who grew up in Highlands Ranch), multi-genre DJ-producer Kaytranada, rappers Chika and D Smoke, and indie rocker Phoebe Bridgers, who earned four nominations and helped female acts dominate in the rock categories.

Nominees for best rock performance and best rock song include Bridgers, Fiona Apple, HAIM, Grace Potter, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes and Big Thief, led by Adrianne Lenker. Female performers also dominated in best country album, including Andress, Miranda Lambert, Brandy Clark and Ashley McBryde. The foursome Little Big Town, which features two female vocalists, round out the five nominees.

Howard, who released her first solo album “Jaime” last year, earned five nominations, including bids in R&B and American Roots categories. Eilish, DaBaby, John Beasley, David Frost and Justin Bieber — nominated for three pop awards and a country one for “10,000 Hours” with duo Dan + Shay — earned four nominations each.

K-pop kings BTS earned their first-ever Grammy nomination after years of having success on the pop charts. They will compete for best pop duo/group performance with their No. 1 hit, “Dynamite.”

Other first-time nominees include the Strokes, Megan Thee Stallion, Michael Kiwanuka, Jay Electronica and Harry Styles, who became the first One Direction member to earn a Grammy nomination. He’s up for best pop vocal album with his second solo release “Fine Line,” best pop solo performance for “Watermelon Sugar” and best music video for “Adore You.”

Several acts earned posthumous nominations, including John Prine (best American Roots performance, best American Roots song), Nipsey Hussle (best rap performance), Leonard Cohen (best folk album) Pop Smoke (best rap performance) and songwriter LaShawn Daniels (best gospel performance/song).

And A-list entertainers hoping to reach EGOT status are getting a chance to earn their Grammy Award, including Renée Zellweger, who is nominated for best traditional pop vocal album for “Judy” — a performance that won her a second Academy Award — while Meryl Streep is nominated for best spoken word album for “Charlotte’s Web.” Streep’s competition includes MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, journalist Ronan Farrow and “Jeopardy!” record-holder Ken Jennings, who is nominated for reading “Alex Trebek — The Answer Is…” Tiffany Haddish, Jerry Seinfeld, Patton Oswalt, Jim Gaffigan and Bill Burr are nominated for best comedy album.

Kanye West, who has won 21 Grammys, only scored a single nomination this year — for contemporary Christian music album for “Jesus Is King.” Others who were snubbed include country performers the Chicks and Morgan Wallen, R&B singers Summer Walker, Teyana Taylor, Chris Brown and Brandy, and late rapper Juice WRLD.

Songs and albums released between Sept. 1, 2019 and Aug. 31, 2020 were eligible for nominations this year. Winners will be announced at the live show on Jan. 31.

The weekly newsletter of The Denver Post’s opinion pages.

Technology is pervasive in our lives but should it be treated like a necessary public utility similar to the water we drink or the energy that heats our homes? Vincent Carroll answered that question Sunday, at least in terms of one Big Tech company, Facebook, with a resounding “No.”

“We all know people without a Facebook account whose lives suffer not one whit for the deprivation,” Carroll writes. He pushes back against the politically expedient narrative these days that Big Tech should be broken up by the government and regulated like other public utilities.

So think, today, about the roles various Big Tech companies play in your lives. Is there a response needed to Google’s potential to become a monopoly? Or can we still go without the search engine or find a viable alternative? These aren’t easy questions and these problems will loom large in the 2020 presidential race.

— , Editor of The Denver Post editorial pages.

Perspective

First, a summary of what was in our Sunday Perspective section this week:

Backing off the Facebook “catastrophe”?: Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll writes that whatever faults the social media giant might have, they hardly merit the comprehensive denunciations that are common these days — and which often preface calls for breaking up the company or imposing muscular regulation in order to prevent it from sinning again.

Ivy League rejection: Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv saw his admission to Harvard University rescinded last week after screenshots of slurs and racist language from 2017 or early 2018 made their way online. While the 18-year-old may deserves some sympathy, The Washington Post’s Christine Emba writes, the consequences make sense.

“Forced monopolies” on the Front Range: Jon Caldara wonders why city councils in Colorado are playing Monopoly with taxpayers’ money.

Developing the leaders of tomorrow: Doug Friednash has found something to be optimistic about amidst the barrage of fake news stories and scandals spewing from our nation’s capital — CiviCO Leadership Foundation, which is fighting the tide of political toxicity and winning in the name of good government, citizenship and cultivating our next generation of leaders.

Bernie Bro, he is not: George Will writes that the word “socialism” has become a linguistic casualty of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, with Bernie Sanders’ version being nothing more than a tweaked New Deal.

Editorial: The Denver Post Editorial Board writes that Denver’s leaders must win the land battle for the 155-acre Park Hill Golf Club that the owners have made steps toward selling to developers. “Denver is becoming denser every day, rightfully so, to meet the demands of a growing population, and the city must respond by aggressively acquiring parkland to compensate.”

Guest Commentary: Don Marostica recalls the last significant reform to TABOR in 2005, writing Republicans and Democrats should join forces again this time around to budget for when the economy is strong in order to prepare for when the worst happens.

