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Colorado air board approves $13.5 million in new fees as regulatory mandates grow
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado air board approves $13.5 million in new fees as regulatory mandates grow

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project This is another older, but still relevant article. The first link below is to a Sum and Substance article from late May that details how the unelected Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) doubled the amount businesses that have emission permits will have to pay for the pleasure of submitting reports to the body and being regulated by them. Quoting: “Emissions-producing Colorado companies from oil-and-gas drillers to manufacturing firms will see some of their reporting fees double over the next year, as state officials seek to make industrial leaders pay more for enforcement of the regulations that govern them. Members of the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission on Friday approved more than $13.5 mill...
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Before blaming alfalfa for Colorado’s water woes, consider what the headlines leave out
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Before blaming alfalfa for Colorado’s water woes, consider what the headlines leave out

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Alfalfa and water use: comparing apples to oranges There is a media narrative out there about alfalfa which, though not entirely wrong, is desperately in need of context; this being another example of why reporters parachuting into rural areas of the state to report on things prior to running back to the Front Range is doing no one any good (rural or urban). The claim was recently repeated in a Sun article, along with its natural follow-on. Quoting from the first link below: “It takes 44 inches of water a year in Burlington to grow alfalfa. Only about 10 inches of water drops on Burlington in a year. It only takes 15 inches of water to grow a healthy crop of black-eyed peas in Burlington. So. The numbers ...
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Before the funding push: How Colorado’s childcare case is being built
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Before the funding push: How Colorado’s childcare case is being built

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The building of the childcare narrative, ahead of a taxpayer funding push This is a lengthy story, so I want to start with a quick introduction/overview. There is a push to get government to pay for (and/or perhaps operate?) childcare in Colorado. I am sure that the policy moves will be in the legislature and/or on the ballot soon enough, but you and I are lucky enough to be witness to it in its infancy. We are lucky enough to see the narrative being built from the ground up. What I have for you today is a couple of posts falling loosely into the categories of “how do the media work in concert with market research and evaluation consultants to help drive your opinions?” and then “how are the high ups in...
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Enrollment drops but Denver schools keep growing administration
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Enrollment drops but Denver schools keep growing administration

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Denver Public Schools administrative bloat -- with some interesting counterpoint The Gazette article linked first below touches on a subject that I’ve written about multiple times. It’s administrative bloat in schools. It seems as though DPS has gotten its ranks of administrators while at the same time enrollment has fallen. This pattern also seems to be playing out in school districts around the state. Quoting (with link intact) from the article: “This finding [that DPS is beefing up administration while student numbers fall] mirrors a statewide trend identified in a report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) that found Colorado school districts continued to grow their administrative staff despite declin...
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Climate lawfare: The courtroom battle over Colorado fuel and energy
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Climate lawfare: The courtroom battle over Colorado fuel and energy

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Climate lawfare The PowerGab video linked below was a great primer on how environmentalists — unable to get done what they want by persuasion and the usual legislative process — are now turning to the courts to pursue their preferred policy. In the case of the video, the policy relates to climate change and fossil fuels. I’ll leave it to you to watch/listen to the discussion in full. It’s worth the time. There are a couple things worth special note. First, the lawsuits here in Colorado (of course) are going after the state’s two remaining refineries. This ought to give you pause. Long a target for shutdown by environmentalists, Colorado’s refineries don’t just make gas for cars. They make diesel for tru...
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Arapahoe County brings gun locks and overdose messaging into child welfare visits
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Arapahoe County brings gun locks and overdose messaging into child welfare visits

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Arapahoe County Child and Family Services, guns, and drugs I wanted to update something I wrote about earlier. The first link below is from January this year and gives you all the detail I could find about a program (funded by the Anschutz Family Foundation) called Safe Starts at Home. I’ll leave it to you to read the newsletter for more, but the upshot is that the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative (FIPI) at CU Medical and Public Health Schools got grant money to develop firearm-safety and drug overdose materials (and training) to follow social workers into homes. The idea being that the material can be handed out and discussed with families when the social worker visits. At the time no one behind this ...
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An open letter to the 10th Circuit on free speech and the First Amendment
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

An open letter to the 10th Circuit on free speech and the First Amendment

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The 10th Circuit of Court of Appeals got it wrong on free speech -- an open letter Similar to what Lincoln said of himself — I’m a slow walker but I don’t walk backwards — I often get busy with life and have to shelve writing projects without letting them go. I wrote back in early May about a decision rendered by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on legislative immunity. That newsletter is linked first below. The second link is to the judge’s decision. At the time, I wrote the clerk of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and asked how it was that one could send in feedback to the judges on their decision. The clerk said that you can either email them to [email protected], or mail them to the ...
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Colorado seeks feedback from firearms dealers as new regulations take shape
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado seeks feedback from firearms dealers as new regulations take shape

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Colorado Department of Revenue seeks feedback from Firearms Dealers The Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) was tasked with regulating — on top of the ATF and existing federal regulation — firearms dealers in the state. They are the ones who make the rules to enforce recently passed requirements on Colorado firearm dealers. I got an email from DOR last week announcing an upcoming rulemaking relevant to firearms dealers. The Department has an existing working group which will be doing the rulemaking, but that doesn’t mean you cannot weigh in. You can provide public comment to the group and can also send in written comment. The announcement of the meeting along with all links to draft rules, agendas, ...
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