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Author: Jen Schumann

“God’s timing, not mine”: Rose Pugliese on closing one chapter and trusting what comes next
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

“God’s timing, not mine”: Rose Pugliese on closing one chapter and trusting what comes next

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice  Rose Pugliese describes her resignation from the Colorado House as one of the hardest decisions of her life, shaped by prayer, sacrifice —  and the voices of her children. “I truly want to follow God’s path and I think part of God’s path for me now is making sure I prioritize my children,” she explained. For the House minority leader and single mom, that path now means stepping back from the Capitol and returning to Mesa County. Her choice, effective Sept. 15, came during a week she described as overwhelming — from the Evergreen school shooting to the assassination of Charlie Kirk to the grief of 9/11 remembrances.  What finally cut through the politics was a child’s honesty. “Mommy, we feel like you’re not OK, and we want you t...
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Minority Leader Pugliese resigns from House: “I want more than anything to follow God’s path”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Minority Leader Pugliese resigns from House: “I want more than anything to follow God’s path”

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Rocky Mountain Voice received a resignation letter late Sunday night from Rep. Rose Pugliese (El Paso County), announcing she will step down as Colorado House Minority Leader and from her District 14 seat effective Sept. 15. Pugliese, who rose to the top Republican leadership post in her first term after Mike Lynch’s 2024 resignation, wrote that her faith guided her decision. “If you wanted peace, you had to follow God’s path. I want more than anything to follow God’s path. I needed to understand what that path was for me in this time of my life,” she said. She explained that the message came during a homily after the special session, when she prayed for clarity. Her letter describes a painful end to that session. “The last day of Special Ses...
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To American Youth: We’re passing you the torch
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Top Stories

To American Youth: We’re passing you the torch

By Jen Schumann | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I’m writing this from a rainy weekend in Vallecito, Colorado, sitting in a small A-frame with my young adult son. It’s quiet here, but grief followed me. In the past I think about how inadequate I am to help my children and grandchildren face adversity and challenges in life and I see how fallible my attempts are. And yet, in this moment, I feel — with Charlie Kirk — emboldened in a way I never have before, even though we are heartbroken. To American youth: this is for you. Like so many others, I’ve been wrestling with how to make sense of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I am a mom, a grandma and a former teacher. But like Charlie taught countless young people, we don’t stop when life is heavy — we take up the torch. What...
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Remembering Charlie Kirk: Colorado memorial service set for Sunday
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Remembering Charlie Kirk: Colorado memorial service set for Sunday

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice This Sunday, September 14, BRAVE Church will host a memorial service and prayer vigil to honor the life of Charlie Kirk. The service begins at 2 p.m. MT and will be held at Brave Church campuses in Englewood and Westminster. Speakers include Pastor Jeff, Jeff Hunt, Heidi Ganahl and Victor Marx. Pastor Jeff is the founder and senior pastor of BRAVE Church. Since launching the church in 2010, he has grown it to three campuses and a K–12 BRAVE Academy, while also hosting a nationally broadcast radio program that challenges listeners to live boldly in their faith. “Charlie Kirk was a friend, a courageous brother in Christ, a bold voice for truth and a man who loved his family,” said Pastor Jeff. “He will be deeply missed but his legacy will co...
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From Oregon to Boulder – The early fights that shaped Charlie Kirk
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Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

From Oregon to Boulder – The early fights that shaped Charlie Kirk

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Some leaders visit a place. Charlie Kirk kept coming back. Heidi Ganahl saw it up close. “Charlie always saw hope in Colorado… he never gave up on Colorado. He always came here,” she said. “He was one of the only ones that really stood strong with me when I was getting so vilified in the governor’s race… a great mentor and teacher to me.” From her vantage point as a CU Regent and a candidate, his loyalty was unmistakable. But his roots with Colorado’s conservative movement stretch back even further, to one of the first college students he ever backed: Heidi’s daughter Tori. Early days in Ducks country The first spark came in 2016 after a chance introduction. Tori recalls that her grandpa sat next to Charlie at an Leadership of the Rocki...
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Henry Ford’s vaccine study backfired, and parents weren’t supposed to see it
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Henry Ford’s vaccine study backfired, and parents weren’t supposed to see it