Letters to the editor: On the letters page, Denver Post readers tackled a number of issues. Here are several of their letters:

• 6/24: Denver parks staff is hard at play; Gun research for what end?; Hick’s failing economic system
• 6/23: Electoral College votes continue to be a hot topic; Brawl at youth baseball game embarrassing; more responses
• 6/22: Hide Dinger from cameras; Park Hill Golf Club could go to developers

The past week

Here are highlights from last week’s opinion coverage:

Editorial: Want to repeal TABOR? We do too, but here’s some realistic advice.

Greg Sargent: Trump’s Iran reversal exposes one of his most dangerous lies

Guest Commentary: Gardner has put pressure on Russia now he must hold the president accountable

Jon Caldara: Colorado cities like Longmont and Boulder are venturing into ill-advised monopolistic ventures

Doug Friednash: CiviCO is developing the leaders of tomorrow across Colorado

Vincent Carroll: Put down your pitchforks and get real about Big Tech’s trade-offs

Krista Kafer: Don’t raze Columbine High School; hold trespassers accountable

Christine Emba: Sure, Kyle Kashuv deserves some sympathy. But the consequences make sense.

Paul Waldman: How Trump may get manipulated into war with Iran

Leonid Bershidsky: Details revealed about U.S. efforts to hack Russia’s power grid may be a message to Putin

Guest Commentary:��Let����ap talk magic mushrooms, Denver, now that they are decriminalized

Guest Commentary: Not all budget deficits are created equal

Krista Kafer column:��Rep. Crow’s gun liability law makes a mockery of personal responsibility

More letter from readers

• 6/21: Bravo for speaking out against Chris Brown booking; EPA deals blow to climate efforts; more responses
• 6/20: Left behind in the left-turn lane; Bringing a knife to a gunfight; Require consent for pelvic exams
• 6/19: Tragic history of trying to stop Challenger disaster; Save political cartoonists
• 6/18: Finding Caldara reasonable; Fitting sentence in DUI death; Question 200 answer? Citizens; The debates: Come one, come all
• 6/17: Be smart about student debt; FEMA staffing solved; How about a Fire Force?

The Sound Off, which is emailed to subscribers every Monday, is a roundup of what we’ve been publishing on the opinion pages over the past week. That includes Denver Post , op-ed by Post columnists like Jon Caldara and Vincent Carroll as well as nationally syndicated columnists like George F. Will and Catherine Rampell, plus guest commentaries, and editorial .

If someone forwarded this to you and you’d like to sign up yourself, .

Follow us on Twitter:

And on Facebook:

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Re: “Brown’s booking is a stain on Denver,” June 16 commentary

I cannot adequately express how pleased I am that John Wenzel took the stand he did with regard to the egregiousness of the Chris Brown booking. It is exactly this type of “looking the other way” — all for the sake of chasing money — that perpetuates the belief by perpetrators of domestic violence that they can, and do, get away with it. Bravo to Wenzel for daring to speak out against the parties involved in this travesty of justice, especially because we need many more men to speak up and take a stand against domestic violence.

Sadly, we continue to have a long way to go, as is evidenced by the decision to book this abusive artist who demonstrates little regard for women. Shame on Live Nation, KS 107.5, Entercom Communications, RCA, the Pepsi Center and Kroenke Sports for choosing greed over decency.

Interestingly the markets in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. have all rightfully banned him, yet here in the United States he continues to enjoy fame and fortune because of others’ greed and willingness to turn a blind eye to domestic violence. We can and should do better. What a powerful message it would send if the story was about them not booking this perpetrator for the sake of doing the right thing.

Victoria McVicker, Aurora
Editor’s note: McVicker is the CEO of SafeHouse Denver.

EPA deals blow to climate efforts

Re: “EPA defies climate warnings, gives coal plants a reprieve,” June 20 news story

Yet another blow to Mother Earth! Our atmosphere can only take so much. I strongly suggest we rename the EPA as DTEDA, the Donald Trump Environmental Disaster Agency.

The only way we can save our planet and thereby ourselves is by doing the right thing in November 2020. Otherwise, we’ll have a lot of explaining to do to our kids and grandkids!

Not a conversation I am looking forward to having.

Douglas Vernon Nelms, Denver

High cost of advertising drugs

The government and public discussion about the ever increasing cost of drugs in our country have failed to address the most significant reason why they are so high: pharmaceutical marketing.

According to an in-depth study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in January, of the nearly $30 billion that health companies spent on medical marketing in 2016, about 68 percent (or approximately $20 billion) went to persuading doctors and other medical professional — not consumers — of the benefits of prescription drugs.

Additionally, one might extrapolate the cost of TV and written advertising to the public. The TV commercials have become extreme, and every magazine has pages and pages of pharmaceuticals advertising. One page telling the glories of one drug and another page warning of health risks associated with consuming the drug.

It����ap time that our government leaders address the underlying reason that drugs cost so much by putting a halt to the nonstop promotion of pharmaceuticals. Leave drug recommendation to physicians; they understand the benefits and risks to individual patients.

