Rocky Mountain Voice

Author: External Outlet

Marijuana sales have plunged in Colorado and it is making other states nervous for future
Approved, Politico, State

Marijuana sales have plunged in Colorado and it is making other states nervous for future

By MONA ZHANG | Politico On Jan. 1, 2014, Iraq War veteran Sean Azzariti made headlines worldwide as the first person in the U.S. to buy legal weed. More than 10 years later, 3D Cannabis, the dispensary in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood where the historic purchase was made, displays a makeshift sign announcing it is “temporarily closed.” The windows and doors on the side of the building have been boarded up. Plastic bags, discarded coffee cups and other trash collect in the corners of the abandoned parking lot. The dismal state of the historic site is a fitting symbol of the plight of Colorado’s cannabis market. What once was a success story has now left a trail of failed businesses and cash-strapped entrepreneurs in its wake. Regulatory burdens, an oversaturated market...
In Boulder, petitions would ask voters whether to close muni-airport and use land to build homes
Approved, BizWest, Local

In Boulder, petitions would ask voters whether to close muni-airport and use land to build homes

By Lucas High | BizWest Boulder is a great place to live — just ask U.S. News & World Report. But Boulder can be a difficult place to live. And for many, this beautiful city where the median sales price for a home has exceeded $1 million for nearly this entire decade, is an impossible place to live.  What if Boulder leaders decided to roll the dice on an uncertain gambit to secure for Boulder’s Regular Joes and Janes the chance to buy a quality home at a fraction of that price? What if that roll of the dice meant closing the Boulder Municipal Airport? Fighting the federal government? Losing millions of dollars in funding, shrinking sales-tax deposits into city coffers and shedding local jobs? READ THE FULL STORY AT BIZWEST
Adams, Spakovsky: Despite liberals’ hysterical denials, aliens are registering and voting
Approved, Commentary, The Daily Signal

Adams, Spakovsky: Despite liberals’ hysterical denials, aliens are registering and voting

By Hans von Spakovsky and J. Christian Adams  | The Daily Signal The truth is out there. Aliens are registering and voting in American elections. For anyone who cares to see it, the truth is available in public records in election offices across the nation. But unfortunately, those who expose the truth about voting by aliens—illegal immigrants or not—are subjected to ridicule and an onslaught from the Left to preserve the broken status quo. Some would prefer that anyone who documents aliens participating in American elections—especially with the current border crisis—simply disappear. We both testified recently before the House Administration Committee on this serious and real problem. The reactions of some Democrats on the committee were outl...
Feds send millions of taxpayer dollars to the Taliban
Approved, National, The Center Square

Feds send millions of taxpayer dollars to the Taliban

By Casey Harper | The Center Square After two decades at war with the Taliban, the U.S. government is now sending millions of taxpayer dollars to the terrorist group. The Taliban resumed power in Afghanistan immediately after the chaotic and deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops earlier in the Biden administration. A recently released federal watchdog report shows that the U.S. government has sent at least $11 million to the Taliban since the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops. But experts and even the federal watchdog estimate the number is much higher. "The U.S. government has continued to be the largest international donor supporting the Afghan people since the former Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban returned to power in August 2021," the federal watchdog, SIGAR, wrote in ...
Trump says death sentences for dealers will solve U.S. drug problem
Approved, National, The Center Square

Trump says death sentences for dealers will solve U.S. drug problem

By Brett Rowland | The Center Square Former President Donald Trump said soft sentences for drug dealers have helped fuel fentanyl overdose deaths in the U.S.  Trump, 77, is running against President Joe Biden in the presidential election this November.  "So many are dying where they think they're getting something and going to have a little fun on a Friday night and all of sudden their dead," Trump said on Fox News.  "You'll never really solve the drug problem unless you do what other countries do – and that's the death penalty for drug dealers," Trump said during the interview. "A drug dealer on average will kill, during that person's life, 500 people. Unless you have a death penalty. Right now, they don't even get charged with anything." READ THE FULL STORY ...
Elk stomping in Estes: Wildlife officials call for human caution after three incidents at gateway to RMNP
Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Elk stomping in Estes: Wildlife officials call for human caution after three incidents at gateway to RMNP

