Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Approved

Gov. Polis Faces Lawsuit Alleging Forced Labor Continues in State Prisons
No Comments
DENVER7, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Faces Lawsuit Alleging Forced Labor Continues in State Prisons

By Allie Jennejahn | Denver7 Does slavery still exist in Colorado? That's the question a class action lawsuit heading to trial Tuesday is looking to answer. DENVER — Does slavery still exist in Colorado? That's the question a class action lawsuit heading to trial Tuesday is looking to answer. It's against Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC), and it's focused specifically on forced labor in prisons. It goes back to the 13th Amendment which has a clause that states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States." That clause has previously allowed forced labor in prisons, but in 2018, Colorado voters amended the state's constit...
Read More
Logan County Families Fear Foreclosure as Water System Fails
No Comments
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Logan County Families Fear Foreclosure as Water System Fails

By Jaclyn Allen | Denver7 Sage Pointe residents told Denver7 Investigates their fight is part of a bigger rural infrastructure problem. STERLING, Colo. — Just west of Sterling, Colorado, the Sage Pointe neighborhood is in crisis. Families say their private water and sewer system is failing, and they are being asked to foot a skyrocketing bill. “There’s roughly 90 plus homes here,” Jason Sanders told Denver7 Investigates. “We had no awareness of it, no disclosure of it, but now we’re having to front the bill.” Sanders said his family was never informed that the community operates on its own well water and septic system when he purchased his home in 2023. That system is currently under a state cease-and-desist order due to past code violations. Heather Gage, secretary for b...
Read More
Colorado Supreme Court Expands Who Can Sue Over Secret Government Meetings
No Comments
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Supreme Court Expands Who Can Sue Over Secret Government Meetings

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that organizations are entitled to the same recovery of their costs as individuals when they successfully pursue a public entity’s violation of the state’s open meetings law. The Colorado Open Meetings Law permits “any person” to challenge a violation of the law. At the same time, it grants “the citizen” who proves a violation the right to relief and to recover the cost of litigation for holding the government accountable. The question for the Supreme Court was whether an organization, such as a newspaper, is a citizen entitled to the benefits of the law. By 6-1, the court answered yes. “It would be absurd to allow corporations — who are recognized as persons in one part of the statutory scheme an...
Read More
Why Ditching the Flat Tax Would Be Colorado’s Biggest Mistake
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Why Ditching the Flat Tax Would Be Colorado’s Biggest Mistake

By Jake Fogleman | Commentary, Complete Colorado The battle over Colorado’s future tax system has officially begun, and the stakes for families, businesses, and the state’s economy couldn’t be higher. Backed by a coalition of advocacy groups that consistently push for higher taxes as the solution to Colorado’s challenges, the Bell Policy Center submitted proposed language for the 2026 ballot that would overturn nearly four decades of sensible tax policy by abandoning Colorado’s flat-rate income tax and adopting a graduated tax system. Under their proposals, Colorado taxpayers would be forced to confront a new five-bracket tax system with marginal rates up to 9.5 percent, among the highest in the country. The proponents claim it’s about fairness, equity, and making t...
Read More
Who’s funding Vibrant Denver? Big developers, nonprofits and tax-funded arts groups
No Comments
Denverite, Approved, Local

Who’s funding Vibrant Denver? Big developers, nonprofits and tax-funded arts groups

By Kyle Harris | Denverite One notable booster hasn’t donated yet. A who’s who of Denver cultural giants, developers, construction industry leaders and nonprofits are donating big to Mayor Mike Johnston’s Vibrant Denver bond campaign. Vibrant Denver Bond, the committee raising money for the effort, had brought in more than $1 million as of the end of September.  The opposition to the bond, Citizens for NO New Debt, had raised just over $3,000. The group argues that Denver should avoid incurring debt and hold off on starting new projects until the city can afford to do the work without bonds. Taxpayer-funded cultural groups are among the biggest donors. The five regional taxpayer-funded Tier One Scientific and Cultural Facilities District institutions – the Denve...
Read More
Two years later: Evidence shows U.S. and Israel missed warning signs before Oct. 7 Hamas attack
No Comments
Just The News, Approved, National

Two years later: Evidence shows U.S. and Israel missed warning signs before Oct. 7 Hamas attack

By Steven Richards | Just the News The Pentagon on Biden's watch confirmed that the U.S. was "not aware" of the terrorist group’s plan to attack Israeli civilians, despite the prior warning signs in the months and years before the murderous plan. Two years after the deadly terrorist attack on Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the prospects for peace, by the account of the U.S. President Donald Trump and a coterie of Arab states, seem higher than ever.  But, a key question about the spark that ignited the conflict remains unanswered: How did U.S. intelligence miss the warning signs of an imminent attack by Hamas? In the days before the killers spilled over the Gaza border in cars and skydiving to invade Israeli villages for the purposes of raping and mutilating ci...
Read More
Lawsuit Claims VA Diverted Medical Resources from Veterans to Aid Illegal Immigrants
No Comments
The Daily Signal, Approved, National

Lawsuit Claims VA Diverted Medical Resources from Veterans to Aid Illegal Immigrants

By Virginia Allen | The Daily Signal The Veterans Affairs Department is facing a lawsuit after failing to disclose information related to the department’s alleged improper use of medical resources during the Biden administration to benefit illegal immigrants.   Following a Daily Signal report in August 2024, a policy organization in Washington asked the VA for more information related to its reputed use of employees to process cases of illegal aliens at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Health Service Corps. The Center to Advance Security in America, or CASA, received none of the information it requested from the VA. “After CASA learned that the Biden administration was diverting resources from the VA to provide medical exam...
Read More
Chicago Gang Leader Charged for Offering $10K Bounty to Murder Federal Officer
No Comments
Just The News, Approved, National

Chicago Gang Leader Charged for Offering $10K Bounty to Murder Federal Officer

By Misty Severi | Just The News The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois charged 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez, who is an alleged leader of the Chicago gang Latin Kings, with one count of murder-for-hire. Federal officers on Monday arrested a suspected Chicago gang leader who allegedly offered to pay $10,000 to anyone who killed a senior Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer involved in Operation Midway Blitz. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois charged 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez, who is an alleged leader of the Chicago gang Latin Kings, with one count of murder-for-hire. No court date has been set so far. A criminal complaint that was unveiled Monday alleged that Martinez sent messages on S...
Read More
New Report Alleges Biden Administration Spied on Eight Republican Senators
No Comments
The Post Millennial, Approved, National

New Report Alleges Biden Administration Spied on Eight Republican Senators

By Roberto Wakerell-Cruz | The Post Millennial "This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy.’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump." Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Monday released a document showing that the FBI conducted surveillance on eight Republican senators as part of an investigation codenamed Arctic Frost. In a post on X, Grassley said, “This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy.’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump. BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE.” The FBI document, dated Septembe...
Read More
Colorado Becomes First State to Limit Price of a Specific Drug
No Comments
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Becomes First State to Limit Price of a Specific Drug

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado became the first state in the nation to set a price cap on a specific medication last week, following a unanimous decision by the Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board to limit the cost of a drug used to treat inflammatory conditions. On Oct. 3, the board voted to set an Upper Payment Limit, or UPL, of $600 per 50mg unit of Enbrel, an injectable medication used to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and plaque psoriasis. That comes out to about $30,000 a year, more than $20,000 less than the average insurance plan paid for the drug per person in 2023, according to the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “This decision is a victory for hardworking Colorado families who have been stretched thin...
Read More