The Restaurant Relief Bill would align tipped-wage rates for food and beverage workers.

DENVER, Colo. — For the last four years, Roy Benoit and wife Casey Keller have prided themselves on serving up good food and good memories at Wendell’s Diner on Tennyson Street in Denver.

“It's not a clock-in-clock-out type of gig, but I wouldn't trade it for the world,” Benoit said.

A colorful letterboard above the bar bears a list of Wendell’s regulars — some don’t even live in the state, but they make it a point to stop by every time they’re in town.

“We've gotten to know these people, and we've become a part of this community, and it's been phenomenal to be able to do that,” Benoit said.

In a few weeks however, Wendell’s Diner anticipates finding itself on the growing list of Denver restaurants that have gone out of business.

“It's like every week there's a couple places closing and those are people, and those are lives,” he said. “[Our bartender] has a husband, and she has kids. When we go away, she has to find another job as well. You know, you don't see those stories. You just see, oh well, that place is gone.”

A new bill introduced this week by Reps. Steven Woodrow and Alex Valdez and Sen. Judy Amabile hope to ease the burden for restaurant owners like Benoit.

House Bill 1208, also known as the Restaurant Relief Bill, would make it so restaurants are only paying out a portion of tipped workers’ paychecks while tips make up the difference.

The bill will not decrease the non-tipped wage in any part of Colorado.

The Colorado Restaurant Association said this will save businesses money or let them allocate it elsewhere.

“It'll allow restaurant owners to be able to give more of their money to the back-of-the-house workers, which continually get left behind every time we see a minimum wage increase,” said Colorado Restaurant Association President and CEO Sonia Riggs.

On Friday, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce announced its support of the bill, which would particularly help restaurant owners in places like Denver where the minimum wage is higher.

“When we passed the minimum wage local government bill several years ago, we ended up unintentionally not kind of correcting the ratio of tip credit to minimum wage. And we need to keep that the same, because restaurants are very slim margin businesses, and they really use that money to both provide for other employees within the restaurant, but more importantly, to keep their small business going,” said Rep. Valdez.

According to data from the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, 92% of restaurants raised their menu prices, 68% reduced staff or cut hours and many have struggled to keep up with wage increases, especially for back-of-house employees so far in 2025.

About 80% of restaurant closures in Colorado have happened in Denver.

“It’s changing our landscape of a vibrant community into one where we're seeing doors shut every day, and it's just tragic,” Riggs added

Owners like Benoit said the bill is a step in the right direction, but their time feels like it is running out on Tennyson Street.

“It might be past the point where it makes a difference for us, and I know a lot of places, a lot of smaller places like us, sometimes things are a little bit too, little too late," he said.

The first hearing on the Restaurant Relief Bill will be held on Feb. 20.

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Mountain snow will increase Monday afternoon, with periods of heavy snow and snow squalls possible. Expect impacts to I-70 traffic in Colorado.

DENVER — The 9NEWS Weather Impact Team has issued a Weather Impact Alert due to the potential for highly disruptive snow squalls in Colorado's mountains and quick bursts of snow in the Denver area.

Snow showers and snow bands will begin developing shortly after sunrise Monday, but the best chance for snow impacts on the roadways will likely come after dark on Monday. The snow will likely end before sunrise Tuesday.

Narrow bands of heavier snow embedded in the lighter flurries will also be possible. These bands will boost the snow totals in the areas in which they occur. A quick 1-2" in the Denver area is possible Monday afternoon, which could make things messy Monday evening in particular.

In general, there is very little moisture available, so the potential for accumulation will be on the lighter side, with about a half inch of snow possible from Fort Collins to Denver – except for the potential for localized banding, similar to Saturday's snow.

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The tricky part is that the number of bands, how long they will last and where exactly they will develop can't be predicted ahead of time. All we know is that they will likely be very short-lived but frequent enough to forecast a general spread of a half inch to 2 inches of snow across the entire Front Range and adjacent plains, with localized spots getting more than 2 inches.

Mountain snow

Snow in Colorado's mountains continues throughout most of the day Monday and into Monday night.

Mountain snow will increase Monday afternoon, with periods of heavy snow and snow squalls possible. Expect snow squalls to impact Interstate 70 traffic in the mountains, especially between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Monday.

This round of snow will be focused along the Interstate 70 corridor and parts to the north. Travel near the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels, where 6-10 inches of snow is in the forecast, will likely be slow, hazardous and full of delays or closures from morning to night.

Berthoud Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass are forecast to get even more snow, with 10-24 inches possible by Tuesday morning.

After this week's Arctic freeze, we'll warm up and dry out later this week with highs back in the 50s and 60s next weekend.

Credit: 9NEWS

Credit: 9NEWS

Denver forecast

Credit: 9NEWS

Winter Storm Warnings are in effect across Colorado's mountains with 1-3 feet of snow possible with hazardous driving conditions forecasted.