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun An elk stomped a human and caused injuries early Friday for the third time in two weeks in Estes Park, prompting warnings of unprecedented elk behavior during calving season at the Rocky Mountain National Park gateway.  In the latest incident, an adult woman was walking a dog using a leash, near South St. Vrain and Stanley avenues, when an elk 20 yards away was startled. The woman tried to run behind a tree, but was knocked down by the elk and stomped and kicked repeatedly. The woman is receiving medical treatment.  The elk cow’s calf was later spotted in the area, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said.  Elk, from newborn calves to massive bulls, are ubiquitous in and around Rocky Mountain National Park, and often wander through gre...
Shafer: Here’s what the shakeup at the Washington Post really means
Approved, Commentary, National

Shafer: Here’s what the shakeup at the Washington Post really means

By JACK SHAFER | The Washington Times Like the owner’s manual that sends you searching YouTube for additional and useable instructions, Washington Post Publisher and CEO Sir William Lewis’ 900-word memo to his staff, emailed Sunday night, perplexes more than it enlightens. The headline news, of course, is simple enough: Lewis showed the door to Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, installed just three years ago by previous publisher Fred Ryan, who left last year after a bit of turbulence of his own. In her place, Lewis recruited two long-time former colleagues to actually produce the paper, Matt Murray and by year’s end, Robert Winnett. Beyond that, the Lewis memo fails to illuminate the paper’s new path. Like all reorg charts, the ...
$5.5M project in Arapahoe County aims to make travel safer for Colorado cyclists
Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

$5.5M project in Arapahoe County aims to make travel safer for Colorado cyclists

By Brian Sherrod | CBS Colorado Construction crews in Arapahoe County are working to make a popular intersection more bike-friendly. Right now, crews are adding three new roundabouts around sections of Inverness West, Inverness East, and Inverness Boulevard by Dry Creek Road. The Inverness Drive Project is just one step in a very big project. CBS First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter met with CIP Transporation Engineer Trent Marshall to discuss the project in depth. Marshall tells CBS Colorado it will take a four-lane road and turn it into a two-lane road. It will dedicate those lanes to be street bike lanes. This program will provide bicycle facilities from Denver to Douglas County. The construction started the week of May 27 but the design for this project is two years in the making...
Prices at McDonald’s are up, but fast-food giant wants consumers to know by how much
Approved, National, The Street

Prices at McDonald’s are up, but fast-food giant wants consumers to know by how much

By Daniel Kline | The Street Perception is not reality and McDonald's  (MCD)  has faced some of the same narrative problems (perhaps without the political overtones) that the gasoline industry has. Addressing the issue, McDonald's President Joe Erlinger wrote an open letter to the chain's customers. McDonald's has faced a situation similar to that of gasoline prices, after a picture of an $18 Big Mac meal went viral. That image was real — but it's also an outlier.  "Recently, we have seen viral social posts and poorly sourced reports that McDonald’s has raised prices significantly beyond inflationary rates. This is inaccurate," Erlinger wrote.  "And for a brand that proudly serves nearly 90% of the U.S. population every year, we feel a responsibility to...
Swearer: These accounts of defensive gun use speak volumes
Approved, Commentary, The Daily Signal

Swearer: These accounts of defensive gun use speak volumes

By Amy Swearer | The Daily Signal It seems that many gun control activists want to take your guns so badly that they’re willing to take your voice, too. And increasingly, the war for the Second Amendment involves battles waged on a First Amendment front. Just ask the National Rifle Association, which last week needed the Supreme Court to vindicate its right to free speech against New York’s attempts to suppress the gun rights organization’s pro-Second Amendment views. New York’s unconstitutional assault on a Second Amendment advocacy group was, unfortunately, far from the first time that gun control activists have attacked the lawful gun industry and lawful gun owners by threatening their right to speak freely. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DAILY SIGNAL ...