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What Amendment 87 Could Mean for Broncos Players and Colorado Employers
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Commentary, State

What Amendment 87 Could Mean for Broncos Players and Colorado Employers

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Colorado Politics Do you want the Broncos to win the Super Bowl? Then you’d better hope Amendment 87 — which brings back Colorado’s economy-strangling “graduated” income tax — loses at the ballot box this fall. Seriously. Forget Republicans and Democrats. Forget tax policy. This is about Xs and Os — and whether Denver can afford the players who execute them and win a Super Bowl. Every successful business has star employees: rare talents without whom the enterprise simply doesn’t work. Same goes for an NFL franchise. Every business has star employees the whole operation is built around. Sometimes that star is the chief executive. No Henry Ford, no assembly line, no affordable car. No Steve Jobs, no iPhone — foldable or otherwis...
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Weiser Files 82nd Lawsuit Against Trump Administration Over Immigration Rule
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Weiser Files 82nd Lawsuit Against Trump Administration Over Immigration Rule

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Colorado has filed another lawsuit against the Trump administration, this time targeting a rule that allows immigration agents to consider more factors in deciding green card applications. Joining 21 other states and the District of Columbia, Colorado’s state attorney general said the lawsuit aims to halt the Trump administration’s new public charge rule, which, he insisted, would allow immigration officials to “punish” immigrants for lawful use of public benefits.   The proposed rule change centers on “public charge,” a term dating to the Immigration Act of 1882 that allows the government to deny a green card to a person likely to become primarily dependent on the government for assistance. Immigration officers have weighed on...
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Frizell Makes the Case for Education Reform Without Shortchanging Taxpayers
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Commentary, State

Frizell Makes the Case for Education Reform Without Shortchanging Taxpayers

By Lisa Frizell | Commentary, Colorado Politics If we truly want to fix Colorado, we must respect taxpayers, demand accountability and prioritize classroom results.  Proposition NN fails the test.  The far left put forth this measure, presenting it as the only way to fund public schools. Colorado voters should look past the title and see what Prop NN really does.  The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights says money collected above the state’s spending cap goes back to the taxpayers. Proposition NN asks voters to increase the spending limitation and lets the state keep all the money above the spending cap, money that would otherwise go back to Colorado families.  The legislature’s nonpartisan staff estimated Proposition NN...
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Crank Asks DOJ to Investigate Outside Groups After Violence at Denver Anti-ICE Walkout
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Crank Asks DOJ to Investigate Outside Groups After Violence at Denver Anti-ICE Walkout

By Nico Brambila | Colorado Politics U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank is asking the Justice Department to investigate violence at last week’s anti-ICE student walkout in Denver, including whether outside organizations helped organize, fund, or influence the demonstration. Crank sent a letter Tuesday requesting the investigation to Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. “Videos and on-the-ground reporting show that the Denver walkout turned violent, with assaults on journalists and counterprotesters, raising serious questions about whether participants were unlawfully prevented from exercising their own constitutional rights,” Crank wrote. “The growing mobilization of leftist and socialist groups like the Democratic...
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Despite Missed Deadline, Judge Orders Libertarian Sean Vadney Onto Colorado Secretary of State Ballot
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Despite Missed Deadline, Judge Orders Libertarian Sean Vadney Onto Colorado Secretary of State Ballot

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics A Denver judge ruled Friday that the Colorado Libertarian Party’s pick for secretary of state will appear on the November ballot after the party’s original nominee withdrew one day after the deadline to replace minor party candidates. Following a hearing on Thursday, Denver District Court Judge Adam J. Espinosa approved a motion filed by Sean Vadney asking that state election officials list the 26-year-old Highlands Ranch resident as the Libertarian nominee, concluding that the party met the appropriate “substantial compliance” standard with legal requirements for parties to fill ballot vacancies. Vadney will face Democrat Amanda Gonzalez, the Jefferson County clerk, and Republican James Wiley, a former Libertarian, for the office h...
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Federal Judge Pauses Boulder County Gun Ban Case Pending Supreme Court Ruling
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Federal Judge Pauses Boulder County Gun Ban Case Pending Supreme Court Ruling

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A federal judge agreed on Friday that she would await the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in an upcoming Second Amendment case before she addresses the constitutionality of similar gun ordinances in multiple Boulder County jurisdictions. Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, the National Association for Gun Rights, and several individual Coloradans filed suit in 2022 over local firearms ordinances that generally prohibited the sale, transfer, and possession of large-capacity magazines and semi-automatic guns deemed “assault weapons,” with some variation. As defendants, they named the town of Superior, the cities of Louisville and Boulder, and Boulder County. In July 2025, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang clarified which claims could ...
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Rural Hospitals Deploy AI to Fight AI as Claim Denials Add Financial Pressure
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Rural Hospitals Deploy AI to Fight AI as Claim Denials Add Financial Pressure

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Editor’s Note: Colorado’s healthcare system is entering a period of accelerating instability — a “tsunami,” as multiple leaders describe it — driven by collapsing hospital finances, shrinking Medicaid reimbursements, disappearing services and a political fight over who is responsible for this unraveling. Healthcare Freefall is a multipart series examining how Colorado arrived at this moment, what H.R. 1 will do next and why communities across the state are bracing for deeper shocks. Rural hospitals in Colorado say they are being pulled into a technological fight they didn’t choose. Hospitals said insurance companies have deployed artificial intelligence to deny claims faster and more efficiently, and they are scrambling to adopt the...
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Colorado Governor Debate Draws Sharp Divide on Gun Rights, Housing Costs, and Peters Commutation
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Colorado Governor Debate Draws Sharp Divide on Gun Rights, Housing Costs, and Peters Commutation

By Deborah Grigsby | Colorado Politics Two of the candidates for Colorado governor squared off in a televised debate on Thursday night, when Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Democratic nominee, and former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez, an unaffiliated candidate, delved into issues of affordability, data center regulation and gun laws. The debate’s tone was civil. The policy differences between the two were palpable. Both candidates called out Republican nominee Victor Marx, a ministry leader and first-time candidate who declined to participate in the debate On housing, Weiser argued that building more “starter” homes and lowering the barriers to buying them is the right approach. Along with bumping Colorado’s supply of owner-occupied housing by 40,000 by 2035, he proposed c...
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Colorado Counties Push Back as CPW Rules Could Silence Local Voices
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Colorado Counties Push Back as CPW Rules Could Silence Local Voices

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The September meeting of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission will feature newly revised public‑comment rules — changes introduced by chair Jay Tutchton of Bent County, who announced them without first discussing the revisions publicly with the rest of the commission. Tutchton set forth the new rules as follows: The general public comment agenda item will be set at 60 minutes.  Virtual and in-person commenters will be called at random, replacing the previous first-come, first-served system of signing up and prioritizing in-person first opportunities.  The Commission will hear commenters in a two-thirds split, allowing only a third of the speakers to come from the online platform. Priority, in terms of receiving a...
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Colorado Joins Lawsuit Challenging New Federal Mail Ballot Safeguards Ahead of Midterms
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Colorado Joins Lawsuit Challenging New Federal Mail Ballot Safeguards Ahead of Midterms

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Colorado, along with 25 other states, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service to challenge a new rule that seeks to restrict the mailing of ballots to American citizens in an eligible voters list. Colorado relies heavily on the mail-in ballot system. As do several states. The U.S. Postal Service recently laid out how it would implement the order, but time is running short to impose major changes with some states beginning to send mail ballots to voters in just a few weeks. A few days ago, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court had cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s executive order, which mandates the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create those lists — to be give...
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