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Parents have long been told that the science on vaccines is settled. A study conducted inside Henry Ford Health in Detroit set out to reinforce that message. Its authors wrote that their goal was to “reassure parents of the overall safety of vaccination.”  The data didn’t land the way the authors expected.  Tracking over 18,000 children, the study showed higher chronic illness among the vaccinated than the unvaccinated. At the ten-year mark, 57 percent of vaccinated children had at least one chronic condition. For unvaccinated kids, it was 17 percent. Parents online are calling out what the unpublished Henry Ford data really shows. https://twitter.com/catsscareme2021/status/1965753836145909911 The numbers that couldn’t be...
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Day of Defense on Sept. 20 equips families to fight exploitation
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Local, Top Stories

Day of Defense on Sept. 20 equips families to fight exploitation

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice To Corrigan, the Sept. 20 Day of Defense is more than an event. It’s part of a larger calling to rally Colorado around protecting children and restoring those who’ve been harmed. Colorado ranks tenth in the nation for human trafficking, despite being only 21st in population. That reality is what Abby Corrigan, CEO of the Colorado Faith Alliance, says drives her organization’s work. She believes the fight begins with a clear truth. “Pornography is the root issue of sex trafficking. America is the number one buyer of sex in the world… they are after our children and it all leads to trafficking in some form or another,” Corrigan said. Research supports Corrigan’s concern. One in three kids see hardcore porn by age 12 — most of them by acciden...
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From ACIP to AAP: CDPHE proposes school vaccine rule shift amid 95% MMR goal
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From ACIP to AAP: CDPHE proposes school vaccine rule shift amid 95% MMR goal

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is proposing a new playbook for school vaccines. The Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) plans to drop reliance on the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — a CDC panel — and instead follow the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which has rolled out its own schedule and supports only medical exemptions. The shift coincides with CDPHE’s campaign to lift MMR rates from 88 to 95 percent, the herd immunity target, amid national upheaval and rising parental concern. Colorado’s health department is pushing new changes to school vaccine rules, and parents have less than two weeks to weigh in. CDPHE will appear before the State Board of Health on Oct. 15 to request a rulemaking hearing. Public comments...
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Uncompensated care meets 340B: Colorado’s numbers force a reckoning
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Uncompensated care meets 340B: Colorado’s numbers force a reckoning

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado now requires hospitals to open their books, but the reports still don’t show how 340B savings are used or how much uncompensated care is migrant-related. That gap has turned Colorado into a proving ground for reforms that define the patient, disclose the spread and require hospitals to prove the savings reach care. Colorado’s uncompensated care surge UCHealth says it is drowning under the weight of migrant care, reporting $17 million in uncompensated costs in just three months last year. Denver Health added another $10 million in the same surge, and a Common Sense Institute analysis put the metro total for emergency care at $48 million by late 2024, averaging $2,931 per encounter.  Colorado’s own ledger underscores the scale....
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Show up and earn: First jobs, buying power and Colorado’s July numbers
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Show up and earn: First jobs, buying power and Colorado’s July numbers

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Labor Day isn’t just policy and parades. It’s first alarms, first shifts and the pride of a small raise. The numbers say buying power ticked up this year and Colorado stays competitive. The stories say the first rung is where grit takes shape. The first paycheck isn’t just money. It’s alarms, bus schedules and showing up when friends don’t. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Secretary of Labor, tells it plainly. “My parents insisted that I get a job… I wanted to be a cheerleader in high school and I couldn’t afford the uniform… I was working 12-hour days… I raised the money that I needed to buy that uniform.”  Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, remembers a mop and waxed aisles. “I went to a local grocery store called Big Star… I got to clean...
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