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Critics say Denver Post coverage skews ICE arrest data
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Critics say Denver Post coverage skews ICE arrest data

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project There’s one group the lefty press hardly checks: nonprofits Local media spirit animal Kyle Clark recently said: "Journalists just repeating what the powerful say isn’t news."Agreed. The media shouldn't be, but all to often are, merely scribes.Thing is, Clark and others have a spotty record at checking the powerful. In particular, they do a terrible job of checking the powerful nonprofits that have so much influence here in Blue Colorado.More on that topic in my recent op ed below.https://completecolorado.com/2026/03/23/colorado-press-selectively-holds-power-to-account/ The Denver Post’s Klamann and fun with statistics In the previous post today, I shared a recent op ed about how the lef...
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It’s your child: Why parents must take the lead in education
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

It’s your child: Why parents must take the lead in education

Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I really liked the video linked at bottom. I think at some point the Independence Institute started a new video series about education, and this is one of their episodes. The thing that made this one catch my eye was the topic. It’s something near and dear to my heart: not just an encouragement to get involved in your child’s education, it’s also a guide. To give you a quick sense of the topics in this discussion, I took a picture of the timestamps from the video description and attached as screenshot 1. I’ll leave it to you to watch the video, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple last thing. One of the most important things you can (and should if you’re not) be doing to make sure...
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Another spring, another Democrat lawmaker push for “extreme temperature” workplace rules
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Another spring, another Democrat lawmaker push for “extreme temperature” workplace rules

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project For the last couple (I think--don't quote me on it being two) legislative sessions, some of the more progressive Democrats in the state legislature have been trying, and failing, to run a bill to offer "protection" to workers who do their job in extreme temperatures.Such a bill is running again this year. It's HB26-1272 which I link to first below.Past efforts died due to (legitimate) concerns by businesses and industry over the effect rules about breaks, heating, and cooling would have on their ability to operate.This year's effort is at least passing its first initial hurdles, albeit in an altered form. Quoting from the Sum and Substance article about the bill linked second below (with link intact):"House Bill 12...
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How many lawmakers benefit from taxpayer-funded nonprofits in Colorado?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

How many lawmakers benefit from taxpayer-funded nonprofits in Colorado?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I saw a CPR article (see the first link below) about how much Colorado legislators are paid recently. It was one of their "Colorado Wonders" series. This is a series where CPR writes articles based on reader questions. If you want more on that series, see the second link below. I read the article on how much Colorado legislators are paid. If that's something you've wondered, give it a look. The answer is "not much", but if you look at the daily rate for what has always been and ought to continue to be a part-time job, it's respectable. Noting that it was completely missing from the CPR piece on legislator pay, I had a little Colorado Wonders of my own. I actually took the time to submit it to CPR last week immedi...
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Colorado Supreme Court sides with transparency in child abuse hotline case
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Supreme Court sides with transparency in child abuse hotline case

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The CFOIC article linked at bottom details a recent ruling by the CO Supreme Court. Five years on from when the suit was first filed, the state’s highest court ruled that the Colorado Sun and 9News have a right to some records from the state’s child abuse hotline pertaining to group homes for children. The State of Colorado, in particular the State Department of Human Services (CDHS) had argued that releasing the statistics would violate state statutes pertaining to confidentiality, mainly due to there only being three group homes from which statistics were sought.** Quoting with links intact: “CDHS contended the information could be used to identify individual informants, children or family members — in ...
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Should professors persuade or present? Classroom neutrality questioned in Colorado
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Should professors persuade or present? Classroom neutrality questioned in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The article at bottom details how an adjunct professor specializing in queer studies at Colorado Mesa University resigned over a dispute involving classroom neutrality. I’ll leave it to you to read up on the dispute and come to your own decisions about the facts in the matter. From my take on the article, it seems that there might be something of a disagreement as to exactly what was said and what happened. I am also open to any civil comment you’d like to add. Please feel free to toss in your two cents on the issue, whether we agree or not. Again, without saying what the professor here did or didn’t do, let’s examine two different versions of how a class discussion could go. Contrast the following: ...
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Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I have mentioned (and used) the TOPS system, our state’s online checkbook register, multiple times. It’s a great way to see who our state is paying and for what. I noticed recently (within the last 6 months) that the people who run it made it significantly harder to use: I’m not sure why, but at some point they made it so you can only go month by month.** I had a reader kindly volunteer his time and skill at computer programming to come up with a way to automate TOPS searches so I, and now you since the program is public, don’t have to click and wait month by month to find what we need. The program this person came up with lives online and is linked first below. They titled it a TOPS scraper. It’s pretty i...
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Outside money floods Lakewood’s zoning fight—but voters aren’t budging
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Outside money floods Lakewood’s zoning fight—but voters aren’t budging

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I wanted to offer some interesting updates on Lakewood’s zoning fight. I would also say that if this issue is near to your heart, and you’ve not yet, you might consider subscribing to the Lakewood Informer--an outlet that’s done incredible work covering this issue. In broad terms, as of the last update, a group of citizens pushing back on Lakewood City Council’s zoning mandates had successfully gotten enough signatures to put zoning on the ballot so residents of Lakewood could have a say on the issue.* Interestingly, per the second link below a blog entry for the Kim Monson radio show, the measure has drawn quite a bit of monied and big-name opposition, including that from out of state! Quoting from that l...
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Speak up or step back: Why critics say Coloradans must engage with CPW now
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Speak up or step back: Why critics say Coloradans must engage with CPW now

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Depending on where you get your news, you are probably by now aware that the CPW Commissioners, in a meeting that I’ve heard referred to as a “shit-show” by more than one person, voted to accept a petition by a monied, out of state group. If you missed it or want to hit the high spots again, I put a FencePost article on the meeting. That is the first link below.This vote came over the recommendations against the petition by their own director and other CPW employees.Why? From where I stand the reason’s pretty simple: the CPW Commissioners have been (by design from the governor’s office) “captured” by animal rights and environmental groups.This is not just an impression I have pulled out of thin air. Over and over w...
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What’s missing: Questions raised about immigration details in Colorado crime coverage
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

What’s missing: Questions raised about immigration details in Colorado crime coverage

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Free State Colorado: our local media ignores the fact that a sex offender is here illegally In a funny coincidence I noticed a couple of stories, one national and one local, about essentially the same topic. They’re both about how the media has a problem with selective attention.* In particular to the two different stories, it’s how the lefty media ignore the illegal immigrants do in this country. The first link below is to a Fox News op ed about this topic, spurred (though not limited to) the murder of Sheridan Gorman in Chicago by an illegal immigrant. Especially noteworthy was just how little—see the image heading this post—time the big networks devoted to her murder and the man committing it. Closer...
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