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Author: Jen Schumann

Polis commutes Tina Peters sentence before resentencing begins
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Polis commutes Tina Peters sentence before resentencing begins

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Two weeks ago, the judge who first sent Tina Peters to prison called her resentencing “inevitable.” Friday afternoon, Gov. Jared Polis stopped it before it could happen. In an executive order issued May 15, Polis commuted Peters’ sentence to 4 years and 4.5 months and ordered her released on parole effective June 1. The Colorado Parole Board will determine the terms of her release. Peters had served 591 days of the nearly nine-year sentence imposed in October 2024 after a Mesa County jury convicted her on seven election-related counts. The Colorado Court of Appeals vacated that sentence April 2, ruling the trial court improperly considered Peters’ protected speech regarding election fraud claims during sentencing while still upholding ...
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He flagged the DEI language. He filed the report anyway. Colorado fired him for both.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

He flagged the DEI language. He filed the report anyway. Colorado fired him for both.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice "I don't think I'm surprised by their decision at all," Rich Guggenheim said three days after the Colorado Department of Agriculture fired him. "I expected this decision." On May 8, CDA Deputy Commissioner Jordan Beezley signed the termination letter, effective immediately. Guggenheim had been the plant health programs manager since 2021. https://twitter.com/5280BasedHomo/status/2052861817740017907 Guggenheim posted the termination letter on X the same day it was delivered, tagging Vice President JD Vance, Associate Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and the DOJ Civil Rights Division. As RMV first reported in December, the dispute started with a single chat comment during a November managers meeting and the whistleblower com...
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DataRepublican never spoke in a meeting. A million people are listening now.
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DataRepublican never spoke in a meeting. A million people are listening now.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Jennica Pounds was in the corner, as usual. It was a meeting at Snap, and the way it worked was simple: her communication partner, Brent Mills, typed notes to her on a laptop. She typed back. Mills translated her shorthand for the room. Most meetings, nobody looked at her screen. That was fine. It had worked for years. Then Evan Spiegel stopped mid-sentence. “Wait,” the CEO said. “I want to know what Jennica is saying.” Forty years. That was the first time anyone in a meeting had done that. Jennica Pounds—known online as DataRepublican, small r—is deaf and nonspeaking. She spent more than fifteen years inside some of the biggest technology companies in the world: Amazon, eBay, Snap, Upstart, where she was a senior distinguished m...
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Ninety-six minutes later—Barrett denies Tina Peters’ renewed motion to disqualify him
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Ninety-six minutes later—Barrett denies Tina Peters’ renewed motion to disqualify him

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Defense attorney John Case filed the motion at 3:17 p.m. Monday. Judge Matthew Barrett denied it at 4:53 p.m. Ninety-six minutes later, Tina Peters’ latest effort to remove the judge overseeing her case was over. The motion cited three major court decisions and included a new sworn affidavit from Rev. Robert Babcox, chief chaplain for the Colorado State Patrol in Grand Junction. Barrett’s denial spanned four paragraphs. The filing argued Barrett was not free to dismiss or reframe sworn affidavits supporting disqualification if Colorado law required the court to presume those statements were true. 2026-0511 DENIED_Defendants Motion for Reconsideration of Order Denying Motion to Disqualify Judge Matthew BarrettDownload Judge Ma...
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A Rodney King-era civil rights law drives the federal lawsuit over Colorado’s magazine ban
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A Rodney King-era civil rights law drives the federal lawsuit over Colorado’s magazine ban

