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Former Colorado Libertarian Chair Crosses Over to Democratic Party
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Former Colorado Libertarian Chair Crosses Over to Democratic Party

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Less than a week after ending her second term as chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party, Hannah Goodman changed her voter registration to become a Democrat, the Holyoke resident announced on Monday. Goodman, whose tenure chairing the state’s largest minor political party featured an agreement with Colorado Republicans to help GOP candidates win close races, told Colorado Politics that she decided to join the Democratic Party in an effort to restore balance to state politics by pushing Democrats to embrace what she called the party’s historic principles. She’s also returning to her political roots, Goodman said in an interview after changing her affiliation on Friday afternoon. Describing herself as the kind of “Truman Democrat” re...
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Audit Finds Financial Strain Growing in 16 Colorado School Districts
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Audit Finds Financial Strain Growing in 16 Colorado School Districts

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Sixteen school districts in Colorado, almost all of them rural, are showing signs of financial stress, according to an audit released on the fiscal health of the state’s 178 public school districts. Eighteen other districts, however, are moving off the list with improvements to their fiscal health in the 2023-24 fiscal year. The Ellicott School District, east of Colorado Springs, was under the bullseye Monday, with five missed benchmarks in 2023-24, up from one in 2022-23. The district had no missed benchmarks just two years earlier.  School districts with two or more missed financial benchmarks, 2021-2022 to 2023-24. Of the 16 school districts that missed financial benchmarks, four were in rural El Paso County. The...
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Record Number of ICE Transfers Reported by El Paso County
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Record Number of ICE Transfers Reported by El Paso County

By Cleo Westin | Colorado Politics Twenty six people with criminal charges were transferred from the custody of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement from July to September, according to a news release by the office Monday. Deputies also detained 14 additional individuals with criminal charges who were released “before ICE authorities could take custody.” Wednesday’s announcement brings the total number of people transferred into ICE custody by the office this year to 45, according to several releases by the office. The sheriff’s office transferred 14 people to ICE custody in September, which is higher than any other month this year. The next highest months were April and July which each had seven transfers. “As we approach the 2026 L...
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Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics For the second time in as many years, Gov. Jared Polis has appointed a working group to address the issues around the state’s 2024 law on artificial intelligence. The law, which Polis signed despite major misgivings last year, is still not ready for prime time. The implementation date for the new law, as set by lawmakers in the August special session, was moved from Feb. 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, providing a little more time for the tech industry and consumer groups that have been at odds over the law to come to a consensus. Whether that’s doable is another question, given that the first working group spent the last half of 2024 trying to work out differences. The working group’s final report indicated more areas of disagreem...
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Critics Say City Resources Misused in Denver’s $1 Billion Bond Campaign
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Critics Say City Resources Misused in Denver’s $1 Billion Bond Campaign

By Deborah Smith | Colorado Politics A group that is seeking to push back on government debt argued that big dollars are rolling in from funders supporting Mayor Mike Johnston’s $1 billion debt package and alleged some of those contributions may be legally prohibited. The group said the contributors included entities that receive taxpayer funding, questioning whether public money is going to the campaign that seeks to persuade voters to support the borrowing package. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is asking residents to let the city take on nearly $1 billion in new debt as part of his “Vibrant Denver” bond initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot. City officials have framed the bond as a “much-needed” investment in the city’s future, aimed at repairing and improving infrastructure and commu...
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Pueblo Fights Back as Colorado’s Coal Plants Close and Jobs Disappear
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Pueblo Fights Back as Colorado’s Coal Plants Close and Jobs Disappear

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics As Colorado darts toward a future powered by “clean” energy, a battle is brewing in Pueblo, where coal closures, union jobs and lost tax revenue collide with a community demanding a solution as its power plants are a primary target for a shutdown. Between 2025 and 2031, six more coal-fired power plants in Colorado are scheduled to be shut down or converted to another energy source, such as natural gas. With more than 800 jobs to be affected, another three plants are on the list for future closures. The closures are raising alarm bells, notably for the unions that count the power plant workers as members. A group has put forward an action plan called the Colorado Energy Compact, calling for a “balanced and sustainable energy policy” and a...
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Polis celebrates city compliance as lawsuits claim unconstitutional power grab
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis celebrates city compliance as lawsuits claim unconstitutional power grab

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The Polis administration is taking a victory lap this week on local government compliance with housing laws passed by the General Assembly in the past two years, although the highest level among the metrics is only 60% compliant. In another metric, there are more localities that are non-compliant than those that are. The majority are in the “progress” phase. The Department of Local Affairs on Tuesday released a “compliance dashboard” that shows to what extent municipalities are complying with laws on transit-oriented communities, accessory dwelling units or so-called “granny flats” and housing needs assessments. A statement Tuesday noted an executive order that Gov. Jared Polis signed in May on “strategic growth” through compliance with ...
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Colorado Supreme Court Expands Who Can Sue Over Secret Government Meetings
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Supreme Court Expands Who Can Sue Over Secret Government Meetings

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that organizations are entitled to the same recovery of their costs as individuals when they successfully pursue a public entity’s violation of the state’s open meetings law. The Colorado Open Meetings Law permits “any person” to challenge a violation of the law. At the same time, it grants “the citizen” who proves a violation the right to relief and to recover the cost of litigation for holding the government accountable. The question for the Supreme Court was whether an organization, such as a newspaper, is a citizen entitled to the benefits of the law. By 6-1, the court answered yes. “It would be absurd to allow corporations — who are recognized as persons in one part of the statutory scheme an...
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Colorado Becomes First State to Limit Price of a Specific Drug
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Becomes First State to Limit Price of a Specific Drug

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado became the first state in the nation to set a price cap on a specific medication last week, following a unanimous decision by the Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board to limit the cost of a drug used to treat inflammatory conditions. On Oct. 3, the board voted to set an Upper Payment Limit, or UPL, of $600 per 50mg unit of Enbrel, an injectable medication used to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and plaque psoriasis. That comes out to about $30,000 a year, more than $20,000 less than the average insurance plan paid for the drug per person in 2023, according to the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “This decision is a victory for hardworking Colorado families who have been stretched thin...
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GOP Gubernatorial Candidates Clash Over Medicaid Cuts and Budget Deficit
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

GOP Gubernatorial Candidates Clash Over Medicaid Cuts and Budget Deficit

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Nine Republican candidates for next year’s gubernatorial election participated in a debate Thursday night hosted by the Denver Press Club, where they faced questions on issues like the budget, cost of living, and Medicaid from moderators Marianne Goodland and Ernest Luning of Colorado Politics. Those candidates were: Sen. Mark Baisley of Roxborough Park, an engineer who was elected to the State Legislature in 2018 Bob Brinkerhoff, a retired State Trooper Jason Clark, an Army veteran from Centennial on his third run for governor Jon Gray-Ginsberg, an IT professional and cybersecurity specialist from Frisco Joshua Griffin, a former Colorado State University football player and Army veteran Kelvin “K-Man” Wimberly, an Oklahoma ...
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