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Adams County’s election-worker shortage needs a plan, not more fear
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Adams County’s election-worker shortage needs a plan, not more fear

By Karen Hoopes | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Let's start with the basic fact: Adams County is reportedly about 200 workers short. That is a serious problem. But it is a management problem, and management problems require facts, urgency and a plan. Clerk and Recorder Josh Zygielbaum says fear is keeping experienced workers from returning. Fear may be one factor. But before that becomes the explanation, voters deserve to see the evidence. How many former workers were contacted? How many actually said fear was the reason? When did recruiting begin? What did they say about pay, schedules, training or the hiring process? Those questions matter because the diagnosis determines the solution. If workers are concerned about safety, give them clear information and re...
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Douglas County Is Working. Why Redesign a Government That Has Served It So Well?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Douglas County Is Working. Why Redesign a Government That Has Served It So Well?

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Douglas County voters will soon be asked to make a consequential decision about the structure of their county government. A citizen-initiated ballot measure proposes expanding the Board of County Commissioners from three members to five, with the expanded board composed either of five commissioners elected by district or three elected by district and two elected at large. The current commissioners have referred a separate measure that would allow voters, if they approve expansion, to preserve countywide elections for all five commissioners. Supporters of the expansion have framed their argument around representation, accountability, and population growth. Douglas County has unquestionably grown, and it is reasonable to perio...
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Denver ICE walkout turns violent, and the journalists filming it say they were attacked 
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Denver ICE walkout turns violent, and the journalists filming it say they were attacked 

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The flyer set the time at noon, Friday, September 4, at La Alma-Lincoln Park. No work. No school. No shopping. ICE out. There was a DJ. There were food trucks. Kids danced. Then the water bottles started flying, and by the time the crowd cleared, three people had gone to the hospital and at least one woman had been beaten until one eye was swollen nearly shut. Denver police counted five assaults or altercations in a little over an hour at the park at 1200 N. Osage St. Three people who came with cameras told RMV they were chased, hit, robbed, and in one case kicked on the ground while curled in a ball. Their footage, and photographs published by a mainstream Denver paper, show a good deal of what they say happened. W...
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The Sensitivity Weapon: Little Miss Muffet
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Sensitivity Weapon: Little Miss Muffet

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, Eating her curds and whey; Along came a spider, who sat down beside her, And frightened Miss Muffet away. Last week, we dove into Jesus' command to "Ask, Seek, and Knock," highlighting the vital role of resourcefulness—what I like to call source management! Remember Poor Little Bo-Peep? Instead of seeking her lost sheep, she just hoped they would find their way home. This week, we journey with poor Little Miss Muffet as Jesus guides us to persistently ask, seek, and knock until we uncover the truths waiting for us. Once we step through that truth door and embrace it, what's our next move? Jesus encourages us with a wonderful next step: "Therefore, whatever you want people to do for you, ...
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Six online schools, a $15 million balance, one district: What D49 took on when it dissolved ERBOCES
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Six online schools, a $15 million balance, one district: What D49 took on when it dissolved ERBOCES

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Five days before the School District 49 board voted to dissolve Education ReEnvisioned BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services), the withdrawal that had pushed the co-op to the brink was deferred. Pikes Peak State College had signaled it would leave the co-op effective Aug. 15, a move that would have dropped ERBOCES to a single member and made it ineligible to operate. Then ERBOCES produced a 2013 memorandum of understanding requiring a year's notice, and on Aug. 12 the college indicated it would stay through summer 2027 to honor that notice. D49 dissolved the co-op anyway, on Aug. 17.  The reversal settled little, because the state had already raised a deeper question about the MOU. The same agreemen...
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Big government or individual freedom: There is no third choice.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Big government or individual freedom: There is no third choice.

By Jay Davidson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Both good and evil ideas start with a vision. That vision promises to solve a problem we have. Politicians fit the same mold. How to differentiate, how do we tell if a vision is good or evil? And if evil sounds good in the beginning, what shall guide us to choose the right path? These issues have perplexed philosophers since the beginning of time. Each person must decide for himself; fortunately, many great thinkers have pondered these profound ideas and many have written their revelations into books or carried them through the spoken word. Although the knowledge is readily available, it seems our Creator wants us each to find the answer to that question in our lifetime. The fact that our Creator wants each person to see...
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What DSA wants to do to the Senate, the presidency and the courts
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Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

What DSA wants to do to the Senate, the presidency and the courts

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Cliff Connolly wanted his fellow socialists to understand why the fight was worth having. "The whole point of having the Senate, the president, and the Supreme Court is so that, if popular legislation passes through the House of Representatives, the ruling class has these other levels they can pull to stop it from happening," he said, according to City Journal, which reported from inside the meeting. He pointed to the Supreme Court striking down President Biden's student debt plan as his example. Connolly sits on the Democratic Socialists of America's National Political Committee, the group's highest governing body between conventions. He was arguing for language DSA has now adopted as official policy: a plan to take a...
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Bermúdez: Colorado voters become a test case for Democrats’ transgender long game
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Bermúdez: Colorado voters become a test case for Democrats’ transgender long game

By Alejandro Bermúdez | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As national LGBT activists prepare a decade-long campaign to reshape public opinion on transgender issues, Colorado voters will face two major questions this November: whether biological males should compete in female sports and whether minors should undergo transgender-related surgeries. According to The Washington Times, members of the Democratic National Committee’s LGBTQ caucus recently acknowledged that Republicans are preparing to make transgender policies a major issue in the 2026 campaign, especially those involving children, medical interventions and women’s athletics. Rather than retreat, activists are pursuing a longer strategy modeled on the campaign that transformed public opinion on same-sex marriage. ...
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Colorado’s contract reports were off by as much as $2.1 billion. The next is due Sept. 30
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s contract reports were off by as much as $2.1 billion. The next is due Sept. 30

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice By Sept. 30, Colorado's Department of Personnel and Administration is due to produce its annual tally of contracts covered by the state Procurement Code — the number awarded, the initial dollar amounts recorded, and the share that went to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.  The last three tallies were wrong by hundreds of millions to billions of dollars, the state auditor has found. And this year, the department has said it does not plan to send the report to lawmakers at all. The Office of the State Auditor laid it out in Report 2556P, a performance audit of the state's contracting goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, released in May.  The audit's stated purpose was to f...
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Colorado made registration more expensive. Now it punishes drivers who fall behind.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado made registration more expensive. Now it punishes drivers who fall behind.

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice There is something almost perfectly governmental about Colorado's growing obsession with expired license plates. First, make an unavoidable part of ordinary life increasingly expensive. Then act surprised when more people struggle to pay for it. Then impose late fees on the people who fall behind. Then send police out to fine them again. And finally, call the whole thing "compliance." Across Colorado, law enforcement agencies have been escalating their efforts against motorists with expired registrations. Denver has conducted repeated enforcement campaigns. Colorado Springs and surrounding agencies have organized regional crackdowns. Police departments speak of zero tolerance. Drivers can face registration cos...
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