Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Top Stories

Bill search reveals how Polis grew Medicaid—yet he blames rising costs
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Bill search reveals how Polis grew Medicaid—yet he blames rising costs

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Colorado bill search: a new tool for the toolbox The post that follows this one will lean on a search of Colorado legislation, so before we get to that, I wanted to show you how to search for bills. This is a great way to do some investigating on your own if you have a mind to.The first link below is to the Colorado legislature’s bill search page. It lets you search bills back to the 2016 legislative session with a variety of filters.Screenshot 1 shows the search bar. Going left to right ....Field A is for a keyword. In the post that follows this one, I looked at Medicaid-related bills, so I typed “Medicaid” there.Field B lets you search by chamber (House or Senate). My search was more general, I left it on the d...
Read More
Full Steam Ahead on the America First Agenda
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Full Steam Ahead on the America First Agenda

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice A lot of good has already happened in Trump’s first year back. Donald Trump’s first year in the White House has delivered more progress than most presidents manage in an entire term. The border is tightening. Energy is coming back to life. Inflation is easing. America feels steady again. You can see it in people’s faces — a sense of relief, a little pride, a little hope after years of turbulence. But anyone who’s ever built anything knows early wins don’t carry you forever. Momentum is a start, not a finish. We’ve moved things forward, but keeping that ground and pushing it further is the real test. This is where you focus up and just do the work. The America First agenda works — and the next chapter must be about execution, ac...
Read More
Child-care costs surge under Biden-era rule and state law, forcing counties to freeze CCCAP
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Child-care costs surge under Biden-era rule and state law, forcing counties to freeze CCCAP

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s child-care system is staring down a financial hit driven by new federal mandates from the Biden administration. The rules were pitched as a way to make child care more affordable nationwide, but they shift the cost burden onto states—leaving Colorado to absorb millions in unfunded requirements at a time when access is already tight. A new analysis from the Common Sense Institute shows what this means for families: fewer available slots, county-level enrollment freezes, and real consequences for Colorado’s workforce. The change came from the Federal 2024 CCDF Final Rule that rewrites how states run child-care assistance programs. Under the new rule, families can’t be asked to pay more than 7 percent of their income,...
Read More
Faith and friction: A nursing student’s stand at Regis University
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Faith and friction: A nursing student’s stand at Regis University

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Student John Scarboro and his pastor say they were only sharing their faith on campus while Regis leadership officials cite concern for inclusivity and compliance with university policy John Scarboro thought the meeting would be simple—just a quick talk with ministry leaders at Regis about forming a student group. It didn’t start that way. The 32-year-old nursing major and new father met with university staff on September 12 after campus security stopped him for talking about Jesus with students. Kyle Turner, Director of University Ministry, framed the university’s concern around student wellbeing. “If you engage a Muslim student and make them feel uncomfortable about their own lived faith, that becomes a problem,” he said during the meet...
Read More
Caven’s report exposes how failed policies fueled Colorado crime and created a safety crisis
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Caven’s report exposes how failed policies fueled Colorado crime and created a safety crisis

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Elizabeth Caven's Crisis of Safety report merits serious attention. It is grounded in empirical data and addresses one of the most urgent public policy failures facing Colorado: the collapse of public‑safety outcomes amid rising crime, diminished law‑enforcement presence, and liberal reform policies that weaken accountability. According to Advance Colorado’s public‑safety section, the state is “in the midst of a crime tsunami,” with property theft and violent crime at 25‑year highs. 1. Data‑Driven Approach The report builds on strong factual foundations: credible crime‑rate increases (for both property and violent crime), sharp rises in auto theft, and clear indicators of diminished police per capita. For example, the Common ...
Read More
The sky is not falling, my friends
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The sky is not falling, my friends

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice It’s easy to get swept up in the daily drama of social media — the sky-is-falling headlines, the endless doomscrolling, the “we’re doomed” takes from people who haven’t walked outside to notice the mountains still standing tall. But every so often, someone breaks through the noise with a dose of reality. That’s what podcaster Dan Hollaway did last week on X when he responded to a viral claim that “this administration is losing young voters because it’s obsessed with Israel.” His reply? A blistering reality check that could double as a highlight reel of what’s actually working in America right now. Let’s look at a few of those wins — and maybe take a breath. Start with the economy. We’ve added more than 670,000 net jobs since Ja...
Read More
A mother, a signature and a shutdown: The Waltmans’ five-year battle for answers
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A mother, a signature and a shutdown: The Waltmans’ five-year battle for answers

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice In the photo Vira Waltman is 91, holding her great-granddaughter Everly. “She was joyful and funny,” said her granddaughter Lauren Tacheny. “She was teasing Everly about touching her Shirley Temple doll—that was her personality: protective, spunky and sharp-witted.” Vira Jean Waltman with her great-granddaughter Everly, weeks before Colorado’s COVID-19 lockdown. Up until the year before she died, Vira was still playing piano and organ at the All Saints Lutheran Church chapel in Brush every Christmas Eve service. “Music was everything to her,” said her grandson Ian Waltman. A law that disappeared behind glass For years, her son John Waltman carried his mother’s notarized Medical Durable Power of Attorney. “It was supp...
Read More
The cost of obedience: How Colorado’s senators strengthened economic malfeasance
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The cost of obedience: How Colorado’s senators strengthened economic malfeasance

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice It is both sad and disappointing that Colorado’s two U.S. senators are incapable of independent thought. As the simple puppets of their overlords, they have selfishly voted fifteen times NOT to reopen the federal government—even though their “no” votes hurt the Coloradans they supposedly represent.  Colorado was already struggling economically before the federal shutdown.  Between January 2023, the start of the post-COVID economy in the U.S., and August 2025, job creation in Colorado had been growing at less than half the national rate and unemployment was growing at around twice the national rate.  How state unemployment changed since January 2023: Colorado up 58.5% vs U.S. 28.5%. How ...
Read More