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Grand Junction Zip Line Project Fizzles Despite Lavish Public Subsidies
Local, Approved, The Business Times

Grand Junction Zip Line Project Fizzles Despite Lavish Public Subsidies

By Brandon Leuallen | The Business Times The Las Colonias Riverfront Zip Adventures zip line, which was launched after initial delays in August 2023, then shut down partway through 2024, remains inactive in 2025. As an anchor business for the $30 million Riverfront development, Bonsai Design, a company that designs aerial-adventure courses and owns the zip line, secured $1.69 million in taxpayer-funded incentives, including payment of development fees, impact fees, land-lease discounts, property-tax breaks and grant support. Bonsai also was entrusted with operating the zip line, adding jobs and recruiting other outdoor businesses to fill the park. The online bookings page for the zip line states: “We are closed for the remainder of 2024. Thanks for a great season and we hope to se...
Gaines: Colorado’s unelected boards hold the real power—and it’s hurting rural counties
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State, Substack

Gaines: Colorado’s unelected boards hold the real power—and it’s hurting rural counties

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Regulatory Capture and Colorado's Unelected Boards I wrote a bit back (see the first link below) about how our state is increasingly turfing what ought to be legislative control to a series of unelected boards, how legislative laziness has effectively handed over control of our state to them.Rulemaking and regulation might make things more efficient, it might enable higher policy output with less time, but it is not without cost. It's one of those costs I want to cover today: policy by unelected board opens us up to control, not by the people, but by industry and (increasingly in Colorado) advocates.This is due to cronyism in board appointments and also what might loosely be termed a form of "regulatory capture" (if you wil...
Trump Administration Unseals Massive Trove of MLK Assassination Files
National, Approved, Just The News

Trump Administration Unseals Massive Trove of MLK Assassination Files

By Misty Severi | Just the News Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday released hundreds of thousands of files related to the 1960s assassination of Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The files come after President Donald Trump ordered agencies to declassify documents involving the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and King. "Today, after nearly 60 years of questions surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are releasing 230,000 MLK assassination files" Gabbard said in a post on X. "The documents include details about the FBI’s investigation into the assassination of MLK, discussion of potential leads, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, information a...
Rand Paul introduces bill to audit the Federal Reserve after $2.5B renovation uproar
Washington Examiner, Approved, National

Rand Paul introduces bill to audit the Federal Reserve after $2.5B renovation uproar

By Washington Examiner Staff | Washington Examiner Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced legislation on Thursday calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve. The senator’s proposal comes after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has faced scrutiny for the $2.5 billion in renovations he authorized for two federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Paul’s bill, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, would require a complete audit of all of the Federal Reserve’s operational activities and mandate an enhancement of its decision-making through increased congressional oversight. The Comptroller General of the United States would complete the audit and include an inspection of “the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of Federal Reserve banks,” acco...
Redfin report shows Gen Z buying homes younger than millennials or Gen X
DENVER7, Approved, National

Redfin report shows Gen Z buying homes younger than millennials or Gen X

By Rachel Wingrat | Denver7 DENVER — New data from Zillow shows the median earner in Denver would need a $44,000 raise to afford a mortgage on a home. It's just the latest statistic that shows how hard it can be to buy a house. But Gen Z seems to be defying the data. According to a recent report from Redfin, Gen Z is actually outpacing millennials and Gen X when it comes to homeownership, compared to when those other generations were the same age. Denver7 spoke with Elizabeth Million, with Elevation Credit Union, about how this is possible when homes seem so unaffordable. "They definitely do their research, which is fantastic," Million said. "The Gen Z segment, they're okay to move or drive as far as it takes to find affordable homes." So Million said, that mi...
Colorado Supreme Court opinions shrink in volume but stir policy debate
denvergazette.com, Approved, State

Colorado Supreme Court opinions shrink in volume but stir policy debate

By Michael Karlik | Denver Gazette Justice Richard Gabriel outpaced his peers by far in the volume of written opinions and his frequency in dissent The Colorado Supreme Court's most visible decision of its recently concluded term may actually be the one it made five years ago. In 2020, with the retirement of then-Chief Justice Nathan B. Coats, the court's other members decided to switch to a rotational method of filling the seat, with the judicial branch's top job term-limited to approximately three years. Last summer, the first rotation occurred, with Justice Brian D. Boatright stepping down and Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez stepping in. Since then, the "Márquez court" has made big moves in key areas. It decided a bundle of five appeals about crim...
Ortiz: Powell must act—BBB unlocked the door, now unleash Main Street
Breitbart, Approved, National

Ortiz: Powell must act—BBB unlocked the door, now unleash Main Street

By Alfredo Ortiz | Commentary, Breitbart American small businesses scored a major victory with this month’s passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, which locked in lower taxes and restored key tax breaks. However, the nation’s job creators are still operating with one hand tied behind their backs due to the ongoing high-interest rate environment. The Federal Reserve is working at cross purposes with policymakers trying to unleash growth. At its July meeting next week, the Fed has the opportunity to change course and align monetary policy with fiscal policy to support small business dynamism. It should move swiftly to meaningfully cut interest rates and begin restoring affordable access to credit for America’s small business backbone. Rather than being data-dependent, Fed C...
Schlichter: No amnesty, no compromise, no surrender
TownHall.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Schlichter: No amnesty, no compromise, no surrender

By Kurt Schlichter | Commentary, Townhall There is cringe, and then there is the DIGNITY Act. It’s one of those stupid bills whose authors turn its title into a stupid acronym, but this latest amnesty proposal doesn’t make an acronym out of “DIGNITY”; fittingly, it makes it out of the Spanish word “DIGNIDAD” (Dignity) and stands for “Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream.” We should ignite it all right, and deliver it to be used as a suppository, not just because of that idiocy, but because there’s so much more to hate. Basically, it’s a free ride for illegal aliens in exchange for enforcement that will never happen as soon as Democrats or a soft Republican takeover, another of those “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburge...
‘Treasonous conspiracy’: Obama officials pushed fake Trump-Russia narrative
Breitbart, Approved, National

‘Treasonous conspiracy’: Obama officials pushed fake Trump-Russia narrative

By Olivia Rondeau | Breitbart The Obama administration’s top officials committed a “treasonous conspiracy” by manufacturing and politicizing intelligence to create the false narrative that led to the years-long Trump-Russia collusion probe, according to newly-declassified documents released by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard. Announcing that “Americans will finally learn the truth” about shady actions taken by senior officials in former President Barack Obama’s National Security Council (NSC), Gabbard dropped damning documents that showed how they laid the groundwork for “what was essentially a years-long coup” against President Donald Trump: Despite the intelligence community’s consensus that Russia “lacked the intent and capability to hack U.S. elections” p...
Hanson: The world woke up—and the left’s illusions shattered
TownHall.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Hanson: The world woke up—and the left’s illusions shattered

By Victor David Hanson | Townhall In less than six months, the entire world has been turned upside down. There is no longer such a thing as conventional wisdom or the status quo. The unthinkable has become the banal. Take illegal immigration -- remember the 10,000 daily illegal entries under former President Joe Biden? Recall the only solution was supposedly "comprehensive immigration reform"--a euphemism for mass amnesties. Now, there is no such thing as daily new illegal immigration. It simply disappeared with common-sense enforcement of existing immigration laws -- and a new president. How about the 40,000-50,000 shortfall in military recruitment? Remember all the causes that the generals cited for their inability to enlist soldiers: generational gangs, obesity, dru...