DENVER — After four hours of testimony and deliberation in the old Supreme Court chambers of the state Capitol, First Assistant Attorney General Laura Udis decided to reverse her proposed payday lending rules and effectively reinsert consumer protections which she said are more in line with the spirit of the law passed last legislative session.

Attorney General John Suthers is not writing the new rules that will govern the payday loan industry in Colorado. That’s why he is playing down the $10,000 in campaign donations he has received from the industry and saying the cash won’t influence the final contours of the new state regulations. The person writing the rules, Laura Udis, has worked in the attorney general’s department of consumer protection for more than two decades. She told the Colorado

Next Tuesday, Aug. 31, new proposed rules governing payday lenders in Colorado will be reviewed by the Attorney General’s division of Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC). The current proposed rules, released July 30, have already garnered pages of written comments, both from those who supported House Bill 10-1351, the bill that changed payday lending law; from the chief legal counsel for Gov. Bill Ritter; and from payday lending companies and the Colorado trade association that represents them.

An attempt by lawmakers to ease the grip of payday lending on Colorado families has turned into a swirl of controversy in the attorney general's race.

Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett, a Democrat trying to unseat Republican incumbent John Suthers, has raised questions about $10,350 in contributions from 12 payday lenders to Suthers' campaign — which came precisely at the time Suthers' office was writing rules to implement the state's new, more restrictive payday lending law.

Proposed new rules for payday lending companies are being attacked by the industry as well as people who want to see stricter regulations.

Gov. Bill Ritter’s chief legal counsel, Craig Welling, called one of the rules “absurd,” but payday lending companies say other parts go beyond a new law calling for them in the first place.

DENVER -- Pinnacol Assurance must pay a civil penalty of $80,000 and credit certain policyholders a minimum of $15 million after the state Division of Insurance found the company was essentially gouging some customers.

The penalty and credit are part of a settlement between Pinnacol and the Division of Insurance. The settlement comes on the heels of a state-ordered audit completed earlier this year.

AURORA — The Aurora City Council today will interview five city-manager candidates behind closed doors, a move that some say violates state law and lacks transparency.

Chris Beall, legal counsel for the Colorado Press Association, said the state's open-meetings law allows councils to meet in executive session to discuss such "sensitive matters" as personnel issues.

DENVER -- A Denver judge ruled that Pinnacol Assurance must turn over records of a controversial trip to Pebble Beach that 7NEWS requested under state open records laws.

Denver District Judge Morris Hoffman ruled that Pinnacol is a public agency and that there was no reason to withhold the records.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the federal agency that oversees the country’s 2.3 million miles of oil and natural gas pipelines, has adopted as part of its regulations all or parts of at least 29 standards written by the oil and natural gas industry.