Rocky Mountain Voice

Author: External Outlet

GOP lawmakers’ attendance at Trump trial could be a problem during a key vote today
Approved, National, THE HILL

GOP lawmakers’ attendance at Trump trial could be a problem during a key vote today

By REBECCA BEITSCH AND ZACH SCHONFELD | The Hill At least nine Republican lawmakers traveled to New York to appear in court alongside former President Trump on Thursday, the latest in a string of GOP lawmakers to attend the hush money trial. The move could jeopardize GOP attendance at a key vote later in the day and also comes after the House Oversight and Accountability Committee bumped a scheduled hearing to facilitate their attendance at court. Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Mike Waltz (Fla.) and Eli Crane (Ariz.) were spotted in the courtroom, while Reps. Andy Ogles (Tenn.) Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (Va.) were also spotted at the Manhattan c...
Broncos ’24 schedule includes prime-time matchups against Browns, Saints
Approved, DenverBroncos.com, State

Broncos ’24 schedule includes prime-time matchups against Browns, Saints

By Aric DiLalla | DenverBroncos.com For the second time in three years, the Broncos will open their season visiting a former division rival. In a slate that features two prime-time games and begins with three of four games on the road, the Broncos will kick off their 2024 season with a Week 1 matchup in Seattle against the Seahawks (Sunday, Sept. 8, 1:05 p.m. PT). Denver also opened the 2022 season in Seattle, and this year's Week 1 matchup marks the third time in the last four years the Broncos have opened on the road. The Broncos hold a 10-13 record on the road in Week 1 games and have earned the most Week 1 wins of any team since 1960. The Broncos will also play early season road games in Week 3 and Week 4, as Denver is set to travel to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Sunday,...
Record Thursday: Dow hits 40,000-point mark, all three indexes look set to extend record highs
Approved, National, The Street

Record Thursday: Dow hits 40,000-point mark, all three indexes look set to extend record highs

By Martin Baccardax | The Street U.S. stocks nudged higher Thursday as investors looked to extend a springtime rally that has lifted all three major benchmarks to all-time highs following a muted inflation report and renewed bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 40,000-point mark for the first time on record, while also setting an all-time best for the time it took to rise 10,000 points. The Dow passed the 30,000 point mark on November 24, 2020, or 1,269 days ago. That's just inside the 1,442 days the Average took to climb from 20,000 points, which it hit on December 13, 2016.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE STREET
Investigation: South Adams County FD’s trips may be ‘violation of public trust’, says ethics expert
Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

Investigation: South Adams County FD’s trips may be ‘violation of public trust’, says ethics expert

By Brian Maass | CBS News Colorado Top fire chiefs and administrators with the South Adams County Fire Department, along with some of their board members, have regularly taken their spouses along to winter conferences in Florida and fall conferences in Colorado's high country, billing taxpayers for their spouses' meals and other expenses, and extending their stays before and after conferences.  One Colorado ethics expert characterized this as "sounding more like a vacation than a business trip" and suggested, "they've been misusing funds." The questionable expenditures emerged from a CBS News Colorado investigation of the fire department's conference expenses over the last three years, prompting the department to announce updates to its travel and conference policies.  REA...
Protest of USPS plan to move mail from Grand Junction to Denver may have been successful
Approved, Local, The Craig Press

Protest of USPS plan to move mail from Grand Junction to Denver may have been successful

By Elliott Wenzler  | The Craig Press The U.S. Postal Service will pause a plan to reroute mail from the Western Slope to Denver after dozens of Senators from both parties protested the changes.  “While USPS claims these changes overall will improve service while reducing costs, there is evidence to the contrary in locations where USPS has implemented changes so far,” according to a May 8 letter from 24 senators, including Sen. Michael Bennet. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in response to the senators’ concerns, he will pause implementation of that plan until at least January 2025. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE CRAIG PRESS
New rules to address bad child protection actors who may go undetected from county to county
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

New rules to address bad child protection actors who may go undetected from county to county

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun A child protection caseworker in Colorado who gets caught falsifying records or lying about checking on children in one county can get a job in another county. And then another. Under state regulations, if there is no criminal case, no one has to know about the past behavior — not the caseworker’s potential new employer or even the children and parents whose records were falsified. It’s a gap in the system that has concerned child and family advocates for years. After a string of high-profile cases of child protection workers fabricating reports, state officials are now working to strengthen the law.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
Longmont’s Schlagel family has farmed sugar beets for four generations under shadow of Rocky Mountains
Approved, Northern Colorado, thefencepost.com

Longmont’s Schlagel family has farmed sugar beets for four generations under shadow of Rocky Mountains

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post Paul Schlagel’s family was one of the many Volga German families who came to Colorado more than a century ago and grew the crop they knew: sugar beets. Their first sugar beet crop in northern Colorado was harvested in 1911. His father purchased the farm from his mother and began farming on the current farm in 1963. Next year will be his 50th crop. The operation also includes Coors barley, corn and alfalfa on all irrigated farm ground. In recent years, he said they have invested a great deal into irrigation and have transitioned from flood irrigation to mostly sprinklers. “It’s made us better farmers,” he said. “That was always, it seems like, a shortcoming to get things irrigated properly and our crop yields have increased substantially since ...
Why don’t U.S. medical schools produce more medical doctors?
Approved, Heritage Foundation, National

Why don’t U.S. medical schools produce more medical doctors?

By Jay Greene, PhD | Heritage Foundation What would happen if the U.S. military needed 1 million people in the Armed Forces but decided to cap domestic enlistment at 750,000 U.S. citizens and to recruit the rest abroad? Or what would happen if U.S. policy was designed to import 25 percent of its lawyers or teachers from elsewhere in the world, not because this country lacks people who are interested in and capable of pursuing those professions, but simply because the U.S. would rather hire foreigners for those jobs? That would be absurd—and it happens to be exactly how the system for training and hiring doctors in America operates today. To become a board-certified and licensed doctor in the United States, one must complete medical school and then be placed in a residency program for...
S&P 500 hits record high, Dow eyes 40,000 for first time on slowing inflation data
Approved, National, The Street

S&P 500 hits record high, Dow eyes 40,000 for first time on slowing inflation data

By Martin Baccardax | The Street U.S. stocks powered higher Wednesday while Treasury yields and the dollar slipped, as investors picked through a crucial April inflation report that could add further fuel to the market's recent spring rally. The S&P 500 is now trading 0.71% higher on the session at 5,283.90 points, with a new intra-day peak of 5,284.50 points, while the Nasdaq is up 0.84% at 16,165.17 points. The Dow is now just 233 points from breaching the 40,000 mark, having risen 0.5% from last night's close, with Salesforce CRM, Home Depot HD and UnitedHealth Group UNH pacing gains.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE STREET
Greszler: Counting on Social Security to fund your retirement? Think again
Approved, Commentary, National

Greszler: Counting on Social Security to fund your retirement? Think again

By Rachel Greszler | Heritage Foundation In just nine years, the oldest Gen-Xers will reach Social Security’s normal retirement age of 67. But they have a rude awakening when they learn that the program’s trust fund is empty, leaving it able to pay out only as much in benefits as it takes from the paychecks of those then working. That’s straight from the Social Security trustees 2024 report. It also notes that without congressional action, benefits will have to be cut by 21 percent across the board—including for those already retired—beginning in 2033. For the average beneficiary, who receives about $22,000 a year from Social Security, that 21 percent cut will translate into a loss of $4,600 per year. As Social Security benefits will grow faster than payroll taxes for the foreseea...