Top Stories

Jason Crow Is Playing With Fire — And Colorado Should Be Asking Why

28Nov

By Heidi GanahlNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Jason Crow Is Playing With Fire — And Colorado Should Be Asking Why

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When a sitting United States Congressman tells the military to prepare to disobey orders, that’s not politics. That’s not oversight. That is the first brick in the road to a color revolution — and Colorado’s own Jason Crow is laying it proudly. Crow, the Democrat representing Colorado’s 6th District, joined a group of lawmakers who released a video urging active-duty military and intelligence personnel to “refuse unlawful orders.” Sounds noble — until you realize they never defined what those orders might be. That’s the game. Vagueness is the weapon. Uncertainty is the strategy. And it’s not an accident. When politicians want to destabilize a country from the inside, they don’t start with mobs in the streets. They start by undermi...

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Colorado’s clash with federal law: Why Tina Peters’ case poses a Supreme Court question

28Nov

By RMV EditorNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Colorado’s clash with federal law: Why Tina Peters’ case poses a Supreme Court question

By RMV Editorial Board What began as a state prosecution of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters now sits at the junction of presidential pardon pertaining to federal election law and state authority. Colorado barred key evidence from the jury, sealed portions of the grand jury record, then fought to keep those materials from appellate review. A recent analysis by Amuse asserts that the Supreme Court has never ruled on whether a presidential pardon can neutralize a state conviction when the conduct arises from a federal duty. Amuse also argues that when a state interferes with administering a federal election, those prosecutions become offenses against the United States—whatever the state calls them. https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1989394815616770528?s=46 Appe...

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The real Thanksgiving story still matters

27Nov

By RMV EditorNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The real Thanksgiving story still matters

By RMV Editorial Board Every November, we reach for the familiar version of Thanksgiving—the one with corn, a moment of goodwill between cultures and a picture of exhausted settlers saved by generous neighbors. There’s some truth in that telling, but only a sliver of the real thing. The actual history is rougher, more straightforward and far more connected to the country we’ve become. It is also a story that has been quietly pushed to the side. What follows is one of the clearest tellings of what actually happened. It isn’t sentimental, and it isn’t polished for classroom posters. It’s Rush Limbaugh reading straight from Gov. William Bradford’s own journal, the colony’s longtime governor and chief chronicler—a primary record of the Plymouth settlement and the decisions that mad...

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Colorado Cannot Afford to Leave Its Pioneering Communities Behind

26Nov

By Guest CommentaryNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Cannot Afford to Leave Its Pioneering Communities Behind

By Tiffany Dickenson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado was built by pioneers. That pioneering spirit still defines the rural communities that grow our food, produce our energy, protect our water, and carry the transportation and natural resource backbone of this state. These communities have never asked for special treatment. They have always done the hard work without complaint and have carried Colorado through every major challenge for generations. Today, they are being asked to carry far more than their share. A wave of overlapping state mandates, rising costs, and policy decisions made on the Front Range is hitting rural Colorado all at once. These challenges are reshaping the economic landscape of the Western Slope and other rural regions. If Colorado’s...

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Colorado’s Political Culture Is Driving Out Its Best Leaders

26Nov

By Guest CommentaryNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s Political Culture Is Driving Out Its Best Leaders

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is experiencing a political decline that follows the core patterns described in political ponerology. The system rewards the wrong traits, punishes integrity, and produces outcomes that push capable people away from public service - fast and hard. You can see this in the culture that governs candidate recruitment, party operations, legislative priorities, and internal accountability. The signals are not abstract. They are practical warning signs that explain why Colorado has a shrinking supply of competent, serious, and ethical leaders. Political ponerology teaches that a system becomes unhealthy when individuals with destructive traits gain influence. Once inside, they shape expectations, incentives, and norms...

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Colorado needs an all‑of‑the‑above energy strategy

26Nov

By Guest CommentaryNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado needs an all‑of‑the‑above energy strategy

By Rep. Ryan Gonzalez | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As we all know, energy is vital in policy making. If we have no secure energy sector, uncertainty will ensue. While there are different views on energy policy, we must not rule out any single source of energy (like fossil fuels) for a clean environment that also secures our demand to provide for our consumers. Energy affects virtually everything from the cost of raw materials to the finished goods or services you see in the market. More rigorous energy policy that isn’t cost effective, only raises prices and may create scarcity of resources available. In the Colorado legislature, as a first term state Representative, I have seen these concerns unfold in real time as they push a very ambitious 2040 zero emissions ...

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Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.

25Nov

By Guest CommentaryNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.

By Sean M. Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is at a crossroads, and everyone living here can feel it. The cost of living has exploded. Families are working harder than ever yet falling further behind. Housing has slipped out of reach. Power bills climb. Groceries drain budgets. Fuel prices punish long commutes. Child care costs rival mortgages. Communities wonder how long they can stay in the state they love. All the while, the people in charge talk about saving the world while ignoring the people who actually live here, in Colorado. We hear speeches about climate and national image. We hear big promises about transformation. We hear talking points that sound polished but solve nothing. What we do not hear is practical leadership. What we do...

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Phil Weiser’s Failed Experiment in Criminal Justice

25Nov

By Guest CommentaryNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Phil Weiser’s Failed Experiment in Criminal Justice

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice It has become a common theme in many states and cities that the authorities who are responsible for the long-term safety and security of their residents, nevertheless subscribe to the popular fallacy that locking up criminals does little to deter future offenses and is less effective in the long run that social programs or rehabilitation efforts, however those might be defined. The theory here is that criminals aren’t responsible for their actions, Society is primarily to blame. The policies of Colorado’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, and the Democrat dominated Colorado legislature prove how foolish and misguided this theory is. In 2019, the Colorado legislature eliminated the option of cash bail for...

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Trying to move the needle in Mesa County’s mental health crisis as leaders call the moment “historic”

24Nov

By Jen SchumannNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Trying to move the needle in Mesa County’s mental health crisis as leaders call the moment “historic”

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “This is historic. This is transformational. This is a game changer.” Suicide now claims about 50 lives a year in Mesa County, a rate of roughly 31 deaths per 100,000 people. That’s about one and a half times Colorado’s rate and more than double the national average. At the same time, nearly 13 percent of residents who needed mental-health care last year weren’t able to get it. Those realities form the backdrop for a local effort that has taken shape inside Canyon View Vineyard Church. The program is called BeWell, and it began with a simple question: what a Jesus-centered mental health approach could look like in a county where access is limited. How the idea took shape Sondrol said the idea started forming as he watched Compassion...

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Thanksgiving prices fall in Colorado but families still pay more than most Americans

24Nov

By Shaina ColeNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Thanksgiving prices fall in Colorado but families still pay more than most Americans

By Shaina Cole | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This Thanksgiving, the cost of celebrating for Colorado families is at its lowest since the peak in 2022. The American Farm Bureau Federation reports that a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for ten now costs $55.18 - a five percent decline from last year. Colorado continues to sit above the national average. According to KKTV, the same meal costs $61.63 in the state, which is about $6.45 more than what the typical American pays but still roughly $13 cheaper than the year before. The West once again tops the chart as the most expensive region for Thanksgiving, with a $61.75 average that closely matches Colorado’s $61.63 estimate. That’s not a fluke; analyses of grocery spending show Western states, including Colorado, consisten...

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