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Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado lawmakers are pressing Gov. Jared Polis to reverse course on electrification after recent power shutoffs raised fresh concerns about grid reliability and public safety. “We write to express grave concerns over your administration’s aggressive push for statewide unfunded electrification mandates,” the lawmakers wrote in a Dec. 23 letter. “This agenda, driven by crony politics and excused by nonscience climate alarmism, favors select industries at the expense of Colorado families and businesses.” They warn the state’s energy agenda “is economically harmful and endangers lives by further straining an already fragile electric grid.” The letter was signed by Reps. Ken DeGraaf (HD-22), Brandi Bradley (HD-39), Scott Botto...
Good News or Fake News — Love: The News That Changes Everything
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

Good News or Fake News — Love: The News That Changes Everything

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Hope taught us patience. Peace showed us strength. Joy revealed how to move forward. Now, as we conclude our Advent Series, we focus on its core: Love. Not the sentimental version. Not the weaponized form. Not the diluted kind sold by culture, commerce, or clicks. Instead, love with meaning. Love with purpose. Love with identity. And once again—because everything depends on this—we revisit the key question of this Advent series: “What is guiding who you are—the Good News or the fake news?” Ultimately, the source you trust will determine how you love. If most pause to consider reality, it ultimately boils down to one concept: LOVE. This is the fulfillment of the genuine story. Fake news diminishes love to mere ...
From question to confrontation: Peters’ legal team forces Colorado courts to choose
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

From question to confrontation: Peters’ legal team forces Colorado courts to choose

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice One day after the constitutional question facing Colorado courts came into focus, attorneys for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters moved to force an answer. Late Tuesday, Peters’ legal team filed an urgent motion asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to determine whether it still has jurisdiction to proceed at all, given a presidential pardon and what her attorneys argue are unresolved violations of federal election law. The filing marks a shift from explanation to escalation. Yesterday’s reporting centered on the unresolved authority question now hanging over the case. This motion is the defense’s attempt to compel the court to decide it. It follows a Dec. 8 federal court order that declined to resolve Peters’ constitutional cla...
Private Dollars, Public Rivers: Who Is Really Restoring Colorado’s Streams?
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Private Dollars, Public Rivers: Who Is Really Restoring Colorado’s Streams?

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s rivers are usually talked about as public assets. Debates tend to revolve around access, ownership, and enforcement. Far less attention is paid to a simpler question: who actually pays for the work when rivers need fixing? A recent Common Sense Institute report examines that side of the equation, focusing on stewardship and private investment while building on the group’s earlier work on law and history. Many Colorado landowners have invested in restoring rivers and streams, and the results don’t stop at their boundaries. Work Most People Never See River restoration doesn’t really have a finish line. The report estimates restoration and upkeep costs typically range from $300,000 ...
After the pardon: The constitutional question Colorado courts now face
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

After the pardon: The constitutional question Colorado courts now face

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice President Donald Trump’s pardon of Tina Peters did not end her case. It changed it. What now sits before Colorado’s courts is no longer a question of guilt or innocence, nor even whether Peters should remain imprisoned while her appeal moves forward. The unresolved issue is more fundamental than that: whether the state still has authority to proceed in light of a federal pardon. It is the question attorney Peter Ticktin says Colorado can no longer set aside. Federal pardon issued by President Donald Trump for Tina Peters A pardon that altered the legal landscape Ticktin, who represents Peters, said in an interview with RMV that the federal pardon fundamentally changed the legal posture of the case. ...
Federal Civil Rights Complaint Accuses Cherry Creek Schools of Race-Based Discipline and Retaliation
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Federal Civil Rights Complaint Accuses Cherry Creek Schools of Race-Based Discipline and Retaliation

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Federal civil-rights complaints over equity policy are no longer confined to a single district in Colorado. Durango Public Schools is facing civil rights complaints, while a separate federal lawsuit challenges the state’s anti-discrimination law under House Bill 25-1312. A federal civil-rights complaint now puts Cherry Creek School District under scrutiny over allegations of race-based discrimination and retaliation. In its press release, America First Legal says Cherry Creek has “branded student misconduct ‘culturally appropriate’ and blocked discipline based on race,” claiming the district has replaced equal treatment with an unlawful double standard. Alleged Double Standard in Student Discipline ...
Republicans Should Just Say No To Josh Hawley’s Crusade Against Data Centers
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Republicans Should Just Say No To Josh Hawley’s Crusade Against Data Centers

By Booker Lightman | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Data center boom is creating a political conundrum for Republicans, or so Politico would have you believe. For while President Trump and the large majority of Republican elected officials are in favor of data centers, Josh Hawley, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie stand in opposition to the Trump administration.  These are the same names that are always being praised by the media for their “bravery” in “standing up” to Trump. It’s not hard to see why.  Most Congresspeople get little attention outside their districts, but if a Republican Congressman speaks out against Trump, suddenly he or she is the darling of a mainstream media apparatus that would love nothing more than to set the Right...
Why two House bills on medical transition procedures produced different votes
Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

Why two House bills on medical transition procedures produced different votes

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The U.S. House passed two bills this month aimed at restricting federal involvement in medical transition procedures for minors. They used different enforcement tools. And they produced different voting coalitions. One bill passed without a single Republican voting against it and drew limited Democratic support. The vote on the second bill was closer, with some crossover support and a number of members listed as not voting. Republican Rep. Gabe Evans (CD-8) backed the funding restriction but rejected the felony approach. The difference lies in how each bill was written to be enforced. Two bills, two approaches H.R. 498, the Do No Harm in Medicaid Act, is a funding bill tied to how Medicaid dollars are used. It bars M...
Bonded in Battle — The Prayer That Holds Us Together
Rocky Mountain Voice, Devotional, Top Stories

Bonded in Battle — The Prayer That Holds Us Together

By Pastor Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”  ~ Ephesians 6:18 ~ As I write this, Sherrie and I are celebrating 38 years of marriage, and my thoughts turn not to the easy moments, but to the battles we’ve fought—and the quiet strength that has carried us through every one of them. As many of you know, we are in the middle of one of our toughest battles. The hospital lights hum above us, machines click and beep with precision after two major brain surgeries, now weeks spent surrounded by hospital walls with great uncertainty. Still…it was our honest, Spirit-led prayer that carried us through the uncertainty of Glioblastoma Stage IV Brain Cancer. Holding Sherrie’s hand, pra...