Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Approved

A Trump tariff legacy: U.S. Treasury posts June surplus of $27 billion
No Comments
Investing.com, Approved, National

A Trump tariff legacy: U.S. Treasury posts June surplus of $27 billion

By Frank DeMatteo | Investing.com Investing.com -- Just one week after President Trump signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law, the administration is celebrating again. The U.S. government posted a budget surplus for June, driven in large part by Trump’s aggressive tariff policies. The June 2025 budget recorded a surplus of over $27 billion, the first monthly surplus since 2017. Economists had expected a deficit of $41.5 billion for the month. A key factor was the surge in customs duties, which totaled roughly $27 billion for the month. That’s up from $23 billion in May and a staggering 301% increase compared to June 2024. So far this year, tariff collections have reached $113 billion, up 86% from the same period last year. Much of the increase is tied to the across-the...
Read More
Garbo: Sheriff Darren Weekly is the exception that proves the GOP’s problem
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Garbo: Sheriff Darren Weekly is the exception that proves the GOP’s problem

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In 2022, Darren Weekly wasn’t supposed to win. At least not according to the self-appointed gatekeepers of Republican purity in Douglas County. Branded a “RINO,” derided as “Tony 2.0,” and accused of being soft on Second Amendment rights due to the endorsement of outgoing Sheriff Tony Spurlock, Weekly was the target of aggressive intra-party attacks. The purist wing of the GOP put its full weight behind John Anderson, another outstanding, articulate, and Constitution-minded candidate whose campaign centered on resisting the Red Flag law and defending liberty.  I was among Anderson’s vocal supporters - endorsing, donating, campaigning, and even hosting events on his behalf. But Weekly won. By just over one percentag...
Read More
17 Colorado sheriffs to Polis: Fix inmate transfer crisis straining local jails
No Comments
denvergazette.com, Approved, State

17 Colorado sheriffs to Polis: Fix inmate transfer crisis straining local jails

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette A coalition of 17 county sheriffs urged Gov. Jared Polis to resolve the Department of Corrections' backlog in inmate transfers and increase what the local officials described as the state's inadequate reimbursement rate for housing inmates in county jails. Current conditions are unsustainable according the group. In a letter signed by the sheriffs of El Paso, Douglas, Pueblo, and other counties, the group warned that prolonged delays in transferring of DOC-sentenced inmates from county jails into state custody, combined with what they called an "outdated and underfunded" per diem reimbursement rate, is creating a fiscal and public safety crisis.  "County jails were never designed — or funded — to house state inmates for extended periods,”...
Read More
Lightning-sparked fires top 1,600 acres overnight at Black Canyon National Park
No Comments
denvergazette.com, Approved, Local

Lightning-sparked fires top 1,600 acres overnight at Black Canyon National Park

By Nick Smith | Denver Gazette Reaching 1,640 acres in size, the wildfires in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park continue to burn with no signs of containment after two lightning strikes sparked the blazes Thursday. Evacuations for the park remain Friday, and there is no estimated time for reopening, according to fire and incident information agency InciWeb. The agency stated in a late-night news release Thursday that dry, receptive fuel aided by warm temperatures and wind has made for great circumstances for the fire to burn quickly. Incident Management Team San Juan Team 8 took command of wildfire containment operations early Friday. Lori Rome, a spokesperson for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, said one fire started near the Kneeling Camel Overlook, and the other wa...
Read More
Feds unfreeze $4M for Upper Colorado River Basin watershed restoration
No Comments
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Feds unfreeze $4M for Upper Colorado River Basin watershed restoration

By Jerd Smith | Colorado Sun The cash will allow work in fire-damaged watersheds and the Kawuneeche Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park to continue Millions of dollars in federal funding have been released to continue restoring lands and streams in the fire-scarred Upper Colorado River Basin watershed in and around Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park. The roughly $4 million was frozen in February and was released in April, according to Northern Water, a major Colorado water provider and one of the agencies that coordinate with the federal government and agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service to conduct the work.  Esther Vincent, Northern Water’s director of environmental services, said the federal government gave no reason for the  freeze and release of funds....
Read More
Jeffco Kids First: Court sides with defamer, silences truth in heartbreaking reversal
No Comments
Jeffco Kids First, Approved, Commentary, Local

Jeffco Kids First: Court sides with defamer, silences truth in heartbreaking reversal

Lindsay Datko | Commentary, Jeffco Kids First The sharp sting of brutal injustice cuts deep, searing the soul. Your time spent reading this is my measure of justice, and for that, I am profoundly grateful. “In reviewing the record, the Court identifies instances of Defendants’ conduct that a trier of fact could find as clear and convincing evidence of their anger and hostility toward Plaintiffs to sufficiently show actual malice.” Judge Loewer On the afternoon of October 7, 2022, my phone lit up with text messages: “You need an attorney ASAP.”  “Be prepared, there’s an article that just came out.”  Everything went silent except the ringing in my ears as I read the article, the world spinning around me. I remember the exact square-footage of my kitchen I was standing in. With m...
Read More
Colorado Springs vs. Huntsville: what’s next for Space Command HQ?
No Comments
Washington Examiner, Approved, National

Colorado Springs vs. Huntsville: what’s next for Space Command HQ?

By Jamie McIntyre | Washington Examiner One of the longest-running battles in Washington is not over the war in Ukraine or the wisdom of tariffs and tax cuts but rather a war between two states over whether Space Command headquarters should remain in Colorado, where it is and always has been since its predecessor, the Air Force Space Command, was established in 1982, or move to Huntsville, Alabama, where it would be the crown jewel of “Rocket City,” home of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal. When President Donald Trump created the Space Force at the end of 2019 during his first term, Colorado’s newly renamed Peterson Space Force Base was, as logic would dictate, named the temporary headquarters of what was now a full-fledged combatant command, while a formal A...
Read More
Gazette editorial board: Why taxing servers and medics is political malpractice
No Comments
denvergazette.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Gazette editorial board: Why taxing servers and medics is political malpractice

The Gazette editorial board | Commentary, Denver Gazette You’d think our state’s ruling Democrats would be doing their level best to win back the working class in advance of next year’s national midterm election. It will be a referendum, after all, on the Trump presidency and congressional Republicans — who won power last year with the support of workers long deemed the sole domain of the Democratic Party. Yet, Colorado’s Legislature and Gov. Jared Polis decided to gut-punch Colorado workers, instead — by essentially taxing their hard-earned overtime wages. That provision was buried in an obscure, wide-ranging bill innocuously titled, “Tax Expenditure Adjustment,” which lawmakers passed this spring. Polis signed it into law in May. The state’s overtime tax is intended to offset fe...
Read More