Elaine Little, Denver

My body, your decision

Re: “Vaccine rate falls again in Colo.,” June 14 news story

“I think it����ap your body and it����ap your decision.” — Gov. Jared Polis

I generally agree with this philosophy if the issue only affects the particular individual’s body. Without immunizations, it����ap possible if not likely that an individual can acquire a vaccine-preventable illness, transmit it to others, causing them illness. It now affects his or her body and he or she did not decide.

Earl J. Carstensen, Aurora

Perhaps disappointed isn’t the right word. Enraged? Smacking my forehead like a loose shutter in a hurricane? Sad for all the women I know or have ever met? Those might be better.

The Aug. 25 concert at the Pepsi Center is yet another date on Brown’s Indigoat Tour, which was rolled out nationally last week to promote his new album. The parties involved needed to coordinate before revealing the late-summer event, and most of them seemingly decided the bad publicity would be worth the profit. They include Denver radio station KS 107.5, which is owned by Entercom Communications, the Denver office of national promoter Live Nation, the Pepsi Center (owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment) and Brown’s record label, RCA.

As of press time, none of them have responded to my requests for comment on the propriety of booking Brown, or the thinking that went into it.

It����ap not that they’re solely responsible for his career. The fans who have forgiven him, the people who stayed quiet during his misdeeds and the corporations that were only too happy to collect the revenue of his work all continue to play a role in supporting him.

But my immediate thought last week was that Brown must be thrilled to see a major venue, promoter and radio station throwing their collective weight his way with the top spot at what will assuredly be Colorado’s biggest R&B and hip-hop show of the year.

How does Brown keep getting away with this?��Other powerful men who have been recently convicted and/or repeatedly accused of violence and sexual assault, such as R. Kelly, Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, have seen their reputations rightly destroyed and their legal fees skyrocket. So what����ap different about Brown? Is it his bad-boy persona — cartoonish and vile though it now seems — and the fact that it predated the #MeToo era?��The aforementioned men saw their crimes aired publicly over the past couple years, while��Brown has been coasting (albeit bumpily) on sympathy and apologies for more than a decade.

Time doesn’t heal all wounds, but it does blunt memories of their gore. Brown is already persona non grata with anyone even slightly progressive about women’s rights, given his history of incidents — alleged and proven — and his 2009 guilty plea in the brutal assault of singer and then-girlfriend Rihanna. And yet he remains in power in the larger culture. With platinum sales, Grammys and a legion of ride-or-die fans (see his 30-million-plus Twitter followers) the 30-year-old’s career isn’t disappearing. He brings attention and money wherever he goes, whether it����ap a nightclub, a performance stage or a soundstage.

But he also reminds us how far we have to go as a society in allowing open, unabashed abusers to continue entertaining us and taking our money, even after we know exactly what kind of people they are.

And it is all about money.�� across the U.S. have decided it����ap OK to book Brown for his latest tour — and not because everyone who works for them implicitly endorses his violent, misogynistic behavior. This is a massive and complicated system, and once the wheels get turning any one person risks getting crushed trying to stop them.

If Brown had earnestly apologized to Rihanna (as opposed to just��), owned up fully to his misdeeds, or changed his troubling behavior — as some celebrities have attempted (think Lance Armstrong or Mel Gibson) — he might have found a genuine path to public forgiveness.��He’s also dealt with addiction and gone to rehab, which is understandably gut-wrenching for anyone. But he’s also been offered help, repeatedly, and continued burying himself with new, equally terrible behavior while enjoying access to resources and support the majority of us will never have.

As recently as 2017, model and former girlfriend��Karrueche Tran successfully obtained a restraining order against Brown after she said he threatened to kill her. And in January of this year, Brown was arrested after a 24-year-old woman accused him and two others of aggravated rape in a Paris hotel room, a case that is still ongoing. Brown was released without charges after the incident and is suing the woman for defamation (although he failed to show up for a formal meeting with lawyers in France last month, ).

Brown’s criminal record has seen him banned from most of the world’s large English-speaking markets — including the U.K., Australia and New Zealand — and since abusing Rihanna in 2009, he’s been further accused of fraud, hit-and-run, additional cases of felony battery and even a police standoff.

I’m not here to litigate Brown’s public persona or offer hard evidence for or against his reputation; it����ap pretty clear at this point . Rather, I’m expressing disappointment that major music-industry and concert-exhibition machinery are still supporting his career and putting money in his pocket after his nearly unbroken string of illegal, immoral and alarming public controversies.

As Denver’s with admitted sexual predator Louis C.K., the act of refusing to book a big-name talent on principle can net more publicity and goodwill than succumbing to the lure of increased revenue from a controversial figure — even one who has been rightly lauded in the past for his creative talents.

It may be true that troubled souls are common in show business. But women, and especially women of color, deserve to be taken seriously when they report violence and sexual assault against them. Thinking of Brown as “troubled” and in need of help doesn’t do justice to the people he has exploited and hurt, often permanently, while he continues to tour the world and collaborate with top-tier artists.

Brown’s continued career — and even worse, his vaunted spot on KS 107.5’s biggest concert of the year, with the help of Live Nation, the Pepsi Center and RCA — is a stain on Denver’s summer calendar.