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Hancock: Manufacturing chaos is the progressive blueprint for power
Approved, Commentary, National, Substack, Top Stories

Hancock: Manufacturing chaos is the progressive blueprint for power

By Michael A. Hancock | Commentary, Substack By now, the pattern is as familiar as it is sinister. A protest erupts into violence. A crisis becomes an opportunity. An institution is denounced, discredited, and dismantled. And always, always, someone else is to blame.  This is not coincidence. It is strategy.  We are witnessing the methodical deployment of chaos as a political narrative—a calculated tool of progressive activism that feeds on division, cultivates instability, and then offers itself as the only remedy. The idea that chaos can be wielded as a political weapon is not new. Lenin believed revolution must spring from crisis. Saul Alinsky advised radicals to “rub raw the people's resentments.”  But the modern American Left has refined the process into ...
“Parents Last”: Senate Democrats Advance HB25-1312 Despite Mass Opposition, Custody Concerns
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

“Parents Last”: Senate Democrats Advance HB25-1312 Despite Mass Opposition, Custody Concerns

By Tori Ganahl | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s controversial “Kelly Loving Act” is one step away from becoming law, after the state Senate advanced HB25-1312 in a party-line vote Monday night. The bill passed 23-12 following hours of floor debate—nearing an end to a legislative saga that’s drawn over 700 would-be testifiers, more than 17,000 emails from concerned constituents, and ongoing warnings from legal experts, parents, and educators. The bill started as an expansion of the Colorado Anti-discrimination Act (CADA), aiming to add gender identity and expression as protected categories in schools, courts, and beyond. Even after key changes, Republicans say it still threatens parental rights and opens the door to new legal trouble for those who disagree with progressive gender pol...
Enos: If parents can’t challenge books or protect embryos, who will?
Approved, Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Enos: If parents can’t challenge books or protect embryos, who will?

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado The majority in the Colorado General Assembly seems to have caught the attention of the Trump Administration. The U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman Julie Hartman told the Daily Signal that “Children do not belong to the government. They belong to parents.”  Then, on March 28th of this year, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent a letter to educators that included the following statement: “Under President Trump’s leadership, my Department will no longer passively accept school officials’ hostility to parental involvement. The Department stands with parents in exercising their rights to the full extent of the law.” This may be news to Colorado’s General Assembly. On April 21st, the Colorado House S...
Members left in the dark: LPEA board spends big while margins shrink and bills climb
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Members left in the dark: LPEA board spends big while margins shrink and bills climb

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice When La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) members open their May power bills, most will see the effects of a 7.72% rate increase that quietly took effect April 1. While LPEA’s board says the hike is needed to cover infrastructure and supply costs, many members are beginning to ask harder questions – not just about what they’re paying, but about how their cooperative is being run. From 2019 to 2023, La Plata Electric Association’s revenue barely grew, just $3 million over five years. But its expenses went up by more than $10 million, causing profits to drop sharply.  In 2019, LPEA made $10.3 million in net income.  By 2023, that had fallen to just $3.8 million, a 63% decline. That means the co-op now keeps only 3 cents of every do...
Michelle Chandler stopped a predator — and uncovered victims who may never know
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Michelle Chandler stopped a predator — and uncovered victims who may never know

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice On May 11, 2024, at Nordstrom Rack in Lakewood, Colorado, Michelle Chandler caught a man filming her inside a women’s fitting room. She didn’t freeze or panic. Instead, she confronted him, pinned him to the ground and held him until help arrived – or so she thought.  What happened next wasn’t the swift arrival of justice. It was abandonment: by store employees, by security and later, by a system more concerned with procedure than protection. Chandler’s story quickly gained attention when she posted about it on Instagram. Social media influencers – including David Harris Jr. posted about the video. Local radio and National news outlets reached out to cover the story. And strangers from Canada to Europe responded, showing their support.&nb...
Minary: Common principles of Conservatism and why they matter in Colorado
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Minary: Common principles of Conservatism and why they matter in Colorado

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The majority of Coloradans have become disengaged and disillusioned with Party politics and rhetoric, for good reasons. Both major parties, R and D, have lost their way. So, the largest bloc of voters in CO is now “Unaffiliated.” In political discussions, we often use ‘labels’ to describe ourselves and others. These labels include terms like Republican, Democrat, Moderate, Right, Left, Liberal and Conservative. Unfortunately, if you ask 10 people to define exactly what their own political label means, only one can do it with any clarity. That leads very quickly to stereotyping, misunderstandings and disagreement. Rather than listening, we talk over, rather than with, each other. For the record, I am a Constitutional Conservat...
Cole: Illegal driving, rising costs, and scarce patrols—welcome to Denver’s roads
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Cole: Illegal driving, rising costs, and scarce patrols—welcome to Denver’s roads

By Shaina Cole | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Each afternoon, my three-mile commute home in Denver’s metro area is a nerve-wrecking ordeal. Drivers speed through stop signs, ignore red lights, or stop inexplicably at unmarked intersections. Cars swerve across lanes, straddle the center line, or disrupt four-way stops.  Vehicles without plates, with expired tags, or overdue permits are all too common.  As a single-income earner with only liability insurance, I dread a crash with an uninsured driver.  One accident could destroy my car—my lifeline to work and rent.  Since 2020, Denver’s roads have descended into chaos. I believe the combination of unenforced traffic laws, a 25% rise in undocumented immigration, and soaring cost of living fuels this...
DOJ sues Colorado and Denver over sanctuary policies ‘tying hands of law enforcement’
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DOJ sues Colorado and Denver over sanctuary policies ‘tying hands of law enforcement’

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Colorado and the city of Denver for laws and statutes the federal government says are “sanctuary laws.” The federal government alleges in its lawsuit, filed in Colorado District Court on Friday, that the laws are designed to “interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law.” The lawsuit specifically mentions the troubled Aurora apartment complexes that went viral after a video showing armed men in a stairwell was first reported on by FOX31’s Vicente Arenas. The men in the video were later connected to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that’s been publicized during recent immigration efforts under President Donald Trump. The laws...
The COvid Chronicles April 16–30: From tattletales to tyranny in just 14 days
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The COvid Chronicles April 16–30: From tattletales to tyranny in just 14 days

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board This second installment of RMV’s COvid Chronicles runs longer than usual – for good reason. In just two weeks, civic trust collapsed, state control deepened and neighbors turned on each other. The details matter—because memory fades, because memory fades, but the impact endures. If the first two weeks of April 2020 made it clear to Coloradans their state was forever changed and would not be going back to the way it was any time soon, the later part of the month crystalized just how difficult earning back any God-given constitutional rights and freedoms would prove to be. Much of that had to do with the heavy-handedness of Gov. Jared Polis, elected officials and unelected bureaucrats who weren't keen on relinquishing their newfound regal powe...
O’Donnell: It’s costly to live in Colorado—and now we top the charts in personal debt
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O’Donnell: It’s costly to live in Colorado—and now we top the charts in personal debt

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Since 2021, inflation has been higher in Colorado than in any other state, mostly because of the cost of owning or renting a home. But this is also because the state legislature enjoys imposing new fees (you aren’t allowed to call them taxes) on seemingly anything they can think of. Colorado residents may not, however, realize that because it is now so expensive to live in the state, Coloradans owe more money in mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, student loans and other consumer obligations than residents of ANY other state. The latest data from the Consumer Credit Panel at the New York Federal Reserve indicates that during the fourth quarter of 2024, the 4,983,560 households in Colorado EACH owed an average of $90,540 i...