Credit: KUSA

Futurecast for 2-14-25.

DENVER — Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories are in place for most of Colorado's mountains through Saturday.

Snow accumulations up to 3 feet are possible in the mountains. The National Weather Service said travel could be very difficult to impossible during the commutes on Friday and Saturday.

The significant winter storm will deliver heavy and widespread snow with a 6-16 inches in some of the mountain towns by Saturday night and 2-3 feet of snow on some of the mountain passes and ski areas.

Colorado will see a break in the weather for most of the day on Sunday, but snow from the next storm system will likely show up in the mountains after sunset.

Credit: KUSA

Denver, Front Range forecast

Highs will be near 50 degrees in the Denver area on Friday with a mix of clouds and sunshine. Then, a wave of mix rain and snow showers moves through after 3 p.m.

A few isolated spots could pick up a little rain or even some measurable snow. The highest odds for accumulating snow will be on the east and south sides of the Denver metro area, where there's a bit more lift and instability.

The Denver area will remain chilly on Saturday with another chance for light snow showers again between 5 p.m. and midnight. In total, some spots on the Front Range could get an inch or two of snow accumulation by Sunday morning although most will likely see less than a half inch or nothing at all.

Colorado's next storm system will likely show up in the mountains after sunset late Sunday. That storm will potentially bring the Denver area some snow impacts on Monday night and possibly Tuesday morning.

At this point, the snow looks like a minimal impact but Denver could see its temperatures drop down close to zero degrees again by Wednesday morning. Light snow could continue for a few days as well, though with generally lighter accumulations.

RELATED: Big mountain snow continues with a late mix possible in Denver

Denver weather forecast

Credit: KUSA

Most hospital systems in Colorado spent more to benefit their communities than they received in tax breaks in 2022, but state officials aren’t sure if that will be the case in more recent years.

Nonprofit hospitals have to provide community benefits in exchange for their tax exemptions, but the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t require a specific spending threshold. The definition of community benefit is broad, and can include uncompensated care; assisting patients with their economic and social needs; promoting healthy behavior; the difference between the cost of care and what Medicaid pays; and other needs communities identified.

RELATED: Colorado hospitals had lowest patient care profits in over a decade

Banner Health, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, Intermountain Health and UCHealth spent more on community benefit than they received through foregone taxes in Colorado. AdventHealth and CommonSpirit Health spent less than the value of their tax breaks, according to a new report from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.

That year may be an outlier, because investment markets performed poorly that year, meaning that hospitals didn’t benefit from foregone taxes on their earnings to the extent that they likely did when the market recovered in 2023, the report said. Still, the data suggests hospitals are fulfilling their mission to provide community benefit, Kim Bimestefer, the department’s executive director, said Thursday.

“They’re spending almost double” the value of the tax exemptions, she said.

Nonprofit hospitals in the state spent about $1.2 billion, or 7.2% of their revenues, on community benefits in 2022, while receiving about $326 million in tax exemptions. If they count the amount that Medicaid pays below the cost of providing care as part of their community benefit, the total would rise to almost 15% of their revenues.

When counting Medicaid shortfall, which the IRS allows, AdventHealth and CommonSpirit Health also exceeded the value of their tax exemptions, said Tom Rennell, senior vice president of financial policy and data analytics at the Colorado Hospital Association. The data don’t account for hospitals continuing to offer unprofitable services that their patients need, such as maternity care, he said.

“Their benefit to the community is keeping their services open,” he said.

About $722 million went to “provider recruitment, education, research and training,” while the 46 nonprofit hospitals spent about $284 million on charity care. Almost one-third of the charity care expenses came from Denver Health, and three-quarters of the education and research spending happened at UCHealth hospitals.

Box: Value of hospital systems’ tax exemptions in 2022:

Source: Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing Hospital Community Benefit report

Box: Nonprofit systems’ community benefit in 2022, as a percentage of the expense of operating their hospitals

Without Medicaid underpayments:

With Medicaid underpayments included:

Source: Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing Hospital Community Benefit report

To keep their tax exemptions, nonprofit hospitals also have to assess their communities’ needs every three years. Of the 46 that submitted data to the state, 39 said behavioral health care was a top need; 27 listed access to care; and 18 said chronic conditions were a major problem.

Priorities didn’t always clearly match spending, though: 15 hospitals said behavioral health was a top concern, but didn’t report any community benefit spending on it. Only about 3% of all community benefit spending went toward behavioral health, said Nancy Dolson, the department’s special financing division director.

“That reflects an opportunity to better reflect the voice of their communities,” she said.

Colorado didn’t require hospitals to break out behavioral health as a separate type of community benefit until 2023, so some likely listed their investments under a different category, Rennell said. Some also added psychiatric beds, which are an investment in behavioral health, but not one they can report as community benefit, he said.

