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States step up: New agreements reshape control of Western forests
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

States step up: New agreements reshape control of Western forests

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com I attended a meeting recently about federal ownership of Western lands, and various proposals to transfer some of it to states. To settle a bet, I asked a popular AI tool how that might work, just to test its objectivity. It said, “Transferring public lands to state control can lead to significant challenges and risks for public access and conservation.” It explained that states have limited authority to manage; lack money and staff; might each manage lands differently, “undermining broader conservation goals and ecosystem resilience;” are more subject to political pressures; and might limit public access. So much for objectivity – as if the public is welcome on all federal lands, which are managed perfectly, because federal agencies are...
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Weiser’s Record: The Lawsuit Machine and the Scorecard
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Weiser’s Record: The Lawsuit Machine and the Scorecard

By Shaina Cole | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Marya Washburn is a federal Forest Service firefighter. She was fired by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last year, right before fire season. At a January forum in Denver, Attorney General Phil Weiser singled her out by name as evidence of what his office has accomplished. "My office got involved in one of the 50 lawsuits we brought against this administration," Weiser told the Colorado Young Democrats forum. "We got our job back." It is also incomplete in ways voters should understand. The lawsuit Weiser was describing is captioned State of Maryland v. USDA. Maryland filed it. Maryland's attorneys drafted the complaint and argued the case. Colorado was one of several states that added its name to the filing. Weiser's o...
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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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Colorado budget battle reveals deep divide over spending priorities
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado budget battle reveals deep divide over spending priorities

By Rep. Scott Bottoms | Commentary, Complete Colorado Nearly two millennia ago Jesus of Nazareth said, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). Colorado’s Capitol is a long way in space and time from ancient Israel, but the principle remains and is often illustrated during the legislature’s annual budget week. We see where people’s values are by programs that lawmakers do – or do not – fund. The first observation about budget week is a broad one: Governor Polis and majority Democrats like to make a distinction between Washington DC and Denver. They speak of the ‘Colorado way’ so as to suggest that the dirty and deceitful politics of the national capitol never make their way to the state one. Don’t believe it. Here’s an example: with all the talk of ...
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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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After Supreme Court ruling Colorado advances controversial counseling and parental rights bills
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

After Supreme Court ruling Colorado advances controversial counseling and parental rights bills

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado Colorado may go down in history as the most ideologically extreme state in the nation. Between throwing President Trump off the ballot in 2024, persecuting Christian bakers and graphic designers, and banning free speech in religious counseling for minors dealing with sexual identity issues, Colorado is consistently striking out. The decisions made by our legal institutions are continually being overturned by the United States Supreme Court on basic constitutional arguments. Let’s take the state’s radical positions on gender theory. Just two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 to reverse the Tenth Circuit decision on Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy for minors. The Court held that the Colorado...
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Where did your TABOR refund go? Follow the spending
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Where did your TABOR refund go? Follow the spending

By Jarvis Caldwell and Gabe Evans | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice TABOR, otherwise known as the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, was created to protect Coloradans from bloated government spending, prevent politicians from overtaxing working families, and ensure extra revenue is returned to the people who earned it. But under Governor Polis' fiscal mismanagement and runaway spending, Coloradans are paying the price — through dramatically reduced TABOR refunds this year and no refunds at all next year.  TABOR is a provision in the Colorado Constitution passed by voters in 1992 that puts strict limits on how much the government can tax, spend, and grow unless otherwise voted on and approved. It ensures government spending increases only by inflation and population growth and...
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Cutting Social Studies Tests Means Less Accountability For Schools
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Cutting Social Studies Tests Means Less Accountability For Schools

By Ari Armstrong | Commentary, Complete Colorado If “public education is the bedrock of Colorado’s democracy,” as Democratic sponsors declare in the TABOR-busting Senate Bill 26-135, then why do lawmakers want to cut social-studies testing from two grades to one? Someone might conclude that not even the legislators believe the slop they’re slinging on behalf of the teachers’ unions. A look at social-studies testing Given how abysmally most Colorado students perform on the social studies portion of the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, maybe it’s no wonder that some legislators want to sweep the evidence of underperforming public schools under the rug. If you look at CMAS results by year, you’ll find that the last publicly-released data f...
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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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Democrats Would Have Sacrificed Swalwell to Target GOP Lawmakers
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TownHall.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Democrats Would Have Sacrificed Swalwell to Target GOP Lawmakers

By Matt Vespa | Commentary, Townhall Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), having nothing left to lose, finally decided to resign from Congress. He didn’t specify when, so stay tuned. However, he’s indicated that he’s leaving. Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX), who was already planning to leave after losing in a primary following an affair with a staffer that led to her suicide. Reps. Cory Mills (R-FL) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) are also at risk for ethics violations; Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of stealing millions from FEMA. These four were likely the target of the purge, probably the only motion with substantial bipartisan support.  So, what would have happened? Well, given what was brewing before Swalwell decided to call it quits, Democrats were scheming—what else is new—...
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