Top Stories

Hancock: The future of Colorado hangs between boom and blackout

Substack, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories / / , , , , , , , , , , ,

There’s a difference between dreaming big and hallucinating. Colorado’s progressive legislators have yet to figure that out.

Once a beacon of frontier grit and entrepreneurial promise, Colorado is drifting into a twilight of self-imposed stagnation. This isn’t the result of some unforeseeable external shock. No. The decline is being engineered — brick by legislative brick — by a political class more interested in social signaling than in fostering economic vitality.

The question isn’t whether Colorado faces a reckoning. The question is whether we will admit the cause before we hit the wall.

Hancock: The future of Colorado hangs between boom and blackout Read More »

Wolves roam, pups are born, riders deployed—but land-use plans still stuck in 2023

Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories / / , , , , , , , , ,

Wolves are roaming, ranchers are riding – but the rulebook hasn’t changed. Wolves are traveling farther, forming dens and producing pups. Many have turned up dead—especially in Wyoming, where wolves that prey on livestock can be killed on sight under state law. 

Yet not one federal or state land-use plan in Colorado has been updated since gray wolf reintroduction began in December 2023.

That’s the backdrop for Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s May 13 press release announcing that its Range Rider Program is fully operational and patrolling western Colorado. 

Eleven contracted riders hired by CPW have joined two staff from the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) to monitor livestock, haze predators and report signs of wolf-livestock conflict across nine counties.

Wolves roam, pups are born, riders deployed—but land-use plans still stuck in 2023 Read More »

LPEA special election: Mail ballots due by May 20 as member frustrations grow

Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories / / , , , , ,

It’s crunch time for mail-in ballots in the La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)  board election – and with contested seats and rising costs in the mix, turnout matters.

Ballots have to be in LPEA’s hands by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 20 – postmarks don’t count. With slow mail times a known issue, LPEA voters who haven’t yet mailed their ballot should drop it off in person or vote online through SmartHub.

LPEA special election: Mail ballots due by May 20 as member frustrations grow Read More »

Notarfrancesco: Pueblo D70 Schools handed kids’ emotional data to political NGOs without parental consent

Commentary, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories / / , , , , ,

It is said there is no such thing as a free lunch.  One small school district in Pueblo, Colorado, recently learned that a free lunch can be served with a side of community outrage.

When the Pueblo D70 Board of Education unanimously voted in March of 2024 to “accept” a significant in-kind gift of $700,000 from the organization TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students), did they realize what they were implementing in district classrooms? 

D70 accepted a “gift” of controversial psychosocial educational content, financed and promoted by multi-million-dollar non-governmental organizations dedicated to transforming the world through social change.

Notarfrancesco: Pueblo D70 Schools handed kids’ emotional data to political NGOs without parental consent Read More »

The Good, the Bad, and the Alarming: What You Need to Know from Colorado’s 2025 Legislative Session

Top Stories, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State / /

The 2025 legislative session officially adjourned Wednesday evening after 120 days, leaving behind a flood of new laws, deep partisan divides, and a public increasingly skeptical of the pace and priorities of progressive lawmakers. From sweeping gender identity mandates to gun control and TABOR attacks, the Democrat supermajority pushed through one of the most ideologically driven sessions in recent memory.

The Good, the Bad, and the Alarming: What You Need to Know from Colorado’s 2025 Legislative Session Read More »

Devotional: The Breastplate of Righteousness – Character that Covers the Heart

Commentary, Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories / /

In our previous blog, we explored righteousness as God’s unwavering standard for building just and right “equable” relationships—between us and God, and with all creation. Righteousness, in simple terms, is doing what is right in God’s eyes. This time, we turn our attention to one of the most powerful symbols of protection in the believer’s life: the Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14). Why a breastplate? Because righteousness must not only be rooted in our hearts; it must also be worn. The breastplate protects our core—our heart, where our values, principles, and motivations reside. The armor we wear to shield that heart is character. However, it’s not just any character, it’s divine. 

Devotional: The Breastplate of Righteousness – Character that Covers the Heart Read More »

GOP Chair Horn: President Trump delivered in 100 days – now Colorado Conservatives must lead the charge

Commentary, Approved, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories / / , , , , , ,

“We will close the border. We will stop the invasion of illegals into our country,” President Trump said at an Aurora, Colorado, rally on October 12, 2024. That promise was central to his push for a second term.

Now, just over 100 days in, he’s delivering – tightening the border and reversing years of neglect.

The previous administration under President Joe Biden left a legacy of border chaos. Millions of illegal immigrants crossed into the United States, overwhelming not only border communities but also cities and states far from the frontier.

Colorado has become a hotspot in the fight against organized crime and trafficking.

GOP Chair Horn: President Trump delivered in 100 days – now Colorado Conservatives must lead the charge Read More »

The $5 million shadow ledger: Pueblo Democrats’ HQ funded by bingo, not disclosed in filings

Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Local, Top Stories / / , , , , ,

A building paid for with bingo money. A political party using it as their headquarters. And more than $5 million in unreported financial activity that, to date, no one has answered for.

That’s the core of Pueblo resident Jonathan Ambler’s ongoing legal challenge against the Pueblo County Democratic Party and its Central Committee. Ambler, a former Republican candidate, filed two complaints last fall alleging the party used a bingo-funded building for years without reporting it in TRACER.

After the Colorado Secretary of State dismissed both complaints in April, Ambler – without an attorney – petitioned the Denver District Court for judicial review.

The $5 million shadow ledger: Pueblo Democrats’ HQ funded by bingo, not disclosed in filings Read More »

Gimelshteyn: CPAN files federal complaint over D70’s deceptive TRAILS program violating rights

Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, Local, Top Stories / / , , , , , , , , ,

On April 25th, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN) filed a formal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), urging an investigation into Pueblo County School District 70 (D70) and its use of the “Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students Social Emotional Learning” (TRAILS) program. 

Our complaint is a direct response to the district’s reckless decision to embed this program into classrooms without parental consent, without transparency, and in direct violation of federal law.

TRAILS, which was deceptively marketed as a “gift” to the district, is directly connected to the Tides Foundation, a radical political nonprofit. Under TRAILS, students are subjected to mental health screenings, data collection on their emotions and coping skills, and exposure to controversial content, including advertisements promoting organizations like Trans Lifeline.

Gimelshteyn: CPAN files federal complaint over D70’s deceptive TRAILS program violating rights Read More »

Polis’ ‘libertarian’ label faces reality check from Reason Magazine

completecolorado.com, Approved, State, Top Stories / / , , , , ,

DENVER — Amidst ongoing battles within his own party, and despite recently vetoing a pair of bills that concentrated more authority in Colorado state government, Jared Polis’ carefully scripted reputation as a libertarian-leaning governor appears to be fading.

Even Reason Magazine, the national media outlet that has for years has hung its hat on the idea that Polis is more liberty-minded than progressive, is now questioning whether Polis’ moderate temperament is real, with editor-at-large Nick Gillepsie tugging back on Polis’ libertarian card in an April 14 article asking if the “small government Democrat is beefing up state power.”

Polis’ ‘libertarian’ label faces reality check from Reason Magazine Read More »