Community benefit “isn’t for providing services to patients,” he said. “If a hospital were to have added beds for behavioral health, that doesn’t show up.”

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Location: 1961 Stout St, Denver, CO 80294

History

In the years following World War II, the population of Denver, Colorado, grew rapidly as numerous federal agencies located to the city. The existing federal building could no longer accommodate growing space needs, and the government began planning for a new complex to house the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. In 1959, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) selected the accomplished Denver architectural firm James Sudler Associates as the lead designer, with another skilled Denver firm, Fisher & Davis, assisting. James Sudler designed numerous Modern buildings in the Denver area, including the exuberant Church of the Risen Christ and the Denver Museum of Art (with Gio Ponti).

In 1961, the federal government allotted $687,000 to purchase the downtown Denver site, bound by Champa, Stout, Nineteenth, and Twentieth streets, adjacent to the existing post office and custom house. Officials appropriated an additional $20 million in 1962 for the construction of the complex, with groundbreaking occurring the same year. The first occupants moved into the building in 1965. In 1984, the complex was named to honor Byron G. Rogers (1900-1983), who represented Colorado in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1951 to 1971. Rogers was instrumental in securing the original funds for the courthouse.

The trial of Timothy McVeigh, the bomber responsible for the 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was held at the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in 1996 and 1997. To find an impartial jury, the court moved the case to Denver, where McVeigh was tried and convicted.

In 1999, GSA initiated alterations to the entrance to accommodate security needs. Local preservationists asked GSA to consider the potential significance of the complex before commencing work that would alter character- defining features. As a result, GSA developed a sensitive design that retained these important elements. The unexpected public interest led GSA to commission a study to better understand the architecture and context of buildings from this era. In 2003, GSA published Growth, Efficiency, and Modernism: GSA Buildings of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Updated in 2005, the publication has received several awards and strengthened GSA’s reputation as a leader in the preservation field.

Architecture

The Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse consists of three distinct components: an 18-story office tower, a low courthouse, and a landscaped plaza. This three-part design combination was typical of Modern architecture and is perhaps best exemplified by the United Nations complex in New York City. Sudler’s design for the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is an excellent example of Formalism, a style of Modern architecture that incorporates flat rooflines, columnar supports, symmetry, high-quality materials, and works of art.

The tall office building has an unusual, angular footprint. While the center sections measure 103 feet in width, the ends are only 80 feet wide. The street level is clad in white marble panels, as are the narrow unfenestrated elevations of the building. Upper stories of the primary elevations exhibit an alternating rhythm of beige pre-cast concrete panels and projecting windows. Public spaces on the interior have marble wainscoting and terrazzo floors with bronze dividers.The low, rectangular courthouse derives its form from two nearby federal buildings that inspired Sudler: the 1931 U.S. Custom House and the 1916 Byron R. White U.S. Courthouse (the former main post office). Sudler’s design alludes to earlier classical architecture in scale, form, and color of materials. The building is clad primarily in pre-cast aggregate stone panels with a light tan color. On the Champa Street elevation, the panels have profiles that evoke the footprint and windows of the office tower. White marble is visible in bands at the top and bottom of the courthouse. Windows are oriented vertically and in pairs, running in tall bands divided by thin strips of marble. The Stout Street elevation features a metal art screen, a common element of Formalism, over large windows; the screen also serves to control direct sunlight on the interior. Like the office tower, interior public spaces of the courthouse have marble wainscoting and terrazzo floors. The courtroom walls are finished in panels of alternating polished light and dark woods with prominent grain patterns.

Public art is a critical component of the complex. GSA allotted $50,000 of the original construction budget for works of art. Pieces include the large bronze Great Seal of the United States and a stylized mahogany carving called Justice, Freedom, and the Release from Bondage, both by Denver sculptor William Joseph. A bronze bas-relief art column entitled Federal Services by Edgar Britton is located within the landscaped plaza. The column resembles a totem pole and contains carvings inspired by Native American art. The cylinder originally acted as a canopy support, but was moved when the entrance was reconfigured. In 2006, Jim Campbell created a dynamic light installation along the Champa Street elevation, with a companion piece in the main lobby.

In 1999, GSA initiated a $1.65 million project as part of its First Impressions program. The plaza and entrance configuration were modified to improve security screening and make the facility more efficient and welcoming to employees and visitors. The inviting new plaza skillfully and unobtrusively incorporates security features as well as elements of the architects’ design that were never constructed. The existing covered walkway, or canopy, was retained and a new glass pavilion was added at the convergence of the office tower and the courthouse to facilitate security screening. New lighting and a restored water feature were also included in the design. The project received a Standing Ovation Award from Historic Denver, Inc., in 2001 and a 2006 Honor Award from the Denver Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The low courthouse building underwent a full modernization between 2002 and 2006. The project included upgrades to mechanical systems, reconfiguration of interior spaces, and asbestos abatement.

Significant Events

Building Facts

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