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado's magazine ban has been challenged before. The surprise this time is not the Second Amendment argument. It is the DOJ’s decision to use a federal civil-rights law traditionally aimed at police misconduct investigations to make it. On May 5, federal attorneys filed against Denver over its assault-weapons ban. The next morning, they were back in court with another complaint—this one against the state, over the 15-round magazine limit. The law driving both lawsuits came out of the aftermath of Rodney King. Congress passed §12601 in 1994 after Los Angeles erupted in riots, giving the federal government authority to intervene when police departments repeatedly violated constitutional rights. DOJ has used the law fewer than 100 times in t...
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Manny Rutinel wants to represent Colorado’s oil country. His law is bearing down on its only refinery.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Manny Rutinel wants to represent Colorado’s oil country. His law is bearing down on its only refinery.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice State Rep. Manny Rutinel is asking voters in the heart of Colorado’s oil country to send him to Congress. Seven weeks from now, a law Rutinel helped write could reshape how Colorado’s only petroleum refinery operates. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment published a refinery assessment on May 1 after HB24-1338—the 2024 bill Rutinel co-sponsored—required the state to conduct it. The state hired Eastern Research Group to do the work. ERG compared Suncor's Commerce City refinery—in Rutinel's own state House district—against standards in California, Texas and Indiana and found multiple areas where Colorado's current permits fall short. A public meeting on the assessment is May 13. If CDPHE acts on the findings, a new refine...
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As EEOC complaints climb, former federal official teaches Colorado workers their rights
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

As EEOC complaints climb, former federal official teaches Colorado workers their rights

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A congressional candidate is teaching workplace discrimination law to the public as Congress faces new harassment scrutiny and the EEOC operates with its smallest workforce in nearly half a century. Patty McMahon spent her career at the EEOC's Denver Field Office—training community groups, unions, businesses and educators on federal anti-discrimination law, serving as the office's congressional liaison and public affairs officer, and holding special certification to deliver the agency's "Respect in the Workplace" training. Now she's taking that knowledge to library meeting rooms—four free workshops this month and next, open to anyone who shows up. The sessions are called "Know Your Federal Employment Rights." Each one covers what the law ...
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Colorado loses businesses at one of nation’s highest rates, new report finds
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado loses businesses at one of nation’s highest rates, new report finds

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado residents have spent years watching prices climb while business groups warn that operating in the state is becoming harder. A new report adds another layer of data to those concerns. Colorado ranked near the bottom nationally for net business establishment growth in 2024 and recorded the nation’s worst employment losses tied to business openings and closures, according to a new analysis from the Common Sense Institute. While most states added businesses and jobs last year, Colorado was one of only six states to lose ground in both categories, joining Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington. Researchers pointed to high business costs and weakening confidence in Colorado’s economic outlook as growing warni...
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“Time to walk the talk”: Rich Guggenheim launches Republican challenge in Senate District 25
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

“Time to walk the talk”: Rich Guggenheim launches Republican challenge in Senate District 25

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A couple of Republican women called Rich Guggenheim and asked if he'd be interested in running for office. His first instinct was a joke. "Running what? Running my mouth? I can definitely... I'm really good at doing that." When they told him it was Senate District 25, he recognized the seat right away. "Nobody else wants to run, huh?" The seat was previously held by Faith Winter and is now filled by appointed Sen. William Lindstedt. They told him they'd tried. No one would do it. He said yes. He joked that a win might come with a therapy bill for them.  After saying yes, he said he earned 90 percent of the vote at county assembly. When he launched his campaign at Satire Brewing in Thornton on April 22, the early support s...
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Judge Barrett denies Tina Peters bond, calls future appeals “frivolous”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Judge Barrett denies Tina Peters bond, calls future appeals “frivolous”

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Tina Peters will not be released from custody. Judge Matthew Barrett denied her renewed motion for bond pending appeal Tuesday morning—two days after refusing to step aside from her case. The nine-page order keeps Peters in prison while her legal team prepares to take the bond question to the Colorado Court of Appeals, the same panel that threw out her sentence earlier this month. Barrett did not hold a hearing. He found he could not conclude Peters is unlikely to flee, called her future appeals "frivolous" and said they would be pursued "for the purpose of delay." "Finality is critical to the resolution of the judicial process," Barrett wrote, "and it would be contrary to the law to ignore the reality that Defendant would use all mean...
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